Month: November 2014

How to Balance Your Consulting Life Without Going Crazy

A long time ago I started a family and after taking some time off work completely, I was ready to get back to into the game. However, being a mom, I did not want to have a typical 9 to 5 job because I needed to be available to take my kids to school as well as continue to be the main caregiver. I eventually took a job doing consulting work. Consulting, to me, makes me think of having some freedom within your schedule and not the typical 9 to 5 hours. (A testament to this statement is that it is currently 9pm on a Monday and I am writing this. The down side is that I left my house to go to work at 7am this morning and am still working.) But I do enjoy my job. It consists of new implementations, software upgrades, training, and support. Something new that challenges me everyday. But the question still remains (and sometimes, I still struggle with) is how does one handle the process of juggling the demand of multiple clients, multiple projects, and a family life outside of work?

November 24, 2014

3 fundamental steps to build a Top Notch Software

Creating a software is an art, and here at KTL, we take it seriously!

Building software that meets business requirements is quite a tedious process. It involves various disciplines to come together in order to gather requirements, design, code, test and deploy. The journey of a software does not end here, in fact it is just set on a long sail and is expected to do its duty and perform here on. This is when the durability of the software is tested and it is rated as mediocre or class apart. I am going to discuss a few principles that we follow to make a software that customers want to ‘Take Home’ and ‘Keep’.

November 21, 2014

Dynamics ISVs…Use Your Partner!

In previous blogs, I have touched on the sheer number of Dynamics ERP ISVs (third party products). They are great tools to add on to an accounting system, however choosing out of the thousands can be a daunting task. Implementing them can also be quite an undertaking. It involves multiple systems, and should involve several parties, not just the ISV but also your Dynamics Partner and IT personnel/company. All too often us partners get calls from clients saying they have purchased a product that was supposed to solve all their problems and now they have no clue how to use it and their ERP is crashing.

November 17, 2014

Your Thanksgiving Day Dinner vs. Your ERP Project

Tis the season when most get excited about the holidays and gather with friends and family in celebration. For some, the holidays are stressful. There is planning, preparation, execution, and clean up and doing so all on top of your regular daily routines. Oh and it isn’t always just for one holiday but for two, three, or more in a 2 month period. I’m just going to think about Thanksgiving.

November 13, 2014

Tax rate tables + ZIP codes = disaster. Here’s why.

Here’s a not-so-fun fact: A large percentage of businesses in the United States have rate tables in their ERP system with rates based on ZIP codes. In fact, you might be one of them. Unfortunately, this method can give you inaccurate rates, landing you in trouble with customers and taxing authorities. Here’s why:

The U.S. Postal Service developed Zone Improvement Plan (ZIP) codes in the 1960s, so mail could be delivered more efficiently. What many people don’t know is that these “zones” can not only overlap each other, they can be adjusted and, sometimes, they might not represent a geographic region at all. In any given year, the USPS makes numerous boundary changes to ZIP code areas, making them an unstable data source. Most importantly, tax jurisdictions do NOT correspond with ZIP code regions. That means basing sales tax rates on a ZIP code risks applying not only an incorrect sales tax rate, but remitting it to the incorrect jurisdiction.

November 12, 2014

Top Ten Criteria for Choosing an ERP System

One of the most critical decisions a growing company can make is the introduction of new technology into its business. There are so many things to think about when considering an ERP implementation that it can sometimes be overwhelming. Over my many years of seeing successes and (unfortunately) a few failures of ERP implementations, I have an approach that leads to a more successful outcome.

Technology is the engine that drives corporate productivity. Sound business process to implement that technology is the transmission. Effective, well-thought-out strategy is the gear shift. Well-connected and synchronized, they make a smooth running machine. Without all three, a car can only roll downhill. Similarly, technology implementations without intelligent strategy and sound business process will just go downhill.

November 11, 2014

Using MSFT Dyn CRM to Automate RFP Responses

We have observed over the last few years that bidding on contracts with the Federal Government is becoming easier and harder; a contradiction yes, but true just the same.

It has become easier because of the standardization of the award vehicles and bid consolidators like INPUT. The task of finding the right contracts to bid on and the less complex responses required make it easier; but now that it is easier, there are many for firms competing, which makes winning contracts harder.

November 7, 2014

3 Steps to See if You are Web Client Ready

If you are involved in the Microsoft Dynamics world, in any capacity, chances are you have heard the latest buzzword “web client” quite a bit as of late. However, there are three key factors everyone should know about the web client before you call your VAR and tell them you are ready.

November 5, 2014

ISV Spotlight: NonProfitPlus

Non-Profit Organizations have a complex relationship with technology, especially depending on one’s size and the resources available. We’ve never met a social entrepreneur that has formed a not-for-profit with the end goal of using technology to streamline business processes and administrative functions. Non-Profits start as a thought, an idea to create a system that will provide a solution in a community. Here at NonProfitPlus, we come into contact with organizations that provide noble services such as housing for the homeless, after-school programs for at-risk youth, and life-changing support for recovering addicts. Their ambitions are admired, their tasks are never-ending and their self-motivation is inspiring. There is no doubt that these organizations leave a positive mark on communities both near and far.

November 4, 2014

How to Conquer Mass Modification to Price Lists in GP

I recently worked on a project to work with Price List Items in GP, a platform which traditionally is not my forte. The goal was to add existing inventory items to a newly created Price Level which we will call ‘NEW’ for the purpose of this article. The caveat was that the current price method used for existing Price Levels (we will call ‘GENERAL’ and ‘DISCOUNT’) was ‘% of List Price’ and the client wished to track these Price List Items as ‘Currency Amount’. This pushed us to have to make the change via the third party application, Scribe, as a change to the price method through the native import tool is not available.

November 3, 2014