Technology Solutions & IT News Blog | FMT Consultants

As you may have read in our recent blog post on Lightning Components, Salesforce Lightning page layouts have the amazing ability to support a variety of standard and custom components that can enhance the functionality of your pages and provide Users with useful capabilities. However, at times you may want to permit only a subset of Users from being able to view and access Lightning Page Components rather than have them visible to all Users at all times. This is where utilizing Lightning Component filters can be quite useful. Challenge: For the sake of example let’s leverage the Related Record component we built in our previous blog post. If you did not read the previous blog, we created a Lightning Related Record component on the Contact Lightning page layout that displayed a variety of key fields from that Contact’s Account, without having to navigate to the Account directly (see screenshot). […]

At its core, Salesforce fundamentally functions as a relational database.  That is, it not only stores data from various objects and records but allows those objects and records to be related to one another, which in essence “connects” them and shows their relationship. For example, a basic relationship in the standard Salesforce data model is the classic Account and Contact relationship.  Accounts are organizations you sell to or do business with, while Contacts are individuals who work at those organizations in various roles, from CEO to frontline workers and everyone in between. Contacts are “related” to Accounts to show that they work at a certain organization and fulfill a role there.  An example would be Mark Zuckerberg; he would be considered a Contact for the “Facebook” Account in Salesforce with a Title of CEO. Challenge: The nature of this relational model allows for some powerful reporting and insights while using […]

Yes, you read that right, the President of the United States signed an Executive Order stating that the Federal government has to review and improve its Cyber Security – it’s a security journey if you will.   While that may seem like a huge undertaking for the likes of the United States, there are key takeaways that every business should apply - and you do not have to have the budget of the government to do so! Let’s look at a subset of this rather long, but truly important order: “To keep pace with today’s dynamic and increasingly sophisticated cyber threat environment, the Federal Government must take decisive steps to modernize its approach to cybersecurity, including by increasing the Federal Government’s visibility into threats, while protecting privacy and civil liberties.  The Federal Government must adopt security best practices; advance toward Zero Trust Architecture; accelerate movement to secure cloud services, including Software […]

Microsoft is one of the most popular and well-known software companies in the world. Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned user, there's a good chance you've used Microsoft products in your work or personal life. In this article, we'll show you how to navigate and improve your skills using Microsoft products. We'll provide tips on how to use different Microsoft products, explain how to best use the ecosystem and more. Below are the main topics we will discuss: M365 environment tested Microsoft New Commerce: Features Coming Microsoft VIVA MFA & Cybersecurity IRP or Item Resource Planning How to Publicly Share a Microsoft Stream Video Azure App Services Microsoft Search Microsoft Teams Audio Conferencing Business Central (BC) - Warehouse Cycle Counting Importing Contacts To Business Central Microsoft 365 Environment Testing Are you considering migrating to Microsoft 365? If so, it is important to understand how the new environment will impact […]

We are proud to share that FMT has been recognized as one of Bob Scott’s Top 100 VARs for 2021! The annual list of leading resellers is comprised of organizations specializing in the sale and implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and accounting software. “Over the last 18 months, our clients have had to rapidly adjust to the dramatic changes in the global supply-chain and have turned to FMT for connected, complete solutions in an evolving market,” states FMT CEO Eric Casazza. “It’s wonderful to see that we remain amongst great company as a ‘top 50’ reseller nationwide. We continue to actively strength the ways in which we deliver value, and we look forward to helping our clients grow in the remainder of 2021.” Bob Scott, executive editor of ERP Global Insights (formerly known as Bob Scott’s Insights) adds, “We want to congratulate this year's class of Bob Scott's Top […]

The order-to-delivery process is full of steps and – for many suppliers – manual tasks. But how can you streamline the process, and what would that look like? We’ve spoken with countless suppliers throughout the years, and while their businesses may vary, the major challenges they face are similar. Common Challenges Suppliers Experience Lack of integration across multiple trading partners. Plus, each partner may have specific requirements, adding more manual processes to your workload. Lack of real-time inventory visibility. Have you ever sold something that wasn’t actually available? Lack of real-time data is often at the root of negative client experiences. Managing peak season order volume. More orders are great, as long as you can deliver packages on time during peak season and high-volume events. Advanced ship notice (ASN) requirements. Has a client ever canceled an order because she thought it hadn’t been shipped? The cost of not sending the […]

In the first half of 2021, Microsoft made changes to the way that Microsoft Teams recordings are stored and shared. Meeting recordings used to be stored within Microsoft Stream, but they are now stored in your OneDrive for Business or a SharePoint Online site (which is good news if you want to publicly share a Microsoft Stream video!). These changes are a part of the “New” Microsoft Stream or Stream (on SharePoint) that was announced last year and covered in depth during Ignite 2020. For more information: The new version of Microsoft Stream - Microsoft Stream | Microsoft Docs. This change introduces the following benefits: Easy to set permissions and sharing Ability to share recordings with guests and external users Provides direct OneDrive and SharePoint links to videos Meeting recordings are available faster The biggest improvement and benefit is the ability to share recordings easily with external users who are […]

Here’s a quick tip on how to enable non-G/L changes to closed periods in NetSuite! How do closed periods work in NetSuite? Once an accounting period is closed, you are unable to edit any transactions within that closed period. The ‘Edit’ button on these closed period transactions won’t show, and you will instead see a lock icon next to the transaction number to designate that it is in a closed period. Why would you want to enable non-G/L changes to closed periods in NetSuite? Perhaps you want to add a memo or edit a PO number without having to credit and reissue invoices. Additionally, some ISV solutions require this setting in order to sync their data with locked and closed periods. How do you enable the feature in NetSuite? You’ll have to enable a setting on the Manage Accounting Period page. To enable the editing of transactions within closed periods […]

Legacy applications – those business-critical apps that keep IT people up at night fighting fires – leave employees frustrated with their lack of dependability and, worse, provide poor customer experiences all around. Essential to any business, they may have been developed years ago, and when they work, ‘they just work.’ But because all of your processes and procedures were created around the app, you don’t want to invest in a whole new platform.  Sound familiar? Does that mean you have to live with the app’s shortcomings or keep buying new server hardware to ensure long-term, stable usage? Thanks to Microsoft, the answer may be a surprising ‘NO!’  How?  Modernize existing .NET web apps using Azure App Service. What is Azure App Service?  Azure App Service is a fully managed Microsoft cloud-based platform for building, deploying, and scaling your web apps. The Microsoft platform has the following key features: Fully managed platform Utilize bult-in infrastructure maintenance, security patching, and scaling. Built-in CI/CD integration CI/CD integration provides zero-downtime deployments. Virtual network integration Run […]

During my long tenure as a SharePoint consultant, one of the most common complaints regarding SharePoint is “I can’t find what I need.” There are probably several reasons this may be the case that are unrelated to the platform itself (lack of search training, search optimizations, etc.). But Microsoft has listened and introduced Microsoft Search. Not only does this provide an enhanced search experience for SharePoint, but it is also designed to be a global search aggregator for all Microsoft 365 workloads. Currently supported applications include: SharePoint Outlook OneDrive Word PowerPoint Office 365 With Microsoft Search, each search result is scoped to the application where the search was originated. For example, Outlook will return emails, Word will return Word documents, etc. In addition to the expanded search options, the results are unique per user. Microsoft’s AI engine delivers links that are targeted to user activity as well as content that […]

If you’re a Salesforce user, you may have received an email from Salesforce saying they will require you to enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) by February of 2022. And . . . we think that's a good idea! As phishing attacks increase and the global threat landscape continues to change, why wouldn’t you want to implement stronger security measures? Here are answers to some questions you may have about Salesforce multi-factor authentication. What is multi-factor authentication? Instead of just a username and password, multi-factor authentication requires two or more pieces of evidence (factors). One factor is something you know, like your username and password. The other factors are verification methods that you have – like an app on your phone or a USB key provided to you. Interested in learning more about MFA and Cloud Security? View this post. Why should you want multi-factor authentication? Usernames and passwords are no longer […]

2020 has been a year like no other in recent history, and the US manufacturing industry has felt the impact. Declines in production, forced shutdowns and inconsistent value chain behavior during the ‘peak’ of the pandemic will likely drive industry behavior for years to come. In what could become a permanent change for the industry, most manufacturing leaders are reevaluating the role of their workforce. One way to enhance digital capabilities in the workforce is to develop an ecosystem comprised of today’s top manufacturing talent (like your Chief Procurement Officer, or CPO) built on the back of a world-class Customer Relationship Management system. Data-Driven Decisions There are a few common themes we are seeing more and more in the manufacturing world nowadays. The need for agility and accuracy in data management, customer centricity and the ability to make data-driven decisions seems to have taken over and remodeled company cultures. Furthermore, […]