Technology in Practice

As the beginning of the year approaches, do you dread opening periods for each and every company? Do you shy away from only opening one month at a time because of the effort involved? It can be quite tedious and time consuming if you have multiple companies. Would you like to have a faster way to open periods? Well, Sage X3 has a new time saving function for you: Multi-company period opening (TRTPERMC). Multi-company period opening (TRTPERMC) is found under Common data > General accounting tables. With Multi-company period opening, you no longer have to open periods for one company at a time, deselecting or selecting individual periods. This new function allows you to open all companies and their ledgers or a selected range of companies. You can open all periods or just through a specific period. You have the option to run this on-demand or on a schedule. Note: This function was added in v12.0.21 but only processes one ledger at a time until v12.0.22. LET’S TAKE A LOOK AT THE MULTI-COMPANY PERIOD OPENING Company NA20 has fiscal year open through 2021 for Ledger types Ledger, Analytical, IAS and Group. Periods are open through 12/2020. Company NA10 has fiscal years through 2023 open with only Ledger type Ledger. Periods are open through 12/20. Now on to the Multi-company period opening (TRTPERMC) function. We can select All Companies, Group or a range of companies. We have the option to select one or all Ledger Types and a Period date until. For this example, we will select From company NA10 To company NA20, all the Ledger Types and the Period date until of 9/30/22. Note: we selected all Ledger Types, but NA10 only has Ledger. For the Period date until of 9/30/22, NA20 only has years open through 2021. Do all the companies have to have to have the same ledgers and have the same fiscal years open for this to work? Hmmm… The log shows that all the periods were opened for NA10. It also lets us know that there were not Analytical, IAS or Group ledgers for this company. For company NA20, the log lets us know that periods in 2022 can’t be opened because the year hasn’t been opened yet. Even though the fiscal year was closed, the function continues and opens the 2021 periods for the other ledgers. For more information on how to use the multi-company period opening feature or for other questions about Sage X3, please contact us. Content for this blog post was originally posted on Sage City Community by Pam Nightingale, June 30, 2020.

For those who are using Automation Schedules in Acumatica Cloud ERP, you need to use the Automation Schedule History Screen in Acumatica 2020 R1, so you can view the history of the schedule executions, review any errors, and delete particular records. In the Selection area of this form, an Acumatica system administrator can specify settings to limit the displayed records to a particular form, schedule, and period of time to reduce the number of records displayed in the table. To view details about the records related to a schedule execution, a system administrator can click the link in the Total Records column of the particular row. Contact us if you have any questions or would like more information about the features and enhancements in Acumatica Cloud ERP.

We are pleased to share that Sage has announced their Third-Party Applications Virtual Conference for users of Sage 100, Sage 300 and Sage 500. The virtual half day (4 hour) online event will take place on July 22nd, 2020 at 12 PM Eastern and is aimed at providing real business value through information-packed virtual sessions from Sage and ISV add-on solutions for Sage ERP products. Why Attend Conference sessions with valuable business advice on key topics, presented by Sage and third-party experts. Session topics include: automating accounts payable, inventory optimization, leveraging automation to drive your business, business intelligence and many more. Opportunities to interact with the presenters, product experts, attendees and have your questions answered. A virtual exhibit hall where you can get information and interact with providers of third-party add-ons for your Sage software. The  vConference Presenters and exhibits include our valued partners including: Sage, Altec, Avalara, Draycir, Edisoft,  ProcessWeaver, Scanco, SPS Commerce, and TrueSky. The full agenda (PDF) can be found below. Register Here

If real estate is about “location, location, location,” recipe and formula management is all about “consistency, consistency, consistency.” As a food and beverage processor or distributor you know how critical it is to exercise precise control over recipes and formulas to maintain consistency, quality, and traceability. Ensuring recipe accuracy – uniform texture, taste, smell, and color – is vital to attract and keep customers. And doing so is more complicated when manufacturers have to ensure consistency across multiple batches and/or multiple locations. Just as important as accuracy is traceability. The ability to trace a product before, during, and after production guarantees companies can effectively manage a recall. Efficient recipe management also means having the ability to manage variations of the same basic product resulting in similar finished goods. Having systems in place that allow companies to easily alter production to accommodate different formulations means companies can expand product offerings and their client bases. Looking for a Recipe for Business Success? There’s an ERP for that! Sage X3 ERP can help companies increase productivity and cut costs while providing all of the process manufacturing features needed to support recipe and formula management including: Multiple units of measure conversion capabilities Scalable batches Tracking and costing of products, co-products and by-products Changing finished goods to use specific/available ingredients Updating and duplicating of formulas and recipes Hazardous material tracking Lot tracking and shelf-life management Integration of formulas into work orders or batches for tracking/recording of actual ingredients Proportion management Ingredient tracking Tracing and tracking materials from supplier to the customer Yield management Labelling Allergen tracking and alerts Quality control Choosing the right ERP for your food and beverage business is a big decision. At Net at Work, our tenured consultants work closely with you to identify your specific business needs and recommend the best solution to help unleash the power of your business. For more information about how Net at Work helps companies in the Food and Beverage industry, please contact us.

Oracle NetSuite today released a new solution to help organizations protect their workforce and communities as the economy begins to reopen. The new Workforce Case Interaction SuiteApp helps NetSuite customers create, track and record the in-person interactions of people suspected of having COVID-19 infections. The new SuiteApp helps NetSuite customers protect employees and customers at physical locations by providing a centralized place to efficiently and securely create and track cases of infected people in the workforce. HR professionals or other authorized users can manually record interactions into NetSuite when a worker reports testing positive for COVID-19. The application can then generate a list of potential interactions an infected employee had with other individuals based on the employee’s location, time entry location, reporting structure, project team members and NetSuite calendar events. With these results and the ability to log additional interactions, HR professionals and other authorized users, can quickly respond and help create safer work environments. The new application includes: Case Management: Helps organizations create cases for all infected employees and track their in-person interaction details. Security and Privacy: Administrators assign access to users to control and limit who can perform a search and manage a case. Tracking: Helps organizations keep track of infections by automatically running a search of an infected person to get a list of potential interactions with other people at work within a defined time period. Notifications: Helps organizations build a list of at-risk contacts to enable quick and timely communication with other possibly affected members of the workforce through customized email distribution. Reporting: Helps organizations support local government-related safety orders by enabling them to quickly, efficiently and securely export and share collected workforce case interaction data. Originally Posted on the NetSuite Blog. Author Marc Holliday.

The Sage X3 Product Configurator is an optional module within Sage X3 that guides users through a series of rule-based questions to produce the technical specifications of the product to be sold and/or produced. It can be used for several business use cases including: Configure Price Quote (CPQ) functionality Multi-Select items to a sales quote or order Build a new SKU and bill of material with different variants like a master SKU with different sizes/colors In this video, we will show how the Sage X3 Product Configurator searches for a pre-built product that matches user-defined attributes to add to the sales order. If no match is found, the Product Configurator creates a new product and stores the configuration for re-use later on. There are three components to the product configurator in this example: Product Selection Options/Variants Scenario The Product Selection component returns a short list of products that match the attributes entered by the user. For example, using a bicycle scenario, if we tell the product configurator we are looking for mountain bikes for adults, the product configurator will return a list of all products matching those attributes. The user can then select which product to add to the order. The Options/Variants component will prompt the user to answer a series of questions about a specific product. Again, in our bicycle example, it may ask what color the bike should be, or what type of seat or tires should the bike have. The Options/Variants component is where add-ons (cross-sells and up-sells) are typically selected. Finally, the Scenario function is a combination of the Product Selection and Options/Variants functions to provide a fully rule-based Product Configurator. Sage X3 looks at the combination of requested attributes to see if it has ever been created in the system before. If not, then the system creates the product, outlines all of the components needed to build the product, determines if they are in stock or may need to be ordered, defines the price and adds the new configuration to your list of products. Watch this video to learn more and see Product Configurator in action: .embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; } For more information on the Sage X3 Product Configurator, please contact us.

Does your business have sales teams in the field or at home selling products to existing customers? Skynamo’s field sales app eliminates admin for field sales teams, so they can engage with more customers, spend more time with them and sell more. View live sales activity. Eliminate call reports. Watch sales soar. Skynamo, the mobile-first field sales platform for Sage X3, increases sales rep productivity and effectiveness by digitizing paper-based processes, automating administrative tasks, and enabling easy access to customer and product information in the field. GPS technology provides managers with a real-time view of sales activity and sales rep effectiveness in the field, so they can coach their reps remotely. Field sales teams using Skynamo typically double – and in some cases triple – the number of customers they visit per week and increase revenue by up to 20% in the first year. .embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; } Integrating Skynamo with Sage X3 provides field sales agents with the latest product and customer information and order history while on the road or onsite at a customer. Skynamo’s integration capability streamlines the ordering process and improves order accuracy, order fulfillment and time to invoice for field sales teams on the road. New COVID-19 Safety Features Skynamo now has new COVID-19 features that support contact tracking and tracing and cultivate culture of compliance. New specialized virus reporting and screening tools designed for field agents and face-to-face sales executives The COVID-19 Daily Clock-In empowers high-performing field agents and business owners to do what they do best – customer engagement Mobile, accessible, tracking-enabled Skynamo can be customized to fit all business requirements For most organizations, personal contact is essential to achieving sales goals. According to research undertaken by Xant, companies with field agents have a closing rate that’s around 30.2% higher than those who rely on calls or emails and the deals are usually 130.2% larger. This makes field sales a critical investment for companies looking for stability in the current market and economy. The data presents a real challenge. Meeting face-to-face is the competitive advantage necessary in the current economy to stave off competitors vying for the same customers who now have tighter budgets and are looking to cut costs. However, business owners should not risk the health and safety of an organization’s people. The COVID-19 Daily Clock-in Screening Form ensures that businesses that require field sales teams to visit customers regularly for relationship management and research are able to protect their employees and remain aligned with occupational health and safety guidelines and best practice. “There are stringent new regulations for doing business and it’s important for companies to feel that they are doing everything they can to protect their employees and their customers,” says Sam Clarke, Founder & CEO of Skynamo. “Employees also want to get back to work and regain a semblance of normal life. However, this is offset by the Corona virus and the risks that it poses to field sales agents. We recognized the value of providing customized COVID-19 check lists in Skynamo to provide both a company’s customers and employees with an extra level of protection and security.” “The field sales agents log into the app from the moment that they start the day and it asks a series of questions, that can be customized, that pertain to the virus,” says Clarke. “These include things like temperature, general health, a cough – the basic checklist for the symptoms of the disease. Most companies take these details down when the employee enters the building – their temperature is taken and they’re asked a series of questions. For those in the field, this isn’t possible which is where the app comes in.” The teams take their temperature and details remotely and provide these to their managers using an accessible digital record. They also complete a different list once they’ve seen a customer. They can answer customized questions around whether the customer was ill, or how well the company adhered to social distancing, for example. This not only ensures detailed record-keeping, but it also ensures that legal procedures are tightly followed in the event that the agent does get ill and needs to apply for worker’s compensation. “The application gives the business a detailed record of field agent movements and this information can be used to track the illness if someone gets sick,” adds Clarke. “For those high performing, active field sales managers and business owners, it’s an effective tool for returning to work in the business as ‘newsual.’” Throughout the lockdown, Skynamo has been running webinars for organizations across the manufacturing, wholesale, and distribution sectors to support their COVID-19 strategies and planning. Email us to view a recording of the last webinar. Currently focused on scale and growth, in spite of current market conditions, Skynamo has also developed free consultations for managers and business owners to help them define sales within the pandemic era.

In this video we go over how to add another field to an existing report in Acuamtica Cloud ERP. We also show how to download edit and upload a modified version to Acumatica. Contact us if you have any questions or would like more information about Acumatica features and enhancements. .embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; }

As the U.S. continues to reopen the economy, no one knows for certain what the new normal for distributors will look like. There have been unprecedented shifts in consumer habits. Distributors in every sector have been affected, with some seeing drastic increases in demand and others seeing orders plummet. These changes in consumer habits have put small businesses at a disadvantage, with NFIB reporting that 92% of small business owners are struggling because of the effects of the pandemic. As businesses look to an uncertain future, one thing has become clear: those that commit to innovating will stay on top. This post highlights seven actions that distributors can take to weather the current economic climate while preparing their business for the future. For a more in-depth review, download the COVID-19: A Playbook as the Economy Reopens white paper. There are also more distributor specific resources — The eCommerce Transition: Creating an Optimal Warehouse Using a Warehouse Management System. Re-Evaluate Your Business Model Now is the time for distributors to take a close look at which components of their business model are working and which must be adjusted. To determine what changes, if any, need to be made, it is critical to track key performance indicators (KPIs) weekly. Customer acquisition and retention is important at the best of times but has become critical. What is the lifetime value (LTV) of a customer now? How does that compare to your customer acquisition cost (CAC)? Do your customer acquisition costs vary relative to your business unit, their geographical location or respective channel? You need to evaluate how your most important KPIs have changed due to COVID-19. One of the most significant changes will likely occur in the business-to-business selling model. Historically, most distributors made sales face-to-face, relationships were built in person. Now, there is limited or no face-to-face contact. Trade shows and events have been postponed. As more buyers work from home, they will likely become more self-servicing. They are looking for price transparency, the easiest and most direct way to get product—sometimes looking to go direct to the manufacturer. This shift isn’t new, but it definitely has been accelerated due to COVID-19. Distributors need the right technology to capitalize on this new environment. Even if your business doesn’t have those tools in place today to support new selling channels, it is possible to get up and running quickly with the right partner. Bedford Industries was able to set up an ecommerce site selling newly-produced protective masks within a week and, once it was live, completed the first online order within 45 minutes. “Some of us have wanted to develop ecommerce for several years, but that method of direct sales and fulfillment is a very different model than our traditional B2B distributor model,” Bedford President Jay Milbrandt said. “This early ecommerce site has allowed us to shatter that barrier. There is already a lot of encouraging discussion about what other products we could imagine on the web store in the future.” Conduct a Financial Health Check One of the most important aspects of your business to pay close attention to during this transitional period is cash flow. As consumers’ needs have changed, the relationships between suppliers and customers have changed as well. To navigate this new environment, use key relationships with customers, partners and suppliers to maintain positive cash flow. Be sure to start with the larger clients, as they will have the most impact on your business’ finances. If possible, take advantage of cash discounts where available, in addition to the many rebates available from manufacturers. Identify fast moving items and keep on top of micro sales trends—there may be an opportunity to bring in additional inventory for items that you know are going to sell. Products as diverse as furniture, fish and fluoride have seen surprising rise in demand. Speaking of inventory, make sure you’re valuing old, slow-moving inventory accurately. Between housing, handling and additional administrative costs, the total cost of holding inventory can represent 25-30% more than the inventory’s unit cost value. Monitor Health, Safety and Legal Concerns For distribution centers and warehouses, especially those deemed essential, it is critical to ensure you are acting accordance with county, city and state health and safety regulations. Employees need to feel safe in the new working environment, and your customers should feel confident that the products they are ordering are safe as well. Within the warehouse or distribution center, there are specific sanitation and safety precautions that must be enforced. Health authorities recommend that all frequently-touched surfaces be sanitized every two hours. In a large, busy warehouse, it may be difficult for workers to maintain social distancing while also trying to effectively communicate with each other. Consider providing communication devices like walkie-talkies. Precautions such as wearing personal protective equipment (PPE), following social distancing guidelines and frequent sanitation are new to everyone and they will likely need to be reinforced by management. Establish clear, consistent protocols through signage, and digital and in-person communication. The CDC recommends that all employers implement and update a plan that is specific to the workplace, identifies all areas and job tasks with potential exposure to COVID-19, and includes control measures to eliminate and reduce exposure to COVID-19. The CDC provides a Resuming Business Toolkit designed to help organizations as they re-enter business and ensure employee safety. Make sure the new guidelines are distributed to all staff. Conduct Scenario Planning for Supply Chain Disruptions Forecasting is especially difficult in today’s environment, but preparing for possible future outcomes is absolutely necessary in order for distributors to survive. Business should pro-actively address each element of a supply chain individually to reduce potential disruptions and how its status might impact the others across multiple best, bad and worst-case scenarios. Effective communication across all parts of the supply chain is now essential. Distributors should rate trading partners by how well they are able to communicate in the current environment—this will help uncover the potential weak points. The operations group should be using all of the integration tools available to establish and monitor inventory levels. Look for delays in communication and or large adjustments to identify potential issues. Empower procurement to identify potentially fast-moving SKUs and inventory and to work with suppliers and manufacturers to obtain better pricing for bulk purchases and to investigate rebate possibilities to keep cash flow moving. Logistics is critical to make sure they can get inventory where it needs to go. Ensure you have multiple options for each line of business or geography. As businesses prepare to re-open, distributors should take this time to form tighter relationships with partners. Relationships built, maintained and nurtured right now will be stronger as a result. Focus on Customer Retention and Acquisition In many ways, COVID-19 has accelerated change and emphasized the need for automation for all distributors. Online ordering has become a lifeline in this environment and, if distributors want to remain competitive, they must adjust. However, it will take more than an online catalog to draw in new customers. Online shoppers not only require a website that is easy to navigate, they demand transparent shipping and delivery times. They want to be able to talk with a vendor if they need help. This is just as important for existing, high-value customers. Distributors should provide customer-specific portals and pricing for valued online customers. Not only will an ecommerce presence simplify ordering for your current customers, it greatly increases your ability for potential customers to find you. Star Metal Fluids, a distributor based in Phoenix, noticed its ecommerce site has gotten a small but steady stream of orders for its fluids. This suggests that smaller manufacturers are turning to Star Metal Fluids when COVID-19 shutdowns prevent them from getting their fluids from the distributors they normally work with. Explore New Packaging, Pricing and Payment Options With so much disruption to business, taking a fresh look at your product packaging, pricing and payment terms can shed some light on new opportunities. Can you offer promotion pricing or discounting to certain segments to spurt demand? Does offering payment term flexibility or use of credit make sense? Re-evaluating these aspects of your business can allow you to maintain positive relationships with customers and consumers. Maintain Organizational Alignment As distributors go through these adjustments, it is important to keep the organization informed and engaged along the way. With so much uncertainty today, transparency has never been more important. Employees feel anxious and tense, especially essential workers. At this time, it is crucial to keep all lanes of communication open. Take the opportunity to be up-front with your teams and reassure them that you are taking appropriate precautions to keep them safe. Keep them updated on what’s going on in the company. It’s important to make sure that everyone is aware of updated safety guidelines and adhere to them. Make sure that your sales teams have clear direction how they can be successful and continue to keep customers are the forefront. Originally Posted on the NetSuite Blog. Author Zizi Weiss.