Technology Solutions & IT News Blog | FMT Consultants

While it has been a while since Dynamics CRM 2011 update rollup 12 was initially released, a number of re-releases has caused some confusion in the community as to exactly what feature updates and enhancements rollup 12 has brought along. So, what’s new with Dynamics CRM Update Rollup 12? User Interface Streamlined UI – Graphics are flattened down and icon redundancies are removed, edges and extra padding are also removed to allow for more content to be displayed on the forms. And finally the green spinning wheel is gone and has been replaced by the Windows 8 progress bar. CRM Forms have been retooled – UR12 includes cross browser capabilities, Flow UI and the ability to set and restrict browser access to Dynamics CRM. Interoperability Office 2013 compatibility – this allows for better integration with Outlook 2013 for the CRM Outlook Client. Activity Feeds update – allowing for the “like” […]

Leading provider of technology solutions announces nVerge 2013; a one day conference focusing on business management solutions, collaboration software, Business Intelligence and IT services. nVerge 2013 takes place on May 16th in San Diego, CA San Diego, CA, April 3rd 2013 - FMT Consultants, a leading provider of enterprise level technology solutions, announces nVerge 2013 – an upcoming, one day technology conference in San Diego, CA. nVerge 2013 focuses on the latest trends and feature updates for Microsoft Dynamics GP, Dynamics CRM, Office 365, Microsoft SharePoint, Business Intelligence, Corporate Performance Management (CPM) solutions, 3rd party applications for the Microsoft Dynamics product line, hosting solutions and Managed IT Services. The one day conference consists of a combination of keynote and breakout sessions, an Office 365 learning lab, ongoing exhibition with IT service providers and independent software vendors for the Microsoft Dynamics product line, lunch, post conference cocktail reception and networking sessions. The […]

Power View, a feature of SQL Server 2012 Reporting Services, allows you to create reports and dashboards using a number of different data visualizations. With the ability to drag and drop data, and being able to easily switch between visualizations, Power View quickly becomes a powerful BI tool to illustrate, summarize, display and analyze your data. The following table is a list of data visualizations that come out of the box with Power View:   Click image to enlarge TABLE You can easily drag and drop fields onto a table. Columns can be easily reordered and all columns are automatically sortable. You can even include images files.   Click image to enlarge MATRIX Tables can be easily be converted into a matrix, with row and column groups. By default the matrix will have totals and subtotals for each of the groups. Additional columns can be easily added by dragging a […]

F.O.S.H. Stands for Finance, Operations, Sales and Human Resources and denotes four areas in an organization where SharePoint can have an immediate impact. SharePoint is a tool that can be tailored to any business to enhance communication and automate repetitive business processes within and across departments. In ‘SharePoint and the F.O.S.H. Life – Human Resources’, we discussed how SharePoint can enhance and optimize HR processes, exemplified by the Employee Life Cycle. The second part in the series, SharePoint and the F.O.S.H. Life – Finance, focused on how SharePoint can help streamline some of the various Finance functions within an organization. The third installment in the series, SharePoint and the F.O.S.H. Life - Operations covered how SharePoint can help improve an organization’s Operations while helping it respond quicker to changes in its operational environment and manage internal requests. The final piece in the F.O.S.H. series will cover how SharePoint can assist […]

While most Microsoft Dynamics GP system administrators are accustomed to securing access to the ERP system data using both built in and custom security roles and tasks, a completely different security model must be employed when using the SQL Reporting Services Reports. Access to reports within SQL Reporting Services (SSRS) is controlled using Active Directory (AD) authentication of AD users or groups. Additionally, by default, the data behind the standard GP reports is secured by SQL database roles that need to be mapped to AD users and/or groups. The Microsoft Dynamics® GP 2010 SQL Server Reporting Services Guide provides a decent step by step guide of how to setup security for the reports based on predefined database roles that are created during the deployment process. Below is the listing of database roles: DYNAMICS database rolesCOMPANY database roles rpt_all user rpt_all user rpt_executive rpt_executive rpt_human resource administrator rpt_human resource administrator rpt_payroll […]

Just curious, how many of you can relate to this? A customer of mine had a common problem: old, outdated software and the business processes and bottlenecks to go with them. Originally, they set out to upgrade their old ERP system, hoping to maximize the investment made in what they already had. Eventually, they realized that the system that got them to where they are would not get them to where they wanted to be. Enter Microsoft Dynamics GP Dynamics GP has enabled them to improve response time to customers and reduce overhead costs, and they have obtained a level of visibility on their order process that would have been impossible otherwise. For this distribution company, implementing Microsoft Dynamics GP has helped them enhance their customer service and business operations considerably. Following the implementation of Microsoft Dynamics GP, my client can now process orders 50% faster; keep workflow quotes from […]

Southern Californian Dynamics GP partner demonstrates the latest version of Microsoft’s ERP solution, Dynamics GP. San Diego, CA, January 29th 2013 - FMT Consultants, a leading provider of enterprise software solutions, recently announced two February Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 breakfast demo events, the first in San Diego and the second in Irvine. Dynamics GP 2013 is the latest version of Microsoft’s solid ERP solution for small and midsized businesses, Dynamics GP (formerly Great Plains), and comes with a new web client and more than 125 new features and improvements, including enhancement to the General Ledger, Fixed Assets, Payroll, Inventory and Purchase Order modules. Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 was released on December 19th, 2012. During the two hour demo sessions experienced GP consultants from FMT Consultants will demonstrate the many new features of Dynamics GP 2013, including the new web client and the Business Analyzer dashboard, discuss the requirements for installing or upgrading […]

For most industries and markets, it seems fair to assume that an organization’s success is largely contingent upon its knowledge capital. As an organization’s knowledge capital is composed by the knowledge and skills that reside within each and every employee, as well as the extent to which organizational knowledge is shared and utilized, the challenge for any organization is to secure, maintain and efficiently utilize the knowledge resources of its entire work force. Employing a knowledgeable and skilled work force is obviously a major priority for any organization, but ensuring that knowledge and experiences are shared throughout the organization and retained for future retrieval is what sets a true learning organization apart from its competitors. Employees Come and Go – Knowledge Should Stay While solid retention strategies indeed do help retain employees and minimize employee turnover, employees do come and go. It’s a fact. With the right applications and systems […]

Your data is a valuable asset. Data is (or should be) the foundation for sound decision-making, planning and strategic management and it is vital for your day-to-day operations. Statistics show that system failures do occur and accordingly data corruption and loss is inevitably. While preventing system breakdown and data loss is a main priority for any IT department, ensuring a smooth and efficient recovery process in case of data loss is of equal importance. While you could be one of the lucky ones who will never experience a problem, it is more likely than not that you at some point will face the unfortunate circumstance of having to recover lost or damaged data. It is best not to gamble with the odds. Source: Author’s estimates based on data from Safeware, The Insurance Agency, Inc.”2000 Safeware Loss Study” 2001; and ONTRACK Data International, Inc. “Understanding Data Loss” 2003.  I once heard […]

As more GP users get settled into Dynamics GP 2010 and/or begin refreshing their aging server environments, we’re beginning to see more migrations from FRx to Management Reporter. Management Reporter includes a Migration Wizard to automate this task, but because the two systems are structurally quite different on the back end, it is really important to clean and prepare your FRx reports before trying to get them over to Management Reporter. You should carefully follow the entire Migration Guide document to familiarize yourself with the requirements and process, but in a nutshell the following steps are the ones you’ll need to prepare for: Remove unused companies, specification sets, and building blocks (rows, catalogs, columns, trees) from FRx that are not in use or shouldn’t be migrated. Delete the demo companies, any reports pointed at the demonstration specification set and then the demonstration spec set itself. Delete any .f32 files in […]

Did you miss our Dynamics GP year-end close training in December? Not to worry - we have just added two online training sessions for January 2013. By attending you will learn best practices related to month-end and year-end processes for your Microsoft Dynamics GP system. We will cover General Ledger, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Inventory and Payroll. Free training materials will be provided prior to the training. The events are free to all Dynamics GP users. Register now to ensure a successful year-end close: January 15th, 2013, 10:00 AM PST - sign up January 17th, 2013, 2:00 PM PST - sign up You can also sign up by sending an email to jbechgaard@fmtconsultants.com Posted by: Jakob Bechgaard, Marketing Coordinator FMT Consultants

San Diego based FMT Consultants, LLC is ready to provide clients and prospects with cost-efficient Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Solutions. CA, San Diego December 20, 2012 - Following Microsoft’s release of Dynamics GP 2013, FMT Consultants LLC, a leading Southern California provider of IT Management solutions, is ready to provide its clients and prospects with innovative and tailored Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 solutions. Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 is the latest version of Microsoft’s solid ERP solution, Dynamics GP (formerly Great Plains), and comes with a new Web client and more than 125 new features and improvements, including enhancement to the General Ledger, Fixed Assets, Payroll, Inventory and Purchase Order modules. See https://www.fmtconsultants.com for a complete list of new features and enhancements. As an authorized Microsoft Dynamics GP Gold Partner, FMT Consultants, LLC has completed over 550 successful Dynamics GP implementations and is serving more than 170 clients in the US […]