In short, money or cash flow is important to your business. Increased cash flow and a better understanding of your cash flow is appealing to anyone’s ears. Microsoft Dynamics GP can “Show you the Money” through three specific features:

1. Collections Management: Collections management in Microsoft Dynamics GP ensures you have all the data needed for accounts payable and accounts receivable. You have a clear indication of when cash is supposed to be coming in as promised from your customers. You know when to expect invoices, how much each invoice will bring in, and how that balances with the rest of your financials. You can also enter in any unique payment scenarios since each of your customers are different.
2. Smartlist Builder: Smartlist Builder allows you to create your own custom smartlist that sits in a window within Microsoft Dynamics GP. This feature gives you a lot of power and flexibility with the ability to build your own SQL views and tables to access the data important to your role. It also helps with collaboration across teams as anyone in Microsoft Dynamics GP can see your smartlists if you grant them access. You can also easily export the data into Excel and automatically refresh content, making the cash flow data easy to use for analysis purposes. This insight can streamline the process even more as you can see average number of days it takes for customers or vendors to pay an invoice, helping you make an informed decision on how to improve the overall process.
3. Cash Flow Forecast in GP: Cash Flow Forecast is built right into Microsoft Dynamics GP and allows you to create forecast IDs that then show up in a calendar view. On any given day, you can see expected receivables and payables as well as the overall cash flow balance. This type of insight helps you plan for payables, ensuring you have enough cash flow to cover your expenses. You can plan out a week, a month, or even a year.

Insight into your increased cash flow creates the following benefits:

• Know where you stand. The visibility into ins and outs of cash flow helps keep your company on track.
• More control over your finances. With forecast features, you can profitably plan for invoices to ensure you have enough money at any given time.
• Knowledge for better business decisions. When you’re flying by the seat of your pants, it’s nearly impossible to make informed business decisions to help you company grow into the next stage. With more control and insight, you can set yourself apart from the rest.

For more information contact Admiral Consulting Group at 732-257-7440 or info@admiral-usa.com

The cold, hard truth, though, is that many an organization still runs on this stalwart technology platform.  In higher education, for example, enrollment/admissions, student life, financials, grades and even fundraising all operate by virtual of these tightly integrated platforms.  Moreover, that doesn’t appear to be changing anytime soon.  The ERP does and will have a significant presence in the organization for a very long time.

That doesn’t mean that, once the ERP is implemented, that all innovation and progress simply stops until the next major upgrade or replacement takes place!  Rather, the ERP has become the center of a whole, with any number of third party services linked to it.  Further, not every organization will stay on a single ERP forever.  As an organization grows and evolves, a new ERP may become necessary.

In today’s fast-moving and IT-centric environment, there are a number of ERP rules that should be observed.  Which rules apply will depend on the situation at hand; not every rule will be applicable 100% of the time.

Rule 1: Don’t migrate to a new platform with dirty data

Unfortunately, “dirty data” is and will probably remain a problem for a long time.  Dirty data happens when people ignore data entry standards, when there are no data entry standards, when data is entered inconsistently and when codes and data standards “drift” over time.  Of course, these are just some of the ways that data gets dirty.  However it happens, though, it happens.

In some cases, organizations take a “blame the ERP” approach.  Rather than correct processes that may have led to inconsistent data, they lay the blame at the ERP vendor’s doorstep and decide that the only way to clean up is to move to a new ERP.  Yes… this really happens.

In these cases, there are a couple of ways that a migration can take place:

• The data can be cleaned in the legacy system and then migrated to the new system.
• The data can be cleaned on the way over to the new system through the development of data transformation matrices.

I’ve seen both methods done.  No matter what, data translation matrices will almost certainly have to be created for an ERP migration, so the thinking is that a few more won’t hurt anything.

But, there’s a huge downside.  There’s no really good way to quickly and 100% accurately “fact check” dirty data that’s been run through a ringer.  Rather, when possible, clean the data in the legacy system before moving it.  This way, existing processes and reports can be tested with the newly cleaned data in a known way.

Sometimes, time constraints will prevent this from taking place, but be aware that migrating dirty data and cleaning up on the way or at the end is a major risk that needs to be considered.

Rule 2: Migrate for the right reasons

Previously, I mentioned that some organizations make the decision to migrate to a new ERP for the simple fact that their data is dirty and, as a result, reporting is a mess and automated processes simply break.  Further, too often, organizations do a great job getting people trained when an ERP is implemented but then end the training programs.

Before you decide to move to a new system, ask yourself a few questions:

• Would clean data solve your problems? It’s much less expensive to clean data than it is to move to a new system.
• What kind of continuous training program do you have in place? None? Get one! Get your people trained up on the current version and its capabilities before you leap.
• Do your people take some responsibility for their own training? If the answer is no, you have a bigger problem. The end user must be an active participant in the training solution, not a passive viewer.
• Is IT viewed as the training department? That’s not IT’s job and if that’s the expectation, it’s probably not going to be successful.

Rule 3: Engage your ERP vendor

If the last time you talked to your vendor was when you signed your ERP contract, you’re doing it wrong.  You probably pay a hefty annual fee for ERP support.  Engage the vendor!  They see the same problems you’re seeing in a multitude of environments and may be able to help.

In one organization at which I worked, staff perceived the ERP as poor software primarily due to training issues.  The ERP vendor offered to perform a free assessment of the situation that could be presented for action.  Yes, they had a vested interest, but it was enough to loosen the purse strings for access to training and conference funds.

Rule 4: Integration is king

The rise of the cloud presented particular challenges for the ERP.  By their very nature, ERPs are not all things to all people. They are most things to most people.  Third party solutions-sometimes cloud-based and sometimes not-will fill the gap.

Any third party solutions that are deployed should be a part of the whole and not just tacked on.  If a solution requires major rekeying of data on a constant basis, it’s a non-starter.  If a solution can’t sync data back and forth, it’s a not starter.  There are too many god solutions out there that can integrated into your software to choose one that’s going to make life miserable for your staff and mess up your data.

Summary

Although cloud has become a great buzzword, many companies still run on the tried and true ERP.  By following a few simple rules related to either maintenance or migration of an ERP, you can maintain insanity around these process workhorses.

For more information contact Admiral Consulting Group at 732-257-7440 or info@admiral-usa.com,
or visit our website at www.admiral-usa.com

Many accounting departments have file cabinets full of invoices, receipts, contract data, and customer and vendor data.  Making sense of all that paperwork can be a real headache, causing both payables and receivables to get out of whack.  What’s worse is that if receivables are poor, then you spend time chasing customers and attempting to make collections.  This is not an easy task and it’s not a friendly one either.  Moving this important data out of file cabinets and spreadsheets into an ERP software, like Microsoft Dynamics® GP can save you a great deal of time and effort with this whole process.

Entering your financial data into Microsoft Dynamics GP will allow you to view un-posted, posted, and archived transactions.  You can see customer data, period and annual sales, payment history, and other receivables data.  To encourage regular, on-time payments, you can automate customer installment payments that will calculate interest, payment amounts, and update any changes with the payments.  Giving this option to your customers will help them to pay you on time and will strengthen your relationship, in contrast to the repeated collection calls which can erode a business relationship.  Microsoft Dynamics GP can also automate lockbox processing, insufficient fund tracking, and multi-currency situations.

Microsoft Dynamics GP offers powerful analysis and reporting of sales performance by sales person, area, or product, and by commissions or non-commission sales.  You can create and share any number of reports that will give you insight into receivables and other financial data.  The ability to view real-time financial data will help you make faster, accurate business decisions.

Automating and streamlining the receivables process will give you more time to focus on other important financial issues.  Sending out invoices and getting paid on time will improve your productivity, optimize cash flow, and reduce the costs associated with overhead and collecting old money.  Stop the exhausting cycle of chasing receivables and talk to Admiral Consulting Group about Microsoft Dynamics GP today.

Contact us at 732-257-7440 or info@admiral-usa.com

You probably spent lots of time choosing the proper ERP system for your business.  Once you have it deployed and employees trained, you should see an immediate improvement in communication, smoother business operations and productivity, which all leads to an improvement in profitability.  After a while, you might notice subtle changes that indicate the ERP system isn’t working for you anymore.  Here are two of the biggest signs that an ERP system in trouble:

1. ERP is out of alignment:  The ERP system first showed you how to streamline operations and make improvements across the company.  Sometimes these changes lead to significant business changes such as new products, new services, and new operations that aren’t accounted for in the software.  If the ERP isn’t capturing this new data, then you aren’t getting a realistic picture of company-wide operations.
2. Reduction in ERP use for other systems:  All of your business data should have been integrated with your ERP system.  There shouldn’t be a need for separate software programs or spreadsheets.  Sometimes it’s hard to break old habits and when an employee doesn’t know how to use the new ERP, they return to old software.  Training is very important at the deployment phase, but the ERP system should be easy to use for everyone, all the time.

If you are working harder to make the ERP system work for you, then the cart is before the horse.  Microsoft Dynamics® GP is a scalable and flexible ERP solution that will keep you on track toward reaching your goals.  It is easy to use and easy to customize to your business operations today, tomorrow, and far into the future.  This powerful software is also backed by experienced partners who not only know software, but also know your industry and can tailor the software to your exact needs.

Keep your ERP system in alignment with your strategic corporate goals and keep on the path toward success.  Contact Admiral Consulting Group at 732-257-7440 or info@admiral-usa.com for more information about the flexible options that Microsoft Dynamics GP can deliver to you today and into the future.

It should never get to that point, according to Cindy Jutras, principal of Mint Jutras, a consulting company based in Windham, N.H.

“The whole concept of ‘rip and replace’ is a dirty word. People will avoid replacing what they have [at any cost],” Jutras said. But that shouldn’t be the case, given that the long-term benefits of having an ERP system that meets a company’s growing needs, is cheaper to maintain, and integrates more easily with future applications far outweigh the pain of replacing ERP.

“In fact, replacing a poorly performing ERP or one that’s simply outdated is probably going to be a lot easier, and it’s certainly going to be a lot more beneficial in the long run than just taking what you have and trying to upgrade it,” Jutras said, adding that just because a company is using a recent ERP release doesn’t mean it’s providing the “latest and greatest” technology.

In her recent report, Is It Time to Purchase a New ERP?, Jutras contends companies are better served by deploying a new ERP system at the onset of significant pain — think knee replacement, or something less life-threatening, she said — instead of waiting for things to get worse. The reasons for replacing ERP can range from missing or limited functionality, unnecessary maintenance costs, or having to get by with outdated technology,. When any of those become too hard to handle, businesses should at least start exploring their options, Jutras contends.

Of course, whether a business needs an ERP replacement also depends on what it needs it to do. An existing system may be fine even if it doesn’t produce exceptional results — if the business has no major need to grow or improve performance down the line, Jutras said. By the same token, sticking with legacy ERP can also make it harder for companies to react if conditions change at any point in the future.

“Don’t let your current ERP, or [even] lack of an ERP solution, become an excuse for poor performance or stagnation,” Jutras writes in her report.

But new ERP selection is still a challenge. What’s different now is that a growing number of companies see the value in having newer technology, according to Jutras.

“I don’t know that people think it’s that much easier,” she said. “But I think they perceive that it’s that much worthwhile.”

Why do companies replace ERP systems?

In the report, Jutras explains that in an online survey she conducted, 38% of respondents said their company had changed ERP systems in the past, citing reasons like lack of functionality, outdated technology or an inability to scale.

But when all respondents were asked why they might replace ERP systems in the future, respondents cited a litany of reasons. Roughly 51% said increased functionality was the biggest reason they would consider changing their ERP system in the future, followed by outdated technology (44%), cost savings (38%), as part of a consolidation strategy (25%), changing business needs (24%) and integration issues (21%). Other reasons include extensive customizations that prevented a business from keeping pace, and scalability issues.

Cost savings from replacing ERP
Merely upgrading an ERP system to a newer release won’t always solve a company’s problems, Jutras said, and changing the whole ERP may be necessary.

Why replace ERP? An ERP system that’s newer and includes greater functional depth should bring productivity gains. Other cost-related factors include the increasing amount of time needed just to keep up with industry standards beyond what’s required to address wear and tear, Jutras said.

Consolidating the ERP systems that a company has collected over years of mergers and acquisitions is another reason to consider replacing an ERP system, Jutras wrote in her report, noting that the average number of ERP systems for upper midsize companies is 2.9, and 4.8 in large companies. “Reducing the number of solutions supported across the enterprise can produce hard and soft savings,” she writes.

Dealing with ERP integration and customization
Businesses may want to rethink their ERP system if migrating to a newer platform built on service-oriented architecture (SOA) will make it easier to integrate with future applications, as opposed to the point-to-point, custom applications of the past, according to Jutras.

While owning a heavily customized ERP system may be one good reason for not implementing a new ERP system and redoing all the work, Jutras writes that advances in technology mean much of the custom functionality may now be available out of the box. That could eliminate costly support and maintenance and allow companies to take better advantage of new updates and innovation they’re already paying for in higher support and maintenance cost.

ERP replacement recommendations:
In addition to not waiting until the patient is dying, Jutras makes the following recommendations:

• Consider the cost savings. Need it but can’t afford it? Look at the long-term financial benefits. Most ERP systems pay for themselves within two to three years, Jutras writes. If capital funds are not available to support an on-premises project, consider a Software as a Service (SaaS) version, which usually has lower up-front costs. Survey respondents with SaaS implementations say they reached their first go-live milestone 19% sooner than those with on-premises systems.
• Set goals and measure. Before starting down the path toward an ERP deployment, decide which metrics are needed to measure success accurately. “Establish a baseline, set goals and measure progress against those goals,” Jutras writes. “When you reach them, set another goal. Continue to measure, and continue to reap more benefits.”

For more information contact Admiral Consulting Group at 732-257-7440 or info@admiral-usa.com

Here are three tips from our seasoned consulting team to keeping your Microsoft Dynamics GP implementation project on time and on budget:

1. Trust the Best. Best practices and a proven methodology make standard setups and reporting quick and easy. Expert consultants, with years of experience behind them, know what you need to get started and can provide insightful tips and tricks to get you ramped up for optimal productivity. Your business can be quickly up and running with robust functionality and time-saving automation.
2. Back to Basics. Start with the basics so your company can get comfortable with important core functionality such as Accounts Payable, General Ledger, Invoicing and Financial Statements. It’s not meant to overwhelm, rather to get your data in check and ramp you up for success. Forget about the bells and whistles or other system integrations, those can all be addressed later. The key to saving time and money is to focus on the basic functionality first.
3. Upfront Data Scrub. The quickest and easiest implementations often don’t have too much initial data, but if you’re like most companies, you’ll want to have that in check before moving forward. Most applications allow you to export your data into an Excel spreadsheet, from which you can sort, analyze and clean the data. Going through this process greatly streamlines your project.

The best part about keeping it simple from the start is that you’re creating a stable platform to add on more functionality as you need it. Microsoft Dynamics GP is so scalable that you can rest assured your business is covered now and 5-10 years down the road. It allows you to grow, keep growing, and set up tailored functionality specific to your company’s requirements at any point in time.  There are hundreds of terrific add-on solutions in the Microsoft Dynamics family developed for particular industries, job functions, and lines of business.

To learn more about  Microsoft Dynamics GP contact Admiral Consulting Group at 732-257-7440 or info@admiral-usa.com

Here are five valid reasons why the time for making the switch to Microsoft Dynamics® GP is NOW!

1. Better Cash Flow- With Microsoft Dynamics GP, you have the ability to better understand and control your cash flow. In QuickBooks or Peachtree, forecasting and reporting features are limited causing time delays and restrictions in cash flow. Collections Management in Microsoft Dynamics GP provides stronger insight to Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable, making it possible to manage cash flow effectively and keep your company afloat. With Cash Flow Forecast also built into Microsoft Dynamics GP, you can see a calendar view of receivables, payables, and cash flow balance for any given day on the calendar.
2. Stronger Cost Controls- With Microsoft Dynamics GP, you have insight into true costs throughout your business. For example, Analytical Accounting within GP helps you break down travel costs for a sales representative so you can see the expenses in comparison to the profits from that trip. The GP Landed Cost feature also helps you compare costs with revenue when shipping heavy or international items. Instead of just viewing the amount you paid the vendor, you can see costs associated with shipping, taxes, tariffs, and insurance all-up so you know what was actually spent.
3. Accelerate Customer Growth- Better views of your customers, greater efficiency of order processing/management,  and improved customer service are just three of the benefits you’ll see, helping you accelerate your customer growth. Microsoft Dynamics GP holds the valuable information you need access to in order to make all of this possible.
4. Simpler, Smarter Reporting- Out-of-the-box reporting in Microsoft Dynamics GP keeps your initial purchase phase manageable and more importantly, accurate. It includes 220Excel reports and 260 SQL Server reports that link to Business Analyzer. The data in GP is only as good as the users who enter that data, so make sure to start with the basics and leverage the advanced functionality, reporting features, and templates already in Microsoft Dynamics GP. By making things simpler, you’ll have access to smarter reporting in the future.
   
5. Now More Affordable than Ever- By taking advantage of Microsoft’s latest ERP offer “Give Me 5,” you can purchase 5 user licenses for $3,000 (that’s a discount of up to 85%!!).  If you combine that with a simple rapid deployment approach (click here to learn about ours), your business can replace a legacy accounting system with Microsoft Dynamics GP, affordably and quickly.  We commonly hear how surprised people are who used to think Microsoft Dynamics GP would  be too expensive.  Now they’re impressed with how attainable and easy it is to purchase and get set up.

How do you know if it’s time to stop making excuses, and switch your accounting software?  In our years of helping businesses who have outgrown QuickBooks or Peachtree, we find two key drivers for change: the need for much better control over financials and inventory and for companies who are expanding.

GAAP Compliance

Compliance controls are much stronger in Microsoft Dynamics GP, including GAAP compliant accounting principles and audit trails. Unlike QuickBooks and Peachtree, you can prevent accidental entries in wrong accounting periods or even years with Microsoft Dynamics GP. QuickBooks and Peachtree allow for manipulation of transactions and results in red flags for auditors. Don’t be caught in a sticky situation with the IRS or your bank, deploy Microsoft Dynamics GP today!

Room to Grow

Microsoft Dynamics GP lends itself to being more reliable and is also able to handle exponential growth for both users and business complexity. We’ve implemented GP for various companies ranging from  single users to hundreds of users. This just goes to show the scalability of this solution. If you’re running more than 10 users in QuickBooks or Peachtree, you’re probably already noticing issues in regard to its functionality and scalability.

To learn more call Admiral Consulting Group at 732-257-7440 or info@admiral-usa.com

Admiral Consulting Group specializes in business applications that will integrate and automate your sales, marketing and customer service processes. Here are the eight technologies that you can use in any size business to automate and organize sales and marketing.

1. Customer relationship management tools – CRM tools help you manage the sales process. Sales software has changed from the clunky downloaded contact management systems of the past. They are now sleek social media and mobile integrated platforms that will help you build and develop relationships at any price point.

2. Marketing automation – Marketing is a process, like sales or manufacturing. Raw materials come in and customers emerge. CRM solutions have add-ins or apps that include a marketing-process management module. When you’re choosing a platform, consider where your marketing is focused: inbound or outbound.

3. E-mail marketing – There is no excuse for not using an e-mail marketing technology in any business. Every business should be collecting e-mails from its prospects and customers. Once you have these e-mails, you can send “nurture campaigns” that consist of educational and informational e-mails, newsletters and special offers to your customers.

4. Analytics – The old quote about not knowing which 50 percent of your marketing budget is effective is no longer true. Web analytics can tell you exactly which aspects of your site are most effective.

5. Community platforms – These are ideal for businesses that find social media ineffective for interacting with their customers, distributors or prospects.

6. Social media management – You don’t have to be overwhelmed by social media if you’re using the right tools to streamline your marketing. Each of these tools helps you to automate and delegate your Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other social media platforms. Each platform is loaded with functions. I’ve outlined just a few that set them apart.

7. Online research – You don’t have to spend thousands for high-quality market research anymore. These online survey tools will practically make you a pro. The tools will help you program, launch and analyze your survey but they can’t guarantee good results. It’s worth it to hire some professional help to design your survey.

8. Prospecting and list-building – Getting and keeping customers is on the top of all of our lists.

Read the entire article at OPEN Forum

For more information contact Admiral Consulting Group at 1.888.737.5725 or info@admiral-usa.com

The second most important technology in the survey is mobile, said Gartner, which asked 2,335 CIOs globally about their business and technology priorities for the year ahead. The CIOs, who were surveyed in the fourth quarter of 2011, control $321 billion worth of IT spending in 45 countries.

The survey also found that IT budgets globally will be essentially flat, but with much variation regionally.

In North America, IT budgets will decrease 0.6% compared to 2011, even as they rise by 12.7% in Latin America. The Asia/Pacific region will see a 3.4% increase this year, while Europe is expected to be down by 0.7%. According to Gartner larger organizations are the ones that have been cutting.

Gartner’s full list of CIO tech priorities shows that priorities have shifted some in the past year.

The importance of great analytics and the pressure of flat IT budgets, is why Admiral Consulting Group has built IZON Business with Alerts – the easiest to install and use Business Intelligence tool for Microsoft Dynamics.  Visit www.admiral-usa.com/izon-business-with-alerts.htm to learn more.

Go to http://www.cfoworld.com/operations/29519/top-10-tech-priorities-cios for the full CFO world article.

Unfortunately, fixed-cost contracts still have their own shortcomings; they just differ from those inherent in contracts that are tied to the time and materials used within an implementation. For starters, vendors operating on a fixed-rate contract tend to more tightly define the scope of their work, and may push more tasks to the client company, Kimberling says. For instance, they may expect the company to handle testing or data conversion.

Read more from CFO World at http://www.cfoworld.com/services/29158/way-around-erp-cost-disputes

For more information contact Admiral Consulting Group at 1.888.737.5725
or info@admiral-usa.com