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Dynamics CRM: Not your grandparent’s tool!
Think back to your last little project you had to do around your house or with your car. Maybe you were gardening, doing some landscaping, building a deck, or painting a room. Whatever the project was, you probably had to use some sort of tool, and most likely multiple tools, to accomplish the job. And if you are like me, you probably didn’t have the right tool at your fingertips causing you to stop and either go find the tool in the garage, go buy a tool, or worse yet, use a work around. Let’s face it, we’ve all been in similar situations and it gets frustrating when momentum is moving forward and the project comes to a standstill because you don’t have what you need when you need it.
How to Create a Multi-Company Smartlist in SmartList Builder
Smartlists are a tool within Microsoft Dynamics GP and provide an easy way to create ad-hoc reports and queries into an accounting system data without knowing other reporting tools (IE: SQL Reporting Services; Crystal Reports.) Several reasons why a company may want to create and use Multi-Company SmartLists:
Dynamics GP & CRM Integration Demystified – Part 1
Dynamics GP and CRM are the two most common Dynamics products in the U.S. which are sold together and setup in the same environment. Yet, most of the time, the discussion on the integration between these two systems is scheduled for a later time or in later phases of the project. It all depends on the requirements of the project. In my experience, having the integrations discussion early on resolves a lot of matters in terms of new processes and license costs. Any integration planned between these two systems requires planning and discussion between the different departments that plan on using it.
The Cloud is not as Scary as we thought, Right?
When you look up to the sky, what do you see? Blue sky, birds, clouds? I see a cloud and instantly think millions and millions of bytes of data. There is data all around us.
I was laying in my hammock the other weekend just admiring the world around me. Listening to the birds chirping, the bees buzzing, my koi pond waterfall flowing, and I found myself staring at the sky. Next thing I know, the tech geek came out of me and I started thinking about “the cloud” and all the bytes of data we have up in the cloud: pictures, documents, music, movies, etc. Think about this for a minute: We transfer data wirelessly from device to device with minimal interruption (for the most part I know). Data is passing around us all the time and we are oblivious to it because you cannot see it nor feel it. We don’t care where it is stored or how it gets to us, but what we do care about is that it is there when we need to pull it up from our devices.
Running SSRS Service Account as a Domain User
In order to access the variety of reports which CRM provides out of the box, or to access custom built reports from CRM Reporting Extensions (also known as the SRS Connector), you must be installed on a SQL server with SQL Server Reporting Services running. Generally, when setting up SQL Server Reporting Services, the Service Account which runs the service is set to the default of Report Server. When CRM Server and SQL are on two different servers it may produce an error message at the System Checks page when installing CRM Reporting services because of the Service Account. For security reasons, the best option is to have a domain user as the Service Account.
The future of Dynamics GP architecture – “GP Next”
Traditionally, ERP has been a large software package with a substantial server installation as well as a large client application. Along with the maintenance of the server components of ERP you would also have to maintain the client installations with regular updates and service packs. Even with MS Dynamics GP you have to maintain the client installations with service pack updates and new add-on installations, over years it has eased that process by way of auto application of the Service packs and using other MS systems like System Center. MS Dynamics GP is not a simple application. It has enterprise level functions to perform and needs to cater to different needs of various departments in an organization. Currently, we live in times where your applications auto update and the installation of apps on your mobile device can even be done by babies, so can this model of simple application management be replicated to Dynamics GP?
Moneyball your Business Using BI
The Art of Winning an Unfair Game or better known as Moneyball, is a true story about the Oakland Athletics baseball team and its general manager Billy Beane. It’s focus is the team's analytical, evidence-based, sabermetric approach to assembling a competitive baseball team, despite Oakland's disadvantaged revenue situation.
You may be reading this and ask “What does this have to do with me and my business?”
5 Steps to Selecting the Right Document Management System
How do you approach the selection of a new document management? That is a good question as there are many different ways you can evaluate document management systems. What I tell our clients is that the selection process for a document management system should be a more diligent process than other selection processes. The reason is that selecting the wrong document management system can be very burdensome to change.
I have come up with 5 Steps that I walk my clients through in order to select the right document management system that not only suit their needs, but also offers the most efficient way of doing things.
Analytical Accounting: What is it & How Can it Help My Business?
Do you feel like there is data that you could or should be analyzing? Is this data beyond your current chart of accounts (COA)? A great tool for tracking data that is beyond your COA is Microsoft Dynamics GP Analytical Accounting. This module within GP allows you to track your projects and funds by using Management Reporter, FRx, Smartlist and SQL Reporting Services.
How can a company tell if they need to add a segment to their COA or if Analytical Accounting will meet their needs?
