Technology Solutions & IT News Blog | FMT Consultants

Do you have trusted connections between your NetSuite, Salesforce or Microsoft systems throughout your supply chain? If not, you are missing out on an opportunity to strengthen your business, decrease costs, and improve value. Your disconnected systems increase expensive manual processes and limit access to timely, accurate and immediately useful information. Isolated information creates disconnected decision making. How do you solve this challenge? Integrate your systems. Build the bridges! Integrations improve productivity and efficiency when they join two places that complement each other data or process wise.  Integrations have a positive economic impact! When bridging two systems together and integrating them, what is your keystone? Merriam-Webster defines a keystone as ‘the wedge-shaped piece at the crown of an arch that locks the other pieces in place’. What keystone should you have between your systems to support each platform? Key business processes like moving invoice information between the ERP and the […]

Are you looking for an effective and efficient way to manage your business operations? If so, NetSuite ERP might be the perfect solution for you. NetSuite is an advanced software package that enables businesses of all sizes to manage their entire business process including supply chain activation from one unified cloud platform. From invoicing and billing to planning, procurement and inventory, NetSuite ERP can empower a smooth running business. In this article we’ll review a selection of some of the many elements and functions within NetSuite ERP and show you how it can help you streamline your operations. 24 Tips For NetSuite in 2022 Enable Non G/L Changes To Closed Periods Bank Reconciliation Automated Order-to-Delivery NetSuite Features You Should Consider Creating Powerful Reports Real-Time  Using NetSuite Resources Saved Search Renaming Records PPC Data Into CRM SuiteScript and SuiteFlow Shortcuts - Search Tips Automated Customer Statements Use Statistical Accounts for Expense […]

Targeted Industries: Distribution and Distribution with Assembly Work Orders (Manufacturing Light) Solution: Dynamics GP 2018 Build 18.4 Modules: Purchase Order Processing & Inventory Inventory management can be a key component for the balance sheet and should be managed to be lean as possible. Inventory needs to be managed so that we don’t carry too much inventory on the balance sheet and we don’t run out when fulfilling orders or when manufacturing assembly workorders. What is the right amount of inventory to have on-hand ready to sell or use? A question many companies ponder and experiment with so they can become more operational efficient and with less carrying costs. Microsoft Dynamics GP offers advanced tools with the Distribution series. The distribution series includes Sales Order/Invoicing, Purchase Order Management, Inventory Control and Light Duty Manufacturing. This article will focus on the inventory module and the purchasing module. Our goal will be to […]

California is starting to think so and that is why the state is pushing forward legislation to make many employee’s dreams a reality.  According to this CNBC article, “Legislation is now working its way through the state legislature that would make the standard workweek 32 hours for companies with more than 500 workers. There would be no cut in pay, and those who work more would be compensated at a rate of no less than 1.5 times the employee’s regular rate of pay.” How is that possible you ask?  Those 32 hours you do have with employees have to be efficient and focused.  For many companies, the real question should be, “If this legislation passes, are we prepared?” Many may answer with an overwhelming “NO!” but this doesn’t have to be the case – Microsoft is there for you, ready to assist!  Through their Modern Collaboration Architecture (MOCA), they enable […]

If we are talking about your Microsoft 365 environment, absolutely! But what sort of test? We recommend an evaluation of where you stand relative to your business goals using industry-proven benchmarks. Is your business healthy? Are you positive? Are you negative? What does that even mean? Remember, you don’t know what you don’t know! FMT Consultants performs tests, or assessments, to help you measure your current Microsoft 365 profile. We split Microsoft’s cloud services into security and infrastructure components. Together, we identify gaps in your company’s security posture, help you map out the next steps along the path of your digital transformation journey, and – if needed—walk you through a plan of action to improve your results. (Trust me. It’s needed). It’s a big world out there full of Microsoft technologies, applications, and solutions. Large or small, your business has plenty to build with! In order to prioritize and address […]

Big changes are coming to Microsoft 365 licensing, and while licensing isn’t anyone’s favorite topic to spend a lot of time thinking about, the upcoming changes Microsoft announced are significant to the way your business uses Microsoft online services. The changes are a part of Microsoft’s “New Commerce Experience” that will apply across the board to all Microsoft seat-based licenses (Office 365, Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, etc.) and will apply to every license channel and every way your organization can obtain these licenses, whether via the Microsoft 365 Portal (aka Web Direct), via Cloud Solution Provider (a CSP, like FMT), or via Enterprise Agreement. There are several benefits to NCE, including: Multiple term options for more flexibility Predictable licensing payments Promotions Multi-year plans to lock in pricing The benefits come along with additional changes that are important to understand from both a planning and operational perspective, including: Enforced 72-hour cancellation […]

The rumblings you hear are true, Salesforce will turn on Multi Factor Authentication (MFA) in all instances starting February 1, 2022. What does this mean and how can I prepare? Let us review the impact and ensure we are all prepared for this security enhancement. First what is MFA and why now? Cybersecurity is a hot topic right now and not one to be taken lightly. Ensuring access to your Salesforce instance is secure and unwanted parties are not getting access to the data that resides there is why MFA is being turned on. MFA consists of two things, something the user knows (password), and something the user has (authenticator app, security key). This will help protect against common threats such as phishing attacks, credential stuffing, and account takeovers. What/Who is impacted? Internal Salesforce users who are logging into Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, and Pardot will all be […]

We’ve all heard this saying before. Here at FMT we hear it almost daily when we speak with our clients about making the most of their tech investments. It’s common, right? Maybe your business is laser focused trying to make it through the quarter, maybe your IT staff is tasked with keeping the lights on…maybe you don’t have IT staff? Wherever you are in your digital transformation, there are areas out there that you simply haven’t explored for your business. This is especially true in today’s digital workplace where, if you don’t know what you don’t know, how do you know how you can improve? And, if you don’t know the right technology to improve your business, what opportunities will you miss? Do you know security? Do you implement Zero Trust? Do you know what that is? If you don’t know, you probably also don’t know who is trying to […]

According to ZoomMeetingsClassAction.com the popular video conferencing software giant, Zoom Video Communications, Inc., recently settled a class action lawsuit for a cool (preliminary!) $85 million dollars. Without admitting liability and while refuting allegations of damages, Zoom apparently felt a settlement would be the most advisable path forward. Why? Because privacy and security remain one of the highest priorities for people working and collaborating online. According to the lawsuit, Zoom's previous approach to securing access to the Zoom Meetings Application lacked sufficient encryption and privacy controls resulting in unauthorized information sharing and meeting disruptions by third parties. Meeting disruptions alone led the FBI to issue a warning about ‘Zoom-bombing’. What? Yes, Zoom-bombing involves unidentified and uninvited individuals popping into Zoom meetings at schools and businesses shouting profanity, disrupting the meetings, and displaying inappropriate images/videos. Throughout the Covid pandemic Zoom-bombing happened regularly in virtual classrooms and boardrooms across the country. What a nightmare! […]

Introduction: Lightning components are versatile and useful tools Salesforce administrators can leverage to extend the base functionality of Salesforce and make Users more efficient in their daily tasks.  These come in a myriad of shapes and forms, each having their uses and benefits for end Users. One fantastic way to utilize Lightning components is to embed report charts directly onto records in Salesforce rather than requiring Users to navigate away from the record to analyse data for that record.  In today’s blog, we will walk through the process of creating an embedded Report Chart Lightning component that will help increase the efficiency of our end Users as they view a given Account record in Salesforce. Challenge: To be able to view Opportunity data for a given Account in Salesforce and determine how much revenue we have in each Stage of our pipeline for that Account. Solution: Report Chart Lightning Component […]

Introduction Working remotely has been on a steady upward trend and the COVID 19 pandemic pushed that trend into overdrive!  Government mandated office closures forced employers to make an immediate pivot to change operations to remote work.  Microsoft has been following the remote worker trend for some time and has conducted a substantial amount of research into how employees can better collaborate in this environment.  Due to the ramifications of the global pandemic, Microsoft has accelerated its timelines for online collaboration features and has extended its focus to the empowerment and engagement of remote workers. Enter the Employee Experience Platform (EXP):  “An EXP is a digital platform that puts people at the center by bringing together systems of work with systems of support into an integrated employee experience.” The graphic below illustrates typical areas that an employee needs to manage. Source:Employee Experience Platform: A New Catagory Arrives Microsoft has addressed this concept […]

One useful feature of Salesforce is being able to view numerous records within an object at once via a feature called List Views.  List Views can be customized, filtered, and modified extensively to allow Users to view all or subsets of object records from a single location.  Users can even, in some cases, make updates to multiple records at the same time via a List View, eliminating the need for excessive clicks and navigation.  All of this can be done without the need for constructing complex reports or custom components, ensuring your Users can see what they need to and do their job effectively without delay. Challenge: A User needs to be able to view and interact with a subset of records for a given object in Salesforce. Solution: List Views, of course!  List Views are available by default for any standard or custom object in Salesforce that has an […]