There are so many ways to define “expert.” There is of course "how people perceive you" as in your reputation, but there is also “how expert are you?” You may not have a blog or lots of Dynamics SL cronies to solicit opinions from and yet have 12 years of daily development work you've done in the Dynamics SL toolset.The goal of this blog is more to entertain than to educate, but we do take the “expert” thing seriously when it comes to Dynamics SL. What people think is not always what is real.1. You describe limited choices at home with your spouse or children as PV’s (as in the possible values that the F3 key produces in Dynamics SL).2. You respond in endless detail, the pros and cons of creating a new report in Crystal Reports or … [Read more...] about 5 Ways to Tell If You Are a Dynamics SL Expert
Convergence and Dynamics SL 2011
Are you ready for some big talk? It’s one thing to talk about a software product’s features before you’ve seen them; it’s another to discuss software you’ve actually seen.When Carol Simonson, our Office Manager, first came to Boyer 9 years ago, she and I had a miscommunication. I wanted something about Biz Talk in a proposal. Having just come from the insurance industry and knowing nothing about technology she “translated” this to “Big Talk” for me. Fortunately I caught it and she is wonderfully fun to tease…so here comes some Big Talk on SL 2011.Quick Query is very cool. I’ve spoken to a number of clients that have at some point in their career used both Dynamics SL and Dynamics GP. I always like them to tell me what they like … [Read more...] about Convergence and Dynamics SL 2011
Convergence 2011
We are on our way to Microsoft’s Convergence 2011 in Atlanta now. It’s an exciting time for Dynamics SL partners. We have not seen a significant feature upgrade to Dynamics SL for at least a few years. This version seems to be adding a lot of needed functionality.Dynamics GP has a wonderful capability called “Smartlists.” The tool is baked into the system manager and allows for easy fetching of data-without having to know table and field names within the database. The Dynamics SL version of “Smartlists” will be called “Quick Query”. It will be nice to see this.Many of our larger clients attend Convergence and so it is always pleasant to be able to say “thanks” to the organizations that we work so closely with.Another feature set … [Read more...] about Convergence 2011
Resource Management
Tenrox, QuickArrow, SAP’s Business by Design, and even Microsoft Project are all good tools to help you manage your organization’s professional services resources. We are expecting a good tool like this from Acumatica later this year for optimally scheduling your project resources also.Randy Mysliviec, a partner of a consulting firm in Cincinnati, provides nice whitepapers and webinars on the topics of resource management, resource forecasting, and project management. In many of these papers and webinars he makes the point that many of us do our best to manage projects without managing our resources (improving their skills so they can do more) very well.Some of his math is eye-opening in terms of what a small increase in utilization … [Read more...] about Resource Management
Boyer & Associates Helps Volunteers of America Improve Financial and Operational Efficiency with Microsoft Dynamics GP
April 5, 2011, Minneapolis, MN --- Boyer & Associates, (Boyer) a leading provider of business management solutions for mid-sized businesses, announces the completion of an ERP financial management project for Volunteers of America Minnesota, a nonprofit organization founded in 1896 offering services to persons with disabilities and special needs. Boyer & Associates upgraded Microsoft Dynamics GP for financial management to help consolidate financial information across the organization as well as streamline payroll processing. Volunteers of America Minnesota has been a Boyer & Associates Dynamics GP client for the past decade but upgraded their software and added payroll and HR capabilities this past year. The new solution from … [Read more...] about Boyer & Associates Helps Volunteers of America Improve Financial and Operational Efficiency with Microsoft Dynamics GP
Convergence 2011 in Atlanta
Convergence is a wonderful event-especially for those users that have either Dynamics GP or Dynamics CRM. This year users of Dynamics SL will get their money’s worth as there is a nice new release of Dynamics SL that is adding, for the first time in a while, substantive improvements to the software that will make for a much better product.Some of the tips I would give you for attending Convergence 2011 would be to plan out who you want to meet with and get the meetings set up ahead of time. If you wait until you are down there, you probably will not be able to schedule a meeting with the people you want to see as they may not be there when you are or have an already full calendar for those days.Look carefully at the sessions and make … [Read more...] about Convergence 2011 in Atlanta
Project Management Institute-Minnesota
I attended my first PMI-MN meeting last night and was impressed with how well the group was run. They had a nice orientation, information about passing the PMP certification and wonderful speaker from Medtronic.The speaker’s topic was the difficulty in managing SAP R3 implementations throughout the world. I have to admit that I was not jealous when she described the 16 hour days that their PM’s were routinely going through for a long number of years. Culture differences in foreign countries, value-added taxes in far away places, and competing for resources with other Medronic projects made being a PM sound very challenging.The group had a number of ambitious, yet unemployed, people in the group. It was the first time I stopped to … [Read more...] about Project Management Institute-Minnesota
Microsoft Dynamics Light Users
Most employees in organizations cannot access critical business data they need within business management solutions.The Microsoft Dynamics Light User is a partial access license for users without full-client access to Dynamics GP, and Dynamics SL. At $195, it’s a cost effective way to give your employees the financial, human resources, and operational information they need with software they already use – Excel, Outlook, and Word.Dynamics GP 2010 and Dynamics SL 2011 include Dynamics Light Users in both the Business Essentials and Advanced Management editions. Dynamics Light Users contain a great deal of functionality at a low cost, including business portal solutions, reporting, and database accessibility. Capabilities of Named … [Read more...] about Microsoft Dynamics Light Users
Accounting Software Completeness
Over the years, I’ve seen often the battle in accounting software being won by the vendors that offer the most “completeness.”It was the completeness of Dynamics GP that has helped it to gain such a dominant position here in the United States. Not only does Dynamics GP have a complete offering of financial modules, and distribution modules, the product also possesses the most impressive list of ISV’s (Independent Software Vendors) ever assembled for the mid-market accounting and ERP space.To be specific with GP, modules such as Collections Management, National Accounts (parent/child invoicing and payment application), Grant Management, and Analytical Accounting, don’t exist on most competitors’ price lists in the mid-market.Dynamics … [Read more...] about Accounting Software Completeness
Project Manager Answer Book
I just listened to a very good podcast by Cornelius Fichtner, PMP, called the project management podcast.The podcast has a nice array of variety with project management predictions from pundits, PM’s from the Department of Defense, teachers, authors, and regular project managers with their PMP and lots of experience.He has a typically wry sense of humor in stating on his website that he “currently lives in Silverado, California, with his wife and their two computers.”In the podcast he interviews Jeff Furman about his book “The Project Management Answer Book”. The author has strong examples from his book and appears to be a great teacher.I ordered the book and am looking forward to learning the following better: Controlling risks … [Read more...] about Project Manager Answer Book
