Microsoft Dynamics GP – there’s an App Store coming for that.

At the annual Worldwide Partner Conference, currently underway, Microsoft has announced that the Microsoft Apps Store for Dynamics ERP and CRM will open in September 2010.  In the announcement, Microsoft stated that the Apps Store for Dynamics ERP and CRM will be “an online catalog” that “will streamline solution discovery for customers, and will provide an easy way for partners to market and distribute solutions to Microsoft Dynamics CRM and ERP customers”.

Reading a little into this, I would expect to see a searchable database of ‘apps’ written by the Microsoft Dynamics ERP and CRM independent software vendors (ISV’s) in a  fashion similar to what is currently available to the Microsoft partner channel, through the Solution Finder.  That site, however, is a search and link only site ( no commerce capabilities) and it is not available to the customers of Dynamics ERP and CRM products.  The new App Store will be open to both partners and customers, and should include all of the search and link functions, as well as the ability to purchase and download the apps.

In a previous blog post, I referred to the solutions provided by the ISV community as apps, and pointed out that this model had been in place within the Dynamics GP community for many years.  Now, Microsoft has formalized that approach with this announcement about the upcoming Microsoft Apps Store for Dynamics ERP and CRM.

To learn more about TMC and Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010.

By TMC, your Southern California Dynamics GP partner

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For many people, the distribution industry is viewed as simply “buy stuff, store stuff, and sell stuff”.  How much does it take to really manage a distribution business?  The answer, not surprisingly, is “how successful do you want your distribution business to be”?  When should I buy new items?  Is it time to off-load that stale-dated inventory?  Who was responsible for buying that stale stuff in the first place?  Who are my best customers?  Who are my worst customers?

With Microsoft Dynamics GP, transparency is brought to all 3 sides of the distribution business:  Purchasing, Inventory Control, and Sales.  Dynamics GP provides key, timely insights to the movement of goods throughout your system.  When this information is delivered directly to the key decision makers, your company will realize significant benefits.

Purchasing

                Time to buy more?  Use Dynamics GP desktop reminders to be alerted to low-stock situations before they become out-of-stock disasters.  Use the Purchase Order Generator within Dynamics GP and let the system create replenishment purchase orders, based on the key item information regarding min/max levels, re-order points and purchase lead times.

                When will my purchases arrive?  Track your expected receipts in Dynamics GP and send alerts to the warehouse, notifying them of imminent arrivals on the receiving dock.

                What is the true cost of my purchases?  With Dynamics GP, you can track ALL of the associated costs, including freight, customs and duties, taxes and fees, as your items are received into the warehouse.  For many importers, these “secondary” costs can be equal to or even greater than the cost of the merchandise itself.

Inventory Control

                Time to count?  Waiting for an annual physical count of your inventory can result in costly mistakes and missed opportunities.  Use cycle counting and velocity ratings to identify those high-value and high-volume items, and count them more frequently.

                Where is it?  Dynamics GP provides inventory management down to the bin level.  Know precisely where in the warehouse your items are.  When a bin is emptied during the picking process, flag it for a cycle count, and then re-use that bin.

                Stale merchandise?  Identify items that are past their shelf-life.  Use promotional pricing to move soon-to-expire items out of the warehouse.  Automated notifications can be created to alert the warehouse manager and the sales team that items will be expiring soon, time to take some action and get them sold.

Sales

                Who are the best customers?  Who are my worst customers.  The answer here will vary, but a deep dive into margin analysis and profitability is key.  With Dynamics GP, these calculations are automatically generated.  Use these system metrics to identify customers for whom the cost of sales exceeds their profit contribution, and adjust your pricing and selling behaviors appropriately.

                Are my prices / margins right?  Well, sure, we lose money on every invoice, but we make it up on volume?  Periodic sales margin analysis reports can identify those products that need to be re-priced or re-sourced.

                Missed opportunities?  With Dynamics GP, sales analysis can be performed on your sales orders, not just your sales invoices.  This approach allows you to identify those “out-of-stock” situations that resulted in a lost sale.  Incorporate this information into your purchasing decisions, and don’t get caught “short” again.

With Microsoft Dynamics GP, transparency is built-in to the system.  By measuring all of the key aspects of a distribution business, Dynamics GP will provide the accurate, up-to-date information, directly to the decision-makers, needed to make the most out of any distribution business.  Embrace transparency, and your distribution business will benefit!

By TMC, your Southern California Dynamics GP partner.

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With the release of Dynamics GP 2010, Microsoft continues to enhance its flagship business application and its ability to support a wide variety of government agencies, NGO’s, and not for profits.  Enhanced reporting and analysis tools, support for international financial reporting standards (IFRS and XBRL), and general ledger reporting ledgers all make GP 2010 a great choice for government agencies and institutions.

Working with government agencies imposes additional requirements on the consulting partner.  From business-specific policies and procedures, as well as successfully navigating the request for proposal and contracting phases, it is vital that a competent and resourceful consulting partner be engaged.

Marina del Rey, CA  –April 29, 2010 –Technology Management Concepts, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and provider of Microsoft Dynamics GP and CRM solutions, today announced that it has been awarded an Information Technology Schedule 70 contract by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), the procurement arm of the federal government. The five-year contract streamlines the ability of Federal customers to purchase Microsoft Dynamics GP accounting software and TMC’s advanced IT consulting, systems development, and other IT related services.

The GSA establishes long-term, government-wide contracts with commercial vendors to streamline and standardize the process of procuring products and services for the entire federal government. TMC’s inclusion as a GSA Schedule 70 vendor enables all government agencies to obtain software products, support, training and consulting services at approved pricing and license terms from a trusted vendor.

The GSA Schedule 70 award is the culmination of a rigorous process in which the GSA carefully evaluates companies to determine their proficiency and suitability for providing products and/or services to the federal government. The assessment covers an array of a corporation’s capabilities, including organizational structure, performance history, customer satisfaction, and other criteria. In awarding TMC a GSA Schedule 70 contract, the federal government has determined that the company is recognized as a preferred vendor fully authorized to conduct business directly with federal government agencies.

“Technology Management Concepts is very pleased to make Dynamics GP and TMC’s services available through the GSA,” said Brenda Diener, Director Business Development at TMC. “By reducing the procurement challenge, our GSA Schedule 70 contract helps TMC and prospective government clients focus on what matters most, efficiently assessing and resolving critical IT challenges.”

For any governemnt agency that is required to use GSA-certified contractors (or any agency that follows the same guidelines), they now have a GSA certified consulting partner in Souther California.

By TMC, your Southern California Dynamics GP partner

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Microsoft has just concluded their annual event for customers, partners and software vendors.  Convergence 2010 was held in Atlanta, GA, from April 22^nd thru April 26^th, 2010, and Dynamics GP 2010 was the star of the show!  From the Main Stage, where “A New Way to do Business” with Dynamics GP 2010 was the featured product demo, to the multiple break-out sessions that focused on Dynamics GP 2010, to the ISV expo where all of the extensions and additional products were available for demos and discussions, Convergence is the “can’t miss this” opportunity to see everything new and exciting in the world of Dynamics GP.

With the launch of Dynamics GP 2010, Microsoft continues to add those features and functions that are absolutely necessary for companies operating in a global environment.  With support for both IFRS and XBRL reporting formats in Management Reporter, the new Reporting Ledgers for General Ledger, and the addition of 3 new workflows, Dynamics GP becomes an even better choice for multi-national and international businesses.

For many companies, one of the greatest challenges in deploying Dynamics GP in a multi-national environment has been the limited availability of various foreign languages.  TMC has recently been working with an ISV partner that has developed a very effective way to allow Dynamics GP to be used in virtually any language needed.  The tool used does not make any changes to the underlying software code, and relies on a set of “translation tables” to convert English words and phrases into the appropriate foreign language.  The new language overlay is used for all of the standard GP windows and forms, any 3^rd party or ISV windows and forms, and all printed outputs from Dynamics GP, including reports and documents.  The translation tables are editable by the end-user, so changes can be made to personalize the translations provided.  I was very impressed to see that this tool works well with the languages you would expect (French, Italian, German, for example), but also with languages that use completely different alphabets and symbols (Russion, Chinese, Arabic, etc).  This is a fantastic tool, for more details, please contact TMC at (310) 559 – 3982.

By TMC, your Southern California Dynamics GP 2010 partner

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Dynamics GP 2010 is now released to manufacturing.

Microsoft has announced that Dynamics GP 2010 has successfully completed its final testing and approvals, and has been released to manufacturing.  Dynamics GP 2010 is the latest version of Great Plains, replacing Dynamics GP 10.0, and will be available to new and existing customers on May 1^st, 2010.

Dynamics GP 2010 contains over 150 new features, including:

General Ledger Reporting Ledgers – Create three separate reporting ledgers (base, local and IFRS) within a single general ledger.  Journal entries can be created and posted that impact either one or all of the reporting ledgers.  When generating reports like trial balances and financial statements, choose which reporting ledger is appropriate.

Home Page Metrics – Over 100 metrics are available, and they now include a drill-down feature to see more detail.

Customized Email – Use email templates to create customized and personalized email messages for your customers and vendors.

Microsoft has invested over 100,000 hours of development and testing for Dynamics GP 2010, and has had a very successful Beta program with Dynamics GP 2010.  Beta customers typically experienced no major problems or issues with their GP 2010 systems, with many choosing to put GP 2010 directly into production.

Microsoft has integrated Dynamics GP 2010 even more tightly into Microsoft Office and Microsoft Sharepoint, taking what was an already impressive integration, and adding even more into Dynamics GP 2010.  With increased use of both Microsoft Office Word and Office Excel in reporting, the end-user experience is both more personal and more powerful.

With the upcoming release of Dynamics GP 2010, Microsoft is truly showcasing a “new way to do business”.

By TMC, your Southern California Dynamics GP partner.

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Why should you choose Microsoft Dynamics GP as your new ERP solution to your business needs?  How does quick implementation, ease of use, and the ability to efficiently cut costs and increase productivity sound?  Need more convincing?  Here are five reasons for choosing Microsoft Dynamics GP over other ERP systems.

1. Meet specific business needs

Microsoft Dynamics GP allows you to customize and integrate any daily business process into the system. Whether it is financial management, supply chain management, or manufacturing, Dynamics GP offers a bundle of features to make these tasks simpler and more efficient.

2. Easy to take advantage

Microsoft Dynamics GP easily assimilates into your daily operations, flawlessly integrating with other Microsoft products like Word and Outlook.  Specifically designed this way, Dynamics GP will reduce training time and implementation costs.  Employees will be able to focus on productivity, rather than sifting through endless piles of files and papers.

3. Fully personalized

Microsoft Dynamics GP allows you to fully personalize all of its features to better fit the way your business is run. Set up your business’ payroll system to be fully automated or create new windows to simplify a process or even integrate with other data sources and applications such as Microsoft .NET Framework.

4. Easy access to information

Microsoft Dynamics GP acts as remote server that can be accessed from any location by any authorized employee.  Data reports and spreadsheets can be viewed with drill-back views from Excel, SharePoint and Microsoft SQL Server.  With over 220 reports, data can easily be recorded, stored and accessed.

5. Advanced basic reporting

Utilizing advanced analytics will allow you to make smarter business decisions.  Microsoft Dynamics GP will allow you to share important data across your business through SQL Server Analysis Services.  Using built in models and analysis such as predictive modeling or shopping basket analysis will help take your business further.

Microsoft Dynamics GP is proven to be able to help your business become better organized and more cost effective, and with the upcoming release of Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010, more features will become available to help your business.

By TMC, your Southern Califiornia Dynamics GP Partner

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Please join John Hoyt from TMC for this informative overview of the new Dynamics GP 2010.  The webinar will be held on April 22, 2010, from 11:00 Am to 12:00 PM.

With May 1^st just around the corner, we are just weeks away from the official launch of Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010.  Packed with new features and enhancements, GP 2010 continues to extend the reach of GP throughout your organization, by delivering the critical information needed by decision makers directly to the desktop.  Using the extensive powers of Microsoft Office, GP information is now available in refreshable Excel-based reports, within eMail for reports and workflow activities, and via Sharepoint for remote access and collaboration efforts.  The enhanced insights now available to your entire workforce will streamline your operations, reduce the time required to deliver current information to your employees, and communications easier through workflows and system tasks and reminders.

Join TMC for this interactive webinar, celebrating the launch of Dynamics GP 2010.  This FREE webinar will focus on the new features and enhancements introduced in Dynamics GP 2010.

By TMC, your Southern California Dynamics GP partner

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With the release of Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 coming in May 2010, GP users are getting their first hands-on look at Management Reporter, the new replacement for FRx.

Management reporting plays a key role in performance management.  Displaying business results, performing variance analysis, comparing projections, and consolidating data from disparate general ledgers provides business users with the business insights they need to make timely and relevant decisions., Accurate and auditable reporting is also essential to regulatory compliance.

Wait a second………..Replacement for FRX?

Don’t panic………… FRx is NOT going away, at least not yet.  Management Reporter will eventually replace FRX entirely, but not for many years, probably around 2014.   However, I expect that by the time that rolls around, we will have all made the transition to Management Reporter, and the passing of FRx will have next to no impact.

But why replace one OF the best financial reporting tools around?  Well, in the immortal words of Tim “the Toolman” Taylor, “More Power!”

FRx has been around for nearly 30 years!  Simply put, Management Reporter takes everything you know and love about FRx, and adds a huge helping of More Power.  It is the difference between a Cessna prop plane and a Boeing 787 Dreamliner.  64-bit processes compared to a 16-bit process.  SQL Server database and an Access database.

The best news about all of this new power?  It is all behind the scenes, working hard to generate reports much faster, but the FRx user will never know!

All of the familiar building blocks of FRx are still present (and nearly all of your existing FRX Rows, Columns, and Reporting Trees will migrate to Management Reporter, with no need to re-write them).

Management reporter extends the proven functionality of FRX with new features including:

Cross-Enterprise business views – pull business information from multiple sources into one view of your business.

Easy and Secure Report Distribution – both static and dynamic reports can be generated and distributed via email, published in Report Libraries, with SQL Server Reporting Services and thru Excel.

Strong support for Regulatory Compliance – GAAP, IFRS, and Sarbanes Oxley compliant reporting are all supported with Management Reporter.

Easy creation and Customization of reports – designed for the end-user, Management Reporter reduces the workload on your IT and Accounting staff, empowering key decision makers to build and maintain their own reports.

Advanced Financial Intelligence – with the creation of hierarchies within the reporting trees, it is easy to view the business as a whole, or drilldown into specific business units and departments.  Continue drilling down to the account level, and even drill back into Dynamics GP to see the originating transactions!

By TMC, your Los Angeles and Southern California Dynamics GP Partner

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Sneak Peak – Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010

With the past few releases of Dynamics GP, Microsoft has made a concerted effort to extend the reach of the data created and stored in GP to all of the employees of the company.  Based on previous studies, a typical company may only have enough user licenses for 15% of their workforce, and it is not unusual for only half of these users to actively work within the GP system.  Under these circumstances, perhaps as many as 92% of the company’s workforce may have no regular or direct access to the ERP system, the source of the information they need to make business decisions.

In previous releases of Microsoft Dynamics GP, access to this vital company information was provided to the entire company thru such tools as dashboards and Key Performance Indicators via an internal web-site, Microsoft Sharepoint sites, Excel-based (and refreshable) reports, and many others.

Now, with the release of Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 set for May 1^st 2010, this effort reaches its’ next milestone.  With new features such as additional Microsoft Excel and new Microsoft Word reports that include extensive drill-back features, a replacement for FRx called Management Reporter, and a simplified deployment via Microsoft Windows Sharepoint Foundation, the transaction details and other vital information contained within Dynamics GP 2010 is now easily accessible by the entire workforce.  These reports can be refreshed at any time and accessed via remote tools such as a Internet Explorer, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Office, and Sharepoint sites.

This approach provides many benefits to your employees, but the two most significant are:

          1. The ability to see and refresh vital information at the request of the employee.  This facilitates the decision-making process using up to the minute information, while reducing the demands on the GP users to be the reporting engine for the entire company.

          2. Decision makers can now start by reviewing a summarized report, looking for those specific circumstances that require additional analysis and investigation, and then have complete drilldown capabilities to identify the cause of any anomaly.  These capabilities do not require a GP user License or direct access to the GP system, while still providing the information needed without any delays.

  Dynamics GP 2010 will even further extend the reach of the GP system, beyond all of the other employees of the company, out to the company’s Customers and Vendors.  GP 2010 will now include the capability to send out individualized, Word-based documents.  By creating various formats for such documents as Invoices and Purchase Orders in MS Word, and then associating the various Word template documents to individual customers or vendors (or specific classes of Customers and Vendors), GP 2010 can then send out groups of personalized documents, in a single action!

Imagine writing report and document templates in a familiar and powerful tool like MS Word and MS Excel!  This approach will greatly reduce the learning curve for report writing, and significantly remove the “fear of the unknown” induced by many other reporting tools.

By TMC, your Southern California Dynamics GP Partner

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In today’s highly competitive environment, managing your company’s resources is more important than ever. The days of holding a wet finger up to the wind are gone for good.

Most companies are very familiar with the creation and analysis of their quarterly and annual financial statements.  These documents are vital for the long-term view of a company’s results and their future prospects.  With Dynamics GP and FRx, these financial reports are very easy to create and distribute.

For a more immediate and detailed view of a company’s current position and near-term prospects, additional views of the company are needed.  Typically, these are expressed as ratios, and are collectively known as management metrics.  Return on investment (ROI), for example, is a tool commonly used to determine which investment option would yield the highest return.  By comparing the ROI of competing potential uses for the company’s resources, managers can identify the optimal investment strategy.

Building on the basic ROI model, a company can include a factor designed to identify and quantify the relevant risk factor on the investment options being considered.  Investments that yield a very high return may also include a very high risk component, and a prudent management team may choose to pursue an investment with a lower risk factor, accepting the slightly lower return that it will produce.

With Dynamics GP and the full complement of data analysis tools that is provides, your company can quickly adopt and benefit from a full range of these metrics.  By moving from a highly subjective world of “this investment feels right” to a more objective world of metric creation and analysis, the ability to “Manage by Metrics” will result in the identification of optimal strategies and the pursuit of appropriate opportunities.

Other Management Metrics that are supported by Dynamics GP include:

Financial Metrics:

• Assets under Management
• Claims Loss Ratio
• Operating Ratio
• Inventory Turns
• Current Ratio
• Quick Ratio

Business Metrics:

• Days Sales Outstanding
• Days Purchases Outstanding
• Days of Working Capital
• Days of Inventory Outstanding
• EBITDA

Implementing a complete business management solution like Dynamics GP will provide your management team the necessary data and business analytics tools needed to use key metrics to actively manage your business.

By TMC, your Los Angeles Dynamics GP Partner

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