Insight eNews
A Monthly Newsletter from AVF Consulting, Inc.
Navision Solution Center &
Microsoft Certified Partner
February 2003
- In this edition:
From the President: New Add-ons for Navision
AVF News: Discounts, Users Conferences, and more
Product Spotlight: "Changer" helps make changes with ease
Tips & Tricks:- Item Charges
IT Roundtable: Free Site Survey-
Upgrade Corner: Year-End Regulatory Improvements -
-
Insight eNews is written and produced by AVF Consulting for their clients and business partners. All contents have copyrights© belonging to AVF Consulting. Please contact Karen Tran at ktran@avfconsulting.com with any questions or call 410-889-3400.
From the President-- Andrew Fass
Third Party Software Developers Provide Innovative Tools for Navision Users
For years, third party companies have developed add-on solutions for mid-tier accounting software like Navision, Great Plains and Solomon. By now you’ve heard of Jet Reports, an Excel based add-on created specifically for Navision that allows users to easily create reports. This is one example of a third party developer identifying a need and creating a solution to fill it. Microsoft’s acquisition of Navision in May 2002 has provided a connection for a whole new set of third party applications to help simplify functions and processes for Navision users.
Most of the buzz is coming from software development companies that provide add-ons for Great Plains users. One product, which is featured below in the New Products section of Insights is Changer. Developed by Corporate Renaissance Group (CRG), a Great Plains and Navision Solution Center, Changer enables users to quickly and easily merge and change key fields. CRG also offers Reverser, a product that allows users to specify the reversing batch details, filter the available posted entries, and select whether to reverse or re-post. Look for more information on Reverser in March’s edition of AVF Insights.
Because Navision and Great Plains are such different products, we are often skeptical when examining third party tools that are developed specifically for Great Plains. A product that barely connects by nothing more than a few bolts may not fulfill the promises that it boasts. As we examine these products, we are finding that the third-party software developers are looking to remedy this issue by developing fully integrated versions of their products for Navision. One such group of products comes from FRx Software Corporation, a Microsoft Business Solutions company, that provides financial analytics tools. Although their software does not fully integrate with Navision today, they plan to integrate it in the near future.
As these new products enter the market for Navision users, we will do our best to discern the most useful software and provide you with the advantages. Tools that help you save time and work more efficiently are a welcomed benefit of Navision’s partnership with Microsoft.
25% Off Navision User Session Promotion Extended! Microsoft has extended the sale of Navision’s User Sessions until February 21, 2003. Sale applies to additional users only and cannot be combined with other offers. Contact Jeremy Fass (jfass@avfconsulting.com) at 410-889-3400.
Fund Accounting for Navision Users Conference! Serenic Software will sponsor the first annual User’s Conference, Explorations, for not-for-profit organizations from July 20-23 in Denver, Colorado. This conference will showcase their newest product, Navigator, which fully integrates with Microsoft Navision. Register online at www.serenic.com by February 15, 2003 and pay only $299 per person. Contact Karen Tran at 410-889-3400, ext. 31, ktran@avfconsulting.com for more details.
Survey Winner! Congratulations to James Monzingo from Capital Source for winning a $25 Amazon gift certificate for participating in AVF’s newsletter survey. James was chosen through a random drawing of all respondents to the survey that we issued in late December. We’d like to thank everyone who provided their feedback on the newsletter.
Microsoft’s Users Conference, Convergence, is March 19 – 23—Now in its seventh year, Convergence gives clients an opportunity to meet other Navision users and Microsoft executives while attending industry specific seminars. Convergence will take place March 19 – 23, 2003 at the Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center in Orlando, Florida. Contact Karen Tran at 410-889-3400 or ktran@avfconsulting.com to register or if you would like more information on Convergence.
Changer, A New Product for Navision, Helps You Make Changes with Ease
Changer efficiently enables the merging and changing of key fields, effortlessly merging Dimension Value codes, General Ledger accounts, Vendor numbers, Customer numbers, and Item numbers for all current and historical transactions.
All data is
modified, including all associated historical transactions. Drill downs,
balances, and reports will treat the altered information as if it had been
posted with the selected key field from the beginning.
Create or import Changer Requests by batch for merging or changing.
Changer Requests are validated and marked for processing prior to merging or changing.
Available within four distinct and easily understood functional areas, Changer’s merging and changing functionality allows for easy and straightforward modifications to:
• General Ledger
Dimension value codes and account numbers including all associated historical transactions to an existing or new dimension value code or account number.
• Sales & Receivables
Customer numbers and all associated historical transactions to an existing or new customer number.
• Purchases & Payables
Vendor numbers and all associated historical transactions to an existing or new vendor number.
• Inventory
Item numbers and all associated historical transactions to an existing or new item number. Changer for Navision does it all, allowing you to take command of your key fields and ensure that your Microsoft Business Solutions – Navision system keeps pace with organizational growth and restructuring.
Pricing begins at $1,500. Please contact Jeremy Fass, 410-889-3400, jfass@avfconsulting.com for a demo or more details.
Item Charges: Useful functionality available in Microsoft Navision 3.6
An Item Charge is an element of inventory cost. It is not usually known at the time a purchase order is issued to the vendor for inventory items. Examples of item charges are freight and handling, or in some cases, further processing of raw material to create a finished product.
Suppose you are in the t-shirt selling business. You initially buy blank stock and record the inventory item as such. (So far, you need to set up an Item Card for the Blank Shirts.)
You then find an imprinting vendor that will charge you a fixed amount per shirt to imprint the shirt. When the shirts come back to you, they are now imprinted, not blank – they are really a “new” item. (So now you need a new Item Card for Imprinted Shirts.)
But…we have some accounting transactions that need to take place to record all of this activity:
- Reduction of Blank Shirt Inventory
- Increase of Imprinted Shirt Inventory
- Correct costing on the Imprinted Shirts to include the cost of imprinting
One purchase order will take care of the entire process –
- Issue Purchase Order
to shirt imprinter as follows:
- On the first line of the PO select the Item No. in the “Type” field that has been assigned to Blank Shirt. Enter NEGATIVE amount to show that the blanks will be leaving inventory. (Let’s use -20)
- On the second line of the PO, select the Item No. in the “Type” field that has been assigned to Imprinted Shirts. Enter POSITIVE amount to show incoming inventory. (Use +20)
- On the third line of
the PO, select CHARGE in the “Type” field. Charges need to be set up
in the Item Charges table, but do not have to have dollar values
assigned.
- Select the Item Charge type from the table and it will come in to the PO line. Enter a quantity of the amount of the imprinting costs (per shirt) and enter the Direct Unit Cost of one unit of this item charge. (For example 20 shirts @ $2.25 per shirt). The line will calculate the total for you when you move off of the field.
- Until the shirts
come back in to inventory, this is all you need to do.
- Once the shirts
arrive, open this PO and go to the Item Charge line.
Select Line, and Item Charge Assignment.
The Item Charge Assignment window will open, allowing you to select the Items that are to receive the charges:
In this case we are assigning the cost of imprinting to the finished shirts.
The next step is to post the order, where several things happen. The 20 finished shirts are received into inventory, the item charges of $45 will be linked to those shirts, and the 20 blank shirts are no longer in inventory.
AVF will provide a free site survey to evaluate your IT plan.
AVF Consulting understands the needs of businesses like yours, and we can help assess your current IT infrastructure and suggest technology that helps your company achieve its goals. AVF’s IT practice consists of MCSEs (Microsoft Certified System Engineers) who can assist in all your needs including:
- Implementation of the latest secure e-mail and Internet technology—so your employees can effectively communicate
- Set up remote connectivity—so you can connect to information from your PDA, home, or on the road
- Install and configure data networks—so your employees can easily share information
- Provide desktop software and operating systems—so you can do more in less time
- Supply and install the necessary hardware to ensure your information is secure—to add convenience and keep your business on track and out of trouble
AVF will provide your company with a Free Site Survey which includes:
· Analysis of Physical Layer—cabling, hubs, switches, etc.
· Review of Operating Systems and Hardware Requirements—desktops & servers, disk space, CPU utilization, memory usage
· Network Topology—Internet access, security, protocols
· Applications—anti-virus software, office suites, licensing
Contact John White at 410-889-3400, ext. 29 or Rob Waples at 410-889-3400, ext. 12 for your free site survey.
Get faster and cost effective hardware with customized AVF servers, workstations, and notebooks. Check out our specials! - Click Here!
Year-End Regulatory Improvements; Time to Upgrade
Periodically Navision reviews the versions of software that are in use and determines whether it is feasible to continue supporting/developing all versions. Last month, Navision announced that they would no longer develop year-end regulatory improvements for any version below Navision Financials 2.6. The year-end regulatory improvement is the file that would contain any IRS required changes to documents such as W2s, 1099s and 940s (paper and magnetic media where applicable).
This year the IRS did not issue changes to the format of the information that is reported to them, so no changes were needed unless they were corrections. In most circumstances, if your IRS submissions were produced in Navision last year, you could successfully produce them this year. As long as the IRS makes no changes to how the information has to be reported, you will not need an update. However, if you are using any of the lower versions of Navision and the IRS chooses to add or change a box number or the format of the data that is reported to them; Navision will not produce object changes. In this case you would need to produce, 1099s and/or W2s manually or by some other means.
There is another alternative. Plan to upgrade your Navision to the latest version before the end of the year. It is in your best interest to stay as current as possible with your software. If you are unsure which version of the software you are using, click help and about Navision financials to see the version. Call us to discuss your upgrade options.