The answer to all of the above is YES.  For more than one attachment, simply create additional memos.  One attachment per memo is allowed.  The sample below shows a PDF document being attached to a memo. 

Easy as 1-2-3!

1. Click the memo button beside the invoice field.
2. Enter a code and description. 
3. Attach the file.

By Alan Niergarth, a Sage ERP software consultant for Socius.

• When to replenish a product
• How much you should order
• From whom you should order the item

The replenishment module uses many different formulas to predict the variables listed above. The replenishment tool gives suggestions for purchasing, but the user has the ultimate decision in what to buy.

Without going into detail of all the formulas that make up the replenishment values, I wanted to focus on 3 primary formulas that can be controlled by the user and form the basis of the replenishment calculations.

Daily Demand

This is the estimated daily demand of the item in the warehouse. This is calculated using the projected demand and the number of working days in a period. We can build different formulas for each item/warehouse combination. The demand formula is projecting future sales demand of the product using past sales history. We can also assign different weight factors for the analysis.

Projected Lead Time

This is the number of days to replenish the item. This can be calculated using the prior receipts from a primary vendor. This formula can also be weighted to help calculate an accurate lead time.

Safety Stock

This is the number of days you want to keep a quantity on hand. It is used for unexpected sales and potential delays in the receipt of items. For example, your safety stock formula may have a 5 day supply. The system calculates daily demand * 5.

There are other field values that are used in the final replenishment calculation than just the 3 above. Some of these are:

• Target order requirements from vendor
• Typical order cycle with a vendor. E.g. We do not want to run out of product if our typical order cycle with a vendor is 3 times a year.
• Trend percentages
• Replenishments costs
• Carrying costs

Putting these values together can create a very intelligent replenishment system if desired. Keep in mind, MAS 500 can also handle simple replenishment suggestions. If item A falls below 20, order to fill a maximum quantity. MAS 500 is flexible enough to handle a variety of replenishment needs.

By Jeff Steel, a Sage ERP software consultant for Socius.

eService Accelerator

The eService accelerator for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 provides customer self-service capabilities (via a web portal) as a configurable out-of-the-box offering.  The web self-service portal exposes the following CRM functions to customers:

• Customer authentication into the portal and workflows to manage the setup of a contact as a web self-service customer.
• Customer profile updates to contact details; this capability is configurable allowing organizations to choose which attributes of the profile they want to expose to the customer portal such as name, contact details and communications preferences.
• The ability to view, create, edit and close service cases. There are two permission levels available to web portal customers:
  • Account-Level: these customers can view and modify all cases raised against the account they are associated with.
  • Contact-Level: these customers can only view and modify service cases that they themselves have raised.
• Online service scheduling allowing customers to search for convenient times and then book service appointments with the organization.
• Search against the Microsoft Dynamics CRM knowledge base (KB) using keywords. Once the appropriate KB article has been located the customer can then email that article to themselves or others.

The accelerator can either be used within the customer’s own web portal or they can use the pre-built portal solution provided by Microsoft in the ASP.NET 2.0 Small Business Starter Kit.

Analytics Accelerator

This is release 2 of 3 for the Analytics Accelerator for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0.  This release incorporates some bug fixes to the existing dashboards for SQL Server 2005.  It also introduces a set of dashboards for SQL Server 2008.  The following future releases are going through final testing and packaging and will be available soon:

• R3 delivers more advanced SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS) capabilities as well as Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server scorecards

Many customers and partners will be familiar with Analytics Foundation for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 which was a business intelligence feature pack for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0.  Analytics Foundation for Dynamics CRM 3.0 included Dashboards, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and a suite of new reports.  Analytics Accelerator for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 (R2) expands on this and is designed to support a range of business intelligence “maturity” levels for customers and partners. T he Analytics Accelerator has been built to cater for differing business intelligence skill-sets and experience levels.

Enterprise Search Accelerator

This is Release 1 of 2 of the Enterprise Search Accelerator for Microsoft Dynamics CRM.  The Enterprise Search Accelerator allows Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) customers to view and search for Microsoft Dynamics CRM data directly from their SharePoint portals.  By combining these two technologies, users from different areas of the business will be able to:

• View and edit any Microsoft Dynamics CRM data such as accounts, contacts, opportunities, sales orders, invoices, service cases and any custom entity data through MOSS.
• Launch a MOSS search which can return documents, emails, web content and Microsoft Dynamics CRM data.

The Enterprise Search Accelerator provides one enterprise portal that users can search and view important customer information and documents from several sources within the organization.  Additionally, the technology, Business Data Catalog (BDC) and techniques used with this accelerator can be employed to surface data from other lines of business applications to further enrich the MOSS portal.

The BDC makes it easy for people to connect to, find and act on information stored in structured line-of-business systems (such as Microsoft Dynamics CRM) by using a declarative framework to securely integrate them into search results.  With the BDC, customers and partners can configure actionable audience-specific portals, dashboards and mash-up interfaces for this data without writing any code.

Release 1 (this release) includes key documentation on how to deploy MOSS Enterprise Search connecting to Microsoft Dynamics CRM on the standard Microsoft Virtual PC demonstration image.  Release 2 will provide additional documentation and tools to allow you to customize your enterprise search solution for different customer and partner requirements.

To learn more about Microsoft Dynamics CRM, please contact us!

Module: Sales Order Processing, Receivables Management, Purchase Order Processing, Payable Management

Why this feature is cool!

Organizations have the need to customize external facing documents.  Some of these customizations may be something as small as changing the company logo that should appear on the document, but all changes, small or big, required users to create a modified Report Writer report.  Users will now be able to make these types of modifications without requiring them to create a modified Report Writer report and in the familiar Microsoft Office Word application!

• 22 ready to use templates available upon installation
• Feature is enabled by default after installation
• Documents are rendered in Microsoft Office Word
• Flexibility to perform more actions with a rendered document:  Email, Save as PDF/XPS, Publish to SharePoint, etc.
• Enables customers to send more professional looking documents to their customers and vendors
• Utilizes same print process flow so nothing new for end users to learn
• Utilizes same security model as Report Writer reports so no new security layer to setup

What does it look like?

Navigation:  Reports>>Template Configuration

Rendered Document

Module: SmartList Builder

Why this feature is cool!

Navigation List Builder extends the functionality of the Navigation Lists letting a customer include exactly the data that they want, whether it be from any table in Microsoft Dynamics GP or any 3^rd party product, as well as external SQL tables and views!

The Navigation Lists will retrieve only the information selected speeding up the list performance. 

Users can customize their lists in the following ways:

• Select the fields to display
• Select the fields to show in the Preview Pane
• Define the Preview Pane layout
• Restrict the data by default, dramatically speeding up list load performance
• Create Calculated fields
• Create Actions to:
  • Open Forms
  • Run Reports
  • Launch Files
  • Launch Web sites
  • Perform standard Dynamics GP Functions such as Transaction Posting or Customer Aging
• Display various Status Icons

What does it look like?

Navigation:  Under the Microsoft Dynamics GP menu > Tools > SmartList Builder > Navigation List Builder

An example list built using Navigation List Builder

“This is a tremendous milestone in our continued growth,” said Jeffrey R. Geisler, CPA, InterDyn Socius’ CEO.  “We are very excited to work with the CBIZ Technologies’ staff in each of these locations as they continue to serve their clients.  We are confident that these additions to the Socius team will deliver great benefits for all of our clients.”

CBIZ Technologies provided implementation, training and consultation covering 17 metropolitan areas throughout the United States for small and mid-size organizations, specializing in Microsoft Dynamics GP, Dynamics CRM and Microsoft SharePoint. By working closely with the teams at Microsoft, CBIZ Technologies maintained a comprehensive understanding of the Microsoft Dynamics platform in order to provide leading-edge solutions, services and unparalleled value to Microsoft Dynamics customers. Since 1992, CBIZ Technologies had been honored with membership in Microsoft Dynamics Inner Circle – 10 years and Microsoft Dynamics President’s Club – 13 years.

Jim King, President of CBIZ Technologies adds, “I’m very proud of the success that our sales, support and service teams have had. I think it speaks very well for the type of people we have had here at CBIZ Technologies and I am confident that they will continue to thrive and empower their clients to achieve new levels of success as a part of InterDyn Socius.”

This acquisition will allow CBIZ to focus on their core accounting, tax and business advisory services while Socius, a leading provider of technology-based solutions, will now be able to provide technology consulting services for the firm’s Microsoft Dynamics clients.

Serving as a strategic consulting partner, InterDyn Socius implements requirement-specific software solutions to improve business production, streamline staff and office procedures, and allow for improved communication with customers and partners. Socius specializes in providing ERP, CRM, Business Intelligence, and Collaboration solutions from both Microsoft Dynamics and Sage including Microsoft Dynamics GP, Microsoft Dynamics SL, Advanced Distribution for Microsoft Dynamics AX and Microsoft Dynamics CRM as well as technology based on Microsoft Office SharePoint Server.  These solutions help leading companies across many industries achieve success through improved business productivity, streamlined staff and processes, and improved communication with customers and partners.

InterDyn Socius has been implementing and supporting Microsoft Dynamics software since 1984.  During that time, they have been included in Microsoft’s Inner Circle 15 out of 17 possible times. They are also the only back-to-back winner of Microsoft’s Excellence in Serving Customers Award. Socius was named Microsoft Dynamics GP Worldwide Partner of the Year in 2008 and was a finalist for the same award in 2009. 

About Socius:

InterDyn Socius is a strategic business consulting partner that provides comprehensive business management solutions to help companies leverage technology to accelerate their growth and profitability and compete more successfully in today’s economy.  As a Gold Certified Microsoft partner, Socius represents the most trusted accounting, enterprise resource planning (ERP), business analytics, and customer relationship management (CRM) technologies on the market.  Socius is the worldwide 2008 Partner of the Year for Microsoft Dynamics GP.  Backed by more than 25 years of award-winning experience, Socius proudly serves clients in Ohio and the surrounding area from its offices in Cincinnati, Columbus, and Cleveland, Ohio.  Socius is a member of InterDyn, an international group of independent Microsoft partners that together form the leading global partner for Microsoft Business Solutions.  As an InterDyn company, Socius offers the advantage of specialized talents and industry experience of more than 500 certified professionals supporting more than 3,500 customers worldwide.  For more information, visit www.socius1.com.

Module: SmartList Builder

Why this feature is cool!

In Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010, any user will be able to publish Excel Report Builder reports as long as certain criteria are met. The user must be one of the following:

• sa user
• DYNSA user
• Any user in the db_owner database role in SQL
• Any user in the SysAdmin fixed server role in SQL
• Any user in the dbCreator fixed server role in SQL

This enables more users than simply ‘sa’ to publish Excel Report Builder reports, empowering users outside of IT to manage this process and extend the reach of information throughout the organization.

What does it look like?

Go to Microsoft Dynamics GP menu, then Tools > SmartList Builder > Excel Report Builder > Excel Report Builder > Publish button

Solve Your Paper Problem with KwikTag document imaging software for Microsoft Dynamics GP!

Take advantage of the KwikTag “Go Green” Pricing Promotion and Save Up to 50% over 2009 pricing now through March 31st!

Join us for this exciting webinar to see how KwikTag for GP makes it easy to digitally file, retrieve and share documents where and when you want. An award‐winning and innovative digital solution for connecting people, process and paper, KwikTag is a patented, enterprise‐class, business‐critical solution that streamlines paper‐intensive business activities.

Come see how KwikTag for GP…

• Stops paper headaches, chaos and stress
• Provides significant ROI and 100% payback within the first year of go-live date
• Embeds and fully integrates within your Microsoft Dynamics GP solutions

We look forward to having you join us for this great event!

• 83 new web service operations, bringing the total number of available operations in Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 to 354! 
• New operations are focused on the following areas:
  • Applicants
  • Employee Addresses
  • Employee Pay Codes
  • HR Requisitions
  • Skills and Skill Sets
  • Vendor Addresses
  • Customer Addresses
  • Manufacturing Orders
  • Planned Orders
• These new web services will lead to new opportunities and higher adoption rates for building on top of web services.
• Includes support for our legacy ASP.net XML-based web services, previously hosted on IIS, and a new version of our web services, both hosted by Windows Communication Foundation (WCF). WCF is a new service-orientated programming model that allows for secure, reliable, transacted data exchange.

Why this feature is cool!

Upgrading web services to WCF provides Partners and Customers many benefits:

• New WCF web services can be hosted with Windows Hosting – removing the dependency on an IIS server for smaller customers.
• Improved performance over legacy web services.
• Customizable service interfaces/contract.  Users do not have to use the large contract provided by legacy services, but can instead break them down into a smaller contract that just includes the services they plan to use – resulting in major performance increases.
• New WCF web services are aligned with new technologies surrounding Windows Azure, .Net Service Bus, and Microsoft Office 2010.
• Interoperability with other web service platforms and applications built on other technologies.
• Broad choice of transport and encoding options.
• WS* web service standard support.  Supporting these standards means that our web services support specifications agreed on by major organizations including the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS).
• Asynchronous, un-typed message communication.  This could be utilized in the future to return keys for newly created records or transactions.

With the latest version of Sage MAS 90 and 200 (version 4.4) being shipped right now, Socius and Sage wanted to make it as easy as possible for you to get back on a ClientCare Support Plan so that you can take advantage of all of the great new features of MAS 90 4.4. 

We’ve teamed up to bring reinstating within sight for your business with our 20/20 Offer:

Sage is offering a 20% discount off of the final price of your reinstatement. Then, Socius is offering to take an additional 20% off of that.

Sample Reinstatement Investment Cost*:

In this scenario that is a $360 cost savings!
* This sample scenario is based on a $1,000.00 reinvestment cost. 

How much could you save by taking advantage of this offer?  Request a quote to find out!

This offer expires 3/31/2010.