ERP, CRM and eCommerce Blog

Companies often have valuable operational and financial data stored in multiple systems and have to create reports by combining this data. For example, a retailer may have customer demographic data such as customer location, gender, employment status and home ownership stored in Dynamics CRM, and sales data stored in ERP such as Dynamics AX or Dynamics GP. The retailer might then want to create a sales analysis report by combining data from both CRM and ERP. In the past, it has been difficult to create PivotTables based on data from different data sources. PowerPivot is a free add-in for Excel 2010 that allows you to easily create PivotTables based on data from disparate systems, websites, spreadsheets, or databases. Using PowerPivot, you can quickly create PivotTables based on up to 100 million rows of data.

After you install PowerPivot, you will see a PowerPivot tab on the Ribbon in Excel. When you click the PowerPivot tab, you see the following buttons.

PowerPivot tab in Excel

Clicking on the PowerPivot Window button opens the PowerPivot window and displays the following options.

Home tab after clicking on PowerPivot Window button

You can now import data from external data sources such as SQL Server, SQL Server Analysis Services, Microsoft Access, Microsoft Excel and text files.

In the following example, the company has the customer, customer address and sales data stored in the ERP system. It maintains sales territories in the Dynamics CRM system. It has also created a custom entity in Dynamics CRM to maintain the mapping from State/Province to sales territory. For example, Alaska (AK) is in the Northwest territory and California (CA) is in the Southwest territory.

The company has imported the customer, customer address and sales data from ERP and Territory data and State/Province to Territory mapping from CRM into PowerPivot. It has also created the following relationships:

• Customer Address to State/Province (based on State/Province)
• State/Province to Territory (based on Territory)

PowerPivot enables you to manage relationships between tables in PowerPivot based on common data elements. The following screen shots illustrate this feature.

Relationship between Customer Address and State/Province based on StateProvinceID.

Relationship between State/Province and Territory based on TerritoryID.

Now you are ready to do the analysis by combining data from both sources.

PowerPivot for Excel enables you to analyze Sales by Territory by combining data from ERP and CRM.

In summary, PowerPivot for Excel enables you to create reports based on data residing in multiple systems and tables using the tool you are already familiar with. You can download the PowerPivot for Excel 2010 here.

This post is written by Abi Shende. Abi is a Team Leader in Microsoft Dynamics CRM with Ignify. Ignify is winner of the Microsoft Partner of the Year in 2011 and provides CRM, eCommerce, and ERP software solutions to businesses and public sector organizations. Ignify has been included as the fastest growing business in North America for 5 years in a row by Deloitte, Inc Magazine and Entrepreneur Magazine, and ranked as one of 100 most innovative companies in the world in the Red Herring Global 100 in 2011. If you are seeking assistance to maximize your efforts with your CRM project, contact Ignify at 562-219-2001 or email us at crm@ignify.com.

Have you ever ordered something online, and then when that something was delivered, you found that it was completely wrong from what you originally ordered? It could have been the wrong color, wrong size, or even the wrong item altogether. Having to first deal with the shock of opening up a box containing a totally different item than the one you’re anticipating, and then having to go through the hassles of either returning or exchanging it, is enough to sour anyone on the web store they ordered from. And if a business puts a customer in a bad mood, it’s pretty safe to say that the ticked-off customer won’t be rushing to return any time soon.

For any business, pushing customers away because you don’t fulfill their orders correctly is a mistake that you do not want to make. Fulfilling orders may seem like a simple enough idea, but it is an absolutely critical process. Getting your customer the product that he or she orders can mean the difference between a loyal, long-term client and a one-time-only visitor.

For salespeople and customer service representatives, being able to correctly enter the right customer information and view the history of a sales order is crucial for providing good customer service. An excellent tool for sales folks to use for viewing and organizing their customers’ sales information is Ignify’s Order Entry Solution for Microsoft Dynamics. Built on Microsoft technologies, including the .NET framework, the Order Entry Solution is a Web-based portal that offers salespeople and customer service representatives complete visibility over customer order information, as well as the ability to enter data quickly.

With the Order Entry Solution, a salesperson or account executive is able to easily look up and view customer and account history, and create new sales orders if needed. And if an order has not been processed, a representative can edit the information in the order, enabling him or her to add or remove items from an order, change the shipping method, or change the shipping address on an order or order line. The Excel-like interface of the solution makes viewing and editing especially easy by allowing you to tab in and out of fields, and key in products.

The Order Entry Solution improves customer satisfaction and minimizes order errors by offering salespeople and customer service representatives a comprehensive view of customer data and order history, and the ability to make appropriate changes.

Customer management is also enhanced by the fact that the solution can identify for you the customers who have earned preferential levels or VIP status, meaning that you can offer adjusted product prices to the customers who meet those special status levels. Because really, who would turn down a lower price if they can get it? When a store makes an effort to give their return customers tokens of appreciation in the form of discounts and special offers, those customers notice (and become more likely to return – which of course continues the sales cycle).

The integration of the Order Entry Solution with Microsoft Dynamics ERP and CRM systems also assists with providing customer-specific pricing. With this integration, any specific price lists or trade agreements that are set up in the ERP and CRM systems will be reflected in the Order Entry Solution. So for example, if there are particular retail or distributor prices that a store offers, the Order Entry Solution will have that data, allowing the customer service representative to again modify the product prices for customers to correspond with this information.

The in-built marketing functionalities of the Order Entry Solution also bolster a company’s efforts to reach out to both existing and potential customers alike. The instant alerts of an order that qualifies for a rebate, the cues given to salespeople and representatives of cross-sell and up-sell opportunities, and the ability to create and apply promotional codes and gift certificates are all examples of marketing activities that can help increase a company’s revenue. By utilizing these marketing capabilities to offer customers unique, attention-grabbing promotions, businesses up their chances of immediately capturing those customers and ensuring they come back.

As with any database or software that allows monetary transactions, ensuring that all the data contained within is fully secure is of the utmost importance to both the customer making an order, and the business that is conducting the transaction with that customer. The Order Entry Solution protects against potential problems by instantly indicating to a representative when an order isn’t kosher. For example, the system contains fraud alerts for orders, as well as alerts for other order issues, and it can even be parametrically set up to track advanced fraud. The system can also automatically put orders that meet a certain criteria on hold until they are checked and verified.

By using the rich set of order entry features and functionalities within the Order Entry Solution, and by gaining the valuable insight into customer transactions and history that those functionalities provide, salespeople and customer service representatives acquire a reputation for outstanding customer service that inevitably spreads to the rest of the company.

As business icon Warren Buffet once said, "It takes twenty years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently." Don’t chance ruining your store’s reputation in the five minutes it takes a customer to open a box and discover their order was processed wrong. Use the tools that will ensure your company’s reputation stays spotless.

Ashley Harbaugh is a Product Marketing Specialist at Ignify. Ignify is a technology provider of CRM, eCommerce and ERP, software solutions to businesses and public sector organizations. Ignify has been included as the fastest growing business in North America for 5 years in a row by Deloitte, Inc Magazine and Entrepreneur Magazine and ranked as one of 100 most innovative companies in the world in the Red Herring Global 100 in 2011.

ERP software is considered an indispensable resource in running and managing the business operations for companies of all shapes and sizes, Although most business persons at a middle management level or higher have gone through at least one ERP implementation and the software itself is mature – there are not many implementation frameworks available Examples of common questions that you and your employees may have are how will this software impact my company? Which ERP solution will best fit the needs and requirements of my business? What is the process for running and managing these programs after installation?

Understanding the need to provide a comprehensive framework that addresses all of the questions and issues concerning ERP solution implementation, Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step offers a systematic, standardized methodology that contains all of the tools, templates, and best practices needed for each step of the implementation process. With Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step, customers can experience the increased efficiency, enhanced productivity, and minimization of risk that following specific standards and procedures in the ERP implementation.

Here are five important reasons why Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step should be used in conjunction with your ERP implementation.

1. Consistent, repeatable model of implementation.

   By providing an implementation model that enables you to follow a series of the same implementation methods applied for businesses of all shapes and sizes, Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step provides a system that promotes consistent implementation quality and success at all stages of the process. Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step offers a clear, understandable services delivery approach that can easily be learned and adopted by all members involved in an implementation project.

2. Step-by-step guidance of the implementation process.

   The Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step system offers a step-by-step implementation approach that incorporates visual elements such as process flow diagrams and charts along with detailed descriptions of each implementation stage. By using the available tools, templates, and resources that the Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step methodology provides, a customer gains an in-depth knowledge of solution implementation and a familiarity with the processes involved in implementation.

   

   Figure. General Ledger Approval Journal Process flow that comes out of the box with Microsoft Dynamics AX. Example of standard best practice business process flows that help stream line the ERP Implementation

   Six phases are contained within the Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step methodology: Diagnostic, Analysis, Design, Development, Deployment, and Operation. In the Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step program, all six phases offer detailed explanations that each phase serves and the important milestones and deliverables that are expected to be achieved during the phase’s completion.

   

   Figure: Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step reducing risk from your ERP implementation by providing clear phases such as Diagnostic, Analysis, Design, Development, Deployment and Operation.

   Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step, however, doesn’t provide a cookie-cutter approach. Based on the type of the implementation it has the capability to serve up different templates and deliverables. For example, it provides the following project templates based on your needs:

   Standard Implementation: Typically used as a lean approach to implement an ERP at a single site with moderate complexity

   Enterprise Implementation: Typically used where a standardized approach for implementing an ERP in either a complex single-site environment or in a global/ multi-site organization where country specific solutions have to be factored on top of a core solution.

   Agile Implementation: Uses an iterative, incremental process for developing and implementing the ERP. This project gives customer greater control over the final solution because customers can quickly change the direction of the solution from one sprint cycle to next. Typically used at a single site requiring specific features and moderate to complex customizations.

   Rapid Implementation: an accelerated approach for implementing an ERP with minimal or no customizations. This can be used in situations characterized by a limited scope where the basic application features are desired, and/or where the large majority of the customer’s business processes are not considered as complex.

   Upgrade: Used for ERP Upgrades from one major version to another. This can be for simple technical upgrades or include upgrades with configuration of new functionality.

   With support for different project types that allow detailed information on the diverse selection of implementation processes that fit the needs of a wide variety of businesses and industries you can feel confident in taking a confident step towards your ERP implementation.

3. Minimization of implementation risk through optimization offerings.

   Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step offers seven optimization offerings that provide guidance for both technical and functional designs and review the performance and operations of your ERP system. These offerings are particularly helpful for large, complex implementations because they effectively and proactively organize the management of project quality from the first phase to the last.

   Through the seven optimization offerings – Architecture Review, Design Review, Customization Review, Performance Review, Health Check, Upgrade Review, and Project Governance and Delivery Review – an exhaustive, independent review of the software implementation is performed to ensure that within each phase the solutions meet the customer’s needs and requirements, as well as offering descriptions on the impact that the various components of the implemented solution will have on the customer’s business operations, and identifying and presenting any potential problems or issues to the customer. Each optimization offering is described below with examples of how Ignify typically delivers these to customers

   Architecture Review: With this Optimization Offering, Ignify reviews the overall architecture, reporting strategy, and infrastructure to meet the customer’s business requirements, which includes operational and delivery review activities that may be initiated and executed throughout the ERP implementation. Through this review, Ignify offers advice to the customer on detecting any operational risks and addressing potential problems before they occur.

   Design Review: We pride ourselves in being able to leverage standard functionality and using creative configuration Vs. customizing the application where possible. Our design review is typically lead by a lead functional consultant to review that standard functionality is used to the extent possible to meet business requirements. In addition the design review is helpful to identify current business pain points that can be met with standard functionality in the ERP that can help increase use of the system and increase the ROI on your ERP implementation.

   Customization Review: Ignify will typically get involved in reviewing modification made to your ERP and evaluate them multiple things including whether the code meets best practices, and whether the code has been customized or can be eliminated since there is already standard functionality in the current version or future version of your ERP. For example, in one implementation that we evaluated we found that a customer had built out a custom Bill of Materials (BOM) not realizing that their ERP already provided native BOM functionality out of the box.

   Performance Review: Typically we get involved in analyzing the performance of your application by using performance review tools including logging, database monitoring, hardware monitoring to identify choke points that are causing issues in delivering optimal performance. Recommendations may include increasing hardware size, re-indexing the database on a regular basis, improving your database log clean-up or setting up an data archival/ purge process on a periodic basis.

   Health Check: With a Health Check, Ignify identifies any problems with the ERP deployment, and offers ways that those issues can be resolved. With the Health Check, a report is provided to the customer that details the data that was gathered and analyzed during the review process, offers implementation scorecards, and then gives the customer recommendations on how to address or fix any possible issues that were identified during the review. With this Optimization Offering, the performance of the ERP implementation is fine-tuned to make sure that the software fulfills all of your business needs and requirements.

   Upgrade Review: During an upgrade very often implementers and customers will focus on just upgrading to the latest version and do just a technical upgrade. Ignify uses the upgrade review as a tool to evaluate if new functionality in the new version is applicable to solve business problems for you and also whether customizations that were upgraded can be replaced with standard functionality. This then allows the path for a functional upgrade and allows you to get the true business benefits of the new version.

   Project Governance: Both during and at the end of the implementation project, this Optimization Offering evaluates how the ERP implementation delivered against its initial vision and performed against schedule and quality, as well as providing phase-by phase recommendations and project health dashboards. With Project Governance, Ignify regularly assesses the ERP implementation and continues to offer findings and recommendations to the customer, ensuring that the customer continues to receive full, proactive support after implementation.

   Delivery Review: With the Delivery Review, the review team works with you after the ERP implementation in order to ensure continued successful outcomes from the ERP software. The review team assesses the overall implementation, analyzing the project delivery process, lessons learned from each stage of the implementation, and offers the customer recommendations for the future based on their resulting findings.

   Each optimization offering provides a report to the customer containing the findings and recommendations of the review team, with the customer then deciding whether to adhere to all the recommendations or a subset of them.

4. Increased management oversight with Project Management disciplines and processes.

   Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step provides best practices management activities and tasks throughout phase implementation to ensure that all pieces of the integration process – knowledge, resources, procedures, schedules, communications, and so on – are completely tied and connected together into a cohesive, operational whole. Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step breaks down these management activities into different disciplines and offers in-depth information on the activities and tasks that comprise each of these disciplines.

   

   Figure. Complete ERP Project Management offering if available in the Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step with 3 distinct phases including Project Initiation and Planning, Project Execution & Monitoring and Project Closing.

   Through the Risk, Scope, Issue, Time and Cost, Resource, Communication, Quality, Procurement, and Sales Management disciplines, you are able to fully organize, coordinate, and oversee all aspects of an implementation project, starting from the project’s initiation and planning process, then progressing to its execution and monitoring, and finally ending with the project’s closure. By providing detailed guidelines for project management disciplines and processes, Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step allows managers to identify and assign the specific tasks and activities necessary for each part of the implementation process, thus enhancing the project’s efficiency by determining the tasks to be accomplished and assigning them to appropriate team members, and also increasing the chances of an overall successful ERP software implementation.

5. Defines the roles and responsibilities for stakeholder involved in the implementation process.

   Because the implementation of an ERP solution involves many people from different areas, determining the roles of each individual within the project and their associated responsibilities can sometimes be a difficult and confusing process. Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step solves this by offering a clear-cut determination of the individual roles who comprise the implementation process and providing them guidance and direction on the implementation phases, tasks, and activities that they are accountable for performing or overseeing. By offering clearly defined roles, project communication is enriched by eliminating misunderstandings about project ownership and assignments and establishing expectations on what the each person’s involvement in the project will be.

Another advantage to the Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step role definition process is that it can support the implementation needs of customer organizations of all sizes. For example, in a smaller organization multiple roles are assigned to one individual. By offering a scalable solution, Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step covers the functional requirements of all businesses, large and small.

Conclusion

An ERP Implementation is akin to a heart transplant and can be scary and intimidating. However, by putting a sound methodology in place and working hand-in-glove with a capable partner, you can de-risk the implementation and lay the foundation for a successful implementation.

Microsoft provides a very feature-rich and flexible ERP solution for countless companies around the globe and it backs this up with Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step to streamline implementation processes from beginning to end and enhance overall productivity while meeting customer needs. Ignify’s RAPID framework built on Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step offers pre-built deliverables that can help accelerate your implementation and lower cost of an implementation. The combination of SureStep for a streamlined implementation with RAPID for lowered cost and efficiency can guarantee an on-time and in-budget implementation.

For more best practice guidance email us at dynamics@ignify.com

Authored by Ashley Harbaugh and Sandeep Walia. Ashley is a Technical Writer at Ignify and Sandeep Walia is CEO of Ignify. Ignify is a leading provider of Microsoft Dynamics ERP solutions to mid-market and Enterprise businesses. Ignify has been ranked in the Microsoft Dynamics Inner Circle, Microsoft Dynamics Presidents Club and was selected as the Finalist for Microsoft Partner of the Year in 2010. Ignify has offices and team members in Southern California, Northern California, Arizona, Tennessee, Illinois, Washington, Canada, Malaysia, India, Philippines.

Last week Ignify had presented a paper at the Dynamics Academic Alliance proceeding in the Microsoft Convergence conference. This blog is a summary of the paper. Microsoft Dynamics AX presents the most powerful ERP product as validated by Gartner and other analyst firms. It provides enterprise coverage for the business but especially shines in optimization of supply chain, MRP, warehousing, and inventory management.

The traditional model of produce/ buy, stock and sell has been turned on its head. Just because you are able to make enough of an item and stock it – it doesn’t mean you are going to be able to sell it. The supply chain has to be very nimble and responsive to the shifting demand patterns. Demand is not only different by items, assortments and item categories but also can be very different by channel, geography and customer type. For example one of our customers sells to big box retailers with EDI orders as the sales channel, sells direct to consumer through its ecommerce sites and then to academia through a network of sales professionals and inside customer service team members. The big box retailers hit their peak in September and October when they stock up for the holiday season while the ecommerce site hit its peak in November and December and the schools typically buy in June and July before the schools open. While there is overlap in what each customer buyer segment buys there are differences too. So the customer has the challenge of aggregating the demand across all the different channels and customer types and combining into an overall business demand forecast and ensuring the supply chain stays in tune with the demand pattern as there are always changes due to a multitude of factors.

Figure. The Traditional Linear Supply Chain is becoming more Demand Driven. Microsoft Dynamics AX provides native functionality for a demand driven supply chain with MRP, Production planning, Purchase Planning and Vendor Portals

Microsoft Dynamics AX offers rich functionality for helping Improve Customer Service, Lower Inventory Carrying Costs, and Increase Visibility through the supply chain.:

1. Powerful MRP and Master Planning functionality: Dynamics AX has the ability to take in a sale or demand forecast (or multiple forecasts for different geographies, customer groups, item groups/ item categories) and automatically create recommended purchase orders with purchases dates and recommended production orders for manufacturers. Master Planning automates purchasing and production planning.
2. Safety Stock Recommendation: A tool that automatically recommends safety stock for items based on past sales order volume and desired fill rate.
3. Vendor Portal: For vendors to be able to login and see their purchase orders and if you desire also your inventory so you can move to a Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) model.
4. Supplier collaboration tools: A services oriented architecture with the Application Integration Framework (AIF) that makes integrating with suppliers and customers straight-forward with the use of web services.
5. Operational dashboards and Native BI: While most systems provide management dashboards – Dynamics AX provides operational dashboards and role centers that improve insight at the guts of the organization. For example out of the box role centers exist for Warehouse Managers, Accounts Payable Clerk, Controller in addition to the Executive dashboards for a CEO, CFO and other CxO roles. This helps ensure that users at all levels are empowered with the correct information to make intelligent and informed decisions. Most importantly Dynamics AX can be a single integrated system that captures all important data and provides a single version of truth for users across the organization.

Figure. Microsoft Dynamics AX provides information at all levels in the organization with operational, tactical and executive dashboards thus allowing for informed decision making across the organization.

As an example, Ellison had seen a significant shift in its business model from a manufacturing company to a distribution business. It had also morphed from a single channel to a multi-channel business. It also needed to optimize its supply chain to be able to more tightly integrate its supply with its demand and reduce on-hand inventory with automated planned purchasing. Ellison implemented Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 that helped it

1. Automate the warehouse with RF using native Dynamics AX integration though AIF to the RF hardware. Dynamics AX provided the ability to do directed pick and directed put-away using the location control in Microsoft Dynamics AX
2. Used Master planning to automate the purchasing process and reduce inventory carrying costs.
3. Integrate natively to customers to receive orders via EDI and process ASNs thus increasing visibility to demand and lowering order processing costs

Ram Kanagala, Director – IT at Ellison susms this up well "This project is a showcase example of a client-partner relationship at the highest quality, delivering the project on time and on budget, with improved business processes and seamless information flow across systems, resulting in operational cost efficiencies and improved sales forecasts." If you need more information on optimizing your supply chain email us at dynamics@ignify.com

Eric Shuss is the President of the ERP Division of Ignify. Ignify is a technology provider of ERP, POS , CRM , and eCommerce software solutions to mid-market and enterprise businesses and public sector organizations. Ignify is a Top-tier Microsoft Gold Certified partner ranked in the Microsoft Partner of the Year for Retail in 2010 and both the Microsoft Dynamics Inner Circle and the Microsoft Dynamics Presidents Club in 2009. Ignify has been included as the fastest growing business in North America for 4 years in a row by Deloitte, Inc Magazine and Entrepreneur Magazine. Ignify has employees in Los Angeles, Silicon Valley, Phoenix, Nashville, Chicago, Toronto, Manila, Pune and Bangalore.