Discrete but powerful dashboard in MS Dynamics Nav.

 Discrete but powerful dashboard in MS Dynamics Nav.

3rd Tier ERP software, often offer a main screen with essential KPIs, that have been conspicuously and frustratingly absent from larger products, such as Microsoft Dynamics NAV. This apparent paradox is explained by the versatility and flexibility of the later that make the universality and relevance of simple  ’one size fit all’ KPIs less probable. To be on par, these products would have to offer configurable KPIs.

Although this has not been prominently marketed by Microsoft, this capability exists since the release 2013 of NAV, building on its trademark dimension feature and the new, dashboard like, role centers.

At the junction of these two techniques is a role center part called “Finance Performance”, which allow putting KPIs on the users’ main screen such as these:

Due to their graphic representation, these charts would rapidly occupy the whole estate available  on the role centre, leaving no space to other type of parts, such as the well touted  ‘Activities’ Part (that allows monitoring the number of documents by status),  the notification area…

An elegant solution has been adopted, with a capability to cycle through from one chart to the next within a single part, via the ‘Previous Chart’ and ‘Next Chart’ buttons.

How to do it

To produce charts such as the above, the following steps are needed

• Create an account schedule: In this schedule, the lines would contain either different accounts or the same account(s) filtered by the different values of one particular dimension, set in the related ‘Dimension totaling’ parameter.

•  Create a column layout setup:In this layout, each column would be filtered by the different values of one particular dimension, set in the related ‘Dimension totalling’ parameter. Alternatively, it would represent a different period, described in the Comparison Period Formula (typically FY[1] to FY[12]).          

•   Go to Customize > Customize This Page and add the part called ‘Finance Performance’ into the Role Centre Layout.

• Back to the role centre, find the new,  empty part and click on its “Select Chart” button,.                                Add a Name in the “Account Schedule Chart List” that has opened, and click on the “Edit Button.

• Complete the Account Schedules Chart Setup, as per the following guidelines.

a.       Select the Account Schedule name and Column Layout Name representing the two criteria to be cross analysed

b.      Select which of them will be used for the X-axis of the graph

c.       Define the type of representation desirable on the Y axis

d.      In case all the values defined in the account schedule and column layout do not appear, click on the edit button to select the remainders

Dear readers if you have any queries / suggestions regarding configuration of dashboard charts please feel free to coordinate with us at info@ibizcs.com or visit us at www.ibizcs.com.

Author : Dr. Frederic Dillenseger 

Difference Between MS CRM and Relationship Management of MS Dynamics Navision

A smart comparison between MS CRM and Relationship module of MS Dynamics Navision.

S. NO.	Functionality	MS CRM	Relationship Module in Navision
1	Lead to Cash Visibility: Track interactions, communications, offers, and orders throughout the sales cycle so you can drive sales excellence with every interaction.	Available	Offer and Sales Excellence through interactions are not available.
2	Data Access: Make sure the right people have easy access to your valuable sales data with role-based forms, personal views, and field-level security.	Available	Available
3	Streamlined Goal Management: Instantly define and track sales quotas at individual, team, territory, and organization levels with intuitive goal management capabilities.	Available	Tracking of sales quota is based on sales person only
4	Real-Time Forecasts: Keep your pulse on sales performance and improve financial planning with real-time sales forecasts and pipeline reports.	Available	Sales forecast /Pipeline reports are not available with much details
5	Mobile Productivity: Continue to work the deal, engage with customers, and manage your sales pipeline with offline support and robust mobile device solutions	Available	Lack of mobile Integration on CRM
6	Pinpoint Segmentation: Identify high-probability prospects and instantly create targeted marketing lists with powerful segmentation tools and conditional formatting rules.	Available	Available
7	Quick Campaigns: Enable your sales and marketing staff to rapidly create impromptu campaigns by using pre-built campaign templates and the guided Quick Campaign feature	Available	Templates Campaigns are not available
8	Native Outlook Experience: Improve efficiency by centrally managing email messages, appointments, tasks, contacts, and customer information right from within Microsoft Outlook	Available	Few functions are not in sync. E.g Task from Outlook are not getting converted to TODOs. Email from outlook not get converted to Interactions etc.
9	Simplified Communications: Simplify your communications with built-in mail-merge capability, email templates, and one-click conversion of email messages.	Available	Available
10	Campaign Life Cycle Management: Define and track campaign budgets, tasks, activities, and collateral with holistic campaign management capabilities.	Available	Limited functionalities in Campaign management.
11	Intelligent Lead Management: Seamlessly track lead details across the organization, zero in on high probability leads, and instantly route them to the most appropriate resource	Available	Available
12	Holistic Response Tracking: Drive closed-loop campaign execution by easily tracking responses and converting email responses to leads or opportunities with just a click.	Available	Manual update is required at Lead and opportunity
13	Insightful Connections: Uncover new leads, identify influencers, and better understand social trends with the Connections feature and the Social Connector.	Available	Limited connection with Social Media at Contact/Customer Level
14	Seamless Event Management: Improve the effectiveness of marketing events and easily track attendee data with built-in event management capabilities.	Available	To be managed through campaigns
15	Full Interaction History: Track the details of every interaction, including offers ,orders, contracts, and cases, so you can provide the right service at the right time	Available	Available
16	Streamlined Case Management: Take advantage of intuitive case management capabilities to streamline case creation, tracking, resolution, and escalation.	Available	Not Available
17	Service Scheduling: Manage field service appointments, facilities, and resources with the powerful unified service scheduling feature.	Available	Not Available
19	Insightful Service Analytics: Deepen insight with out-of-the box or configurable dashboards, drill-down analysis, and inline data visualization capabilities.	Available	Available
20	Service Queue Management: Build queues against any entity, user, or team and streamline work state management for improved efficiency.	Available	Not Available
21	Service Record Auditing: Improve visibility into service and support activities and effectively meet service level agreements (SLAs) with system-wide auditing.	Available	Not Available
22	Guided Service Processes: Streamline case resolution and escalations with guided dialogs, automated processes, and conditional formatting rules.	Available	Not Available
23	Service Goal Management: Instantly track service goals, such as first call resolution, average call time, and more with comprehensive goal management capabilities.	Available	Not Available
24	Knowledge Management: Up-level your customer service skills by creating, retrieving, and sharing knowledge through a shared knowledge repository.	Available	Not Available

Both the systems are unique in its place after referring above given comparison, people can easily say MS Dynamics Nav. Relationship module is not as powerful as MS CRM when we talk in context of Customer Relationship Management. At our development centre in IBIZ Consultancy Services Pte Ltd in Singapore , we developed the connectors and Plug ins which enables data flow both sides nicely and empowers the system . For more information on MS CRM / MS Dynamics Nav and their integration , please write to us at info@ibizcs.com OR visit us at www.ibizcs.com.

Author : Mukesh Mittal (Business Advisor)

Reviewed by : Gunalan Kalairajan (Consulting Head)

Disclaimer: All the articles published at ibiz.blogspot.com are the intellectual property of Ibiz Consultancy Services Pte. Ltd. 

Increase your sales by knowing your product position in Market!!!

Increase your sales by knowing your product position in Market!!!

For any company, Customers and stakeholders are talking about you somewhere on Facebook,Twitter, or blogs. How do you learn about it? Well, you can get powerful social insights by connecting Microsoft Dynamics Navision Online to Microsoft Social Listening.

Microsoft Social Listening collects data from social media websites and presents it to you in easy-to-consume charts and graphs that you can use to spot emerging trends in people’s comments it may be regarding product feature enhancements or may be services related to products whether they’re positive, negative, or neutral. 

You can drill down into the data and see who is mentioning you, where they posted the comment, and exactly what they said. Armed with these insights, you can pinpoint what you’re doing right, and address potential issues before bigger problems arise. This is an excellent feature for OEM to enhance the product value in market

Configuration of Social Listening into MS Dynamics Nav. 2015 is very easy and user friendly …to know more about such features coordinate with our consultants at info@ibizcs.com or visit us at www.ibizcs.com

Author: Mukesh Mittal (Business Advisor)

Reviewed By: Gunalan Kalairajan (Consulting Head)

10 Tips to Get Started with Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 R2

Repost: 10 Tips to Get Started with Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 R2 - IBIZ Consulting Services

Microsoft License Price Realignment Scheduled in July 2014

Microsoft has announced that it is going to realign Dynamics AX, NAV and GP user price across versions and licensing models effective 1st July 2014. Grab the golden chance to acquire additional user licenses before the price increase! 

Read the complete post at ow.ly/vQ28V 

Microsoft Services unaffected by OpenSSL "Heartbleed" vulnerability - Microsoft Security Blog - TechNet Blogs

Repost: Microsoft Services unaffected by OpenSSL "Heartbleed" vulnerability - Microsoft Security Blog - TechNet Blogs

New Options for CRM Online License

Since the launch of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online in year 2008, Microsoft has offered a single seat at a single price point. While this is simple and straightforward, many customers have requested to have more flexible options like ones for on-premise licenses.

In conjunction with the major release of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013, Microsoft will introduce 3 types of CRM Online licenses and offer customers the freedom of choice to mix and match license types needed based on functional roles.

The 3 license options for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online are:

Professional - For core CRM users who need full capabilities of CRM such as sales force automation, marketing management and customer care.

Basic - For sales, marketing and service users who need to manage and access accounts, contacts, leads, cases, custom applications and reporting capabilities.

Essential - For light-weight users who need to access custom built applications.

With these 3 options, customers are truly given the power of choice to mix and match licenses, so they are not forced to fit every user into the same license, thus, saving costs in the long run. Another piece of good news is that all 3 licenses allow users to access mobile CRM application at no additional cost. Users are given the freedom to access CRM applications on tablets, smartphones, laptops or desktops.

Pre-Qualified Packaged Solutions Supportable under iSPRINT Funding in Singapore

We are pleased to announce that we have obtained pre-qualified status for packaged ERP and CRM solutions supportable under IDA Singapore's iSPRINT grant starting from 1st July 2013. Three packaged solutions are supported under the scheme, namely "Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 for PSO", "Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 for Distributor", and "Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011".

Leveraging on years of experiences in solution implementation and business consultation, we bundle ERP and CRM solutions based on highly-adopted best practices that are best suited for SMEs. The packaged solutions cover basic required licenses, implementation services with some extent of customization, training services, and one year support maintenance services.

Under pre-qualified scheme, customers do not have to wait for official approval to start the projects. Project can start as soon as one day after project confirmation. The turnaround time for grant application is significantly shortened to days from months.

To know more information, kindly visit our page for pre-qualified packaged solutions.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online 2013 New Flexible Subscription Options

Microsoft plans to offer the following competitively priced license options for our next release of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online:

• Professional: For the core CRM users, who need the full capabilities of Microsoft Dynamics CRM including sales force automation as well as marketing and customer care.  We believe most users will find this license best fits their needs.
• Basic: For sales, service and marketing users who need to manage accounts, contacts, leads, cases and access custom applications as well as for business analysts who require reporting capabilities.
• Essential: For light-weight users who need to access custom applications developed in house or by our vast network of partners.

Sneak Preview for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 is expected to be released in the fall of 2013. The new version is designed to redefine business engagement with a people-centric approach. 

• Outcome-driven user interface based on industry-leading best practices, helping sales teams to easily move from lead to closure. 

• Flexible business process configuration that allows users to change business processes such as sales, service, etc.

• New mobile client applications on tablets will be made available. .

• Capabilities for collaboration and sharing customer knowledge through Yammer within the CRM solution.

To know read more about the highlights in CRM 2013, visit our website.

Drink-IT ERP Solution for Your Beverage Manufacturing Company

IBIZCS is a local partner and implementer of Drink-IT^® Beverage add-on solution in South-East Asia and North-South Asia. The add-on solution is specifically designed to manage business processes of beverage manufacturing companies. The solution is rich in functions and features that cover the entire Finance & Distribution operations, Production & Quality management and Contracts management. 

To know more about this beverage solution, kindly watch the videos below.

Sales Processes  


Production and Quality



To request for a demo, please contact us to arrange one.

10 Reasons Why Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 Is Perfect Choice for Your Small to Midsize Business

Whether you are outgrowing your current accounting or ERP system, struggling with an outdated legacy system, or simply tired of maintaining and switching between multiple business applications, now is the time to deploy the right integrated business tools for your business. Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 is designed in a way that is fast to set up, easy to learn, and simple to use. The innovative business application provides an integrated platform and all the functionality that you need for your business.

Here are top ten reasons why you should choose Microsoft Dynamics NAV for your small to midsize business:

1. More Than Just ERP
Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 goes beyond what a simple stand-alone ERP or accounting software can do. It’s embedded with business intelligence, collaboration, and communication tools that you need in business.

2. One Integrated Platform
Microsoft Dynamics NAV comes with financial management, supply chain management, customer relationship management, basic human resource management and various vertical add-on modules.

3. Unique Role-Tailored Center
Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 Role-Tailored Center provides dashboards, visual cues, information and tasks relevant specific job functions. Users can configure themselves without getting help from technical expert.

4. Open Architecture
Open architecture environment gives you flexibility and control in configuring and customizing your application to meet changing business requirements.

5. Familiar Interface
Riding on user familiarity and experiences with Microsoft Office applications, users can pick up the system in shorter time.

6. Cloud Enabled
Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 enables you to perform business processes and transactions on the go. You can access it over the web, through a SharePoint portal, or on your mobile devices.

7. Flexible Deployment Model
You can choose the deployment model that suits your business, whether on-premise, on-cloud, or hybrid. You have the flexibility to adjust as your needs change.

8. Faster Deployment
Time is money. RapidStart implementation tools makes the solution fast to deploy. The system can be up and running quickly with less interruption to your business.

9. Continuity Ensured
Microsoft has a clear roadmap for Microsoft Dynamics NAV product for the next 7 years. With Microsoft’s annual billion-dollar investment in R&D, you can be rest assured that your investment in this product is well safeguarded.

10. Quick ROI
With shorter deployment cycle, faster user adaption, and higher productivity, you will realize quicker ROI than ever. 

Click here to download the fact sheet.

3 Ways Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 Helps You Get Started Fast

M.A.D. Shoes / Pink Beauty Cosmetics - IBIZCS Customer Testimonial Video

M.A.D. Shoes and Pink Beauty Cosmetics are leading fashion retailer and wholeseller for shoes and cosmetic products. The company outgrew the previous legacy accounting and POS system which became unstable when number of transactions increased. IBIZCS was engaged to replace the legacy system with an integrated ERP and POS system that is scalable for future expansion. See how IBIZCS, a leading Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, helped the company to save costs and delivered people-oriented services.

Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 Makes Your Life Easier

Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 is a flagship release, building on a strong product foundation to deliver enhanced functionality and business values to users. Among all the new things in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013, user productivity is one of the key focuses. These important features include:

Full-Fledged Role-Centered Interface

No longer will you see an old-fashion and boring workplace interface. In Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013, the role-tailored client presents information related to your work in graphical form coupled with visual cues which give you real-time information and updates. Good thing is that it can be configured according to your role and requirements.

Figure 1: Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 - Role Center for Senior Management

Figure 2: Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 - Role Center for Executive

Copy from Excel and Paste in Dynamics NAV

No one can ever deny that it is pretty simple to copy and paste from any application to Excel. However, the reverse may not be true. With Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013, you can now copy and paste rows from Excel to Dynamics NAV application! No joke! This handy feature makes your life easier.

Figure 3: Paste rows from Excel to Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013

Action Pane Changed to Ribbon

In all its effort to unify and simplify user experience, Microsoft created Ribbons that are similar to Ribbons seen in Microsoft Office applications. These ribbons provide easy access to functions.

Figure 4: Ribbons seen in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013

Stay tune for many more newly added features in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013!

Second Chance Properties Ltd - IBIZCS Customer Testimonial Video

Second Chance Properties Ltd is a public company listed on SGX Mainboard. The company is involved in 3 core businesses i.e. retailing of apparels, retailing of gold jewellery and property investment. Compliance to timely financial reporting is an imperative regulatory requirement. See how IBIZCS, a leading Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, has helped Second Chance Properties to achieve this with the adoption of Microsoft Dynamics NAV.

Focus Network Agencies - IBIZCS Customer Testimonial Video

Focus Network Agencies (FNA), better known for its premier chocolate boutiques The Cocoa Trees, is a leading chocolates retailer and distributor in the region. See how IBIZCS and FNA worked in the spirit of partnership and how the company has benefited from Microsoft Dynamics NAV solution.
 

RTC - Personalize Your Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013

The Role Tailored Client (RTC) is a feature designed to allow individual users to configure and personalize their Dynamics NAV user interface. RTC is available at the current version and will be further enhanced in the new release. This feature offers great flexibility and helps users focus on their tasks by tailoring their application experience to the needs of their respective roles. In layman terms, it means allowing users to “only see what they want to see”.

RTC allows users to personalize Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 easily without IT support. Every users have their unique "work desks" with information and displays catered to meet their job requirements. Reports used daily can be accessed directly from the role centre without having to navigate to a specific part of the program. It also increases financial transparency with integrated systems, shared data, and drill down capabilities that increases visibility into your transactions and audit trials.

Within RTC is the business visualization feature which essentially is a great tool to represent business data in a graphical way which is visually more appetizing and intuitive to the users, so users can easily find key information, spot mistakes quickly and take prompt and informed action. Its unique charting and visualization capabilities gives users a more choices of chart type, faster way to drill down into details from a diagram, fostering better analysis and control. These improved charting capabilities and other productivity enhancements basically mean faster and greater ease when managing data.

Another exciting and efficient feature from NAV 2013 is the "Rapid Start" function. It provides a way of getting the product up and running extremely quick by using out-of-the-box configuration. So that you can work faster and your business can grow faster!

Equipped with these wonderful tools, you are now ready to manage your business more effectively. The next post tells you how NAV 2013 can give you greater control over your business process to increase you margins and grow your business!

RTC feature in action

Extending Reach of Microsoft Dynamic NAV 2013 through SharePoint

One of the new features in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 is the integration with Microsoft SharePoint application that fits seamlessly. This allows users to display Microsoft Dynamics NAV pages and information on SharePoint sites from which users can view, edit, and manage their Microsoft Dynamics NAV data conveniently in one place.

Microsoft SharePoint is well known for its enterprise content management capability. In the recent releases, its capabilities have been significantly broadened. It serves as a collaboration platform as well as a tool that facilitates portals, document management, social networks, business intelligence, etc. Ultimately, SharePoint is designed for non-technical business users without technical know-how to leverage familiar interface and web functions, making it easier for people to work together.Integrating with enterprise application software such as ERP and CRM, SharePoint allows users to view and edit data only through a web browser. SharePoint incorporates a complete development stack based on web technologies and APIs for process integration and workflow automation. 

Through SharePoint, business users will be able to share data and information stored in the NAV system, such as pages and reports, with both internal and external business associates. This will help improve communication and collaboration among multiple parties. Changes made on pages at SharePoint site will also be instantly updated in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013. This feature greatly benefits occasional users and light users who only do specific data entry job into Dynamics NAV system. Through the interface with SharePoint client, companies will gain greater flexibility in data entry and sharing.

The marrying of familiarity, lower cost,integration and inclusion is the perfect business solution combination, which only Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 can bring to you. Microsoft Dynamics continues to deliver solutions with alternative deployment options that are applicable to your business now yet is flexible enough to adapt to your business in the long run as it changes.

What is more exciting is that Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 works with SharePoint Foundation which is available for download at no cost! Do not have it yet? Download it here.

Equipped with such a powerful tool, Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 is probably the best enterprise application that you can ever dream of owning.

Don’t you always wish you could personalize your own 'work space' in anyway way you like? Do not miss our next post on the Role tailored client (RTC) in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013! We will share more with you about this state-of-the-art feature. Read on!


Have a question? Contact us at www.ibizcs.com