Automate Your Warehouse Operations with the New Warehouse Module for Dynamics 365 Business Central
Bond Consulting Services (BCS) recently partnered with an acoustics distribution company that desired an efficient way to manage their inventory and streamline their warehouse operations within Dynamics 365 Business Central. The client was previously managing their inventory and BIN numbers in Excel which required large amounts of time and effort as their team had to manually search for data in Excel and copy it into their Business Central environment.
The BCS Team is working with the client to establish a new location with various warehouse processes where their sales team can enter new orders into the system, and their warehouse team would be automatically updated with what they need to do to complete the order. This functionality will automate operations and save a lot of paper for the client by sending relevant team members new transactions so they can prepare and process a shipment without having to reference the sales and purchase orders.
The client also wants their Business Central solution to be integrated with Warehouse Insight from Insight Works after the deployment of the warehouse module. Warehouse Insight is a Business Central add-on that provides production and warehouse employees with access to hand-held computers and barcode scanners to streamline bin management, inventory counts, shipping and receiving process, and much more.
The warehouse module and Warehouse Insight for Dynamics 365 Business Central can be leveraged by distributors or any business with inventory to automate warehouse operations and improve productivity!
For more information on the powerful capabilities of Dynamics 365 Business Central, please call (562) 988-3451 or schedule a free consultation to connect with our expert team of BCS consultants!
Innovative Online Real Estate Investment Firm Utilizes Dynamics 365 Sales with Business Central to Boost Performance
Connect Invest is an Internet-based social lending platform that has successfully streamlined the real estate investment process. The Las Vegas-based company was founded in 2015 by a group of entrepreneurs who were passionate about the real estate industry. Connect Invest encourages investors to purchase Real Estate Secured Dependent Notes to fund real estate-related loans. By providing quality investments for its clients, Connect Invest has revolutionized online social lending and has empowered investors to build diversified investment portfolios.
Bond Consulting Services (BCS) partnered with Connect Invest to boost business performance by implementing Dynamics 365 Sales with Business Central. The platform was extensively customized to ensure that all financial transactions associated with the online investment firm are fully automated. Additionally, BCS included extensive integrations with the company’s custom website and with multiple financial institutions. The website integrations included active participation in website design and development, as well as testing and deployment of integrations into Business Central. By integrating Connect Invest with other financial institutions, BCS enabled a fully automated transaction process using the Dynamics 365 platform. BCS also incorporated Power BI into the company’s custom dashboards and reports. This additional customization enables management to monitor transaction flow quickly and easily throughout all phases of investment. The Connect Invest Team is excited about their new CRM environment and has been using it for the last several months to enhance their social lending process. BCS continues to provide ongoing configuration consulting and support services to Connect Invest to ensure they are getting the most out of their Dynamics 365 Sales solution.
BCS is happy to use our extensive expertise to help you transition your software solutions and take advantage of the benefits of Dynamics 365. For more information, please contact sales@BondConsulringServices.com or schedule a free consultation.
Streamline Your Field Service & Accounting Operations with the Field Service to Business Central Connector
Dynamics 365, Microsoft’s top-rated back-office software, breaks down the silos between CRM and ERP to help capture new business opportunities.
Bond Consulting Services (BCS) continues to push the boundaries of business intelligence and CRM and ERP capabilities to boost business success for our clients. Read on to learn more about the new Dynamics 365 Field Service to Business Central Connector!
Dynamics 365 Field Service to Business Central Connector:
Our expert team of BCS consultants have recently began configuring a powerful Dynamics 365 Field Service add-on for a client to connect its field service and accounting operations. Dynamics 365 Field Service is a module within Customer Engagement that enables users to quickly and easily schedule resources and technicians to resolve issues and conduct installations onsite. However, CRM and Dynamics 365 Field Service do not include a billing component where users can invoice a customer and receive a payment for the services conducted. These invoicing capabilities are typically conducted in Dynamics 365 Business Central, Microsoft’s leading accounting application.
The Dynamics 365 Field Service to Business Central Connector will resolve this invoicing issue by streamlining field service and billing operations. Once a technician completes a service for a customer, a work order will be created in Dynamics 365 Field Service that will automatically establish a sales order in Business Central that includes all the products and resources used in the service. The sales order can be used as an invoice for the customer to pay, and that payment can be made directly in Business Central. After the invoice payment is received, the Power Connector will push the posted invoice and payment information from the Customer Ledger Entry records back into Dynamics 365 Field Service so users and technicians can ensure that the service is fully completed.
The Dynamics 365 Field Service to Business Central Connector saves users time, effort and expensive licensing costs by streamlining operations but still enabling your field service team to remain in one environment, and your accounting team to remain in your Business Central environment. The Connector can be leveraged by organizations across a variety of industries to simplify scheduling, installations, support, invoicing and receiving.
As a Microsoft Gold Partner and Cloud Solution provider, BCS specializes in implementing, integrating, customizing and supporting Microsoft Dynamics solutions.
For more information on how to optimize your operations with Microsoft CRM, call (562) 988-3451 or schedule a free consultation to connect with our expert team of BCS consultants!
Streamline Your Manufacturing Operations with a Business Central and FactoryFour Integration
Bond Consulting Services (BCS) has been working closely with a medical device manufacturer that sells products and services to patients, clinicians who service patients, and distributors of medical devices to streamline their manufacturing and inventory processes. BCS had previously implemented Dynamics 365 Sales and Dynamics 365 Business Central for the client, leveraging the BCS Power Connector for advanced integration between the two solutions.
Although the client was using Dynamics 365 Business Central to automate its accounting processes, they were managing their manufacturing operations with FactoyFour, an external manufacturing management tool. The client liked having real-time production tracking and execution abilities with FactoryFour, but they desired an integrated system in which they could also leverage manufacturing tools in their Business Central environment. The medical device manufacturer again reached out to the BCS Team to conduct the important integration with Dynamics 365 Business Central and FactoryFour.
Dynamics 365 Business Central & FactoryFour Manufacturing and Inventory Process:
- Key Tables: Firstly, the BCS Team exposed many of the key tables and fields from the client’s Business Central environment through API, to enable FactoryFour to view and pull the information needed for their end of the manufacturing process. These tables included Production Orders, Items and locations, Item Ledger Entry, Item Journal, Consumption Journal, Output Journal, BOM and Routing.
- Sales Orders: The manufacturing process would then begin with the client’s Sales Orders being received and processed in their Business Central solution.
- Sales Order Receipt: Leveraging webhook, a method for customizing web applications, the Sales Order Receipt would be passed onto FactoryFour to trigger the Sales Order Work In Progress (WIP) status, the shipment tracking and invoice documentation which would be sent back into Business Central.
- Inventory Stocks: Next, FactoryFour would access the Item Ledger Entry to check whether enough stock is available and communicate with the client on what items are needed for consumption.
- Planning Engine: Leveraging the planning engine in Business Central, the client could then send the requested items for the Production and Purchase Order to the vendor to begin receiving the necessary stock.
- Production Order: Once the stock items are received, the production process would be triggered and a Production Order would be created in their Business Central environment.
- Production Order Receipt: The Production Order Number would be transferred to FactoryFour, again leveraging webhook, so FactoryFour could receive the Production Order Receipt and trigger the Production Order WIP status, including the Production Consumption and Production Output.
- Production Consumption: The Production Consumption process would create a Consumption Journal that would automatically be sent back into Business Central for the client to analyze the components and packing materials needed to complete the shipment.
- Production Output: The Production Output would create an Output Journal including the item serial tracking number and the time and quantity of output needed to complete the shipment, which would be sent back into Business Central.
- Finished Order: Then, the client could update the cost, item tracking information, and finish the order in Business Central.
- Posted Transaction: Once the items have been shipped and received by the customer, FactoryFour would be able to post the transaction and invoice which would automatically be transferred into Business Central for the payment.
A flow diagram of the Dynamics 365 Business Central and FactoryFour integration is included below as a visual of how the client’s manufacturing process is now being streamlined:
This integration has been successfully tested and is in the final stages before going live for the client. It will save the medical device manufacturer significant time, manual effort and costs by automating its manufacturing and inventory processes across the entirety of its business solutions. For instance, the client was initially using IntelliTrack, an inventory management software developer, to control its medical device inventory. However, this new integration eliminates the need for the IntelliTrack system by enabling Business Central to manage their inventory and automatically send their stock information to FactoryFour for processing and production. Additionally, FactoryFour was not able to capture the start and end times of production and the costs of each production order previously due to the separation of the systems. The integration now enables all the Production Orders, production times and production costs (including material costs and capacity costs) to be available in Business Central and viewable by FactoryFour to speed up the production and distribution time.
Thanks to the dedication and consultation efforts of the BCS and FactoryFour Teams, the client is thrilled with the new integration and is excited to begin using it to streamline their manufacturing and inventory management processes. This powerful integration can be leveraged by any organization that currently utilizes FactoryFour for its manufacturing operations and is sure to enhance your productivity and success in countless ways.
To learn more about the Dynamics 365 Business Central and FactoryFour integration, contact our BCS Team at (562) 988-3451 or schedule a free consultation.
Microsoft Azure Cost Analysis Functionality
Microsoft Azure is powerful cloud computing software that leverages AI, machine learning, SQL servers, cloud storage and other advanced features to enable businesses to build, test, deploy and manage applications.
The Microsoft Azure portal consists of a dashboard for creating and managing resources.
This dashboard also includes important cost analysis capabilities to provide a detailed breakdown of resources used, estimated and actual costs of resources, and other process expenses. This cost analysis functionality enables users to engage in predictive forecasting by estimating costs for a specific period based on how much usage is happening at the time. Cost analysis in Microsoft Azure also encourages users to set budgets that will pause your spending or alert you by email when your spending is about to exceed your budget so you can better manage your finances and keep your operations on track. However, if you do not have a budget in place, you can still access the cost analysis functionality and review how much you have spent and how much you will spend for the next month and going forward.
When conducting cost analysis in Microsoft Azure, users can create custom tables, graphs and columns to filter specific expenses and receive a more accurate estimate of future costs. This functionality is very powerful for large-scale companies who do not use Dynamics 365 Business Central and who are constantly keeping an eye on their budget. The functionality is also very useful for companies who are migrating to the cloud as they can compare the costs of migrating to what they were initially spending in-house.
The Bond Consulting Services (BCS) Team are experts in helping companies migrate, manage, and extend Microsoft Azure to improve productivity and boost business success.
For more information on the powerful benefits of Microsoft Azure, please contact sales@BondConsultingServices.com or schedule a free consultation!
Correct Manufacturing Order Receipt Entry Error Message
The manufacturing module in Dynamics GP is a powerful solution for connecting your manufacturing processes, equipment and factories, and it comes with built-in financial, inventory, accountability, payroll and sales capabilities.
A relatively common issue users experience with the Dynamics GP manufacturing module is the below error message when creating a manufacturing order receipt entry in the system:
Our expert consultants at Bond Consulting Services (BCS) have determined two main reasons for this error message.
1. A user’s Dynamics GP session was not closed properly which caused the transaction to remain open or the record to be stranded.
2. A user’s MRP (Material Requirements Planning) Regeneration process was not completed or was interrupted.
Before making any changes in SQL, make sure to review the MRP Security Window (Transactions > Manufacturing > MRP > Security) and the MRP Planned Order Security Window (Transactions > Manufacturing > MRP > MRP Planned Order Security) in Dynamics GP to see if the manufacturing order has any locks on it. If you see the manufacturing order with the correct user and item number that you would like to be unlocked in either of these windows, simply click delete to release the transaction. Now, you should be able to create a manufacturing order receipt entry within the system without any problems.
If you do not see the manufacturing order you would like to be released in the windows, an administrator with access to the SQL server will have to run some scripts in SQL to resolve the issue. The administrator should execute the queries below in SQL Server Management Studio individually.
delete tempdb..DEX_SESSION where session_id not in
(select SQLSESID from DYNAMICS..ACTIVITY)
delete tempdb..DEX_LOCK where session_id not in
(select SQLSESID from DYNAMICS..ACTIVITY)
These queries are not deleting anything in the server or system, they are just temporarily removing any Dynamics GP user who is not actually active. These users will simply have to login to Dynamics GP the next time they want to access the system.
Although frustrating, the error message alerts Dynamics GP users that inactive sessions are still causing locks on data. Following the simple steps above should clear the lock and enable the creation of manufacturing order receipt entries so you can continue running your operations and providing excellent service to your customers.
For further reference, check out the link to the Microsoft article that explains this issue.
For more information on the powerful manufacturing capabilities of Dynamics GP, please reach out to our BCS Team by scheduling a free consultation or contacting sales@BondConsultingServices.com!
Dynamics 365 in GCC High
Agile IT is a cloud-first managed services company that provides consulting, development, deployment, maintenance, and training services to its customers to get the most out of their Microsoft solutions. Agile IT is a Fast Track Ready Partner that specializes in managing and licensing the Microsoft Azure Government Community Cloud (GCC), including the more secure GCC High environment. Bond Consulting Services (BCS) is working closely with Agile IT to provide Microsoft Dynamics 365 applications within the GCC High environment. But first, let’s explore a little bit more about what GCC High is and what it can accomplish for your organization.
What is GCC High?
GCC High is a cloud-based environment that meets the needs and compliance requirements of government contractors such as the Department of Defense (DoD). Government contractors require stringent security regulations to protect their defense operations and the federal customers they service. Therefore, only DoD contractors, Defense Industrial Base employees, and Federal Agencies have access to GCC High, and they must receive validation from Microsoft before deploying the GCC High environment.
GCC High is built into the Microsoft Azure Government infrastructure which is certified as FedRAMP High to ensure the government data centers are fully protected and automatically backed up. Employees working in the Microsoft government infrastructure must be citizens of the U.S. and must undergo extensive background checks, criminal history checks, education verification, fingerprinting and other measures to access the environment so organizations never have to worry that their data is in the wrong hands.
GCC High can be integrated with various Microsoft solutions including Office 365, Microsoft 365 and Dynamics 365 to enhance government contractor’s important business operations and ensure that all security and compliance requirements are met.
Microsoft & GCC High Integrated Capabilities:
Although full parity with Office 365, Microsoft 365 and Dynamics 365 is not achieved in GCC High, many of the unique capabilities of these solutions can be accessed within the GCC High secure environment including:
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- SharePoint Online
- Exchange Online
- OneDrive for Business
- Microsoft Teams Collaboration
- Power Apps
- Power Automate
- Enterprise Licensing
- Mobility and Security Licensing
- Operating System Licensing
- Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement apps
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Dynamics 365 for GCC High:
GCC High offers licenses for Dynamics applications including Dynamics 365 Sales, Dynamics 365 Customer Service, and Dynamics 365 Project Operations. These Dynamics applications can streamline government contractors’ operations by providing their clients with a personalized and customizable customer journey, facilitating the scheduling of onsite inspections and installments, simplifying data analysis with machine learning and AI capabilities, and recording and maintaining knowledge on sales opportunities.
GCC High does not currently have available licenses for Dynamics 365 Business Central, Microsoft’s premier cloud-based software as a service (SaaS) accounting application. However, BCS and Agile IT can still deploy Dynamics 365 Business Central within your GCC High environment leveraging our extensive expertise in integrating and customizing Dynamics solutions to fit businesses’ unique needs.
BCS and Agile IT are Microsoft Gold Partners that will work closely with your organization to implement, integrate, deploy, customize and support your Microsoft solutions whether you want the flexibility of a cloud-based SaaS application or need to meet strict cybersecurity and compliance requirements. We can deploy any or all of the Dynamics 365 applications with your GCC High environment so you can leverage the power of the Microsoft cloud and experience unlimited scalability.
For more information on GCC High or Microsoft Dynamics 365, please reach out to the BCS Team at sales@BondConsultingServices.com or schedule a free consultation. To purchase GCC High today, please contact the Agile IT Team at (877) 798-6584!
Internal Sales Report & Dashboards
Power BI is Microsoft’s premier cloud-based business analytics service that provides you with a single view of your most critical business data through interactive visuals, detailed analytics and customizable reports. Bond Consulting Services (BCS) recently configured an internal sales report in Power BI for one of our top clients, a leading global provider of test and technology solutions.
The company desired a reporting functionality within their Power BI solution that would automatically portray incoming sales orders, the types of product, estimated revenue and sales ownership to seamlessly categorize and analyze sales opportunities. Our BCS Team quickly got to work customizing and deploying the internal sales report to reflect the exact needs of our client:
The new and improved internal sales report automatically updates every day to reflect the most recent and accurate sales metrics to gather actionable insights. The sales report has been extremely helpful for the technology solution provider as their team can quickly see the main customers coming down the pipeline, the owners of the sales or projects, and important sales data for closing deals, improving productivity and boosting business success. The data reflected in the internal sales report can also be turned into rich, interactive visuals with just a few simple clicks. Users can drag data fields into a visual and customize them into a variety of different forms for the best data analysis. The Power BI data visualization software can connect to many different data sources such as Dynamics 365 Business Central, CRM, Azure, Google Analytics, Salesforce and many more to centralize all of your most critical business data into a single, unified view.
Depending on the number of customizations needed, creating a report in Power BI is very easy to do and can take as little as one hour or less. However, if you would like more complicated customizations, please contact our BCS Team to get the job done right!
BCS is also working with the leading technology provider and a few other companies to establish a custom dashboard within their Power BI instance. The dashboard would primarily support the companies’ accounting teams as these teams used to have to manually calculate sales data, bookings and time utilization into Excel which took an immense amount of time and effort. BCS created a customizable dashboard that updates monthly bookings, new sales and used sales, time utilization and other important metrics each day by automatically refreshing the data and creating related reports. The dashboard in Power BI is still partially in development and testing mode, but the global technology company has been using it for the last few months and are extremely happy that the manual data entry has significantly decreased, and the reporting accuracy has significantly increased.
These powerful reports and dashboards are scalable for nearly any size and type of company and can be used to expedite business processes and improve business success today and long into the future.
For more information on how to leverage Power BI for your business or to learn more about creating customized reports and dashboards within Power BI, please contact our expert team of consultants at BCS by calling (562) 988-3451 or scheduling a free consultation!
What's New in Dynamics GP | version 18.2 to 18.3
Dynamics GP is Microsoft’s mid-market ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) solution that can be implemented in the cloud or on-premises. Dynamics GP is secure and scalable, and it encourages users to innovate and stay agile to compete in today’s market.
Over the years, Microsoft has released several new upgrades and versions of Dynamics GP to keep up with the digital transformation and support users’ unique needs. Bond Consulting Services (BCS) specializes in extending the experience and functionality of Dynamics GP with auxiliary apps and services to boost business success for our clients. To evaluate the solutions and better understand which version and capabilities of Dynamics GP will work best for your business, we compiled a list of important updates to highlight from Dynamics GP 2019 (18.2) through Dynamics GP 2020 (18.3).
Dynamics GP 2019 (18.2) Highlights:
1. Long description for payables transaction entries
There is a new option in Payables Setup for very long descriptions up to 200 characters. The long description displays on the following pages:
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- Transaction Entry
- Payables Transaction Entry Zoom
- PM Transaction Inquiry
The long description prints on the following checks in Payables Check Entry (single invoice):
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- Check With Stub on Top
- Check With Stub on Bottom
- Check With Stub on Top and Bottom-Text
- Check With Stub on Top and Bottom-Graphical
- Check With Two Stub on Top
- User-Defined Check1
- User-Defined Check2
The long description prints on the following document in Payables Transaction Entry:
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- PM Blank Document
The long description does not post to the general ledger.
2. Show user who posted for Journal Entry Inquiry
The Journal Entry Inquiry window now has a new field that shows the user who posted the entry.
The User Who Posted field shows for both open entries and historical entries.
3. Document Attach available in Bank Reconciliation
You can now attach documents in the following windows:
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- Bank Deposit Entry
- Bank Transaction Entry
- Bank Deposit Entry Zoom
- Bank Transaction Entry Zoom
Dynamics GP 2020 (18.3) Highlights:
1. Additional user-defined fields in General Ledger Transaction Entry
Two new fields are added to the General Ledger Transaction Entry window and included in the Edit list and Posting journal so that users can describe transactions.
You must configure labels in General Ledger Setup. Users can then add information or comments regarding transactions.
Tip:
Add the fields to SmartList & other reports if your organization finds them useful.
For more information, see Additional User-Defined Fields in General Ledger Transaction Entry.
2. 1099 Form Updates
The IRS releases a new 1099 NEC form for the 2020 tax year where Non-Employee Compensation (NEC) is moved from 1099 MISC to its own form. This update of Dynamics GP adds Nonemployee Compensation as a 1099 tax type in the following windows:
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- Vendor Card
- Update 1099 Information utility
For more information, see Form 1099 NEC.
The 1099-MISC form has also been revised to meet the IRS regulatory changes for the 2020 tax year
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- Non-Employee Compensation (NEC) moved to its own form
- Box 9: Crop insurance proceeds are reported
- Box 10: Gross proceeds to an attorney
- Box 12: Section 409A deferrals
- Box 14: Non-qualified deferred compensation income
- Boxes 15 and 17: State taxes withheld, and amount of income earned in the state, respectively
- Box 7: Replaced by the 1099 NEC form
- Box 16: State number is not a currency field and it is available at the header level of the 1099 details window
For more information, see 1099 MISC Form Updates.
3. Export/Import stock counts to Excel
Export and import data with Excel from the Stock Count and Stock Count Schedule windows, giving you more flexibility with this process.
For more information, see Export/Import Stock Counts to Excel.
For the complete list of Dynamics GP 2015 through Dynamics GP 2020 Highlights, please download the What's New in Dynamics GP BCS Whitepaper.
For more information on the powerful benefits of Dynamics GP, talk to our expert consultants today at sales@BondConsultingServices.com or schedule a free consultation!
Successful Design and Manufacturing Company Makes a Rapid Switch to Business Central
Since 2005, J28 Design has been providing innovative mounting systems to a broad range of vehicle makes such as Lexus, BMW, and Cadillac. J28’s specialty BlendMount product line provides a mounting solution for radar detectors in over 45 vehicle makes. J28 consistently impresses its customers by using state-of-the-art machinery to produce the highest quality automotive parts. The manufacturing company also prides itself on strict quality control as the J28 management staff directs every step in the mount creation process.
Since its conception, J28 has skyrocketed in sales and growth which has put increased pressure on the company’s internal systems. Recently, J28 decided to ditch its old software for a new and improved cloud solution, and trusted Bond Consulting Services (BCS) to be its partner throughout the process. The J28 Team desired a rapid transition from QuickBooks to Dynamics 365 Business Central with important modules such as Sales, Purchasing, Inventory, Assembly, General Ledger, Bank Reconciliation, Financial Reporting and Power BI.
BCS was ahead of schedule and quickly deployed the customized solution to streamline J28 Design’s business operations and production. The BCS Team leveraged the migration utility to convert the master files from QuickBooks into Business Central. The BCS Team also provided essential training for the various modules and features such as Sales Orders, Sales Invoices, Accounts Payable, Inventory, Bank Reconciliation and Assembly BOMs. J28 Design’s Power BI Content Pack was configured with their instance to provide rich and interactive visuals to easily gather actionable insights with embedded AI. BCS developed and tested the customized modules to ensure they fit the needs and desires of J28 Design, before implementing the solution. The J28 Design Team is very happy with their Business Central environment and has been using it for the last several months to streamline their operations and enhance their automotive machinery production.
Mike Giordano, President of J28 Design shared: “We were thrilled that the BCS Team was ahead of schedule for our Business Central migration, and we are very excited to utilize the new features and capabilities included in the Microsoft cloud platform.”
BCS has enjoyed working closely with J28 Design and their excellent team, and we look forward to providing ongoing configuration consulting and support for their Dynamics 365 environment long into the future!
For more information on how Dynamics 365 Business Central and BCS can enhance your business operations, please reach out to our expert team of consultants at sales@BondConsultingServices.com or schedule a free consultation!