Microsoft Office 365 provides so much more than just the ability to access Microsoft Office suite (Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, Excel, etc.) from any device. One important feature (that I learned about the hard way) is the ability to restore deleted files with OneDrive version control. What is OneDrive? When I first started with Crestwood, I didn’t understand OneDrive, the cloud storage service … Read more
Distribution is a complicated business. Ensuring products flow properly, people work effectively, and cash moves smoothly is a necessity, but too often, processes get gummed up and technology becomes more of a hindrance than a help. This is especially true if you are relying on outdated or undersized technology for the job at hand. Unfortunately, … Read more
Big News…this morning, Acumatica announced they have been acquired by EQT, a global private equity firm that also manages IFS, an enterprise ERP product well-known in Europe. This will give Acumatica a very significant step towards globalization of their systems, specifically to address regulatory and lingual support. At Crestwood, we see this as a positive … Read more
What happened? Remember Y2K? Well this isn’t nearly as bad, but a new Microsoft Dynamics SL bug surfaced recently (on June 6th, 2019) for many users. You could be receiving a “SQL Server Message 517” when running the Credit Manager’s Assistant screen without specifying a date range. The reason for this has to do with … Read more
Just as the 1980s NHL Edmonton Oilers needed more than the scoring prowess of Wayne Gretzky and the 1992 USA Dream Team needed more than Michael Jordan, your ERP project team needs a wide range of key players to get the job done. Following a recent blog on the importance and role of an ERP … Read more
Following our recent blog on the trends in moving to the cloud, the reasons a cloud migration offers flexibility in pricing and licensing, and the first steps of a Cloud ERP migration, we would today like to turn our attention to the process of heading to cloud ERP itself. The Move from Planning to Executing … Read more
Our very own MVP Acumatica Developer, Joe Jacob, recently published a guide to help all you developers convert Dynamics SL over to the Acumatica xRP Cloud Platform. “Joe’s Guide offers a quick reference for those already familiar with the Dynamics SL SDK and are new to the Acumatica development platform. This guide will help direct … Read more
Customer Relationship Management software is one of those necessary products for businesses, but finding the right one for yours is rarely an easy task. Whether you’re in the market for new CRM, are considering a change alongside another business management solution like ERP, or just looking to understand what options are available, it’s important to … Read more
For many fabrication businesses, back-office software is often just something that is “there.” It satisfies your basic business needs, offers finance professionals information, and may facilitate a few processes. However, much of these only meet your needs for so long before they become a hindrance. Whether your business has grown or your software has aged, … Read more
Acumatica Version 2017R2 Improved Marketing Lists and Campaigns – Marketing lists and campaigns have been significantly improved, so user can more efficiently perform marketing activities, track relevant expenses and revenue, and analyze statistical information on campaigns. Opportunity Stages for Each Opportunity Class – Acumatica ERP now provides the functionality that a user can use to … Read more
Salesforce and Acumatica have spent the better part of their history in opposition to each other. Salesforce, touted by many as the first SaaS cloud product on the market, has delivered customer relationship management solutions via the internet for the last two decades. Acumatica, on the other hand, launched in 2008 to deliver a suite … Read more
Fabrication is a tough business. Commodities prices fluctuate rapidly, offshoring creates new competition, and new technologies present additional risk. It’s a perfect storm, and to weather it, you need to balance customer-centric business practices with demand for cost optimization, speed, and flexibility. Following our last blog discussing some of the things that fabrication companies including … Read more
Acumatica web-based ERP provides the robust dashboard capability that most Clients demand. Dashboards provide access to real-time information in consumable bites. You can view dashboards when you log into Acumatica through your web browser or view them on the Mobile App. So how do you move away from reporting and make this powerful tool work … Read more
Here’s a true client story and how Crestwood helped. Customer: Lately, we have noticed that the time it takes to switch from one company to another is a lot longer. Is there anything that can be done to improve the amount of time to log on and switch companies? Crestwood: Hi, I wanted to reach … Read more
We all strive for good data entry in any ERP system. The fact that we make critical business decisions off this data means we need clean, reliable data. Input validation helps to keep your data clean as it is getting entered into the system versus having to waste time cleaning it manually. Acumatica can help … Read more
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central allows you to easily reconcile your bank accounts by importing transactions from your bank. In order to match the transactions, you need to have the proper format for Dynamics 365. Here’s how: The file format just needs to be defined and assigned to the bank account. In this example, I … Read more
When your legacy Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution is having trouble keeping up with your business, it’s important to weigh your options carefully before you decide whether to upgrade to a new version or make the switch to different software. I recently worked with a client to determine the best course of action for their … Read more
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. … Read more
For too many businesses, the payment process is flawed—64 percent of B2B payments are still made with checks according to industry magazine PYMNTS.com. In the B2B world, paper is still present in the beginning, middle, and end of the payment process. From increased time it takes to process and pay a paper invoice using a … Read more
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central offers automatic methods to reconcile your bank statement; such as importing a file with your bank statement information. However, I often find clients need to reconcile things manually in their system. In this blog, I am going to review the manual method for bank account reconciliation. The Payment Reconciliation journal … Read more
Most businesses require some customization to their reports and documentation; such as invoices, sales orders, etc. With Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, you don’t need a developer to help with this. You get the options and flexibility needed using the well known interface, Microsoft Word. Modifying the Sales Invoice format: In the following example, I … Read more
A simple configuration package can be created and used to import General Ledger Entries into Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. This can be very helpful and save time when importing historical balances. Here’s How To set this up, start by using the global search for “configuration package”: Create a New package and provide the following … Read more
When you create a budget within Dynamics Nav 365 Business Central, you can export it to Excel and have full access to all the great spreadsheet editing capabilities. This will allow you to quickly fill out all line items in the budget, and then simply import the budget back into Dynamics 365 Business Central. Many … Read more
When adding conditions or filters in Report Designer or Generic Inquiries in Acumatica, there are certain cases where you need to use the internal value of a list, or combo box (*). The internal values may be different than the external description you see, so we need a way to inspect them. These internal values … Read more