With today’s rapidly changing business ecosystem, legacy ERP systems are giving way to cloud services. This shift is giving small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) all of the advantages known to larger competitors with the bandwidth and revenue to support such IT efforts. In fact, Gartner predicts 17.3% growth in 2019 to total $206.2 billion in … Read more
Acumatica vs. NetSuite. Two true cloud options—but is there a true winner? At Crestwood Associates, we have been in the business of customizing, implementing, and delivering business-changing software for more than two decades. As one of the leading channel partners in North America, we would today like to explore the key differences and compare two … Read more
Increase cash flow and reduce collection times through automation There is an uptick in expectations around finance teams to be innovative as well as efficient. With this, more leaders in this area are looking for ways to work smarter, not harder. Modern CFOs are increasingly turning to cloud-based financial management systems to replace legacy ERP … Read more
Every business that sees the necessity of new ERP system software does so with the knowledge that ERP implementations can be challenging. Which leads to the question: is there someone who can do the big lifting, someone who can make the process a smooth and successful transition? We call that person the “champion,” and every … Read more
Acumatica uses report templates for most of the out-of-the-box forms and reports. This makes creating new reports so much faster and more efficient. Within these templates, you can view and change the appearance settings to suit your needs. Or you can start creating a new report, then add in the template; all the formatting will … Read more
Construction professionals struggle with many of the same challenges as those in other areas of business, but with an entire set of unique issues. Accounting and ERP software designed specifically for construction contractors, fabrication, home builders, subcontractors, specialty contractors, and land developers with the solutions they require to improve their bottom line, can help keep … Read more
Distribution businesses need real-time visibility into sales, order management, inventory, purchasing, production and services—and accounting information. Customers and employees now expect to have complete information at their fingertips. Maybe you’re considering a new or upgraded ERP system? Cloud solutions can help, but only if they’re built the right way. Do you know the difference between … Read more
Before you make any important business decisions, it is necessary to check the books. Can you afford to take on this project at this price, or will it strain the profit margin? Can we invest in new equipment this year, or do we need to put it off? Are the efforts we’ve been dedicating to … Read more
When you notice that numbers in the books have mysteriously changed, it is likely not a glitch; it’s probably a manual entry that was rewritten. Many basic accounting software programs, QuickBooks included, allow any user to login and edit data at will, without any restrictions or an audit trail. Unless you keep a close eye … Read more
Have you ever needed to move a field from one Acumatica tab to another? You might want to organize your fields on the tabs to match your process. It will make your day go faster and easier. I’m going to show you how, without needing an Acumatica developer to help. However, keep in mind that … Read more
A QuickBooks History Lesson It wasn’t too long ago that general ledgers and other financial data were kept by hand in notebooks or in rudimentary spreadsheets on the computer. Basic accounting software like QuickBooks soon followed (much to the pleasure of accounting departments everywhere), and it remains a great entry-level tool. But it hasn’t evolved … Read more
If not making a decision to implement or upgrade to a modern-day, cloud ERP is the decision you choose to make, your business isn’t going to grow. Learn about the financial effects of your non-decision in the new Aberdeen Group whitepaper “The Cost of Doing Nothing: Why You Can’t Afford to Sit on an ERP … Read more
Crestwood Associates recently attended the 2019 Acumatica Summit and WOW, what a great week! Here are some of our highlights: We spent lots of face time with our clients, peers, and experts Christine and I attended the sold-out “Women in Technology” Luncheon We learned about great features in the new release of Acumatica 2019 R1 … Read more
Hopefully by now, you’ve upgraded to Acumatica 2018 R2! Acumatica is routinely adding new features and improving on current functions. Below are two quick how-to videos for two new functions; one for dashboards, and the other for the ARM reporting package. Stay tuned for more short how-to videos, and be sure to subscribe to our … Read more
Growing businesses know it’s imperative to upgrade to a modern ERP cloud solution from their legacy system. But such a significant investment of time and money should be researched thoroughly and probably will require evidence of the return on investment. Acumatica’s whitepaper “ROI Analysis of Replacement ERP” provides the tools for doing that. The paper discusses … Read more
If you’ve built your business on QuickBooks, you know it’s a great entry-level accounting solution. As your business flourishes, however, QuickBooks may not be able to keep up. There are telltale signs that you’ve hit your limits with your current systems and when those start to occur, your future growth will be stifled until you step … Read more
Some businesses experience that holiday season lull, but not Crestwood Associates. It was all hands on deck to roll out seven – yes, seven – new Acumatica implementations in December and the beginning of January. Wow, we were busy. Kudos go out to our incredible team of rock stars! Each one of our clients had … Read more
Acumatica can help your business refine your purchasing process to reduce unnecessary spending and to simply have better controls through their Advanced Distribution Suite. With this suite, your team can easily manage purchasing from requests to receipt. Acumatica Advanced Distribution Suite – Requests It simply begins with an employee entering a request for an item. … Read more
When a user creates a new GI on their environment the system will auto assign a Screen ID. This is fine unless you are developing a Custom Project package for deployment to another site. If you do not change the screen ID to be unique then your deployment might fail. I have 3 points. How … Read more
Acumatica Product Release Stages Acumatica’s Product Releases are designed to deliver high quality versions of the product on a predictable schedule allowing customers to stay on the most current release of the product and at the same time have ample time to preview major upgrades before going into production. Supported Releases Acumatica is constantly innovating … Read more
Summary Many aspects of a custom solution for Acumatica can be done within the confines of a Visual Studio Project. However a customization project package must still be maintained within an instance of Acumatica. Here’s a simple method of exporting and importing those changes to be captured by source control. Method Let’s say you already … Read more
Yes, you can survive business disruption, just not with your legacy ERP. This new Whitepaper from Mint Jutras lays out the value of having an agile ERP platform. Disruption Everyone knows it could be coming soon to their market-with or without warning, but nobody likes to think about it. It’s not just new competition, it’s … Read more
Are you using our AP Inbox Assist add-on for Acumatica yet? If you aren’t, you’re missing out. Never chase down paper invoices again. Streamline your experience, from receipt of invoice to approval to payment. Our custom-made product is better than ever with these new features. Here is a list of three new things you can do with … Read more
In a previous blog, we discussed how to add custom data fields to a form and also discussed the advantages and limitations of Attributes. Prior to the Acumatica 2018 R2 update, Attributes were only available for Customer Management (e.g. Leads, Contacts, Cases, Opportunities, Business Accounts, and Marketing Campaigns), Inventory Items, Projects, Employees, Vendors, and Customers. In … Read more