Recently, Crestwood was asked three questions that pertain to Power BI in the cloud (the Microsoft SaaS offering) and how it compares to the on-premise (or cloud-hosted) Power BI Report Server solution. Both solutions enable Power BI reports and visualization construction by leveraging the power of Microsoft’s Power BI services, but there are notable differences … Read more
Crestwood Associates is Awarded as a Top VAR for the Eighth Consecutive Year
Crestwood Associates has again been named to the Bob Scott’s Top 100 VARs for 2020 for the eighth year in a row. The Top 100 resellers are chosen from organizations that sell and implement Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and accounting software. “Wow, eight years in a row!” says Tim Thompson, Partner at Crestwood Associates. “We … Read more
How Acumatica is Forging Ahead in the ERP World
One of the biggest dangers is failing to keep up with the expectations of current and prospective customers. In 2000, the Fortune 500 top 30 featured major players of the day such as Sears, Enron, Compaq, Lucent, MCI WorldCom, and Kmart Holdings. Being great at a point in time doesn’t mean perpetual greatness. Steve Jobs … Read more
How to Enter a Blanket Purchase Order in Dynamics GP
In Microsoft Dynamics GP, a blanket purchase order lists a single item and its quantities that will be delivered in a series of shipments, usually on specific dates. Blanket purchase orders allow you to make long-term agreements with vendors to purchase the same item—usually to receive a volume discount or to be sure of obtaining … Read more
How to Use Dynamics GP Customer and Sales Order Processing Holds
In Microsoft Dynamics GP, you can use customer or sales process holds to prevent any further sales to a customer. You may want to do this, for example, if the customer has an unpaid balance, a shipping address hasn’t been verified, or any other reason. You still can receive payments from customers on hold, but … Read more
Is Working From Home Here to Stay?
Get your on-premise Dynamics GP or SL system safe and secure on the Crestwood Cloud. It’s secure, accessible, easier than you think, and can save you money. Before Covid-19, flexible work arrangements were a luxury. Today, they are essential in order to keep employees and families healthy and safe. Many businesses are realizing however, that … Read more
Adding a Prepayment to a Purchase Order in Acumatica
There are times when you need to pay your vendor a deposit on a purchase order (or in full), before receiving actual items. The vendor may require that deposit before shipping you the goods. Acumatica allows for prepayments to be applied to a Purchase Order, paid to the vendor, and then deduct from the balance … Read more
Setting up Control Accounts to keep Subledgers in Balance with the GL in Acumatica
Acumatica has added a new feature called Control Accounts in the 2019 R2 release. This functionality prevents users from making manual entries to any GL Account marked as a control account. As a result, it helps to keep the subledgers in balance with the General Ledger. It’s a very helpful feature. Here is a list … Read more
Using Business Events for Approval Reminders in Acumatica
Acumatica introduced Business Events in Acumatica ERP 2018 R1. Business Events provide a platform to monitor data and events and create actions such as an email notification or an import scenario. Our clients have used Business Events for notifications on events such as: Additions of new customer locations to confirm tax settings. Purchase receipts created … Read more
Removing Duplicates from GIs in Acumatica
Sometimes you need to add an additional table to a simple Generic Inquiry in Acumatica in order to get data that is not in the original table. If the new table has a many-to-one relationship with the original table, you can see duplicates, (or worse: entries as many times as there are records in the … Read more
Using Business Events to Create Transactions – Employee Birthday Checks
Acumatica ERP Business Events provide a powerful platform to monitor data and events and to create actions such as an email notification or an import scenario. This post will demonstrate the flexibility of Business Events and how they can be used to update business data. Our demonstration company has a practice of sending employees a … Read more
Acumatica Shortcuts – Shift F to Filter
I was on a certification training webinar with Acumatica recently, and during the meeting, the Acumatica team showed a shortcut trick that I think everyone in our community needs to know about. It’s possible that you already do, but if not, it is worth the few minutes to read. Acumatica has built many amazing inquiry … Read more
Initial Setup for Prepayment Percentage – Sales Orders in Dynamics 365 Business Central
If you require your customers to submit payment or if a vendor requires you to submit payment before shipment, you can use a prepayment. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central makes it easy to invoice with prepayment percentages. We learned that with just a bit of initial setup, you can design a very smooth processing experience. … Read more
Using Business Events with Report Attachments in Acumatica
Business Events are a great way to send notifications to users in Acumatica, when data changes, or events occur. You can now also attach a report to the email notification. The example below is to notify the purchasing manager when a PO is received. It sends an email to this user, and it also attaches … Read more
Office 365: How to Find Things in Microsoft Teams
Crestwood Associates has been using Microsoft Teams for a while now, but I still get calls and questions every day about where something is located. Teams is great for collaborating, meetings, etc., but even I forget where something is at times. This article is going to show you tips and tricks for searching in Teams. … Read more
How Do You Sign a Document Working Remotely or Without a Printer?
There’s no doubt that working from home can be challenging, especially if you don’t have an office full of equipment. If you don’t possess a printer, how do you execute documents that need a signature? If you are running Acumatica, you can integrate the signed documents directly into your system where they belong. There are … Read more
How to Share Teams Recordings with People Outside Your Network
When your business relies on technology, it is good to know what you’re doing or at least have someone handy in IT that can help. I recently conducted an online Teams training, to which the client requested that the meeting be recorded so that it can be shared with other team members who were unable … Read more
New Financial Features in Acumatica 2019 R2
Acumatica 2019 R2 was released in September, 2019 and included more than 100 improvements, enhancements, and new features. The release notes are extensive covering additions in the platform, usability, financial management, project accounting, inventory and order management, construction, field service, and manufacturing. Many of these new features were developed by user requests, to make Acumatica … Read more
Automatic Alt Text for Images in Microsoft Word
Did you know that every time you add an image to your Word document, it automatically generates “Alt Text?” Do you know what Alt Text refers to? Alternative Text or Alternative Descriptions are written copy that describes the image. This text also helps screen-reading tools describe images to visually impaired readers. It will appear in … Read more
4 Tips for Mastering Your Microsoft Outlook Calendar
With so many of us working from home, what would have been a conversation over a cubicle, now requires a scheduled meeting. Here are some tips for getting more out of your Microsoft Outlook Calendar and how to get a meeting on the right calendars, fast! 1. Quickly View Calendar without Switching Screens Tired of … Read more
Dynamics GP and SQL 2019 – Internal error: “An expression services limit has been reached”
With a recent Dynamics GP upgrade, we ran into a unique error message that we had not seen before: This error was appearing in various Navigation Lists in GP 2018 R2 on the latest version. Examples of Navigation Lists impacted included the following: All Purchasing Transactions Purchase Orders Not Submitted Purchase Requisitions Pending Approval Other … Read more
Exporting Dynamics 365 Dashboards using Power BI
Quite often, we find clients that want to export or share dashboard information from Microsoft Dynamics 365 for meetings and updates. Maybe you want to export a dashboard view into a PowerPoint slide or create a PDF to share. One way to do this is to take a screen shot, but often the quality is … Read more
Acumatica 2020 R1: New Financial Features
I know you probably love reading all the release notes for the new versions of Acumatica, but I’ll save you some time and give you the cliff notes. Here is a list and screen shot of the new financial features in Acumatica 2020 R1. Banking Payables Receivables Fixed Assets Taxes Banking Validate External Transactions Form … Read more
Using Item Extended Text in Dynamics 365 Business Central
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central allows users to add a field to any document called “Item Extended Text.” Item Extended Text is a great way to display any additional information about an item on various document forms. The user can choose which documents to display the additional text on along with a date range if … Read more