Solutions Archives - Page 4 of 13 - FMT

When configuring inventoried items in Microsoft Dynamics GP, we need a clear understanding of the types of transactions which occur against inventoried items. You purchase items, sell items, transfer items between sites and bins, consume items during production, and produce items. That is A LOT of transactions. But…if you think about it, you probably already enter these transactions using Microsoft Dynamics GP. So why not let Dynamics GP track your inventory for you? Okay, so this is a great idea, right?! But where do you start? Obviously you need to know what items are considered inventoried items and you need to know where your items are located.  However, just as important is your unit of measure schedule! We just looked at six transaction types which may occur against an item, but each inventory transaction can occur in different units of measure. You may purchase a box of 50 units but […]

In the Importance of a Good Unit of Measure Schedule blog, we walked through the importance of unit of measure schedules and how to design a unit of measure schedule. Using a well-designed unit of measure schedule and proper configuration of inventoried items in Dynamics GP, enables your system to accurately track inventory balances. An item card in Dynamics GP maintains a multitude of information about an item such as default accounts, tracking options, valuation methods, engineering data, and much more. In this blog we will focus on the setup of a item card with relation to default purchasing and selling units of measure. To configure these default units of measure, there are four windows that you need to access – yes, you heard right, four windows! But…you want accurate inventory balances, correct? Let’s take a look at the four windows we will review:  Item Maintenance Window: Defines the Unit of Measure […]

I’ve been a part of the Microsoft ERP community for over 20 years and the title of my blog is a pretty remarkable statement. Why? Microsoft has made some pretty remarkable decisions in the past year to make this happen! You have to go back in time to 2001 and 2002 when Microsoft acquired both Dynamics GP and Dynamics NAV (back then known as Great Plains and Navision) which made Microsoft mid-market ERP leaders in both North America and Europe with these acquisitions. However, both Dynamics GP and Dynamics NAV are on-premise products and if this term is ‘computer geek-speak’ to you, here’s what this means:  Running on-premise software applications means you need a dedicated server to run the database for the ERP software and then the user needs to have the application or client installed on the user’s workstation to run the software.  Now there are variants to running […]

Technology choices matter. Applying new technology tools, or revising existing ones, requires a significant effort and sustained commitment to transformation. All, while continuing to run a business at top speed. Whether you work in operations, finance, IT… or all of those (and more), creating lasting value takes real work from people committed to building better business solutions one business at a time, every time. In this discussion between Eric Casazza, CEO at FMT Consultants, and Dave Siebert of SMB TechFest, we discuss advanced supply chain solutions ranging from Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), to Demand Planning, to Warehouse Management Systems (WMS). It’s not just about financial management software. New technology investments can pay real dividends in operational efficiencies, advanced manufacturing capabilities, and stronger distribution networks.     At FMT we have decades of experience working side-by-side with businesses looking to take the next step (or giant leap) forward using the right […]

This is the first part of a three part deep dive guest post about Buyer 2.0 written by Darren Stordahl Recently, FMT attended an interesting partner conference at Microsoft campus in Redmond, where an excellent presenter shared his perspective on today’s “Buyer 2.0”. His assertion, was that in the modern supply chain, buyers are engaging much later in the evaluation cycle. Before ever speaking with the manufacturer, distributor or service-provider, this new buyer has self-educated and conducted significant anonymous research in order to become highly informed. Buyer 2.0 carries an industry-specific expectation, avoids risk, maintains broad social media connections, and has high expectations for service quality and speed to fulfillment. They Tweet. The impact of Buyer 2.0 on sequential and historical stage-based sales models includes lower conversion rates, prospects falling out of the funnel at unpredictable intervals, lack of connection/clarity into the customer relationship, and a reduction in perceived value […]

This is the second part of a three part deep dive guest post about Buyer 2.0 written by Darren Stordahl Continued from Buyer 2.0 part one: Lane Departure Warning! Because the Microsoft conference took place in the gray and green Northwest, the messaging brought to mind an exceptional book on effective sales: “Les Schwab Pride in Performance: Keep It Going” (Les Schwab; Maverick publications). It’s a manageable biographical/business tome that describes the life and unique business philosophy of Northwest icon, Les Schwab. Starting in 1952, Les and his team built a retail distribution chain of tire stores in the western United States. Each of his stores followed a similar approach to customer service and sales: when a prospective customer pulled into the parking lot, the attendants sprinted to the car; Les Schwab also offered special promotions including free beef (from his ranch!) with the purchase of new tires; he offered […]

This is the third part of a three part deep dive guest post about Buyer 2.0 written by Darren Stordahl Continued from Buyer 2.0 part two: From Flat to Fantastic! Connecting these two potentially disparate discussions can help correct fractures in a modern engagement funnel and increase the relevance of experienced analog sales-people in a digital world. Buyer 2.0 won’t wait for you. They are probably tweeting your competition right now for pricing or configuration information. What can you do, with the tools and technology available, to stay relevant and build your business? Sprint to the Car: Make every effort to make a good first impression. Engage quickly. Be polite. Maintain focus and intensity throughout the ever-shortening sales cycle. For those in the customer engagement end of the technology spectrum, this means using both marketing automation and CRM efficiently, correctly, and with a prioritization for managing KPI’s associated to response […]

2017 was a big year for sales and use tax, and 2018 promises to be even bigger. States will likely continue to creatively redefine physical presence nexus, impose use tax reporting requirements, and tax third-party (marketplace) sales. They’ll almost certainly have to adjust their sales tax laws if Congress succeeds in enacting federal tax reform. And 2018 could be the year the Supreme Court of the United States reconsiders Quill Corp. v. North Dakota, 504 U.S. 298 (1992), the seminal ruling that prohibits states from taxing remote businesses without an in-state presence. While we can’t tell the future, we can anticipate some of the trends sales and use tax will see in 2018. Read on to learn more. State efforts to tax marketplace sales Collect tax or comply with use tax reporting Although Amazon now collects tax in all states with a sales tax, it only does so on its […]

You might be wondering: Is your organization getting enough out of its CRM system? There are a couple reoccurring themes that we as FMT Consultants often encounter when working with our customers in moving Dynamics CRM On-Premise to D365. If you are considering the move for your CRM environment, you might want to pay attention to some of these factors as they are real opportunities for you to effectively modernize your business processes: 1. Customizations From Custom Entities to Workflows to Plugins to ISVs to XRM, chances are, you’ve got some level of customization going on in your CRM system. As long as you have CRM 2013 or later, cross your fingers, you’ll be able to upgrade customizations without issue: Version compatibility Solutions exported from an earlier version of Dynamics 365 can be imported into later versions as shown in the following chart. Upgrading without issue, unfortunately, is oftentimes not […]

With the new Dynamics 365 July 2017 9.0 Update, Microsoft has rolled out several exciting new features and enhancement for CRM. In this article, we will review 3 of these features which can improve you Dynamics CRM: Unified Client Interface, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, and the Multiselect Option Set. 1. Dynamics 365 Unified Client Interface With the new Unified Client interface, users will be able to have a single experience across all different UI’s like Web, Mobile, Outlook & Tablet! This UCI will be rolled out first to the Business Edition & later on for the enterprise Edition! The idea behind this is that the era of web vs. mobile is over and now the UI will adapt to the screen in use. You will also have the same customization options in each. Content will be presented in a way that will reflow into different states of the control as the space available to it […]

Back in 2013, Microsoft added a nifty Autosave feature to CRM 2013 during the Polaris or UR 12 release for CRM which is still here today in Microsoft Dynamics 365. How does it work? Essentially you don’t have to manually save your work anymore! Instead, every 30 seconds after a field changes and if you’re still on the form, the record is automatically saved to the server. The only time you will ever need to manually save a record again is when you first create it! Afterward, you never have to click on any save button ever again. Now you’re all wondering how one might add this Auto Save functionality to your Dynamics 365 CRM. Just follow these two simple steps: Go to the Dynamics 365 Menu and navigate to Settings > Administration > System Settings Under the General tab, on the first line, you will see “Enable autosave on […]

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