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Archive for the ‘Microsoft Dynamics GP’ Category

From the Gutenberg Press to Hosted Dynamics GP

Tuesday, August 30th, 2011

Many companies have started to embraced enterprise resource planning (ERP) in order to maintain their competitiveness. They have quickly learned a fundamental truth: technology can move a company forward only as far as its business processes will allow.

Amongst most organizations, paper or hard copies is the principal format for sharing invoices and associated documents for approval. Paper processes generates uncertainty and blind spots in a business. An example could be your Accounting department. Accounting has no way of knowing where a paper invoice resides on someone’s draw or desk after it is sent around for approval, nor how long it will sit there. Executives are unable to make accurate financial predictions because they see only completed transactions—not those in process, floating somewhere in the company’s structure.

With paper processes restraining the real value of a paperless ERP for companies large and small, the need for a way to automate the transformation of paper documents into digital data and to manage the resulting documents has prompted technology developers to innovate a new generation of devices and services. This is where Hosted Microsoft Dynamics GP comes in.

The next technological move from paper format is for companies and their accounting departments to consider is the cloud—online services that can dramatically reduce the costs of technology. Instead of a company’s investing more in its own infrastructure—additional servers, software, networking and maintenance—it can turn to the cloud for the applications it needs. By integrating your company with the Microsoft Dynamics cloud platform, it easily scales with your company’s needs and automatically upgrades as innovations evolve.

To help your company get away from paper and into the clouds, contact us here.

Enter the Cloud – Work from Anywhere

Monday, August 1st, 2011

Tele-working or working from home is very common in today’s business world.  Staff at many companies have the ability to work from anywhere.  In fact, IBM has half its staff working from home, saving them valuable real estate, overhead & all that goes with having an office.  As a consultant, I am constantly traveling, but I am still able to stay in touch with the office through my Blackberry.  VPN’s allow many users to log into networks to access systems, emails, files, etc.

With cloud computing, the ability to work from anywhere is made even easier.  Through hosted Microsoft Dynamics GP, all staff need to access their ERP is an internet connection.  A CFO can easily review financial statements, in real time, from a Starbucks.  Imagine living out your days on a beach in the Caribbean, still able to complete necessary tasks.  With the invention of internet sticks that can plug into any USB, Operations Managers can carry a net-book or laptops with them & have the ability to complete sensitive tasks in an instant.  Sales staff no longer need a reserved desk at the office.  They can stay mobile, reaching more clients.  Even administrative staff could work remotely should the need arise as it did for many last summer with the G8 summit shutting down the core of Toronto.

WebSan Solutions is a Microsoft Partner offering Hosted Dynamics GP

Adam MacIntosh, Senior Project Manager

Enter the Cloud – Stay on Top of Your Business

Saturday, July 2nd, 2011

Cloud computing is the latest & greatest innovation in the technology industry & for good reason.  I previously discussed how cloud computing takes the worry out of disaster recovery.  Another way cloud computer helps take strain off executive shoulders is that it helps your company avoid service disruptions often associated with service updates.  Imagine never worrying about having to upgrade your software.  Imagine it was just done for you, with no downtime, disruptions or worry.  That is what the cloud offers.  At WebSan, we offer hosted Microsoft Dynamics GP for a number of client, taking care of necessary service packs, system updates & necessary maintenance that comes along with owning an ERP system.  By taking advantage of Saas Dynamics GP (or software as a service), customers can stay focused on their core competencies.  Hosted solutions allow clients to scale up or down as the market dictates without & overhead burden often associated with on-premise solutions.  Lastly, they don’t have to worry about having a full-time IT resource to help with issues where one might not be required.

WebSan is a Microsoft Partner offering hosted Dynamics GP to clients big & small.

Adam MacIntosh, Senior Project Manager

SSRS – Creating BI Reports for your Dynamics GP Data

Friday, July 1st, 2011

If you’re a business owner and frequent user of Dynamics GP, you might think, “I have a lot of data in my Dynamics GP system. I need to analyze my data, extract a new knowledge from it and make decisions based on this analysis. I want to see  the KPI of my business in real time mode to drive my business better. I want to have a tool which will help me see hidden trends in my business and industry…”. If you already have these thoughts, there’s good news – the Business Intelligence technologies (BI) will help you.

Basically, you need to have three things:

  1. The data warehouse. It is a special data base which has a star-schema data model (info cubes). Also, this database is in read-only mode for users and it is optimized for reporting and multidimensional analysis.
  2. Extraction, loading and transformation  process (ELT) which loads your data from OLTP system like Dynamics GP to your data warehouse. Generally speaking this ELT process “cleans”, transforms and loads your daily operation data from Dynamics GP into your data warehouse.
  3. Tools to create analytical reports and KPIs based on data from your data warehouse.

There are alot of BI tools which can help you to create a whole process of these 1-2-3 steps. However, if you have ERP based on MS SQL Server (i.e. Dynamics GP – you have a simple way of studying the system and pretty powerful BI tool right out from the box! It is SQL Server Reporting Service (SSRS) which actually is the part of MS SQL Server installation.

So, let’s see what SSRS can provide you:

  • Simple access to your Dynamics GP database and use it as a data warehouse, you just need to write a bunch of SQL-statements and SSRS will transform on the fly the results of these queries to BI reports
  • Loading and analyzing data from MS Analysis Services which is more powerful solution to build data warehouse from Microsoft
  • Special tool for building in drag-n-drop mode you BI reports – Report Builder 2.0 It is free and can be downloaded from Microsoft site
  • Creating beautiful graphic dash-boards with KPI’s in Report Builder 2.0
  • Different filters for your BI reports
  • Access to your reports, dash-boards and KPIs via Web, you can see all your BI stuff just in your internet browser
  • Generating your BI reports in off-line mode and sending them via e-mail on a schedule. (Do you want to see some daily reports every morning in your inbox? No problem, SSRS will do it for you. Just create your reports in Report Builder, then publish and schedule them)
  • Integration with your MS Share Point portal, yes you will be able to build reports and analyze data right in your portal
  • Built in export of reports to Word, Excel, PDF and TIFF-format

MS SQL Server Reporting is very simple for installation and studying. You could get BI tool and start analyze your data in Dynamics GP in two or three days. Simple, powerful and ready for use right out from the box.

Introduction to Dynamics GP – Customer Classes

Thursday, June 30th, 2011

Welcome! This is the first entry in a series of posts focusing on some of the basic functionality within Microsoft Dynamics GP. This entry will cover the creation, use and advantages of classes.

Stated simply, classes allow various record types, such as customers, venders, items, users, or employees to be grouped together by a certain characteristic. For example, a New York customer class could be setup to group all customers based in New York together. To create a new customer class, browse to Microsoft Dynamics GP >> Tools >> Setup >> Sales >> Customer Class.

Enter a Class ID to identify the customer class, a description, and the properties associated with the class, including payment terms, salesperson, shipping method, and so on. In this example, I am creating a NEW_YORK customer class to group all of my New York-based customers together. Click the Accounts button to open the Accounts Setup window and to assign distribution accounts. Save the class when completed.

Customer Class Setup

Now when creating a new New York customer, all I need to enter is some basic name, address, and phone information, and then assign the NEW_YORK class. The properties entered for the NEW_YORK class are carried over to the customer, including the distribution accounts. If I had to enter ten New York-based customers into Dynamics GP, I’ve just saved myself a lot of time and from a lot of tedious data entry. If there are properties that default from the NEW_YORK class that do not apply to the specific customer, I can still modify the individual customer.

Customer Maintenance 

In the future, if a new salesperson needed to be assigned to all New York customers, I would make the change to the NEW_YORK class. Dynamics GP would then ask if I would like to roll-down the changes to the customer records. Selecting “Yes” will apply that change to every customer record the NEW_YORK class has Again, I’ve avoided a large amount of tedious data entry.

Window Confirmation

To learn more about the advantages of classes in Microsoft Dynamics GP check out our training video on classes, and for more topics visit our GP training videos page.

Visit often to see our latest posts and videos!

Business Portal Identity on Active Directory

Thursday, June 30th, 2011

We had an interesting support call the other day. One of our Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 customers was having sporadic issues with adding users to Business Portal. When trying to add new users and assign MBF roles, occasionally the wizard would not show any domains in the Windows domain drop down. Other times it would show the wrong domain(s) – this client has a number of trees in their forest, and sometimes it would work fine.

Our support team was perplexed, so we did some investigation to determine how Business Portal interacts with the Windows domain –  the answer was Component Services.

Business Portal uses the “Microsoft.BusinessFramework.Identity” component to interface to AD and thus retrieve the domains and users. By setting the Identity on this component to a specific domain service account you can ensure it retrieves the proper AD info.

From the control panel on the Business Portal server, go to Administrative tools -> Component services.

Then expand Component Services -> Computers -> My Computer -> COM+ Applications and look for the Microsoft.BusinessFramework.Identity component.

Microsoft.BusinessFramework.Identity Window

 

Right click, then go to the identity tab and change the user ID to a domain account that can query the domain properly.

Restart the component, then restart Business Portal and re-run the wizard.

Problem solved and a happy customer.

Until next time.

Dynamics Insight Mobile App is Coming Soon!

Thursday, June 23rd, 2011

Imagine a world where Microsoft Dynamics GP and mobile applications merged. No, this idea isn’t just in the ‘clouds’, it’s actually coming sooner than you think.  

Launching as a Blackberry App for Blackberry devices, the application works with the familiar Dynamics GP platform and gives its clients the power of accessing their Dynamics accounting system while on-the-go. 

The highlights of Dynamics Insight develop upon the Microsoft Dynamics GP solution with on-the-go features.

These features include:

  • Ability to check for upcoming reminders
  • Monitor and access your KPI’s
  • View company metrics at any time.

Business has evolved since the introduction of the Internet – business is indeed faster, stronger and more efficient. Information needs to be communicated faster but most importantly, to the right people. WebSan Solutions Inc. makes it easier to do so by simplifying the solution and ‘unlocking your systems potential’.

Click here for more information on Dynamics Insight.

Avoid Disaster in the Cloud

Tuesday, June 14th, 2011

Disaster recovery is often neglected until an actual disaster occurs.  A number of people assume it will never happen to them.  We don’t drive cars without insurance, so why compute without a disaster recovery plan?

Well enter the cloud with hosted Microsoft Dynamics GP

Access to files & reports when you want them.  Take the worry out of disaster recovery.  Accessing your ERP over the net has never been more secure, convenient or faster.  When you enter the cloud with WebSan, we ensure the highest level of disaster recovery.  We have redundancy upon redundancy to protect your data.  From protection against power failures to floods to fire.

Never worry again about a service disruption.

Adam MacIntosh, Senior Project Manager

Rising Gas Prices and Microsoft Dynamics GP

Wednesday, May 11th, 2011

For those who drive, we’re all experiencing the same phenomenon of a lighter wallet. Reading and listening to news reports of rising gas prices has everyone in a cringe. Spending more money than what we’re use to isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, especially not mine. This poses a question for alternatives. There are lists of possibilities but one does seem like an effective solution, Public Transit. Why? It’s affordable and it’s just as efficient by getting me to work. I know you’re asking how does this relate to Microsoft Dynamics GP. Think about it this way. Your company is spending more money on antiquated systems that can’t keep up with  business or on multiple disparate systems which both have the effects similar to ‘spending more than you should’. You need a solution and that’s where Microsoft Dynamics GP comes in. Think of it as your company’s ‘Public Transit’ that can help your business do more with less. It incorporates all functions such as HR, Accounting, Sales and more, which adds to productivity. It’s a familiar interface, and gives you the power of choice in deployment, purchase and use.

Here’s a list of why you should chose Microsoft Dynamics GP for your company:

-         Affordability: One system that does it all

-         Great Fit: Easily integrates into your existing systems

-         Improve Productivity: Connect information across your entire organization

-         Rapid Innovation: Updates help improve your company system

The combination of the flexibility to adapt to your business needs and an affordable price makes Microsoft Dynamics GP the best choice.

Let us show you how we can help your organization implement the right Dynamics GP solution.

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 R2 Released!

Tuesday, May 10th, 2011

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 R2 was recently released earlier than expected on April 27th with rave reviews since the product launch.

The updated GP 2010 R2 expands upon the Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 solution with key themes of Enhancing Insight, Making It Easier and Extending Connections.

Overall highlights of GP 2010 R2 include:

  • Industry leading business intelligence with enhancements to SQL Reports, Word Templates, and Email
  • Release of Business Analyzer – a tool that helps enhance business decisions by viewing Dynamic GP reports and extends the reach of ERP to everyone within the organization
  • Additional 50 features added to overall platform to build on advancement and use

Let us show you how we can help your organization implement the right Dynamics GP solution.