Microsoft Great Plains ? Licensing & Product Versions
June 30, 2008
Current Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains has more that 10 years of history. Former Great Plains Software had two lines of Great Plains: Dynamics & Dynamics C/S+, later on renamed into eEnterprise. In this small article we would like to give you first directions when you look into Great Plains purchase and implementation or upgrade your existing product. Also we’ll clarify on annual enhancement program reenrollment and getting technical support from Microsoft Business Solutions or third party. We will talk about customization, because it would be outside of the tiny article format. You need to know that Great Plains is written in Great Plains Dexterity and customization is possible in Dexterity, SQL, Extender, Modifier/VBA, Continuum, eConnect.
? Great Plains Professional. This is high-end product, which should be capable to automate midsize and large business, it will not have limitation on number of user, payroll employees, modules selection. Database platform is Microsoft SQL Server 2000/2005. Current supported versions: 9.0 (since September 2005), 8.0, 7.5 and 7.0. If you need Service Advantage Suite, Customer/Vendor Consolidation, Lockbox Processing and other modules, targeted for midsize and corporate clientele ? you should purchase Great Plains Professional
Best Practices In Choosing Network Monitoring Software
June 29, 2008
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Hawaii (HMSA) found itself with a rapidly expanding network and data center. Our network devices, servers, and software were all growing in complexity and we knew that we would have to leverage technology to gain better control of our IT systems and network. In the past, we confronted the same dilemma that systems administrators in all IT organizations face: weighing the value of simple monitoring solutions versus expensive, feature-rich enterprise solutions that require labor intensive maintenance. We attempted to implement a large-scale system and network monitoring package from a major vendor but found the product was never fully implemented or adopted by the users because of its overbearing complexity. We then quickly implemented an inexpensive, low-end package that provided basic monitoring ? but lacked much of the deeper functionality our organization required, such as performance and application monitoring.
We knew we had to take a completely new approach. We decided to develop a set of best practices to ensure that new investments in system and network monitoring would be successful.
At the core of these best practices are two themes ? simplicity and cost-effectiveness HMSA’s core best practices rest on five elements:
Screenshots Vista Windows
June 28, 2008
Features Additionally, Vista will include many other new features.
Aero Vista will include a completely re-designed user interface, code-named Aero. The new interface is intended to be cleaner and more aesthetically pleasing than previous Windows interfaces. The most visible addition to the interface is the sidebar (however this feature has been removed in the last alpha release), an area at the side of the screen consisting of tiles which display dynamic information about whatever window is currently in the foreground, which is essentially an extension of the “system tray” on the Windows task bar.
Search Vista will feature a new search engine that will allow for instant display of results for a given search. This is in contrast to the search engine of Windows XP, which can take several minutes to display results. The Vista search will allow you to add multiple filters to continually refine your search (Such as “File contains the word ‘example’”). There will also be saved searches that will act as Virtual Folders, where opening a folder will execute a specific search automatically and display the results as a normal folder. The search will also feature other usability improvements. The Vista search is actually built on an expanded and improved version of the indexing service for the search in Windows XP. This feature is similar to Apple Spotlight.
Microsoft Moves to Small Business Accounting/Retail Market ? Stakes and Thoughts
June 28, 2008
In this small article we will be looking at the new opportunities for Microsoft Small Business Server specialists, but rather look at the global business strategy and possible ways of future ERP modules standardizing and interoperability. This is important to get into consideration for midsize and large corporate business IT decision makers. Let’s look at the chronology and possible future development.
? Great Plains Software acquisition. When Microsoft took leading position on the operating system market and released stable and reliable Windows 2000 Server, the next logical step would be getting into ERP market. Microsoft decided to try midsize market, and the reason is probably this ? it is wise to create small accounting as the extension to Microsoft Office, not to purchase existing small application. However if you plan to try midmarket ? you better purchase something established with broad client base. Developing midsize package from scratch might deplete all the resources. As the stake on Great Plains was high ? Microsoft formed business systems subdivision ? Microsoft Great Plains Business Solutions, later on Great Plains name was taken off and now we see Microsoft Business Solutions.
Microsoft Axapta, Navision or Great Plains: ERP Selection for Large Corporation
June 27, 2008
If you would like to pick something from Microsoft, or its ERP subdivision ? Microsoft Business Solutions, and in case of large public company, you should consider these three: Axapta, Navision or Great Plains. We are not talking about Solomon here, because it is recommended for project organization. You should probably be aware about specific product life cycle (or is it new or mature one on the market), database platform, average implementation cycle, typical customization requirements, rich vs. standard ERP functionality, etc. Also you should get comparison from relatively objective source, if you are asking to compare somebody, who implements and sells Great Plains ? more likely these people will try to prove that you need Great Plains and it is the best fit. On the other hand if you ask large consulting practice with regional offices to make comparison for you ? you should know that specific regional office might operate with maximum independence and promote, say Navision only.
Reloading Windows XP
June 26, 2008
If you have been running Windows XP for a couple of years or more you may find that it is not running quite as quickly and smoothly as it was when you did your first install. I am constantly ‘evaluating’ software and uninstalling and reinstalling beta software on my computer and have always gradually become more and more disappointed after nine months to a year with the performance of my PC. So I regularly do a backup and reinstall all my software, including Windows.
Please note that this is completely different than doing the standard things to troubleshoot and fix individual problems such as system errors or application errors. These things are better fixed by using a systme Restore which is a great new feature to Windows XP
For anyone that has reinstalled their operating system a few times the process seems pretty straightforward as they have found all of the gotchas the first few times. I have lost mail and contacts but not much else over the years by following (or not following) a system to reload my operating system and software. This purpose of this guide is to give you a checklist to follow so that a reloading of Windows goes smoothly the first time.
Kick-Ass Performance For Your PC? Its Easy
June 25, 2008
Is your PC is slow and wimpy? Then you need some PC steroids - software applications that will cleanse the registry, optimize RAM and make that puppy fly. Here is what you should start with.
Ace Utilities
Ace Utilities is a set of system-maintenance and optimization utilities for enhancing Windows performance. Tools include Unneeded File Remover, for regaining valuable disk space; Registry Cleaner, for preventing application crashes; Startup Organizer, for preventing spy applications from running behind your back; History Eraser, for ensuring your privacy; Duplicate File Finder, for finding and removing duplicate files; Dead Shortcut Fixer, for fixing and removing shortcut and Start menu errors; Uninstaller Plus, for uninstalling applications correctly; Tweak Plus, for customizing hidden Windows settings; Disk Analysis, for analyzing your hard disk; Secure Delete, for deleting files permanently; and Cookie and Plug-in managers, for erasing the history of more than 100 applications.Your computer will boot faster and run applications more smoothly.
Download: http://www.deprice.com/aceutilities.htm
SpeedUpMyPC 2.0
Now, you can get a faster, cleaner, and safer PC within minutes - without being a Windows expert! SpeedUpMyPC automatically finds the best settings for your PC and carefully controls your system resources to give you the best performance. Easy to use, this award-winning utility has all the features you could ever need to clean up your system, monitor resources, and improve performance.
Microsoft Great Plains Implementation for Midsize & Large Corporation: Lockbox Processing
June 24, 2008
Microsoft Great Plains is now targeting large and midsize businesses and being matured ERP has advanced, but still very simple in use modules and features: Lockbox Processing for Accounts Receivables, Customer/Vendor Consolidation, Multicurrency etc. We’ll try to cover these features in the series of small articles to help decision maker and end user understand the feature and how does it work to make a decision to purchase additional nice modules. In our opinion large corporation, which had to use ERP with rich functionality in the past, doesn’t have to do it in our new time. There are few reasons to switch to cheaper ERP, the most important are: database platform reliability improvement ? nowadays MS SQL Server does excellent job and has most of the former instability and maintenance issues resolved. The second reason ? MS Windows server is now close to be considered as a solid rock and you do not have to reboot it on the regular basis to fix all the types of "memory leaks", etc. OK, lets review Lockbox processing:
Microsoft Great Plains: Dexterity vs. eConnect ? FAQ
June 23, 2008
Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains, former Great Plains Software Dynamics/eEnterprise was originally written in IDE and programming language ? Great Plains Dexterity. Currently Microsoft is on the way of transforming its ERP applications: Great Plains, Navision, Solomon, Axapta and MS CRM to be better integrated and fit into the future of its .Net platform. As a result we see new development tools: eConnect, Extender, etc. These tools should probably succeed Dexterity in the long run. From time to time we see complications on this way ? for example on recent MBS worldwide conference ? Dexterity Source code partner program, closed several years ago for new partner, was tentatively promised to be reopened. In this small article we would like to answer on the typical questions we are getting from IT strategists and lead developers.
? eConnect Overview. This SDK tool, which addresses existing and creates new Great Plains objects: Master Records (Customer, Vendor, Employee, Account, etc) and work documents: Sales Order, Invoice, Purchase Order, GL transaction to name a few. This is excellent tool and is very popular among web developers ? it was originally created for eCommerce programmers who wanted to deploy Great Plains as back office/ERP/Accounting.
How to Make Attractive and Effective PowerPoint Presentations
June 23, 2008
Microsoft PowerPoint has dramatically changed the way in which academic and business presentations are made. This article outlines few tips on making more effective and attractive PowerPoint presentations.
THE TEXT
- Keep the wording clear and simple. Use active, visual language. Cut unnecessary words ? a good rule of thumb is to cut paragraphs down to sentences, sentences into phrases, and phrases into key words.
- Limit the number of words and lines per slide. Try the Rule of Five - five words per line, five lines per slide. If too much text appears on one slide, use the AutoFit feature to split it between two slides. Click within the placeholder to display the AutoFit Options button (its symbol is two horizontal lines with arrows above and below), then click on the button and choose Split Text Between Two Slides from the submenu.
- Font size for titles should be at least 36 to 40, while the text body should not be smaller than 24.
- Use only two font styles per slide - one for the title and the other for the text. Choose two fonts that visually contrast with each other. Garamond Medium Condensed and Impact are good for titles, while Garamond or Tempus Sans can be used for the text body.
