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Lifecycle Services: Task Recorder Plus

As part of the Lifecycle Services launch in July, Microsoft released a new version of Task Recorder that they affectionately call Task Recorder Plus. Long-time users of Dynamics AX are probably pretty familiar with Task Recorder - it's a nifty tool that allows you to record your activity while in the product and have your steps automatically populate a document with steps and screenshots of what you did. The tool is great for documenting business process and great for training new users. It should be part of every deployment as a way to help new AX users understand the steps they need to do to accomplish their work.

With Task Recorder Plus, the old tool has gotten a new set of tricks.  There is now a basic and advanced mode.  The basic mode is the same as the old Task Recorder, but in the Advanced Mode you can now do these things you couldn't do before with Task Recorder:

1. Record your activity in AX as a video (no audio)
2. Upload a package file to the Lifecycle Services Business process modeler containing
   1. Hierarchy
   2. Process
   3. AOT metadata
   4. Task recorder generated documents

I was most excited about it because of the ability to record a video of what you did in AX.  With every customer I've talked to, they are always asking for additional ways to provide content to new users so they can learn AX quickly.  Training is great; hands-on is even better, but it's also nice if people can have a reference so they can go back and watch what you did on their own time.  It's pretty common that training comes a few weeks before actual product use, and it's difficult for users to remember everything they learned if they can't put it into practice right away.  If you can provide a video accompanying your lesson, people can make sure they are using the system the way it's intended.  It also cuts down on the calls to the HelpDesk if they can access this on their own.

The business process modeler that comes with Dynamics AX is a great service that provides customers with a place to store their custom business process throughout the deployment (and for reference post go-live).  The site provides you with a set of processes from the APQC - American Productivity & Quality Center - that you could use as a best practice for your organization.  If that particular shoe doesn't fit, you can always model your own business process and use the Task Recorded tool to record your process.  By uploading your process, this will include the documentation plus the changes that occurred in AX to accommodate the change.  When the content is in the portal you can make your team aware of it and use it as a safe repository to keep track of everything you need to get done for the project.

I highly encourage you to check out the resources below to get task recorder plus rolling for your project.  We are making it a core part of our deployments going forward.

Resources

• Whitepaper on Task Recorder
• Knowledge base article and link to hotfix download
• Lifecycle Services portal

We're happy to help you get the training content and process documentation that you need for your project.  Contact us if you need assistance.

Eric

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