Axapta 4.0 and MSCRM 2.0 Delayed

Microsoft Business Solutions has again delayed new releases of Axapta, Microsoft’s top-of-the-line business management package, and Microsoft Customer Relationship Management (MSCRM). Microsoft intends to ship Axapta 4.0 in the first half of 2006 (original plans called for the last quarter of 2004) and MSCRM 2.0 in the last quarter of 2005 (instead of the first quarter of 2005). The Axapta delay could irritate existing customers, and the MSCRM slip could stall product adoption as customers who’ve opted out of MSCRM’s initial release continue to wait on the sidelines.

Better Programmability for Axapta

Microsoft planned to update each of its four enterprise resource planning (ERP) products (Axapta, Great Plains, Navision, and Solomon) in the second half of calendar year 2004. Axapta was the only product to miss its mark. A Jan. 2005 announcement suggests that Axapta 4.0 will now ship in the first half of 2006, and also indicates that the scope of the release has changed.

For example, Microsoft will document and expose a set of Axapta classes and APIs to allow developers to programmatically access Axapta functions and data previously accessible only through Axapta forms. (Axapta forms are application components that allow users access to Axapta functions and data; developers create and customize forms today using Axapta’s proprietary MorphX development environment.) Although details are sketchy, these changes will likely include a .NET API for Axapta, which would allow developers to create managed code applications that call Axapta functions and update Axapta data (for example, a Web-based application that allowed employees to update time and attendance data stored in Axapta).