SmartConnect and Multi Company

I recently had a request to record a little demo (or do it live at 3am in the morning) to discuss how to import a series of GL journals into different destination GP companies.  This is not show quality video but I thought it worth sharing with the wider world.

Take a look here.

Why does no one ever ask me about The Microsoft CRM GP Connector?

Why does no one ever ask me about The Microsoft CRM GP Connector?

I had someone ask me this week about how SmartConnect compared to the Microsoft CRM ‘free’ connector.  This got me to thinking why nobody ever asks me this question – which I decided was very strange.   I have had a number of customers come to me and buy SmartConnect after wasting 3-4 weeks trying to squeeze their business requirements into the connectors functionality – but no one comes out and asks this up front.  

Given we at eOne are selling more SmartConnect than ever for Integrating CRM and GP I thought I would dig into why people were not really taking the Microsoft Connector for GP seriously:

Single Function
The biggest issue with the connector is that it is seriously limited to a single function – integrating between CRM and GP. For most organisations this is just a tiny part of their integration needs, and reality is not as clean and simple as Microsoft are making out.

1.       Companies need to bring data into Dynamics GP from a myriad of data sources.

2.       Companies need to regularly bring data into CRM from a number of different sources as well.  

3.       Beyond that they need to export data to data warehouses, to point systems and other business specific application.

4.       Website and shopping cart integration to both GP and CRM

SmartConnect solves and hundreds of more integration needs for customers.

Customized Systems
The reason a company invests in Dynamics GP and not QuickBooks is because GP is so Configurable and Customizable to fit your business.  The changes to GP may take the form of third party addon’s, configuration with eXtender or custom development within GP.   The CRM connector is not going to be of any help within any of these scenarios.

On the Flip Side the reason you buy CRM is that it is so easy to mould to your business needs.  SmartConnect identifies all custom entities instantly and makes them available for integrations – where there is much more back end work to expose them within CRM.  If you have to open visual studio then you are working with a development tool and not an integration tool.

Object to Object
The CRM connector for GP provides only integration between a predefined object to a predefined object – which is great for the simplest of integrations but does not always match reality.  From experience we find people want complex data source going to complex destinations.  For example – you may want to take an order in CRM – grab all the order data, the customer data, the customer address data and roll it all into a single map that creates the customer, the customer address and the order in GP at the same time.  If you add to that the 3 eXtender fields you need populated you are going to miss the mark with the out of the box Microsoft connector.

Initial Data Load
When you move to a new CRM system you will need to load your existing CRM data into the new CRM system. The out Microsoft CRM connector is not going to assist with this. There are standard import functions within CRM – but this requires you producing spread sheets in the right format. I recently moved eOne from using Sales Logix to Microsoft CRM and used SmartConnect for all our migration. I was able to read the data directly out of the Sales Logix database (transform the data on the way via entity lookups, translation tables and calculated fields) and push it all right into the exact spot in CRM.  One integration tool all opportunities, opportunity lines and associated notes right out of Sales Logix and created them all as opportunities in CRM.

Bulk/Real Time/Change
Nobody has the exact same needs as any other company.  Some companies require immediate integration between CRM and GP, some want to run integrations every hour, others want to run integration manually at a time that suits them. There are other companies that want to review the data before it integrates allowing them to reject records or even modify them before integration. All of these options are viable options with SmartConnect.

Why Integrate CRM with GP anyway?
Remarkably I think Microsoft, Many CRM and ERP resellers as well as end customers have forgotten the reasons why you would integrate your CRM and ERP?  I see so many people trying to simply  move data from one spot to another. For example move a list of inventory items in GP to a list of products in CRM? Woohoo how exciting.

The reason you want to merge a customer relationship systems data with data from your operational and finance system to get ‘gain competitive advantage and efficiencies across the entire workforce’.  (I made this definition up but I like it). Yes there are times when you should keep duplicate records of customers in two systems  - but you should limit duplication if you can.

What you really should be doing is using the data from one system to make the other system better.  Let’s look at an example that I believe hits the spot.  I have a customer that has an integration between their ERP (GP) and CRM scheduled to run on the 1^st day of every new month.  This integration does NOT move one piece of data to a new spot.  This integration sums up the total sales of professional  services spend per customer for the month. For any customers that purchased more than $30,000 (or 1.5 man months) it creates two outgoing activities in CRM. The first is to trigger an activity for the VP of Consulting to make a call to the customer to say thank you for your business and enquire that everything is on track with the project.  The second triggers a survey work flow action seeking feedback from that customer – but only if that customer has not had a survey in the past 12 months.  

As you can see here this is real customer relationship integration. Taking data you have collected, analysing it and driving true ‘customer relationship management’ through integration the back office with the front office.

Conclusion
Does Microsoft Dynamics CRM integrate with Dynamics GP with the ‘free’ connector. Yes absolutely if you want to move one single record form one place to another.  This is a very good thing and is an essential requirement of taking these products to market.

The functionality probably covers about 15% of most businesses integration needs so really misses the spot. In addition this functionality is limiting the creative and real benefits available by integrating the back and front office.  So you can go free but as a result you miss out on all the business advantages waiting for you.

Tech Tuesday: Moving Extender Fields

Today we are going to look at a fairly simple yet extremely useful feature in Extender that allows us to move our existing fields around on existing objects.

If you have ever moved a field by simply going into the setup window for the object and deleted and re-entered the field in a different spot, you probably lost any data that had already been stored in that object.

There is an option that is called "Move Field" which will allow us to either move a field to an open location on an object, or swap its position with another existing field. Using this option will keep all the existing data in the tables intact for that field as it is moved.

Now where to find this option? It can be found under Options - Move Field in the toolbar at the top of the setup window for whichever object you are working on.

Once you choose that option, you can pick any field on the form and either swap it with another field or move it to an empty location.

After that, just save the object and the next time it is opened up it will have the redesigned layout that you just set. Now any change requests that the client sends in about the design of the window or form can be handled without any hassle!

Integration Dynamics CRM and Dynamics GP

The easiest way to integrate data between Microsoft Dynamics CRM and GP is with SmartConnect. SmartConnect is the one stop easy shop for all GP and CRM integrations and automation's.

There are some organizations out there that continue to struggle with Microsoft's 'free' connector before coming back to purchase SmartConnect. There are other companies that start off dabbling with Scribe before seeing the light. As one consultant recently said in an email "First, SmartConnect is absolutely the best integration product I have ever used. (I liked Scribe, and have used it extensively in the past, but SC destroys scribe).

The fact is that integrating with Microsoft Dynamics CRM from any source, but most specifically from Dynamics GP,  is best done with SmartConnect.

Join me in our upcoming webinar where we review the process of building a two integration between Dynamics GP and CRM.  In this webinar session we will cover:

1. CRM and GP integrating together without user intervention
2. The eOne templates - what do they cover?
3. Going beyond the templates - how easy is it?
4. Real Time, Change Tracking, Schedule and manual integrations. Which is best?
5. SmartConnect and CRM Online?
6. Questions and Answers to all your questions.

You must register for this event on the 15th February 4:00pm CST - and follow this link to sign up.  I look forward to answering all your questions during this webinar.

Rude Email non Responders

If you were talking face to face with a client or a colleague and they asked you a question - which you completely ignored  - I think we all agree this would be considered extremely rude.

So - Can you honestly look me in the eye and say that you have never 'forgotten' to respond to an email that deserved or required a response?  If this can happen to you then you are a 'rude' email manager.

Now I am not talking about spam or unsolicited emails. They can and should be ignored. I am talking about emails from the people that work in your office, your colleagues, people from your interstate office,  about a client, about a problem client, about emails from friends and even family.
Do you have an email management process in place? Do you have a plan on how you manage email communication? You need one, and they can be extremely simple.
A couple of questions/facts that identify an email offender:

1. More than say 2 days emails in your inbox at any one time.  If you have 1000 emails there is absolutely no way you know what is in your inbox. You can no longer be sure if you have dealt with each email.

2. Do you read an email and then think I will deal with that later?  How can you be 100% sure you get back to responding?

3. Do you use Auto assign functions that move emails to specific folders?  e.g. all emails coming to 'support' go into a special folder?  I would bet a weeks salary that you rarely look in these folders. What if you were copied on an email that went to support and required direct action from you? You only look in this folder once a week and can not possibly read them all at that point - so this never gets actioned.

4. Do you read your email while you are deeply involved in other tasks?  You will forget to respond to an email later on.

I rely very heavily on email to do my job - so getting this right is critical. Living on the bottom side of the world and being 12 hrs removed from most of the people I work with - email management is critical. I am a long way form perfect and if I have ever ignored an email from you I apologize right now - unreservedly! Here are a couple of things than can move you from the Rude to the Polite email category.

1. Your inbox is not a filing cabinet. Treat your inbox as an old fashioned in tray for things that need to be done. If it is in your in tray then it has not been actioned and is a job waiting to be done. Does anyone still have an in tray? I remember in my first job as an accountant this is where all the paperwork requiring processing was placed. Most of that internal paperwork and those incoming letters through regular post have been replaced by email.
2. Use just a few folders to file away useful emails you may need to reference later. I have a file called "Microsoft", another called "Clients", one called Personal and another called "eOne Team".   When I read an email there are only a few possible actions available to me.

• Read it and Respond Immediately.  Then move the original to a folder for reference/or delete it.
• If it does not require a response but will be useful later - move it to a folder
• Delete it (Junk, unsolicited emails, jokes, any other email that I do not need to reference later.)

3. Close Outlook. Open it only when you want to read email.  When you open it:

• Sort by Subject first. This lets you see all emails in a chain so you can action only the last message. Then move or delete them as a group.
• Quickly delete obvious junk, and unsubscribe to anything you do not need coming to your inbox.
• Aim for an empty inbox. You can achieve it and it gives you a great feeling when you fall asleep at night.
• Sometimes you can not respond just yet and need to seek info or input from others. This remains in your inbox as an outstanding thing to be done. Like a to do list.  

4. Send yourself emails. I do this all the time. I do not keep a 'to do' list but when I think of something that needs to be done - I send myself an email. It is then in my tray so remains as something that needs doing. Emails from myself are no less or more important than things tasks that come in externally. I prioritise in the normal way.

5. Never ignore. It is better to respond saying "I am really busy, and will get to this in 3 weeks" than to ignore it. or "I need some help in answering this - it may take a few weeks". 

That's it. Do not over complicate it. Email is a brilliant and an essential tool that must work for you and not against you.

In addition to the above - turn off email on your Smart Phone. No one needs to read email all of the time. You just don't. If it is urgent they will call you - a novel idea!  I have a friend who is a CEO of a reasonably sized firm you recently gave his Blackberry away and intentionally purchased a phone with NO email capability. Brilliant. Does he need to read emails when he is at his daughters birthday party, or out for a few drinks with friends after work? No. Have you ever been in a conversation with someone who starts reading emails on their phone while you are speaking? Save your emails for those times of the day you set aside for reading emails.

For those of you who work at eOne - there will be some email management audits coming shortly.

Back with an itch

Camping by a beach for 18 days straight in perfect weather with extended family all around. Does it get any better than that? I was so relaxed I am surprised my heart did not stop!  So no apologies for the blogging void - I was having too much fun.

But 2012 is going to be a big year for eOne and I am now burning to get going with big plans.  I thought I'd outline a couple of things going on here at eOne.


1. eOne goes CRM 2011: The first thing is that I am now officially a heavy SmartConnect user.  We have moved internally to Microsoft CRM and I took on the job of converting all our data, and ongoing integrations using SmartConnect.  Firstly I am loving CRM, and I have proven that SmartConnect is as easy to use as I have been telling everyone in my demos. Which is great.

What I have learnt through this process is a bunch of little things I think should change in SC. The dev team were not so excited by all the little feature requests I have logged.  I will blog more about the conversion process, the things I learnt and things to watch out for with CRM integrations.

2. New User Interface Coming:  SmartConnect is getting a makeover, face lift and transformation. Last year we moved to an entirely standalone version of SmartConnect and decoupled from the GP user interface. This has allowed us to rework the look and feel and how all the components hang together. I am excited about how the user experience will improve with this release. Target date is March.  You can imagine that these changes are also leading us be able to expand into other CRM and ERP markets.

3. SmartView Goes Standalone: We had so much fun moving SmartConnect outside of GP, that we are now doing the same thing with SmartView. This is really exciting as it allows you to give all the power of SmartList's to everyone in your organisation - even if they are not GP users.  This leads to some really fun stuff like SmartView on other devices like Ipads, Android Pads and windows pads.

4. First SmartConnect User Group Meeting:  During convergence 2012 in Houston (March 18th) we will be holding a 2hr user group session. This is a great chance for all our customers (and their partners) to gather together, learn what is new, understand our roadmap, learn form eachother, ask questions of a customer panel, ask questions of our development and consulting teams. The success of this event will lead on to a bigger user group even the following year.  You invites will be coming shortly so please be sure to come along and join us.

5. Web client:  We are working with Microsoft on the GP12 web client for SLB and eXtender. There is a way to go but this is exciting stuff for us and you as customer/partners. There is a lot of hard work going on behind the scenes. If you ever hear it said that Microsoft are not investing in Dynamics GP you are sorely mislead.

6. New Website/Customer portals/Forums. I am really excited about this. We are changing the way we do business, and becomingng much more open to our customers and partners. All support calls will soon be logged online, and you can get updates from our support crew via the same portal. We are also opening up some interactive forums which we hope will foster more information sharing between our customers/ partners and our development team. 

7. Partner Program. We will be releasing information soon aobut changes to our partner programme. Do not get scared these are all positive. We are looking at options to ensure customers and consultants have the best, easiest and fastest ways to get support when they need it.

So that is just a snapshot of what is coming. I am excited about 2012 and we hope to make the lives of our partners and customers easier by continuing to lead the way with great software solutions.  

Troubleshooting SmartConnect Data Issues

Basic Techniques of Troubleshooting SmartConnect Map errors


Today is Tech Christmasand we are going to review couple of ways to troubleshoot a SmartConnect map that is generating errors when it is run. I will start with simple errors and simple troubleshooting techniques.

In this example I have a sample map with sample data which will import vendors into Dynamics GP 2010. After mapping all the fields that I need to populate, I ran the map.

In the progress screen we can see that only 8 out of 10 records were successfully integrated into GP. So what is wrong with 2 other records?

Lets click on the error message and see what is the reason for this issue.




Ok, we can see a standard eConnect error message. Description of the error states that vendor name is empty.  I don’t remember having blank vendor name fields in my sample data. I clicked on Fix button at bottom right corner of progress window to have a closer look at the records that failed.









Oh! SmartConnect was right! As usual! I can see that 2 records do have blank fields in VENDNAME column. I can fix this issue “on fly” by manually typing in Vendor names into these empty fields:








Once I finished correcting the vendor names - I want these 2 records to join their mates in the GP company database. I click on the Run button. This will rerun the original map for just these records displayed in the SmartConnect process Errors window – but for the updated data. Now all my vendors were successfully integrated in to GP.

Let’s throw in a twist. What if I don’t want to import them? I just want SmartConnect to skip records with blank vendor names as they are invalid, without throwing errors. My favorite Integration tool can do it easily! Let me show you how.

I open SmartConnect Mapping window and click on Restrictions button. In restrictions window I expand Source Column section to display all my source columns as I’m going to use one of them as a variable in my script. I want to restrict SmartConnect from trying to import records that do not match my criteria.

In this example the restriction will be in English as follows:

If Vendor Name field is empty
skip the record
Otherwise
Try to import the record.













I use VB.NET to write my scripts, but SmartConnect knows C#.NET as well.

On the screenshot in my script I used VendName with _ prefix as it is required by SmartConnect in order to recognize it as a variable. The next time you’ll run the map, SmartConnect will automatically skip these records.

To demonstrate another way of troubleshooting errors I will use a simple map that imports customers into GP.  When I try to run the map I get the following error:

The error message gives me a direction in which I should start troubleshooting the map.

My dates that I’m trying to import are in incorrect format. It would be very useful to see the data(xml document) that SmartConnect generates and sends to GP through eConnect. SmartConnect can help us troubleshooting this issue and show the content of xml document.

On the Map Setup screen, I will change the destination to Microsoft Dynamics GP – File and enter a file path for files that SmartConnect will generate in the future.

I ran the map and opened a directory that I specified. Don’t be surprised to find heaps of xml files as the amount of documents will match the amount of records of your data source.  When I opened one of xml files, I discovered that CREDIT CARD EXIRATION DATE (CCRDXPDT) has an invalid date format.

Exactly what I thought! This xml file was extremely helpful. Now I know which field is problematic (remember that you can have multiple date fields mapped and it will make troubleshooting more difficult that’s why it is important to see which one is wrong one), I also can see the actual (invalid) format so it will be easy to write a script that will convert the date to a proper one.

But don’t forget it is SmartConnect we are working with. It does all the work for you and you don’t need to write a script to convert the dates. SmartConnect still can’t read your thoughts, but believe me, we are working on it.

To fix this issue we need to open a Mapping window.

1. Go to Additional columns and click on Date Calculation and add a column.
2. Enter Name of the field.
3. Select a Source column that contains the date, you need to convert.
4. Select the Source Format, the format of your source date. In my case it was day/month/short year.
5. In the last drop down box select predefined date format called “GP Date Format” this is the format GP can understand.

* You can also define your own date formats, by clicking on Manage Formats button.

6. Now click on OK and map the Date Calculation column (I called it DATECALC) to Credit Card Expiration Date in the destination.


All done! Run the map. SmartConnect will convert the date to the correct format.

In this article I reviewed basic troubleshooting techniques which will make it easier to make integrations to GP. In my future articles will review advanced troubleshooting techniques which are required when you work with complex integrations.

Please, leave your feedback. Let me know if it was useful and what would you like to see in my next Tech Tuesday articles.  Remember, SmartConnect makes life easier!



Alex Sugak

QA Team Leader

SmartConnect SP

SmartConnect keeps getting better and stronger.

On the 20th Dec we released SP2 of SmartConnect 2011. This is a significant release with a mixture of fixes and features that make SmartConnect even more robust and functional. SP 2  rolls up previous hot fixes as well as additional features and bug fixes into this one build. We recommend all our clients upgrade to SmartConnect SP2 at their next opportunity. 

SmartConnect 2011 SP 2 Release Information and Upgrade Instructions

Release Information

Features
1. Dynamics GP
Ability to define a single user with which to connect to Microsoft Dynamics GP. This means that a single AD user may be used for connections to GP rather than requiring each SmartConnect user to be set up individually within MSSQL security.

2. Dynamics CRM 2011
Added support for the update of entity record owners.

3. MSSQL Change Data Sources
Added support for schemas other than the default schema.

Bug Fixes
1. Extender
Fixed the bug where SmartConnect was truncating key fields for Extender windows and detail windows.

2. Importing Templates
Imports that use eOne Excel templates will now work if no TWO database is present on the Dynamics install.

3. Email SMTP ports
Now allows selection of any port number.

4. MSSQL Change Data Source
Now handles column and table names where the name is a reserved word correctly.

5. SmartConnect does not detect eConnect
SmartConnect will now detect eConnect correctly where eConnect is installed after SmartConnect.

6. Dashes are no longer allowed in default connection names
This was causing issues in some calculation and scripting fields and has been disabled.

7. SQL Command tasks and SQL Command Templates
Insert variable now works correctly.

8. Scheduler
 Fixed issue where a schedule recreated itself if it was running when it was deleted.

Tech Tuesday: SmartView and SQL

The built in Visual filter is really powerful with many more options that you would have in traditional SmartList. But there will be times that even with these filter options you can not get the exact data filters you need.

If you have a complex query that you can't enter with the built-in visual filter editor in SmartView, you can enter a SQL script to construct complex queries. Simply select Text as the Filter Editor Mode in the Options menu.

 
 

Now when you open the Filter Editor, the SQL entry interface is displayed. This interface has intellisense enabled to suggest field names and operators. For all those familiar with SQL you can construct whatever filter criteria you require. If you are not familiar with SQL syntax than go and knock on the door of the IT department and ask for a guru OR contact the eOne consulting team who will be able to assist (at a small charge).

Tech Tuesday: Copying Extender Nodes

Hey guys, I'm back in the Tech Tuesday mix and I'm starting off our video articles for this series on how to copy extender nodes into your needed maps in SmartConnect.

I've got the video below, make sure you flip it over to 720p for the best viewing - I promise that it will be full 1080p quality in the future.

GP resellers. Stand and make Revenue.

GP resellers do not go into business for fun. Microsoft is not in the ERP business for fun. ISV do not write software for fun. Customers do not buy ERP software for fun.  All of the above mentioned organizations do what they do to provide a return on investment for their owners. Fact.

Now that does not mean we do not enjoy what we do, that we do not go out of our way to look after our customers who also become our friends. We build relationships,  pay salaries, design solutions, travel the world and make businesses run better - but underlying all that is a goal to generate income for business owners (and an income for all of those involved). We all want to run and be involved in successful businesses that generate revenue and return.

Recently, Microsoft made significant changes to its partner program. The reason they did so is that they were of the opinion that these changes would align with their strategy to run a good business that generates revenue. You may or may not agree with their decisions and changes. Each of the businesses involved within their model need to make decisions regarding how they will react to the changes in a way that is in their own best interest of running a good and successful organisation (which in turn makes revenue) .

I had feedback from one reselling partner that went like this "With the increased targets we have to hit with Microsoft - we will no longer be able to sell your ISV solutions (even though they are much better for our customers). We will be forced to sell only what is on the Microsoft price list or our revenue will not hit the targets." 

I believe there to be a fatal flaw in this thought process. A reseller who is not hitting the required targets right now needs to change something - I agree with that.  They need to change something that will align with their business goals  - which deep down is to 'run a successful business to generate a return' - as we discussed above. So is a decision to knowingly sell an inferior or mediocre solutions going to help you reach your goals? 

I have long been of the opinion that resellers must 'amaze' their customers. A reseller that does anything less is opening the door for a competitor who does 'amaze' their customers.   If you are not Amazing with GP - then rest assured that over time somebody will 'amaze' with NetSuite, or Sage, or .... (I think you get the picture).

I would like to see all GP resellers go out there and smash the Microsoft targets - as would Microsoft!  No reseller will do that by repeating the things they do right now? You do not get different results form repeating the same thing. Resellers must change something - they must try and grow and better.  10,15 and 20 years ago there was nothing more dynamic and exciting than a growing GP practice. These startups had amazing energy, tried new marketing activity, tested new technology daily and took risks to grow their business.

The reseller channel needs this energy again - and if Microsoft changing reseller targets helps achieve this then I applaud Microsoft. Back in those early days there was little or no recurring revenue in annual maintenance - you had to make new business. Now - it seems the same people 15 years on are only interested in protecting their recurring revenue rather than being hungry for new revenue. To all business owners  - if you are not hungry for new revenue then go out and employ people who are - and empower them.

Microsoft owe resellers nothing - and we are not victims of change or being squeezed out. Microsoft want an active and energetic reseller channel - lets give them one by doing our very best. Lets do it by selling only the very best solutions and selling more than the opposition.

Microsoft is not a company that will invest in a stagnant market - that is not what they will do. So if you are seeking great innovation and investment in GP from Microsoft then the only way to get that is to sell more and more GP. That is what they are looking for in changing the partner programs.  They are looking to motivate the channel and deal with growing organisations that want to get on board for the ride. If Microsoft see you as a hanger on that is milking a revenue stream then your days a numbered. Get active, get creative, and sell only world class solutions that amaze.  Funnily enough through this process I suspect you will also generate more revenue and greater returns to investors.   






 

Cut and Paste to save Waste

SmartView Tip fo the Day

The very best and fastest way to get data out of SmartView is to cut and paste. That good old fashioned method of using CTRL C and CTRL V (or right click - copy and right click - paste  for those that prefer).

There are a bunch of advantages to the cut and paste method.
1. It is instant. You can cut and paste 100,000 rows of data in just 2 seconds.
2. Column headings are pasted automatically
3. You can select only highlighted rows for export
4. The rows you select need not be consecutive

You will find that once you start the cut and paste method this will soon become the only way you push data out to Excel.  Another limitation overcome bu cut and paste is that the regular Excel export is limited to 1,000,000 cells. If you wish to export more than this number ot excel in a single run then there are two options for you.
1. Export to CSV and open in Excel
2. Cut and Paste as per above.


As they say in the classics "Cut and Paste to save time that others waste".

Tech Tuesday is back and not just on Tuesdays.

Scripting and database connections.

The ability to create and run scripts within SmartConnect when processing maps is a great asset to the SmartConnect community. However it can raise issues about password security.

When a script requires connection to a database, and other users have access to the map setup screen, it is a simple exercise to open the map, open the script and read the database login details from the script window.

An additional issue is what happens if the database credentials change, and I need to update the script? You would need to remember everywhere you used those credentials in a script, then find and update the script. You have probably thought that surely there is a better way to both manage connection credentials, and hide restricted information?

Well now there is.

As of SmartConnect 20.11.11.50 (20.11.10.50 for those connecting to GP 10) all default connections are available for use as variables within the scripting windows. What does that mean for those users maintaining and creating scripts? Well firstly it means setting up and maintaining database connection details in a single place. If the database connection required is to a MSSQL or GP database, or to an ODBC or OLEDB compliant database the connection can be setup up under default connections. (Setup / Generic Defaults / then MSSQL, ODBC or OLEDB data source defaults, or Setup / Dynamics GP Defaults / Dynamics GP Query for GP connections). These connections can then not only be used in the relevant data source windows, but can also be used in scripting.

When opening the scripting task on a SmartConnect map, there is now a Default Connections node in the tree on the left. Expanding the node will give you the different types of connections that have been defined, and expanding the type will give a list of each connection of the selected type. The connection can then be dragged into the script window and used in scripting. How is it used? Let’s look at an example.

Originally your script would look something like this:
Dim conString as String = “DataSource=MYSERVER;Initial Catalog=MYDATABASE;User=UserName;Password=UserPassword;”

The new script would look something like this:
Dim conString as String = _SQLDEF_MYDATABASE


You will have noticed that using the default connection also removes all credential information from the script. It can no longer be read directly from the scripting window. You can also use the same default connection in other scripts, but only update the single default connection if something changes. With SmartConnect, Yes you can have easy script access, with easy database connection maintenance, while still maintaining security around connection credentials.

Kevin

GPUG in Vegas

If you use Microsoft Dynamics GP then you should be a member of GPUG. (www.gpug.com) GPUG stands for GP user group, and is a run by GP users for GP users, providing all the things users are asking for.

In a world where customers are tired of being sold to, and do not trust fancy demonstrations and brochures -  peer to peer groups are the place hang out. People trust like minded and want to hear form people that face the same challenges and experiences as you.  That makes a world of sense.

Lets say you are planning a family holiday to Fiji:

in 1995: I would have seen a travel agent, read a fancy brochure containing pictures of clear water, people swimming and colorful fish.  I would have asked a few of my close friends if they had been to Fiji - and based on perhaps 1 recommendation made a decision.

in 2011:  I skip the travel Agent.  The first thing I do is read the reviews of what other like minded people though of their visit to Fiji. The reviews are online and there are hundreds and thousands of reviews to peruse. If you are taking small children you want a know what people with small children though of a particular resort, or activity - so you read those reviews. If you want a quiet romantic getaway then you read reviews form people taking a quiet romantic getaway.  

I guess my point is that people trust other people who have similar needs and challenges.  GPUG is just perfect for place to meet such people.  The GPUG summit event in Las Vegas a few weeks ago was perhaps the best GP conference I have attended (and I have been to a few). This event was all about the customer and what they needed. As end users run the organisation they get to drive the content and it was all about learning this year.  I was invited to run a number of sessions about SmartList Builder, Extender and Using Excel as a data entry tool - and for each we took a very strong training approach to help improve the way customers use GP. 

A good feature of this event is if you wanted to avoid 'being sold to', you could - but at the same time if you were in the market to speak with some of the ISV's selling addon products - then they were all congregated in one place. The ISV'v also had time to speak with you at length and truly help to determine whether their solutions would fit your business need.  There is nothing more important than a face to face discussion to build confidence that you as a customer are making the right purchasing decision.

I encourage all customers to get involved with your local GPUG chapters, contribute to and learn from other businesses that do what you do. GPUG provides great networking and collaboration events, training opportunities, online discussions and forums and much more. One of my favorite things about GPUG is the 'share my code' initiative which allows customers to share code, smartlists, reports and extender objects that they have build. Simply brilliant and something only a customer driven group would come up with (I will discuss this further in coming posts).  I also encourage GP partners to get their customers involved - as the stronger the GP community gets the more prospects will be attracted to Dynamics GP.

I had one partner comment that they were nervous that their customer would meet another partner and may switch!  To that I say get your relationship right, look after you customers properly and losing them is no longer an issue. If you are scared for your customer to mix and meet others - then there are much more fundamental issues at hand that need addressing.

eOne is Hiring

eOne is Hiring

It is time to grow our business exponentially. If you know eOne and thing you would fit into our successful culture then we want to hear from you.

We are looking for a mixture of:

• Gun Telephone Sales people
• AX Developer
• Technical AX Consultant
• Top GP integration Consultant
• Sales Force Guru's
• Microsoft CRM integration consultant
• X Scribe developers, consultant and salespeople
• Data Integration Guns

We have multiple projects on the go and big plans. Ideally you want to enjoy the great climate of Fargo, ND but that is not essential.  If you would like to join a rapidly growing and successful organisation then please send me you details.

We only want the best, and if you want a job where you have a manger looking over your shoulder - then you need not apply.

martin.olsen@eonesolutions.com

Thank You!

It’s that time of year again: the hustle and bustle of the holiday season has begun and preparations are wrapping up as we approach the US Thanksgiving Day holiday on Thursday. With that in mind, please note our Thanksgiving holiday schedule:

November 24th & November 25th – the US office is CLOSED. Please send any support request via email to support@eonesolutions.com.

Beyond taking time away from the office to fill up on more food than we can imagine, Thanksgiving reminds us of the many reasons we have to be thankful. Here are just a few things we’re thankful for this year:

1. Amazing partners and customers. Need we say more?
2. Reaching 1000 SmartConnect customers by October. We’re now well over 1070!
3. Providing our new products SmartPost (for auto-posting) & Node Builder (for creating custom integration points), as well as releasing our stand-alone build of SmartConnect, which helps serve the needs of our partners and customers.
4. Having talented new team members join us to assist with support and consulting activities.
5. The opportunity to participate in numerous partner events and connect with some of the most talented people in the channel.

Our success is largely due to our dedicated partners and creative customers, like you, who support and promote eOne products and services. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Getting Old

Last week I turned 40! I know its hard to believe that someone so young, energetic and handsome can be so old. Strangely I discovered that partying on until 4am is much more difficult to recover from than it used to be.

So to top off a big year - a trip to Vegas is on order to attend GPUG. If you are a GP customer and have not booked your trip to Vegas then I suggest you do so in a hurry. This will be a fantastic week, where you will learn allot from some Gurus when it comes to GP + you get to party on with all the cool folk from Microsoft!  Does the word folk  - go with the word cool.  If they let you down then be sure to look up the eOne crew who will no doubt show you a good time.  

We are running some great sessions on all the builders, as well as taking the eXtender challenge. This challenge is a bit like theatre sports where we will build an application on the fly, based on audience participation. This could be a great session, particularly if you want to see Chris Dew put on the spot and see if he can hold up under the pressure!

Before GPUG is the Partner Connections event (just so I can have a few extra days in Vegas) but for all partners that are attending this will be an awesome few days.  If you want to see a cracking intro to any GP demo you ever do - get along to the session titled "demo the eOne way". I challenge you to watch this session and then go back to your office and sell more GP than ever before!   I'll show you why GP is simply the very best ERP in the market- bar NONE.

Do you turn your marketing on its head

It's not often I blog about beer advertising - but I thought this was brilliant. Many beer adds aim at suggesting real tough men drink beer - which really does not hit the spot with the average modern office working beer drinker.

Here is an add where they really understood their market. They still used the 'he who has amazing courage deserves a beer' message but delivered it very cleverly that hits the spot with Women and Men equally.

http://www.simplyzesty.com/advertising-and-marketing/carlsberg-pull-brilliant-guerrilla-marketing-stunt-in-cinema/

So here is a challenge in your next marketing efforts - stop saying "get better reports", "save time for your staff", "be more efficient" and see if you can turn it on its head and take a fresh approach to telling an old story.

This week we released a Service Pack for SmartConnect 2011. This has turned out to be a little more than a service pack and has included one big change to the User Interface. The User Interface for SmartConnect is now entirely external to Microsoft Dynamics GP.

WHY:

1. To support CRM 2011 we had to use .net 4 controls. Dexterity did not allow this on GP 2011 - so we have moved outside of dex completely to provide the functionality out partner require.
2. To better leverage all of the destinations and data sources available in SmartConnect. It makes little sense to build an Excel to SalesForce integration inside of GP!
3. To simplify security by not having to deal with multiple layers.
4. The depth of SmartConnect now means that many partners are using SmartConnect for projects that may not have anything to do with GP. Here are a few examples:
1. Exporting data to XML from Microsoft CRM:  (Uses a CRM datasource and File destination)
2. Pushing data from a GP SQL table to a custom SQL table. (ODBC data source and SQL destination)
3. Reading an XML and turning it into an Excel file. (XML data source and File destination)
4. Moving data from CRM on premise to SalesForce.com
5. Exporting CRM online data to a local SQL table for reporting. (Other integrations call this amazing cloud technology - it is standard with SmartConnect).
6. Integration from a POS system into BI SQL tables.
7. This list goes on for ever.

FAQ QUESTION 1:  Does this mean we are moving away from GP as a core product? 

Absolutely not. We are still a GP centric integration and automation tool. That said we have heard our partners and understand the need for a single tool for all your integration needs. Technology changes meant we had to move outside of GP and this is entirely a good thing for all our existing customers and all our future customers. So when you upgrade SmartConnect next time around - you can still launch SmartConnect from the GP menus (if you want) - but doing so will launch SmartConnect external to GP.


FAQ QUESTION 2: Do we lose any functionality?

Absolutely not. All the current functionality remains inside of SmartConnect - but this move has opened us up to add more functionality that was not available inside the GP dev limitations.

FAQ QUESTION 3:   So what is next in the plans with SmartConnect?

Sex. Yes now that we are outside of GP we get to go sexy. SmartConnect will be getting a new and friendly user interface to make it more fun to work with. We are excited about this and think all of you who use it will be equally inspired. 
We are of course always looking for feedback and development ideas - so if you have dreamt up a feature or discovered a gaping hole that needs filling during one of your projects,  now is the time to tell us about it.

Support

A quick reminder to all our partners - to contact our support desk please email support@eonesolutions.com or call on 888 3193663 (2 for support).

We have had one of our engineers off for surgery recently and emails send directly to them do not reach the support team. Please ensure all support messages go to support@eonesolutions.com and they are then addressed by any member of our team.

SmartConnect just as good with CRM as it is GP

I have long preached the story that with SmartConnect you can connect any data from anywhere into GP. The exact same message goes for Microsoft Dynamics CRM - SmartConnect allows you to push nay data form anywhere back into GP.

When people thing SmartConnect they think integration! That's wrong. They legacy applications in this market are just that - only integration tools. SmartConnect gets lumped into the same group because it does integration as well as any of those tools - but it also does so much more. The 'so much more' often requires a little creative thinking.

Take a look at this video 'Managing Opportunities in Excel' to see what I mean by the so much more. This is SmartConnect solving an every day problem - but is a long way from traditional integration.

Back at it

I have been quiet for a while on the blog - but this was for very good reason in that I was taking the holiday of a lifetime.

With 11 of my good friends we rode 400cc Suzuki DR dirt bikes over 1500km's from Cairns to Cape York. If you do not know where those locations are here is the Google Map view What that google link shows is that there are no available directions for those two locations which indicates the type of terrain we encountered.




For 8 days we had NO email access and No phone access. Life was so good in the olden days!! Amazingly all of us survived with absolutely no withdrawal symptoms. Next time you take a holiday make sure there is no way you can be contacted - it is liberating.

There is nothing like riding a powerful machine down a single lane track at 80km/hr with trees slapping the side of your helmet, then have a Kangaroo bounce across your path and then the track turn instantly to foot deep sand - to keep you mentally focused. For 6-7 hours a day we focused our minds 100% on riding hard and survival. There was no time to think about anything else. No time to think about work or family or any other thought. Riding that bike required 100% concentration like I have never given any task before. Strangely it turns out there is nothing more relaxing for mind and body than putting that much effort into a single task. I ended each day being totally physically and mentally exhausted.

A few beers and a camp fire dinner later there was nothing better than curling up for the deepest of sleeps directly under the stars - only to be woken by the birds and morning rays through gum trees. We then did it all again for 8 days straight. Gone are my dreams on a resort holiday by a pool. There is something amazingly calming about clearing the brain to focus on something completely out of the ordinary.

Despite many a lay down, collision with a tree, missed corner and cartwheel over the handlebars we all arrived at our destination without major injury. So here is the challenge - on your next break - truly take a break. Take a holiday where everything is different. No Email. No Phone. Even no Family. No Work. Learn Something. Focus on Something. Get better at Something. Risk you Life. As long as you make it home you will never regret it.

SC v IM Comparison

My last post talked about the speed difference between SmartConnect and Integration Manager - take a look at the results for yourself here.

Watch SC v IM Video

Time to Upgrade to SmartConnect

It's time we cut the chase - the time has come to throw away Integration Manager and move up to SmartConnect.

'Extraordinary user experiences should be the goal of every interaction you deliver to your users at any level.' (www.Uxmag.com). The five key principles we, at eOne, follow to improve your customers experience is to: Make it Faster, Remove Stuff, Do My Thinking For Me, Delight the End User, and First Impressions Matter. The time has come to move your customers across from Microsoft Dynamics GP Integration Manager to eOne's SmartConnect.

If you leave your customers with software solutions that fall short in any of these 5areas then you are doing them a disservice and over time they will go elsewhere and switch software. If you have clients that still use Microsoft Dynamics GP Integration Manager then apply these five tests to determine if you are offering them the best solution: (see the full discussion in this list here: http://uxmag.com/design/five-low-hanging-ux-tips)

1. Speed: The worst thing about Integration Manager is that it is too slow. The best thing about SmartConnect is that it is so fast.
2. Remove Stuff: While SmartConnect has a mass of functionality, 90% of things are driven from the single main mapping screen. The end user should know nothing about SmartConnect other than they hit a button and the data ends up in the right place in Dynamics GP.
3. Do My Thinking For Me: SmartConnect's auto email templates, after hours schedule, real-time triggers, and change data sources do the hard work for you. In fact, once configured, no user should ever touch SmartConnect at all - all the integrations just happen when they should.
4. Delight the End User: This is easy as with SmartConnect the users get to spend more time at home, rather than waiting for integrations to complete. Show me an accountant that does not smile when they can do fully validated data entry into Excel.
5. First Impressions Matter: End users of SmartConnect get a configured solution that works. You should never have to explain away the fact that Integration Manager really just types all the data in the front end in a big macro. End users should never be confronted with or bothered with the technical layers underneath.

I know it costs money to change software and we want to make that easy as well. From September 1st we are running the Integration Manager trade-in promotion. This means if your customer already owns Integration Manager they are able to take advantage of the following:

1. $1000 off the price. This means fully functioning SmartConnect for just $3,500 + maintenance.
2. Free attendance at 2 hours of online IM trade-in Training. (Run twice per month)
3. Access to our out of the box Excel General Ledger Journal Entry for Dynamics GP.
4. Option to buy SmartView for just $1,000. (If you have not seen SmartView, then check this out: (http://www.eonesolutions.com/download.aspx?filename=SmartView_3_minute.wmv)

To make things easy for our partners to keep your customers happy, you are able to take advantage of:
1. Template email you can use for email campaigns.
2. One Scheduled demo dedicated just to your customers.
3. Access to eOne's demo servers with everything configured and ready to go.
4. Ability to use eOne's implementation team to assist with the roll outs.

Take a look at this document linkFAQ document which will help answer any questions you may have and those questions of your customers. We look forward to helping you delight your customers and keep them loving Microsoft Dynamics GP for a long time to come.

Update on IFD and CRM Online

With the release of CRM 2011 Microsoft built the IFD components (Internet Facing Deployment) using .net4 components which in itself is great. What is tough for the GP developers is that GP is still firmly rooted in .net 3.5 - and you can not call the CRM 2011 IFD components from within a .net 3.5 environment.

What this has meant is that we either need to write a middle ware solution that we can talk to from within GP that will in turn talk to the CRM components OR we had to move our interface outside of Dynamics GP completely.

We had investigated both options and determined the best solution was to move entirely to a non GP/non Dex based interface for SmartConnect. Now this is not a big leap as we had released a distinct external SmartConnect interface earlier this year. We are very excited about this development as it provides more flexibility in regards to look and feel and removes our reliance on the GP development path. For our customers and partners there is no loss in functionality at all, and the experience will be the same as you have now. You will be able to launch SmartConnect from the GP menus (which will effectively launch and external application). Everything you can do now, you will be able to do in the new release.

So while we were originally frustrated by the way this played out, we are now full of energy about what the new solution will look like. We plan to have a release available to cater for CRM 2011 IFD and Online in the next 3 weeks (limited release to those in immediate need). We will then follow this up with a general release containing a much sexier look and feel given our partners and customers a better experience.

If you are using IFD and considering an upgrade I ask you to hold on for 3 weeks, and for everyone else hold on for a bigger and better SmartConnect. I would like to say that at eOne we remain 100% committed to supporting integration with and between all deployment types of CRM, GP and SalesForce.com

Reason's to Upgrade from Integration Manger

I have a whole bunch of reasons I will share in the next few weeks but lets start with a really simple one.

Challenge: Import 10,000 customer records into GP.

Results:
SmartConnect: 1 minute 30 seconds
Integration Manager: 4 hours 40 minutes


Those numbers just look crazy so we simplified the test and tried again.

Challenge: Import 100 customer records into GP.

Results:
SmartConnect: 2 seconds
Integration Manager: 2 minutes 51 seconds

SmartConnect WINS!

Our Customers stopped spending

When the share market goes down 5% in the morning, and then goes back up 5% in the afternoon - what does that mean? Firstly it means high blood pressure for all those needing to draw on their 401K anytime soon!

What it means for the world of software is that companies stop spending. Customers cancel consulting engagements, buying decisions are put on indefinite hold and work becomes significantly more difficult to find. All 'nice to have' projects stop. I was reading recently an interview with the CIO of Qantas, David Hall, who was discussing hte impact of the GFC and ongoing uncertainty : "Our main effort would be around simplification and automation of the business. Historically large enterprises have big, complex legacy systems. We're spending probably the lowest we've spent in a long time in Qantas. Yet we've got projects happening in all parts of our business to transform, (improve) speed, efficiency, greater customer analytics, and improving the customer experience has been very critical to us."

So if the largest of business is spending less than ever then let me guess this is exactly the same with mid market business. If the largest companies are focused on simplification and automation - then let me guess this is the biggest challenge for mid market companies. At no point does David suggest they have stopped spending, but he is being much more careful about the projects he spends his money on. He is very careful to ensure that what he spends money on will not have large ongoing maintenance costs.

So as software providers to the mid market - our job is pretty simple. Deliver high quality software and services, that automate and simplify business process while reducing ongoing cost of ownership. This means that there are no longer any free rides and cushy consulting jobs. There is no place for burying a consultant on a fixed assets project for 6 months - those project do not exist in more. Mid Market customers want you to get in, make things better and get out, leaving then with autonomy and reduced costs.

So is squeezing everyone into cloud computing the answer? I believe yes and no. When a business says keep it simple they mean that - but do not mean make me the same as every other company. Software must support the companies unique business model. It is a companies uniqueness that makes them profitable. Many of today's cloud apps are very simplistic and do not go any where near providing the breadth of functionality required in the mid market. The cloud pricing model is very attractive and the simplicity of the software reduces implementation costs - which also fits inside tight budgets.

The wonder of CRM and GP is the flexibility. It fits different businesses and can be configured, constructed, squeezed, customised, added to etc until it gives a perfect fit. This is what companies need. Can this be delivered in the cloud? Yes - it has to be and it will be. Is it delivered in the cloud right now - I do not think so and certainly not in regards to ERP - and it is going to take time. GP is working hard on the web client and we are hearing very positive noises from inside Fargo as to their success.

In the mean time - do not dream of asking your clients to spend money on 'silly' projects. Only offer them project that have a clear ROI, and clear improvements for their business. Software resellers need to get clever and clearly demonstrate how their solutions will make or save money for the mid market. No customer will integrate their CRM or Salesforce.com with GP because it seems like the thing to do. They will do it because you show how it makes their business more efficient and they can do more with less.

SmartConnect Consultant

eOne needs a new SmartConnect guru to join our consulting team. You do not have to be a SmartConnect guru yet, but you have to be able to become one very quickly.

If you think you have what it takes to become an 'eOne guy' then I really want to hear form you. (eOne gal's are equally welcome).

The role we have is for a gun consultant to join our services and delivery team. The things we would like you to have in order of importance:
1. An eOne attitude
2. Passion for working with customers
3. Solid understanding of GP or CRM and how the data hangs together
4. Ability to be a Gun Trainer
5. Knowlegde of SmartConnect
6. Technical/Dev skills in SQL
7. Integration experience
8. A love of entering timesheets!

We would prefer the candidate to be based out of Fargo, but this is not essential for the right person. There would be travel involved as much of our work is best done on site and face to face with our clients.

The benefits:
1. Competitive Salary
2. Fun and vibrant team to work with
3. No need to wear a suit and tie
4. Wide range of tasks including scoping, training, development, configuration and documentation.
5. Opportunity to be creative and push new products through our extensive channel.

If this sounds like you then please send me a message so we can talk. martin.olsen@eonesolutions.com.au.

NetSuite V GP

I had not seen this before today but had a good laugh when I did. NetSuite V GP video

Firstly I thought is was funny because having spent plenty of time in North Dakota I swear I met that guy! The second thing that is funny is that to carry off an add like this you need some serious credibility which I do not yet believe NetSuite has attained.

Omitted from the add is anything factual about Netsuite? Any company that takes to marketing on perceived negatives of their competitor is losing the battle. It is just like politics, do you complain about the opposition or do you actually have plans and policies that are better and worth talking about. Being in the cloud can be important but only if you receive the same powerful functionality with which to run your business. There is no point in having a cloud based solution that provides inferior function. A well implemented ERP is used to manage a business day in and day out. There is no upside to leaping onto a cloud if it will not support the weight of your business.

The idea of access to your business system form anywhere, mobility of data entry and data retrieval and the integration between systems is very important - but not something that makes 'NetSuite' or any other cloud solution better.

1. I use GP across two locations in the USA and 3 distinct location in Australia. It works great. Microsoft are building a Web based interface which we will adopt in 2012 which will be nice - but having a web interface will certainly not change my world. In fact even with a web interface I suspect more often than not I will continue to terminal serve into my GP application.

2. I get access to my data primarily via Excel now which is real time. I have a series of email alerts that contain my reports all of which I can read and access on my mobile device.

3. I push data into my GP system from two CRM's sales Logix and Microsoft CRM. My website integrates directly with GP many times each day and royalty reports form Microsoft are imported directly into GP. There is no easier system with which to integrate.

GP has way more customers and way more experience. GP has an awesome partner channel and well established customers. GP has significantly more functionality, is totally customisable (with eXtender)and is the best integration platform. GP will soon have a web based user interface for those few companies that see this as important (I don't). Go can be hosted offsite to reduce in house maintenance and yet give you all the scale required without limitations.

If I was picking a system on which to run my business it would be GP every time. In fact I did pick a system and use GP everyday and it works brilliantly. In fact I would choose a straight up, straight talking, friendly North Dakota local over a smart talking, remote, floating in the cloud schmoozer with nothing positive to say -Any day.

I Hate Posting

Have you ever heard the question 'why do we have to post everything, it takes so long'?

SmartPost for GP 10 was released today together with an updated SmartPost for GP2010. We were a little delayed on this release as we took the time to include support for the AA module which impacts just about every posting routine.

You are now able to configure SmartPost to post transactions containing AA codes and have the correct AA posting reports delivered. There a few tricks to configuring SP for use with AA so be sure to read the setup information in the manual very carefully.

So if you wish GP would work without the posting step - get on board with SmartPost which will do all your posting for you.

SmartView Wins 1.5million deal

I will flesh this story out a little further in coming weeks - but I loved the story highlights I heard today.

In a very large, highly competitive GP bid SmartView become the differentiator that pushed GP into a winning position. This partner is self taught on SmartView and took the time to configure SmartView as the central component of their demonstration. How did they do it?

The sale was based around the ability to make correct project based financial decisions throughout the life of complex building projects. Combining SmartList Builder and Smartview meant that all the data required on a project by Project basis was displayed within SmartView. SmartView become the starting point for all decision making navigation. Using the SV Goto's the users were able to start within GP and drill to the specific information required.

The comments from the prospect were 'GP seems to have everything we need in one place, and gives users all the information they need in real time. The fact that the data enquiry tool is also the system navigation tool make it all so simple'.

GP really is the best ERP in the market.

SmartPost on the Shelf

SmartPost for GP 2010 is now available.

Have you ever wondered why after you import you still have to post batches? Well not any longer. SmartPost will automate that posting process to ensure you do not lock up GP during peak processing time, and that you batches are posted after-hours when you want them posted.

SmartPost fits perfectly with SmartConnect and completes the integration process. A transaction is not really an accounting transaction until it is posted within GP, so importing is only half of the process. SmartConnect lets you bring in all your transactions, and now SmartPost can be configured to run on its own schedule to post all those records. For example - set SmartConnect to bring in all your web invoices at 8pm, and then smartPost kicks off at 10pm to post them all. This means that no users are interrupted and when you arrive in the office next morning all your transactions are posted and reporting is up to date.

You do not need SmartConnect or an integration tool to benefit from SmartPost. If you are simply tired of managing the complex batches in GP - then SmartPost can be the answer. Set SmartPost to pick up batches by name or partial name, post them and email the reports to the designated people. Posting is one task you can cross off your daily to do list.

Read more here

SmartView - Gets Simpler

A new release of SmartView 2010 and 10 was posted on our website today. This is a release based entirely upon our customer feedback, and fixes a number of little issues that had been identified.

The biggest change in this build is the removal of the cache list functions, and SmartView now treats all lists as large lists. I still believe cache lists were a great idea, but they did create large amount of confusion for end users. With a cached lists the filters applied only apply to the initial list returned to screen, rather than re querying the database after the filter was applied. The outcome of this was that the list would filter and refresh rocket fast, but the downside was used got confused as to what they were looking at and could not match up the data they were seeing from Smartlist (which was requerying the database) with what they saw in SmartView.

The upshot is that SmartView is still fast, and up to 30 times faster than SmartList. In this build you can also export 100,000 records to excel in just 5-10 seconds. SmartView also now works a little more like SmartList, so that end users will easily be able to verify the data they are seeing in SV matches what they were familiar with in SmartList.

July 4th

On Monday, July 4th, the Fargo team members will be celebrating the US Independence Day holiday with family and friends. Chris Dew plans to get his “grill on” and I may be found hanging on for dear life while attempting to wake board. Please wish us luck (we’re going to need it!) and join us in celebrating one of our favorite summer holidays.

Also, please keep in mind that due to the festivities, our office will be closed on Monday. If you have an immediate support need, please email support@eonesolutions.com.

Inflation for SmartView

The introductory price of SmartView is coming to an end. We have done our best to hold the price as low as possible for as long as possible but a price jump was inevitable. We simply could not continue to pack all that value into a $1,500 product.

Abbey has fought hard on behalf of all our partners and customers to keep the price down, and so we have limited this to just a small increase. Form August the 1st SmartView will be available for $1,850 rather than $1,500. This gives everyone a full 41 days to take advantage of the current bargain price. There has never been a better time to go back to your customers with a tool and price that will make you look really good.

If you want help with marketing material or online demonstrations we will bend over backwards to assist.

SmartConnect and CRM 2011 online

SmartConnect 2011 was a great build with heaps of new functioanlity we have discussed before.

This release supported connectors for Microsoft Dynamics 2011 on premise but was not designed to support 2011 CRM online and IFD (Internet Facing Deployment). There were a number of changes Microsoft made in regards to these deployments types that SmartConnet needed to accomodate. It appears our communication around this limitation should have been clearer for our partners and customers and I apologise for that.

Our Development team are working on our 2011 connector for CRM 2011 online and IFD currently and we anticipate having this release available in 3-4 weeks from now. Again I apologize if this has caused any issue or delays your upgrade, but we will be resolving this issue shortly.

Export to Excel like a rocket

SmartView export to Excel is geting faster and Faster. Tests on the new build show 50,000 fully formated records to Excel in about 30 seconds. That is game changing.

The Demo

GP is an average tool that needs all sorts of addons to make it work? Do you believe it? This statement can be true to a prospect if you demonstrate Dynamics GP poorly. This statement can be true to a prospect if you let a regular consultant do a GP demo.

Dynamics GP is a term that covers a huge amount of functionality. For an implementer GP is made up of General ledger, Business Portal, SRS, Business Analyzer, eCommerce, Extender, Excel Report builder, Audit Trails, SOP, POP, SmartConnect, MFP, Dashboards, AM, BE and on and on and on. As implementers and developers of GP we divide it up into all of these categories, modules and components of a manageable size.

When it comes to sales it has to be different. Prospects and end users need not be exposed to our internal jargon about GP. Dynamics GP is Dynamics GP - and contains all of the above components. In presales we should speak of the power of GP and show how awesome GP is. We should never use any of the jargon we use when communicating with our experienced implementers. In presales our job is to show all of the required components of GP in one seamless and streamlined flow.

Here are some presales questions and how they should be answered"
Q. How do I add additional fields in GP?
A. What sort of data would you need? Look how easy it is with GP.

Q. Can see my data live in Excel?
A. absolutely, look at this report and if I add a new record in GP like this, there it is in Excel immediately.

I think you get the point. I would never use the word eXtender or Excel Report Builder. This is what GP does and it is awesome is the message we need to get across. Just because in our heads we break it all up into bit size pieces does not mean we should baffle the prospect with our wealth of knowledge.

Sometimes I get the feeling that beacuase we all know GP so well and have seen it develop and expand over 10 or 15 years - we speak about it in terms of components and modules. If we were to start out today to learn how to demo GP for the first time - having never seen GP before - we would accept that all the moving parts that make up GP really are GP. Do not let your deep knowledge of GP confuse our prospects and customers. Our job is to take all this great functionality, package it into a solutions and amaze our prospects with how sexy this thing called GP is. If we do not represent the true power of GP, our competitors will present inferior products in way that make them appear more streamlined and connected than Dynamis GP.

Do not let it happen.

Final Scoreline 43 to 6

NewsFlash
Solutions to Go of Canada reported the following to me today.

In Smartlist:
Sales Transactions – All customers beginning with 'ALL' – I’m getting 7929 records, in 43 seconds.

In Smartview:
Setting up the same Sales report as a large list in SmartView I’m getting 7929 lines in 4 seconds.

Build your own node

Node Builder is available for download for those partners and customers that have been patiently waiting on backorders.

This is an exciting first release of a product that really takes one more step in making Dyanamics GP the most powerful, flexible and integrateable mid market ERP solution available. Bar None.

SmartList

Imagine waking up one morning to find that there was no SmartList. That’s right - every instance of Microsoft Dynamics GP SmartList across the world had been removed overnight. I would like to propose that the North American mid-market business world would suffer a meltdown much larger than the GFC.

SmartList is one of those parts of Dynamics GP that is taken for granted and mostly ignored, until it stops working, and then all hell can break loose. Working with a wide range of GP clients across the globe I have discovered that most users of GP would use SmartList every day. Many of these would use it in excess of 20 times per day. Most companies have 50+ favourites with many having hundreds and hundreds of specialised lists.

If SmartList did not work then the business would stop. Users would not know what to do. Smartlist has become such a fundamental part of daily business activity users could never imagine a world without SmartList.

It is amazing how simple things make the biggest impact. Google, for instance, provides one of the simplest web pages available on the entire internet and yet it is also the most used page on the internet. It is simple and yet most of us cannot live or work without it.

SmartList is the Google of Microsoft Dynamics GP. SmartList is simple. The user interface is simple and uncomplicated. Everyone uses it. People trust SmartList and know how to make it work.

SmartView is the new SmartList. Knowing how much our customers are reliant upon SmartList I decided to personally take all the initial support calls relating to SmartView (a bit odd for the owner of a company to promote himself to the support desk). I did this for two reasons - firstly I quite enjoy providing support and secondly so I could monitor the impact SmartView was having on our customers.

What I have found has even surprised me. Companies have hundreds of SmartList Favourites. GP Customers have hundreds of SmartList Builder SmartList. These Companies are truly 100% reliant on SmartList and SmartList Builder. When something goes wrong with one of their lists it is a major catastrophe. Dynamics GP is SmartList. SmartList like Google is simple, it works and everyone knows it.

So the challenge for SmartView is immense. How do you make Google better? How do you make SmartList better? I am completely confident that we have managed to take the best thing about GP and make it even better.

We have kept all the great things about SmartList and then added in features that customers have been wanting - without making it harder to use:

1. We kept SmartView really simple
2. The user interface is clean and easy to navigate
3. All the lists from SmartList are available in SmartView
4. All your SmartList Builder lists are available in SmartView
5. All your SmartList favorites are available in SmartView
6. SmartView is much, much faster
7. SmartView has optional functionality that you only use if you need it. (Grouping/Subtotalling)
8. SmartView has unlimited filters
9. You can cut and paste records from SmartView to Excel.

If you have not seen SmartView yet I recommend you get on board and take a look at the online videos and learn why people that absolutely LOVE SmartList are falling in LOVE again with SmartView.

Technology creates unemployment

"Today there is a renewed concern that technological advancement may displace much of the software programming (and other) work force, creating widespread unemployment, social disruption, and human hardship"

I have slightly modified a quote I read referring to the early introduction of manufacturing robots in the 1980's. This is an attitude that still prevails. I recently demonstrated SmartConnect and Node Builder to a small group of software developers and the overwhelming reaction was and I quote "That is what we do already - why would we need those tools". Now I can imagine someone saying that exact same thing when the first weaving machine was created during the industrial revolution. I can imagine a horse saying it when they first saw a car. I can imagine it being said by the typing pool when the first word processor was created. The world seems to have progressed through all of those events without global unemployment catastrophe.

I worked in a third world country many years ago and was helping run the accounting team of an aid agency. I asked an accountant why he had not yet finished the bank reconciliation and he answered "if I finished it today - what would I do tomorrow?"

There is no point creating jobs for jobs sake? There is no point spending 7 days writing an econnect integration when you could do the entire process with SmartConnect in 1 day. There is no upside to writing a custom HR node from scratch that takes 3 days when you can achieve the same in 1 hr with Node Builder.

The only thing the above proves is that we all think in a self centred way. So do I. Not that long ago I played on a mediocre sporting team and was not a great player - but one of the best on that side. We did OK but did not win all that often. We had an opportunity to recruit a really good player for our team. I actively dissuaded the addition to our team. Why? Because I new it would mean less game time for me? I knew I would not be the goto guy anymore? The new star would show me up. Funnily when we did recruit the new player - the team did better, we all slotted into new positions and the change worked out really well.

But - was my decision to not attract a new player good for the team? NO. Is a developers decision to not use smartconnect as it might make them less 'needed' a correct one? NO. Should a developer be able to decide that it is better to lump a company with a pile of custom code rather than use a configurable solution? NO.

Developers should be doing way more exciting things than writing 'xml' code. Developers should be doing way more exciting things writing custom stored procedures. Don't let your staff spend time weaving by hand - when a machine can do it and your staff can do much more value adding activity.

"It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory” (Edward Deming) has long been a mantra we have had at eOne. I encourage you to questions the status quo, and make positive change for all the right reasons.