This interview will be with a person who has supported Dynamics SL for 13 years. She has used Dynamics SL at a large in-ground floor heating firm based here in Minneapolis and uses Dynamics SL for the accounting for this 3.5 million dollar a year Microsoft Dynamics partner. She supports all of the Dynamics SL modules including the ones she does not use. She uses general ledger, accounts payable, accounts receivable, FRx, Project Controller, Project Time and Expense, Project Allocator, Flexible Billings, eBanking, Cash Manager, and Payroll.She has been an extremely valuable employee due to her deep knowledge of the software product, Dynamics SL, but also because of her ability to do so much in so little time both with our business and … [Read more...] about An Interview about Supporting Your Own Dynamics SL with Colleen McCoshen
Dynamics SL Quick Query and Dynamics GP Smartlists Compared
MSDynamicsWorld asked me to write a guest blog on comparing Dynamics SL’s new Quick Query function (new in Dynamics SL 2011) to Dynamics GP’s Smartlists.The post is at this link http://msdynamicsworld.com/story/easier-reporting-microsoft-dynamics-sl-2011-gains-gp-quick-query. Please read if you are a software consultant or are interested in comparing the two tools.We were very excited to have Quick Query added to Dynamics SL 2011 and this post points out some further enhancements that Smartlists has that we would love to see in the future. … [Read more...] about Dynamics SL Quick Query and Dynamics GP Smartlists Compared
An Interview with Dynamics SL Users That Implemented Order Management Themselves
N’compass Solutions is a professional services firm that also sells products. They are one of only 13 firms in the United States and 25 in the world to achive Cisco’s coveted Advanced Data Center Architecture Specialization. They are a team of hands-on people that take on serious challenges-like implementing Order Management with only limited guidance from Boyer.Below, I interview Brian Bagley, CFO of N’Compass Solutions on how and why they made this important decision.Jack Boyer: Brian, you may not know this, but there are very few users that I’ve seen in my 17 years of working with the Solomon/Dynamics SL software that have even attempted to implement a module as complex as Dynamics SL’s Order Management module by themselves. How … [Read more...] about An Interview with Dynamics SL Users That Implemented Order Management Themselves
Dynamics SL Top 10 Tips: An Interview with Timothy Jones, Technical Services Director
Tim, you’ve worked with Dynamics SL users as a consultant, as a trainer, as a business analyst, and as a developer. You’ve done phone support, email support, and remote tool support. If anyone has 10 tips to share with the average firm using Dynamics SL-it has to be you. …so what are your Top 10 tips?Thanks Jack. I have worked with the product since it was originally brought to the Windows platform (many years back). Microsoft has continued to invest in the product to make it easier to use and to integrate very seamlessly into their other product families such as the Microsoft Office business application suite, Microsoft’s CRM product and their backend server products (SharePoint, SQL Server). There are many tips out on the web for both … [Read more...] about Dynamics SL Top 10 Tips: An Interview with Timothy Jones, Technical Services Director
Dynamics SL Key Interview Plans
Carol Simonson: You seem to have caught on to this idea of interviewing other people for your Dynamics SL posts now. Why are you doing this?Jack Boyer: I’m doing this because it occurred to me that my thoughts and ideas are only so interesting due to my limited experience as mainly a sales and marketing professional and business owner.I’m also doing it because it allows me to learn more. One of the nice things about blogging is that you need to come up with-research, create, or in this case borrow thoughts on a pretty much daily basis. This allows you to learn a lot of new things. I thought to myself if I could not only learn new things but get introduced to people I admire and/or know but want to know more about their ideas-an … [Read more...] about Dynamics SL Key Interview Plans
Dynamics SL Veteran Consultant on SL in the Cloud An Interview with Kurt Bradley
Kurt Bradley has been a friend of mine since the late 80’s. His business, Bradley Consulting, was one of my accounts as a Solomon Software Regional Manager. Kurt worked and lived in Houston at the time and still does.Kurt has a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and an MBA from Boston University. He worked for years as a financial analyst and corporate planner at Fortune 500 firms before tiring of corporate life and starting an accounting software consulting practice. Kurt really knows Dynamics SL.Jack Boyer: Kurt you were speaking to me about a client of yours that used an old, unsupported version of Dynamics SL with a maintenance plan that expired in 2006. You mentioned that there seemed to be little hope for them … [Read more...] about Dynamics SL Veteran Consultant on SL in the Cloud An Interview with Kurt Bradley
Interview with Dynamics SL Practice Manager Jon Augdahl on Dynamics SL 2011
Jack Boyer introduction: Jon Augdahl has been a key person for us for the past 7 years. Jon came to us as a senior consultant and is now our Dynamics SL Practice Manager. Jon focused on project-centric businesses in the past as a controller for a construction firm and then as an implementer of Timberline.In addition to Timberline, Jon has implemented project-related modules using Dynamics SL, Dynamics GP, and Epicor.Jack Boyer: Jon, why do you like Dynamics SL so much compared to the other project modules you’ve implemented in your career?Jon Augdahl: There are a lot of things that I really like about Dynamics SL. Here are a few:1. You are able to enter a transaction that is project related in every transaction screen. That means … [Read more...] about Interview with Dynamics SL Practice Manager Jon Augdahl on Dynamics SL 2011
AP Automation
Dynamics SL is known for its Multi-Company and Project Accounting capabilities. Dynamics GP is known for its strong financial modules and integration tools.Still the fact is that many of our clients on both sides simply buy and use General Ledger, FRx or Management Reporter for Financial Statement creation, and then Accounts Payable. Many add Accounts Payable EFT to get out of the writing checks tedium, but still…more than half of our clients on both sides are using these Microsoft products for their financial capabilities, not their distribution or project capabilities.Which begs the question…”What about AP Automation?” Isn’t there more we can do to eliminate the effort involved in having someone key in invoices for us to pay when … [Read more...] about AP Automation
Lockboxes with Dynamics SL
Microsoft Dynamics SL has a powerful Lockbox module that was developed by Sandler/Kahne Software. The module was developed in the Dynamics SL toolset and looks and feels like the other modules that Microsoft licenses. Why do people consider lockboxes rather than having checks mailed directly to them? Here are a few reasons:To increase cash velocity by reducing the outstanding float created by not sending the money straight to the bank. Many large banks deposit money several times a day so often your cash gets deposited a day earlier as well. To save time as the lockbox software does the cash application for you automatically. When the bank scans the checks using Optical Character Recognition (OCR), they … [Read more...] about Lockboxes with Dynamics SL
Dynamics SL-Many Ways to Bill Customers
Over the past 17 years we’ve been in business here in Minnesota, we’ve supported a grand total of only 5 accounting software packages. But 5 is still enough to get a good taste for what is good and bad about a particular accounting software product.One of the many things I like about Dynamics SL, is its ability to deliver invoices to clients however those clients/customers want to see them.Invoicing and meeting client/customer demands for invoice formats can be a pain. No one wants to re-key invoice formats into Excel or Word for large clients to “keep the business”. Some businesses have picky clients that want their invoice formats to be very specific.In the Project Series there is a module called “Flexible … [Read more...] about Dynamics SL-Many Ways to Bill Customers
