Insight eNews
A Monthly Newsletter from AVF Consulting, Inc.
Navision Solution Center &
Microsoft Certified Partner
March 2003
- In this edition:
From the President: Changes for Navision Customers
AVF News: AVF advertises on WETA TV and radio
Product Spotlight: "Reverser" helps make changes fast and easy
Tips & Tricks:- Menu Movement
IT Roundtable: US Lacrosse Upgrades
Insight eNews is written andproduced by AVF Consulting for their clients and business partners. All contents have copyrights belonging to AVF Consulting. Please contact Karen Tran at ktran@avfconsulting or 410-889-3400 with questions.
From the President-- Andrew Fass
Important Changes for Navision Customers
Update Your Enrollment in the Microsoft Business Solutions Enhancement Program Today
Since Microsoft acquired Navision in May 2002, they have worked diligently to bring Navision customers into the Microsoft family. With millions of dollars dedicated to R&D as well as communications and support, Microsoft Business Solutions has begun to reach out to you directly. All Navision customers received a letter in February discussing the new “Enhancement Program” which has replaced the Navision Maintenance Contracts. AVF will remain your primary contact regarding all license and maintenance contracts and renewals, and we will do our best to communicate changes and updates to you.
Microsoft is giving Navision partners and their customers several weeks to fully adjust to the new regulations that they implement for their Enhancement Program. All Navision customers who are not currently enrolled in the maintenance plan have until June 1, 2003 to enroll in the program in order to add users and granules, acquire product updates, access technical support and utilize CustomerSource—Microsoft’s customer website for communications, product information and more. Navision customers who currently subscribe to the maintenance plan will receive a log-on for CustomerSource in the coming weeks. They will also receive other benefits of the plan including new product releases, tax updates, and system list price protection.
One vital point regarding the Enhancement Program comes in prompt payment when your plan is up for renewal. Microsoft Business Solutions enforces strict penalties for customers who are even one day delinquent on payment. On-time payment of the Enhancement Program is 16% of your system list price; however late payments can extend from 25% to 35% of the list price, so be sure to expedite your payment in a timely fashion. If you anticipate any problems in delivering your full payment within 30 days of your organization’s Enhancement Program renewal, please contact AVF as soon as possible.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the Enhancement Program or other changes, please contact me or Jeremy at 410-889-3400.
AVF Advertises on Radio and TV! Listen for AVF’s sponsorship on WETA 90.9 FM and channel 26 on your television.
Look for our TV ads on:
> Channel 26, WETA
> Monday evenings between 7-8pm
> During “The News Hour with Jim Lehrer”
Listen for our Radio ads on:
> 90.9 FM, WETA
> Monday and Thursday mornings between 7-8am
> Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons between 6-7pm
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 and is only $895 for first time attendees. Contact Karen Tran at 410-889-3400 or ktran@avfconsulting.com to register or if you would like more information on Convergence.
Easily Adjust Journal Entries with “Reverser”
Reverser is a dynamic and intelligent solution that allows Navision users to easily and efficiently reverse or re-post journal entries. Reverser can save hundreds of data-entry hours, as transactions can effortlessly be corrected without having to manually re-enter any information.
Reverser allows users to:
> Reverse transactions and create an exact opposite entry.
> Reverse a transaction and post the original transaction to a different fiscal period.
This functionality is achieved through an easy-to-use interface where users:
> Establish filters to limit the display of journal entries available for modification.
> Select the journal entries to be reversed or re-posted.
> Enter the posting date.
> Process.
With just a few simple steps, you can reverse batch details, filter the available posted entries and select whether to reverse or re-post—all while establishing an audit trail, since Reverser does not modify the original data.
Contact Jeremy Fass at 410-889-3400 or jfass@avfconsulting.com for more detail on how to purchase Reverser.
Positioning your Navision Menu
Occasionally
a Navision form or window may appear on the screen outside of the viewing
area.
There’s a simple solution—
Hit the “Alt” and “-” (minus) keys on your keyboard at the same time and this will activate the "Move" feature.
Using your keyboard, select "Move" on the drop down menu
Use the arrow keys on your keyboard to bring the window back into the viewing area of the screen.
AVF Upgrades U.S. Lacrosse to Windows 2000 Server and Exchange 2000
US Lacrosse, the national governing body of men’s and women’s lacrosse, is a five year old national organization based in Baltimore, Maryland that develops and promotes lacrosse to people of all ages and backgrounds. US Lacrosse was created in 1998 as a merger of nine different organizations that joined forces in order to have a stronger, unified presence with combined resources. In just the past 3 years, US Lacrosse’s staff has grown to over 25 employees at their headquarters, with 50 chapters in 33 states. At the same time, their membership has doubled to over 120,000. With the original computer hardware in place since the organization’s inception, US Lacrosse was ready to upgrade their network servers from NT 4.0 to Windows 2000.
Tessa Pagones is the US Lacrosse’s Information Systems Manager. She supports the Baltimore office and is responsible for connecting the 50 chapters nationwide. “US Lacrosse needed faster, more stable systems and the ability to set up secure remote access for our chapter leaders,” said Pagones. “As the only IT resource, it was necessary for me to bring in outside resources with experience in upgrading to Windows 2000 and Exchange Server 2000.”
AVF deployed three new servers and updated US Lacrosse to Active Directory without having to re-establish user accounts and their associated security and completed the transition seamlessly with zero down-time. US Lacrosse now has the ability to share information more efficiently and securely thanks to greater bandwidth, high performance servers and the increased power of Windows 2000. Because of their experience, AVF was able to easily anticipate and avoid any possible glitches in the upgrade. This allowed them to perform the job quickly, saving US Lacrosse time and money.
“It’s important to work with people you trust,” commented Pagones. “AVF’s IT team completed the work quickly and effectively with no down time for our users. Their staff is generous with their knowledge and left me feeling that I have a system that I am confident in and know how to use.”
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