The registration web site for Solver’s Customer and Partner Conference, Focus 2016, launched a few weeks ago. Revered Business Solutions is excited to report that this year’s event, scheduled for August 22-25, 2016, will be held in a really beautiful new location, specifically at the Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines in San Diego, CA.
The new location for the conference is part of other notable changes and additions to the event program for the 4th Annual Focus. Better yet, most of these enhancements have come from feedback that Solver Partners and Customers have suggested. As a Solver partner ourselves, it’s exciting to see these additions implemented because they upgrade an already great event. This blog article will cover a couple of the new things happening at this year’s ultimate Customer and Partner conference on BI360.
New Southern California Location
If you aren’t familiar with the Hilton in La Jolla, brace yourself. This venue is not only in beautiful, sunny San Diego, with great weather and close to the coast, but it is also on the world famous Torrey Pines Golf Course, one stop on the PGA tour, and also was the host for the U.S. Open in 2008. Golfers might want to schedule some extra time to get a round or two in, or at least, participate in the driving range activity that Solver is hosting during the conference.
Additional activities within walking distance or right on the property include access to Torrey Pines State Beach, various hiking trails in the Torrey Pines State Reserve, a pool and small on-site spa, a fitness facility, tennis courts, and the Torrey Pines Gliderport. There’s so much to do and see in San Diego!
Technical Product Training Added
Solver has added an extra day to the conference to host a new feature: two-day, hands-on intensive training workshops. BI360 partners and customers can achieve in-depth training just like they can during Solver’s BI360 Training Tour. However, the best part for participants is that they can go through training the two days before the conference on August 22 and 23, then experience more information-sharing breakout sessions with the rest of the event’s attendees during the Customer Conference on August 24 and 25.
Solver is offering two levels of training – one for beginners and one for more advanced users. Below is the curriculum for both tracks:
Beginners Training: Introductions to Report Composer; Report Composer and Report Designer; Reporting; More Reporting, Data Warehouse or Report Publisher; and Portal Administration and End User Usage.
Advanced Training: GL Configuration; GL Budgeting Exercises; Capital and Web Budgeting Configurations; and Consolidations.
If you’d like to learn more about BI360 Focus 2016, you can read the rest of this blog article  here.

To view the event web site and register, click here.

Budgeting is a vital task that is typically tedious due to the logistics of manually linking spreadsheets together, but today’s software has changed that experience. Third party software manufacturers are bringing more streamlined, more modern solutions to market to meet today’s planning needs. Like most companies, you have likely outgrown a homegrown Excel planning process, so there’s no time like the present to start shopping independent software vendor (ISV) planning solutions to accelerate and simplify your budgeting responsibilities. Revered Business Solutions, Inc is happy to report that the premier modern budgeting tools empower you to achieve secure teamwork, with the capability to get rid of the tedium as the budget manager and allow contributors to truly own part of the planning process.
Planning usually entails a number of professionals coming together to design a budget or forecast. Budgeting consists of a comparison of historical actuals with research-driven projected numbers. Internationally, finance departments have been depending on Excel for decades, but it can be challenging with more than one budget contributor. Even though most organizations are still working within Excel, some have moved to Sage Budgeting & Planning over time, so a third party product requires another investment in addition to current licensing. This article will explore the benefits you can experience by implementing an ISV budgeting solution to expand your Sage 500 experience.
Best-of-breed planning solutions have continued to become more popular recently, likely due to the flexible and rich budgeting abilities, in addition to the security that allows for the requisite collaboration to put together a comprehensive financial plan. Furthermore, with interface choices (Excel, Web, and/or proprietary), consumers can implement a solution that best serves their team as they work toward planning goals. The best ISV budgeting solutions also come with accounting logic, easy-to-use automation, and reusable templates built right into the product.
ISVs are answering customers’ demands for streamlined, collaborative, and secure planning processes. The best planning software invites budget managers to distribute access rights to department supervisors to work on the budget that they have to manage throughout the year, getting away from lengthy e-mail threads with heftier spreadsheet attachments – and the frustration of linking spreadsheets. Then, the budgeting manager can make sure that the teamwork leads to a complete financial plan. And the best part? It’s not too good to be true. You can see potential returns on your investment in the form of money, time, and energy.
When investing in one of today’s powerful planning tools, you’ll probably see returns not only in money, but your time and team morale. A lot of customer have asked Revered Business Solutions, Inc, “What should we be looking for in the best budgeting solution to help us accomplish our goals with Sage 500?” You should evaluate which platform option is best for you, how you’d like to integrate your company information, whether you’d like to go with a standalone tool versus a completely integrated, comprehensive suite of Business Intelligence (BI) tools.
To continue learning more about budgeting for Sage 500, read the rest of this article HERE.

We have heard that there are some that are spreading the rumor that Microsoft is planning to discontinue the Dynamics GP product.  We are here to tell you that this is simply NOT TRUE!  Microsoft has indicated their commitment to the Dynamics GP product for years to come as illustrated by the “Dynamics GP Roadmap” that they recently released.  Please take a look below….

Like Microsoft, Revered Business Solutions is here for the long haul to service and support all of your Dynamics GP needs.  Please feel free to contact us with any questions that you might have about Microsoft Dynamics GP.

Right at the beginning of this year, there seemed to be a lot of buzz around Management Reporter (MR) – both on the web and in conversation, in the Microsoft Dynamics community. It appears to have sparked when Mark Polino, the Fastpath Director of Client Services and more significantly, a 9-time Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) Award recipient, published an article about MR at the start of the year – and he wrote about his disappointment in the product and the frustration that users were feeling. The piece he wrote for MSDynamicsWorld.com has definitely hit a nerve with Dynamics users as it gave voice to a lot of issues, and this current conversation has been brought up to us at Revered Business Solutions, Inc. more than once. We’d like to join this discussion to pose a basic question: is MR for Microsoft Dynamics an impactful part of Business Intelligence (BI) plan?
A lot of people are saying no. Not even in a meek way, but a resounding no. MR was slated to be the newer, better replacement and a true upgrade to FRx, which was a trusted, yet mature product. Both were low cost offerings, sometimes utilized for free even, from Microsoft for financial reporting processes, albeit exclusively general ledger (GL) data. However, in spite of all the service packs and cumulative updates, MR has basically crashed and burned in the eyes of a lot of users. If you look at the timeline for FRx and MR, the former was officially retired on January 1, 2011, and the torch was passed to MR, which launched the same day. We read that one Microsoft Partner even hosted a retirement party for FRx. Microsoft went about promoting MR as the upgrade to the now quite old, but trusted FRx reporting tool – and the reseller community embraced the transition, but since then, there’s been a change in the perception of how MR actually performs and delivers for Microsoft Dynamics users.
To upgrade from what users experienced with FRx, Microsoft equipped MR with SQL Server as a back end data mart. Unfortunately, compared to FRx, the errors that users are dodging with MR have been less than consistent, whether that is related to the number of cumulative updates or just flimsy technology. The new data mart, which was positioned as the big selling feature, is getting a lot of flak as the main element that is creating the most problems for customers. There were also plans for Management Reporter to incorporate budgeting functionality into the product, absorbing both FRx and the budgeting tool, Forecaster, but this plan has been abandoned. For our customers at Revered Business Solutions Inc, this has left companies with a toolbox of older, glitch Microsoft tool – and there was so much promise in the MR arrival.
To continue learning more about the buzz surrounding Management Reporter for Microsoft Dynamics users, read the rest of this article HERE.

Budgeting is such an important process, regardless of whether you’re planning for your household or for an entire organization. In fact, if you’re a not-for-profit (NFP) organization, budgeting could be the primary reason you are surviving in any economy because you are ensuring that the organization is living within its means, so you can continue to serve the community. Revered Business Solutions, Inc. has worked with NFP budget contributors over the years, and we’ve seen a lot of NFPs struggle with the confines of where technology has been in terms of meeting modern planning objectives. Excel might be fine for your personal budget, but it can be subpar for any healthy NFP. Since you’re reading this article, you’re probably at least interested in finding an independent software vendor (ISV) budgeting tool that can include your historical Microsoft Dynamics GP numbers and/or maybe information from additional sources, like payroll from Ceridian or ADP, to make your planning tasks more efficient. Modern planning software provides secure teamwork functionality for budgeting and forecasting, which makes collaboration simple, so that your team can achieve a financial life within the organization’s means.
Budgeting almost always means that more than one employee will come together with historical actuals and projected figures for the coming year’s financial plan. Around the globe, Excel is still king in the finance world, but because you have to manually link spreadsheets together, it isn’t simple or secure. A majority of organizations still rely on Excel, so an ISV solution investment might be seen as a cost you can avoid. This article is going to discuss the benefits of modern budgeting tools, specifically the premier feature and functionality offerings, for NFPs utilizing Dynamics GP.
Third party budgeting software has only continued to grow in popularity with more business user friendly, flexible, and collaborative functionality. Excel add-ins are popular because they take the familiarity of the spreadsheet program and turbo-charge it with powerful functionality in the form of a toolbar ribbon, empowering end users to eliminate the manual process of linking separate worksheets. The top ISV solutions provide built-in automation and accounting logic for simple data management for business end users, as well as reusable templates.
At Revered Business Solutions, Inc, we know that because the amount of data, sensitive or not, is continuing to grow, you might have some concerns about logistics and security. Modern features, as in access right and password protection, are transforming collaboration into distributed ownership over budgets that each department has to work at meeting through the year. With today’s software, you can get away from lengthy e-mail threads that come with hefty spreadsheets attached. Budget managers can then facilitate an easy, collaborative, and inclusive planning process. You’re also able to see your return on investment in more than just dollars.
To continue learning more about budgeting for Not-for-Profit Organizations using Dynamics GP, read the rest of this article, click here.

Today’s business world is driven by copious and ubiquitous amounts of data, maybe especially for non-profit organizations. Because data is so important to decision-making, as non-profits work hard to stay within budget and/or on course with donors, grants, members, and so on, a data warehouse can be very impactful in your Business Intelligence (BI) processes. At Revered Business Solutions, Inc we know that a lot of consumers might be unfamiliar with data warehousing, so you probably have questions. This article will be all about answering those questions for non-profit organizations, so you can understand how data warehousing can expand data management and analytics of your data from Microsoft Dynamics and additional data sources.
Shall we define it? Let’s begin with the concept: a data warehouse (DW) is a multi-dimensional database. In other words, a DW is a virtual storage space or a server-staged database, which can function on a standalone server or one that is shared. As a comparison, an external hard drive provides you a place to house a variety of file types and programs while modern commercial DWs offer you space to store multiple operational and transactional data sets. Another way to conceptualize DWs: three-dimensionalizing an Excel spreadsheet would allow you to order your operational and transactional data in consolidated, effective, and simple ways, which is exactly what DWs are about, moving away from error with easy-to-use technology. Managing one of today’s commercial DWs requires a technical database management application, like Microsoft SQL Server Visual Studio or Solver’s system for warehouse management, called the BI360 Data Warehouse Manager, which is an easy-to-use interface that is positioned within the BI360 Suite.
Implementing a DW. In terms of deploying and automating the software, commercial DW solutions typically come “out of the box,” which means a simple implementation, then a replication of your organizational data from Dynamics GP and any other data sources. A consultant who focuses on extraction, transformation, and loading (ETL) of your data will install your DW, then automate the ETL process from your data sources. The best investment would be a DW that delivers a pre-built integration right to GP. Once ETL is complete, a consultant with expertise in optimizing and streamlining your financial reporting, budgeting, and data visualization tasks will demonstrate how to pull data from your DW to produce richer financial statements, strategies, and dashboards that you need to make strong decisions about the future of your non-profit organization. Revered Business Solutions, Inc is happy to report that once the DW is configured and your team is trained, business end users across the organization can oversee the technology without having to ask IT for help.
To continue learning more about data warehousing for non-profits using Dynamics GP, read the rest here.

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Congratulations to Richard Wheeler on being awarded the Microsoft MVP award for the 4th straight year in a row. He is among only 16 people nationwide to receive this distinction!

Dear Richard Wheeler,

Congratulations! We are pleased to present you with the 2016 Microsoft® MVP Award! This award is given to exceptional technical community leaders who actively share their high quality, real world expertise with others. We appreciate your outstanding contributions in Business Solutions technical communities during the past year.

At Microsoft, we believe that technical communities enhance people’s lives and the industry’s success because independent experts, like you, help others extract greater value from products and technologies through the free and objective exchange of knowledge. As a Microsoft MVP, you are part of a highly select group of experts that represent technology’s best and brightest who share a deep commitment to community and a willingness to help others.

The Microsoft MVP Award provides us the unique opportunity to celebrate and honor your significant contributions and say “Thank you for your technical leadership.”

Patrick Malone
Director
Community & Advocacy Programs
Microsoft

On behalf of everyone at Microsoft, thank you for your contributions to technical communities.

Simon Tien (stien@microsoft.com), your Community Program Manager