Docentric AX Architecture

Docentric AX is an MS Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations Add-On solution for reporting and document automation.
It consists of the components as follows.

Docentric AX Framework

Docentric AX for MS Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations consists of:

  • Docentric AX Framework,
  • Docentric AX Designer.

Docentric AX Framework is a plug-in for D365FO that improves:

  • SSRS reports,
  • Email templates,

in terms of design, data preparation and print destinations.

Integration with built-in frameworks is done using extensions, without overlayering. We are proud to say that each newly released application and platform D365FO version usually gets supported within one business day.

In contrast to the MS Dynamics AX 2012 solution, Docentric AX Framework no longer requires external service called Docentric Server to generate reports. This responsibility is now overtaken by Docentric AX Framework itself, and occurs in process. This means not only much better performance but also gave us a great opportunity to open APIs for document content manipulation (e.g. parsing or merging documents) as well as to implement various advanced scenarios such as dynamic labels.

Functionalities

Setup
This includes setup for Docentric AX parameters, reports and their templates (aka designs). Report setup allows multiple templates per report, and you can choose among them directly on the Print destination settings form. This way you can have different invoice designs for different customers.
Templates (aka designs) can be updated with no need to restart the application, which means in production as well. You can also set up which report context data and additional labels to automatically include in report data source.

Report template storage can be:

  • AOT Resources,
  • Azure Blob storage,
  • SharePoint,
  • File system.

Report execution pipeline
For existing SSRS Reports, Docentric AX Framework reuses existing SSRS reports data and buttons (Original/Copy Preview) likewise built-in report security and workflows. For example, the process of posting and printing of Customer invoice stays the same.

Report data preparation
We also introduced a smart framework that allows much more efficient customization of built-in report artifacts, without touching or extending them, even when adding additional data sets, calculating or reshaping data. It also allows efficient development of custom reports without temporary tables or queries. It automatically adds environment data such as current company and worker info to the data source of each report.

Output management
Reports are generated from selected templates and runtime data, and distributed to enhanced print destinations:

  • Screen: Much better report viewer that also works in on-premises environments. Preview before print to Email, Printer or File.
  • Email: Placeholders, Additional attachments, HTML body with the superior rich text editor. Email reports using built-in Email processing.
    Reply-to, Bounce-to, Message priority, Read and Delivery receipts. Multiple outgoing mail servers / sender accounts.
  • File: Placeholders, Save to Azure Blob storage, Azure Files, SharePoint, Attachments or File system. Run in batch in cloud environments.
  • Printer: Printing to the default printer, which can be set up per user or user group. User allowed or User favorite printers. Report restricted printers.
  • Print archive: Viewing of archived reports’ content and print destination settings, e.g. email messages. Searching by Invoice ID, Sales ID, Customer ID, etc.

Multiple templates per SSRS report can be used, and template selection can also take place on the Print destination settings form. You can also use built-in SSRS report designs with Docentric‘s enhanced print destinations.

APIs for development
Flexible and well documented APIs and X++ hooks enable various custom scenarios such as saving printed reports to a particular DMS (Document Management System), sending customer’s multiple invoices in a single email, merging invoices into single document, sending invoices using external services, etc.

Docentric AX Designer

Technical requirements: Microsoft Word 2007 or later.

Microsoft Word with addition of Docentric AX Add-In acts as a template designer for Docentric reports and documents.

Templates are just ordinary Word documents and static content (e.g. styles, formatting, text) can even be modified without the presence of Docentric AX Add-In. However, to add a new Word construct bound to the template data source, you will need to install a Docentric AX Add-In.

Practically any of Word’s constructs such as paragraphs, images, charts, text-boxes, shapes, n-level nested tables, bulleted lists, etc. can be dynamic and bound to a template data source, formatted with Word’s powerful styles and placed anywhere in a document body, headers, footers or sections. Learn more

Generation of template data sources for design purposes is simple and automated by Docentric AX Framework.