Prior to the start of a Dynamics GP product demonstration recently, I was in the conference room of a prospect, chatting with Dave, their IT guy.  While I was setting up my laptop and projector for the demo, Dave was busy working with his new smartphone.  I was waiting for everything on my system to spool up, and I asked Dave how he liked his new phone.

“This thing is awesome!  It’s super stable, lightning fast, and does everything I need it to do.  I could not be happier”.  Dave then proceeded to show me some of the really cool applications he had purchased for the phone, to personalize it to work exactly the way he needed.  “I really like that the phone and its basic system is all created by just one company, which means everything works really well.  Then the apps community can create those really specific, really cools tools for some very specialized tasks, and I can choose which ones I want to purchase and use.  It really is the perfect system”.

At this point, the rest of the prospect’s project team entered the conference room, and we got started with the demo.  The prospect’s business model (they are in the entertainment industry) was somewhat unique, and during my preparation for the demo, I had added a few modules from the Dynamics GP Independent Software Vendor (ISV) community.  From purchase requisitions to the tracking of royalties and rights, these specific business needs were perfectly met with these 3^rd party products.

During the course of the demo, as I introduced each of the ISV solutions that had been included in the demo, I indicated that while these modules were written by a 3^rd party vendor, but with the same tools and code as the base Dynamics GP package. Each solution was “Certified for Microsoft Dynamics,” after extensive testing and evaluation by Microsoft.  Dynamics GP is a popular platform for development by ISVs, and has been for many years.  Many of the modules and functions within the current Dynamic GP 2010 have their origins in the ISV world.  Microsoft recognizes that these tools and modules add significant value to the overall system, and they have purchased many of these solutions, incorporating them into the core system.

At the conclusion of the demo, Dave pulled me aside to let me know that he was very much against the idea of purchasing a solution that depended on the work of 3^rd party developers.  I reminded Dave of his new smartphone, and the new apps that he had purchased and installed.

“Dave, if you stop to think about it, your new smartphone and Dynamics GP have a lot in common.  Both products are easy to use and learn, right out of the box, and you don’t have to worry about stability or performance.  Both products have a strenuous process for the submission and approval of new ‘apps’, since they must be written in the approved tools and code.  Why do you support this model for your new smartphone, but you are reluctant to deploy it with Dynamics GP?  It’s the same model, and Dynamics GP has been using it for years!”

By TMC, your Southern California Dynamics GP partner

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Switching to a new ERP program, like Microsoft Dynamics GP (Great Plains), presents great opportunities within your company for increasing efficiency, improved reporting and analytics, and reducing the overall costs of operations.  You have successfully completed the software evaluation process and signed the contracts.  Should be smooth sailing from this point forward, right?  Not so fast.  In many ways, the toughest part of a companywide software implementation is just beginning. Your software Implementation project will take time, hard work from everyone involved, and the dedication of your project team.  By following these four guidelines, you will have a much easier time with your implementation.

1.     Take small steps to implementation

2.      Focus on the long term benefits of the implementation

3.      Don’t make the new software feel like the old software

4.      Be flexible with the implementation plan

Every company, and every software implementation, is a little different.  Each circumstance may require small adjustments, and these will continue as the project moves forward.  Beginning with the initial project scoping, requirements gathering and gap analysis, thru the pilot program, user and system testing, your overall project perspective should be focused on achieving your primary goals and objectives.  Be prepared for the small deviations that will inevitably occur, and do not let the overall project get derailed. ERP Implementation projects can be successful by working together and focusing on the overall benefits of the new system you will achieve.

To read this complete blog, go to TMC

By TMC, your Los Angeles Dynamics GP partner

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We get one of these questions time and time again:  “Help, my Board wants me to move off of QuickBooks,  What does Dynamics GP give me that my QuickBooks doesn’t?” , or “I have outgrown QuickBooks and don’t know what to do! ” Over the years Microsoft has had a tremendous success in helping customers migrate from QuickBooks to Dynamics GP.  For good reason.  Dynamics GP fits companies that are growing and need the additional functionality to manage their business.  They  need to produce Financial Statements by location/division, or keep track of inventory in multiple warehouses. Dynamics GP steps in and provides users with additional functionality, enabling their businesses to be more productive and efficient.  Most companies while going through growth and change find  converting to a new software application intimidating.  Microsoft Dynamics GP wins here again.   Although it has a lot more bells and whistles than QuickBooks, Microsoft by making their user interface similar to the Office Suite, has reduced the learning curve, enabling companies to convert and get up and running quickly without disrupting their business.   Finally, by working with an organization such as TMC to convert your data turnkey ,  it seems to reason that Microsoft has had tremendous success in this market.

If that wasn’t enough, Microsoft has just decided to sweeten the pot.   They have just released a new promotion called “Stimulate Your Business – Trade Up to Microsoft Dynamics ERP”.  This promotion is an escalating trade-in value based on the Microsoft Dynamics GP edition and number of users a customer purchases.

The offer is summarized as follows:

Purchase one Foundation Pack and 3 additional Business Ready Licenses (BRL) BE or AM user license and receive a trade in value on each new Microsoft Dynamics GP user license up to the following:

There are a few notes, inclusions and exclusions, but nothing to be concerned about.  This is an amazing offer!  So amazing we decided to go viral with it on Youtube.   So, if you want to have a little fun, watch the Youtube video, then call us, and see if the promotion is a smart move for your business.

by TMC, Southern California Microsoft Dynamics GP Partner

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Did you know that paper accounts for nearly 25% of all landfill waste? That’s an awful lot of trees that are cut down for paper that is used once and  discarded.  Wouldn’t it be nice to help lessen the toll on the environment while at the same time increasing the productivity of your business? Well, when there’s a will, there’s a way, and that way is Microsoft Dynamics GP (Great Plains). 

Microsoft Dynamics GP allows you to move all your business’ routine tasks such as timesheets, expense reports and other financial reports online. Moving these reports online significantly decreases your overall paper usage and saves the environment!  In addition to routines, Microsoft Dynamics GP allows you to implement workflows that go directly to department managers or other decision makers in the company.  By making use of the SharePoint server, managers can easily route all purchase orders, sales orders and other important documents directly to  those designated on the workflow chain.  Once final approval is met, the document is finalized leaving an audit trail of approvals, without any paper.

In addition to improving business operations, Microsoft Dynamics GP makes life a lot easier for Human Resources departments.  It allows your management staff to view all important files such as skill certifications and resumes thus eliminating the hassle of searching through files strewn across an office.  Once in the system, Business Alerts and Reminders can notify you when certifications are coming due.

 Since paperwork is no longer a necessity, access to information can be gained from anywhere.  Managers gain the ability to remotely access all important information and make it available to all qualified employees, customers or vendors. With Microsoft Dynamics GP’s built in security access, all files are protected, no matter where they are accessed from. 

Microsoft Dynamics GP (Great Plains) is the smart choice for your business and it’s the right choice for the environment. 

Learn more at www.abouttmc.com a Southern California Microsoft Gold Certified Partner specializing in Microsoft Dynamics GP and a cleaner, greener environment.

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Stila Cosmetics,  a global beauty brand headquartered in Glendale, Southern California, went live  on Dynamics GP. The entire project was implemented in less than 6 weeks by Microsoft Dynamics Inner Circle and Presidents club partner  Ignify. Stila was previously on a hosted version of Oracle eBusiness ERP. They were paying a very high fee in the range of $10,000 a month and wanting to lower the total cost of ownership of the ERP system. As its contract with Oracle came up for renewal, Stila started looking at other ERP alternatives and looked at the Microsoft Dynamics ERP platform as well as the Sage MAS 500 ERP from Sage Software. Stila evaluated the systems on cost, performance, usability and functional fit with its needs which were fairly complex. Stila required:

-          Robust financials, inventory management, order management and purchasing functionality

-          EDI Integration to accept orders from its retail customers such as Nordstroms, Macys, Sephora.

-          Ability to integrate the ERP with its 3PL warehouse facility to send it sales orders and purchase orders and receive back shipment notifications  and purchase order receipts so the inventory could be up-to-date.

-          Ability to bring in sales orders from their online direct to consumer retail store to Dynamics GP, allocate the orders with appropriate inventory and process them for shipment from Dynamics GP.

-          Sub-contractor management to be able to track inventory across multiple sub-contractors, reflect the increase in inventory value as it went through the different manufacturing processes and send material to sub-contractors who would do the labor and assembly work required and send the finished product to the 3PL warehouse for shipment to the customer.

Stila selected Microsoft Dynamics GP for its ability to meet all of the above requirements with out of the box functionality,  strong integration capability to meet its needs to interface with its 3PL web store and user-friendly look and feel that worked and felt like Microsoft outlook.

The project kick off was done in the early part of June.  Ignify brought together a team of a GP Functional consultant, a Dynamics GP integration  specialist who had expertise on eConnect and a Project Manager. A discovery was completed in a week after kick off using the accelerated Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step methodology to document the requirements for all major areas including Finance, Distribution, Purchasing and Manufacturing. Following the discovery, Ignify configured Dynamics GP to Stila’s requirements in a week and walked the key Stila team members through conference room pilots showing how the system would work for them. The configuration was refined and documented in a functional specification so that Stila had system documentation for posterity. Ignify began two parallel streams: 1. data migration to bring in master data for customers, vendors, items and chart accounts and transaction history and 2. Integration between the 3PL and Dynamics GP using the native eConnect interface.  The data migration and integration were completed on  test environments before they were done on the production environment.  Based on inputs from the conference room pilot, a final Dynamics GP configuration master was created and loaded with the data for training. The Stila team was trained over a 1 week period and completed user acceptance testing the following week to work through any issues. Stila went live in the week after the July 4th holiday – a schedule that was well under 6 weeks from kick off to go-live.

According to Sandeep Walia, President of Ignify : “Stila had an incredibly tight schedule to go-live and fairly complex requirements with approximately 10 different types of transactions that needed to be integrated with different external systems. However the rich out of the box functionality that Dynamics GP brings to the table with its powerful integration capabilities made the project feasible at a very reasonable cost.”

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