Perfion Release2ERP for AX2012 allows you to import and persist information from Perfion to the AX environment.

If you have special use cases or need custom setup tailored to your needs, please contact your Perfion partner for more information.

FAQ regarding installation of Perfion Release2ERP for AX

Perfion Release2ERP for AX 2012 allows you to import and persist information from Perfion to the AX environment.

This document will describe the installation and configuration of Perfion Release2ERP for the typical AX environment. If you have special use cases or need custom setup tailored to your needs, please contact your Perfion representative for more information.

Prerequisites

Supported AX Versions

The following versions of Microsoft Dynamics AX is supported by this solution:

• Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012.

Perfion Release2ERP also exists for several other Dynamics versions. Please go to Perfion Knowledge Base for the latest compatibility overview.

A Word of Caution

Any changes made to you ERP system should be tested in a proper test environment before being deployed to the live ERP system. Please consult with your Microsoft Dynamics Partner about the changes required to implement this software, before continuing further.

Installation

Installing Release2ERP consists of the following four steps.

Installation of web service communications assembly

Install the Perfion.WebService.dll and Perfion.WebService.XmlSerializers.dll files into the Dynamics AX server bin folder or into the Windows global assembly cache folder on the AOS. As well as to the Client itself.

Install AX customizations

Install the supplied model files into the target environment.

Add Perfion menu to main menu

The main menu modification is not included in module - to simplify the installation (no overlapping in SYS/SYP). To add the Perfion menu to the main menu, open the developer section (ctrl+d) and go to the Menus section.
Now open the MainMenu(sys,var). After this is open you should in the Menus folder structure have a folder named PF_Release2AX(var). now drag this folder into the MainMenu(sys,var) and then you should have the Perfion Release2AX in the main menu of AX2012.

Synchronize + compile application

Synchronize the data dictionary and compile the application.

Configuration

Release2ERP is a very versatile tool that can be configured to fit many different use cases. In this document, we will show simple examples that illustrate what is possible and discuss the options available.

Basic settings in Release2ERP

To set up integrations to Perfion we need to create a few base settings first.

Connections

Connections specifies the source of the data you want to import using Release2ERP. This can be a web service or a local XML file. Before creating a new connection, you need to make sure that you have the right URL for the Perfion API service.

1. Navigate to the Perfion menu > Setup > Connections
2. Click the New icon or press Ctrl + N to create a new record.
3. Assign the connection a meaningful name.
4. Select the query type (typically Web service) unless you want to test using a local file.
5. On the General tab you must specify the URL to the Perfion API service (see below for a sample screenshot).

A good way to avoid issues is always to check the URL in a browser before putting it in the connection string, just to make sure you have an open API.

If Authentication has been enabled on the Perfion API end point, you will need to specify username and password on the Authentication tab.

You will need to save the password for each AOS if you have multiple AOS’es in your environment (log on to AX on every AOS). AX 2012 encryption is done using a fingerprint from the AOS Windows machine. This is also the way standard AX saves SMTP passwords.

Setting up a Release2ERP Integration

Open the Integration menu item in the root of the Perfion menu.

Click the New icon or press Ctrl + N to create a new record.

Header fields

The Overview tab of the integration contains setup elements for the integration.

Integration: This is the unique identifier for this integration.

Description: A short description of the integration.

Connection: Select from the list of connections you have created earlier.

XPath root: Root node containing data from Perfion. Defaults to //Data/Product. Change this value if it does not reflect data in your Perfion database.

Update multiple records: Allow updating multiple records when finding existing records matching criteria. This is relevant if multiple records exist in the AX database based on the field mappings and Perfion data. Choose Yes to update possible duplicates. Choose No to skip updates. Choose Error to stop the import when finding multiple records.

Latest import: Latest execution date and time. Not editable.

The Query tab contains a large text field where you can edit the Perfion query. For information about how to write a query, please see the Perfion API documentation.

Use the wildcard %d to insert date and time of latest import into the query. For example, into the where clause to filter records older than a specific time. When the query is executed, %d will be replaced with date and time.

The following is an example query:

<Query>
      <Select languages='EN, DE' view='Normal'>
            <Feature id='ItemNumber' />
            <Feature id='ShortText' />
            <Feature id='Description' />
            <Feature id='Image' />
      </Select>
      <From id ='Product'/>
      <Where>
            <Clause id='brand' operator='=' value="Normal" />
            <Clause id='ModifiedDate' operator='>' value="%d" />
      </Where>
</Query>

Field mapping

The lower part of the integration form is for the data mappings between Perfion and Microsoft Dynamics AX.

Each line in the setup represents one value mapped from Perfion to AX.

To map anything to a table in AX, you must map all mandatory fields on the table as a minimum.

It is recommended to create a section step for each destination record being inserted or modified.

Like this example:

Here is an overview of the fields:

Enabled: Enables/disables import the line in the setup.

Line number: Defines the order in which the lines are processed.

Table name: Microsoft Dynamics AX table name.

Field name: Microsoft Dynamics AX field name.

Section step: Groups table/field combinations together. If you import values into multiple records of the same type, use section steps to separate the setup into groups (1, 2, 3 etc.).

XPath expression: Mappings use XPath syntax to find data received from the Perfion API.

Default value: Default value if no Perfion value exists. Use this instead of the XPath expression when you need to fill in data that is not available in Perfion.

Conversion: Converts a value from Perfion into a value suitable for AX. See section on how to create conversions later in this document.

Custom key: Release2ERP uses primary keys for find existing data for updates. Create and use custom keys to use your own specialized column combinations to find existing data instead. See section on how to create custom keys later in this document.

Import: Defines when data is imported into the mapped field. Import is skipped for existing records (records which are updated) when the value is set to “Inserting”.

Buttons

In the form, you will find two buttons.

Show data: Retrieves and displays XML data from Perfion based on the query.

Import: This will run the integration (or enable you to run the integration in batch).

Conversion Setup

In some cases, it is necessary to convert values from Perfion when importing them into AX.

Conversions are set up using the menu item Setup à Conversion.

Create a new record using the New button. Fill in a conversion identifier and a description. Afterwards, create conversions as needed. You will be able to specify the conversions in the integration lines setup.

Custom Keys Setup

Custom keys are only needed in those cases where you want to override the default behavior when updating records during import. Without custom keys, Dynamics AX records will be found and updated using the primary key specified on the table by the developers. Using custom keys enables you to specify which of the table fields should be used for finding and updating existing records.

The menu item for custom key setup is found in Setup à Custom keys

Create a new custom key setup. Fill in a custom key identifier and a description. When creating the custom key setup, you must enter the table which you are specifying the new custom key for.