A single Microsoft Dynamics AX database can contain multiple individual company accounts. Each company account in an application uses the same application logic, but has its own set of data for tables. Data that is stored in one company account cannot be accessed from other companies. This means that if a table's data belongs to company account A, its data will only be available to application objects within that company account, unless company account A is created as a virtual company, which enables data sharing.
If the organizational structure represents a parent company with subsidiaries, if it is a main company with companies in multiple locations, or if you otherwise need to represent several companies, you might want to create multiple company accounts.
Administrators must have and configuration keys enabled in order to create, modify, or delete company accounts and virtual company accounts.
Virtual
company accounts
Virtual company accounts contain data in certain tables that are shared by any number of company accounts. This lets users post information in one company account that will be available to another company account.
This is useful when a client has multiple companies that can share non-transactional information such as vendor accounts, customer accounts, postal codes, tax codes, and so on. This saves you from having to set up the same records in each company account.
If you want to use virtual companies at some time in the future, it is best to set up the virtual companies from the beginning of the implementation of Microsoft Dynamics AX. This avoids issues with combining records into a shared table at some time in the future.
Before you can create or modify a virtual company account, the following conditions must be established:
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The application object server that the administrator is connected to must be the only one running. All other application object servers must be shut down.
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Only the administrator who is creating the virtual company account can be connected; only one active client connection is allowed.
After you create or modify a virtual company account, you must restart the Microsoft Dynamics AX client in order to update the client with the new virtual company account information.
