Microsoft Offers 'Green' Dashboard For Dynamics AX Resellers

Microsoft said the new software provides channel partners with opportunities to develop reports and consulting services relating to companies' energy consumption and their "carbon footprint."

The Environmental Sustainability Dashboard runs with Dynamics AX, Microsoft's ERP application suite that's geared for midsize manufacturers, and extracts data using the SQL Reporting Services built into the Microsoft SQL Server database. It presents data on key metrics relating to energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, based on standards developed by the Global Reporting Initiative.

Such reporting is critical for companies to comply with environmental regulations and advance their own "green" initiatives, said Jennifer Pollard, Microsoft Dynamics senior product manager. "It provides perspective on the choices they are making," she said.

Solution providers can develop custom key-performance indicators for customers, she added. The tool set also provides a methodology that walks solution partners and customers through the complex process of developing a greenhouse gas inventory for calculating emissions.

Microsoft delivered Dynamics AX 2009, the latest version of the application, last June. The dashboard, which makes use of the application's "role-tailored design" architecture, is available as an add-on product through the Business-Ready Enhancement Plan.

Microsoft also offers instructions for customers and solution providers to implement environmental-management accounting principles within the Dynamics GP and Dynamics NAV application sets.