Connect to Dynamics AX with the Jet Data Manager

Overview

The Dynamics AX adapter simplifies the extraction of data from Dynamics AX.

If you connect to a Dynamics AX database as a regular data source, you will have to apply and maintain selection rules on all tables.  With the Jet Data Manager Dynamics AX adapter you can select company accounts at a global level.  You can, however, override this behavior on a table by table basis.

The adapter also extracts any virtual company accounts including table collections and tables that are set up in the source database.  The information can then be used in dimensions and cubes.

Furthermore, the adapter extracts all Base Enumerations and their associated labels and supports synchronization with the back-end application.

Process:

• Import XPO Files into Dynamics AX
• Add the Dynamics AX Adapters
• Set up the Dynamics AX Companies
• Load and Select data from Dynamics AX

Import XPO Files into Dynamics AX (if applicable)

If the AX database that is being used is a new AX database that was not previously used by the Jet Data Manager then the AX Adapter needs to be imported into the AX database and the Adapter Setup needs to be run.  This would follow the same process that was followed during the initial setup and the steps can be found in the Jet Reports installation document.

Add Dynamics AX Adapters

1. In the Solution Explorer open the preferred business unit.

   

2. Right click data sources, select Adapter Data Sources , and then select Add Dynamics AX Adapter.

   

3. Enter a name for the adapter then click OK.

4. Right click the newly created adapter and select your source provider. In this example we will choose Microsoft SQL Provider.

   

5. In the Server name field enter the name of the server where your AX database is located.

6. In the Database field select your AX database.

7. Select the proper authentication mode.

8. Click OK.

   

To Set Up Dynamics AX Companies

1. Right click the adapter and click Set up accounts.

   

2. Select the accounts you would like to report from by ticking the check box in the Use column.

   Click OK.

   

   In addition, beginning in Jet Data Manager 16.2.3 there is a With Selected selection dropdown at the bottom of the window.  When this is set to Include only, the included companies will have data pulled for them.  When the Exclude option is selected, any companies that are checked will not be returned, but all other companies will be.  This makes it easy to automatically include data for companies that are added by default such as when new companies are added frequently such as each week or each month.

To Load and Select Data from Dynamics AX Data Sources

1. Right click the adapter and click Read Objects.

   

   

   

2. In the Tables pane, select the tables, fields, and views you want to extract to your staging database.

3. There are two ways of viewing the data: Alphabetical view, which displays all tables alphabetically, and Group view where you specify how many tables each group must contain.

   To view data in groups, enter the number of tables in each group in the Group view field, and then click Group view. You can then group the tables alphabetically or by specifying the number of tables you want in each group. To view data alphabetically, click Alphabetical view

The tables and fields are displayed in the data source tree and in the staging database tree.