Great Plains Dexterity Dynamics eEnterprise Microsoft CRM Microsoft RMS Crystal Reports SQL .Net C# International Case Studies

Case Studies

SQL

Alba Spectrum Technologies

Specialty Food Wholesaler

Situation

Specialty Food Processor/Wholesaler was looking for industry specific solution: similar food components purchased from different suppliers in different containers, cases, etc. Further complication was - the same items from the same supplier may vary in weight and so in final production, measured in pounds. The necessity of strict control was a must, due to presence of retail subdivision, selling from the same inventory location.

Our approach

Due to uniqueness, business systems software market could not offer off-the-shelf solution. We suggested and implemented customization in several Great Plains modules:

- Sales Order Processing

- Inventory Control

- Purchasing

in order to create Variable Weight Items Inventory, Purchasing and Sales System

Technology:

- Great Plains Dexterity (Great Plains proprietary programming tool) customization;

- SQL Stored Procedures to provide instant historical orders info

Results

Business processes were automated by the Great Plains system:

- Accurate inventory of variable-weight components

- Accurate estimation of purchasing needs from suppliers, based on historical information

- Automation of retail sales with strict control

- Order taking over the internet

Industry: Distribution

Applications: Great Pains

Technologies: Dexterity, SQL

Nation-Wide Registered Nurse Placement Agency

Situation

As for many placement agencies there was the problem of integration of the Placement database, which is heavily customized business system, based on Client Relation Management (CRM) application with the back end accounting system. The dilemma was in either to create similar customization in Great Plains or introduce the interface between the two systems. As the result many pieces of data had to be manually reentered into accounting system. Each request from customers to verify hours and payment rate in accounting system and Placement database resulted in special project for IT group

Our approach

In order to preserve investments into Placement System (CRM) and Great Plains - Integrated Business System, consisting of Great Plains and CRM was recommended. Portions of business logic were transferred from CRM customization to Great Plains by addition of standard Project Accounting module.

Technology:

- Ongoing CRM-Great Plains integration via SQL Stored Procedures

- Sales Commission Crystal reporting, combining info from Great Plains Sales and Project modules as well as CRM database, based on distributed queries and SQL Views

- Automatic Data Transformation Packages, feeding and synchronizing data between systems

Results

- Efficient billing from Great Plains project accounting with robust projects control and reporting

- Automatic data feeding from Business specific Placement CRM system into accounting

- Cross system reporting

Industry: Placement

Applications: Great Plains: Project Accounting

Technologies: SQL Server: Stored Procs, Distributed Queries and Views, Data Transformation Packages, Crystal Reports

Business and Residential Tree Removal company

Situation

Business system had multiple loosely integrated parts. It was difficult to address the client order status request, because of the data distribution between multiple systems. Crew scheduling was in the paper form with following manual entry into accounting, resulting in frequent errors. Absence on the internet leaded to decreasing competing potential.

Our approach

With the business growth the need of web-enabled Client Relation Management system was identified. The decision was made on Microsoft CRM.

CRM Tuning

- Standard quotation forms were created with the check lists for onsite estimation

- Crew’s members assignment custom system was integrated with CRM

- All the necessary reports were enabled via internet for the crews and sales team

Technology:

- Microsoft CRM Form, Tables and Workflows modification via Built-in Customization tool and Deployment manager

- .NET C# web pages for entering data into MS SQL Server tables for crews assignment and tracking

- CRM configuration settings enabled seamless integration of crew assignment form with CRM Order

- Crystal Reports for custom invoice and work order forms

Results

- Order entry was enabled via internet to the customers

- Employees got self entry timesheets, which reduced cost of time cards paper work

- All the business processes, querying and reporting were transferred to one system, eliminating data duplication problems and enabling advanced analysis

Industry: Services

Applications: Microsoft CRM

Technologies: SQL Server: Stored Procs, Views, .Net, C#, HTML, XML, Web Publishing, MS CRM Customization Manager, MS CRM Deployment Manager, Crystal Reports

Soft Drinks Maker/Wholesaler

Situation

Business System had multiple loosely integrated subsystems, some of them had obsolete technology, discontinued by manufacturers and with no longer support available. Meanwhile company needed daily international sales reporting by multiple criteria. The choice should be made between expensive OLAP/Datawarehousing solutions, integrated with new Mid-Market accounting package and less expensive solution, deploying set of relatively flexible Crystal Reports, pulling information from Mid-Market accounting. Also the complexity of the transition year was the necessity to address existing legacy system data in reporting system

Our approach

In order to save money we suggested less expensive and easy to maintain Great Plains and Crystal Reporting solution, based on the distributed queries from legacy database with following year end switch to Great Plains

- Data conversion with Integration Manager and SQL custom queries from legacy accounting to Great Plains on Microsoft Windows 2000 server

- Light Manufacturing automation via Bill of Materials

- Crystal Reports for providing daily sales reporting needs

- Integration Manager for GL and Purchasing data import

Technology:

- SQL Distributed views and stored procs

- Crystal Report, based on distributed queries

- Light Dexterity triggers for Bill of assemblies

- Integration Manager, Frx

Results

- All company operation are now based on one system: Great Plains

- Sales reports do not require additional maintenance, maybe called by request and pull the information from standard Great Plains databases

- Customer requests are processed in real time through Great Plains inquiry screens

Industry: Distribution, Manufacturing

Applications: Great Plains

Technologies: SQL Server: Stored Procs, Views, Dexterity, Integration Manager, FRx

Mid-Size Tools Manufacturer

Situation

Client had IDE channel selling parts and finished products to its customers. This IDE channel had to come through mainframe in fixed-length text file format with order header and multiple lines. IDE export/import to Great Plains was a must

Our approach

We suggested IDE custom application, based on MS SQL Server Data Transformation package

- Data export from Great Plains Sales Order Processing module

- Data update, based on order status response from IDE mainframe channel

Technology:

- SQL formatted query to Sales Transaction tables

- Batch file, forwarding and renaming the export file

- SQL formatted query for update order status in Great Plains Sales

- Data Transformation Services

Results

- Bullet proof IDE interface with Great Plains was created

Industry: Manufacturing

Applications: Great Plains

Technologies: SQL Server: Stored Procs, DTS

Metal Recycler and Wholesaler

Situation

Client had industry specific requirements to provide bids to its customers with 5 decimals of $ price. Also vendor had requirements to provide Custom Order status report and several mandatory reports, with 5 decimals of $. In order to provide real-time quotes to the customer the query, showing historical quoted price and average current price for the product with immediate drill down to historical quotes was needed.

Our approach

In order to provide immediate drill down to historical docs and calculate average price/cost, plus provide required reporting we suggested

- Dexterity customization in Sales and Purchasing modules

- Aggregated SQL query to feed information into custom inquiry window

- Dexterity custom report with 5 decimals of $

Results

- All the operations were automated in Great Plains

- All the reporting requirements were met

Industry: Distribution

Applications: Great Plains

Technologies: Dexterity, SQL Server: Stored Procs, Crystal Reports

Industry Specific CRM Vendor with International Support

Situation

Client had turn key system installation plan and support for its customers. The system had the requirement to show the status of the part of the supported hardware and it’s history through multiple Great Plains modules: Sales, Purchasing, Inventory and Fixed Assets by it’s serial number. Also Clients had support and billing plans with installment payments options and considering high volume of customer checks – the AR group notification mechanism was required

Our approach

In order to provide immediate support for the hardware, installed as part of the turn key system and payment notifications

- Dexterity, VBA, SQL and Continuum customization was recommended, addressing several Great Plains modules: SOP, Inventory, Purchasing, Fixed Assets

- SQL queries to provide immediate reporting of customer outstanding invoices and payments history

- SQL and Dexterity triggers, deploying SQL mail to notify AR on customer payments

Results

- Client was able to switch all its legacy systems to Great Plains

- All real-time customer support calls were facilitated, resulting in increasing of customer service quality

Industry: Services

Applications: Great Plains

Technologies: Dexterity, VBA & Modifier, Continuum, ReportWriter, SQL Server: Stored Procs, Triggers, Mail, Crystal Reports

Payroll Funding Company for Placement Agencies

Situation

Company had several hundred clients – placement agencies and needed the system to bill them and make payroll transfer to their temps. Standard mid-size accounting application with payroll module can produce payroll checks and direct deposits. Management decision was to have individual database/company per client, which resulted in several hundred SQL databases. The addition of new clients required automatic setup in this case, plus consolidation of accounting records from these client databases into corporate accounting required sophisticated SQL integration.

Our approach

Our research confirmed supported management decision to have separate Great Plains company for each individual client and we suggested

- To have SQL Server Data Transformation Package for installing and setup new client

- SQL DTS package for consolidation of client’s companies transaction into Corporate GL

- Dexterity, Modifier with VBA standard Great Plains logic customizations to fit business logic

Results

- Unique business processes were automated within Great Plains

- Client’s IT team got single and reliable database platform (MS SQL Server) as the basis for multiple reporting needs

Industry: Placement

Applications: Great Plains

Technologies: Dexterity, VBA & Modifier, SQL Server: Stored Procs, Triggers

Bank

Situation

Mortgage business line had a need to running account queries on the fly, aggregating data by multiple accounts in Great Plains, like having summaries by all the account with

101-XXX-XXXX where X is wild card

Our approach

As this was a need for seamless integration with Great Plains General Ledger account open and historical inquiries screens, we suggested

- Dexterity customization for these windows

- SQL Stored procs for instant data summarization

Results

- Integration of Collection System with Great Plains

Industry: Finance

Applications: Great Plains

Technologies: Dexterity, SQL Stored procs

Union

Situation

Union needed monthly expenses approval report to be submitted to its trustees. Every expense, including payroll expenses for union employees, strike funds support payments, purchasing should be on this report, categorized by account’s segment and officer category. This should be realized for Great Plains system.

Our approach

We suggested deployment of SQL Stored procs and Crystal reports

- SQL Stored procs will unionize the data from Payroll, Purchasing and AP modules

- Crystal report will provide required format for the report

Results

- Monthly expenses are now generated automatically, instead of huge amount of paperwork with consequent entering into Excel

Industry: Non-profit

Applications: Great Plains

Technologies: SQL Stored Procs, Crystal Reports

Machinery Manufacturer

Situation

Due to some downsizing and major manufacturing procedures outsourcing management approached us for suggestions to simplify company full-featured manufacturing system. Current system required more people to enter manufacturing information, than the number of assembly workers. Company had Great Plains accounting and third party manufacturing.

Our approach

We suggested deployment of Great Plains Bill of Materials module as an alternative to current manufacturing system

- Data conversion from legacy manufacturing to GP Inventory via Integration Manager

- Manufacturing Bill of Materials conversion via SQL queries

Results

- 70% reduction of expenses for data entry

- Legacy manufacturing annual support fee elimination

- All the operation are now in one Great Plains system

Industry: Manufacturing

Applications: Great Plains

Technologies: Integration manager, SQL queries

Jewelry Stores

Situation

Client needed to switch from its legacy Fixed Assets management system to Great Plains fixed assets module. Prior to go live – they needed to try several depreciation scenarios to correct their legacy depreciation modules

Our approach

We suggested

- Import assets and assets-books records into GP Fixed Assets module

- Create SQL scripts and Great Plains macro to change depreciation methods and averaging/switchover conventions

Results

- Client found the best depreciation scenario for multiple depreciation books

- Fixed Assets Integration into Great Plains system

Industry: Retail

Applications: Great Plains

Technologies: SQL Queries

International Drugs Wholesaler

Situation

Company does its business in several countries, purchasing drugs in Western Europe for following certification and import into East European countries and Russia, where it had its subsidiaries to do wholesale to local drug stores. This was the business model of multicurrency and variety of customs rules, certifications, tax regulation and offshore tax optimization

Our approach

We suggested Great Plains with multicurrency module

- Several companies with GL transaction consolidation via SQL DTS into country specific tax book

- Great Plains Dexterity modification to provide additional functionality for customs clearance and drugs certification notes

Results

- Complicated business model was implemented within Great Plains system

Industry: International Trade

Applications: Great Plains

Technologies: SQL Stored Procs

Club with Retail Stores

Situation

Big company had the club, where its employees were honored for sponsored services and purchases. This club needed its Retail Management System integration with Great Plains Accounts Receivable module

Our role

We helped customer’s Great Plains var with the integration

- Transferring all the sales from RMS to Great Plains

- Uploading Employee bonuses as credits into RMS

Results

- Seamless RMS and Great Plains integration

Industry: Retail

Applications: Great Plains, RMS

Technologies: .SQL Stored Procs, Dexterity

This integration is available through Focal Solutions: www.focalsolutions.com