SPRING/SUMMER 2015
DYNAMICS UNIVERSITY PROVIDING LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES FOR MICROSOFT DYNAMICS® USERS
+
IT’S ALL ABOUT THE
Cloud
3 ARTICLES FEATURING CLOUD SPECIFIC INSIGHT
INCREASE OWNERSHIP
HOW TO HELP CONTROL THE COSTS OF YOUR SYSTEMS
RELATIONSHIP STATUS:
ENGAGED
THE EVOLUTION OF CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT
QA &
with
Marietta Davis Vice President of Microsoft US Dynamics DYNAMICSUNIVERSITY.COM
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DYNAMICS UNIVERSITY Dynamics University represents the culmination of great ideas and content from the best reselling Microsoft Dynamics partners with a focus on helping Microsoft Dynamics customers achieve more for less. The idea for Dynamics University was born out of a desire to drive greater educational offerings within the Microsoft Dynamics community.
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Website
Advanced Solutions & Consulting Cargas Systems
Solana Beach, CA
www.solutionsco.com
Lancaster, PA
www.cargas.com
Express Information Systems
San Antonio, TX
www.expressinfo.com
Integrated Business Group
Altamonte Springs, FL
www.ibgnet.com
Knaster Technology Group
Englewood, CO
www.theknastergroup.com
Summit Group Software
West Fargo, ND
www.summitgroupsoftware.com
The TM Group
Farmington Hills, MI
www.tmgroupinc.com
Turnkey Technologies, Inc.
Chesterfield, MO
WebSan Solutions Inc.
Toronto, Ontario CAN
Products
www.turnkeytec.com www.websan.com
GP CRM RMS SL NAV AX 2
DYNAMICS UNIVERSITY SPRING/SUMMER 2015
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SPRING/SUMMER 2015
Articles
08 User Adoption Tips Achieve ROI on Your CRM Investment 10 Cash Management IQ Managing Cash in Microsoft Dynamics GP 12
Relationship Status: Engaged Redefining Customer Engagement
12
10
Customer 14 Paperless ERP: isPharmacy Chain The Best engagement Prescription for a more important than 18 Mobile Support Is Your Business Ready? ever, 22 Efficiency is Key in GP Finding Data Quicker
29 GP Workflow 2.0 What’s New in Workflow 2.0 30 Accounts Payable Automation Maximizing Your GP Investment 32 Increase Ownership of Your System 4 Ways to Control Costs
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32
features
DYNAMICS UNIVERSITY SPRING/SUMMER 2015
welcome onward and
upward Greetings! Welcome to the Spring/Summer 2015 edition of the Dynamics University magazine! Dynamics University magazine is a unique collaboration of some of the best Microsoft Dynamics partners throughout the United States and Canada. Together, these partners employee hundreds of industry professionals, who provide support, consulting, and training to thousands of customers just like you. We are confident that our readers get value from the effort put into providing this content.
Scribe is a global provider of Dynamics integration solutions to help customers
For those who attended Convergence 2015 in March, you saw the latest and greatest that Microsoft and the ISV community has to offer. Microsoft showed the power of Microsoft Dynamics CRM and newer tools such as Microsoft Social Listening (soon to be renamed Microsoft Social Engagement) and how applications such as Parature will deliver greater features with Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online.
increase revenue, provide
For many Microsoft Dynamics GP customers the current topic of discussion revolves around migrating their Microsoft Dynamics GP instance to the Cloud. This is a big area of interest for customers as part of their plans to upgrade to Microsoft Dynamics GP 2015. Check out the Cloud section in this issue starting on page 34 to understand some considerations.
Thousands of Microsoft
Finally, Convergence attendees had the opportunity to hear from Microsoft executives about how customer engagement is the most critical business process today and how applications such as Microsoft Dynamics play a pivotal role in delivering on it. You maybe had the opportunity to visit one-on-one with executives such as Marietta Davis and others. Be sure to check out this issue’s interview on page 24.
person at the right time.
superior service, and create business value faster.
Dynamics CRM, GP, NAV and AX customers use Scribe to get the right data to the right
For more information, visit www.scribesoft.com/du
If you couldn’t attend Convergence this year, please reach out to your partner. All Dynamics University partners love the opportunity to sit down and talk about what’s coming down the road from Microsoft, how Microsoft Dynamics can play a larger role to support your needs, and how our organizations can deliver the services you need to get more out of the software and technology you already own. As always, thanks for the continued support and business!
Eric Gjerdevig President Summit Group Software, Inc.
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34
36
34 Cloud Solutions The Value of Cloud Adoption with CRM 36 Shopping for a Cloud-Based Integrated Payment Processing Solution? Top 6 Things to Consider 38 6 Questions to Ask Your Cloud Provider What You Need to Know About Support 40 GP At REST Microsoft Dynamics GP Web Services 42 CRM Business Process Flow and Stages The Challenges and Hacks for Making It Work 44 Show Me The Money Microsoft Dynamics CRM
Content
44
05 Welcome Eric Gjerdevig 16 Tips & Tricks for CRM Users 24 Interview Marietta Davis
46 Debits & Credits for GP Users
Dynamics University is a free magazine published four times a year. Request a subscription by going to dynamicsuniversity.com Josh Behl Executive Editor Kristen Juven Design & Layout l Website Content Kate Mund, Lucy Communications Copy Editor Midstates Printing, Inc. Printing & Distribution Shutterstock.com Photographs & Images Contact Us 1405 Prairie Parkway, Suite A, West Fargo, ND 58078 Email Us learn@dynamicsuniversity.com
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We are proud to continue to help simplify Payroll and HR processes for members of the Microsoft Dynamics Community.
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TRIED & TRUE USER ADOPTION TIPS TO ACHIEVE ROI ON YOUR MICROSOFT DYNAMICS CRM INVESTMENT By Jennifer Espelien and Brad Vorbeck, Turnkey Technologies
“
10 %
Did you know only of user acceptance challenges arise from technical difficulties?
8
90 %
The remaining is acceptance (or adoption) among employees according to a 2011 article in”IT Business Edge.”
DYNAMICS UNIVERSITY SPRING/SUMMER 2015
CRM
THIS STATISTIC IS ONE OF MANY PROVING THAT WITHOUT SUCCESSFUL USER ADOPTION, YOUR MICROSOFT DYNAMICS CRM INVESTMENT WILL NOT YIELD THE MAXIMUM ROI. HERE ARE FIVE TRIED AND TRUE USER ADOPTION TIPS WE RECOMMEND TO ALL OUR CLIENTS: Define your business processes early in the planning phase, and implement your Microsoft Dynamics CRM solution around them. All too often, we see clients rush to the deployment stage and ignore the importance of proactive planning. One of the benefits of Microsoft Dynamics CRM is the flexible platform, which you can use to your advantage by designing your CRM solution around current business processes. People are more likely to use technology that helps, not hinders, day-to-day responsibilities.
Involve your end users from start to finish, and then involve them again. Your CRM platform is only as successful as the people using it. Involving your end users in the planning, implementation, and assessment project stages will not only empower them, but it will also gain buy-in. This improves your CRM success rate.
Follow up consistently with end users after the solution is implemented. Whether it’s every 30, 60, or 90 days, be sure to follow up with every person or department using Microsoft Dynamics CRM. A one-on-one conversation about what’s working, what’s not working, and requesting suggestions is a key factor in user adoption. Consider incentives to motivate: We have one client who rewards a department’s usability with cupcakes!
Identify the metrics to help you demonstrate success. As we all know, it’s difficult to prove success without the data to back it. Whether your company is using Microsoft Dynamics CRM for proposal production, sales tracking, or customer service, identify the KPIs that are important to your executive team and report on the progress consistently.
Encourage buy-in and adoption from all levels of management. From CEOs to supervisors, all levels of management must support the user adoption initiatives. If the people writing paychecks are using the solution, other employees will want to be a part of the tribe and follow the example.
For more user adoption tips and to hear from an end user who has served as her company’s CRM administrator since 2011, view this video, “The Art of User Adoption to Achieve CRM Success”, at: TurnkeyTec.com/CRM-User-Adoption If you have questions on Microsoft Dynamics user adoption or need more information, contact Turnkey Technologies at 636-777-4110. DYNAMICSUNIVERSITY.COM
9
GP
WHAT’S YOUR
CASH MANAGEME
IQ? By Darren Hunt, Integrated Business Group, Inc.
T
wo options Microsoft Dynamics GP offers for managing cash are bank reconciliation (sometimes referred to as “basic” bank rec) and electronic bank reconciliation. The primary difference between the two is the electronic version streamlines the reconciliation process by automatically matching Microsoft Dynamics GP transactions to those cleared by the bank. One of the best examples where electronic bank reconciliation automates a repetitive process and saves time is payables checks. Simply put: All records where the check number and check amount match between Microsoft Dynamics GP and the bank statement are immediately marked as cleared the moment a user opens the main bank reconciliation matching window. Voilà! Now the user is left to only manage exceptions rather than ticking box after box after box. 10
To wrap up this section, let me leave you with a challenge or two:
Number 1 If you are currently using the “basic” bank rec module (or worse yet, managing this process in Microsoft Excel) seriously consider stepping up to electronic bank reconciliation. The time required to install and implement the module is typically less than the time spent manually reconciling each month’s bank statement. (Hint: Ask your bank for a BAI-formatted file, and you will be up and running with electronic bank reconciliation in significantly less time.)
Number 2 For those of you already reaping the benefits of electronic reconcile, how
DYNAMICS UNIVERSITY SPRING/SUMMER 2015
frequently are you using the module? I suspect the majority of you would answer monthly. Which is great, but did you know there is nothing in Microsoft Dynamics GP preventing you from reconciling more frequently? In fact, I would challenge you to start reconciling every bank account weekly or, dare I say, daily. Why wait until the end of the month to find out you have a cash problem? Ask yourself this question: If I were to “borrow” $100 from your wallet without asking, would you rather find out now, or possibly days, weeks, or months down the road? Just a thought!
Nolan ABR For more complex reconciliations, consider Advanced Bank Reconciliation (ABR) from Nolan Business Solutions (www. nolanbusinesssolutions.com). With its user-friendly, automated matching process, ABR outshines both Microsoft Dynamics GP bank rec versions. Where Microsoft
ENT
original check amount. In this scenario, the bank’s positive pay system would recognize the disparity in check amounts and not release the funds. The Safe Pay module available in Microsoft Dynamics GP gives users a tool to export the positive pay file in the exact format specified by the issuing bank.
EFT Next up on our discussion of cash management are a few digital payment tools. Microsoft Dynamics GP offers two electronic funds transfer (EFT) modules known as EFT for receivables and EFT for payables. These modules leverage the automated clearing house (ACH) network used by banks to manage the movement of money between financial institutions. Instead of using paper to carry necessary transaction information, such as with checks, ACH transactions are transmitted electronically, allowing for faster processing times. ACH transactions typically settle within one to two business days. Similar to Safe Pay, the EFT modules require you to export a file from Microsoft Dynamics GP matching the format specified by the bank and the ACH network.
well as the security enhancement that comes with the elimination of paper which is subject to alteration. However, if you want to start off simple, Viewpost will print, stuff, and mail payments for you similar to existing bill-payment solutions. Viewpost never charges a fee to: create, send and track invoices; receive, enter and manage bills; or receive electronic deposits. You simply pay $0.50 or $0.75 per payment of any amount sent electronically or as a paper check, respectively. Even the online dashboard where you can manage your cash flow and view the status of invoices is free. And best of all, Viewpost syncs all data directly to Microsoft Dynamics GP for free. Visit https://www.viewpost.com/ibg for more information about Viewpost and its offerings.
Viewpost
Dynamics GP’s matching rules are fixed, ABR’s user-definable, flexible rules enable matching on more than just transaction date and amount. Furthermore, grouping “rules” automatically aggregate multiple Microsoft Dynamics GP transactions to match lump-sum bank statement records, making reconciliation an easier task.
Safe Pay Another aspect of cash management pertains to mitigating fraud. Most banks offer a service known as positive pay. The idea behind positive pay is to provide your bank with key payment information, such as the check number, date, and amount, when paper checks are issued. Banks then use this information to approve or deny the clearing of funds. For example, suppose a check amount was fraudulently modified to display an amount greater than the
While the EFT modules remove some of the pain managing cash receipt and payment processing, they still fall short in certain key areas. Two of the most significant gaps are the decoupling of the payment and remittance data, and maintaining your trading partners’ banking information. To bridge this gap, Integrated Business Group has partnered with Viewpost to take the busywork out of cash management. Simply stated, the Viewpost network is a secure, cloud-based solution where businesses efficiently exchange electronic invoices and payments with their trading partners from anywhere at any time without losing valuable remittance data. No fees are charged for you or your trading partners to join Viewpost. Viewpost also securely stores each trading partner’s bank account information, eliminating the need to initially set up and then maintain one another’s banking information over time. Payments are processed either electronically or as paper checks. The electronic option offers the most benefits, primarily due to the speed in which funds transfer, as
You have likely heard the saying
“Cash is King”.
In this article we will discuss a number of ways Microsoft Dynamics GP helps you better manage cash flow.
DYNAMICSUNIVERSITY.COM
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By Eric Gjerdevig, Summit Group Software, Inc.
RELATIONSHIP STATUS:
Engaged
The Evolution of Customer Relationship Management
CRM
Customer engagement is more important than ever, since every interaction has the potential to win high praise or verbal denunciation, either of which could go viral with the click of a button. 12
DYNAMICS UNIVERSITY SPRING/SUMMER 2015
C
ustomer expectations seem to be changing at the speed of light. Today, sales professionals do more than just sell; they are service representatives and subject matter experts. Traditional sales functionality no longer defines the sales force automation (SFA) market. As sales processes morph and get increasingly competitive, the role of the salesperson has changed quickly. This rapid evolution is redefining what is at the center of customer relationship management (CRM). The increasing complexity of our customers and their expectations are driving the need for more “intelligent” CRM solutions and bringing together historically separate business functions such as sales, marketing, and customer service. Paul Greenberg, a CRM industry analyst and author of “CRM at the Speed of Light”, has defined customer engagement as “the ongoing interactions between customer and the company, offered by the company, chosen by the customer.” Comparatively, Gallup defines customer engagement as the emotional connection between your customers and your company. Greenberg’s definition sounds a lot like loyalty, which, although is not mutually exclusive, is different. Gallup’s seems to put too much emphasis on an emotional connection. So, what is customer engagement; is it just a new term for satisfaction? The difference between customer satisfaction and engagement is more than just semantics. Engagement implies a deeper level of interaction with the customer. Satisfaction is a one-way street and is reflective of a single point in time. Engagement is a two-way street and embodies the sum of a customer’s experiences and relationship with your company over time. Engagement is a living conversation
between an organization and its customer. An engaged customer may not always be satisfied but cares enough about the relationship (or feels valued enough) to let you know they aren’t. So, why is engagement important? First, nothing predicts organic growth like customer engagement. Engaged customers shop more often, buy more, tell others about it, and often are less price-sensitive. Second, simply “satisfying” customers does not have the same effect as engaging them. To be honest – traditional customer satisfaction programs don’t work. Traditional efforts do not create the types of connections that drive long-term relationships and value. Finally, customer engagement is more important than ever, since every interaction has the potential to win high praise or verbal denunciation, either of which could go viral with the click of a button. Today, the impact of mobile technology and social media has led to a shift in the way businesses engage with their customers. Businesses must realize that interactions between companies and customers are increasingly spread across different parts of the organization and through various channels. Businesses can no longer force customers to communicate through the most convenient channel (to the business) but must instead listen and respond to multiple channels and to what is most convenient to the customer. More than ever, companies are trying to get closer and understand their customers better. They want to provide a personalized – but not necessarily personal – experience. So how does a solution like Microsoft Dynamics CRM fit in to this moving concept of engagement? Historically speaking, CRM systems were more of a command-and-control tool than a customer engagement tool. The fact is many vendors such as Microsoft, Salesforce.com, SAP, Oracle, and others are all struggling to define customer engagement. Therefore, they are all tackling this opportunity in slightly different ways. As such, it has been discussed more in the last six months than in the previous 10 years. Kirill Tatarinov, executive vice president of Microsoft Business Solutions, spoke in the opening keynote of Convergence 2015 on this exact topic saying, “Customer engagement is the most critical business process of all.”
As the market works to refine this definition, there are some areas where organizations should focus their efforts. Successful customer engagement strategies and processes must be supported with the right tools to drive efficient and positive customer interactions. A common barrier to growth in small companies is breaking free of the “hero” model because they lack the tools and processes to support their business on a larger scale. Microsoft Dynamics CRM is great at supporting and automating business processes. Microsoft Dynamics CRM, when paired with various add-on products for such things as customer portals, live chat, text, and social insights, can be at the heart of providing a consistent, multi-channel, experience to customers that can differentiate your product and/or service from that of your competitors. Today consumers expect more out of service experiences — from initial engagement with a brand or retailer to post-purchase interactions. Consumers today follow the mantra of “IWWIWWIWI” (I want what I what when I want it). That’s the new standard to driving engagement and the true definition of a seamless, always-on, omni-channel experience.
“Today, the impact of mobile technology and social media has led to a shift in the way businesses engage with their customers. Businesses must realize that interactions between companies and customers are increasingly spread across different parts of the organization and through various channels. ”
To read more about customer engagement, how Microsoft Dynamics CRM can be at the center of supporting your engagement strategy, and how several great add-on solutions help support this goal, please download our ebook titled “What is your Relationship Status? Redefining Customer Engagement in Today’s Connected World” at summitgroupsoftware. com/customer-engagement.
SATISFACTION
ENGAGEMENT
Satisfaction is a one-way street and is reflective of a single point in time.
Engagement is a two-way street and embodies the sum of a customer’s experiences and relationship with your company over time.
DYNAMICSUNIVERSITY.COM
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PAPERLESS ERP: THE BEST PRESCRIPTION FOR A MAJOR PHARMACY CHAIN
GP
By Alyssa Kadansky, Metafile
I
n the ever-changing world of healthcare, it’s important to keep up with the latest technological trends to keep operations running efficiently. Genoa Healthcare, the largest behavioral health pharmacy provider in the country, recently automated its paper processes by implementing a document management system with its Microsoft Dynamics GP solution prior to doubling in size by merging with QoL meds.
Genoa Healthcare, the largest behavioral health pharmacy provider in the country.
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DYNAMICS UNIVERSITY SPRING/SUMMER 2015
A SUCCESS With the original goal of automating 50 percent of its invoices shattered, Genoa is now 100 percent automated
Genoa began filling prescriptions in the back room of a small, independent pharmacy a little more than a decade ago. Today, the organization has more than 125 full-service, on-site pharmacies in 31 states and the District of Columbia. To further expand its reach and provide behavioral health necessities to patients, the company merged with fellow behavioral health pharmacy QoL meds in January 2015 to become Genoa, a QoL Healthcare Company. Before merging and automating its AP processes, Genoa had a one-person AP staff who utilized a manual and undocumented AP processes. We knew that with the impending merger, carrying on with a manual process would become difficult for us to manage,” Genoa’s accounting manager said. Some of these manual processes included emailing invoices for more than $500 to the appropriate store manager for approval, as well as printing, scanning, emailing, and filing invoices and other documents. This made it extremely difficult for staff to keep track of where invoices were in the approval process. Genoa staff knew that it was time to find a way to safely store all of these procedures in a computer system and to regulate and automate some of the processes. After choosing their paperless ERP solution, Genoa now follows an automated approval process in order to enforce approval rules and avoid mistakes from manual processes. Printing and filing invoices is no longer necessary, saving both time and paper. In addition,
the paperless ERP solution simplifies the invoice approval process by escalating approvals if the invoices are not acted upon right away. Because Genoa was a large company with multiple locations, it also needed its solution to make location differentiation processes for invoices simpler, as well as one that would provide site managers with more visibility of their location. Now, managers have the ability to see pending invoices and approvals, as well as search all invoices for their specific locations. This provides more transparency for the company, according to the accounting manager. “Since we’ve implemented, it has been so much easier to train people. We were able to automate a very manual process and now have greater visibility of the process from start to finish.” The document management solution integration was a smooth transition for Genoa as it merged seamlessly with its Microsoft Dynamics GP system that was already in place. The company was able to customize the system to fit its unique needs and receive training on each piece of the solution. After discovering that the merger with QoL would be upon them within the year, Genoa employees were fully trained, went into unit testing, and, within only two weeks, went into production with their new paperless ERP. “No one else seemed to have a true integration like MetaViewer,” the accounting manager said. “We liked having access to MetaViewer from within Microsoft Dynamics GP, and nobody else offered that.”
The results of implementing the document management solution have been nothing short of amazing for Genoa. Rather than having to remember all of the AP procedures, employees can now be trained on one fluid system that streamlines the processes. In addition, the system has allowed Genoa to double the size of the company but keep the same number of AP employees. This was due to the new document management solution taking on much of the workload and allowing AP staff to work on more crucial projects. With the original goal of automating 50 percent of its invoices shattered, Genoa is now 100 percent automated, and the QoL addition has also become fully automated after the company databases were merged. You can’t argue with results such as these, and Genoa is now benefitting from the solution’s ability to provide the company with workflow automation, increased visibility, cost savings, and so much more. Visit metaviewer.com/genoa to read more.
RX
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CRM TIPS & TRICKS
REASSIGN ALL RECORDS OWNED BY A USER TO ANOTHER USER By Chad Rexin, Summit Group Software This is not something totally new with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 as the functionality existed in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 as well. If you ever have had a user leave the company or have had a partner or consultant do some work and then deactivate their user account, you may find that some things are no longer working, especially if that user had created Microsoft Dynamics CRM Workflows. What I’m going to do is to go through the process for reassigning all records that a user owns and include one extra set of steps that is needed since the method to reassign all records does not account for the new Business Rules in Microsoft Dynamics CRM2013 and 2015. You can reassign all records owned by a user by navigating to Settings – Administration – Users (Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013) or to Settings – Security – Users in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015. Depending on if you have already disabled the user or not, select the Enabled Users or the Disabled Users view, and select the user you wish to reassign the records for. Double-click on the user record to open it, and then click on the Reassign records icon on the command bar ribbon. Note that if this user has created or been assigned as the owner of any business rules, you will receive the following error: “Published workflow definition must have non null activation id”. If this occurs, then before you can use the Reassign records here, you must search for and manually reassign the business rules assigned to this user. You can search for the Business Rules by opening Advanced Find (note that in CRM 2015, the Advanced find icon is now always visible in the top right of the site map navigation bar). Choose to look for Processes (using the All Processes view), and add the following three filter conditions to find the business rules to reassign to another active/enabled CRM user: a. Type equals Definition b. Category equals Business Rule c. Owner equals Owner who you are wishing to reassign the records from Then simply click on the Results icon on the Advanced Find Ribbon, select the records found, and then click on the Assign icon on the Advanced Find command bar to assign those records to yourself or to another enabled user in Microsoft Dynamics CRM who has privileges for Business Rules. Once that is done, then you can go back to the Users and open the user record for whom you wish to reassign all records and successfully perform the Reassign all records. Thanks goes to a fellow partner, developer, and blogger, Scott Durow, for the blog article that had this error in it that helped in being able to figure out a means to reassign the Business rules to resolve the error message, “Published workflow definition must have non null activation id”.
crm 16
DYNAMICS UNIVERSITY SPRING/SUMMER 2015
MICROSOFT DYNAMICS CRM 2015 TIP: ROLLUP FIELDS By Dave Packard, Cargas Systems One of the many new features in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 is the introduction of the Rollup field. This allows a single field to sum the combination of related records such as the total revenue for opportunities or the total number of quotes created for an account. This had previously only been available through custom code.
I did not include any additional filters at the account level, but that is available, so if you only want this for accounts owned by a certain salesperson, you could do that.
To create a Rollup field, go to the form you want it to appear on (the one that the related records all relate to). In this instance, we’ll do a rollup from the Opportunities to the related Account, so the rollup field goes on the Account form.
For this field, I only want revenue from Opportunities that have been Closed as Won, so I added the filter of Status is “Won”.
On the Account form, create a new currency field called Won Revenue, and for the Field Type, select “Rollup”:
The related entity I want is the Opportunity, so I chose “Opportunity (Account)”.
And finally I added the aggregation, which is the “Sum” of the Actual Revenue field from the won Opportunities. When complete, click “Save & Close” for the rollup screen and then again for the field itself. Then place the field on the form. Rollups recalculate every hour, and this job can be found in the System Jobs under Recurring Jobs if needed, but note that the initial calculation doesn’t happen for 12 hours. You can also manually recalculate the field when on the form by clicking the “Recalculate” button on that field.
To define how the rollup works, click on the Edit button to the right of Field Type shown above, which brings up the Rollup field editor: So through a few simple rollup fields, you can see how much that account is worth, and if you add a few other fields, you can see what you won versus quoted (based on the Est. Rev. field) and see how many opportunities you have had with that account:
The rollup fields provide a new way to gain further business insights into your accounts quickly and easily. And since these fields are searchable, you can pull these rollup fields into reports to get a global view across all of your accounts. I do want to note there are some limitations of the rollup fields, and one is the lack of a timeframe option such as “In This Fiscal Year” or being able to reset the count when the fiscal year changes. In this case, we have the Rollup field on the Account, so the “Source” is set to Account for us. Next we can decide if we want this to rollup Opportunities from related Accounts as well as through the Parent Account field. I chose to include this, so I set Hierarchy to “Yes” and used the “account_parent_account” Relationship.
To learn more about Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 contact Cargas Systems, a certified Microsoft Dynamics CRM partner offering software, services, and support that help improve business processes.
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A
s we move into the second quarter of 2015, there are several topics that should be first and foremost for your business to be concerned about – near the top of that list should be providing a mobile-friendly support channel to your customers. Let’s face it: We live in a world where mobility is a must. Smartphones are omnipresent and are overtaking other devices as the medium that connects people to the Internet. As of 2013, 34 percent of users accessed the Internet most frequently from their smartphone (Pew). By 2017, smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices are expected to make up closer to 90 percent of the connected devices on the Internet (IDC). Mobility is king, and we must adapt our businesses to take advantage of that paradigm shift. What this means is that your business needs to be thinking about how to expand your customer engagement efforts into the mobile space. Multi-channel support is extremely important – a mobile channel is a must. Based on research by thinkJar, more than two-thirds of businesses are beginning to embrace mobile support channels. This means it is likely that many of your competitors are already moving in this direction (thinkJar). While many companies may look to provide their customers with an “app” to deliver mobile customer service, this approach can be impractical in many cases. Native apps carry with them high costs and long development timelines, and they can be difficult to evolve along with your business. Another approach is a mobile-friendly, responsive web application for delivering mobile support to your customers.
CRM
You can easily expose your CRM data to your customers, partners, vendors, or any other entity you are trying to reach. CRM Vertex is easily configured from within Microsoft Dynamics CRM, and uses the great toolset of Microsoft Dynamics CRM to create a configuration platform for building a highly customized, and personalized, portal experience. The best part? This tool is completely responsive and mobile-friendly. All of the configuration power of CRM Vertex and Microsoft Dynamics CRM carries through to the smartphones and tablets of your customers without the need to set up a specialized, and separate, mobile support channel. Take advantage of the surge toward mobility that is happening in the world today – chances are a percentage of the 1.75 billion smartphones users in the world (eMarketer) are your customers. Create a competitive advantage by enabling a mobile-friendly support channel and allow your customers to engage with you on the devices they are using most! To find out more about CRM Vertex portals for Microsoft Dynamics CRM, check out http://www.crmvertex.com. Sign up for a free 30-day trial today. Within minutes you will have a mobile-friendly customer portal available to help drive further engagement! Pew: http://www.pewinternet.org/2013/09/16/ cell-internet-use-2013/ IDC: http://www.forbes.com/sites/louiscolumbus/2013/09/12/idc-87-of-connected-devices-by2017-will-be-tablets-and-smartphones/ thinkJar: http://estebankolsky.com/2014/12/ channel-adoption-and-usage-study-in-customerservice-third-year/
If you run Microsoft Dynamics CRM for your support management, you are in luck. CRM Vertex is a customer self-service portal and engagement platform built to extend the customer engagement story of Microsoft Dynamics CRM. 18
eMarketer: http://www.emarketer.com/Article/ Smartphone-Users-Worldwide-Will-Total-175-Billion-2014/1010536
DYNAMICS UNIVERSITY SPRING/SUMMER 2015
Multi-channel support is extremely important – a mobile channel is a must. Based on research by thinkJar, more than two-thirds of businesses are beginning to embrace mobile support channels. This means it is likely that many of your competitors are already moving in this direction (thinkJar).
MOBILE SUPPORT:
Is Your Business Ready By Matt Bitzegaio, CRM Vertex, Inc.
?
DYNAMICSUNIVERSITY.COM
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Get off the paper trail and onto the Fast Track
Overwhelmed by stacks of paper, misplaced invoices, lost money and wasted time? MetaViewer’s Fast Track delivers an extremely competitive price and minimal implementation time for web-based AP automation giving you OCR, work flow, real-time visibility and full Microsoft Dynamics integration.
Pitch The Paper Clips and get on the Fast Track with MetaViewer.
AX | GP | SL | NAV | CLOUD
Pitch The Paper Clips | www.metaviewer.com/for-Microsoft-Dynamics
20 DYNAMICS UNIVERSITY SPRING/SUMMER 2015
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GP
GP IS KEY IN MICROSOFT DYNAMICS
By Rhonda Sutliff, Rockton Software
EFFICIENCY
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P
R
Rockton Software has many products that can help make day-to-day life in Microsoft Dynamics GP more efficient by finding data quicker, figuring out who changed a record without asking everyone in the office, locating unusual Microsoft Dynamics GP windows in no time, and launching reports from inside of Microsoft Dynamics GP. SmartFill is a great tool to increase efficiency for your users. With this, you can find information 83 percent faster when looking up records in Microsoft Dynamics GP. Type in the information you know, and SmartFill will return your results. The best part is, you don’t have to search based on the field you’re trying to look up. For example, you may be searching for an account in the Account Number field, but you don’t have to
type in the Account Number. Instead, you could search on the Account Description, Account Alias, or even part of the Account Number. This makes looking up records much faster. Using SmartFill, you can quickly find the record to see the information you need. Have you ever had someone ask who changed a record, and you spend hours searching, but ultimately you’re unable to find the information? With Auditor, you can capture edits to records and then later see who made the change, when he/ she changed it, and what was changed. The Dynamics GP Toolbox offers many tools to help increase efficiency in your Microsoft Dynamics GP.
SECURITY MANAGER
MENTOR
Let’s face it, security in Microsoft Dynamics GP is not always the easiest to get around. You can use Security Manager to quickly find and view your security settings for your users. You can also easily make changes to security within Security Manager. With the Security Settings window, you can see which Task and Role a window is attached to so you can give the appropriate security to the user. This makes setting up security super easy.
This is a great tool to help make searching for a window in Microsoft Dynamics GP more efficient. Rather than clicking around and guessing where the window is, you can use Mentor to type in part of the window name and have the path returned for you. Of course, for extra efficiency, you can just double-click the window name in the results, and the window opens for you.
TASK BUILDER The Task Builder tool allows you to efficiently create a new security task. Rather than using the Security Task Maintenance window, where you have to make sure you select the right product, series, and type, just use the Task Builder to easily add the windows you require on that task.
REASON FOR HOLD
INSPECTOR It can be tough trying to create a report or find a specific field from a window in the correct table. You can efficiently find this information using Inspector; you just open the tool and then open the window you need the information for, and Inspector will populate with the appropriate information. When you need to know what tables the Customer Number, or any other field, is stored in as well as the column name in the table, you can quickly find it in Inspector.
It can be frustrating to enter a transaction only to find the Customer or Vendor you’re trying to use is on hold and you don’t know why. Rather than asking around, you can use the Reason For Hold tool. When the user places the Customer or Vendor on hold, they’re prompted to enter a reason. When you try to use that Customer or Vendor, the message pops up so you know instantly why they’re on hold, preventing you from spending extra time trying to find out why.
DYNAMICS REPORT MANAGER (DRM) can make reporting more efficient in multiple ways. This product allows more flexibility in printing reports, which increases efficiency. Streamline your reports to print right from Microsoft Dynamics GP. You may have reports in Crystal Reports or SSRS that require you to use those products to print. DRM allows you to print those reports in Microsoft Dynamics GP rather than spending time printing them somewhere else. You can group your reports together for quick access and easy printing of multiple reports at once. This saves you from having to go to multiple windows and locations to print when you can print all your reports that you need right from the Dynamics Report Explorer window. DRM also allows you to create batch reports so that you can efficiently email out reports to your customers or other internal employees. Lastly, you can use DRM to schedule reports to print for you. This way, they can print overnight or while you’re out of the office so that they’re ready for you upon return. Test one of the products above by taking advantage of our free trial period by contacting the Rockton Software Sales Team at sales@rocktonsoftware.com. For more information about any Rockton Software products, visit our website at www.rocktonsoftware.com. DYNAMICSUNIVERSITY.COM
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Interview
Q&A
24 DYNAMICS UNIVERSITY SPRING/SUMMER 2015
Marietta
Davis
Leader, Visionary, Technologist, Philanthropist Marietta Davis talks about her career, her team, and how Microsoft is changing By Eric Gjerdevig, Summit Group Software, Inc.
I
recently sat down with Marietta Davis, Vice President of Microsoft US Dynamics, at the 2015 Microsoft Dynamics Industry Summit in Southern California. It only takes a few minutes with Marietta Davis to realize how passionate she is about Microsoft, her team, and the community she lives in. Marietta began her career at Microsoft in December 1999. Her dynamic personality and determination to close deals quickly propelled her from an individual contributor to her first leadership position within 12 months. Over the last 15 years, Marietta has held various positions that have taken her all over the US. She began as a Solution Sales Professional before transitioning to a Business Manager, District General Manager (GM), and now the Vice President of Microsoft Dynamics US Subsidiary.
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What brought you to Microsoft?
What motivates you professionally?
When I joined Microsoft, I was looking for less travel and the ability to spend more time with my son, who has special needs. I interviewed at Microsoft and found everyone very engaging and future-focused. However, the deciding factor came as I was driving home. There was a story on the radio about the work Bill Gates was doing to provide vaccinations and immunizations throughout Africa and other parts of the world. Microsoft’s focus on healthcare and the less fortunate really stood out as something different. The fact that I’m still here after 15 years speaks volumes about the opportunities we have at Microsoft. It’s a great company to work for.
My skills and passion are best suited for a position focused around driving change or transformation. The Microsoft Dynamics business is evolving quickly as we move into the mobile first and cloud first world. The fact is, what we are doing with CRM and ERP is big! It’s exciting and there is a lot of room for us to take things to the next level. It’s pretty easy to find motivation in that environment.
Tell us a little more about the opportunities you’ve had. A year into my career at Microsoft, I was about to move into a role with our consulting team. At the same time, I was invited to an internal career advisory board to speak about my views on our customers and customer satisfaction. Subsequently, I was invited to lead a new group focused on business applications. Within five years, I had made it into a general manager (GM) position. I moved to Redmond and had the opportunity to work with Microsoft leaders, such as Steve Ballmer, in various strategy and communication roles. After my time in Redmond, I took a position in Detroit to run the Heartland Sales District as the General Manager. It wasn’t an easy position given companies such as General Motors and Chrysler went bankrupt during that time. After being successful in Detroit, I moved to Atlanta to become the GM of the Greater Southeast District. I lead the GSD for a little over 5 years before accepting the role as VP of US Dynamics. I’ve been in the role for about 18 months and could not be happier. I feel my career has benefited from having an understanding and zest for technology. That’s really important at Microsoft.
What has excited you most about Microsoft in the last 12 months? Microsoft has become more open and is competing differently than in the past. Just look at what we’ve done with Microsoft Office for Apple and Android, and the strategic relationships Microsoft has made with Salesforce.com or SAP. I’m focused every day on competing with these organizations, but Microsoft is partnering with them at the same time. I never thought I’d see the degree of openness that we now have. I marvel at how fast we move when a decision is made. For the size of Microsoft, it’s incredible. Our focus is on the end consumer experience; it’s not just rhetoric. The investment we are making in R&D and our customer experience with cloud are hard to compete against. Steve helped the organization evolve in this direction, but it has been accelerated greatly in the last 12 months under the leadership of Satya Nadella.
Our focus is on the end consumer experience; it’s not just rhetoric.
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How does Microsoft support what’s important to you outside of work? Microsoft truly values the uniqueness of people and invests in them. Two personal examples that are important to me are the Stay Fit benefits and the charitable match that Microsoft provides to employees. I’m pretty open about the fact that I worked hard to lose 109 pounds when I came to Microsoft. I was committed to getting healthy, and Microsoft supported me. It’s important to have periods of time in your day or week that are nonnegotiable. For me that’s a period of time each day that I focus on my health. A second example is around philanthropy and the work Microsoft does to support everyone’s lives. Microsoft technology is about more than just a cool product. It includes supporting people with things such as hearing loss and kids with autism. I’m inspired to work for a company that is interested in helping the least fortunate. I volunteer and donate to local nonprofits such as the Marcus Autism Center in Atlanta. This is further supported through Microsoft’s charitable match program. Long after I leave Microsoft, I’ll be working out and doing what I can to support organizations like these. I value working for a company that understands the responsibilities it has to both its employees and the communities we are a part of.
Any final thoughts? I’m humbled and honored to lead the 300+ people within my organization. I’m really proud and inspired by the work they do and how they interact with customers and partners. No leader can be successful without a highly functioning team. I couldn’t be successful without them. They embraced me when I took this position and have continued to support me every day with the work they do. My team is awesome!
Microsoft truly values the uniqueness of people and invests in them.
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28 DYNAMICS UNIVERSITY SPRING/SUMMER 2015
By Brad Vorbeck and Doub Schedeler, Turnkey Technologies
GP
GP WORKFLOW
2.0
Does your organization utilize the workflow functionality built into Microsoft Dynamics GP? If not, there has never been a better time to start. Initiating a workflow is an easy way to achieve more benefits from your Microsoft Dynamics GP solution that many organizations overlook. If your organization utilizes business processes that frequently require approval from management, using the Workflow system improves these processes by providing: Process Consistency Automatic Notifications Organizational Hierarchy Historical Documentation Workflow Reporting Capabilities
So, what’s new in workflow 2.0? Prior to Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 R2, setup and design for Workflow relied on SharePoint. Because of this additional requirement, many organizations paid it little attention. However, with the introduction of Workflow 2.0 in Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 R2, dependence on Business Portal and SharePoint was removed, and approvals and tasks are created entirely inside of Microsoft Dynamics GP using assignments for users in Active Directory. This makes the new system easier to deploy, configure, and access. On top of what was already included in the original Workflow system, Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 R2 and Microsoft Dynamics GP 2015 include additional approval processes to give organizations more ways to apply Workflow approvals to their operations. Workflow 2.0 now offers approval processes to fit most scenarios found in today’s businesses.
A number of other features have been added in Workflow 2.0 that make it more accessible and affordable. Because it can be accessed through both the web client and the desktop client, users now have the ability to submit or manage approvals from wherever they work. Accessing Workflow 2.0 through the web client allows employees with limited user licenses to submit approval processes, giving organizations more flexibility and affordability over their licensing. Perhaps the most exciting aspect of Workflow 2.0 is that it no longer requires a Microsoft Dynamics GP license for activities that don’t use Microsoft Dynamics GP windows. In other words, any employ-
ee can now take part in certain approval processes without being a registered Microsoft Dynamics GP user. By enabling web services, Microsoft Dynamics GP allows you to set up approvals that can be processed from an email notification without the need to log into Microsoft Dynamics GP. For a complete step-by-step instructional article showing how to set up Workflow and a video tutorial, please visit www.turnkeytec. com/microsoft-dynamics-gp-workflow-2-0 or contact our dedicated support team at GPsupport@turnkeytec.com.
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GP MAXIMIZING YOUR MICROSOFT DYNAMICS GP INVESTMENT WITH
ACCOUNTS PAYABLE AUTOMATION By Warren Glick, ACOM Solutions
ne of the biggest drawbacks in accounts payable processing is that most often it is a manually-based operation. It’s slow, paper-intense, and difficult to track where invoices are in the process. The amount of manpower required to complete payable cycles also presents an even greater risk for errors. Meanwhile, the filing of invoices and supporting documentation costs organizations in time and space; particularly the time lost by workers hunting for records that might be filed off-site, incorrectly, or even lost. Even so, a great number of companies still agonize over traditional processing when process automation has been a viable alternative for more than 10 years. A recent survey by The Institute of Financial Operations (www.acom.com/downloads/ ifo-2014-ap-automation-study/) shows that under 10 percent of survey respondents report their operations as highly automated, and 29 percent reported that paper accounts for more than 90 percent of their invoices.
O
THE GOOD NEWS With an improving economy, survey respondents reported that they’re experiencing an increase in invoice volume. The increase brings additional expense and even higher visibility to the gains made by those who have automated their operations. Reducing invoice entry and payment error rates have been well-proven benefits of AP automation. These benefits combine with the “hard cost” realties of labor-intensive AP cycles, which further motivates organizations to forge ahead in pursuing payables technology initiatives in 2015. A great time and segue into some very good reasons for changing to automation:
BETTER NEWS AUTOMATION DESIGNED FOR MICROSOFT DYNAMICS GP The result of a two-year development effort, ACOM has designed true groundbreaking integration with Microsoft Dynamics GP (www.acom.com/wp-content/
uploads/2015/01/DS_V_GP_EZCM_BROCHURE.pdf?304794). Driven by ACOM’s content management platform, AP automation now delivers “real-time” Microsoft Dynamics GP functionality at each processing level - directly from Microsoft Dynamics GP screens.
AN END TO MANUAL PROCESSING - OCR The result of ACOM’s powerful Readsoft OCR engine, information is automatically extracted from incoming invoices and documents, interpreted, and then based upon its content, routed to process queue or directly to Microsoft Dynamics GP. Just think of it: The right documents in the right place for action within minutes!
INTELLIGENT WORKFLOW COMPLETELY ADAPTABLE INTERACTIVE WITH MICROSOFT GP IN “REAL-TIME” The system (www.acom.com/solutions/ ms-dynamics-gpgreat-plains/) enables users to edit and complete Microsoft Dynamics GP transactions directly from workflows. No more importing or exporting of data, allowing for “live” Microsoft Dynamics GP transactional flow: • Automatically creates payables transactions directly into Microsoft Dynamics GP from workflow approval or directly from OCR data • Live transaction queues - stage “Pending Approval” and “Ready to Post” batches ready for immediate action • Workflows completely configurable to your business rules - launch simultaneously with invoice images ready for three-way matching, review, and approval processing • Automatically create sales orders directly from incoming P.O.s • Real-time accrual reporting and error handling
30 DYNAMICS UNIVERSITY SPRING/SUMMER 2015
Imagine having all invoice information at your fingertips: Supplier ID, total outstanding liabilities, workflow status, and digital invoice images. Your department and company headquarters can have complete control and visibility of the business processes, documents, and information required to run businesses in real-time. ACOM’s Microsoft Dynamics GP integration further extends functionality with Enterprise Content Management - taking users beyond AP to capture, process, access, and manage information for any department, division, or individual companies from a single platform. And with one central platform (www.acom.com/ wp-content/uploads/2014/10/FLYER_V_ MULTI-COMPANY_GENERIC.pdf?603d18), there’s no need for multiple installations and costly customization. The control and visibility are maintained without compromise to individual departments or company identities, business rules, and financial models. To learn more about ACOM Solutions’ offerings and automating AP for Microsoft Dynamics GP, complete the information at www.acom.com/ lp/LP_V_DYNAMICSU_GP-EZCM_0315.html?utm_ source=ARTICLE&utm_medium=DYNAMICSUNIVERSITY&utm_campaign=GP-EZCM
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4 CRM GP
By Mike Bodine, Cargas Systems
F
ull disclosure: I’m a Microsoft Dynamics GP consultant and have been for the past 22 years. My company makes money by helping people implement, support, and maintain their systems, so it may seem odd that I would be writing an article on how to help control the costs of your systems. What I have found over the years is that our most successful projects and loyal customers are the ones where the customers themselves feel empowered to use and expand their systems without constant help from external consultants. That does not mean that consultants like me are without value. For example, end users should still seek out experienced professionals when they require guidance in new areas of their systems, are experiencing data or performance issues, or are looking to significantly expand the scope of their current implementation. The first step in taking greater ownership of your system is to identify the areas that require the most consistent attention. While every system will be different, there are at least a few areas that tend to be common, and the focus of this article will be on how you can help control costs in those areas.
GENERAL DATA MAINTENANCE Every transaction-based system has some form of data maintenance that has to occur. In order to maintain data integrity, performance, and recoverability, these maintenance processes should happen on a consistent basis. Backups, restores, data consistency checks, performance optimizations, data archiving, and data purging are common tasks associated with many systems. Organizations that learn how to perform these processes are able to keep their data cleaner and can react faster when a backup or restore operation is needed. Having cleaner data can mean less issues with system performance and data corruption, both of which can be costly to troubleshoot and resolve. Being able to perform your own backups and restores can make a big difference in the timing of a critical system recovery. If you are using a cloud-based or hosted solution, make sure that you understand the general maintenance that is performed by the hosting company. You will want to make sure that there is no duplication of effort in the maintenance, as well as make sure that all areas of maintenance are being handled by someone. As an example, your hosting company may take care of the database backups and integrity checks, but they are probably not responsible for data archiving or performance optimizations.
REPORTING AND ANALYSIS As a consultant, I am aware of the flow of many business processes, and I try to have a good understanding of how my customers run their companies. However, I will never have the same familiarity level with their processes as the people who work at those businesses every day. These people are usually the best resources for identifying and generating the reporting needed to effectively use the data that the systems are gathering. Most systems have their own set of reporting tools, and they can have vastly different levels of complexity. Some reporting tools are best left to the professionals. There are different levels of reporting and analysis that can be done by end users. Non-technical end users may be very helpful in identifying the data points that would be impactful for how they perform their work. Technical users may be able to learn the reporting and analysis tools so that they can start consuming the data in new ways that are meaningful to the company. If you have
32 DYNAMICS UNIVERSITY SPRING/SUMMER 2015
GENERAL DATA MAINTENANCE
users who are technically-inclined and can learn the reporting and analysis tools, they can help you keep your consulting costs down while also providing you with effective and timely access to your critical data.
COMMITMENT TO THE COMMUNITY Most well-established software solutions have communities built up around them. For the Microsoft Dynamics product lines, there are events such as Convergence and various user groups that can help guide your use of the system. Connecting with other people and companies that have similar processes or platforms can be very helpful in finding how to effectively use your own systems. These are not meant to replace your partner or consultants, but they can help keep you abreast of the current trends in the products you use as well as offer a place where you can seek feedback on your own system requirements and issues. Having these types of interactions can make you better prepared for having strategic discussions with your external partner on the direction of your systems.
4 WAYS TO INCREASE OWNERSHIP OF YOUR SYSTEM REPORTING & ANALYSIS
Most of these communities have focus or discussion groups that pinpoint specific job roles or system functions. Try a few of them out and see if they offer you good information or insights for your own system. Some of the most prolific users of the software will often use these forums, and they will routinely offer their advice or guidance to other users. Events like Convergence and the user group meetings are good venues to see new offerings or enhancements that could benefit your end users or business processes. These could be features that you already have in your systems but are not using, or possibly ways to expand the scope of your current systems so that they cover more of your business needs.
DOCUMENTATION Personally, I hate writing documentation, but it is a necessary function when you are working with complex systems. The areas that generally are the most effective to document are customizations, standard operating procedures, and installation/maintenance routines.
COMMITMENT TO THE COMMUNITY
By having your customizations documented, it is easier to track the functions and reasons for the modifications and which parts of the system and processes they impact. This can be very helpful in cases when you are evaluating upgrades or have turnover in your internal personnel or consulting partner. In most cases, customizations have to be thoroughly evaluated before an upgrade can happen. Having ready access to a list of the customizations and what they do can shorten the evaluation process significantly. Having documented customizations can also be beneficial when trying to perform troubleshooting of your systems, as most vendors and partners will need to know how your particular system implementation differs from a non-customized installation. Documenting your daily processes and standard operating procedures can make for an easier transition in personnel from one position to another without the added expense of retraining the users. It also gives more personalized guidance to new users who are just coming into the system. These documents can also be
DOCUMENTATION
utilized to help generate end-user testing plans for upgrades to the system. Installation and data maintenance documentation can help your team handle the routine technical jobs associated with the system. By handling your own workstation installations, you can save in consulting fees and also be more agile in being able to swap out older hardware in your infrastructure. Your partners and consultants can be valuable resources for helping you get the most out of your systems, but they do come at a cost. By taking on some additional ownership of the systems you run, you can make more effective use of both the systems and the consulting dollars you spend on partners and consultants. Even with the surge in hosting and cloud-based solutions, many of these core areas still require attention, and giving them some level of consideration and effort can help save you valuable resources in the future.
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By Sarah Tackett, Advanced Solutions & Consulting Co.
Cloud
CRM
GP
cloud so
THE VALUE OF CLOUD ADOPTION W
I
t seems like the world is going cloud-crazy these days. And when it comes to CRM, it’s easy to see why everyone is flocking to the cloud. Adopting the cloud cannot only eliminate lengthy deployments and provide greater flexibility with reduced maintenance of the system, but also increase mobility and safety.
According to IDC Successful Cloud Partners 2.0, public IT cloud services spending reached $47.4 billion (US) in 2013 and is expected reach more than $127 billion (US) by 2018. Additionally, the same IDC research shows that cloud-oriented partners have 1.5 times higher gross profit percentages and 1.6 times the recurring revenue as a portion of total revenue than other partners. Demand for cloud services shows no signs of slowing down. The cloud platform offers many advantages. Here are some of the ways your organization could benefit from Microsoft Dynamics CRM cloud solutions:
SAFE DATA STORAGE With the Microsoft cloud platform, you can maintain continuous service, even through the failure of disks or entire servers, without disrupting storage availability. Windows Server 2012 R2 offers virtualized file-based storage suitable for application data. Built on industry-standard hardware, these file-based storage configurations can deliver up to 1,000,000+ IOPS while providing uninterrupted service to workloads like Hyper-V and SQL Server – even through the loss of a disk or server. Not only will you reduce costs, all while maintaining the performance as well as the availability of traditional proprietary storage, but your data will be safer, too. According to Baseline Magazine, 94 percent of businesses saw an improvement in IT security after switching to the cloud.1
INCREASED END-USER ACCESS The cloud not only gives companies the peace of mind that their data is safe, but it also offers the ability to make nearly every daily business process a mobile one. Sales teams, customer service, accounting, and other teams can easily access data on their mobile devices and continue working no matter where they are. With the cloud, companies essentially have their entire customer database in their pockets, with full access to dashboards, comprehensive views of customers, approval processes, and more. That means if you’re out in the field with a client, and he/she suddenly changes his/her mind about an order, you can make changes on the spot! That speed, flexibility, and access provide the capability to go out, meet with customers, and answer any questions related to their account in real-time – with no computer needed –anywhere, anytime.
MORE EFFICIENT IT Although your operations team might want to improve systems, they most likely spend a majority of their time putting out fires. Whether troubleshooting bugs, helping a user access an application, or responding to password reset tickets all day, solving user problems is a time-consuming activity for IT – and an obstacle in getting other work done on time. The Microsoft Cloud Platform approach allows IT teams to get all the benefits of scale, speed, and agility while still protecting existing investments. This means your employees can now rapidly build and deploy applications, flexibly manage IT services, support real-time analytics across all forms of data, and focus on strategic business initiatives.
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olutions
WITH MICROSOFT DYNAMICS CRM
The advantage of using a cloud-hosted CRM over traditional systems is massive – firstly, the cloud-based solutions cost only a fraction of traditional CRM systems. In addition to this, the implementation timelines are quick, collaboration between teams across various geographies is easy, and most importantly, they help businesses scale up their systems in a fast and timely manner. When used appropriately, the cloud does offer great benefits. However, not all cloud vendors are alike.
CLOUD PARTNERS According to IDC Successful Cloud Partners 2.0, public IT cloud services spending reached $47.4 billion (US) in 2013 and is expected reach more than $127
Microsoft has both real public cloud scale experience and a deep understanding of your legacy infrastructure. It can run your legacy assets, as well as your new cloud assets, on an enterprise level and at enterprise standards. That’s the perfect combination to provide the right cloud solution for you. Microsoft can adapt to your cloud roadmap and meet your business needs for compliance, security, and high availability. Extend your IT team’s existing skills, increase data security, and work anywhere, anytime with Microsoft Dynamics CRM cloud solutions.
billion (US) by 2018.
1 http://www.baselinemag.com/ cloud-computing/slideshows/11-thingsyou-should-know-about-the-cloud.html
times higher gross
Additionally, the same IDC research shows that cloud-oriented partners have 1.5 profit percentages and 1.6 times the recurring revenue as a portion of total revenue than other partners.
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Cloud
Top 6 things to consider wh for a Cloud-Based, Integrated Payment Processing
U
sing the Internet as a sales channel entails much more than just a corporate website. Today, most businesses are selling online with a web store built for all devices to meet consumer when, where, and how they choose to shop. This sales channel is still more than just a corporate website paired with an online catalog. Each unique business’s customers will demand a
full-service online store, which includes the ability to process payments online. While online payment processing may bring on certain fears, such as handling sensitive payment information or credit card fraud, we’re here to say that online payment processing doesn’t have to be a headache. In fact, implementing a payment processing solution for a business’s web store offers many benefits – just be sure the
1
Better Customer Service Just as consumers demand to be able to self-serve online with the ability to browse an organization’s web store from any device, they also want options when it comes to making a purchase. If consumers are already browsing an online store, enable them to complete their transaction online with the payment method of their choice, whether that be credit, debit, ACH, gift card, or loyalty points. Further, the ability to proceed through checkout on a web store must be available to the organization’s customers from their desktop computers, smartphones, tablets, and any other web-enabled device they may be using. Providing these customers with a quick, painless process for making an online purchase from start to finish will help build loyalty and encourage repeat purchases from that organization.
36 DYNAMICS UNIVERSITY SPRING/SUMMER 2015
2
Improved Accuracy and Fast Transaction Times Accepting different payment types is a critical piece of selling online. Taking it one step further includes integration to Microsoft Dynamics to alleviate work back office. An integrated system not only eliminates the inaccuracy that comes with manual data entry, but also simplifies the process of accepting payments online. When a payment is processed, it is written back to sales order processing within Microsoft Dynamics in real-time. This increases the speed at which an organization gets paid, reducing DSO (days sales outstanding).
right solution is chosen. And further, if you’ve already tuned out as you think selling online applies to retailers only, try changing your thought process as B2B eCommerce sales were $559 billion in 2013, which was twice the size of online retail sales that year, according to Forrester. With that, selling online is more than just for retailers; it’s for wholesalers/distributors as well.
3
More on Integration Not only does Microsoft Dynamics power inventory and pricing information for businesses, but it also is now their hub for payment processing as well. A web store with online payment processing, both with integration to Microsoft Dynamics, leaves businesses with one point of maintenance and one source of truth, their ERP (or Microsoft Dynamics CRM). Using this integrated payment processing solution for Microsoft Dynamics allows the organization to pre-authorize, post-authorize, sale, void, and credit, with all data being captured in and stored in our PCI-DSS Certified private cloud.
S
hen shopping
By Stephanie Burke, k-eCommerce
Solution for Microsoft Dynamics
CRM
GP
For the sake of this article, we will be referring to our cloud-based, integrated payment processing solution for Microsoft Dynamics, KloudPay. KloudPay is our answer for secure ACH and credit processing within Microsoft Dynamics. This cloudbased, PCI-DSS Certified payment processing solution works with multiple gateways, providing a reliable service for online payment processing, transaction management, and tracking, all within Microsoft Dynamics.
4 Low Cost and Easy to Implement Choosing a cloud-based system versus on-premises eliminates the need to invest in any security hardware, web servers, licenses, or any other costly components. The hosting provider also takes on managing all IT, and with KloudPay, we guarantee 99.95 percent uptime. This allows businesses to focus on core business functions and forget about any technical concerns or headaches.
5
PCI Compliance Perhaps the number one concern with online payment processing lies in credit card fraud and having to handle sensitive payment information. A payment processing solution that is PCI-DSS Compliant alleviates these concerns. As a best practice for secure payment processing, a software vendor should offer a payment application that helps merchants and agents mitigate security compromises by capturing/ storing sensitive cardholder data offsite that might otherwise suffer unauthorized access from hackers. The solution should also support compliance with the PCI Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS). KloudPay is PCI-DSS Certified and stores all cardholder data securely in our private cloud, which is also PCI-DSS Certified.
6
Choose a Technically Savvy Payment Provider
Processing payments online includes handling sensitive payment data and comes with many risks. Therefore, due to the complexities of developing a secure payment processing solution along with the continued investments required for the software’s infrastructure and security, online payment processing systems have moved from being owned by banks, to being developed and owned by software companies. With that said, a critical piece of choosing an online payment processing provider lies in choosing the right business. Choose a technically savvy software provider that not only understands the security involved with processing payments online, but also can still deliver what each unique business needs in a safe and secure environment.
In addition to KloudPay, k-eCommerce offers a fully responsive, integrated eCommerce platform for Microsoft Dynamics. Our organization has been in business since 1999 and in the Microsoft Dynamics space since 2004. As one of the first players in the industry in this space, our commitment to the community lies strong, and we continue to strive to develop and improve our product offering for our clients. For more information, please reach out to our sales team via email at sales@k-ecommerce.com, or by phone at 734-928-6010. You can also visit our website, www.k-eCommerce.com. DYNAMICSUNIVERSITY.COM
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By Carl Hentsch, Myappsanywhere
Cloud
The 6 Most Important Questions to ask your
CLOUD PROVIDER What You Need to Know About Support Before You Move Your Microsoft Dynamics Solution to the Cloud
A A
cloud is a cloud is a cloud – unless it’s not. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has declared a “mobile-first and cloud-first” strategy for the company, and partners are talking about the cloud now more than ever before. As the business demand for cloud-based programs has increased, the number of partners and service providers offering Microsoft Dynamics ERP and CRM in the cloud has risen along with it.
Self-proclaimed cloud experts are popping up across the channel, but that doesn’t mean that all clouds are the same. If you’re not careful, the cloud you choose for your Microsoft Dynamics solution could be unstable, unreliable, or worse – unsecure. The level of support you receive from your cloud service provider can vary widely, too. You may move your Microsoft Dynamics solution to the cloud only to find that support questions take much longer to answer, or even that the cloud provider doesn’t know how to answer your questions at all. Fortunately, you can get a good feel about a cloud provider’s support by asking a few key questions before you sign a contract. I recommend starting the conversation with the following questions:
CRM
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Have you had unscheduled downtime in the last year? If so, why? There are two kinds of downtime – scheduled and unscheduled. Scheduled downtime is a good thing, as it allows for maintenance on the systems and will ensure your cloud is secure, patched, and running efficiently. Unscheduled downtime is decidedly not a good thing. It can be caused by a number of issues, but the end result is the same: Your business won’t have access to the technology you need to get work done. Preventing this kind of downtime boils down to preparation: The technical team in charge of your systems (whether they are onpremises or in the cloud) should be capable of staying abreast of updates and maintenance, there should be disaster recovery failovers for incidents of bad weather or fire, and the people employed to manage the systems should have the skillset and knowledge base necessary to prevent most human error issues.
Will you work with my partner to provide integrated services? One of the greatest benefits of using Microsoft Dynamics ERP and CRM applications for your business is that they are highly customizable, easy to integrate, and there are hundreds of third-party add-ons you can leverage to build exactly the solution your business is looking for. Your partner plays a key role in developing a solution for your business, but your cloud provider is important to the process, too. Since your solution will be hosted in their cloud environment, be sure they have the expertise to support customizations and integrations.
Are you just supporting Microsoft Dynamics, or do you also support the underlying infrastructure? Ideally, your cloud provider should be savvy enough to support Microsoft Dynamics ERP and CRM as well as the underlying infrastructure (like SQL and Citrix) needed to provision a solid cloud environment. This will enable them to deliver you a more stable solution.
What are your service desk hours? Your service requirements depend on your business model. If you anticipate situations where your employees will have questions about your Microsoft Dynamics solution or need to have a service problem served after hours, then the answer to this question is fairly important. The amount of time it takes your cloud provider to answer questions is important, too – some providers have service level agreements that state it could take one business day or more for your service request to be processed. That could mean your employees are out of work until the cloud provider returns your calls.
Where will my Microsoft Dynamics solution actually be hosted? Ideally, you want a cloud service provider with plenty of hosting experience. Ask if they have their own data center and data center support staff. If they do, ask what sorts of security measures they have in place for your data. If they don’t have their own data center, it’s even more important that you understand where your Microsoft Dynamics solution will be hosted – at their office in a server closet? At rented data center space? In the U.S. or abroad? Are there mitigations in place for things such as fires, floods, or natural disasters? How is data security handled? What provisions are in place against hackers? Cloud security has never gone out of fashion, and you have a right to know the answers to these questions – it’s your data they are protecting, after all.
Do you have Microsoft Dynamics experts on staff? A cloud provider without anyone on staff who understands Microsoft Dynamics won’t be very useful in the event you have a problem with your solution. Some cloud providers without Microsoft Dynamics expertise may be cheaper, but you might wind up paying the price down the road if they can’t solve your service issues.
Conclusion Cloud providers aren’t all the same, and sometimes, getting to the bottom of their differences means asking a few extra questions. Before you sign on the dotted line, talk to your partner at length about what’s best for your business, and be sure that both you and your partner understand what you’re getting into with a potential cloud service provider.
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REST is an acronym that stands for Representational State Transfer.
Microsoft Dynamics GP at
Why is this significant? Web services is not a new concept in software development; there have been many different ways of solving the communication problems over the years. There are currently two technologies that are most common, SOAP and REST. There are strengths and weaknesses of each technology, but we are going to dive into REST. We will discuss its advantages of and why Microsoft chose a REST endpoint for Microsoft Dynamics GP.
REST
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icrosoft Dynamics GP 2015 is introducing a new concept to the Microsoft Dynamics GP world, REST web services. I would imagine that most users of Microsoft Dynamics GP are asking the same questions “What is REST?” and “Why should I care?” The answer to both of these questions is in the technical depths of what REST was intended to accomplish.
Web Services The first step in our journey to understand REST is to look at the problem that REST is attempting to solve. The use of web services in application design is called service oriented architecture (SOA). The basic theory behind SOA is that all of the business logic of the application is hosted in a service that exposes methods for a client application to call. The client, or user interface (UI), in this case only needs to be concerned with presenting data for the end user to interact with. Once there is a separation between UI and business logic, we have accomplished two very important tasks. First, updating either the UI or business logic layers becomes much easier. Second, the UI is very lightweight and is only concerned with displaying information. So, since Microsoft is pushing the business logic of Microsoft Dynamics GP into a web services layer, they can start looking at other UI technologies, i.e. a pure web client (HTML5). So let’s explore the advantages of web services a bit more to understand how important this is. Our very simple scenario: We have two companies, Company A and Company B. Both companies are being acquired in the next week. The acquisition process will require both companies to immediately change how they process invoices.
To see how this plays out visit:
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By Ross Boe, Summit Group Software
GP
40 DYNAMICS UNIVERSITY SPRING/SUMMER 2015
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CRM BUSINESS PROCESS
FLOW AND STAGES: THE CHALLENGES…AND HACKS FOR MAKING IT WORK CRM
By Kayla Fricks, TM Group
usiness processes were introduced with the release of Microsoft Dynamics CRM. This new feature is used to easily and efficiently drive a user through each stage to complete a Lead, Opportunity, Case, or any other out-of-the-box or custom entity. This is a powerful feature that is extremely helpful to users by enabling them to interact with the records they are working on, which will move users through the different stages to complete the records. An example of a business process flow is a process that is created for an Opportunity to complete all the necessary steps to bring a deal to close and win the Opportunity.
B
To enable business process flows, one must go first to Settings, Customizations, and then click the General tab under the entity. Under that entity there is a box that says “Business process flows (fields will be created),” and this function needs to be checked. When you enable this functionality, the entity will now have two new fields: Process ID and Stage ID. The Process ID holds the ID (GUID) of the business process, and the Stage ID holds the ID (GUID) of the current process stage that the record is in. There are several out-of-the-box business process flows that you can modify, or you can create a new one for any entity where the process flows are enabled. If the user goes to Settings, then Processes, the user can create or modify existing business process flows. These allow the user to add multiple stages to the process flow, and each stage can have multiple steps. After much fun toying with the business process flows, we found it proved difficult to provide the ability to report on the process stage that the record is in. There is no easy way to grab the actual value of the process stage. The Process ID only stores the GUID of the stage that the record is currently in. After much research and testing, it was found that out of the box, for the Opportunity entity, the business process stage will update the text value in the field called the Pipeline Phase. For example, if the record is moved to the process stage “Propose”, the Pipeline Phase will update to “2-Propose.” This will allow a user to grab the actual text value of the process stage; however, as most of us know, in Microsoft
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Dynamics CRM it is much easier to report on an option-set type of field. To be able to report on the actual value, the easiest solution is to create an option-set field, which will store the values of the process phases as well. Therefore, the next step is to create that option-set field, for example, Sales Stage, where you can put in the same values as the business process stage values. Then a workflow will need to be built that can update your new field “Sales Stage” with the value related to the Pipeline Phase, which will update each time the process stage changes. This field can be used to report and chart process stage values for a set of records. In conclusion, the business process flow stages can be used to report and visualize the values of each record. All it takes is the time and knowledge to complete it. Happy business process flow reporting!
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CRM By Ken Jacobsen, Jr., TM Group
SHOW ME THE
: MONEY
CRM
E
very organization has customers, although the organization may not call them customers. A manufacturer that doesn’t sell to end customers may call them distributors. A foundation may call them grantees or partners. A professional services firm might call them clients. A nonprofit might call them members. No matter what industry your organization is in, to be successful you need to properly serve the desires of your customers.
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A customer relationship management (CRM) system can help with this task. Traditionally, CRM systems include four main components: sales, marketing, service, and process management. These systems are offered as either a hosted in-house or an on-demand/ cloud solution and provide organizations with a planned and structured methodology for managing their customer relationships.
Process management, or the ability to easily tailor the system’s user interface and workflow, is why CRM systems are often embraced by the non-sales types of organization such as nonprofits and governments. CRM systems are now being used by many organizations, including nonprofits and government entities, to manage entire organizations, departments, or critical processes. Because Microsoft Dynamics CRM is specifically designed to be easily customized and tailored to a specific process, it is often being adopted as a rapid development platform that avoids the need to build custom applications from the ground up. Often business analysts can be used to do much of this work themselves, instead of the organization having to rely on developers. This is both a faster and cheaper way to create a system tailored to the business’s specific requirements. Having systems built around their organizations’ unique needs and business processes eliminates the manual processes and workarounds that often plague organizations. This improves internal communications, provides better/faster customer service, and makes processes more efficient, which reduces organizations’ costs. CRM systems can also improve the communications between marketing and sales, which is becoming more and more important as marketing is playing an increasingly large role in organizations’ business development processes. In today’s business environment, most customers are spending much more time self-educating themselves about products and services by using the Internet before contacting companies. Marketing needs to spend more time and money educating prospects. Microsoft Dynamics CRM’s marketing campaigns can be used to track campaign responses, leads sent to sales, and opportunities closed by sales. This allows organizations to better understand where their leads are coming from, how they are spending the marketing dollars, and what tactics or campaigns are most effective. That way they can discontinue ineffective campaigns and spend their money more efficiently, as well as have better visibility of their lead-to-quote-to-sale process. Traditionally, marketing at many organizations has more or less thrown leads over the wall and trusted sales to be working
them through their sales process. With an effective CRM system, marketers are able to keep an eye on the leads and help nurture them through the sales process and make sure none fall between the cracks and are forgotten. Sales Force Automation is the core of most CRM systems. It allows lead and customer information such as contacts and call notes to be captured from the sales reps’ heads and centralized in a CRM database. Sales functionality that is most common with CRM systems includes lead, account, contact, opportunity, activity, correspondence, quotes, orders, and invoice management.
“ BECAUSE MICROSOFT DYNAMICS CRM IS SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED TO BE EASILY CUSTOMIZED AND TAILORED TO A SPECIFIC PROCESS, IT IS OFTEN BEING ADOPTED AS A RAPID DEVELOPMENT PLATFORM THAT AVOIDS THE NEED TO BUILD CUSTOM APPLICATIONS FROM THE GROUND UP.”
Systems like Microsoft Dynamics CRM that have workflow and process management included also allow an organization to standardize its sales process across the organization to ensure important steps aren’t skipped and the right things are done to close the business lead. This also helps with pipeline management and forecasting. Forecasting with sales reps is about as easy as forecasting the weather in Michigan. Some reps are overly opti-
mistic in estimating the chances of closing a sale whereas others are much too conservative. By using a consistent sales process across the organization, you can be sure that the sales stage of an opportunity and its associated closing probability are consistently reported, so forecasts are more reliable and consistent. Once a sale is closed, CRM’s customer service functionality can be used to ensure the customer stays satisfied. Most CRM solutions like Microsoft Dynamics CRM include a case management solution, knowledge base, and contracts and flexible service level agreements for tracking the customers’ different levels of support. Parature integrated with Microsoft Dynamics CRM allows customer service members to handle all support requests. Your customers can interact through Facebook, Twitter, live chat, email, phone, or whatever else is their preferred method of contact. That way you can support clients the way they want to work. Happy customers are easier to keep and sell additional products and services to. Portal solutions such as CRM Vertex also allow customers to serve themselves. Customers can update their own contact information, place and find the status of orders, look up invoices, and submit service tickets. They can also create vendor portals and other stakeholder portals, which gives them better visibility. These portal solutions also allow CRM users to decrease the amount of time needed to service requests that could easily be handled through self-service. In conclusion, CRM solutions allow organizations to run more consistent and efficient business processes, which reduces costs. CRM also allows organizations to better plan and execute marketing campaigns and track opportunities in the sales process through to close, which will increase their close ratios and thus sales revenue. A good CRM solution like Microsoft Dynamics CRM will quickly pay for itself.
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GP DEBITS & CREDITS
MONTH-END IN MICROSOFT DYNAMICS GP By Adam MacIntosh, WebSan Solutions Inc. There are many articles that can be found detailing year-end processes in Microsoft Dynamics GP, but what about your month-end processes? Microsoft Dynamics GP uses a “soft” close concept wherein periods are not required to be closed. Further, periods can be reopened if needed. However, performing a month-end is critical to ensuring you can move forward within your system without any fear of inaccuracies.
Invoiced report via Reports > Analysis. This report should tie to your accrued purchases.
Prior to performing any special or unfamiliar processes, it is always recommended that users have a proper backup of the system. Your system administrator should ensure backups are regularly scheduled and available if needed.
Once the above are reconciled, one should move onto the Payables and Receivables modules. For each, users should ensure all documents are properly applied, especially if multiple currencies are in use, as this will affect realized gain and loss entries. Users can check for unapplied documents by navigating to Sales > Reports > Analysis > Unapplied Documents Report. Further, users should also run the Reconcile to GL option within Financials in order to ensure these subledgers and GL match. The same routine should be performed for the Inventory module.
It is recommended that the monthend process start with the POP and SOP modules. One can think of both of these modules as feeder modules to Payables, Receivables, Fixed Assets, Bank Reconciliation, and the General Ledger. In these modules, you should ensure all batches are posted within Series Post. Ensure all customer orders, vendor receipts, and everything in between are posted. Further, within Purchasing, one should print the Received Not
Once all subsidiary modules are complete, uses should close out the Financial modules. First, users should complete bank reconciliation and reconcile the Bank to the GL via the associated Financial Routine. Users can then move onto closing the Fixed Assets module. Remember to ensure Payables are closed prior to processing anything in Fixed Assets given that Payables feeds the Fixed Assets module. Within Fixed Assets, users need to double-check
gp
that all additions and retirements are posted. Depreciation will need to be run and all related GL processes complete. Within the General Ledger itself, all accruals should be posted. Only recurring batches should be left in your Series Post after the necessary transactions have been posted. The General Ledger will always be the last module to close. Once all of the above are closed, users should mark the period as closed within the Fiscal Period Setup window in Microsoft Dynamics GP. All of the above should be repeated at the end of each period. Given these are repeated processes, users should consider adding them to a checklist within Microsoft Dynamics GP. One last item for users to remember when closing the month is that transactions for a new period can be posted without closing out the prior period.
IT’S ALL GOOD: NEW PAYMENT TERMS OPTIONS IN MICROSOFT DYNAMICS 2015 By Linda Brock, Knaster Technology Often a small enhancement to an existing feature reaps great benefit. That is the case with payment terms functionality for Microsoft Dynamics GP 2015. Prior versions of Microsoft Dynamics GP provided these date options on the Payment Terms Setup Window: Net Days, Date, EOM, None, or Next Month. With Microsoft Dynamics GP 2015, these additional options are now available: Months, Month/Day, and Annual. Microsoft Dynamics GP 2015 also includes a feature that provides additional choices for due date and discount date calculations. You now have the option to calculate the due date from the transaction date or from the discount date. For convenience, a calculate button has been added to the Payment Terms Setup Window to immediately check the setup and result of the chosen options. If you find an incorrect calculation, you can make changes by keeping the Payment Terms Example Window open while updating the settings in the Payment Terms Setup Window. When upgrading to Microsoft Dynamics GP 2015 from a prior version, be sure to evaluate the impact on existing terms codes in case changes are needed to correspond to this new payment terms functionality.
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SAFE PAY 101 By: Earl Longoria, Express Information Systems So what is Positive Pay? Positive Pay is a cash management service or system to reduce and deter check fraud. In Microsoft Dynamics GP, the Positive Pay service is called Safe Pay. The focus of this article is to give you more information on the tables of Safe Pay for reporting, not on how to configure Safe Pay file uploads. It is assumed you have gone through the “Steps to set up the Safe Pay Configurator in Microsoft Dynamics GP”. If not, there is a great Microsoft Support Article to assist you on the subject. You may find that you need to report on what you uploaded to the bank or because you cannot get the configurator to export the Safe Pay file in the exact format your bank wants. The latter can be accomplished by creating a Microsoft SQL Server Report Server (SSRS) report to export the file for you. Now let’s get into the details. The tables that you will most use in reporting or exporting are the Safe Pay file upload tables: ME123501 – The master upload table (What export configuration to use, where to put the files, and a quick summary of the last up load). ME123502 – Link table from the master upload table (ME123501) to the master check book table (CM00100). ME123503 – Contains each upload that has taken place as well as summary information about that upload. ME123504 – The transactional detail of the upload. (Think all of the checks and VOIDED checks you have uploaded to the bank). Here is a sample T-SQL query to return all of the checks issued and uploaded with Safe Pay with the last upload: SELECT CheckNo = Trx.CMTrxNum , Trx_Type = CASE Trx.CMTrxType WHEN 3 THEN ‘Check’ WHEN 4 THEN ‘Voided’ ELSE ‘What is this?’ END , Paid_To_Rcvd_From = Trx.paidtorcvdfrom , Up_Load_ID = Upld.MEUPLDID FROM dbo.ME123504 Trx INNER JOIN dbo.ME123503 Upld ON Upld.MEUPLDID = Trx.MEUPLDID /* Upload ID */ AND Upld.PP_Number = Trx.PP_Number /* PosPay Number */ WHERE DATETIMEFROMPARTS( YEAR( Upld.MEUPDT ) , MONTH( Upld.MEUPDT ) , DAY( Upld.MEUPDT ) , DATEPART( HH, Upld.MEUPTIM ) /* Get the hour */ , DATEPART( MI, Upld.MEUPTIM ) /* Get the minute */ , DATEPART( S, Upld.MEUPTIM ) /* Get the seconds */ , DATEPART( MS, Upld.MEUPTIM ) ) /* Get the milliseconds */ = ( SELECT MAX( DATETIMEFROMPARTS( YEAR( MEUPDT ) , MONTH( MEUPDT ) , DAY( MEUPDT ) , DATEPART( HH, MEUPTIM ) , DATEPART( MI, MEUPTIM ) , DATEPART( S, MEUPTIM ) , DATEPART( MS, MEUPTIM ) ) ) FROM dbo.ME123503 )
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