During the Microsoft WPC2013 (Worldwide Partner Conference) in Houston beginning of July 2013, Microsoft has given further insights into the roadmap of Microsoft Dynamics AX2012. A next features pack is expected for Q4 2013. Beside new horizontal features in the area of life cycle services or budget planning, an important official announcement was the enhancement of industry specific capabilities in the area of Supply Chain Management (SCM). To achieve this product enhancement, Microsoft announced to acquire two modules called “Warehousing for AX” (WAX) and “Transportation for AX” (TRAX) from the US based company Blue Horseshoe.

CAPcargo was aware of this upcoming SCM enhancement and therefore is in a close contact with the Microsoft Business Solution team. It is important to understand that this foreseen standard product enhancements and the existing CAPcargo modules have a different focus and especially a different target market. Since Microsoft has so far not published a detailed content of the upcoming new features, clear statements are not possible at this moment. Nevertheless, based on our recent exchanges with Microsoft we can share some information:

With this upcoming AX feature pack, production or trading companies will be able to better organize their global supply chain. The major enhancements will mainly be in the warehousing area like improved inventory control, embedded radio frequency, inbound and outbound warehouse operations and freight reconciliation. All logistic transactions will origin or end in the AX warehouse.

The CAPcargo modules have a different focus and functionality range. CAPcargo has an own entity “transport order” to bring the transportation nature into Microsoft Dynamics AX. The upcoming new AX features will base all activities on AX sales and purchase orders and are therefore not supporting the specific transportation industry process of a logistics service provider (e.g. transportation companies, forwarders, haulers).

For production-, trading or distribution companies where in-depth logistics functionalities are needed, it is confirmed that the CAPcargo modules are covering an area which is not touched by the new AX features. Often this is the case in companies where the delivery e.g. to the customer, point-of-sales or construction site is an important part of the total value chain. For example the unique “shipment builder” functionalities help to intelligently consolidate several orders into one transport order. This is not only helping to give a better overview to the transportation team, but is a key factor for a smart logistic costs reduction.

CAPcargo is very positive about the announced enhancements. Mainly in the warehousing area they will certainly help logistics service providers covering a bigger part of their needs in the standard solution.