Systems Liberation: American Unit's Forum for Discussing the Evolution in Enterprise Technology

Physical Inventory for Microsoft Dynamics NAV

There are few things in the world that management and staff of an organization dread more than taking a physical inventory. While it is an expensive and time-consuming process, it remains absolutely necessary to achieve accurate balance sheet information, efficient use of sales resources and effective inventory management. Physical inventory is a particularly important process for most manufacturing and distribution businesses. It provides an opportunity to clean up inventory, identify discrepancies and make any adjustments to align what is on the books with what is in the warehouse.

As we developed our roadmap for creating add-on modules to address functionality gaps in Microsoft Dynamics NAV platform, improving the physical inventory process emerged as a key area for investment. While we can't remove all the pain associated with the physical inventory process, we have addressed several key areas that allow enterprises using NAV to shorten and simplify the process. American Unit's Physical Inventory for Microsoft Dynamics NAV assists organizations in increasing the accuracy of their inventory balances, system quantities and purchasing amounts, driving a minimization of inventory holding costs, identification and rectification of possible theft issues and a more accurate reflection of balance sheet asset values.

Having assisted a number of discrete manufacturing companies over the past several years with the Microsoft Dynamics NAV implementation, it became clear that an enhanced physical inventory capability could provide significant value. This led to the investment in developing an add-on module to augment NAV's existing inventory management functionality. American Unit's Physical Inventory module eases the creation of physical inventory cards and physical inventory tags for each location, control table and work center. It also makes it easier to assign tags to employees for the physical count of items. The objective in developing the module has been to ease data reconciliation, improve data auditing and simplify the posting of adjustments to physical inventory.

The Physical Inventory module is the fourth release in the American Unit manufacturing suite. More information can be found here.

Innovation in the Middle Market: An Outsourcing Option

One of the key challenges faced by almost every middle market enterprise is that of continuous innovation. Whether we refer to business model innovation, product and/or service innovation, marketing/selling innovation or any other process, the ability to achieve real innovation rests on an almost insurmountable need to invest human, financial and, sometimes, structural capital that middle market enterprises generally don't possess. But, there is a way.

The emerging process of "crowdsourcing" provides an avenue for creativity and innovation by tapping the power of the Internet and social media. According to Wikipedia, "crowdsourcing is a neologism for the act of taking tasks traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, and outsourcing them to a group of people or community, through an "open call" to a large group of people (a crowd) asking for contributions." The community that sprang up around the development of Linux is a benchmark example of the success of crowdsourcing. The process of crowdsourcing is viable for any number and genre of tasks that might benefit from a varied and populous creative resource. This includes developing new technologies, designing new products or analyzing huge amounts of data/information. Crowdsourcing can shorten time to market for new products, uncover ways to cut costs or improve service levels, and heighten market success for new products or enhancements.

The global economy remains challenging for businesses of all sizes, but particularly for those in the SMB market. The notion of leveraging Web 2.0 technologies to harness the potential of tens or hundreds of thousands of talented and knowledgeable individuals in a forum for mass collaboration is the essence of crowdsourcing. While the challenges may be local, the solutions could very well be global and make the difference for middle market firms looking for sustainable channel for competitive differentiation.

Critical to success in this emerging model is precise articulation of the objective. Achieving that, companies can then access thousands of people possessing design, engineering, R & D and promotional skills that are simply not available to firms that are reticent to staff up in the current environment. Crowdsourcing is not risk-free. Participants are not employees and, thus, are not subject to enterprises' established policies, procedures and controls. That may be a small price to pay to access critical competencies in a cost-effective and expeditious manner.

Engineering Change Management for Microsoft Dynamics NAV

Change management continues to be an important process in the engineered product environment. It has great potential to deliver material benefits but also great challenges in getting it right. Managing engineering change has always been hard as well as a source of inefficiency, but in the ever-escalating pace of business driven by an increasingly global market, it is more critical than ever to improve the process.

Historically, engineering change management has focused on cost control and increasing process efficiency. Competitive pressures are now driving a new agenda for change management, one that targets a reduction in development lead times and, secondarily, the ability to quickly respond to quality issues. This is a very real change in perspective as companies are beginning to realize that a more optimized engineering change management process can provide top-line benefits in addition to reducing costs. In today's dynamically changing marketplace, speed-to-market can allow companies to overtake, and even leap-frog, their competition.

The other key driver of this new view of engineering change management is the need for an accelerated response to quality issues. There are also the changing market requirements as competition, globalization and concept of "mass customization" have created a demand chain with the customers driving any number of product permutations. Change management's ability to positively impact quality is important in both the initial product launch and in ongoing product management.

Through our work with discrete manufacturers of all sizes, American Unit has experienced the value of optimized engineering change management. That led to the investment to develop an add-on module designed specifically for that purpose that augments the functionality of Microsoft Dynamics NAV solution. American Unit's Engineering Change Management for Microsoft Dynamics NAV can handle different types of engineering change requests including bill of material changes, routing changes, and released production orders which are in shop floor and updates these changes automatically. This add-on module is fully integrated with Dynamics NAV's manufacturing.

The Engineering Change Management module is the third release in the American Unit manufacturing suite. More information can be found here.

Inspection Management and Quality Control for Microsoft Dynamics NAV

One thing that we at American Unit have discovered as a result of our work with many manufacturing enterprises is that most modern quality control programs continue to rely on inspection management systems to ensure product and process quality. As a Microsoft Dynamics NAV solutions provider, we have viewed the lack of that specific functionality in the NAV platform as both a challenge and an opportunity. To that end, as part of our investment in building a unique vertical solution for manufacturing, we have developed a new add-on module for Dynamics NAV to address this gap in the solution. Our application, Inspection Management and Quality Control for Microsoft Dynamics NAV addresses the constant pressure on manufacturers to reach increasingly higher levels of quality.

Working seamlessly with Dynamics NAV, our solution delivers key process benefits that include more accurate inventory listing with individual item inspection information, reduced sampling time, automatic routing of rejected items back to vendor, reduced shop floor scrap, and use of historical vendor quality data to select the appropriate supplier for specific items.

As an example, Item Inspection using Inspection Management in Microsoft Dynamics involves the measurements, tests, applied to certain parameters in regards to an item with or without sampling techniques and skip logic rule. Inspection processes are determined by various characteristics including the timing, duration, and intensity of the collections and the details of the past processing treatment. Poor choices of these Inspection parameters can lead to poor Inspection performance. Proper choices of these parameters can make it easier to integrate the various Inspections into the overall service process. An Inspection is the use of a measurement in an intelligent fashion to drive some corrective action. Inspection might be one of shape, size, or even weight. Inspections need not be restricted to product characteristics.

The following screen shows inspection list that needs to be inspected and created automatically at the time of received.

 

Vendor quality performance is useful to determine the appropriate vendor for an item. This is a statistical measurement and it uses historic information. The following screen shows item wise vendor quality performance.  

 

More information on this latest add-on module for Microsoft Dynamics NAV can be found here. 

Release of Shop Floor Control Add-On for Microsoft Dynamics NAV

American Unit is committed to creating very robust vertical industry software platforms built upon Microsoft Dynamics NAV and Dynamics AX solutions. To that end, we have been investing in building IP to fill in key gaps in Dynamics NAV's manufacturing industry functionality. Our strong background and continuing focus in the manufacturing ERP market, as well as our years of experience in Dynamics NAV, provides a strong capability for executing on this strategy.

This week, we are formally releasing our first module, Shop Floor Control, to the market.

This new Shop Floor Control module allows employees to register information in one easy-to-use system, providing greater fidelity and speed. The system supports the use of bar codes for even faster input of raw materials consumption and time used per individual task as bar codes are automatically printed on all relevant production reports. The solution can further reduce time spent on data input by designating a team leader to manage team member's registrations. This feature simplifies the process and lowers the risk of data entry errors. Microsoft Dynamics NAV Shop Floor Control also enables the bundling of operations to reduce registration even more. Employees working on several operations can register their time spent on all operations at one time.

The primary benefits of the new module, improving the efficiency of shop floor operations and automating collection of employee time and attendance are enabled by a number of key features and functions that we believe existing customers and prospects will find attractive, including:

• Collection of Employee Time and Attendance Information
• Advanced time profiles for both groups and individual employees
• Automatic profile search
• A work planning tool for setting up shift schedules
• Handling of personnel absences
• Collection of machine time
• Notice Board with individual messages and receipt feature
• Two-step validation procedure available to check time
• Calculation/approval status
• Configurable registration forms
• Password-protected validation
• Direct integration with the production modules
• Overview of the production situation
• Simulation of when operations should be completed based on time allocated

Our goal with Shop Floor Control for Microsoft Dynamics NAV is to significantly decreases the time spent performing administrative tasks, while increasing the reliability of employee time and attendance data and we are confident that the module represents a significant enhancement to the functionality of the Microsoft Dynamic NAV solution while also being very user friendly.

Find more detail on our Shop Floor Control add-on module here.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Delivers A Shot Across the Bow

Microsoft appears eager to take the battle to Salesforce.com and Oracle with regard to leadership in the fast growing CRM market. Microsoft Dynamics CRM, having achieved parity with both competitors in the eyes of the technology analyst community (see Forrester Wave below), has grown twice as fast as media favorite Salesforce.com over the past twelve months and recently crossed the one million user mark.

 

 

To "celebrate", Microsoft announced, several weeks ago, a new promotion targeting current Oracle and Salesforce.com online customers with an offer of free Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online service for up to seven months for switching from their existing service provider. The seven months includes Microsoft's standing offer of 30 days free service plus the new promotion of an additional six months.

Though the string attached to the offer is a commitment to a 12-month contract for Dynamics CRM Online, the savings on the first six months of the contract can be quite significant, meaning Microsoft is clearly smelling blood and playing to win in the customer care space.

While already considered to be the more cost-effective alternative among its peer group, Microsoft Dynamics CRM also owns the advantage of flexibility, at least against Salesforce.com, since Dynamics CRM is offered in both an on-demand and an on-premise model. Additionally, Dynamics CRM's ability to easily integrate with Microsoft Dynamics NAV and AX, as well as Office and Outlook, delivers a productivity edge that is difficult for either of the other CRM platforms to claim.

Excepting the anomaly that is the 2009 market, most analyst estimates for CRM market growth remain in the 10%+ range for the near future. With that kind of opportunity at stake, it will be interesting to monitor how pitched this battle becomes.

Internet Distribution Companies: The More Things Change...

 I have been working with a number of ecommerce companies this past year. More than any other vertical market we focus on, the ecommerce space reminds me of the quote by Jean Baptiste Alphonse Karr, "The more things change the more they remain the same". Just the other day, I had a discovery meeting with an Internet Distribution Company. I listened to them explain their business model and how revenues expanded 150% over the past two years. Considering the challenging economic times, if we had not worked with similar customers achieving similar results, I would have been quite cynical. I have found that the key personal attribute in the people who are building large scale, successful ecommerce businesses is a passion to learn and be out on the bleeding edge. Entrepreneurs such as these have redefined a traditional sales channel and the associated go-to-market effort. This reinvented channel is here to stay and is driving buying decisions you and I make every day. Some of my customers have developed real skill sets in web optimization techniques. They analyze more than any company their size and continue to take calculated risks to grow their organizations. Most know down to the dollar the returns on Internet advertising or paid word searches. Having a successful website is no longer merely having a catchy name. Website design, key words, spacing, pay-per-click, and ranking strategies have an extremely important impact on driving revenue. Every time I meet with one of these companies I am amazed by some of the things they are doing.

Time after time, in meetings with customers, we get to what I would consider fundamental topics like Inventory Control and the room goes dead silent. Technologists often lack real world understanding about Re Order Point, Bar-Coding or Cycle Counting. I think back almost 20 years ago when it was common to find a manufacturer or distributor using a system to track financial transactions and Excel spreadsheets to plan for operational activities. Obviously we still see this today at various levels, but to hear it in this cutting-edge, highly automated industry seems odd.

 Today, selling online has become a necessary and fundamental element of a successful business. Over time, people became more willing to participate in online shopping. It has evolved to the point we rarely think twice about placing an order with a reputable trusted site. My wife and I discussed the other day our holiday online purchases will most likely outpace our traditional purchases.

We commonly see two types of ecommerce business models in our target markets. The first one emerged out of necessity. It consists of traditional retail or wholesale operations/retail outlets. Competition and customers pushed these organizations to begin doing business via the Internet. The second type of ecommerce business model relies heavily on technology-based distribution chain advancements. Exclusive Internet sales companies that began as a new sales channel were originally structured much like a manufacturer's representative. The relationship worked; OEMS and distributors got to sell more products and services and the Internet sales organization was extended privileges such as drop shipments, priority escalation services and volume price breaks. This supportive relationship allowed both sides to benefit, and importantly, allowed ecommerce organizations to hone their branding and selling skills.

Fast-forward to 2010. What has changed and why am I talking to an Internet sales organization about inventory control functions and features? As ecommerce has become a much more significant and reliable revenue stream, OEM's have begun to take the channel more seriously and, consequently, have begun demanding more and more conformance to their policy and business procedures. The fact is the channel simply began eating up significant planning, inventory and shipping resources. Competitors or traditional retail stores have also applied serious pressure on their OEMS and suppliers to make it more a level playing field, forcing online sales firms to carry inventory, in many ways turning them back into a traditional distribution outlet. Unfortunately, many of these firms have not had exposure to standard APICS types of inventory policy or processes. Their current systems are incapable of handling these functions.

The Internet sales/ecommerce market is vertical focus here at American Unit, where we are bridging the innovative world of ecommerce with traditional distribution business models. Our solution is based on best practices, so the immediate paybacks in areas like shipping, inventory and customer service are dramatically and immediately improved. Controlling everything from the back office forward allows unmatched automation and flexibility. We have customers that will come in Monday morning review sales activities over the weekend; build a marketing strategy based on the analysis and have a fully implemented campaign rolled out after lunch with changes down to shipping promotions and complex pricing updates.

For more information about this topic feel free to contact me at stevebrock@americanunit.com

 

 

 

Awards Season for American Unit

We really don't like to toot our horn very often, but American Unit has had the privilege of being nominated for, and winning, a number of awards recognizing the strides we have made in becoming a trusted systems integration and application development service provider, as well as a great place to work.

Most recently, we were recognized by the Caruth Institute for Entrepreneurship at SMU in their annual Dallas 100 list as the 43rd fastest growing company in North Texas. And, in October, we were the recipient of the 2009 Capital One Celebration of Enterprise award for identifying a need in the marketplace and taking the risk to fill the need.

Additional recognition that has come our way this year includes a ranking in the INC Magazine 500, recognition as one of the best places to work in North Texas by the Dallas Business Journal and a ranking as the 8th fastest growing technology firm in Dallas-Fort Worthby the Metroplex Technology Business Council.

As we continue to build our Microsoft Dynamics NAV, Dynamics AX and Dynamics CRM practices along with our SAP and Oracle E-Business expertise, we plan on continued strong revenue growth while maintaining our reputation as a great place to work and a great company to do business with.

Shipping Shape with Dynamics NAV

One of the critical challenges enterprises of all sizes face is how to realize the potential of their ERP investment. One avenue towards accomplishing that is to leverage existing customer data resident in a company's financial system through integration with key external business services provider operations. One such example is for package shipping. UPS WorldShip offers companies the opportunity to integrate their enterprise system seamlessly to make the generation of shipping labels and other shipping forms much simpler.

Once integrated, passing enterprise customer data between the WorldShip application and Microsoft Dynamics NAV occurs in real-time, avoiding additional data entry on both sides of the transaction. Once processed by UPS within WorldShip, shipment data is automatically updated in the NAV sales document. This allows a shipment via UPS to be tracked within the NAV system using the unique UPS tracking number.

Beyond the obvious savings in time and resources, this type of integration increases the speed and accuracy of shipping activities, provides the exact shipping charges for each transaction, eliminates manual data entry and errors, and automatically communicates key delivery information to customers.

Establishing the integration between WorldShip and NAV requires the following steps:

• Install UPS Software, NAV ODBC software and MS-Access on the system. A system DSN should then be created from the ODBC data source and the created data source database should be connected using the NAV license (license should contain ODBC granule). 
  
• Create tables in NAV to store the shipment-related dat required by UPS. Transfer the data in the tables into MS-Access and write the queries to send the required field data to the WorldShip system. Then, create MAPS in UPS WorldShip to import the data into the WorldShip application and export the data back to the NAV system. Map the UPS fields to the Navision fields.
• To import data, write a query with customer-required conditions which when triggered, pass the information to the WorldShip system. Data will be imported automatically into UPS WorldShip by either batch import or keyed import depending on the specific situation and enterprise need.
• To export data to the NAV system, the shipping department selects "End of the Day" in the UPS Worldship system and complete orders will be processed with tracking numbers generated for every package. The generated tracking numbers, shipment cost, shipment address, number of packages, and all other shipment information are automatically exported to the NAV sales database using a MAP which is created specifically to export data from UPS WorldShip. E-mails are then be sent to the customer's address with tracking number and a pre-defined template.

Leveraging an enterprise's investment in Microsoft Dynamics NAV can be made much easier by integrating with some of the many software platforms that have been developed by business service providers across all of the key business processes the comprise the modern business.

Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) Overview

Keeping it simple - Infoworld provides a straight-forward overview of SaaS.