It seems that the common belief about ERP software solutions has been that they are seen as just for finance or only helpful to upper management.  However, the “E” in ERP stands for “enterprise”, meaning that these solutions are intended to touch every facet of the organization.  For a role-based, people-centric ERP solution, like Microsoft Dynamics GP, the way it touches every area of a business is to be relevant and useful to every individual in an organization. 

The R2 feature that has been getting the most buzz lately is the Business Analyzer which pulls important Dynamics GP data into a desktop reporting tool for easier viewing, sharing, and decision making.  Business Analyzer can be installed on any workstation, whether Dynamics GP is installed or not, giving individuals who only need to consume financial data the ability to do so without the hassle of logging into GP for the information or the expense of having a Dynamics GP license.  While Business Analyzer comes with several standard reports, more can be created or customized easily with SQL Server Reporting Services.

R2 also extends connections across your organization by providing Fact Boxes and Action Shortcuts, which are now connected with Microsoft Lync 2010 instant messaging windows, bringing information about the people who are chatting and their companies to the user’s fingertips.

Managing compliance and helping to reduce fraud across the organization is easier than ever with the new and improved approval workflow and electronic signature capabilities.

Additionally, the Microsoft Dynamics GP Light User License is available with GP 2010 R2.  The Light User license is a cost-effective solution that makes it possible for individuals who wouldn’t normally have a Dynamics GP license to access business management solutions and interact with Microsoft Dynamics financial, human resources, and operational information with common desktop productivity tools, such as Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Outlook, and Microsoft Word.

To see how the new features of Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 R2 make this ERP solution relevant to everyone in your organization, join Socius and Microsoft for a complementary GP 2010 R2 webcast demo on May 11^th. 

August 2011 – The much anticipated release of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 will take place.  AX 2012 is designed to “empower people to anticipate and embrace change” through enhanced business agility and simplified decision making.   

May 1, 2011 – Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 R2 will become available, featuring significant business intelligence capabilities geared to make businesses more agile. 

April 11, 2011 – Today marks the official launch of Microsoft Dynamics SL 2011!  This new release promises a faster realization of the value of the software for users via a direct integration with Microsoft Project 2010.  Dynamics SL 2011 is currently available for purchase or upgrade. 

Ballmer and Tatarinov stressed that the enhancements made in these releases, as well as all of the Dynamics products now and going forward, are geared toward making businesses more dynamic through simplicity, value, and agility.

Figuring this out can be tricky.  That is why Socius teamed up with Alesa Lightbourne, Ph.D. to publish a new white paper on this topic entitled “Integrating Your ERP and CRM: Worth the Trouble?”  This white paper cites industry analysts and researchers as well as business executives who have successfully integrated their solutions and are reaping the anticipated benefits.

Download your complimentary copy of “Integrating Your ERP and CRM: Worth the Trouble?” today and see examples of how both Neundorfer, a clean technologies company near Cleveland, Ohio, and Divisions, Inc., a facilities management company outside of Cincinnati, Ohio, have streamlined business processes and financially benefited from their software integration projects.

1. Program Management: Managing all of the different moving parts of the software implementation, such as business process improvements, business acceptance, and organizational change management, requires strong program management, governance, and controls.

   Socius has a dedicated Project Manager for every implementation and incorporates a Quality Assurance program to provide confidence that the deliverables and services of the project will fulfill the defined requirements for quality. Quality assurance events are scheduled early and across all of our project phases to detect issues and improve the performance early in the project lifecycle. A Project Charter is developed to manage the project and ensure that all tasks, processes, and timelines are being adhered to.

2. Business Process and Workflow Definition and Improvement: Business process improvements, workflows within and outside the system, and employee roles within the system all need to be defined before the system can be fully adopted.

   Socius can help by providing a Business Process Review that identifies any gaps between your strategy and execution. During a BPR, we analyze current systems and critical business workflows that will be impacted by the implementation of a new system. These business requirements and related workflows are documented and reviewed alongside the core functionality of the new system to ensure maximum future efficiency. A core team is created with members from all departments and business groups in order to plan the scope of the implementation, determine how it will affect all areas of the business, and ensure user adoption.

3. Organizational Change Management and Communications: A robust organizational change management program is crucial to gaining employee adoption and business benefits from the system and includes communications targeted to each major workgroup, business process training, organizational impact assessments, redesign of employee roles and responsibilities to match the new system, and a host of other key activities.

   Socius develops a Communication Plan with documentation to clearly identify our project goals, timeframes, and expected outcomes. We provide interactive classroom-style training to encourage participation of members in all departments during the phases of our implementation process and to ensure user adoption. This training is typically conducted by the organization’s project team, thus proving corporate ownership of the new system. Socius conducts a Business Impact Assessment to help organizations identify their corporate objectives, understand what their strategies are and the obstacles they face in meeting those objectives, and help them build a winning strategy to accomplish their objectives.

4. Business and Technical Integration: Integration to systems and business processes outside the system need to be managed from a technical and business design and testing perspective; otherwise, the system will be fragmented and disjointed, which defeats the whole purpose of ERP.

   Socius’ consultants have extensive experience with several types of integrations. We discuss plans for data conversion, integrations, and infrastructure upgrades prior to any type of implementation.

5. Globalization and Localization: Many organizations want to standardize business processes across multiple locations and countries, but some level of localization needs to take place. Whether it’s local regulatory needs, reporting requirements, or shipping and customs processes, some aspects of the global rollout may require localization and can delay a project if these aspects aren’t defined early on.

   Socius has clients with multiple locations spanning the US and other countries and therefore takes proactive measures to determine what processes can be standardized globally and which require localization.

6. Independent Oversight of Technical Resources: Without clear direction, guidance, and project controls, it is easy to fall into a spiral of unnecessary customization, configuration, and set-up that doesn’t meet key business requirements and results in higher costs and longer durations.

   With Socius’ proven process using a detailed Business Process Review and Business Impact Assessment, along with a dedicated project manager, we avoid the pitfalls of unnecessary customizations and other tasks that can delay a project and result in higher costs.

7. ERP Benefits Realization: This may be the biggest sin of all. Too many companies spend millions of dollars only to fail to realize the expected business benefits. In fact, Panorama’s independent research shows that most ERP implementations fail to realize at least 30% of the expected business benefits. A key reason for this is a lack of a robust ERP benefits realization program.

   Socius creates a Business Value Summary that details the features of the ERP software, the benefits of these features, and how they meet organizational objectives and business requirements.

Get started by working with Socius to help you select and implement the best ERP software solution for your business and request a complimentary Business Strategy Assessment today!

These businesses cited two primary pressures they faced which caused them to look for improved payment processing options:

If you are feeling this same pressure or are looking for ways to reduce your processing costs, one way to accomplish this is to integrate an electronic payments solution with your account, enterprise resource planning (ERP), or other financial software. 

According to Aberdeen, 50% of best-in-class companies integrate their electronic payment solutions with their financial systems, while, 39% identify a lack of integration between electronic payments and accounting systems as a barrier to increased electronic payments.

To find out what your electronic payment processing options are and how to integrate an electronic payments solution with your current ERP solution, contact Socius for a complimentary business strategy assessment. 

SYSPRO users ranked them as the top ERP vendor in a Panorama Consulting survey, awarding an industry leading 9.7 rating out of 10.  The rankings were based on the following criteria:

• Pre-Sales Support
• Implementation Support
• Ease of Configuration
• Functional Fit to Business Requirements
• Frequency and Quality of Software Updates
• Ongoing Technical Support
• User Community Activity
• Level of Benefits and ROI Realized
• Overall Evaluation and the following functionalities:  Financial Management; Planning; Manufacturing; Purchasing; Order Management; CRM; Distribution; Warehouse Management System; and BI and Reporting.

SYSPRO also recently jumped 87 spots up the annual VAR500 List that is released by Everything Channel.  The list details the leading producers among technology integrators and technology solution provider organizations in North America based on gross worldwide revenue of hardware and software sales, as well as earnings from professional and managed IT services.

SYSPRO attributes this recent recognition to the excitement around their new ground breaking release of the company’s mid-market Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software offering.  The new issue contains more than 1,500 enhancements and six new, dynamic applications, all of which are based on the company’s efforts to enable small and medium size manufacturers and distributors in various industry verticals to lean and green their operations, dramatically enhance supply chain efficiencies and significantly boost their bottom lines.

According to consultant and blogger, Eric Kimberling, these results were not a surprise to Panorama due to the following facts about Microsoft Dynamics:

• It has an average evaluation, selection, and implemention time that is two months shorter than its competition.
• The average total cost of ownership is the lowest of all the leading ERP solutions covered in the study at $2.6 million for the initial investment, or 5% of the implementing company’s annual revenue.
• It has the most predictable ERP implementation costs compared to other vendors.
• Due to the Windows look and feel that many employees are accustomed to, it leads all vendors in user satisfaction.

Find out if a Microsoft Dynamics ERP solution is a good move for your small or midsized business with a complimentary business strategy assessment!

Management Reporter is replacing Microsoft FRx by extending its proven functionality and enabling people to quickly and easily create, generate, help secure and publish professional-looking financial statements, such as profit and loss statements, balance sheets, and cash flow reports, and will allow them to take advantage of the following:

• Custom reports that can be created by the finance team, thereby reducing the burden on the IT department.
• Deep cross-functional analysis that provides easy and accurate financial reporting, intercompany reconciliations and eliminations.
• Reduced training time and increased productivity with a familiar user interface and reporting tools that enable users to easily transition from Microsoft Office applications to the similar navigation pane and toolbars in Management Reporter.
• Strong data integrity and report accuracy with support for regulatory requirements, such as generally accepted accounting practices and international financial reporting standards.

Management Reporter functionality goes beyond what FRx had to offer by including:

Direct integration to the Microsoft Dynamics ERP general ledger that aids in simplified, real-time reporting with greater accuracy.

Reusable building blocks of Report, Row, Column and Tree definitions that can be mixed and matched to produce a wide variety of boardroom-quality reports.

A Report Library is where reports can be secured, stored, and viewed.

Management Reporter is available at no additional cost to Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010users and will be availble with all future releases of Microsoft Dynamics ERP solutions.

Learn more about Management Reporter and download FAQs and Tips & Tricks for migrating from FRx.

This week, Microsoft introduced a new connector that accelerates two-tier enterprise resource planning (ERP) deployments between Microsoft Dynamics AX and SAP Business Suite.  This connector would allow a company with SAP installed at the corporate headquarters to integrate and connect their data to subsidiaries, divisions or branch entities that are using Microsoft Dynamics AX.  This kind of solution is referred to as a “two-tier erp strategy.”

According to Microsoft, the two-tier connector will enable consolidation of financial data, integration of intercompany supply-chain, and plan automation.

So how do you know if a two-tier strategy (like one using the Microsoft Dynamics ERP connector) is right for your business? 

R. Ray Wang, an analyst and blogger, recently conducted a survey for Software Insider to spot trends in two-tier ERP strategy.  Through his analysis, he explains the three scenarios in which a two-tier approach makes the most sense:

1. Organizations that have different lines of business or business models sometimes find it beneficial to use separate ERP systems for each line of business
2. Companies with international subsidiaries can often save on operating costs with country specific deployments
3.  Organizations that choose a phased approach to modernization, updating one system at a time rather than all systems at the same time

According to Software Insider, the key drivers behind companies considering a two-tier strategy are:

• Desire for an industry specific or purpose built system
• Existing systems are too costly
• Expensive upgrades of existing systems
• A need for innovation that outpaces the solutions on the market
• Regulatory compliance issues
• Geographic requirements
• Rigidity of existing systems

All of these factors are working together to increase interest in two-tier ERP strategies.  Software Insider reports the number of organizations considering two-tier solutions has increased 10% since Q3 2009. 

If you are considering a two-tier ERP solution for your organization, request a complimentary Business Strategy Assessmentwith Socius to help you determine the best strategy for your company.

The article focused mainly on database structure and typical user amounts to define the difference between the three MAS software solutions.  There are, however, greater distinctions between the products, many of which directly affect manufacturers. 

Although they are built on different databases, Sage MAS 90 and 200 have the same six manufacturing modules: 

• Bill of Materials
• Inventory Management
• Materials Requirements Planning
• Purchase Order
• Sales Order
• Work Order 

These modules provide detailed and accurate tracking and reporting throughout the entire manufacturing process-from forecasting to the shop floor, and on to completion.

If you are a manufacturer looking for an end-to-end solution that includes relationship management tools, Sage MAS 90 or 200 Extended Enterprise Suite (EES) includes most of the manufacturing modules as part of the flat, per-user pricing.  The remaining manufacturing modules are available to be added to the EES solution. 

On the flip side, Sage MAS 500 ERP was built from the ground-up with Microsoft SQL Server, Visual Basic and Microsoft Office technology.  The twelve Sage MAS 500 manufacturing software modules optimize manufacturers’ operations for maximum productivity and provide a real-time business picture to enable you to manage profitability with insight.  These modules include:

• Advanced Manufacturing
• Advanced Planning and Scheduling
• Engineering Change Management
• Estimating
• Light Manufacturing Advanced Kitting
• Material Requirements Planning
• Product Configurator
• Project Management for Manufacturers
• Shop Floor Control
• Planning, Scheduling, and Optimization
• Process Manufacturing
• Service Management

Sage MAS 500 manufacturing software meets the diverse business requirements of varied industries, including industrial, chemical, high tech, automotive, consumer packaged goods, food and beverage and other industries.

To learn which Sage MAS ERP solution is the best fit for your manufacturing organization, request a complimentary Business Strategy Assessment from Socius!