Posts Tagged ‘pa’
Friday, February 3rd, 2012
What’s the difference between the products formally known as Navision and Axapta?
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The Microsoft Dynamics product line includes Dynamics AX and Dynamics NAV. Both are highly customizable ERP solutions described equally by Microsoft as end to end comprehensive ERP solutions with the ability to manage complex supply chains and inventory in growing domestic and international environments.
Though their capabilities and features are similar, Dynamics AX and NAV were designed for different organizational types, structures and sizes. One is not better than the other; they are simply intended to be matched with corresponding business complexities and size. The real difference between the two products is determining how well the solution aligns with the goals and growth plans for the organization it will support. Investing in an ERP system is a big decision, and the first step is having a clear vision of your company goals, strategies, and structure.
Similarities and Differences
Scaling: Enterprise vs. Mid-size
Dynamics NAV
- Geared toward small to midsize companies ($5M – $500M) with some international presence.
- Provides powerful technology that smaller businesses otherwise may not be able to justify the cost of, allowing them to compete with organizations many times their size.
- Easy and fast customization
- Straightforward ability to scale and keep pace with organizational goals as it grows.
- Extremely fast performance on moderate hardware. Both servers and workstations.
Dynamics AX
- Designed for large, enterprise class organizations with a broad international presence that has unique challenges, especially when it comes to large deployments across multiple countries with each operating in their own language and currency.
- Better equipped than Dynamics NAV to address the specific size and scale challenges of growing enterprise organizations.
Total Cost of Ownership
- AX is more complex than NAV. The implementations are more complex, take longer, require more decisions, and must have excellent project management if you hope to succeed.
- Many NAV implementations require only a part-time project manager and a small implementation team.
- AX often requires dedicated technical resources to manage the solution once it’s up and running, while NAV does not.
- It costs more to implement and run AX than NAV because of these complexities making it a better fit for more established enterprise organizations.
Global Availability versus a Global Operation
- AX works better for managing end to end global processes. Large manufacturing businesses can view inventory across international locations and have visibility into each area of the organization. They can handle production plant scheduling taking into account materials that could be transferred from one location to another for example. NAV looks at each production facility in a vacuum.
- AX is best for complex enterprise solutions who need visibility across multiple decentralized locations in different countries from one real time dashboard.
- NAV is a very popular, effective ERP solution for growing international businesses that don’t have such a complicated organizational structure.
- NAV does an excellent job of handling decentralized global operations that report independently and might simply roll up financials.
- Both solutions support multiple languages and currencies, and can transact across borders.
- The fundamental difference is AX can be installed such that one instance and database supports multiple legal entities, with different currencies, languages and local laws. NAV requires a separate database for each country its being used in since the local laws are coded into each database and can’t be mixed in the same one.
- The Value Added Resellers (VAR’s) for AX typically have global teams that can implement a project across borders. NAV partners usually cover a more regional geography and need to team up to handle a larger international rollout.
Agility and the Cloud
- NAV and AX will increase your business flexibility, adapting to changing market demands and doing so in a cost-effective manner. They both provide superior business intelligence and analytics.
- Designed specifically for the challenge and difficulty that comes with reacting quickly to change.
- AX, along with SAP and Oracle, was identified by Gartner as one of three ERP solutions in their Magic Quadrant because of its enterprise capabilities.
- NAV and AX are available as hosted ERP solutions or a combination of hosted and on-premise. Choosing the cloud-hosted model further increases the agility and breadth of these solutions.
Summary
As you can see, both products have similar abilities. As a matter of fact, the creators of AX (Axapta) were the former executives of NAV (Navision). That’s why you will see many similarities in the design and the philosophy or rapid customization and access to related information in both. The difference is that AX was built to target a more upscale market with larger budgets and more resources available for more complex organizations.
Tags: al, ax vs nav, axapta vs navision, ca, comparison, ct, Microsoft Dynamics NAV versus Microsoft Dynamics AX, mn, nav vs ax, navision versus axapta, nj, ny, pa, strenghts, support, tn, tx, upgrades, weaknesses
Posted in Microsoft Dynamics, Microsoft Dynamics AX, Microsoft Dynamics NAV | No Comments »
Thursday, February 2nd, 2012
If you don’t think Social Networking is important to your business, look at this Infographic from Invesp, a site that ranks the worlds most popular blogs.
If you don’t do it now, blogging can make a huge difference in your ability to generate leads from the internet by providing meaningful information.
At Clients First Business Solutions, we use this blog as a way to inform our customers and prospects about everything in the world of ERP and related technologies. No matter what your company does, there is no reason this can’t work for you as well. If you don’t know where to begin, give us a call and we’d be happy to help!
Infographic by – Conversion Rate Optimization Company Invesp
Tags: al, blogging, ca, ct, marketing, mn, nj, ny, pa, social media, tx
Posted in Partners Perspective | No Comments »
Friday, January 27th, 2012
Epicor 9 – Ten reasons to purchase or upgrade to
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ADVANCED BUSINESS ARCHITECTURE
As your organization continues to grow, you need a business architecture
that allows you to take advantage of modern technology developments.
Epicor ICE (Internet Component Environment), the underlying technology
framework for Epicor, merges the flexibility of a true service-oriented
architecture (Epicor True SOA™
) with Web 2.0 concepts to not only meet
business requirements today, but offer the flexibility to adapt to
future opportunities.
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INCREASE USER PRODUCTIVITY
Enabling continuous performance improvement within your business means
empowering your employees to be more productive. Epicor True SOA™
features the Epicor Everywhere™
Framework, a unique technology that
allows you to extend your current applications to Microsoft®
Windows®, Web browsers and mobile devices. By extending Epicor to familiar and
convenient productivity tools and leveraging Web 2.0 concepts, such as
enterprise search, presence, and real-time communication, ICE enhances the
user experience and productivity.
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HIGHER QUALITY AND LOWER COSTS
Lean manufacturing and total quality initiatives are critical to continued
success in a highly competitive market. Epicor’s next-generation solutions
are well positioned to support just that with business process management
(BPM), a solution that lets you create and model your business processes
within your Epicor business application. The system can put records on hold,
automate notification, invoke custom code, and require additional data
entry (such as a password for electronic signature) based on your unique
business rules. Additionally, product data management capabilities include
document vaulting in Microsoft Office®
SharePoint® for rapid retrieval and collaboration.
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OPTIMIZE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF YOUR SUPPLY CHAIN
End-to-end management of goods from sales order to shipment requires
streamlined processes both internally and with suppliers. Maximizing
effectiveness of your supplier network requires utilization of new tools such
as Service Connect, a business orchestration and integration tool that
enables faster and more efficient application-to-application and business-tobusiness connectivity. Enhanced solutions for efficiently managing internal
supply chains coupled with tightly controlling inventory resources and
orchestration of these resources, maximizes the effectiveness of your
supplier network while controlling costs.
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CHOICE AND FLEXIBILITY
Epicor ICE 2.0 builds upon an already extensive set of integrated tools for
enhancing and extending Epicor. Applications and business processes can
easily be tailored to meet your organization’s specific needs and everchanging business requirements. User interfaces can be modified to specific
roles, workflow and preferences, significantly improving the end user
experience. ICE provides the ability to meet the unique needs of your
organization and individual employees.
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MAXIMUM BUSINESS INSIGHT
You need analysis tools that logically and dynamically align with your core
enterprise applications and your users. Epicor Enterprise Performance
Management (EPM) places a heavy emphasis on the active use of the
right information at the right time for the right people. It proactively
guides and readjusts the course of your business rather than just passively
measuring its progress or reserving business intelligence tools for a
chosen few.
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GLOBAL SOLUTION WITH LOCAL EXPERTISE
Epicor next-generation enterprise applications feature a unique
“configurable engine” approach, which makes it easier to adopt the legal
and legislative requirements of the world’s economies and the
international standards including IAS, IFRS, and GAAP. Epicor created a
truly configurable ERP platform that can be tuned for small, medium and
large businesses, different industries, local firms or multinational
conglomerates without the need for complex source code changes. Epicor
makes business anywhere a reality.
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STANDARDIZATION AND CONSISTENCY
Epicor provides a consistent, repeatable single solution approach that
integrates your corporate headquarters with divisions and operating
locations. Epicor enables the local, regional, or centralized deployment of
master data and standard processes within a consistent, pervasive security
framework. This ensures that operational information produced locally,
cascades upwards into a single consolidated view of global activities that
accurately reflects your organization’s performance.
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STAY CURRENT WITH YOUR CROSS INDUSTRY NEEDS
Epicor understands that many businesses, manufacturing in particular,
have diversified the industries they serve in an attempt to strengthen
business performance and reduce risk in uncertain times. As a result,
deploying solutions that fit cross industry requirements and stay current in
the changing environment of business is critical. Recent updates for Epicor
solutions follow this theme and particularly strengthen functionality in key
areas for some of our customers’ industries.
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SEAMLESS BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
A complete end-to-end resource based on more than a dozen modular
business suites, Epicor places significant emphasis on embedded
capabilities, like customer and supplier relationship management,
advanced planning and scheduling, business process management, field
service management and product configuration all available as system
wide processes. Through a unique combination of sophisticated global
business management, distributed deployment and master data
management facilities, you can truly virtualize your enterprise.
Tags: central jersey, ct, Distribution, Enterprise Resource Planning, manufacturing, mobile software, new jersey, nj, north jersey, ny, nyc, pa, south jersey
Posted in Epicor, Epicor 9 | No Comments »
Thursday, January 26th, 2012
Improve your cash flow with Microsoft Dynamics NAV Reminders
With today’s downturn in the economy, corporate controllers and CFOs are focused on cash flow management to enable their companies to survive the uncertainty of market conditions. Cash flow is defined as the difference between cash coming into the business and cash leaving the business within a specific time period. Cash that flows into a business does not always correspond to the same rate of cash going out of the company. When a cash shortfall occurs, companies may need to borrow funds to pay their bills, or delay needed expenditures that may improve their business.
Every company experiences customers who do not pay on-time. To improve cash flow, Microsoft Dynamics NAV (Navision) offers users the ability to setup Reminders (some may call them dunning notices or statements) for customers who have overdue invoices. A Reminder system prompts customers to pay overdue amounts and informs them of possible interest charges. If customers refuse to pay overdue invoices after they received reminders, a finance charge memo can be issued for the interest charges. And of course we all know that customers respond to reminders and happily pay finance charges but that’s for another blog post 
Implementation of Microsoft Dynamics NAV Reminders
The first step in issuing Reminders is to setup Reminder Terms:
For each Reminder Term, Reminder levels can be setup to define when Reminders can be created, and the charges and texts that should be included.
The Reminder Terms are then attached to the appropriate customers that will be sent reminders. The Create Reminders function under periodic activities is then triggered to create the suggested reminders, and then after user review, the reminders are issued and sent to the customers who have overdue invoices. Customers are then notified that monies are due, and prompt payment necessary. Using Reminders will shorten collection periods for overdue invoices, and improve cash flow. With improved cash flow, borrowing costs are reduced and inventory levels can be increased, making for a healthier and more profitable company.
Tags: al, ct, dunning notice, guides, help, Microsoft Dynamics NAV, navision, nj, ny, pa, reminders, statements, Tips, tn, Tricks
Posted in Microsoft Dynamics, Microsoft Dynamics NAV | No Comments »
Thursday, January 26th, 2012
2011 In Review And A Look Forward To 2012 And 2013
This article recaps the major enhancement that have come to MAS90 and MAS200 in 2011. In addition it gives some ideas and thoughts as to what’s coming in 2012 and beyond based on Sage’s product roadmap. Read More
Payroll based on SQL For Sage ERP MAS 200 SQL Customers
As a Sage ERP MAS 200 SQL user, you have an option to us a SQL Based Human Resources (HR) and payroll solution, Sage HRMS based on Abra technology. Managing HR and payroll in house can save you money and time and allow you to be more responsive to employee needs and to maintain higher levels of compliance with government regulations Read More
MAS 90 and MAS 200 Year End Closing Help
The following are articles that specifically relate to the Year End Closing process
Tips To Help Year-End Processing Run Smoothly Read More
Tags: ca, ct, manhattan, mas 200, mas 90, new york city, nj, ny, nyc, pa, Tips and tricks, year end closing
Posted in SAGE, Sage MAS 90 and MAS 200, Uncategorized | No Comments »
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