Type Archives - Page 2 of 47 - FMT

The path of least resistance can cost you dearly. Managers to their employees, employees to employees, they are all texting each other as an internal communication method. Why? As in our personal lives, texting is a quick, effortless way to communicate. It is a path of least resistance due to convenience and widespread adoption – but this path can cost you. How so you say? Read on… Let’s look at a recent headline from The Seattle Times: “Seattle to pay $2.3 million to employees who blew whistle on Durkan’s deleted texts.” The article goes on to say that this is in addition to the already logged $770,000 in payments to other contracted attorneys. This can happen to any city or business! Why did Seattle have to pay ~$3 million dollars…. What is the root cause? I would argue that if these missing texts were from internal communication, it is because […]

Save time and money with Microsoft tools! Meetings – their purpose is wildly debatable, but they still happen, and at the end of the day, someone has to coordinate and schedule them. If you are spending more time than you’d like trying to coordinate time zones, and timeslots, and tagging attendees for responses on meeting requests or appointments, don’t get mad, read on! Not all of the estimated 1 billion meetings1 per year are effective – see Learn how to run effective meetings using Microsoft 365 apps - Microsoft Support for further information on how Microsoft can help improve outcomes. Our Microsoft Superhero AZAAM! (Ask Zach Anything About Microsoft), is going to dive into the world of meeting scheduling options available to Microsoft 365 customers. Here’s a question we received from a client: “I’m an executive assistant who constantly has to juggle schedules and coordinate meetings with people outside of […]

There are situations when recreating the fiscal period is a must. For example switching from Calendar Year to Fiscal Year or vice versa. In order to do this, you will need to rebuild your fiscal year and add either a short or long. And sometimes, you may receive an error in GP which would tell you to recreate the fiscal periods. Before you start with the process, it is advisable to print the Fiscal Periods reports. You need something you can refer to when you start re-adding the fiscal periods in GP. To print the Fiscal Period Report, you can go to Reports >> Company >> Setup, select Fiscal Periods and click New. Enter a report option, don’t add any restrictions and hit Print. Next, determine which years are historical, go to Tools >>  Setup >> Company >> Fiscal Periods. Select each Year and note if the Historical Year checkbox is marked. If […]

Data driven technology decisions are available if you know where to look! “Leave no stone unturned” An idiom with historic roots as explained in the Free Dictionary: This term actually dates back to a Greek legend recounted by Euripides. One of Xerxes’s generals, Mardonius, was said to have abandoned a great treasure in his tent when he was defeated in the battle of Plataea (477 b.c.). Polycrates of Thebes looked for the treasure but could not find it, and turned to the Oracle of Delphi for advice. The oracle replied, “Move every stone,” which Erasmus later translated as, “Leave no stone unturned.” Are you applying this centuries old, proven advice when thinking about your technology budget and/or roadmap? If you are not thinking about what your workforce is spending its time on and what you can do to prioritize or shift heavy ticket hitters, then you did not leave every […]

As a technology consulting firm, we work with many clients each year. In fact, we assisted over 250 clients in the past 12 months. That’s a lot of people! Whether we’re implementing smart solutions to propel business with Microsoft, NetSuite, or Salesforce, we see organizations who manage their investments wisely ask what does this technology do How will it improve my business? And, what’s it going to cost me?! One recent area of concern lies in the return-to-work initiatives that companies design, roll out … and then often struggle to balance. While there are social and emotional aspects that drive these decisions, as technologists we’ll focus on end user computing, and let the Society of Human Resource Management handle the rest. Employees need proper tools to be productive, regardless of where they’re working. According to this article published on HRDrive: “About 49% of employees say they lose between one and […]

In today's digital era, ecommerce has become a game-changer for businesses across industries, including manufacturing. The ability to sell products and services online provides manufacturers with unprecedented opportunities for growth, scalability, and customer engagement. In this blog, we will explore how Salesforce Sales Cloud with B2B/B2C Commerce can enable manufacturers to harness the power of ecommerce, to drive business success. Vertical and Horizontal Scalability Ecommerce allows manufacturers to scale vertically and horizontally, expanding their reach and customer base. With Salesforce Sales Cloud, manufacturers can easily create and manage their online store, showcasing their products and services to a global audience. B2B/B2C Commerce provides robust functionality, such as product catalog management, pricing and quoting, order management, and integration with back-end systems, enabling manufacturers to efficiently manage their online sales operations. The integration with your commerce solution is crucial to not interrupt the business processes of other departments. The commerce solutions offered […]

Getting More Value from NetSuite, Microsoft and/or Salesforce! Wikipedia defines a technology roadmap as a flexible planning schedule to support strategic and long-range planning, by matching short-term and long-term goals with specific technology solutions. (From <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology_roadmap> ) Wikipedia defines a wish list as an itemization of goods or services that a person or organization desires. Working at FMT Consultants (FMT)--with all kinds of companies in many verticals over the years--it has been my experience that most small and mid-market businesses wish for better systems and performance but do not have a robust two-year technology roadmap to support their long-range goals. In many cases, whether working with Microsoft, Oracle NetSuite, or Salesforce these dynamic organizations feel that they don't have the time, experience, or perspective to navigate the systems landscape with confidence. Charting a technology roadmap is fundamental to running a productive business and it also allows business leaders to align on a differentiated […]

How an EDI integration into your NetSuite system can streamline your business processes and give you a scalable solution to support your growth The world as we know it today is a 24/7 world. It never sleeps. As consumers, we have the option to go online and purchase anything at any time - day or night. The years of pandemic solidified that behavior, which was already a trend. Naturally, a 24/7 consumer world requires a 24/7 business environment world. To comply with requirements from major retailers such as Amazon and Walmart, small and medium size companies supporting their inventory needs increasingly have to establish presence and connect through an Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). But what starts as a matter of compliance in order to do business, becomes a strategic investment in future growth and returns. What is EDI? Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is the concept of businesses electronically communicating information […]

FMT has worked with Microsoft Dynamics Great Plains (GP) for more than 25 years. We’ve helped hundreds of clients use GP to activate high-performing ERP solutions in manufacturing, distribution, services, and a variety of health and life-sciences companies.  Over the past several years, as Microsoft shifts investment away from GP, we’ve seen a variety of changes to product support, enrichment strategies, and the projected sunset period. Recently, Microsoft announced significant changes to its Microsoft GP licensing policies. FMT evaluated this announcement and includes the highlights here. While significant, we don’t expect these changes to immediately impact existing customers, but this news should be actively considered by those GP clients considering their two-year strategic infrastructure plan. FMT looks forward to working with you to map out an approach to maximize value from your current and future technology investments. Summary: As of April 1, 2025, there will be no new sales of […]

It is an important question to ask and make sure that you are aware of your options and the impact that items will have. Setting up items incorrectly can be very costly to correct later. Taking the time now to carefully review will make a world of difference. Within NetSuite there are a variety of options for item creation so no matter your need or end goal you’ll be covered. We will review some of the most common, as well as provide the most important considerations if you do need to remake an item. Inventory Non-Inventory Assembly Serial / Lot Numbered Service Inventory Items Inventory items can range from raw goods used to create another item to empty containers to be filled at a later date. When creating an inventory item there will need to be a naming scheme. A name can be numerical, alphabetical, or alphanumeric. The item name […]

When evaluating your security inside NetSuite, you may decide to create workflows for your entity records such as Customers or Vendors to establish a separation of power amongst your users. While entity approval workflows are not available out of the box in NetSuite, they can be created manually. In this example, we will look at a New Vendor Approval workflow. Workflow Overview First, we need to outline the workflow before we begin any edits inside NetSuite. It is recommended to create a flow diagram using software like Microsoft Visio to obtain a visual and identify any deficiencies in your process before building the workflow in NetSuite. Here is an example flow diagram for new vendor approvals. These will be the high-level steps of the workflow: A user submits a new vendor record An email notification is sent to the CFO that there is a vendor to review The CFO approves […]

In today's fast-paced business environment, data integration has become crucial for companies to efficiently manage their operations. Wayfair, the e-commerce giant, and NetSuite, the cloud-based ERP solution, are two popular platforms that many businesses rely on for their daily operations. However, with data residing in different systems, it can become a tedious and time-consuming task to ensure that both systems are up-to-date and in sync. To address this challenge, businesses can leverage iPaaS (Integration Platform as a Service) solutions like Celigo, which provide a seamless integration between different systems. In this blog, we will explore how Celigo has been used by our FMT team to build a data integration between Wayfair and NetSuite, and the benefits it provides to businesses. If you aren’t familiar with Celigo, it is a powerful iPaaS solution that allows for rapid development of integrations through its published Integration Apps and templates available on the Integration […]