Handling of transfer orders is greatly enhanced in Microsoft Dynamics AX 4.0. With the introduction of the transit warehouse and the concept of transit time, employees are better equipped to coordinate the logistics for outbound and inbound items, and therefore more tightly control supply. These enhancements are integrated with the master planning schedule.

By using radio frequency identification (RFID), companies can:

• Improve the visibility in their supply chain.
  
• Help suppliers fulfill the needs of their trading partners quickly.
  

With the RFID technology, manufacturers and distributors gain improved visibility into their supply chain by increasing the number of data-capture points. The aim is to put RFID tags on pallets, cases, or items so they can be uniquely identified and tracked in the supply chain. The tracking is accomplished by collecting the data about the exact time that a unique pallet, case, or item was registered at a specific location. This data is collected by an RFID middleware application and fed to Microsoft Dynamics AX, where it is processed accordingly.

Microsoft Dynamics AX RFID includes:

• Device management
  
• RFID server handling
  
• Support for shipping and receiving goods
  
• Tagging, including multi-level (items, cases, and pallets)
  

Embedded RFID services reside on local edge servers to provide a hardware abstraction layer through:

• A reader service provider interface
  
• Reader management (discovery, configuration, health monitoring)
  
• RFID data management (data smoothing and filtering)
  
• Event management (rules, alerts)
  
• Local data storage
  
• Application integration.
  

The user interface supports RFID-related data standards, such as the serialized Electronic Product Code (EPC). EPC is provided in the core Microsoft Dynamics AX functionality, including out-of-the-box integration with key business processes, such as pick, pack, ship, and received.

The order processor and purchasing agent currently lack information about the status of the entire sales/purchase order. In Microsoft Dynamics AX 4.0, additional user-interface items have been added to show inventory transaction status of Reserved Physical, Reserved on-order, and On-order. Quantity on the purchase-order line will display status of Registered, Arrived, or Ordered.

The inventory closing procedure has been improved with the introduction of two reports:

• To check the open quantities (items that have not yet been financially updated).
  
• To check the cost price of receipts. You can then find incorrect receipt cost amounts that are financially updated.
  

These reports should be run before running the closing.

Before recalculating or closing the inventory, later recalculations are now automatically canceled. This is done to increase reliability.

You now have the possibility of automatically running a recalculation of the inventory from the closing date to the current (system) date, after a closing has completed.

Furthermore, many small improvements have been made to increase accuracy and performance.

A new inventory reporting system required by Italian tax authorities has been added to this release.