Pacific Business Tips

Archive for the ‘Management’ Category

SB1 accelerates in getting is ERP and MRP market share.  If you are in small business manufacturing, light assembly, picking and packing, transportation and logistics, shipping and receiving, collection management, inventory control, consignment, warehouse management business. International midsize business, you should include SAP B1 into your accounting application research list.  Plus SAP BO is open through SAP Business One SDK and Data Transformation Workbench to simple and complex integration and data conversion projects, including CSV Excel templates and ODBC data source (such as Microsoft SQL Server Views).  If you are facing technical challenge of SB1 implementation, modification, data massage, EDI, and if your current SAP Business One Reseller, consultant or Technology partner doesn’t fit to your increasing programming requirements, you should launch your search to locate new VAR.  In this small publication we would like to introduce Alba Spectrum and help you with SAP Business One Partner selection:

1.       ERP and MRP common features for small businesses.  It is not a big secret, that around the beginning of XXI-st century Microsoft, Oracle, SAP and other MRP vendors launched the program of converging ERP functionality into building blocks, that should be easily integrated (assuming that you are sticking to the same vendor) for all you subsidiaries, branches and legal companies

2.       Service Industry and SB1.  Here we have excellent fit, typically not available through other small and midsize ERP software vendors – SAP B1 covers service warranty contracts with serial number linking functionality, scheduling, alerts, timecards (for your technicians to go onsite and have expenses in the form of parts, travel, lodging).  If you are growing small service oriented business, and if you are having fields technicians – SAP B1 if must to consider in the ERP system switch from legacy to the future one

3.       Intuition – either Microsoft Office Outlook or SAP Business One intuitive interface.  If you compare SB1 with Microsoft Dynamics family of ERP applications: Dynamics GP, AX, SL, NAV, CRM, you will quickly realize that Microsoft is moving its ERP apps toward the integration with Microsoft Office, Excel, Powerpoint, Word, Sharepoint (Business Portal for Axapta, Great Plains).  SAP Business One has good potential in this direction as it has robust cooperation with Microsoft in MS Office integration (email, faxing, exporting to Word, Excel. etc).  In our opinion Microsoft future ERP intuition as well as SAP Business One intuitive interface are coming in synch and to the same MRP future development direction

When you start up a small business, one of the questions you need to address is what software is essential to my business?  As a small business consultant, I have seen many companies, owner managed businesses and sole traders start up and be faced with this question, invariably linked to very scarce capital resources. The main purpose is to get software that can quickly sort out complex data and unburden the computer with the help of a fast processor in a stable manner.

Although there are other software suites available, available in a number of versions, Microsoft Office provides the essential applications and is the most commonly used.  For business purposes, the options open to you are; Office Standard, Small Business, Professional or Ultimate.

Microsoft Office Standard 2007:

The entry level for Office, this version includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook.  These are the basic essentials of most businesses, a word processor (Word) a spreadsheet (Excel) a  presentation package (PowerPoint) and a combined email, calendar/ diary, address book function (Outlook).

Microsoft Office Small Business 2007:

The Small Business version includes all the above applications with the addition of Publisher 2007 while the Outlook version includes Business Contact Manager, which helps you to organise all your business contacts, rather like an rudimentary CRM system.  Publisher is a desktop publisher package, designed to help you create publications and marketing material.  In fact, this can really help you to save money.  You can create your own letterhead, business cards and compliment slips and print them off as required, rather than go to the expense buying several hundred from a commercial printer.

Microsoft Office Professional 2007:

This  version includes everything above and includes Access 2007.  This database is invaluable if you need to handle large volumes of data and want to make it relational, such as contact lists, orders and stock.  It includes templates of common applications and is reasonably easy to use.

Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007:

Probably a bit over the top for a start up, comprising as it does, all the above applications with OneNote 2007, Groove 2007 and InfoPath 2007 as well.  OneNote is an extremely flexible application that allows you to keep unstructured notes in a series of tabs.  For example, if you are researching product lines, you could keep screen shots, URLs, and competitive information, all in the same place.  When the business is larger and can justify a server, OneNote is an invaluable area to let your employees keep ideas and brainstorming thoughts.

Groove  is another application that is really designed for use by a number of people on a network.  It helps you to keep common files in one place and notifies those people who need to access them when there are any changes to those files.  InfoPath is an application that allows you to create forms used to gather data which can be used in conjunction with databases or online.  As the forms are based on XML, they have extensive applications in Ecommerce.

Of course, every business has different needs, so you will need to choose the version most applicable to your requirements.

Microsoft Dynamics GP ERP and MRP application is open platform for custom add-ons development, plus it has wide selection of Logistics, Transportation, Warehouse Management, Barcode Scanning (real time barcode scanners with wireless connection or barcodeing in batch mode), Consignment, Bill of Lading, Shipping industry Agent Settlement Report.  These scenarios are popular in Dynamics GP Great Plains implementation and modifications.  We would like to offer you Great Plains warehouse management integration highlights

1.       GP Logistics and WM.  Supply Chain Management automation in Great Plains might be too challenging to be formalize for your unique SCM operations requirements, however the first step is to check with Microsoft Business Solutions directly on which route they would recommend, just in case if your WM scenario is already automated.  If you feel that existing solutions do not do the job you should compile your GP customization requirement document, or simply describe your Warehouse Management business processes how you would like to see them implemented in Dynamics GP

2.       Consignments.  It typically gives you relieve to postpone the Inventory ownership until the item is physically sold (where you can book your commission).  Consignment typically has you to work through Accounting scenarios in your Inventory control, Sales Order Processing and especially General Ledger modules.   Normally you do not own consigned goods until the moment of sale, you may have different options of inventory consignments, please check with your vendors

3.       Agent Settlement Report in Great Plains Dynamics GP.  If you are working for IT department in Transportation and Logistics company, Agent Settlement report might be the priority to implement.  In Great Plains you typically base it on Customer Vendor Consolidation module ReportWriter reporting

4.       International Shipping and Receiving.  Here you have Bill of Lading, often associated with Sea and Ocean shipping.  GP can do the job for you, please consider modifying existing Sales Order Processing Invoice, Order or Quotation report.  In some cases BOL might be more complicated and you may decide to call our office directly