It is an incredibly rare and possibly even unique accomplishment for one story to have captivated and kept the attention of millions (billions?) since the release of the first film in 2001. Each subsequent film has built on the core success of the prior, while improving and adding new characters and story lines. 

Microsoft purchased Great Plains that same year, 2001, and ever since the Dynamics GP product has similarly captivated the ERP marketplace. Now in its 11^th release with GP2010, this highly acclaimed business software solution has continued to deliver superior functionality and performance. 

Similar to the Potter movies, Dynamics GP has improved upon its initial version with every subsequent release. This ERP solution remains timely, relevant, and popular – especially the GP2010 version with its incredible array of business intelligence and analytic features that include a business analyzer tool, dashboard metrics, and ad hoc reporting. And the future looks even more promising with the GP 2012 and beyond releases in the planning.

Today, even after ten years, Dynamics GP is considered the leading ERP software in the mid market. That in and of itself is an amazing piece of wizardry 

By the Knaster Technology Group, Colorado Microsoft Dynamics GP Gold Certified Partner

Harry Potter Ends But Dynamics GP Is Still Going Strong! is a post from: ERP Software Blog

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The premise of these fictional short stories (by author Marvin Miller) is for the reader to decide the guilt or innocence of the party in question based on the facts presented for each crime committed.

Relative to accounting software,  I can think of no bigger crime than ERP implementation failure. Who is to blame when it occurs, often over and over again?

Over the course of the next several blogs that is for you to decide!

The facts of this case are as follows: Mountain States Entertainment Corporation (MSEC) is a privately held company headquartered in Castle Pines, Colorado.  They own several regional local movie theatres, golf courses and restaurants. Their annual revenues are around $30 million and they employ 150 people. Growth has been robust – increasing about 20 to 25% per year over the past three years.

In 2008, as a startup company, they selected QuickBooks Enterprise (a crime in and of itself!) as their ERP solution – based on the ill advice of a now defunct financial advisory firm. MSEC quickly outgrew the capabilities of this entry level solution and realized it was not going to efficiently or effectively manage their future information technology needs, business processes or reporting requirements.

As a result, their newly appointed president tasked an in-house  committee to assess and select a new accounting software solution and provider.  Over the course of many months several meetings were held.

Finally, in June of 2010 a new ERP system was selected and went live later that summer but, to the dismay of all, by winter that same year the ERP implementation was declared a major disaster.

What went wrong?  Who is to blame for the ERP implementation failure?  That is for you to decide!

Each committee member was interviewed by the president to explain their role in this debacle.  Their key remarks will be presented over the next several blogs for your analysis and verdict..

Up first: the assistant controller – Julian

“ I personally don’t get why everyone is so upset.  When I was asked to provide my list of key items for software selection, I made it very clear to the committee that we could easily adapt our business processes to work with whatever ERP system was selected. So it wasn’t important to mention them all; given the flexibility of the ERP systems of today I was sure any one of them could easily do what I needed done.  And if not, so what – we would just change how we do things to accommodate any nuances of the new system.”

Is Julian guilty or innocent of contributing to the MSEC ERP implementation failure?

You be the Jury! (Provide your verdict and rationale using the comment section)

Next blog will reveal the results

By: The Knaster Technology Group, Colorado based Microsoft Gold Certified Partner

An ERP Implementation Failure Story – You be the Jury! (Part 1) is a post from: ERP Software Blog

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The applicability of the rule (what exactly should be considered a bunker) has generated considerable conversation, but the fairness of the penalty ruling hasn’t.  The golfer should have known the rules.

Often times in a new ERP implementation, certain rules need to be followed so as not to incur “penalties” (aka a failed implementation) at the completion of the process. They are as follows:

• Planning: Implementing an ERP solution like Microsoft Dynamics GP2010 involves considerable upfront thought. Much like a golfer selects the right club for each shot on each hole, the client and his implementation partner must select the right module for each phase of the implementation. Dynamics GP business ready licensing offers an amazing array of choices, but all are not relevant in every situation.  Careful selection of the modules of immediate relevance and benefit will prevent the implementation from going rough.
• Execution: Upfront planning does not guarantee proper execution. Follow through on each task is key to ensuring that each implementation milestone is successful and on budget.  For me, the key is acquiring/providing adequate training to the end users who are ultimately responsible for the success of the ERP implementation.  Creating confidence through knowledge transfer is ultimately what allows each person, regardless of role, to accept and endorse the use of the new ERP system.
• Finish: Go live or system cutover should never be considered the final stroke.  Rather, it is more the beginning of the next round of the implementation, which is realizing the benefits of the software and services purchased. Constant monitoring of user satisfaction and speedy resolution of unanticipated issues creates an environment of mutual satisfaction and rapid acceptance of the new system.

Simply putt (sorry I couldn’t resist!), following these simple rules will guarantee your ERP implementation does not get grounded.

By The Knaster Technology Group, Colorado award winning Microsoft Dynamics GP partner  since 1989

3 Rules For Avoiding ERP Implementation Penalties is a post from: ERP Software Blog

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This highly anticipated next release of Dynamics GP (scheduled for May 2010) is based on three broad “pillars” or principles : enhance insight, make it easier and extend connections. All three principles have valuable benefits; this blog will focus on those associated with Insight.

Insight – the ability to see clearly and intuitively into the nature of a complex person, situation, or subject. This common definition provides a good starting point in understanding the underlying value of the Insight objective.  Within this category are three core benefits that succeed at providing more visibility to meaningful and relevant  data within the business organization: 

• Delivers role tailored insight
• Streamline access to information
• Enables advanced business intelligence capabilities 

Delivers role tailored insight. The ability to see clearly and intuitively into the nature of a person.  Or more so in this case, the ability of a person to interact more effectively with the business solution based on their role within the business institution. Over time it is natural for business systems to become more complex, sometimes as the expense of relevancy.  Not all information is needed by all (unless you are an organization of one). Rather, each person within a business enterprise typically performs a few distinct roles and gaining access to just that specific information is what enables a person to perform their job effectively.  Dynamics GP 2010 allows users to dictate exactly what information is relevant to them while eliminating distracting data that isn’t.

Streamline access to information. The ability to see clearly and intuitively into the nature of a situation. Role tailored insight addresses relevancy, streamlined access addresses efficiency.  Executives need to be able to quickly react to ever changing conditions within the business ecosystem and therefore need easy access to information.  The home page within Dynamics GP 2010 can display over 100 metrics that measure financial health and provide a real time situational analysis of the organization.  From these “in your face” analytics, decisions can me made quickly, so that corrective action can occur timely.

Enables advanced business intelligence capabilities. The ability to see clearly and intuitively into the nature of a subject. The goal of business intelligence is to maximize your knowledge regarding a certain topic. Imagine hundreds of visual cues available within SharePoint or reports within Excel that on the surface provide a high level recap of areas such as cash position or past due receivables while also allowing users to drill back to the underlying detail within GP 2010 for further analysis.  Executive dashboards, key performance indicators, SQL reporting services – all of these provide customizable views of data that allow for countless hours of productive analysis.

Is Dynamics 2010 the new way to do business?  Without a doubt the answer is yes and I would also add that it is the only way for businesses seeking growth, profitability and success.

By The Knaster Technology Group, Denver, Colorado Microsoft Gold Certified Dynamics GP Partner for over twenty years

Why Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 Is The New Way To Do Business! is a post from: ERP Software Blog

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I asked my many clients who had been using Dynamics GP (Great Plains) for over 10 years to share the secrets of their “love affair” with Great Plains and why they have remained faithful to this “relationship” for so many years.  These were some of the answers they shared:

Open communication.  Dynamics GP has always in one form or another provided various means to easily communicate with other applications. Be they legacy or productivity, importing information for efficient data entry or exporting information for additional analysis are features customers truly appreciate to accommodate their goal of a better together solution which marries the front office, back office and other day to day applications.

Reliability.  Trust in the integrity of the system was of paramount importance to many. Knowing that the original transaction details (accessible via drill downs and audit trails) stay intact from the initial source document through the financial statement promotes great confidence in the financial reports.

Growth.  Like people, business software changes over time and accepting and benefiting from those changes is key to the success of any long term relationship.  Loyal Dynamics GP users know that each new release (Dynamics GP 2010 for example) not only improves upon existing functionality but more importantly provides additional business intelligence that allows the user to make educated decisions impacting the profitability of the company.

Freedom.  Allowing each user to pursue their own interests creates a tight bond between the individual and the software solution. Dynamics GP promotes usability specific to the role of the individual within the organization.  This allows the user to become “one” with the software, providing the flexibility necessary to effectively and timely accomplish day to day tasks.

Supportive.  Perhaps tops on the list was partnering with a value added reseller who truly understood the needs and desires of the client. In (business) sickness and in health,  the knowledge and support provided by the reseller often is the key to the longevity of the relationship and the successful implementation and ongoing maintenance and applicability of the Dynamics GP solution. Here at the Knaster Technology Group we have, for over twenty years, fostered relationships of mutual success with all of our clients.

By Barry Knaster of The Knaster Technology Group, Denver, Colorado Microsoft Gold Certified Dynamics GP Partner for over twenty years and loving every minute of it.

Dynamics GP – Love at First Sight! is a post from: ERP Software Blog

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I am sure that sorting through the actual facts of this bizarre incident will take quite some time, but with Halloween just about a week away I thought it timely to address some hoaxes and rather scary misconceptions about ERP software that often trick the unsuspecting buyer into making a frightening decision. 

Trick: ERP software is meant to only last 4 to 5 years. After that companies should plan on acquiring a new business software solution.

Treat: I have many clients on Dynamics Great Plains with 15+ years using the solution. They initially started with the DOS or MAC version, upgraded to Windows and ultimately implemented  Business Portal and other business intelligence analytic tools.  Dynamics GP continues to provide these companies the information necessary for critical and profitable decision making. 

Trick: Software as a service (SAAS)  is the wave of the future so it’s time to replace your premise based solution with cloud computing.

Treat: While it is true that SAAS solutions provide an alternate means of ERP deployment, the reality is that market share continues to grow for those products that can combine premise based solutions with cloud computing options. Dynamics GP can provide software plus services, giving the end user the choice to enable multiple methods of data access, processing and maintenance. 

Trick: Dynamics GP is going away and will be replaced by other Microsoft solutions.

Treat:  Microsoft continues to invest in future releases, Version 11 is set to release next Spring/Summer. While no one can accurately predict the end of a product life cycle, the announced plans for Dynamics GP extend far beyond the immediate future. 

Trick: QuickBooks Enterprise

Treat: No matter how you slice and dice it, QBE is a not a mainstay ERP solution capable of managing the complex business processes and data reporting needs of a robust mid market organization As your business grows in complexity, it will rapidly outgrow the inflexibility and inadequate business intelligence typical of a QuickBooks product.   Several other blogs on this site provide further detail regarding, but the good news is that migrating or trading up to the more robust Dynamics GP is a fairly straightforward  and cost effective process.  The Knaster Technology Group has transitioned over 50 customers from QuickBooks and not a single one has looked back and wondered why they did it. 

By The Knaster Technology Group, Denver based Microsoft Gold Certified Dynamics GP Partner

Don’t Get Tricked, Discover the Treats of Microsoft Dynamics GP! is a post from: ERP Software Blog

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In the midst of all this excitement, I find myself distracted by being the finalist in an RFP process to provide software and services for a new Dynamics GP ERP implementation.  This Colorado based prospect is evaluating business software solutions from six different accounting software vendors, all who have had to go through a rigorous 2 round elimination process before the final two business software solutions are selected. This week I will found out if the Microsft Dynamics GP solution makes the cut as one of two finalists. 

Many of the blog posts on this site explain what factors to consider when evaluating a new ERP solution. I consider the RFP process the LEAST effective strategy for identifying the appropirate accounting software and business intelligence solution for your business. Here are my three strikes against the RFP process: 

• Business software should be selected based on business benefits, not features.  Often times an RFP contains dozens of pages listing every feature imaginable, whereas the response is typically a “yes” or “no” or (my personal favorite) “some customization required”  You should not compare and evaluate alternate solutions strictly on features.  The key are the benefits achieved from implementing the ERP solution, not the features offered. 
• Diagnostic Analysis (Discovery) is mistimed.  As mentioned in my prior blogs, upfront discovery is necessary for a successful ERP software implementation.  But it is just as important to undergo business process review prior to initiating the accounting software evaluation process. How else do you know what questions to even ask the vendors?  Most often, a fault of the RFP process is that it precedes the opportunity for the software vendor to do significant discovery. As a result, answers to the RFP questions are often rote and lack substance.  Even in those cases where the vendor is provided an upfront question and answer session, it usually does not provide the deep dive necessary to get a really good handle on the business problems and pain that the new ERP solution needs to solve.
• I am sure this statement will come as a surprise to some, but not all ERP vendors provide completely honest responses to the RFP queries.  Some inflate the features of their proposed business solution, just to get past the first round. Then during the next stages of discovery and demonstration they hope to make a business case for their product.  So proof of concept (a fancy name for a demonstration) is still ultimately necessary to ensure that the business software solution can do what the vendor states.  So why go through all the prerequisites, if you will end up needing visual proof anyway. 

So if your business is considering a new ERP solution like Microsoft Dynamics GP (Great Plains) I would suggest these alternatives before considering issuing an RFP.  First, talk to the business peers in your industry; find out what accounting software packages they use.  Second, question your accounting firm and other business advisors for what solutions they recommend.  And last, do your own research.  There are numerous sources of great information with wonderful information, akin to the Microsoft web site and this ERP Software Blog. Not only will you save the considerable expense and effort of committing to the RFP process, but the information gained most likely will be more valuable and relevant; assuring you of a picking the right winner based on merit and not chance.

 By The Knaster Technology Group, Denver based Microsoft Gold Certified Dynamics GP Partner

One…Two..Three Strikes against the RFP process for selecting ERP software is a post from: ERP Software Blog

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Microsoft has jumped on this bandwagon also, offering varying incentives for “trading in” your existing ERP solution for Dynamics GP (Great Plains) One such offer is the switch and save rebate for MAS 90/200, which gives existing SAGE customers the opportunity  to trade in their existing system for a brand, spanking new, Dynamics GP system. Other Microsoft offers provide discounts and rebates for purchasing new ERP systems of a certain user size. 

Cost savings aside, there are several other benefits to trading in your existing ERP software for a new Dynamics GP system:

• Improved technology, based on the latest industry innovations
• Accessible and meaningful business intelligence and dashboard metrics
• Streamlined, role-based user interfaces that promote efficient day to day processing
• Reporting tools for the end user, not programmers
• Easy sharing of information with other industry leading technologies like Microsoft Word, Excel and Sharepoint 

The time has never been better to consider trading in your existing ERP system for Dynamics GP.                                    Doing so puts you in the driver’s seat and on the road to more effective and efficient utilization of your critical business information.

By The Knaster Technology Group, Colorado Microsoft Dynamics GP Partner

Cash for Clunkers – Time to Trade in Your old ERP software? is a post from: ERP Software Blog

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I mention this because in the business software world, we have a tendency to over rely on rankings or surveys that position a particular enterprise (ERP) software solution as the leader or favorite. When I meet with a new prospect, I am often asked to provide collaborative evidence of how the Microsoft Dynamics GP solution stacks up against the competition, as if by doing so all other decision criteria become less important.  And yes, in my sales “toolkit” I have access to numerous studies and can cite various sources that rank Great Plains as the top middle market solution, but I find competing solutions can dig up some survey from somewhere that also shows their solution as the top choice.  Rankings by their very nature have some built in degree of subjectivity, as much as they may claim otherwise. Ease of use, user interfaces, even specific module features; these are all attributes that leave some room for interpretation. Plus, they don’t consider the unique needs of your business, so many of the attributes or features rated may not even be applicable to your situation.

So when asked, the Knaster Technology Group does willingly provide our prospects this information, but with the caveat that it be not be taken out of context or overemphasized.  Rankings may be important, but they represent only a small portion of what needs to be considered when evaluating enterprise accounting systems.  And they are certainly not a replacement for upfront discovery and proof of concept demonstrations which more closely determine business fit. Only after going through this process of due diligence can you properly determine if the Dynamics GP (Great Plains) solution is second to none.

by Knaster Technology Group – Colorado Microsoft Dynamics GP Partner

Microsoft Dynamics GP is Second to None is a post from: ERP Software Blog

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Because of quick action, most likely this health crisis will be over quickly.  But for the typical business owner or corporate executive, monitoring the financial health of their business is an everyday necessity that never ends. The success of any business is impacted by the economy, competitors, customers, employee issues and social change. Keeping current on and reacting to these ever changing factors often spells the difference between financial success and failure.

Microsoft Dynamics GP (Great Plains) provides numerous tools that efficiently access this critical business intelligence. These include key performance indicators, dashboard views and reports, analysis cubes and forecasting. These data monitoring gauges provide up to date information on the financial health of the business, so that rapid fire decision making can help mitigate negative trends (decreasing sales) or items of concern (increasing receivables).  Monitoring this business intelligence daily gives business owners and financial executives the upper hand they need to prevent the widespread outbreak of their own financial calamity.

By The Knaster Technology Group – Colorado Microsoft Dynamics GP Partner

Business intelligence – its contagious! is a post from: ERP Software Blog

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