12 Ways to Improve Your Productivity at Work

 

Between constant meetings, phone calls and emails, staying productive at work can be a challenge. However, the odds of staying productive can be greatly improved by taking some simple steps in order to stay efficient.

Here are 12 tips from the Bayt.com team to help you to make the most of your time at work:

1. Don’t let emails take over your day

We are all so accustomed to email that as soon as we see a new email in our inbox we instinctively click it on, focus on the content of the email, and respond. These seemingly tiny activities during the day can quickly add up to large amounts of time that not only cause your day to slip away, but also distract you from completing your current task.

If replying to or disposing of an e-mail takes less than two minutes, do it right away. Send less to receive less: Keep your e-mails short, and write fewer of them. Here are some tips from the career experts at Bayt.com to help you control your work emails.

2. Eliminate unnecessary meetings

Face-to-face communication is essential (email is fraught with misinterpretation), but be ruthless about protecting your time. Avoid every meeting that isn’t truly necessary.

3. Learn how to say ‘no’

While everyone wants to be a good team player at work, saying ‘no’ is sometimes the right thing to do. If you are not the best person for a task, or if you have other pending deadlines, it is OK to turn down a work request.  read more

The administration of number sequences – AX 2012

The administration of number sequences is performed by using actions provided in the Administration group on the action pane on the Number sequences list page.

Organization Administration –> Common –> Number Sequences ---> Number Sequences

• Status list

Provides a list of numbers that have been generated for continuous number sequences, but which have not been committed to the database. The numbers are either currently being used in a user session, are reserved for future use in a user session, or are free for use if a new client user session requests a new number for a particular number sequence in the list. If a new number does not exist for a specific continuous number sequence, it is generated by the sequence number framework from the next value for that number sequence in the Number sequence table (NumberSequenceTable).

• Manual cleanup

Allows the administrator to manually clean up numbers in the status list. Use of this option is only recommended after an unexpected system failure; in such rare circumstances, numbers might not be automatically cleaned up.

• History

Provides the history of changes to the number sequences themselves.

 

A number of administrator tasks can be performed from the Details page. An administrator can, for example, schedule an automated periodic cleanup for every number sequence by entering intervals on the Automatic cleanup FastTab as displayed in image below

An administrator can also assign number sequences by using a page in the parameters forms in individual application modules. For example, you can view or assign the number sequences to specific references in the General ledger module. You can navigate to the form by using the path General ledger > Setup > Parameters.

How to reset TTSBegin/TTSCommit in AX

We are using TTSBegin and TTSCommit when update and create a record in AX, but some times an error is occurred  and through an exception.

If we did not abort TTS by using TTSAbort  statement between try and catch keyword as below

try

{

ttsBegin;

// your update code

ttsCommit;

}

catch

{

ttsAbort;

}

so we may facing this error below,

To fix this error please run the following job

static void ResetTTS(Args _args)
{
    while (appl.ttsLevel() > 0)
    {
        info(strfmt("Level %1 aborted",appl.ttsLevel()));
        ttsAbort;
    }
}

Make sure that the X++ code has been compiled to Microsoft .NET Framework CIL - AX Batch Error

I developed custom class which extend RunBaseBatch system class to run in server, After created my class and run the class though batch job, there is an error is occurred and got the following error in log.

"Unable to construct an object from the class Sample Class in the batch framework. Make sure that the X++ code has been compiled to Microsoft .NET Framework CIL, and that the constructor does not require any parameters"

After search through internet I got solution by run “Generate incremental CIL” as  displayed below

Hint: May it takes time depend on server configuration.

Performance considerations for number sequences in Dynamics AX

Consider the following information about how the configuration of number sequences can affect system performance before you set up number sequences.

Continuous and non-continuous number sequences

Number sequences can be continuous or non-continuous. A continuous number sequence does not skip any numbers, but numbers may not be used sequentially. Numbers from a non-continuous number sequence are used sequentially, but the number sequence may skip numbers. For example, if a user cancels a transaction, a number is generated, but not used. In a continuous number sequence, that number is recycled later. In a non-continuous number sequence, the number is not used.

Continuous number sequences are typically required for external documents, such as purchase orders, sales orders, and invoices. However, continuous number sequences can adversely affect system response times because the system must request a number from the database every time that a new document or record is created.

If you use a non-continuous number sequence, you can enable Preallocation on the Performance FastTab of the Number sequences form. When you specify a quantity of numbers to preallocate, the system selects those numbers and stores them in memory. New numbers are requested from the database only after the preallocated quantity has been used.

Unless there is a regulatory requirement that you use continuous number sequences, we recommend that you use non-continuous number sequences for better performance.

Automatic cleanup of number sequences

In case of a power failure, an application error, or other unexpected failure, the system cannot recycle numbers automatically for continuous number sequences. You can run the cleanup process manually or automatically to recover the lost numbers.

Carefully consider server usage when you plan the cleanup process. We recommend that you perform the cleanup as a batch job during non-peak hours.

How to pass parameter to SSRS report from Dynamics AX

The below code for Passing parameters to SSRS using X++ code.

 

    MenuFunction SSRS_MyReport;

    Args Args;

    str parmId ="";

    ;

   // create reference to menu item “OverTime” which is in AOT
    SSRS_MyReport = new MenuFunction(menuItemOutputStr(OverTime),MenuItemType::Output);

    Args = new Args();

    // Set parameters and parameter value
    // I have 3 Parameters Nationality, EmplGroup, PeriodID

    parmId = "Nationality=KSA&EmplGroup=HERD&PeriodID=2014_05";

    // Assign parameters to report
    Args.parm(parmId);

    // Run the report
    SSRS_MyReport.run(Args);

 

 

Notes:

1- Parameters name is case sensitive, so it should set name as predefined in report.

2- You can pass more than one parameters by add “&”   between each parameter.

3- Not add space between parameters, it cause an error

Recalculation Error Dynamics AX 2009

while running inventory recalculation process, I got this error

“Cannot edit a record in stock transactions (InventTrans) An update
conflict occurred due to another user process deleting the record or changing
one or more fields in the record"

solution to avoid this error, go to AOT –> DataDictionary –> Tables ----> InventTrans

right click on table to display properties window then change OccEnabled property to No.

then resume recalculation again, it will work successfully.

Configuring the instance of SQL Server for Dynamics AX

Improve SQL performance lead us to optimize AX performance, this post is one of posts to achieve that

1- Configuring max degree of parallelism

The max degree of parallelism option is a setting that affects the entire instance of SQL Server. Microsoft Dynamics AX workloads generally perform better when intra-query parallelism is disabled. However, the upgrade process benefits from parallelism, as do activities that are used exclusively for batch jobs or maintenance. Use the following settings when the system performs maintenance activities or an upgrade:

· Before an upgrade to a new release of Microsoft Dynamics AX, or before a large number of maintenance or batch activities, set max degree of parallelism to the smallest of the following values:

· 8

· The number of physical processor cores

· The number of physical processor cores per non-uniform memory access (NUMA) node

· When the Microsoft Dynamics AX database is used in a production environment, set max degree of parallelism to 1.

Use the following statements to set the value of max degree of parallelism.

Examine the output from the second sp_configure 'max degree of parallelism' statement, and confirm that the value has been changed. In the following query, the first sp_configure 'max degree of parallelism' statement sets the value of max degree of parallelism to 1. The second sp_configure 'max degree of parallelism' statement returns a value of 1.

EXEC sp_configure 'show advanced options', 1;

RECONFIGURE;

GO

EXEC sp_configure 'max degree of parallelism', 1;

RECONFIGURE;

GO

EXEC sp_configure;

For more information, see max degree of parallelism Option. For general guidelines, see Knowledge base article 329204, General guidelines to use to configure the MAXDOP option. For tips from the SQL Server team, visit the SQL Server Relational Engine team's blog, SQL Server Engine Tips.

2- Configuring max server memory

SQL Server dynamically acquires and frees memory as required. Typically, an administrator does not have to specify how much memory is allocated to SQL Server. However, the max server memory option can be useful in some environments. Make sure that sufficient memory is available for the operation of Windows Server. For more information, see Configure SQL Server and storage settings, later in this topic.

If you find that the dynamic allocation of memory adversely affects the operation of Windows Server, adjust the value of max server memory based on the available random access memory (RAM). For more information, see Effects of min and max server memory.

3- Monitoring available memory

Make sure that sufficient memory is available for the operation of Windows Server. For example, make sure that you run a dedicated instance of SQL Server on a server that has at least 4 gigabytes (GB) of memory. If the available memory for the server drops below 500 megabytes (MB) for extended periods, the performance of the server may degrade.

Use the Memory: Available Mbytes performance counter for the Windows Server operating system to determine whether the available memory drops below 500 MB for extended periods. If the available memory drops below 500 MB frequently or for extended periods, we recommend that you reduce the max server memory setting for SQL Server or increase the physical memory of the server.

Detailed guidance about memory management is beyond the scope of this topic. For more information about how to monitor memory and troubleshoot performance issues, see the Windows Server and SQL Server documentation.

4- Allocating storage for tempdb

We recommend that you determine the total size of the data files and transaction log files that are required for the tempdb database, and that you set a specific value. Do not use automatic growth, or autogrow, setting for space management. Instead, use autogrow as a safety mechanism, so that tempdb can grow if tempdb files use the space that was originally allocated to them. Follow this process to determine the number and placement of data files.

· Determine the number of processors that are available to SQL Server. Unless you are using an affinity mask, this number is same as the total number of processors that you see on the Performance tab of Windows Task Manager. When hyperthreading is not enabled, each processor corresponds to a processor core. Affinity masks and processor cores are beyond the scope of this topic. For more information, see the Windows Server and SQL Server documentation.

· Based on performance testing of the OLTP workload for Microsoft Dynamics AX, we recommend that you maintain one tempdb data file per processor. For more information, see the performance benchmark reports on PartnerSource or CustomerSource.

· Isolate tempdb on dedicated storage, if you can. We recommend that you move the primary data file and log file for tempdb to high-speed storage, if high-speed storage is available. The Microsoft Dynamics AX database runs in read committed snapshot isolation (RCSI) mode. In RCSI mode, row versions are stored in tempdb. By creating multiple files for tempdb data, even if these files reside on the same storage device, you can improve the performance of tempdb operations.

· Determine the size of the tempdb data files and log files. You must create one primary data file and one log file. Determine how many additional, secondary data files you require for the tempdb data. For best results, create data files of equal size. The total number of data files must equal the total number of processor cores. The aggregate size of the primary data file and all other data files must equal the total data size that you determined for the tempdb database.

For more information, see Optimizing tempdb performance.

· Resize the primary data file and log file for tempdb. Move the primary data file and log file to dedicated storage, if dedicated storage is available. The primary tempdb data file cannot be moved while the instance of SQL Server is running. To complete the move, you must use an ALTER DATABASE statement and restart the instance of SQL Server. For more information, see ALTER DATABASE.

Note: The data files and transaction log files for tempdb can reside on the same storage device.

· If space is available on the drive where tempdb files are allocated, do not configure the autogrow property for data files and log files as a percentage. Instead, configure the autogrow property as a specific number of megabytes. If you can, configure the data files and log files to grow by 100 to 500 MB, depending on the available space. Monitor the data files, and when they grow, adjust the original allocation to prevent automatic growth later. If the autogrow property is configured in megabytes instead of as a percentage, the allocation of space is more predictable, and the chance of extremely small or large growth increments is reduced.

· Monitor the tempdb data files and log files to make sure that they are all sized correctly, and that all data files are of equal size. Use SQL Server Management Studio or a transact-SQL query to view the database properties. Verify that all the data files are of equal size, and that they have the same size as the value that you originally provided. If one or more files have grown, adjust the initial size of all files.