Microsoft Dynamics SL has long been the go-to for project-based businesses in need of a focused solution that delivers financial management, project management and accounting, distribution, field service, payroll, e-business, and more. However, while it does do many things well, there are certain areas where it could be improved, better customized, or better supported.
1. How Do We Manage and Apply Payments for National Accounts?
Working with multi-entity businesses sometimes presents a challenge—especially if you are providing services for a national client who pays for a range of “sub-clients.” Unfortunately, the Payment Application Screen in Dynamics SL does not make this very easy, creating consolidation headaches, complexities in searching for customers, and tracking payments in a timely manner.
Solution: National Accounts for Dynamics SL
If you receive checks from one customer to pay for multiple customers in Microsoft Dynamics SL and are looking for a way to make payment application easy, then Crestwood has designed and developed a product for your specific needs. The National Accounts add-on module gives your business the power to track and apply payments for your customers in Microsoft Dynamics SL, saving time for your staff.
Featuring an auto-apply feature, Parent/Child Relationship for national clients, the ability to set limits and perform credit checking for each “child,” Crestwood’s National Accounts for Dynamics SL has the answer. Learn more about how it works here.
2. Our Collections Process is Disjointed. How Do We Take Control?
You provide a service to your customers—you need to get paid for it. Unfortunately, getting paid is not always as simple as you’d believe. Whether through malice or due to a disjointed AP process on your customer’s behalf, you may need to remind your customers that they are overdue, take steps to apply late fees, or ultimately send a legal notice.
While the native AR process in SL offers some visibility, the process for gathering customer information is somewhat disjointed, resulting in the collections process being inherently time-consuming and challenging for your collections team. However, by automating your collections management, you can increase visibility, save time and money, and increase collections rates.
Solution: Collections Management Add-On for Dynamics SL
If you are having trouble collecting money from customers and want results (without completely derailing the relationship), the right collections management tool can make your job easier. Collections Management for Dynamics SL can provide you the visibility into overdue invoices, help nudge your customers (before you need to send harsher notices), and reduce the amount of time spent compiling collections data.
3. We Need More Visibility Into Our Data
For many businesses, Dynamics SL does what it’s asked. However, one of the areas where it could use the most improvement is in its reporting and business intelligence functionality. Business intelligence has become a key way to deliver information to stakeholders, offering greater visibility and deeper insights for companies and enhancing the value of older ERP solutions.
Solution: Enhance Your Dynamics SL Solution with Microsoft Power BI
Power BI is a powerful data visualization tool that can connect to your data within Microsoft Dynamics SL and provide analytics in an easily digestible format. Users can upload a range of different data options, from a simple Excel sheet or connect to the entire Dynamics SL database.
Not only does Power BI work well with Dynamics SL, it can also leverage data from other applications you already use to empower decision makers and present reporting data. Learn more about using Power BI to enhance visibility and reporting of SL data here.
4. We’re Approaching the End of Support for our Current Version of Dynamics SL
Dynamics SL is a workhorse of a product for project-based businesses, and many companies push the life of their licenses to (and sometimes through) the five years of mainstream and five years of extended support they receive.
While some businesses can operate under extended support, it becomes incredibly complicated to complete year-end closing — especially without payroll and tax updates. Go back even further, and continued use means you are increasing risk of data loss or corruption (as well as server failure). We recommend staying no more than two versions behind, and if you are still using SL 7.0 or earlier, the risks are piling up.
Solution: Upgrade or Replace Your Dynamics SL Solution
With the end of Mainstream Support for Dynamics SL 2015 occurring in less than a year and Extended Support for SL 2011 occurring in just over two years, it may be time to start looking at your next steps.
Upgrading Your Dynamics SL Product
If you are looking to continue providing users with the familiarity of a Dynamics SL product, minimize the challenges of data conversion that come with a new system, and receive ongoing support and updates (including tax and payroll updates), Dynamics SL 2018 can deliver and Crestwood can help. Get to know more about things you should consider, read six reasons you should upgrade, and learn more about how we approach Dynamics SL updates here.
Replacing Dynamics SL
Maybe you feel it’s time for a switch away from Dynamics SL. If you are in the market for a move away from this product, it pays to work with a company who not only knows the needs of project-based businesses like yours, but who also understands how SL works and how to move data from such a solution. At Crestwood, we have found Acumatica to be the ideal solution for companies who are looking to replace their Dynamics SL solution with a cloud-based product for businesses like yours.
5. Our Partner No Longer Supports SL
As the ERP market has evolved, the partner landscape has changed alongside it. Sadly, for some customers, it also means that their partners have either moved away from or put Dynamics SL (and the companies using it) on the back burner.
For many customers—especially those who worked with smaller Dynamics SL partners in the past—when a company adds new vendors, they no longer have the time or manpower to support their current users, making it harder and harder to get the support you need.
Solution: Support and Services from Crestwood
If you feel like you’ve lost the loving feeling from your partner or your current partner no longer has the skills or people to handle your needs, Crestwood can help.
We still have the size, scope, and focus to support your use of Dynamics SL, and our highly skilled staff can deliver. Need Dynamics SL to talk to other systems? No problem, our in-house team of developers, integrators, and customizers is at your service. Need a support partner who can help you manage a software or hardware upgrade? Not a problem. Need ongoing support? We’re here to help.
Get to Know More: Crestwood and Dynamics SL
Crestwood has been living and breathing Dynamics SL for almost 20 years. Our team implements, optimizes and supports Dynamics SL customers across the country. Get to know more about our work with SL here, read the signs that it’s time to upgrade, and contact us for a free consultation.
