October 19, 2018 By

GPUG Summit: Our passion for GP

Phoenix, Arizona. What makes it special? The weather, the people, the “x” in its name?

The answer is: all three! Of course, there’s another reason Phoenix is special to our team at Implementation Specialists. Phoenix was the host city for Microsoft’s annual Summit conference this past week. I’d like to share with you some of our team’s thoughts and impressions of our experiences at the conference.

  1. Passion for the Product is Present. The GP community is loud and proud. The sessions we attended were filled to the brim with people passionate for GP. Our booth was constantly buzzing with GP customers, all sharing their excitement about such a robust community of professionals genuinely sharing best practices with newcomers and experienced users alike.
  2. Family Feel. There were multiple occasions in which a partner, customer, or vendor would greet a counterpart, or even competitor, with a hearty handshake and hug. Oftentimes, there were conversations with the easy comradery of longtime friends. That’s because they usually are! Since GP is a mature product, and many of the companies partnered with GP have a long and established history, there is a distinct feeling of stability that you only get with a strong family that legitimately want to assist and care for each other.
  3. Energized Attendees: It wasn’t just the coffee that gave the attendees a buzz – there was a genuine sense of determination and focus within the conference on new features within GP and the opportunity to expand their networks. Our conversations were pointed, and there was little fluff – everyone we spoke with had a problem that needed solving. Whether it was centered on re-opening AP and AR for year close, reporting from a specific module, or how to correct a posting mistake, our guests wasted little time in cutting to the crux of the issue.
  4. Phoenix Rising: Phoenix was an excellent choice for the conference. Our hotel was a short walk from the convention center, so we got to take in a bit of the local architecture. The Herberger Theatre Center was on our route, so we were treated to beautiful modern sculptures of youths and adults in various states of play. The St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Basilica was across the street from the convention center, and gave us a snapshot into Phoenix’s Franciscan history. The Phoenix Convention Center was enormous and easy to navigate, with a modern glass and steel design that more than suited our needs for space and comfort.
  5. New Products Push Boundaries: One of the most consistent messages I absorbed from the conference was Microsoft’s commitment to not only their existing products, but a push into new horizons. Intelligent Edge would augment GP’s core functionality with Business Central’s cloud accessibility, analytics capability, and AI automation. Intelligent Edge could potentially enhance GP by providing real-time insights into your customer’s buying schedules, industry trends, your internal KPI’s, and much more.

Phoenix and the Summit Conference were both experiences that further confirmed the GP community is one of a kind. People who genuinely want to help others and an excellent air of hospitality around the city was palpable. I can’t wait to attend Summit 2019 in Orlando.

Steve Green

Business Development Manager

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October 17, 2018 By

wsTOOLS: 8 New Updates to WebTimeEntry

New and improved WebTimeEntry has been updated with new functionality that was suggested by you and our end users! This update was geared towards simplifying data entry and creating a faster interface for the user.

What is WebTimeEntry? WebTimeEntry is an enhancement created to work seamlessly between Dynamics GP and KEY2ACT, allowing users to submit labor, travel, and expenses against service calls and jobs directly from a web browser on your tablet or computer.

Here are 8 new features in the recent update:

Show history of what is submitted for current and prior week. History is one of our most significant feature recently added to WTE. You can now view a history of everything submitted via the data entry form for the current and week prior.

Ability to enter time for a crew. Crew time is another big highlight added to WTE. This is an excellent option for foremen and supervisors to log time for their crew on the job site.

Remove the dependency of having to be a technician. The login is now focused around the employee account and not just a technician. Each employee can login and record data against service calls and jobs.

Ability to specify a batch name. Now users can specify the batch name when transactions convert to TimeTrack. The batch options are: Custom 15-character name, Employee ID, by Department, or Custom name with the weekending date or transaction date.

Remove the dependency on appointments, based on setup. An option was added in the setup window that will display jobs or service calls by appointments or select which jobs/service calls you want to display in WTE.

Job/Call dropdown shows both the Job ID and Job Name or Service Call ID and Location Name

Filter cost code dropdown based on cost element

Update labels for expense transaction. When entering a transaction with the cost type of expense, you will now see the cost field.

Want to learn more? Watch our archived webinar as we review these new enhancements in more detail.

Interested in using WebTimeEntry for your business? Contact us for more information.

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October 12, 2018 By

Chili, with a side of ERP

We all know someone who is very particular about their chili.

Beans or no beans? What’s your preferred spice mix? Chives or onions on top? The shredded cheese choices alone are enough to make your head spin.

You face a similar scenario when you’re in the market for ERP software. The sheer amount of options can be daunting. Just like chili, you start with the solid base, and augment your choice to make a tailored solution fit for your business.

Do you want a proven solution with decades of experience? Industry expertise? Both on-premise and cloud capability? A strong partner ecosystem to increase functionality and maximize your ROI?

Dynamics GP includes all of these and more, making it an excellent choice for the small-to-medium businesses to streamline their business process and garner more productive workdays.

So what’s your recipe for success?

Steve Green

Business Development Manager

Filed Under: Dynamics GP Tagged With: , ,
October 3, 2018 By

Dynamics GP just got better with Microsoft Dynamics GP 2018 R2

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2018 R2 released on October 1st, and we can’t wait to tell you what’s new! With over 47,000 companies using Dynamics GP, Microsoft has added features recommended by customers to help improve and streamline processes, with added conveniences.

Here are a few new features in the release:

Top Feature requests by GP Users

  • Navigation Lists
    • Hide Business Analyzer in Navigation Lists for all users
    • SmartList Designer Favorites display in Navigation Lists
    • Mass Update Inactive action within Navigation Lists – Inactivate, Reactivate, Temporary
  • Dynamics GP Passwords
    • Increase Dynamics GP Password Maximum length
    • Dynamics GP Password Expiration Notification

Sales Optimization

  • Print Invoice in Functional currency from SOP Navigation List
  • Sales Workflow including credit limit
  • New SmartList for Deposits on Unposted Sales Transactions
  • Print and Email SOP document at the same time
  • Additional Sort options in Sales Order Processing item inquiry
  • Email Customer Statements from Customer Maintenance
  • Customer / Combiner retain ship to address

Purchasing Usability

  • Allow partial purchase in the PO that was initially made form a Purchase requisition
  • Add vendor document number to the Purchasing All-In-One view
  • Display vendor hold status
  • Don’t display inactive checkbooks in Lookups
  • Email Purchase Order other form from PO Entry
  • Make the checkbook ID default when creating a check batch

Financial Improvements

  • Exclude items from HITB with zero quantities or value
  • Transaction Level posting through to General Ledger
  • Monthly and Bimonthly recurring batches
  • Not allow duplicate check numbers
  • Payroll check register added FICA totals
  • Payroll Shared Maximum for Benefits and Deductions
  • Payroll Pay code Start and End Dates
  • Web client Letter Writing Assistant option
  • Intelligent Edge

If you’re curious about upgrading your Dynamics GP system, contact us to learn more.

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September 27, 2018 By

What to Expect When You’re Expecting…to Attend GPUC 2018

If you follow us on social media (which you should, if you’re not), I’m sure you’ve seen posts and information about Implementation Specialists’ premier event, GPUC – or the Great Plains User Conference which takes place November 14-16th at the Microsoft campus in Fargo, ND.

If you’re a GPUC rookie, just like I was last year, you may be asking yourself “What’s the big deal? It’s just another partner event.” I was more than a little nervous attending our Great Plains User Conference in 2017 – especially since I was tagged to be the “opening act” of sorts! Once I attended the sessions and observed our team interactions with customers, prospects, and partners, I quickly realized we have a knack for making attendees comfortable enough to share both positive experiences and frustrations in an open setting.

Below is a quick list of what to expect if you’re attending GPUC for the first time.

  1. Togetherness: GPUC focuses on bringing together people within Finance, Accounting, Operations, Inventory, Sales, Marketing, IT, and more to share their thoughts, ideas, problems, and scenarios with peers and our senior consulting team. Since we carefully cultivate our attendees, this leads to deep discussions of potential solutions and relationship-building. You don’t get talked at – you are part of the process. Plus, the venue at Microsoft gives you enough space to catch up on your day-to-day, while keeping the food, conversations, and resources close by.
  2. Experts: As a Microsoft Gold ERP partner and Source Code Provider, Implementation Specialists’ team possesses deep technical and practical knowledge of Dynamics GP, SQL, Azure, and more. We are also well-versed in business process analysis, application development, consulting, training, and support. I know what you’re asking yourself, “Don’t most partners have these competencies?” The difference is that Implementation Specialists has built a name and reputation on rescuing ERP projects due to both our technical expertise and relationship building skills. Last year, I was in on a session and heard multiple times that our experience in solving a particular issue “paid for the trip” – what an excellent thing to hear!
  3. Hospitality: A staple of the Upper Midwest is friendly people and funny accents. You will definitely experience both at GPUC 2018. We strive to make sure everyone who attends our Great Plains User Conference is comfortable and gets their questions and needs taken care of quickly. We have meals catered in, a fun and lively Happy Hour, and people who understand the local flavor of Fargo – if you’d like to experience the nightlife of an excellent college town! Our entire team will be on-site for the duration of GPUC 2018, ensuring that you can find the resource you need, when you need it. What you may not know is that due to growth, we have hired remote experts outside of Fargo-Moorhead that have been an invaluable addition. We have team members in Wisconsin, Florida, Washington, and the Minneapolis/St. Paul area for the first time, and are ever-expanding.

You might have an inkling of what to expect if you’ve been to similar events. Sessions and socializing are key components, of course, but Implementation Specialists focuses on providing business value to our attendees and partners. We’re all here to help you reach your goals and solve problems. You will see this firsthand as well. I hope to see you all in Fargo in November.

Steve

Filed Under: Uncategorized
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