Blog

Yesterday we held our annual Dynamics SL event for our clients at the new Microsoft Technology Center here in Minneapolis, MN-or Edina, MN to you locals.  The event surpassed last year's attendance by 6 people.  Last year we had 50 attend and this year we had 56.  I’m especially pleased with the turnout since last year Microsoft released Dynamics SL 2011 (thank you Captain Obvious), and this year there were only a few service packs and a feature pack to discuss as new-yet more people attended.Debra Edlund-Lopez added some key thoughts that I will blog about next week with regard to Windows 8 as well.  Debra has a lot of energy and does a nice job of discussing integration points between Dynamics ERP products and the rest of the Microsoft … [Read more...] about Dynamics SL Event Exceeds Expectations

Each year we hold both a Dynamics SL and Dynamics GP client event, for free, at Microsoft’s offices.  Our offices are not large enough to accommodate 60 or so people per session for these events.  Clients thoroughly enjoy these sessions as it is a chance for them to discuss configuration options with the many Boyer & Associates Dynamics SL experts.It is also a chance for them to visit with other clients of ours that have better or different experience they can learn from.  The event is slightly less than a day, there is no airfare or hotel for most, and the ideas they leave with typically give them a sense that we are truly grateful for their business all year.What is unique about this year's event?1.)   This year we have invited … [Read more...] about Dynamics SL Minneapolis, MN Client Event

Labor is by far what most of us spend our money on when it comes to a business or non-profit organization.  You can buy an additional 22 inch refurbished flat screen monitor for less than $200. So if you are not already using a second monitor, it may be because you don’t understand how much this can help you be more productive or you travel a lot and don’t spend much time in the office.  If an additional monitor can make a person multi-task slightly less or be able to do two things at once more effectively, even a 5% improvement in a person’s productivity makes this investment worthwhile.For us, even the consultants that are rarely in the office have additional monitors.  Why would they want or need this?  Often times they create … [Read more...] about Dynamics SL-Using Two Monitors

How many of you readers think that SQL Maintenance is something that IT people do and that it doesn’t really affect you? Do you know if routine maintenance is being performed on your databases to keep them running at peak efficiency? Would you run your car without maintenance for months or years without routine maintenance?Recently, while working with one of our Dynamics SL clients we discovered that their SQL Server was not configured with maintenance plans (automated activities setup on a scheduled basis) to optimize and maintain the performance of their databases. They had their SQL Maintenance plan set up to backup their database, but no optimizations were configured. Much like a physical hard drive on your computer can become … [Read more...] about Dynamics ERP and SQL Server Maintenance

For our almost 200 Dynamics SL clients here in Minnesota and surrounding states, Dynamics SL 2011 was significant.  Most of our clients have upgraded with few issues due to the stability and testing that was done to this product prior to its release.In the end the item that people have liked by far has been the availability of the Quick Query functionality that was added.  This tool has been tremendous in terms of raw data dumps that people have wanted for years.  Getting data out is no longer a problem due to the fact that this “module” (included with the System Manager for free) gives users access to the data using field names that users see in screens rather than difficult to use database table names with database field names-which … [Read more...] about Dynamics SL 2011 R2 Enhancements