Axapta Gets FrX Reports

Better financial reporting for Axapta, Microsoft’s top-of-the-line business management package, is the goal of the recently announced integration of Axapta and FRx. FRx, a financial analysis and reporting package gained in Microsoft’s acquisition of Great Plains, will be available to Axapta customers as an add-on module. The announcement signals Microsoft’s intent to consolidate financial reporting across its enterprise resource planning (ERP) product line on FRx and is part of efforts to better integrate Microsoft Business Solutions (MBS) products. Integration of Axapta and FRx could also benefit Microsoft resellers, giving them a new module to sell to Axapta’s 3,500 customers.

Axapta Financial Reporting Improved

Axapta, acquired in the July 2002 purchase of Navision, is Microsoft’s highest-end ERP offering and is aimed at multinational companies with 100 to 5,000 employees, less than US$1 billion in annual revenue, and complex manufacturing or distribution needs. Although Axapta offers general business reporting-users can analyze business factors affecting delivery lead times, for example-it lacks advanced financial analysis and reporting capabilities, such as the ability to measure company or departmental financial performance against revenue and budget targets.