MS Dynamics Axapta for Merchandise Management

Successful Merchandise Management is possible only through a tried and tested ERP Solution and MS Dynamics Axapta proves to be just that. One of the best ever Microsoft Business Solutions, AX helps manage various facets of Merchandise Management with effortlessness.

Some of these have been given below:

a). Catalog Management

1. MS Axapta enables creation and categorization of product catalogs, which can further be shared between channels
2. It further ensures that products can be enriched with descriptions, specifications, relationships, videos and rich text documents
3. It facilitates defining and management of mail-order catalogs including products associated with a particular catalog, pricing, call scripts and the ability to link a catalog with multiple targeted mailing lists
4. The ERP offers features that enable the end user to gain insights into promotional response rates by creating specific key codes or source codes, which can eventually be linked to the sale in order entry
5. There is workspace in the catalogue management module which helps get easy access to catalog dashboards and metrics, including a summary of active catalogs and catalog lifecycle tracking

b). Merchandising

1. Companies can work on Microsoft Dynamics Axapta to centrally manage their assortments which include creations, tracking and n-level deep item hierarchies. Flexible promotions enable them to optimize for profitability supporting options such as lick coupons and mix-n-match

c). Loyalty

1. MS Axapta offers capabilities that help configure and manage multiple loyalty programs including tiers, tier rules, dates, discounts, points accruals and redemptions etc. across multiple channels

d). Centralized Store Management

1. One of the finest ever Microsoft Business Solutions, AX offers functionalities for Centralized Store Management that include visual and functional profiles, user interface layouts, employee permissions etc.
2. Data replication on the ERP ensures critical updates across the organization including inventory and financial updates, sales order payments, gifts card usage and other updates to loyalty programs
3. Stores get to maintain entire staff related data at both regional as well as global levels. Besides, AX also enriches retail scenarios such as pricing, promotions, assortments and catalog

e). Store Operations

1. Companies or store owners/promoters get to optimize their store operations, track inventory real time, keep a healthy check on accounts receivable and maintain happy customers who keep returning because of loyalty
2. They also get to save precious time by maintaining labor records, track layaways, back orders, sales orders, quotes and much more
3. The channel operations workspace in the ERP helps track shift status for a store, manage point of sale permissions and have access to all related pages
4. The ERP offers workspace that enhances efficacy and productivity, allowing store associates to centrally manage tasks and actions

All of these mentioned above can be done on the Dynamics AX as far as Merchandise Management is concerned.

MS Dynamics AX for Balanced Scorecard

It may sound weird, but it is a fact that an ERP at times is also needed to identify an organization’s visions and strategies so that they can actually be translated into measurable objectives. Microsoft has included in MS Dynamics Axapta a separate section to address this issue and has named it as Balanced Scorecard. Balanced Scorecard in the Microsoft Axapta ERP Solution is on the Navigation Pane and provides functionalities that help organizations chalk out their vision and strategy which can practically be translated into measurable objectives.

Any company can contact its nearest Microsoft Dynamics Partner to inquire further about the scope of this module.

The module offers tools that help manage:

1. Perspectives. Yes, these are very important with respect to the growth of the organization and it is imperative that these be gotten right. The 4 primary perspectives are Learning & Growth, Finance, Customers and Internal Business Processes. MS Dynamics Axapta helps harness their power and channel it such that the organization benefits from it in every way possible

2. Scorecards. These help provide the framework within which all the components that ought to be used to implement the strategy and measure its progress towards realization get assembled

3. Objectives. This part in the Balanced Scorecard section of Microsoft Axapta ERP enables the end user to express key tasks, goals and achievements required in order to realize the strategy outlined in a scorecard. Objectives can be thought of in a way to translate a high-level strategy into low-level measurable goals

4. Measurements. Through this, progress can be measured real-time as far as objectives are concerned in a scorecard. They help specify and monitor crucial strategic contributors

5. Elements. These are a vital part of measurements and as it happens, help extract from the system values that measurements contribute toward their concerned objectives. These help monitor and extract date from specific fields and also help combine in a measurement formula that helps calculate the measurements’ current value

Australian and Fijian Companies can contact their nearest Microsoft Dynamics Partner in order to know more about Balanced Scorecard and how it can help them do better in business and achieve desirable business objectives.

Microsoft CRM Is An Intelligent Solution

Microsoft CRM is an intelligent customer relationship management solution. That is the reason it has grown in stature as the most widely preferred Small Business CRM. Reason being, Microsoft has over the years modified it so well that it has grown from the simple customer relationship management solution it was introduced as to a fully-fledged software suite that offers a plethora of features to serve an entire list of customers, address their grievances and send them home happy after having delivered good service.

Its recent avatars, especially Microsoft CRM 2016 includes the Sales Analytics Power BI pack introduced categorically for Sales Managers to help them analyze Sales Performances, Pipelines and all Activities from Lead to Sale. The Power BI Service Manager pack also allows managers to analyze cases and team activities. It includes detailed metrics as far as handling time and service-level agreements are concerned.

 

Some of the other platform enhancements that have been included in the most popular and widely sought Small Business CRM include:

1. Azure Service Bus Integration Enhancements
2. Portal Framework to Support the Integration of ADX Studio Portals
3. Server-Side Synchronization

All of these actually make the software ‘intelligent’ helping end users work on it with far greater convenience. Besides, Microsoft has also added custom fields to it to ensure both account and contact records can be looked up to in custom fields.

Just for the record, it is important that organizations everywhere are aware of these features so that the same can be discussed during a Microsoft Dynamics Implementation.

By articulating all these clearly during a Microsoft Dynamics Implementation, you will ensure that the final product which is ready for use is one which is ‘intelligent’ in the real sense.

Microsoft CRM Application: Then And Now

The Microsoft CRM Application is not the same solution it was years back. There have been glaring changes. The CRM System for Small Business is a different entity today and some of the new additions that have been made to it have been written about below.

To begin with, companies would have seen these in many a Microsoft Dynamics CRM Demo shown repeatedly.

1. The solution with all its avatars in recent years now features New CRM Apps for Windows Phone, Android and iPhone. These help access crucial customer information from one’s phone itself. Also, these apps can be downloaded from Windows Marketplace, Apple Store or Google Play and can be checked with one’s CRM Admin for further instructions.

 

What do these CRM Apps help achieve?

a) These help view CRM Data optimized for mobile screens fast
b) They help add and modify contacts, tasks and notes and other crucial sales data
c) The apps help view activity feeds and help see addresses on Bing Maps, though this one is exclusively for Windows Phones
d) They help get back to recently viewed records even while not being connected. This feature is again exclusive for Windows Phones
e) There is no additional license fee involved

2. The Microsoft CRM Application over the years has seen many business process solutions being introduced. These have helped organizations follow best practices for common scenarios. They can be used as-is or be edited as per need. The most popular CRM System for Small Business owners also along the way introduced the Power Query Connector which helps streamline connections to CRM Online. All that needs to be done is select the ‘From Dynamics CRM Online Connector’ in the Power Query and a URL Feed be entered after that, which results in the Query connecting and retrieving the list of tables and entities from the CRM. Your nearest Dynamics Partner can be requested for a Microsoft Dynamics CRM Demo which will make it clearer as to how this happens.

The Dynamics CRM has and continues to be one of the finest solutions for customer relationship management. These new features written about in all 3 pieces speak volumes about its brilliance and are testimony to the fact that Microsoft delivered to the world years back a winner which would eventually change the very face of customer relationship management. The best part is, the best is yet to come!

NAV 2016 for BI, Setup & Publish KPI Web Services

MS Dynamics NAV 2016 for Business Intelligence continues with Part 3 after MS Dynamics NAV for Business Intelligence - Part 2 had details on how to create and set up account schedules. Part 3 will be about how KPI Web Services can be Set Up and Published based on these Account Schedules.

In the Account Schedule KPI Web Service Setup of the enterprise resource planning system, you set how the account-schedule KPI Data will display and which specific account schedules will the KPIs be based on. The moment you choose Publish Web Service, the specified account-schedule KPI Data gets added to the list of published web services in Web Services.

In case you happen to use an old version of the NAV, get a Microsoft Dynamics NAV Upgrade done immediately as the BI Module only works on version 2016. You will miss out on this otherwise.

Now follow the steps given below to Setup and Publish a KPI Web Service based on Account Schedules on MS Dynamics NAV.

1. Search -> Account Schedule KPI Web Service Setup -> choose related link

2. General FastTab -> fill in fields such as Forecasted Values Start, G/L Budget Name, Period, View By and Web Service Name. In Forecasted

Values Start, you specify when forecasted values will be shown on the account-schedule KPI graphic. In G/L Budget Name, you specify the name of the general ledger budget that provides forecasted values to the account-schedule KPI web service. In Period, you specify the period that the account-schedule KPI web service is based on. In View By, you specify the time interval in which the account-schedule KPI is shown. In Web Service Name, you specify the name of the account-schedule KPI web service

1. Now proceed to specify one or more account schedules that you want published as a KPI Web Service according to the setup made in the previous table

2. Go to Account Schedules FastTab and then to Account Schedule Name & Account Schedule Description. In Account Schedule Name, specify account schedule the KPI web service is based on and in Account Schedule Description, specify description of account schedule the KPI web service is based on

3. Repeat Step 3 for all those account schedules you wish to base the account-schedule KPI web service on

4. In case you wish to view or edit the selected account schedule, go to Account Schedule FastTab -> choose Edit Account Schedule

5. To view the account-schedule KPI Data that has been setup, go to Navigate -> General -> choose Account Schedule KPI Web Service

6. To publish the account-schedule KPI Web Service, go to Home -> Process -> choose Publish Web Service. The web service gets added to the list of published web services in Web Services window

The steps mentioned above illustrate how a KPI Web Service based on Account Schedules can be setup and published on the premier enterprise resource planning system. To reiterate what was mentioned above, in case you happen to use an old version of NAV get a Microsoft Dynamics NAV Upgrade done fast.

Microsoft Axapta ERP

Microsoft Axapta ERP: Why It Counts Among Best ERP Ever

The reason why the Dynamics Axapta by Microsoft is assured of a place in the league of the Best ERP solutions ever is because of what it offers to businesses and how it has helped them over the years achieve what at one point in time was close to unachievable.

Designed especially for enterprise segment companies, Microsoft Axapta ERP offers diverse functionalities that help accomplish a variety of tasks ranging from streamlining processes to synchronizing communication across departments, automating mundane tasks to providing access to important information whenever the need arises.

Of all Microsoft Business Solutions Axapta holds special place because of its exclusivity and also the fact that it is best suited for companies from all industries and verticals.

For Manufacturing, Axapta offers the following capabilities:-

1. Master Planning: Businesses get to streamline their entire production process. All the data coming in from Trade, Logistics, Projects, Work Centers etc. helps cut down on costs related to inventory

2. Product Builder: This helps companies order, plan and produce customized products better. It also helps configure complex products over the internet

3. Production: Businesses get to increase production efficiency with real-time insights into the entire process. They get to handle better material flow, plan and execute routes, manage operations and make detailed schedules

Microsoft Business Solutions succeed because they offer to customers what customers ask of them. The Microsoft Axapta ERP offers the same in Project Management and Project Accounting.

1. Companies get to view a summary of the Project Budget created. They also get to compare it against funding and correct whatever they want to before submitting
2. They get to create and manage projects in the enterprise portal to enable remote access
3. They also get to make time sheet entries more effectively with advanced time entry capabilities
4. They get to allocate and post revenue based on internal sales prices, applicable for workers, categories and dimensions
5. They get to improve the management of complex portfolios of projects and next level optimization of resource schedules

The good thing about all Microsoft Business Solutions Axapta in particular is that they are always made with an eye kept on Sales & Marketing.

1. Marketing Automation – This feature helps out in campaign planning, execution and analysis
2. Sales Force Automation – This helps Sales & Marketing people undertake any kind of activity targeted at customers, prospects, suppliers and other business contacts
3. Sales Management – Sales & Marketing teams get to work better with their teams. They get to display sales data graphically

These and more make Axapta truly great. It indeed is one of the finest solutions in enterprise resource planning.

Implement MS Axapta and MS Dynamics Navision On Cloud

Cloud Computing seems to be an interesting term. Equally is, when you host something on cloud.
Hosting MS Axapta and MS Dynamics Navision on cloud ensures companies get to make full use of their business software and reduce the burden that otherwise would have been unavoidable.

By hosting MS Dynamics on cloud, companies get to:

• Cut down on operational costs and other capital expenditure related to software, hardware and implementation.
• Pay for what they use, accelerate time-to-market and also cut down on data center facility costs.
• Adjust to changing resource demands quickly and cut down on unused capacity.
• Maximize resources for greater efficacy and provision and de-provision resources dynamically.
• Benefit from shared hardware and increase peak-load capacity.
• Provide access from anywhere using any PC or mobile device.
• Centralize management and reduce energy use and physical footprint.
• Adapt to growing business needs, scale up and down to meet ever changing demands.
• Acclimatize to ever changing workforce and choose from hybrid cloud solutions. 

MS Axapta and MS Dynamics Navision are the backbone of MS Dynamics and hosting these on cloud will bring to you the benefits mentioned above.

Hosting on Azure ensures Dynamics ERP gets easily integrated with other applications as well. This makes reporting and other functions run smoothly. It also makes it easy to perform and implement updates. In case the need arises to host other applications as well, Azure is more than capable of doing the same.

Companies across Australia can get in touch with their nearest Microsoft Dynamics Partner for further enquiries.