tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82242725592034024562024-03-13T16:28:47.062-04:00Microsoft Dynamics Corporate Performance Management, Management Reporter & BI BloggerYour 'go-to' resource for Corporate Performance Management (CPM), Management Reporter (MR), Forecaster, FRx and related other Business Intelligence (BI) information from a Dynamics ERP perspective.Leshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17151062509021999492noreply@blogger.comBlogger49125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8224272559203402456.post-37001612240288205392019-05-13T15:31:00.000-04:002019-05-13T15:31:00.337-04:00What is the Future of Dynamics CPM?<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sadly, there is no still no Microsoft Dynamics Corporate Performance Management (CPM) or Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) solution available from Microsoft.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Along with that, Microsoft's former CPM solutions; namely Forecaster and FRx/Management Reporter, are basically dead although Management Reporter has a continued shelf-life as Financial Reporter for Dynamics 365 Financials & Operations users.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, if you came to this thread, looking for the new shiny FP&A solution from Microsoft, you may be disappointed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But on the flip side, there are a number of very good FP&A solutions available on the market today and many of them can integrate with Microsoft Dynamics ERPs, whether the legacy Dynamics family (i.e. GP, NAV, SL or AX), or the new Dynamics 365 Cloud family (FO or Business Central 'BC').</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you're in the market for a new FP&A solution to help you with planning (i.e. budgeting, forecasting), reporting (i.e. management, financial, currency translations, consolidations) or analysis that I've found is easy to use, easy to implement, easy to maintain and works the way you do, I'd be happy to talk to you about it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Feel free to contact me:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">- on LinkedIn <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/leswrightcma/" target="_blank">here</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">- or via the FP&A It Forward website <a href="http://fpaitforward.com/contact/" target="_blank">here</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sincerely,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Les Wright</span>Leshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17151062509021999492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8224272559203402456.post-64368413630931929742016-10-25T12:14:00.002-04:002016-10-25T12:15:05.589-04:00Dilbert on Why Self-Service Reporting, BI & Analytics Takes Faith<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The term 'self-service' has been applied to reporting, business intelligence and analytics over the past few years. While </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">there are many business use cases for agile, 'self-service' approaches; it is a <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/lies-damn-modern-bi-myth-les-wright?trk=mp-author-card" target="_blank">BI myth</a> to believe that the need for a single consolidated source of truth is going away. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>So, why do </b></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>I say that self-service BI takes 'faith'? </b> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Whether you </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">trust sales person 1 who prepared a report in Excel or their favourite BI tool based on the centralized data warehouse that has ingested the raw sales data, applied consistent rules to modify the data and provide it in an easy to use and understand model or </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">sales person 2 armed with an exported sales report, Excel to modify the data and a data discovery tool to report accurately on last month's sales, you need to trust the initial data quality, interim transformation process and final aggregation and visualization. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSDtMbOJ-gbUwUGzHPKhOnGJPBqPU4N7grCyL7wEAQ5-XQb2NfVh779cLpDH5VDWaliEJ148ra0AQQjyCSwZw2peID-dibk8BYPJ9aqf414BB9Sx-1MYt9pejFUiykRb3vd3slr6HePe98/s1600/Dilbert-Data-God-160810.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSDtMbOJ-gbUwUGzHPKhOnGJPBqPU4N7grCyL7wEAQ5-XQb2NfVh779cLpDH5VDWaliEJ148ra0AQQjyCSwZw2peID-dibk8BYPJ9aqf414BB9Sx-1MYt9pejFUiykRb3vd3slr6HePe98/s640/Dilbert-Data-God-160810.gif" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Source: <a href="http://dilbert.com/strip/2016-08-10">http://dilbert.com/strip/2016-08-10</a></span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Neither process is wrong, but there are obvious benefits to each approach and </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">organizations should take a</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> </span><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/you-bi-modal-les-wright?trk=mp-author-card" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;" target="_blank">bi-modal </a><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">approach to leverage the strengths of each.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">My experience working with clients supports this. There are several types of people who work at organizations, but at a bare minimum, there are data analysts (those trained and experienced working with data) and data consumers (those who either lack this training and experience or simply don't have the time). We are not moving forward if we expect those in the second category to supernaturally 'help themselves'. </span></div>
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Leshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17151062509021999492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8224272559203402456.post-20449805794366230432016-02-08T10:17:00.001-05:002016-02-08T10:18:19.741-05:00Dilbert Sensors IoT Big Data Employee Hat <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We've been hearing a lot about Big Data for years and big data sources getting increasing attention these days are smart machines and sensors. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Sensors, like the one in Dilbert's stylish hat, can be embedded in wearable technology, enhancing what traditionally has been low tech clothing with numerous data points to be harnessed to create new and better products and solutions, ultimately better serving customers and improving profits.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqb0MwSeWhN38EhM_fnQOTIrL6cLJke_FHadXFVff4OI0EX7dxc1L9sczszOFZegiyrKfP3cf2vTTiMds729D257284dGoHpz0KXiBgrc5euQQ43Wp7p6gwZ1ZxCfAiCsDou2MqO9IfvQh/s1600/Dilbert_Sensors_20160207.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqb0MwSeWhN38EhM_fnQOTIrL6cLJke_FHadXFVff4OI0EX7dxc1L9sczszOFZegiyrKfP3cf2vTTiMds729D257284dGoHpz0KXiBgrc5euQQ43Wp7p6gwZ1ZxCfAiCsDou2MqO9IfvQh/s640/Dilbert_Sensors_20160207.gif" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">Source: <a href="http://dilbert.com/strip/2016-02-08">http://dilbert.com/strip/2016-02-08</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">Now, back to work!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> </span>Leshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17151062509021999492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8224272559203402456.post-75026708263020779722016-01-07T12:55:00.000-05:002016-01-07T12:56:22.623-05:00Dilbert Spreadsheet Error Ethics<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I feel compelled to post this latest Dilbert strip on spreadsheet errors, as a follow up to yesterday's post.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjekRuXi8mEYQ0JOHP1ucn1XArux96zUPS0HitEZRYL8Aq4tmu4sU9d1crhpej4PmMx_J06VNHuXxmaPB3sXv76NPOy-8JFm-d2iKhg7rFPRPLP6Av3D5vnGG5q0-_oEJU8fSt46s-v8q8N/s1600/Dilbert_ExcelErrors_20160107.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjekRuXi8mEYQ0JOHP1ucn1XArux96zUPS0HitEZRYL8Aq4tmu4sU9d1crhpej4PmMx_J06VNHuXxmaPB3sXv76NPOy-8JFm-d2iKhg7rFPRPLP6Av3D5vnGG5q0-_oEJU8fSt46s-v8q8N/s640/Dilbert_ExcelErrors_20160107.gif" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Source: <a href="http://dilbert.com/strip/2016-01-07">http://dilbert.com/strip/2016-01-07</a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I suppose this same type of question could apply to machine learning and other advanced analytics that could also be easily misapplied.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Do you have spreadsheets with critical errors that you're overlooking because they give you the answers you want?</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Or, perhaps you have error free spreadsheets that are manually updated periodically (every day, week, month, etc.) that are an inefficient use of time?</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Either way, there are both Excel-based and non-Excel based solutions to help!</span>Leshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17151062509021999492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8224272559203402456.post-85451642916193011852016-01-06T10:01:00.000-05:002016-01-06T10:34:22.976-05:00Dilbert Spreadsheet Errors<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There have got to be more posts on the problems with Excel and spreadsheet errors than pictures of cats on FaceBook at this point.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">But, now that Dilbert has chimed in, we all know the issues are real!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-EvJ5LE_d9c4uz4_QZv_U37W_5jSubRCxRLSpKWP8pAXQmcFIyH6fdihGT9O1yKDoZt60MXo9GjBkdKg3clFABerSHuGSoG7_Fr8XM_rUVXkdhP2yiS6HwI7_9f9DcTf9rjYUBRJK9wDe/s1600/Dilbert_ExcelErrors_20160116.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-EvJ5LE_d9c4uz4_QZv_U37W_5jSubRCxRLSpKWP8pAXQmcFIyH6fdihGT9O1yKDoZt60MXo9GjBkdKg3clFABerSHuGSoG7_Fr8XM_rUVXkdhP2yiS6HwI7_9f9DcTf9rjYUBRJK9wDe/s640/Dilbert_ExcelErrors_20160116.gif" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Source: <a href="http://dilbert.com/strip/2016-01-06">http://dilbert.com/strip/2016-01-06</a></span></div>
Leshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17151062509021999492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8224272559203402456.post-7198383827131543882015-02-23T21:56:00.000-05:002015-02-23T21:56:52.525-05:00Real Life BI: Science Fair Data Presentation<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This year, one of my sons participates in the Science Fair for the first time. All in all, this was a good experience for both him and us parents. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now, I didn't take a lot of science myself, so I am not sure that I was particularly helpful in that regard. Having an iPhone, I was able to Google search and perform mobile research on the affects of heat on an elastic band as we performed the experiment.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">My greatest contribution, in my opinion anyhow, was this graph. I was proud to use my real world knowledge of graphing and presenting data to recommend that my son use separate axis for both temperature and length, allowing the relationship between the two to be comprehended nearly instantaneously. With only one axis, this was not clear at all as the length appeared to be constant.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs1nVJJ3yB9clfo9mvX0BmRC5etA-lQ507kp1D7jBu4WTc4zhUnKdAKckRMpYyhVXA0s_HePL0rizUW4HXGtu0GtYbjgkp_-WcdFXQQZiRkWfZbQGsQJgd81kqRplZIKI62K6O6SV6-huA/s1600/ScienceFair.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs1nVJJ3yB9clfo9mvX0BmRC5etA-lQ507kp1D7jBu4WTc4zhUnKdAKckRMpYyhVXA0s_HePL0rizUW4HXGtu0GtYbjgkp_-WcdFXQQZiRkWfZbQGsQJgd81kqRplZIKI62K6O6SV6-huA/s1600/ScienceFair.jpg" height="465" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Now that Science Fair is almost over, its time to get back to work helping organizations make use of Enterprise visualization and analytic tools that help people understand their business and make good decisions, fast!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Please let me know if I can help you!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />Leshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17151062509021999492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8224272559203402456.post-66630248847072905312014-05-05T10:00:00.001-04:002014-10-29T09:56:36.857-04:00Real Life BI: Time Saving Benefits of Jet Enterprise<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One of our clients recently implemented Jet Enterprise in their organization to improve reporting on a third-party Dynamics GP module.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">They had previously used both Crystal Reports and SSRS; however, neither enabled the client's finance and engineer users the ability to easily create and maintain their own reports.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">So, on to the story...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">A finance user was struggling with filtering a report and producing the same results as an existing custom SRS report. Part of the problem practically, is that a number of tables, unions (i.e. between open and historical data) and joins (i.e. to link the tables together) needed to be understood and configured properly before adding the filter.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I have no idea exactly how many hours this finance user had poured into creating this report; however, I do know that from the time she reached out to me via email to ask for help, to the time I received an email back saying that the report was working was nearly instantaneous.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">What did I tell her? I can tell you that </span><span style="font-family: Verdana;">I did not give her a crash course in table buliding, report building or anything of the sort, I simply said the following:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="color: #eeeeee;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Have you considered using Jet Enterprise for this? You already
have the data summarized there. It would just need the filter."</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"><span style="color: #eeeeee; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"><span style="color: #eeeeee; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That was all that was needed. Simple, quick and accurate since the third-party data was already configured in an MS cube in an easy to use tool in full accordance to Kimball's best practices in dimensional modeling. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"><span style="color: #eeeeee; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: #eeeeee; font-size: small;">If you or your organization are interested in leaving the office early,</span> <a href="http://ca.linkedin.com/in/leswrightcma/" target="_blank">contact me</a>.</span></span></span></span><br />
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</span>Leshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17151062509021999492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8224272559203402456.post-5520767903985923872014-05-05T09:42:00.000-04:002016-01-06T10:34:31.143-05:00Dilbert on Big Data<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Big Data is definately here to stay, but as Dilbert points out below the ethics of Big Data analysis also need to be considered.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><br /></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid0PMkYXD3LJmfJecDKAdA2wDUFSEhya6TgRiCdezEg8KtXIMjXOjm_VbEe_I7q49mm_OZ04_JJhGMp78yJ46p4uCBfR3Qb0Ff-AXddVcXUC6WtfOKlJmoJk0qcbJOORhoyPWX4-FLg27V/s1600/Dilbert_BigData_20140127.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid0PMkYXD3LJmfJecDKAdA2wDUFSEhya6TgRiCdezEg8KtXIMjXOjm_VbEe_I7q49mm_OZ04_JJhGMp78yJ46p4uCBfR3Qb0Ff-AXddVcXUC6WtfOKlJmoJk0qcbJOORhoyPWX4-FLg27V/s640/Dilbert_BigData_20140127.gif" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Source: </span><a href="http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2014-01-27/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2014-01-27/</span></a></span></span></div>
Leshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17151062509021999492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8224272559203402456.post-88266406028958729582013-12-02T22:47:00.001-05:002013-12-02T22:47:52.231-05:00Dynamics GP Reporting Options & Alternatives<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One of the previous tag-lines for Microsoft Dynamics was 'it works the way you do' and when it comes to reporting, that pretty well sums up the Microsoft Dynamics GP offering in a nutshell.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">There are a lot of options for reporting! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Sometimes the options themselves can be confusing; however, remember that each reporting tool has its pros/cons and 'sweet spots' as my recent client exercise below shows:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUDTucQGS7EUVYwfS27BNaMwwycTGmDuQOLneUk2nyH2i8DPKrFIerG0wuJtudUG-KEKVRbezoM1NiOmuKekoBWULaw_rao0p0-7FR9fxABFmVwn1Oxs6LSPvE2sX9KEXIEnLYCqGOrNm7/s1600/GPreporting.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUDTucQGS7EUVYwfS27BNaMwwycTGmDuQOLneUk2nyH2i8DPKrFIerG0wuJtudUG-KEKVRbezoM1NiOmuKekoBWULaw_rao0p0-7FR9fxABFmVwn1Oxs6LSPvE2sX9KEXIEnLYCqGOrNm7/s640/GPreporting.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In some cases, third-party reporting and/or planning tools such as those identified and circled make sense and drive the most value for an organization's needs.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">If you 100% of your planning and reporting needs for Microsoft Dynamics ERP are not being met, tell me about it below and lets see how I can help.</span>Leshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17151062509021999492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8224272559203402456.post-1346764578112918682013-10-21T08:39:00.001-04:002016-01-06T10:34:48.581-05:00Dilbert on Preparing the Annual Budget<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I love Dilbert and I especially love Dilbert on anything related to budgeting, reporting, analytics or business intelligence.</span><br />
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<span lang="EN"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1o7vN9SVkY4UL1fyNeq7Kk9Ri_fsNlZ2WAMUxiXq78LLTSwDIcUNKLq9GdoFEkS5sr14mgAl8bRMZDvH3cwmaw858Xq9qTjciv7G0M5R2Cu9P0NKkZicDlmEu1cOqFTyzTpcHGhgTYGtb/s1600/Dilbert_AnnualBudget_20131021.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1o7vN9SVkY4UL1fyNeq7Kk9Ri_fsNlZ2WAMUxiXq78LLTSwDIcUNKLq9GdoFEkS5sr14mgAl8bRMZDvH3cwmaw858Xq9qTjciv7G0M5R2Cu9P0NKkZicDlmEu1cOqFTyzTpcHGhgTYGtb/s640/Dilbert_AnnualBudget_20131021.gif" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Source: </span><a href="http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2013-10-21/"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2013-10-21/</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In many organizations, a certain aura of 'mystery' surrounds how the annual budget is prepared in Excel. In some cases, those preparing it cannot even articulate it very well. This 'mystery' is another risk for those organizations that do not invest in a CPM platform and 'de-mystefying' the planning process.</span>Leshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17151062509021999492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8224272559203402456.post-51596023897684372342013-03-19T10:30:00.001-04:002013-03-19T10:30:12.571-04:00Budgeting in Excel<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Let's face it - most companies use Microsoft Excel to either fully prepare their budgets and forecasts, or at least to aid in some portion of this process.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">There are numerous reasons for this, including the following:</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Excel is already installed</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Business users already know how to use Excel</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Business users like (or should I say love) Excel</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana;">The organizations' ERP system allows one to import a budget from Excel</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">But when an organization's level of sophistication grows, using Excel can become an inefficient and complex tool to prepare budgets and forecasts for business users. But, how can organizations identify this tipping point? The following questions may assist you:</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Business users are reluctant to re-forecast due to complexity and amount of effort required</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Business users are expected to learn and leverage Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) in Excel to keep up with organizational complexity or business users begin to lose control of their financial and operational models as internal IT or external consultants develop and maintain complex VBA code</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Business users like (or should I say love) for Excel begins to diminish as they spend more and more time populating data and fixing errors in the spreadsheets</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Other planning and performance management areas, including financial and operational reporting systems bundled with the organization's ERP system no longer meet the growing complexity of organizational requirements</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">What are your thoughts on this topic?</span><br />
Leshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17151062509021999492noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8224272559203402456.post-81228299439230378892013-01-23T14:26:00.002-05:002013-01-23T14:26:29.142-05:00Microsoft Forecaster 7 SP5 Early Warning Notice<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Good news for Forecaster 7 users who have been patiently waiting for the re-release of Forecaster 7 SP4 to rectify a number of nasty issues - Service Pack 5 is on its way!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">At present, I do not have the expected release date, but it is good news nonetheless!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">For those who don't want to wait, you can always look at <a href="http://dynamicscpmblogger.blogspot.ca/2011/11/looking-for-frx-mr-or-forecaster.html" target="_blank">alternate budgeting & reporting solutions</a>, such as, <a href="http://dynamicscpmblogger.blogspot.ca/2011/10/prophix-cpm.html" target="_blank">Prophix CPM</a> which allows you to <a href="http://dynamicscpmblogger.blogspot.ca/2012/01/results-of-combining-operational-models.html" target="_blank">link operational and financial budgets</a> to drive real value from the planning and performance management process.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">For those who are not in a rush, why not wait until <a href="http://dynamicscpmblogger.blogspot.ca/2012/12/when-will-management-reporter-do.html" target="_blank">budgeting can be performed in Management Reporter</a>?</span>Leshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17151062509021999492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8224272559203402456.post-58212390136333800202013-01-23T12:10:00.001-05:002013-01-23T12:10:57.116-05:00Count Down to Jet Express for Microsoft Dynamics GP!<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Jet Express is the latest in the full selection of friendly, easy to use reporting and analytics tools available from Jet Reports. It is a free Excel based reporting tool that will be made available for Dynamics GP at Convergence 2013 in mid-March 2013.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Let the count-down begin!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZYXnoaisu5B1gXCkMlgOrJ1_arcdWUddQe6xPThHWBA9N8b4VTNQaWd8Glhd0ubaDi3IYVW5Z88SYk7a1bHQDiH2g8UNhEGt4fQDu_vHPgiFjXbTTQhpYTk2WMcOhZ-u8In2jiWlds0Lz/s1600/Jet+Express+report.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="460" oea="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZYXnoaisu5B1gXCkMlgOrJ1_arcdWUddQe6xPThHWBA9N8b4VTNQaWd8Glhd0ubaDi3IYVW5Z88SYk7a1bHQDiH2g8UNhEGt4fQDu_vHPgiFjXbTTQhpYTk2WMcOhZ-u8In2jiWlds0Lz/s640/Jet+Express+report.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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Leshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17151062509021999492noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8224272559203402456.post-11257285384747013922012-12-07T11:48:00.000-05:002012-12-07T12:11:06.212-05:00BI Snowflakes & Stars - All Are Unique<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I couldn't resist another winter themed post on Business Intelligence. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">While those of us who are less technically inclined may enjoy the picture below, those who design and develop data marts and data warehouses are very familiar with both the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowflake_schema" target="_blank">snowflake</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_schema" target="_blank">star</a> schema.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4-viBrwYDyEOEHUCfpgAvD5KQA9GaclnfJOI54pnbT9LKSvaIGCpXkDoAd1Ve34dNkEklbpZIyPsLDCefqOHAlHaGletI0J5yJ5K9Lg0GOyNZL2011raHXxTwcvxvk2nJPal1A1yxA97q/s1600/Snowflakesandstars.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="403" nea="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4-viBrwYDyEOEHUCfpgAvD5KQA9GaclnfJOI54pnbT9LKSvaIGCpXkDoAd1Ve34dNkEklbpZIyPsLDCefqOHAlHaGletI0J5yJ5K9Lg0GOyNZL2011raHXxTwcvxvk2nJPal1A1yxA97q/s640/Snowflakesandstars.jpg" width="640" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Image Source: </span><a href="http://www.thewallz.com/wallpaper/glowing-christmas-star-and-snowflakes_w403.html"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">http://www.thewallz.com/wallpaper/glowing-christmas-star-and-snowflakes_w403.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">One popular truth regarding snowflakes is that no two snowflakes are identical. When it comes to Business Intelligence, no two organization's needs are identical either. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Enjoy the winter beauty of stars and snowflakes this season - and let us take care of data structure underpinning your Business Intelligence solution. You'll be happy you did!</span>Leshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17151062509021999492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8224272559203402456.post-80583904338485815732012-12-05T15:46:00.000-05:002012-12-07T11:49:50.458-05:00What are you getting for Christmas?<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you have kids, you'll agree that one of the top things on their minds this season is what they want for Christmas.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">But what about the retailers and organizations who are hoping to make the best of this Christmas season? How can they best predict what products to stock up on? </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I know from first-hand experience, that my favourite winter tire brand seems to always be 'sold-out' by mid-December - what if they could better predict demand and optimize their production and supply chain to fulfill more requests?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">From a BI perspective, the answer lies in the predictive power of data mining. One real world <a href="http://www.targit.com/en/products/targit_bi_suite/features/sentinels" target="_blank">predictive analytics and data mining solution</a> called <a href="http://www.targit.com/en/LandingPages/CALM-site" target="_blank">Sentinel Mining</a> is based on the Ph. D. thesis by TARGIT CTO Dr. Morten Middelfart. Check it out!</span><br />
<br />Leshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17151062509021999492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8224272559203402456.post-55602258568144550862012-12-05T15:14:00.001-05:002012-12-07T11:50:10.260-05:00When will Management Reporter do budgeting and forecasting?<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This post is nothing but my own thoughts, as Microsoft unfortunately does not have an update on when Management Reporter will incorporate budgeting and forecasting functionality.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">That being said, I wonder if the following two recent developments in MR 2012 RU3 might hint that budgeting is just around the corner:</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Extension of the data mart for Dynamics GP</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana;">MR Web Report Viewer</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">What could these developments hint at you ask? </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Well, the data mart would be a good backbone for housing the budget and forecast version data in a uniform way across all Dynamics ERPs. Since MR will eventually be the full Dynamcis ERP CPM solution, the budgets will not necessarily need to be brought back into the respective Dynamics ERP, unless other aspects of the ERP require it (i.e. encumbrance management).</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">To a lesser degree, a web-based interface simplifies access to Management Reporter and could be leveraged for future remote budget entry similar, but much better than, Forecaster's webclient.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Click here for more or my ramblings about <a href="http://dynamicscpmblogger.blogspot.ca/2012/08/budgeting-in-management-reporter.html" target="_blank">budgeting in Management Reporter</a>.</span><br />
<br />Leshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17151062509021999492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8224272559203402456.post-75558130260378942872012-08-23T13:14:00.003-04:002012-12-07T11:50:26.552-05:00Budgeting in Management Reporter <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It has been over two years now since Management Reporter 2 was released and available for Microsoft Dynamics GP - its hard to believe! Click <a href="http://dynamicscpmblogger.blogspot.ca/2010/06/introducing-management-reporter.html" target="_blank">here</a> to see my first blog post on the subject.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Microsoft's original road map showed budgeting and forecasting built into Management Reporter in two stages:</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Simple budgeting in 2012</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Complex budgeting in 2014</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Obviously a roadmap is highly subject to change and at this point in the game, Microsoft is still in the planning stages. While this may cause uncertainty for users who are holding out for this functionality to be added to MR, lets hope that our wait is worth it in as far as the future functionality delivered in MR.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">According to my Linked In poll <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Now-that-MR2012-has-been-2257759.S.128242429?qid=cd1c057d-0f30-4453-87ee-3d142c09d757&trk=group_most_popular-0-b-ttl&goback=%2Egmp_2257759" target="_blank">here</a>, the majority of MR users want to see budgeting as the next feature, followed up by integration with sub-ledgers rather than just the GL.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Since all the Dynamics ERP solutions have basic budgeting features, perhaps Microsoft's strategy has changed to hold-off and just deliver features that surpass Microsoft Forecaster rather than introduce basic budgeting and forecasting.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Either way, if you or your organization is looking for a unified CPM solution that handles all budgeting, forecasting, reporting and analysis in one place today, look no further than <a href="http://dynamicscpmblogger.blogspot.ca/2011/10/prophix-cpm.html" target="_blank">Prophix CPM</a>. Click <a href="http://dynamicscpmblogger.blogspot.ca/2011/11/looking-for-frx-mr-or-forecaster.html" target="_blank">here</a> for more information on its advanced capabilities. Your budget contributors, financial analysts and their spouses or significant others will thank you!</span><br />
<br />Leshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17151062509021999492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8224272559203402456.post-1236680946551617052012-04-17T12:35:00.002-04:002012-04-17T12:44:40.257-04:00Management Reporter 2012 has been released!<div align="left" dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Management Reporter 2012 has been released! This release includes more than 30 new features, including all promised <a href="http://dynamicscpmblogger.blogspot.ca/2012/02/new-features-in-mr-2012.html" target="_blank">features</a>! You can find videos of these features at the Microsoft CPM blog <a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/b/dynamicscpm/" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></div><div align="left" dir="ltr"><br />
</div><div align="left" dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Some of the new features include:</span></div><div align="left" dir="ltr"><ul><li><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Integration with Microsoft Dynamics NAV</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Schedule reports to generate on a periodic basis</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Publish reports to multiple Microsoft SharePoint or network locations</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana;">E-mail a link to the report from the Report Viewer</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Quickly create a chart based upon selected report rows and columns</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Drill from account and budget balances on a report to related information in your Microsoft Dynamics ERP</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Toggle the accounts display to optionally include/not include the dimension descriptions by user</span></li>
</ul></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One important thing to mention is that the FRx migration tool currently does not work with MR 2012. We expect this will be addressed shortly, but in the meantime, you will need to migrate on the previous version of MR.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8224272559203402456.post-6324565010098806092012-03-12T12:18:00.000-04:002012-03-12T12:18:47.371-04:00Keeping your Planning Focus<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Do you or your organization suffer from a lack of focus during your planning, budgeting, forecasting and reporting exercises?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">The other day, while I was watching my five year old son's indoor soccer game I noticed that I was following the action in the wrong game? Why? The reason is simple enough, my son was playing a field over and the spectator stands are only available on one side of the field, which meant that I had to keep my focus on the second field instead of the game being played right in front of me!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I bel</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">ieve that our planning and reporting can suffer the same 'lack of focus'. It can occur for a few reasons, including:</span><br />
<ul><li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Spending more time collecting and organizing data than analysing the data</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Budgeting/forecasting at an inappropriate level of detail, effectively drawing our focus from key business drivers that should receive more relative focus and giving equal weight to administrative expenses</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Routinely generating, reviewing and analyzing a standard set of reports, as opposed to interacting with the data and performing 'ad-hoc analysis' on key areas and variances</span></li>
</ul>Leshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17151062509021999492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8224272559203402456.post-22195725627332453382012-03-12T12:05:00.000-04:002012-03-12T12:05:22.590-04:00Looking for a Microsoft Enterprise Reporting Replacement?<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If your organization is affected by the discontinuation of Microsoft Dynamics GP Enterprise Reporting, you should review and consider the following replacement solutions:</span><br />
<ul><li><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><a href="http://dynamicscpmblogger.blogspot.com/2012/02/new-features-in-mr-2012.html" target="_blank">Management Reporter</a></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><a href="http://dynamicscpmblogger.blogspot.com/2011/11/looking-for-frx-mr-or-forecaster.html" target="_blank">Prophix CPM</a></span></li>
</ul>Leshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17151062509021999492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8224272559203402456.post-83496201725846134022012-02-12T22:20:00.005-05:002016-01-06T10:35:10.016-05:00Dilbert on Performance Goals and KPIs<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A lot of fun is poked at 'bad' customer service and we all know how important it is to have trained, fully engaged client facing human resources in our organizations. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">When it comes to tech support, I think we've all experienced something close to what Dilbert does below.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho0vftmsGRjzCY2EdC1KMmrF_4OopbXXw1Q4qoWWbFTPZfaGa2Z9bh8eh3j2L3WvPG7AVZLzYS4vdhX5ExIJ7pybeVVubGttJLDxO0bLQKgyUQQAz7ezcrEoyYPaU52OnVHuocohRRojM7/s1600/Dilbert_TechSupport_20120212.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho0vftmsGRjzCY2EdC1KMmrF_4OopbXXw1Q4qoWWbFTPZfaGa2Z9bh8eh3j2L3WvPG7AVZLzYS4vdhX5ExIJ7pybeVVubGttJLDxO0bLQKgyUQQAz7ezcrEoyYPaU52OnVHuocohRRojM7/s640/Dilbert_TechSupport_20120212.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Source: <a href="http://dilbert.com/strip/2012-02-12">http://dilbert.com/strip/2012-02-12</a> </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8s1wGKFq7ytSPYcHVqxx84MlUWVd5M10m0-NTFNBn_kJgY6Uo5Xp4smZNxveRp4G-piAcOL2IP6r5EPK8Bd50027v1zD3P-7uKIq1LKCwgd0uyPMQOzegLKZbmCTd1W8BSmhzxAUqGlCK/s1600/DilbertonTechSupportPerformanceMgmt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><br /></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What I like most about this Dilbert strip is that it highlights the need to have well-designed performance goals and KPIs. While resolving technical support cases is certainly an important goal for any technical support representative, a performance goal like this in isolation is at risk of being 'gamed' with the resultant negative overall impact on the organization. It would be better to link this goal to customer satisfaction and rephrase the goal as cases closed with an average or above average client satisfaction rating or perhaps introduce a separate customer service rating KPI.</span>Leshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17151062509021999492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8224272559203402456.post-1820110956526820622012-02-09T14:54:00.000-05:002012-02-09T14:54:29.084-05:00New Features in MR 2012!<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Management Reporter (MR) 2012 is chaulk full of new features, many of which in line with the 'distribution theme' of this release.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Here is a partial listing:</span><br />
<ul><li><span style="font-family: Verdana;">MR 2012 now integrates with all Dynamics ERPs (i.e. NAV has been added)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Drill-back to Dynamics ERP</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Comments</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Multiple-destination distribution flexibility</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana;">SharePoint integration</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Scheduling</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Missing Account Analysis</span></li>
</ul>What I find spectacular is that Microsoft has delivered on all the enhancements it promised last year that I blogged about <a href="http://dynamicscpmblogger.blogspot.com/2011/10/mr-2012-expected-release-date.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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For more information, please visit the official Microsoft Dynamics CPM <a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/b/dynamicscpm/" target="_blank">blog</a> where they are show casing new features each week. In many cases, MS has included a link to a YouTube MR 2012 demo! Leshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17151062509021999492noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8224272559203402456.post-69654940676928458042012-02-09T14:47:00.000-05:002012-02-09T14:47:12.012-05:00On Demand TARGIT BI Demo<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Kyle McNerney of TARGIT has kindly put together a 20 minute overview of TARGIT BI, the leading BI/analytics solution for Dynamics ERP.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Click <a href="http://www.bdo.ca/solutions/businesssolutions/targit-business-intelligence.asp" target="_blank">here</a> to register and view.</span>Leshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17151062509021999492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8224272559203402456.post-17689432643610932062012-01-20T15:21:00.000-05:002012-01-20T15:21:17.766-05:00Top 7 Benefits of Acheiving Self-Service BI<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Self-service BI is not just a buzz-word. It is an approach to analytics that enables business users to analyze organizational information (i.e. create reports, make dash boards, perform ad-hoc analysis, configure alerts). IT resources are not required on a continual basis to support end users, but rather only to set up the back-end (i.e. the data warehouse/data marts and related cubes underpinning the business intelligence system). Further, if an existing back-end solution is available, IT may not be required at all!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Top 7 Benefits of Achieving Self-Service BI:</span><br />
<ul><li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Enable business users to create personalized reports and conduct analysis without IT involvement</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Free IT resources to focus on other tasks</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Improve organizational decision making </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Increase responce time to changes in the business environment</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Improve allocation of resources</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Reduce organizational risk</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Improve organizational results</span></li>
</ul>Leshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17151062509021999492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8224272559203402456.post-52558817228802565072012-01-11T16:57:00.001-05:002012-01-11T16:58:07.253-05:00The Results of Combining Operational Models with Financial Budgets<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is the final blog entry in a 3 part series on combining financial & operational models to link key business drivers to budgets & forecasts. Click here to review <a href="http://dynamicscpmblogger.blogspot.com/2011/12/how-to-build-financial-budgets-with.html" target="_blank">part 2</a> or <a href="http://dynamicscpmblogger.blogspot.com/2011/11/why-financial-budgets-need-operational.html" target="_blank">part 1</a> respectively.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Combining operational models that link key business drivers with your financial budgets provide the following results:</span><br />
<ul><li><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Significantly shorter budget/forecast cycles</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Facilitates market environment vs. calendar driven re-forecasting to react to quickly to changes</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Re-aligns financial planning focus</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Facilitates insight between operational tactics and the financial forecast</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Facilitates variance analysis at the operational and key driver level</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Shifts professional resource time from collecting data and maintaining spreadsheets to analysis and decision making</span></li>
</ul><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Please browse this <a href="http://www.prophix.com/common/php/forms/contact.php?tag=autodemo-bdo-blog" target="_blank">autodemo</a> for an overview of <a href="http://dynamicscpmblogger.blogspot.com/2011/10/prophix-cpm.html" target="_blank">Prophix CPM</a>, a solution that can facilitate sophisticated operational modelling.</span>Leshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17151062509021999492noreply@blogger.com0