Technology Solutions & IT News Blog | FMT Consultants

If your organization is currently running an on-premise or hosted CRM deployment, it’s seriously time to start planning the move to Dynamics 365 on the Microsoft Cloud. Here are three reasons why the cloud version of CRM makes sense for you: You don’t want servers anymore If you’ve ever stood up an on-premise version of CRM before, you know that you’ll need at least a SQL Server and a Windows Application Server. The supported versions of SQL or Windows Server range from 2008R2 to 2016, you need to create service accounts for things like the VSS Writer Service and the Async Service—not to mention you’ll probably need the E-mail Router and Reporting Server Services set up. I haven’t even mentioned a single Account or Customer yet and there is already all this complexity that needs to be managed. With Dynamics 365, an organization can be provisioned literally in minutes and […]

Applying credit memos or returns to sales invoices at month end can cause duplicate efforts.  If a user forgets to apply the credit memo, an invoice will populate on the aging report even though the true balance is $0.  In addition, applying credit memos or returns is an extra step that is sometimes unnecessary.    To reduce efforts, users can apply a credit memo, return, or overpayment at the same time a user enters a cash receipt. To do so, enter the cash receipt details by going to Sales >> Transactions >> Cash Receipts. After you enter the cash receipt details (such as customer, date, payment type and amount), select “Apply” to open the Apply Sales Documents window. From this window, mark the invoice to which you wish to apply this cash receipt.  Now, don’t hit OK yet as tempting as it is! Look at the details of your applied […]

New to Dynamics GP 2016, users no longer need to create a deposit for the cash receipts entered in the sales module. Configuring this feature is quick and easy! To post cash receipts as deposits, navigate to Administration >> Setup >> Company >> Company.  Select Options and then mark the box next to “Automatically post cash receipt deposits”. Press OK, and then OK from the Company Setup window. Please note this is a configuration per company so if you have multiple databases, you will need to select this option in each database. Once you mark this option, a deposit will be automatically created when a user posts a cash receipts or cash receipts batch from Sales >> Transactions >> Cash Receipts.  If you post an individual transaction, the deposit amount will be in the amount for that one transaction.  If you post a batch of cash receipts, the deposit will […]

Are your files being modified by unauthorized users? Do you have files that you want to share with your team, but not the rest of the company? Are you worried that unauthorized users may be accessing and modifying your content? No matter where your files are stored—SharePoint Online, SharePoint On-Premises, Office 365, OneDrive for Business, or a combination—information security is paramount. Get control of your content by applying Information Rights Management (IRM) to your SharePoint environment. We will walk you through the process of setting up IRM—share how to restrict files from unauthorized users—and how IRM works in conjunction with SharePoint. Not yet on SharePoint? Discover the possibilities for your content.

SmartConnect is a very sophisticated tool for integrations. With its high level of versatility, it does a great job of automating your integration needs. It is definitely one of my tools of choice! Data can be read from Dynamics GP, Dynamics CRM, OLEDB or ODBC, text files, Excel, XML and more. You can even use multiple data sources and then join the results from the multiple data source. This makes utilizing data sources from separate databases or even joining a database data source with a text file data source possible! You can also set a network folder as a data source. The files in the folder can be Excel, text, XML, or XmlQuery. As long as the files match a designated template (or schema for a text file), SmartConnect will be able to process all the files contained in the folder. You can designate folders to use for files that […]

Do you spend hours every week trying to analyze and create visual reports from your Microsoft Dynamics GP data only to do it again for next week’s meeting? If this sounds like your weekly routine, Power BI is going to be a life-changing tool for you. Microsoft’s Power BI solution allows you to put your entire company’s data onto one visual dashboard. It will also create real-time interactive reports that you can easily share with the rest of your organization. Want to bring your GP data to life? Watch this video to see how easy it is to create reports through Power BI and gain insight into your Dynamics GP data from financials, to sales, to receivables, and so much more!  

Microsoft Dynamics GP is an enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution that connects the many moving parts of a small to mid-sized organization. Originally developed by Great Plains Software, the Dynamics GP platform was created in Fargo, North Dakota in 1981, and acquired by Microsoft in 2000. Since then Microsoft has continually advanced the Dynamics GP platform by adding improved technology, integration, and capabilities. The perceived age of the Dynamics GP platform has caused organizations shopping for ERP solutions to look elsewhere for their all-in-one accounting/operations needs. This is caused in no small part by the fact that the Dynamics GP platform is only offered as an on-premise solution without an option for a true cloud. However, this need not be the reason to eliminate Dynamics GP from your search. In this blog, I will show you that Dynamics GP can function much like a cloud ERP offering by simply pairing it […]

nVerge 2017 takes place on May 25th in San Diego, CA and offers 24 educational sessions, a keynote on leadership, an ongoing exhibition with software vendors and IT service providers, and networking opportunities. FMT Consultants, a leading San Diego and Los Angeles-based provider of technology solutions, announces nVerge 2017—the fifth installment of its annual event. nVerge 2017 is a one-day technology conference focused on helping business executives and end-users navigate the changing technology landscape—and understand how they can leverage technology to drive revenue, reduce cost, and increase customer acquisition. During the one-day conference, attendees can choose from 24 educational sessions on Microsoft Dynamics 365 (CRM) & GP, NetSuite, SAP Business ByDesign, Microsoft SharePoint, Business Intelligence solutions, Microsoft Office 365 and Azure Cloud. For a full agenda visit http://www.nVerge2017.com. The agenda also includes a keynote from Dr. Victoria Halsey—Vice President of Applied Learning, The Ken Blanchard Companies—on Leading People Through Change, […]

Have you ever tried to connect to CRM Online using a Java Application? Turns out it’s much simpler than you would expect. By leveraging the Azure Active Directory Library, you can easily authenticate any user for your external application to perform any CRM Operation through the Web API. Here are the required components: CRM Online (Trial will still work) Azure Active Directory OAUTH 2.0 Authorization Endpoint Application ID A Java IDE (Maven project is recommended for the dependencies) Here’s a quick summary of how this actually works: Obtain the access token, by using the OAUTH 2.0 Authorization Endpoint. Build the connection with your Dynamics CRM URI, and set the request method and properties with the access token. Finally, depending on the Request type, you build the JSON Object and write it to CRM or save it to view. Let’s dig deeper and get into the details: First, you need the […]

SharePoint migration is a transfer of existing content to a newer and up to date SharePoint Environment which can be either On-Premise or Online. There are several checks which need to be performed before any migration to make the migration successful. Why Are Pre-Migration Reports Important? At FMT Consulting, we have successfully completed several SharePoint migrations from legacy systems, file share and older versions to newer SharePoint on premise or SharePoint Online. We made these migrations successful and on time with proper discovery which not only helped us for correct estimates but also helped a lot during migration process for resolving all hurdles on time. Pre-migration reports are also helpful to understand whether you will need a 3rd Party tool for migration or can go with a Content DB migration. Migration Boundaries for SharePoint Online There are some boundaries which you have to take care before any migration assessment: SharePoint ContentDB […]

Below is a list of commonly used tables and their values.  Yeah I know it’s a long list, but if you have ever been working on that one report or looking for that one piece of information, you know that the manufacturing module is very big and very complex, hence all of the common used tables.  There are a few of the tables I have included, which are only required to correct issues. A few examples are bomlev1 and bomlev2; these tables are used for rolling costs.  If you have large Bills of Materials and you roll your costs often, the Dex Row ID’s in these tables can get too large.  When this happens all processing on cost rolls stops leaving you with an extremely vague message.  Dropping and rebuilding these two tables with their associated stored procedures is the only way to correct the issue.  A pain, I know, […]

Southern California based technology provider, FMT Consultants, continues to demonstrate best-in-class capability and market leadership by achieving Microsoft Silver Cloud CRM Competency. SAN DIEGO, CA FEBRUARY 24, 2017 FMT Consultants, a leading provider of integrated business management solutions and information technology services based in San Diego and Los Angeles, has announced that it has earned the Microsoft Silver Cloud Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Competency, bringing the firm’s total number of competencies from Microsoft to eight. Achieving the Microsoft Silver Cloud CRM Competency validates FMT as a premier provider of Microsoft Dynamics 365 (formerly Dynamics CRM Online)—Microsoft’s cloud-based customer relationship management solution. To achieve the Silver Cloud CRM Competency, FMT team members successfully completed exams and are now recognized Microsoft Certified Professionals. Additionally, FMT demonstrated its ability to deliver successful projects and assessments by exceeding several software revenue goals, and providing multiple customer references. “As a leading technology provider, we are […]