Several systems are now being integrated with or migrated into the cloud. Discussions regarding media sharing, searching, and collaboration systems will normally note that such forms of systems are on the exterior of the core business of the company. Because of this, it becomes a great idea to move your ERP to the cloud.

Just like any other businesses, you also demand scalability, flexibility, and security. The cloud offers all of these necessities and, what's more, it is really affordable. So, if you still can’t make up your mind on whether you will move your ERP to the cloud or not, the following are the advantages that may help you make the right decision.

Small Initial Investment

Services are given on a pay-as-you-go, subscription basis. This only means that the implementation of the cloud-based ERP system could hugely lessen the initial capital amount of investing within the ERP system. A lot of vendors might also guarantee that they won’t increase costs once you go on with the utilization of the system even the term has already expired.

Prompt Implementation

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 is scheduled to be released soon, so if you haven’t already upgraded to Dynamics GP 2013, here’s your chance!

Other than report fixes in Dynamics GP 2013 R2, there are much more features that you can look out for! Some of the new features to be released include:

Being able to paste a general ledger entry from an Excel spreadsheet, default sort order for cheques and reprinting outstanding transactions in bank reconciliation.

Leslie Vail explains how to paste a GL entry from Excel: “It’s simple to set up and simple to do. First, your journal entry distributions need to be entered as below on a spreadsheet. Next, highlight the information you want to put into your journal entry, and then put your cursor on the first line of your journal entry. Finally, push the [Post] button and your distributions will populate the journal entry.”

Microsoft said it will space its Dynamics GP updates roughly six months apart in a cycle that is "designed to enhance our new business proposition and bring incremental value to [Business Ready Enhancement Plan] customers on a much more regular basis."

There are always plenty of things to consider before purchasing a new system for your business and CRM solutions are not an exception.

What is CRM?

CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management and is used to refer to a system whereby a company's interactions with current and prospective customers are closely managed. It typically involves using technology to organize, synchronize and automate such disciplines as sales and marketing, tech support and customer service. Often CRM systems will be active and monitoring many different networks for marketing campaigns. Also, they can closely and accurately track customer habits and persuasions through customer clicks and traffic.

Physical places where customer relationship management is often and most heavily used include but are not limited to, banks, call centers, social media, operation centers and customer data query centers.

Ten things to consider

WebSan Solutions Inc., a cloud Microsoft Dynamics Certified Partner and IT consulting and solutions provider,  has been recognized as one of Canada’s top 100 Solution Providers in 2013 by Computer Dealer News (CDN). WebSan has over a decade of experience in Enterprise Software solutions, business and financial accounting software.

The list was announced on April 9, 2014 at the Top 100 Solution Providers Awards Gala. CDN has been the voice of Canada's IT channel community for more than 25 years and defines an information technology solution provider as an organization that resells computer hardware, software or peripheral products along with providing IT related professional services, support services, consulting in a cloud or on-demand environment, on-premise fashion or as managed service.

According to Computer Dealer News, the key takeaway from this event  is: “ There is a definite need for businesses to make a transition towards the cloud”.

“We are excited about once again making this prestigious list this year”, says Andrew King, Managing Director at WebSan Solutions Inc. “Our dedication to customer service has enabled us to reach another milestone. We will leverage this momentum to deliver business solutions that exceed our clients’ expectations and ensure their satisfaction in the following year”.

You can view the Top 100 Solution Provider list here:  

The Cloud has virtually changed the way businesses handle financial transactions. Gone are the days when companies must rely on old-fashioned and outdated approaches to document transactions, like pen and paper or Excel spreadsheets. These methods are not only more time consuming and extremely faulty, but they are not a realistic way to run a business in the 21^st century. Moving into a new, innovative, and integrated system like Microsoft Dynamics GP can prove to be beneficial for a company of any size for the following reasons:

Time Saving - With a system that automatically inputs customer, vendor, and employee entered data into your system and easily connects all information into one platform, the tasks of manually entering the same data into various spreadsheets and software can greatly reduce the time consuming tasks of data entry. In addition, errors in data entry can simply be eliminated with all clients, employees, and vendors entering data into one system.

Save More Money - Cloud accounting lowers your IT costs because you no longer need to update software each time a new version is released or worry about large, one-time licensing fees. The software costs are spread out over a predictable, smaller, monthly fee. Updates and maintenance are carried out by the cloud provider. With cloud accounting, you can ensure that your system is consistent and up to date.

Easily Create Automated Reports -Microsoft Dynamics GP has tools which simplify accounting processes.  Since all data needed to create reports is stored in one system, creating reports is easy as a few clicks.

Safe & Secure -You have the peace of mind that your data will always be backed up no matter what obstacle your company faces – hardware issues, lost data, or even natural disasters.

This year’s Microsoft convergence in Houston announced that Dynamics GP 2013 is due to be released Q4 of this year. With over 150 new features that will help organizations with their functionality, the WebSan team is quite excited! Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 will transform the way your organization is run by helping you become more connected, provide support for growth, increase efficiency, and lower your IT costs through the new features that are available.

Here are a few features that we’re looking forward to upon its release:

• Web Access – Employees will gain easier, convenient access to information and will be able to better collaborate with the new web client from their PC or mobile device.
• Business Analyzer – Delegate tasks, track KPI’s, forecast potential opportunities, and take informed action by having better role-specific insight in to your business.
• Business Intelligence – Enhanced SQL Reporting offers better visibility to key business metrics.
• Office 365 Integration – Integration will provide better collaboration and communication within your organization.
• Word templates – Templates can be applied and reports can be created for anything in GP 2013.
• Document attachment – Capability to apply related documents into each transaction.
• Printing – Conveniently choose a printer at the time of printing a report or document

With the increased functionality Dynamics GP 2013 offers, you can be sure that you will have more control over your organization, allowing you to transform and improve the way you conduct business.

For more information about Dynamics GP 2013 and upgrades, contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.@This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

By: Mabelle Gonzales, Marketing Coordinator at WebSan Solutions Inc, a Canadian Certified Microsoft Dynamics Partner.

Last Thursday, we hosted our first web conference for this year. We discussed SQL linked Excel Reports and reviewed how you could effectively use tools, like pivot tables. With such a great turn out, we’re looking forward to hosting web conferences regularly. To be informed with the latest webinars, send us a message or e-mail us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

You can view the recorded webinar and other Microsoft Dynamics GP training videos at our YouTube channel.

Excel Reporting - Part 1

By: Mabelle Gonzales, Marketing Coordinator at WebSan Solutions Inc, a Canadian Certified Microsoft Dynamics Partner.

Professional services organizations (PSO's)– management consulting, marketing agencies, law firms, legal and financial firms – are some of the most difficult businesses to manage. This ever-changing industry relies heavily on the skills and services their people provide. Clients base their decision on the knowledge, expertise and advice given to them and as a result, it makes it hard for a PSO to sell and quantify their product. Accounting for invoices, tracking hours for each resource, overseeing projects and managing client relations can be a little overwhelming and for a budding PSO, challenges can become even more complex. Using a robust software solution such as WebSan’s Microsoft Dynamics GP solution for professional services can relieve companies in this industry from their financial and project management challenges by:

• Shortening deployment times with the use of tools which install the system within minutes, set up core functionality, and quickly transfer and update data.
• Providing more visibility in projects and their status – increasing customer satisfaction by improving collaboration with clients and employees.
• Connecting and streamlining business processes - billing, tracking hours, or invoicing.
• Optimizing efficiency and communication with customizable add-ons and solutions.

To learn more about the robust capabilities and comprehensive tools of Microsoft Dynamics GP, visit our website or contact us for a demo.

By: Mabelle Gonzales, Marketing Coordinator at WebSan Solutions Inc, a Canadian Certified Microsoft Dynamics Partner.

What if I told you there was a way you could eliminate up to half of your spending on costly resources while increasing your company’s productivity? The answer is simple – consider implementing cloud technologies in your day to day operations.

In today’s competitive world, companies are always looking for ways to stand out from their competition. Businesses in fields such as accounting, healthcare, marketing, consulting or law spend their precious resources, time and energy managing operations which range from collecting time and expenses and approvals to invoicing customers and collections.

Considering the benefits in terms of cost, manpower, control and accessibility, it’s no surprise that many corporate companies are now looking into implementing a cloud solution for the business software they use to manage administrative or financial tasks. The following explains how cloud technologies can benefit not only regular businesses, but service businesses as well.

• It saves you money and time – As previously mentioned, service companies spend their valuable time and money collecting expenses and time from their field personnel while they should be focusing on delivering value to customers.  By including cloud technologies like web-based time and expense reporting in your company, you can reduce paperwork, and costs by allowing employees to access data at various locations.
• It increases productivity – Cloud integration breaks traditional boundaries in business.  With cloud, businesses are now able to communicate, share files, and interact with clients or employees around the world with more ease.  Projects can continue to move along even when employees are away for travel or not in the office.
• It can help gain a greater competitive advantage - Cloud based integration can help gain new customers and boost market share because of its ease of use and how it enables you to focus more time on your customers.
• It can enable better customer satisfaction – In a service based business, you want to spend the majority of your time and energy on your customers. Utilizing cloud can help simplify IT operations and improve your customer experience.
• You gain better control of your business – Cloud technologies make navigating through your company’s data and information effortless. It also makes delegating tasks less complicated due to increased accessibility to your company's files and documents. For a growing service business, it can help a company quickly adapt to market demands.

Competition in the services business market continues to increase. By taking advantage of cloud technologies, like Cloud Dynamics GP by WebSan, you can stay ahead of the curve and focus on what’s important – the customer. So, why not try it out?

 Contact us now at 416-499-1235 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Welcome to the second entry in a series of posts focusing on some of the basic functionality within Microsoft Dynamics GP. This guide will cover the creation, use and advantages of Quick Journals.

Quick Journals are extremely useful for creating recurring journal entries in which the accounts stay the same each time, but the amount differ. A simple example would be an entry of wage expenses.

To create a Quick Journal, open the Quick Journal Setup window. From the main menu select Microsoft Dynamics GP >> Tools >> Setup >> Financial >> Quick Journal.

Give the Quick Journal a unique ID, a description, a source, and reference. Next, select an offset account. This account will be used to balance the debits and credits of the transaction. If you would to give users the ability to change this offset account during transaction entry, mark the Allow Override checkbox, otherwise, leave it unchecked. Finally, add the accounts to be used in the transaction. Note that not all accounts entered in the Quick Journal Setup window need to be used in the transaction. Click Save to complete the creation.

To make an journal entry using a Quick Journal, open the Quick Journal Entry window. From the main menu select Transactions >> Financial >> Quick Journal.

Some of us may have heard that using the ActiveX components in Microsoft IE is a bad idea. The overall system design has a very bad reputation. This notion makes sense because there’s a real hole within the security system of a user’s local computer. If you change the security level in IE (allow create and execute ActiveX components) then your system can be compromised and some random code can be executed on your system.

However, this risk could be controlled. In IE, you can create a list of “trusted” sites and apply your special security settings only to this list of sites. In other words, you allow ActiveX component only when you visit one of the trusted sites. Moreover, you can set up and control these security settings by using your company’s security group policies.

The firm’s intranet sites with corporate Web applications are the most probable candidates to be included into the list of “trusted” sites. If you control IE security settings and use ActiveX in your Web application on a “browser” side, it gives you a really powerful tool to create rich Web applications.

ActiveX can be used as a bridge between your Web application and software or even hardware on your workstation.

Basically, you can do the following from your Web application pages:

jQuery is the most popular javascript library today.  It is used by over 46% of the 10,000 most visited websites on the Internet and we, the Development Team at WebSan, use it extensively.

jQuery is designed to be cross browsers compatible with syntaxes to make it easier to manipulate the DOM elements and allows the creation of powerful and dynamic webpages.

The following snippets of codes shows how with a few lines of codes you can do a lot.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

PHP is one of the most versatile programming languages for building web applications.   However, one of the problems with PHP is that there is more than one way to do the same thing.  This might not sound like a problem, but PHP's ease of use is also its downfall.  Because there are less restrictions on the structure of the code you write, it's much easier to write bad code. The solution to this problem is to use a framework and design pattern such as Model, View, and Controller (MVC).

There are many PHP frameworks out there.  Here, at WebSan, one of the PHP frameworks we use regularly is Codeigniter.  The reason is that it is well documented, small footprint, exceptional performance and has a large user community.

Here are some resources to get started with Codeigniter:

Tutorials:
CodeIgniter From Scratch: Day 1, Nettuts.com - Getting Started With the Framework
CodeIgniter From Scratch: Day 2, Nettuts.com - Database Selecting Methods
CodeIgniter From Scratch: Day 3, Nettuts.com - Sending Emails
CodeIgniter From Scratch: Day 4, Nettuts.com - Newsletter Signup

IBM developerWorks - Getting started with CodeIgniter

The foundations of ERP are found in manufacturing resource planning, traditionally used by companies which produced tangible goods in factories. The adoption of ERP and MRP systems was initially quite slow – management were content with the status quo and saw no reason to change what seemed to be working. However, the recession experienced in the late 1980s and early 1990s forced many companies to make a choice: Either find new ways of operating more efficiently and effectively, or go under. This created a massive boom in the ERP market, which lead to massive changes in the ways in which fundamental business operations were conducted, and those organizations that made it through the recession came out stronger.

North America is no longer the goods-producing collection of nations it once was and is instead dominated by service industries. However, many of the same problems that existed in manufacturing organizations twenty years ago still exist in these businesses: Lack of integration, inability to respond and take advantage of environmental change, time and money wasted on data entry and redundancies, and so on. Much like the recession twenty years ago, the economic downturn caused by the subprime mortgage crisis has forced many modern companies to find new ways of performing more effectively and efficiently.

This is the time to get ahead of the competition, and Microsoft Dynamics GP is the perfect solution for organizations looking for more than simple accounting and reporting features without high maintenance costs and complexity.

As promised from my last entry, I will be discussing SmartList functionality this time – how to use them to your advantage and how to build/modify your own.

SmartList in a nutshell is a powerful means of accessing your Dynamics GP data in simple to read form for reporting and analysis. They can be found right in the Microsoft Dynamics GP dropdown menu. There are predefined SmartLists for all modules, which means there is one for everybody. Examples of a few that come with the system are PA Cost Categories found in the Project Accounting folder and Open Purchase Orders, which is located in the Purchasing folder. Using a SmartList is as simple as clicking on the SmartList icon in the desired module. After the data is generated, you could then export to Excel for further data manipulation. There is also an option to export to Word if required.

If the standard SmartLists do not satisfy all of your analysis purposes, there is an add-on tool called SmartList Builder that allows you to customize the standard SmartLists as well as create your own to query a customized set of information. If available, the tool can be found in Micrsoft Dynamics GP-> Tools-> SmartList Builder->SmartList Builder. SmartList Builder allows you to link up to 32 tables in the system and configure your own column headings to suit your reporting needs. I will go through the steps of creating a new SmartList for my own purposes: Contract ID with Project ID and Project Name. To begin, name your SmartList and choose the Product that the data will come from. Project details are found in Project Accounting so that was the product I selected.

To start adding tables, simply click on the “+” symbol on the left panel and select “Microsoft Dynamics GP Table”. From there, you can choose and/or link up to 32 tables of your choosing to incorporate your desired set of data. There will be some research to be done in order to link the right combination of tables for your own purposes. The information I need is found in the PA Contract Master File and PA Project Master Files so I need to first add the PA Contract table and then link the Project Master table based on a common field (Contract ID):

I can then select the fields I require to be displayed in my dataset:

The Setup Checklist in Microsoft Dynamics GP is a great little tool to guide you in the configuration of a new client on the system because it provides a systematic and efficient list of tasks for a complete deployment. I found the tool to be excellent in ensuring the proper setup tasks were completed in the right order because many latter and complex tasks such as in modules such as Sales and Project are dependent on initial setup such as GL account creation and Currencies to be finished first.

When opening up the checklist using the path Microsoft Dynamics GP -> Tools -> Setup -> Setup Checklist, you will find a nifty Setup Guide that pops up right beside the Checklist. I found this to be very helpful in the explanation of the task at hand and how to find more information in the related links below the task description. Here is the Guide that appears when configuring System Security:

As you can see, after the brief task description follows a list of more information that the user can click to further learn about the task and its relationship and effect on various other functions. Since System Security is related to users directly, you would find links for personal security and security roles in links. I noted in my first entry that the Help menu does a superb job of providing necessary information when stuck on a task and it continues to be as I am continuing with my configuration duties.

One complaint that I do have so far is the inability to maximize every single setup window when doing configuration. Usually the first window in a path can be easily maximized (i.e. Account Maintenance) but say if you wanted to Lookup the accounts, the results list must be manually enlarged instead of using the window maximize button. Although a small complaint, I believe that one-click window maximization should be found on every drilldown window in the system for added convenience.

My next issue will cover the concept and handiness of Smartlists and how they can help you with your production in Dynamics GP. I will be sure to provide an example of a custom one and the type of data that can be derived from it.

As the newest member to the Dynamics GP Consulting practice at WebSan, it is my responsibility as a junior analyst to learn how the system works through Microsoft E-Learning and actual hands-on practice in QA environments. My goal with my blog entries is to take you through my learning process with the system. It is my intention to provide any new users or potential future users of the system an objective view of how I perceive and adapt to Dynamics GP.

Coming from a systems background with experience in ERP and warehouse management systems, the first thing that came to mind when interacting with Dynamics GP initially was how easy it was on the eyes. This is an attribute that many software developers neglect because they fail to think like a user. I personally believe that more appealing GUI’s are successful than their bland counterparts in the efficiency department. Nobody likes monochrome work environments.

I’ve also found the navigation to be very intuitive. I have been able to get where I need to go in my basic training exercises in usage and configuration. The help menu has been doing a great job covering any questions I had. Any challenging issues I have definitely had to inquire a senior analyst. Although the software has an accounting backbone and I don’t come from an accounting background, I did not have much difficulty accomplishing basic tasks such as setting up GL accounts or running reports.

I am currently working through the configuration of a new WebSan client on Dynamics GP. My next blog entry will describe my experience with it, including any challenges and lessons learned. Stay tuned!

Steven Lu
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
416-499-1235 x.209

In the first volume of this series, we discussed one of the key advantages a well-designed warehouse management system (WMS) delivers – visibility of inventory. For volume two we will touch upon the direct correlations between an effective WMS and increased customer service.

By implementing the appropriate WMS solution to fit your warehousing needs, you are telling your customers through your actions that, “Hey, we really do care that you get your product on time and in an accurate fashion”. It’s one thing to promise your customers that you can do something for them and another to keep that promise.

The simple concept of customer service is very often confused and misplaced in a world full of fancy gadgets and new-age business theories. At the end of the day, just make them happy; it’s really all they ask for.

A WMS increases customer service directly through:

• Improved warehouse organization
  • Efficient usage of warehouse space means lower storage and overhead costs. This translates into a competitive advantage you can leverage to provide more attractive pricing to customers

• A return system that actually works
  • An ineffective return merchandise authorization (RMA) program is as frustrating to customers as misleading promotional deals. A returns processing applet is typically integrated in a well-designed WMS

• Better inventory accuracy
  • If a customer needs to order a product and your website says that it’s available then you should be making sure this is true. A WMS increases inventory visibility, which reduces the number of stock-out confusions
  • By forecasting inventory trends, buyers can determine when a demand spike for certain products will arise and make appropriate purchases to support it

• Faster order cycle times
  • A WMS is not only software – it is a complete integrated system that works with your ERP system. RF devices can be incorporated to increase order-fill rates. Shipping stations can be established with shipping partners for automation and shipment management

Vernon Johnson is a warehouse management specialist at WebSan Solutions Inc. He can be reached at 416-499-1235.