Accomplishment As Artwork

Microsoft Great Plains is now targeting large and midsize businesses and being matured ERP has advanced, but still very simple in use modules and features: Lockbox Processing for Accounts Receivables, Customer/Vendor Consolidation, Multicurrency etc. We’ll try to cover these features in the series of small articles to help decision maker and end user understand the feature and how does it work to make a decision to purchase additional nice modules. In our opinion large corporation, which had to use ERP with rich functionality in the past, doesn’t have to do it in our new time. There are few reasons to switch to cheaper ERP, the most important are: database platform reliability improvement - nowadays MS SQL Server does excellent job and has most of the former instability and maintenance issues resolved. The second reason - MS Windows server is now close to be considered as a solid rock and you do not have to reboot it on the regular basis to fix all the types of “memory leaks”, etc. OK, lets review Lockbox processing:

• Customer Matching. This is rather the question about generic lockbox application - which basically imports text file, received from your bank and matches them with customer invoices, debit memos and miscellaneous charges. The question typically sounds like this - in our Great Plains CustomerID is different from bank customer ID. This is right, but each check has Bank Account Number and Bank Routine Number, identifying the customer, all you need to do is - carefully review first processing and enter this customer info, or open it here: Cards>>Sales>>Lockbox Bank Details - and next time you get check from this customer - lockbox will catch and identify it. This is true even in the case of hand written check.

• Invoice Number Matching. This is a bit tricky question, and you can’t catch invoice number from hand written check. However when we are talking about large businesses - these checks have invoices printed. If you bank has so-called Automatic Clearinghouse (ACH) lockbox file format - it can provide invoice number line if the check is issued by corporate or midsize established business. In the case of ACH header will have prefix 6 and line prefix 4.

• No Invoice Number Matching. This is still OK if you have a lot of small customers with one or few outstanding invoices. In this case - use autoapply method. You can have variety of apply criteria: None, Document Number (when you have ACH), Due Date/Oldest Document, Due Date/Oldest Invoice (other than invoices you apply manually), Document Date, Specific Invoices (and you specify them in the list)

• Additional Considerations. Virtually if you have corporate account in any bank - lockbox processing module does the job - because you map lockbox file at your will in Lockbox Maintenance screen: Cards>>Sales>>Lockbox

• Customization Options. Lockbox is Dexterity piece, so it is in the hand of Dexterity Developer, if you need to improve it for your corporation. VBA Modifier and Continuum are also available. Also feel free to use new tools, such as Extender or eConnect.

Good luck and you can always seek our help in customization, implementation, integration and support. Call us: 1-866-528-0577 or 1-630-961-5918, help@albaspectrum.com

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer in Alba Spectrum Technologies - USA nationwide Great Plains, Microsoft CRM customization company, serving Chicago, California, Arizona, Texas, Florida, Georgia, New York, Australia, UK, Canada, Continental Europe, Russia and having locations in multiple states and internationally ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ), he is Dexterity, SQL, C#.Net, Crystal Reports and Microsoft CRM SDK developer

The IT strategy of an organization focuses on deploying IT systems and solutions to different functions to capture the cost advantages enabled by those systems. Each function may have the authority to decide the areas to be automated in consultation with IT department. Alternatively, organizations may deploy ERP based systems that encompasses the whole organization.

The role of purchasing is seen as the buyer of materials for the production, maintenance and utilities function of a manufacturing organization and as a buyer of accessories and office supplies for other types of organizations. Purchasing is mostly a clerical activity driven by paper based processes and much emphasis is placed on verbal negotiations for bargaining of prices with suppliers. The traditional view of purchasing is to squeeze every cent from the seller.

The major activities for purchasing are receipt of requirement proposal that initiates the purchasing cycle from the end user. The purchasing department asks for requests for proposals from the prospective sellers. After negotiation process, through which the vendor is selected based on criteria such as conformance to specifications and past performance. This is followed by the physical delivery of goods, inspection and finally the financial settlement.

Purchasing management software is a server based application that is accessed by the users through log-in passwords. It contains modules which manage proposals, contracts and purchase orders. It also allows for electronic approval of purchase orders and tracks the order till the financial settlement. The software can be integrated with back end systems to have visibility of inventory, production scheduling and financial invoice clearance. The software can track the performance of suppliers using metrics such as on time delivery and goods returned.

A change from clerical to automation involves end user identification with the system. Users have to be trained during the implementation of the software. Purchasing management results in considerable saving in inventories and supplier satisfaction as this eliminates paper based processes which have the inherent disadvantage of losses of data.

EDI (electronic data interchange) systems enable companies to exchange documents pertaining to business transactions through computer networks. Apart from achieving fast document transfers, this system reduces administrative costs and errors associated with business transactions. Implementing EDI requires immense expertise and resources, which may prove expensive. Third-party firms specializing in EDI services offer a cost effective solution to this problem. EDI service companies provide the necessary hardware and software support at a low cost. They handle the transfer of documents in a very efficient manner. Moreover, these companies offer the flexibility of changing the implementation plan as required.

EDI service companies manage all the tasks related to EDI systems, ranging from the implementation to the monitoring of the system. The core of the EDI services is the document conversion process. In order to transfer a document from one company to another, it must be converted into a form which the EDI system can recognize. Once this conversion is done, the communication component of the system handles the transfer. A quality EDI system handles the conversion process automatically. This eliminates the need for a data entry operator. Other components of EDI services include automatic notifications of new document arrivals and issuing of alerts in case of emergency.

EDI services were traditionally handled by a private network. They are now being offered on the Internet owing to the low cost of operation. XML has emerged as a standard file format for exchanging data over the Internet and has been adopted in many EDI systems. EDI services help t companies save time and money required for business transactions. The automatic conversion of data and error detection increase the speed of business order processing. The adoption of EDI services enables the company to attract more customers owing to the emerging trends in ecommerce.

EDI provides detailed information on EDI, EDI Outsourcing, EDI Software, EDI Services and more. EDI is affiliated with Contact Management Systems.

Fortunately, there are generous individuals and organizations who
have the facilities to review the work of the Anti-spyware
developers and make the results available for all of us everyday
users of the Internet.

The challenge for us is to know where to go for these results and
recommendations, and to know which of the anti-spyware and
anti-virus programs to use on our computers.

There are many web masters, newsletter, and Blog publishers who
constantly monitor the results published by the anti-spyware
reviewers. Most of them pass these information alerts on to their
readers and subscribers, often offering suggestions and advice
based on their own personal experiences and expertise.

A real benefit for us is that most of the top rated anti-spyware and
anti-virus programs are free, or available in Trial or Demo versions.

All we need do is find out where to get them. But first, we need to
find the reviewers who post the alerts.

If subscribing to newsletters and Blogs isn’t your usual surfing
activity, you can do a search for security alert newsletters or
security alert blogs. For example, do a Yahoo search for “security
alert newsletter” (use the quotation marks to get the most
appropriate search results). Do the same for a Yahoo or Google
search on “security alert blog”. (Blogs are web logs).

Investigate the first and second pages of the search results and
select three or four of the listings as a starting point. Many
newsletters are published on a monthly schedule and may not
contain the most current information. Some are published weekly.
They may be better choices.

Blogs are usually much more current since Blog authors often post
their information every couple of days - some even on a daily
basis.

Blogs are riding a major wave of popularity. For the serious
searchers of current information, this is a great benefit. There
aren’t as many Blog sites as web sites yet, so it’s often much
easier to find the information you’re looking for.

Many Blog authors make their publications available for RSS (Real
Simple Syndication) readers. If you have added a RSS reader to
your browser, you can get up-to-the-minute alerts presented to
you automatically. You don’t need to go looking for them.

Many updated browsers, like Netscape 8 and Firefox include this
feature as part of their package. Expect the newest Internet
Explorer to have a RSS Reader, too.

Don’t be overwhelmed by all of the information you get. After doing
these searches and reviews once or twice, it will be a simple task
to select what you need to keep yourself current.

For starters, it is generally accepted practice to select and use at
least two anti-spyware programs. Choose from among the two or
three that receive the highest recommendations and ratings from
the newsletter and Blog authors. Be especially watchful for and
select one of those programs that provides ‘Real Time’ monitoring.
(Which means that they monitor and catch any incoming bugs that
may try to infect your machine while you are online).

Downloading instructions are nearly always present with the
reviews. If not, you’ll find sites like c|net.com to be a good source
for download links.

Just don’t forget to check for and update your security software.
The spyware writers won’t give you a break if you do.

Supportcave.com offers new and enhanced Spyware Removal Software. Not only will these programs effectively check and clean your computer from Spyware, once installed they will also shield your computer from future Spyware intrusions and browser hijacks - before the malevolent software even have a chance to enter you PC! Spyware Remover Software is an important function all computer users should rely on to ensure their computer is free from nosey software and their privacy protected.

As you probably heard, in September 2005 Microsoft strategically renamed its ERP applications: Microsoft Great Plains into Microsoft Dynamics GP, Microsoft Navision into Microsoft Dynamics NAV, Microsoft Axapta into Microsoft Dynamics AX, Microsoft CRM into Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Microsoft Solomon into Microsoft Dynamics SL. As so-called Project Green is rolling out - you should expect more logic to be transferred into Microsoft Business Portal, and into Microsoft Outlook (currently Microsoft CRM has outlook client and Microsoft Small Business Accounting allows you to generate invoices in Outlook directly, plus promote contacts from Outlook to SBA).

As we see and expect new high-tech and business systems market trends - remote and offshore support will be taking substantial market share in 2006-2010. Microsoft event plans to have special partnership models for BPO (Business Processes Outsourcing) partners, who will enter your AP/AR documents into the system and prepare reporting for you.
In this small article we’ll consider the alternatives and directions of Microsoft Great Plains offshore remote support:

• Technical Feasibility. As we are watching the parade of remote internet-based technologies: Terminal Services, Citrix, Web Sessions, Skype, PCAnywhere, Vonage/VOIP (with US based phone numbers, physically located offshore), we think that this is just a matter of time (let’s give it five years - up to 2010) when consultant driving to the client physical location/office will go to history

• Time Zones. Well - yes - you are right. Other countries are located in different time zones, especially Great Plains gurus in Philippines (remember Match Data Great Plains Project Accounting?). Philippines and India are almost 12 hours away from USA. However South America is about at the same time belt - Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Mexico - these are probably smaller clusters of offshore & BPO companies, but the advantage of time zone is obvious

• Pure Offshore vs. Local Consulting. Again - the choice is yours - in our opinion pure offshore is not the best option - offshore consultants and developers should be also experienced in serving clients face-to-face, this means - they should have local consulting practice in their local countries.

• Dexterity, VBA, Web Services. Here we are coming down to IT people - in our opinion the best offshore project is Microsoft Dexterity (or Great Plain Dexterity) software development

• Lovely Islands. If you are in Bermuda, Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Palau, Fiji, Tahiti - you are probably underserved and have to overpay to consultants flying from Miami, Manila, Paris, Chicago, NY, LA. The same should be told about USA/Canada rural communities

• ERP Historical Trend. Well, if you stake on Microsoft Business Solutions - you still might have legacy of products: IBM Lotus Notes Domino, Oracle Financials/Applications/E-Business Suite, SAP, PeopleSoft, JDEdwards, Accpac, Siebel, SalesLogix. You might need integration, data conversion, customization and heterogeneous reporting. Again - in our opinion you should consider budget offshore solution for these developers-time consuming projects

• Brazil - rising star of offshore software development. Usually offshore development is attributed to India - in our opinion Brazil has equal or better chances - in Brazil we have Microsoft Navision, CRM and Axapta clientele. From Brazil we can serve you Portuguese (mainland Portugal) and Spanish (Spain-Madrid-Barcelona-Malaga-Bilbao, Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, Chili, Argentina, Costa Rica, Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Panama, Beliz)

• BPO. Currently we offer these services from India. We have investments in our Indian subsidiary and it is strategic for BPO market

Please feel free to call us: 1-630-961-5918, 1-866-528-0577, help@albaspectrum.com

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer at Alba Spectrum Technologies ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ) - Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains, Navision, Axapta MS CRM, Oracle Financials and IBM Lotus Domino Partner, serving corporate customers in the following industries: Aerospace & Defense, Medical & Healthcare, Distribution & Logistics, Hospitality, Banking & Finance, Wholesale & Retail, Chemicals, Oil & Gas, Placement & Recruiting, Advertising & Publishing, Textile, Pharmaceutical, Non-Profit, Beverages, Conglomerates, Apparels, Durables, Manufacturing and having locations in multiple states and internationally.

We are serving USA Nationwide: CA, IL, NY, FL, AZ, CO, TX, WI, WA, MI, MA, MO, LA, NM, MN, Europe: Germany, France, Belgium, Poland, Russia, Middle East (Egypt, Saudi Arabia, OAE, Bahrain), Asia: China, Australia, New Zealand, Oceania, South & Central America: Mexico, Peru, Brazil, Venezuela, Columbia, Ecuador, Chili, Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico