Master data management in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2

MDM feature overview

MDM is a feature of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 that lets you synchronize master data records across multiple instances of Dynamics AX 2012. By creating and maintaining a synchronized copy of master data, you can help guarantee the consistency of important information, such as customer and product data, that is shared across Dynamics AX 2012 instances. Master data is stored in a central data store. This central store then synchronizes the data with each Dynamics AX 2012 instance on a defined schedule. MDM uses Microsoft SQL Server Master Data Services (MDS) as the central data store and Dynamics AX 2012 Data Import/Export Framework entities as the subscriber for data synchronization. MDM is preconfigured to support synchronization of customers, vendors, employees, global address book, and product entities. You can also create customizations to support other Data Import/Export entities in MDM. For more information about the detailed feature, go to the following Microsoft TechNet website: 

Installation information

If you have customizations for one or more of the methods or the tables that are affected by this hotfix, you must apply these changes in a test environment before you apply the hotfix in a production environment.
For more information about how to install this hotfix, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

893082 How to install a Microsoft Dynamics AX hotfix

Install KB2988262 to enable the ModifiedBy property in MDM entity tables

Tables that are used in the MDM entities require the ModifiedBy property enabled. There is a separate hotfix that enables this property on tables. Use the following information to install recommended hotfix: The ModifiedBy property has to be enabled for all the tables that are used in MDM. This is mandatory. We need this to differentiate the local changes in these tables with the changes coming from the MDM hub.

Manual modification

Another alternative is to manual change the ModifiedBy property on tables. In order to make sure that it works correctly, iterate through the data sources of the change tracking query of a MDM entity (for example, MdmMDMFVendorEntityCTQuery in this case) and enable the ModifiedBy property for each table. Entities that contain tables that do not have the ModifiedBy property enabled will throw the following exception:
The following are the tables that have to be changed for OOB entities:

• DimensionAttribute
• DimensionAttributeValue
• EcoResProduct
• InventDim
• InventTable
• PayrollEarningCode
• ServiceCodeTable_IN
• Tax1099Fields

Configuration of DIXF Service

When the installation is complete successfully, configure the following manual steps for the DIXF to work:

1. Update the configuration file. To do this, follow these steps:
   1. Locate Microsoft.Dynamics.AX.DMF.ServiceProxy.dll (CONFIG File (.config)) in Server\bin directory (\Program Files\Microsoft Dynamics AX\60\Server\<AOS Server name>\bin)
   2. Locate the endpoint address in the Microsoft.Dynamics.AX.DMF.ServiceProxy.dll configure file, it resembles as follows:
      http://localhost:7000/DMFService/DMFServiceHelper.svc
      
      
      Note This step is required if the DIXF service and the AOS server are on two separate computers. The following configuration can be ignored for a single-box setup.
   3. Replace localhost with the computer name as follows in which the DIXF service is running.
      http://<Server name>:7000/DMFService/DMFServiceHelper.svc
      Note The <Server name> is the computer name in which the DIXF Service is running.
2. Add AOS User to the DIXF users group. The Microsoft Dynamics AX Data Import Export Framework Service Users group is created part of installation of the DIXF service component of the hotfix. Group is created on the computer in which DIXF service component is installed. Only the user who is a member of this group can call the DIXF service. You have to see the AOS service user, and make sure that users are added to this group. This action is required so that AOS can successfully call the DIXF service. Individual AX users should not be added to this group. After adding the user to the group, restart of the computer is required.

Network serviceMicrosoft Dynamics AX Data Import Export Framework Service Users group

Regenerate staging to target mapping

Staging to target for entities have to be regenerated. To regenerate staging to target mapping, go to the Data import/export Parameters form, and then click Regenerate target mapping. This action deletes any manual modification done to staging to target mapping and regenerates staging to target mapping for all standard entities. For custom entities, mapping has to be manually regenerated from the target entities form.

Prerequisites

You must have the following products installed to apply this hotfix:

• Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 CU7
• SQL Server Enterprise Edition with Master data services and Integration Services