Ariba is pleased to offer you a complimentary Aberdeen AP invoice performance benchmark report and scorecard, as well as Aberdeen research reports. You’ll not only see how you’re performing against your competitors, but you’ll gain invaluable insights on how to improve your AP invoice performance.
Answer a few questions, and receive your report and scorecard, comparing your AP invoice performance against hundreds of others.
Get Yours Now
From Procurer to Influencer. Learn More from CFO Research
Ariba.com are running a free webinar next Thursday 17th May to discuss new research just out on the rewards that can be realised by establishing stronger collaboration between the finance and procurement departments.
Here's an excerpt from their email about the webinar:
"Procurement, once viewed by finance as a tactical arm of an organization – expected to just deliver goods on time and at a low price, is evolving into a strategic influencer. And more organizations are seeing just how big a competitive advantage strategic procurement can provide."
These were just two of the key findings from this research. If you're interested in learning more, please join this webinar on the 17th of May. Don't forget to set a reminder in NZ time.
You can also read a copy of the associated report which discusses findings from the CFO Research Services survey. The survey, which focused on procurement, had 263 respondents, senior finance executives in North America, Europe, and Asia. All were employed at companies with annual revenues of $100 million or more from a variety of market segments.
You can find a copy of their report here: Reaching New Heights; The Dividends of Collaboration between Finance and Procurement (PDF, 665kb).
Microsoft Dynamics GP has the functionality to allow users to create macros to do repetitive tasks. This is a feature not often used by users as macros can seem a bit “scary”.
Macros can be tricky to get right, but once set up can make some of the many mouse clicks to do certain tasks disappear. What’s more, once you have recorded a macro, you can distribute it to your team so everyone can benefit.
One of our clients uses macros (and has done so for very many years and versions of GP) to automate their print processes in the dispatch area. They have set up various macros to print one or more of a single or multiple documents with the push of one button. Each macro is assigned a shortcut key and each keyboard in dispatch has a label against the shortcut key.
To show you how easy this can be to set up, I have recorded a short video demonstrating the steps. This will be the first of many videos that we will be publishing to show you little tips and tricks that we hope you will find useful.
You can find the first one here:
Have fun playing with this one – practise on this macro, because the next step is to combine the macro recording with an Excel file of data and use a Word Mail Merge to be able to do some mass updates that would otherwise be done by us or by a user manually updating each record.
Sound complicated? It isn't - so watch this space!
For many years, there has been a toolset available to enhance some of the features in Microsoft Dynamics GP. Some of the tools have been free of charge and others have had a price tag. Needless to say, the most useful ones were the ones that cost money.
Microsoft has just announced that as of 1 March 2012, the entire toolset is now free of charge. This is quite exciting as there are a number of little tools that are very useful. Often the need for them at a site was outweighed by the cost – but now you can use them at your pleasure without worrying about the price tag.
So without further ado, let us look at some of the tools that are available.
Modifying ID’s
One of the main reasons sites look at the use of the PSTL set is to re-code their General Ledger, Inventory Items, Customer ID’s and Supplier ID’s. There is no easy way to do this without the tools library. When you use the Modifier, not only is the Master card for e.g. the customer updated with the new ID, but all transaction history is also updated.
The same goes for updating the names in these areas. If the Customer card was set up incorrectly, the name can be changed using the library and it will change it on every existing transaction.
Combining ID’s
A very common occurrence is to find that two people have set up the same Customer, Supplier, GL Code or Inventory Item but one has been set up incorrectly. More often than not, it is found after transactions have been posted and it is too late to do anything about it. Now you can choose to combine the two codes into the correct one. This moves all historical information as well.
Unapplying Historical Cash Receipts
A number of sites have purchased the library in the past to be able to easily pull a cash receipt back from history and unapply it. While good accounting practise would say “get it right first time”, there are often times where you just want to unallocated and completely reconcile a customer account. I have seen many sites not use the “Paid Transaction Removal” to clean up the open records simply so they don’t have this issue. That isn’t a good way to operate the database, so now there is no excuse – you can keep the database clean and have the ability to pull things back from history if needed.
Get the library now
So, how do you get this fantastic library? You will need to contact the support desk to request to have the library installed. There is no cost for the library, however standard consultancy rates will apply for installation, setup and training. It should only take a couple of hours to get the library installed and some pointers on how to use it. It is a very user friendly tool and I am sure you will get to grips with the functionality very quickly.
For full details of what is available in the library, contact me via email and I'll send you the brochure.
For those of you that played this game in your youth, you will remember that the purpose of the game was to get a message from one end of a line to the other by whispering in the next person’s ear. Most times, the message would get either inadvertently or purposely mixed up.
Inadvertently, you are playing this game every day within your organisation. Think about it – what happens when a new finance person is starting. Who trains that new person? More often than not, it is the person who is leaving or someone else within the department. This is great for ensuring that company processes are passed on but not so great from a system use perspective.
In our experience, the skill level of users is very different from one to the next. Tied in with this is the fact that people work in different ways. Some like the mouse, some like the keyboard.
When learning a new system, a user tends to find out what they need to know right now and doesn’t necessarily stop to ask whether they are doing things in the most efficient manner. One of the worst scenarios of this that I have come across is the user who was taking nearly a day and a half to produce the monthly creditor payments. This was because they didn’t know that you could edit transaction within a batch. They thought if it wasn’t right, the whole batch needed to be deleted and started from scratch. Now obviously most of you won’t be in as extreme a situation as that, but often small gains in time by ensuring the best use of a system can end up adding up to be quite a significant saving.
Olympic has decided to go down a track of offering generic system training in small chunks of 2 – 4 hours for our client base. The purpose of these sessions is to ensure your users are making the best use of the system possible. To keep costs down, we are asking users to bring a laptop that they can connect into the training system. This means we can offer these courses at less than the cost of an hours consulting per user.
The first of these sessions will focus on the overall use of navigation and system-wide features including SmartList. We have tried to ensure that the content covers the basics plus some tips and tricks that not a lot of users know. The content should ensure that even your most experienced users would have something to gain from attending.
See you at a training course! View more information or register
here.
A survey will be going out to Olympic Clients in the near future asking for feedback on what training topics they would like to see offered. Some will be longer training courses e.g. Management Reporter and Excel PowerPivot. This is to ensure that we put our resources into areas that will most benefit our clients' businesses.
It’s the little things that make a difference…
21. OOO
Noooo… as I recently found out this is not the sound one makes as one suffers the agony of kidney stones. That sounds more like ARRRRRRRHHH! OOO, or more commonly known as “Out Of Office” is a nifty little piece that the Lync developers got right. Update your Out Of Office details in Outlook and they magically appear in Lync in your “What’s happening today” comment.
22. Frequent Contacts
Without contacts – Lync is useless. Lync keeps a track of those contacts you use the most, and even better, allows you to “Pin” your favourite contacts so they always stay visible. When you first start using Lync your Frequent contacts are pre-populated with your manager and direct reports. Over time this list changes to those that you’ve communicated with more than 4 times. This list holds up to 10 contacts unless you use the Pin feature. There’s no limit to the number you can Pin and ‘Pinned’ and ‘Unpinned’ contacts are separated by a line so you can easily identify who is what.
23. Contact Views
There's a host of different ways you can view your contacts, pre-defined views include by Group Name, By Status or by Relationship.
I find the “Group Name” the most useful as you can define your own groups and go straight to the group to start a conversation with the whole group with just a simple click. This is used by our receptionist to notify everyone who’s online of the impending fire alarm test.
24. Shortcut Keys
Like every Microsoft application there a stack of shortcuts you can use to do stuff in Lync. My favourite… Windows Logo + Q. This opens Lync – simple but really useful!
Here’re a couple of others almost as useful…
Windows Logo + A … accepts an incoming conversation request
Windows Logo + X … declines an incoming conversation request and sets your status to Do Not Disturb
For a complete list refer Microsoft Office Support Pages
25. Archiving
I don’t know how many times I’ve gone to my Conversation Archive folder to see how long I was talking with someone for or even what was said. This is a great feature especially for those that bill their time. A simple setting in Lync will tell the software to keep a record of any communications in your Exchange mailbox. You see this archive as a Conversation History folder in Outlook.
26. Add Voice
I find it difficult to grasp why my wife would rather sit on the couch and have a conversation with her mate via txt message on her mobile phone, than pick up the phone and ring her. What a novel concept that would be – to actually speak with someone. The same can be said with Lync… there’s generally a point in an IM conversation (and it’s often reached fairly quickly) where it’s easier to change the conversation to a voice call. Don’t get me wrong…. There still a place for IM and txt messages. Changing a conversation to a voice call in Lync is so simple… just click the Call button.
Of course you’ll need speakers and a microphone or a headset… which is exactly what we’ve given all of our staff. Mostly to facilitate private conversations and to avoid bugging people around you with conversations from speakers.
27. Add Video
The other little device we’ve given our staff is a web cam. Everyone, not just our laptop users, now has video capabilities. The majority of us are shy when it comes to seeing yourself on a screen, but the capability is there. I find it most useful when I talk with those that are not in the same office as me. It’s almost as good as being in the same room together and helps makes those is our remotes offices feel part of the organisation.
28. Drag and Drop into conversations
When you’re in a call with someone and need to get the opinion or advice from someone else… Simply find their name in your Lync contact list (or do a search for them in the main Lync window ), now drag them into your current conversation. Lync will handle the rest and when they answer they be added to you conversation. When you’ve finished they can hang up or you can kick ‘em out with a simple click.
29. Screen Sharing
Show the other people in you conversation what you’re talking about! This is fantastic for trouble shooting, providing feedback on changes to a doc, and collaboration in general. Mostly we use this for support. A user will call us with a problem, or perhaps wanting to know how to do something in Windows – we simply get them to share their screen and give us control. They can share their screen(s), an application that running, or even a PowerPoint slide deck.
30. Meet Now
This is the piece that allows you to hold an online meeting. It uses the Microsoft Live Meeting technology. You can of course schedule a meeting for a future time and send an appointment with a link to your meeting, or you can use the Meet Now button and create an instant ad-hoc online meeting for one or multiple people to attend. This is the
We use this technology to support our customers who do not have a Lync installation locally. They are able to use the Silverlight or the full install Lync Attendee client (which is free) to attend a meeting we’ve setup. We usually email them a URL to click which automatically starts or downloads the Lync Attendee, and connects them to the meeting. Once they’re connected they share their desktop and allow us to have control.
Those that have Lync installed inside their organisation or for those that are using Lync via Office 365 – we simply federate, and it’s exactly the same experience as if they are part of our staff.
It’s fabulous to finally see this functionality and ease of use finally starting to be available from Microsoft.
As mentioned in my post a couple of weeks ago about the inherent BI available in Dynamics GP thanks to Office, Dynamics GP and Office are undoubtedly “better together”. In my second post on this topic I’m going to give an example on how everyday tasks are made easier and faster (or, dare I cite that over-used phrase, “more efficient”) thanks to the duo.
This particular example refers mainly to the integration of Lync (part of the Office 365 package) and GP 2010. I recall fondly watching for the first time, as our partner manager Guy Orridge, walked some clients through a demo of the Instant Message/presence awareness integrations. It went something like this… Sally notices on her personalised Dynamics GP home-page, that returns of Product X are reporting higher than normal, she drills down to quickly find that these returns have been happening over quite a specific period and – you guessed it – all can be linked to one specific parts order from a particular vendor.
The great thing is Sally is now able to instantaneously query and solve this issue. From recognition that the problem comes from a particular vendor, she can instantly click down to vendor details, and see if her contact there, Theresa, is ‘available’ thanks to federation with them through Lync (see point 16 on this post for an explanation). Luckily for Sally, today’s problem is going to be solved super pronto, as her AM Theresa is in fact ‘available’ (as can be seen by the green ‘jelly-beans’ in this screenshot below).
So she instant messages her – ‘Hi Theresa we seem to have a problem with the goods in order XXXX, is now a good time to sort this out? To which Theresa replies “that’s no good, I’ll give you a call”. With one click, Theresa then elevates the IM message to a VoIP call, and they chat through what the problem seems to be, and organise some replacement goods free of charge, as compensation.
Great huh?? It’s also really super when I want to chat with one of the guys at Microsoft, who we are federated with – why email when I can chat?
Dynamics GP really is growing ‘better together’ with Office. Stay tuned for more such posts over the next couple of weeks.
So let me start my next post with one of my favourite and little known Lync gems.
11) The Windows Mobile client.
Now right about now you’ll probably be wondering what I’m on about or even thinking – hang on a mo – it’s not out yet! So let me explain.
I’m using an HTC HD2 with Windows Mobile 6.5 and the HTC Sense interface. I thought I’d try the Windows mobile client for Communicator R2 (the previous version of Lync) and what do you know – it connects to the Lync platform.
I can’t make phone calls through the client but I can still be in touch with people via instant message. (The Lync client for Windows mobile 7 is on its way and is due for release with the release of the ‘Mango’ update)
12) Integration
As you would expect – Outlook works really well with Lync. Your outlook contacts are a key component here. As you type a name in Lync’s search field, it’s not only those names listed in your enterprise but those listed in your contacts as well.
And SharePoint shows those juicy little jelly beans as well… and where ever there’s a jelly bean, there’s the ability to communicate..
13) The Lync API
Speaking of integration – the Lync API lets you integrate with anything you like… as an example, one of our smart little developers has taken this API and used it to show the status of the key members of our tech team in our Network Operations Center console. We have plans to integrate Lync into the support pages of our website..
14) Elevate a communication
How many times have you found yourself in an email conversation that you know is not going to end anytime soon? Stop the one line emails and get on to Lync – not only is it faster – but you can do something about breaking the cycle. Next time you realise you’re heading down the email conversation road – simply elevate the email to Lync chat.
15) Chat subject
And guess what… the email subject flows through to the IM subject – so even if you start am IM chat from an old email, the person is still going to know what the context of the conversation is.
16) and 17) Federation
I’m going take 2 items for this – because I can. Federation makes Lync valuable… really valuable!
Federation is the ability to communicate with other IM networks.
So my first point covers the ability to federate with the public IM networks such as MSN, Yahoo and AOL. Sure there is a cost to obtain the licences to do this, but at 50cents/user/month… you probably spend more on photocopy paper. I believe Google chat is also accessible via the implementation of a gateway.
And my second point is the ability to federate with other Lync installations. Think about this for a sec…
and this also includes Office 365 users, both Customers and Partners.
For some time now we’ve been able to see when our Microsoft Account Manager is available, it’s so easy to send them an IM and we get an immediate response. I can’t remember the last time I left him a voice mail – I don’t need to... I only contact him when I know he’s there.
18) Federation rules
Which brings me to the ability to define who, and how, you federate with these networks. Putting my security hat on for just a moment, I can say that there are ways to limit which networks you federate with, assuming you even decide to turn it on. You can allow, or deny, ALL and then define by exception. On top of that you can define policies that prevent the sending of URL’s or even attachments.
19) Privacy Settings
So now that you have federation in place anyone can see your status and contact details right? - Only if you want them to. When someone adds you to their contact list – you get a nice wee popup telling you that they’ve added you to their contacts, and you get the opportunity to add them to yours and define their visibility of your details. You choose what you want them to see.
20) Block!
I left this off the above list –I figured its worthy of its own point.
So as you’d expect – you can also block “those who are not worthy”… they can still see your name and address – but there’s no way they’ll get through to you.
If you somehow managed to miss my awesome 'Part 1' of this post - check it out here, otherwise stay tuned, I've got 31 reasons to go!!
Both consumers and the media are obsessed with social media. Popular social networking sites, such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, are experiencing unprecedented growth and inspiring marketers in new and exciting ways. Smart companies—large and small—realise that the opportunities presented by social media are too good to pass up. And why wouldn’t an organisation want to be involved! Facebook with 500 million active users, and with Fans spending an additional $71.84 annually on consumer goods than non-fans, Twitter with 106 million accounts and users sending 55 million tweets per day! 89% of organisations in the USA use social networks for recruiting (83% of companies using LinkedIn and 51% using Facebook).
It is obvious that social media doesn’t have to be all social LOL—it can be an extremely profitable marketing tool and a powerful mechanism for creating a BUZZ around your brand. BUT going social doesn't happen overnight, so don't expect it to. Of most importance is to define and plan your ‘engagement’ strategy across multiple departments. Simply ‘plugging’ social media into one function, commonly marketing, just doesn’t work. Like any organisational ‘culture’ change, to create real momentum and buzz internal adoption and engagement is key. Create this and an organisation is capable of building real communities which transcend the boundaries of the company. ‘Social’ then becomes a mind-set which is integrated in to every facet and touch point of the business.
Next week: 8 Ways to Succeed on Facebook
So I’ve been talked into speaking my mind. Typically I don’t have a problem with this. But in a somewhat public forum such as this – maybe I should watch what I say. But instead, let me say now… the views expressed below do not necessarily reflect the views of the organisation (Olympic Software NZ) and I make no apology for any unintentional offence that many occur as a result of reading these posts. Right, now to get opinionated!
So to start with I’d thought I do a series of posts about Lync - One of my all-time favourite Microsoft products. If you don’t know what Lync is consider the following:
Lync is a “play” on the spelling of Link. The Google dictionary definition of Link is:
- A relationship between two things or situations
- A social or professional connection between people or organizations
- Something that enables communication between people
- A means of contact by radio, telephone, or computer between two points
These epitomise what Lync is all about – and that’s probably what the marketing people were aiming for.
Think MSN Messenger, or Yahoo messenger – but for the business! I.e. all 100% encrypted, and without those pesky little adverts.
So here’s the start of my 51 things….
1) Jelly Beans!
Not just because they show people what your status currently is – but because I get to demo the product a lot, I get props. (No prizes for guessing what these could be)
is for - Hey I’m “available”, I’m at my desk just waiting to be interrupted assist in whatever way I can.
is for – I’m at my desk but a tad “Busy”, either in a meeting or looking busy
is for – I’m not at my desk – haven’t been here for 5 minutes or more. Probably off showing someone another cool Lync feature. But I’ll “Be Right back”
is for – Oh boy the pressure’s on, I need to focus. “Do Not Disturb”
is for – I’m “offline” – Gone for the day, Signed out.
2) Mug Shots
New to an organisation, don’t know what someone looks like, check out their photo published with their status.
3) Instant Alerts.
Need to get an answer from someone in another office, or on another floor but they’re never around when you want them.
“TAG” em and wait.
Next time they move their mouse or touch their keyboard you’ll be notified they’re back at their desk in a little toaster pop-up. One click and you’re getting the answer you need from them.
Which leads me to the next reason…
4) The time savings…
I don’t need to go looking for someone now. Just check Lync. If they’re Green, then the chances are fairly good they’re at their desk. If its yellow – I don’t go looking – I wait till they’re back and then I go eyeball em.
5) Instant Access from the system tray
Need to change your status – two clicks and you’re done!
6) People respect your status.
It’s amazing how behaviour changes because of a little coloured icon. Before we had Lync and I didn’t want to be disturbed I had to send an email to all staff or make a sign for the desk, too bad if they didn’t see the email, and by the time they show up at your desk – it’s too late they’ve already disturbed you.
7) It works from anywhere
Install the Lync client on your computer at home (yes you are allowed to do this), or take your company laptop home and as long as you’ve got a connection to the internet, you can be online.
8) Lync knows where you are – now this is clever!
I’ve got a company laptop. When I’m in the office it knows I’m in the Office. But when I take it home it knows I’m at home and updates my location to say Home, and because everyone can see this – they know not to come looking for me.
9) What’s happening today?
Want to keep people up to date with what you’re working on, or just want to post a though for the day… simply use the comment section (and your imagination)
10) Use your Exchange email groups to automatically add people to Lync
One of the many ways Lync integrates with your other software (there’ll be more on this later) is to allow you to use the email groups from your Exchange server, Simply add a group to Lync and watch as everyone magically appears. When your IT team update the list on the server as people join or leave the organisation the list is automatically updated. – Pure Magic!
