When’s the last time you thought about security for your business? Or asked your IT team or partner security related questions? Are you sure you’re covered in the event something happens? How much data are you willing to lose? Maybe you are like me, not an expert in security, and not sure about what to … Read more
Almost all businesses face this one critical problem: lagging productivity. We live in an increasingly automated world, and yet gains in productivity have slowed significantly. Given this environment, any company that can evaluate old, clunky processes and replace them with smarter tools that enable optimization is going to gain traction in their market. When it … Read more
I’ve been waiting a long time for this. If you’ve had to split strings in SQL in the past, keep reading! Microsoft SQL Server 2016 now has a native solution available, meaning, you can supply a delimited string and join against it like a collection of rows. There have been many work-arounds for this over … Read more
Here are some easy SQL commands you can use for better grouping options. Quite often, I run into situations where I need to combine multiple values or descriptions into a column when it comes to reporting. Examples: There are a few SQL functions you can use to do this: CONCAT – allows you to concatenate … Read more
Have you found yourself spending hours preparing detailed reports for a Board meeting only to have them glanced at and tossed aside? Yeah, us too. So we thought we would put together our top tips that will ensure your reports are the highlight of the meeting. Tip #1 Know Your Board Most boards bring a … Read more
The ERP landscape has shifted from traditional, on-premise client/server deployments to software-as-a-service, ERP in the cloud. Buyers have realized this shift has major benefits for their business, including: Scalability Reliability Elasticity Cost Savings Gartner www.gartner.com projects huge growth of core ERP systems in the cloud by 2025. IT leaders also say maintaining hardware, software and … Read more
If you have one of the newer 4K monitors, have you run into issues with super small font size? I recently ran into this with a client who was using a newer Ultra 4K monitor when accessing Microsoft Dynamics GP (newer supported versions) through a remote Desktop Environment. Problem: While running queries in Dynamics GP, … Read more
There are tons of articles on the internet about multi-tasking, and we all do it to varying degrees. However, the research, not to mention common sense, points to the fact that you are better off focusing on one task at a time. Clutter is the Mind Killer Have you ever stood in front of your … Read more
Microsoft is starting to release some details about what’s new in Dynamics GP 2018, targeted to be available around the first of December, 2017. I’m getting excited for some of these features! There are five key areas of updated functionality in the new version: Doc Attach – Microsoft is calling this the “next evolution of … Read more
The Crestwood Development staff had a recent team sharing session. One of the things they went over were some great tips and tricks for SQL that we thought you might enjoy too. Index-Friendly Operators If you have indexes in your databases, using index-friendly operators can speed up searching. Indexes identify what data we really care … Read more
Repost from Avalara With the myriad of responsibilities involved in running a successful business, it should come as no surprise that preparing for a sales and use tax audit is not exactly a high priority or favorite topic of conversation among business owners. There are only so many hours in a day, and many companies … Read more
Many of us have run across a situation where a SQL restore just takes FOREVER! Since I had some time on my hands, I decided to search and found this great blog post by Matt Slocum. Seriously, I waited well over an hour for a 58GB database to restore to SQL 2008 (and the restore never completed, … Read more
Extend the life of your fingers and shave minutes off just about everything you do. As a software developer I live and breathe shortcut keys. I use them to quickly navigate between screens, auto type out the current date and time, type my email address, and generate commonly used SQL scripts. All within the reach … Read more
The .Net framework gives developers the powerful option of compiling assemblies targeted for the now-standard x64 platforms or legacy x32 platforms. This is not an issue for most modern software since the typical machine is based on 64-bit architecture and most assemblies are compatible with 64-bit systems. However, the challenge arises when compiling 64-bit assemblies … Read more
Reposted from Avalara Auditors are on the move. While most businesses expect (i.e., dread) to be audited by their home department of revenue, it often comes as a surprise to learn that state tax authorities routinely send auditors to, or hire auditors from, other states to capture unreported sales and use tax revenue. Some states … Read more
Crestwood has been named to the Bob Scott’s Top 100 VAR list for the fourth time, placing 42nd on the list. Members of the Top 100 VARs List were selected based on factors such growth, industry leadership and recognition, and innovation. Chosen firms represent a wide range of sizes and include many different accounting software … Read more
You are trying to create a new SQL user, and you receive the following message, “the server principal ‘xxxx’ already exists’ as below: Ok, maybe that user already exists. You search SQL Management Studio, but cannot find the user associated with any databases or under the main Security node. You can run the query below … Read more
Growth isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach. In fact, companies expend a great deal of energy and resources deciding which pursuits will move the needle the furthest toward achieving specific goals, and where to prioritize their time and investment. Oftentimes sales and use tax gets left out of this equation, especially when it doesn’t appear to directly … Read more
Locking is a part of every SQL Server database. It’s critical functionality and without it, we could not have multiple people working in the same database, at the same time. It ensures data integrity, but can also cause some errors. Example: I was assisting a customer who found their Dynamics GP system was locked up … Read more
States target certain businesses for sales tax audits according to data For most companies, the mere idea of a sales tax audit is a daunting prospect, and “fingers crossed we don’t get picked” is a popular strategy. But for certain types of businesses, just doing what you do can be enough to attract the attention … Read more
Do you ever get tired of typing ‘Select * INTO SourceTable02417 FROM SourceTable’ to make a quick backup of a SQL Sever table? I did, so here’s a quick and dirty little stored procedure to take care of that manual process. Here’s how it works: When you call this Procedure (PROC), simply use the following … Read more
Businesses may feel out of their depth as states look to test the waters on tax compliance in the coming year Sales and use tax compliance can be a complex problem for many businesses. It almost feels like you need a bowie knife to cut through the regulatory red tape, although knowledge may be a … Read more
Did you know you could hide a row on a SSRS report if all the fields on that row are blank? I found a lot of documentation on how to hide a text box, or even a row based a condition or calculation, such as blank, zero or null values. However, I didn’t see much … Read more
Did you know that you can use SQL Stored Procedures (SP’s) as a data source in a Scribe Insight integration? You might have done something similar when you use SP’s as the data source for custom reports. Using SQL Server as a data source in Scribe lends all the power and functionality of SQL Server … Read more