I had the opportunity to interview Victoria Yudin, a Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) for Microsoft Dynamics GP and founder of Flexible Solutions Inc., as well as a well-known professional in the Dynamics GP community. I wanted to interview her to get an insider's insight on Dynamics GP - to find out her perspective on GP modules, Microsoft's partner channel, and what the future holds for Dynamics GP. As I'd hoped, her answers tell a lot about her success with the product and the direction of the GP ecosystem.

1.       What do you most love about your job? 

I love the feeling I get when I am able to help someone learn how to do something that saves them a lot of time or fix an issue they are having.  There is this tangible relief you can see (or hear if you’re on the phone), that is very gratifying.

2.       In 2010, you wrote the book “Microsoft GP 2010 Implementation” what were your inspirations for writing it? 

This may sound a bit corny, but Dynamics GP as well as the GP community were both inspirations for me.  Dynamics GP because I think it an amazing product and the community for being so dedicated and friendly.

I got the chance to interview Mark Polino a Microsoft Certified IT Professional for Dynamics GP. He is a well-known MVP in the MS Great Plains community. I attended Dynamics Decisions 2011 and I thought he did a wonderful job speaking about the worst mistakes that you can make with Dynamics GP, which was really helpful because I’m new to the system. These are the questions he was asked:

1. When did you realize this would be your career?

In my first few years as a consultant, I realized that my experience with Dynamics GP gave me an advantage even if I chose to go back into the industry. When I moved out of consulting and into a controller role for a while it made a huge difference in getting the job.

2. In 2010, you wrote the book “Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 Cookbook” what was your inspiration for writing it?

I had built several “50 Tips in 50 Minutes for Dynamics GP” presentations that got great reactions. I was considering building them into an eBook and mentioned that to my friend and fellow MVP, Mariano Gomez. He was talking to a publisher about a book and he put me in touch with Packt Publishing. The rest is history and the publisher’s help made a huge difference in delivering a better book.

The Cloud has virtually changed the way businesses handle financial transactions. Gone are the days when companies must rely on old-fashioned and outdated approaches to document transactions, like pen and paper or Excel spreadsheets. These methods are not only more time consuming and extremely faulty, but they are not a realistic way to run a business in the 21^st century. Moving into a new, innovative, and integrated system like Microsoft Dynamics GP can prove to be beneficial for a company of any size for the following reasons:

Time Saving - With a system that automatically inputs customer, vendor, and employee entered data into your system and easily connects all information into one platform, the tasks of manually entering the same data into various spreadsheets and software can greatly reduce the time consuming tasks of data entry. In addition, errors in data entry can simply be eliminated with all clients, employees, and vendors entering data into one system.

Save More Money - Cloud accounting lowers your IT costs because you no longer need to update software each time a new version is released or worry about large, one-time licensing fees. The software costs are spread out over a predictable, smaller, monthly fee. Updates and maintenance are carried out by the cloud provider. With cloud accounting, you can ensure that your system is consistent and up to date.

Easily Create Automated Reports -Microsoft Dynamics GP has tools which simplify accounting processes.  Since all data needed to create reports is stored in one system, creating reports is easy as a few clicks.

Safe & Secure -You have the peace of mind that your data will always be backed up no matter what obstacle your company faces – hardware issues, lost data, or even natural disasters.

Management Reporter 2012 for Microsoft Dynamics has been released & is now available for use.  Management Reporter is a robust financial reporting tool that provides companies visibility into organizational health.  Management Reporter is available for the following Microsoft Dynamics products:

• AX 2009 & 2012
• GP 2010
• NAV 2009
• SL 2011

Upgrades include greater design flexibility, the ability to collaborates with co-workers, enhanced drill-down capabilities & a more interactive viewing experience.

Contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to upgrade today!

Spring is here & that means SPRING CLEANING!  With that in mind, system administrators should be thinking about cleaning up their Dynamics system & shoring up their licensing needs.  Thus, I would like to tell everyone about a free utility that will help cleaning up your licensing needs.

Microsoft Dynamics GP is licensed concurrently.  Meaning, if a user is logged into multiple companies at a single time, they will also be using multiple licenses at that time.  For firms with multiple companies running on Dynamics GP & where the number of licenses is very close to the number of actual users, this can present a problem.

For those where purchasing additional licenses is not an option, there is a utility to prevent users from logging into multiple companies at the same time.  To install, download from Customer Source & extract the Prevent_Users_Logging_In_To_Multiple_Companies.zip file.  Then  simply log into Microsoft Dynamics GP & select Tools > Customize > Customization Maintenance, then import the extracted file .

No longer will multiple logins from a single user burn multiple licenses.

Adam MacIntosh is a Senior Project Manager at WebSan Solutions Inc.  A certified Microsoft partner.

This year’s Microsoft convergence in Houston announced that Dynamics GP 2013 is due to be released Q4 of this year. With over 150 new features that will help organizations with their functionality, the WebSan team is quite excited! Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 will transform the way your organization is run by helping you become more connected, provide support for growth, increase efficiency, and lower your IT costs through the new features that are available.

Here are a few features that we’re looking forward to upon its release:

• Web Access – Employees will gain easier, convenient access to information and will be able to better collaborate with the new web client from their PC or mobile device.
• Business Analyzer – Delegate tasks, track KPI’s, forecast potential opportunities, and take informed action by having better role-specific insight in to your business.
• Business Intelligence – Enhanced SQL Reporting offers better visibility to key business metrics.
• Office 365 Integration – Integration will provide better collaboration and communication within your organization.
• Word templates – Templates can be applied and reports can be created for anything in GP 2013.
• Document attachment – Capability to apply related documents into each transaction.
• Printing – Conveniently choose a printer at the time of printing a report or document

With the increased functionality Dynamics GP 2013 offers, you can be sure that you will have more control over your organization, allowing you to transform and improve the way you conduct business.

For more information about Dynamics GP 2013 and upgrades, contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.@This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

By: Mabelle Gonzales, Marketing Coordinator at WebSan Solutions Inc, a Canadian Certified Microsoft Dynamics Partner.

Last Thursday, we hosted our first web conference for this year. We discussed SQL linked Excel Reports and reviewed how you could effectively use tools, like pivot tables. With such a great turn out, we’re looking forward to hosting web conferences regularly. To be informed with the latest webinars, send us a message or e-mail us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

You can view the recorded webinar and other Microsoft Dynamics GP training videos at our YouTube channel.

Excel Reporting - Part 1

By: Mabelle Gonzales, Marketing Coordinator at WebSan Solutions Inc, a Canadian Certified Microsoft Dynamics Partner.

Professional services organizations (PSO's)– management consulting, marketing agencies, law firms, legal and financial firms – are some of the most difficult businesses to manage. This ever-changing industry relies heavily on the skills and services their people provide. Clients base their decision on the knowledge, expertise and advice given to them and as a result, it makes it hard for a PSO to sell and quantify their product. Accounting for invoices, tracking hours for each resource, overseeing projects and managing client relations can be a little overwhelming and for a budding PSO, challenges can become even more complex. Using a robust software solution such as WebSan’s Microsoft Dynamics GP solution for professional services can relieve companies in this industry from their financial and project management challenges by:

• Shortening deployment times with the use of tools which install the system within minutes, set up core functionality, and quickly transfer and update data.
• Providing more visibility in projects and their status – increasing customer satisfaction by improving collaboration with clients and employees.
• Connecting and streamlining business processes - billing, tracking hours, or invoicing.
• Optimizing efficiency and communication with customizable add-ons and solutions.

To learn more about the robust capabilities and comprehensive tools of Microsoft Dynamics GP, visit our website or contact us for a demo.

By: Mabelle Gonzales, Marketing Coordinator at WebSan Solutions Inc, a Canadian Certified Microsoft Dynamics Partner.

Many of our Microosoft Dynamics GP clients use our support desk for assistance with issues that arise from time to time.  We offer various levels of support,from ad hoc to 24/7 availability.  The need for support varies with every client.  Some require lots, some very little.

For those that like to perform their own support, there is a great utility available free of charge that can be downloaded (through a partner) from Microsoft.  This tool, called the Support Debugging Tool, improves error handling & has many great features.  These include:

• Colouring Windows by Company
• Easily Capture Screenshots of Errors & Email ALL Related Support Information to a Help Desk
• Transaction Logging
• Executing SQL within Dynamics GP

To obtain this tool, get the DEBU_1100.zip file from your Microsoft Partner

Unzip & copy to your Dynamics GP install folder

Start Microsoft Dynamics GP as an Administrator & agree to Add New Code message

The air is definitely a little colder these days, making it the perfect time to fly south for a little R&R.  In an effort to reduce workload, allowing for a little extra R&R, a number of our clients have chosen to implement Electronic Reconciliation.  Through this module, one can download their bank statement & process into Dynamics GP, eliminating much of the manual work associated with the bank reconciliation process.  Setup is a simple process & is completed in one simple screen.  Downloading files is a standard process through most banks.  By implementing this simple module, companies can save a considerable time each month in the administrative process.

Adam MacIntosh is a Senior Project Manager with WebSan Solutions Inc.

Not to steal the thunder from a certain 80’s classic film, but times and systems are moving pretty fast at WebSan Solutions Inc. WebSan is proud to announce a new strategic partnership with Allstream Communications - a partnership allowing us to upgrade our data centre infrastructure to include a blazing fast fibre optic link to the internet and our core network.

How fast? Using a twelve strand single-mode fibre optic cable we not only have capacity to meet all of our current needs, but we have enough future capacity to expand into multiple Gigabits of bandwidth, all transmitting at 299,792,458 m / s, the speed of light.

What does this mean for you? Simply, it means faster access to your data - and for some, way faster than if you ran it yourself on premise. It also means dealing with high infrastructure costs and enhancing your technical options are details you and your IT team won’t need to sweat over when you run your environment on our hosted Microsoft Dynamics GP infrastructure. 

What if I told you there was a way you could eliminate up to half of your spending on costly resources while increasing your company’s productivity? The answer is simple – consider implementing cloud technologies in your day to day operations.

In today’s competitive world, companies are always looking for ways to stand out from their competition. Businesses in fields such as accounting, healthcare, marketing, consulting or law spend their precious resources, time and energy managing operations which range from collecting time and expenses and approvals to invoicing customers and collections.

Considering the benefits in terms of cost, manpower, control and accessibility, it’s no surprise that many corporate companies are now looking into implementing a cloud solution for the business software they use to manage administrative or financial tasks. The following explains how cloud technologies can benefit not only regular businesses, but service businesses as well.

• It saves you money and time – As previously mentioned, service companies spend their valuable time and money collecting expenses and time from their field personnel while they should be focusing on delivering value to customers.  By including cloud technologies like web-based time and expense reporting in your company, you can reduce paperwork, and costs by allowing employees to access data at various locations.
• It increases productivity – Cloud integration breaks traditional boundaries in business.  With cloud, businesses are now able to communicate, share files, and interact with clients or employees around the world with more ease.  Projects can continue to move along even when employees are away for travel or not in the office.
• It can help gain a greater competitive advantage - Cloud based integration can help gain new customers and boost market share because of its ease of use and how it enables you to focus more time on your customers.
• It can enable better customer satisfaction – In a service based business, you want to spend the majority of your time and energy on your customers. Utilizing cloud can help simplify IT operations and improve your customer experience.
• You gain better control of your business – Cloud technologies make navigating through your company’s data and information effortless. It also makes delegating tasks less complicated due to increased accessibility to your company's files and documents. For a growing service business, it can help a company quickly adapt to market demands.

Competition in the services business market continues to increase. By taking advantage of cloud technologies, like Cloud Dynamics GP by WebSan, you can stay ahead of the curve and focus on what’s important – the customer. So, why not try it out?

 Contact us now at 416-499-1235 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

I don’t have anything against a mouse – a computer mouse that is – but sometimes I find I can be more efficient using the keyboard.  Over the years, you have probably gotten so familiar with some keyboard shortcuts that you find yourself even using the shortcut keys when you speak instead of the actual function it is used for – “Just Control+V that in the email.”

Sound like you?  If it does, you may find some of these Microsoft Dynamics GP Keyboard Shortcuts to be quite handy:

• ALT+F:  Activates the File menu in a GP window
• ALT+E:  Activates the Edit menu in a GP window
• ALT+M:  Activates the Microsoft Dynamics GP menu on the main toolbar
• ALT+R:  Activates the Reports menu on the main toolbar
• ALT+A:  Activates the Transactions menu on the main toolbar
• ALT+I:  Activates the Inquiry menu on the main toolbar
• ALT+C:  Activates the Cards menu on the main toolbar
• ALT+H:  Activates the Help menu
• CTRL+L: Opens a Lookup Window

 By: Rahim Jiwani, Application Specialist,WebSan Solutions Inc.

Before I start telling you the advantages of a partner hosting Microsoft Dynamics GP than just using a Microsoft Hosted/Azure environment, let me first explain the difference between them, so you can better understand what they mean.

A “Partner -Hosted” solution is either an independent software vendor (ISV), system integrator (IS) or a Value- Added Reseller (VAR) that offers hosted cloud solutions through a licensing partnership with Microsoft. A “Microsoft Hosted/Azure” environment is an internet cloud service hosted directly in Microsoft data centres.

The advantage of a “Partner-Hosted” solution is that you are actually working with people who not only have expertise in hosting software but also, possess a deep understanding of the Dynamics GP system. Some people find that it’s very important to build a trusting relationship before they do business; finding a Microsoft Dynamics partner who not only provides hosting solutions but, is Certified as well can reduce cost and provide a better solution in the long run. When using Microsoft hosted/Azure environment there is a variable cost to consider. If the price is very important to a client, then going with a partner would be a better solution. Companies that are in Canada might not like the idea of having their data hosted on an Azure environment because it’s US based. It's important to many Canadian companies to keep their data in Canada.

In future blogs, I will be taking more about a partner hosted solutions and how beneficial it can be to you.

By: Natalie Williams, Marketing Coordinator, WebSan Solutions Inc., a Canadian Certified Microsoft Partner

Sending an email should be easy to compose and send, it also should be easy to reply and forward to different people. Hotmail has one of the simplest ways of navigating and organizing emails, but the problem with that is companies don’t use Hotmail as their email provider. So say the email system that you’re using is giving you a hard time by not sending emails properly or sending all your emails to the junk folder, many of these problems can be frustrating and make you appear to be unprofessional. Here are a few benefits of using email integration in Microsoft Dynamics GP.

• Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 allows users to effortlessly email single and/or numerous documents. You can also send emails from a list in the system. You have the option of choosing a document that you want to send to a specific customer or vendor.
• With email integration, you can send documents as HTML, PDF, DOCX, or DOCX.
• You can customize messages for each document and/or customer/vendor combinations.
• You can also combine many documents and send them all at once in a single email.

So if you think your company needs a new email system and perhaps a new online accounting software system, why not kill two birds with one stone?

By: Natalie Williams, Marketing Coordinator, WebSan Solutions Inc., a Canadian Certified Microsoft Dynamics Partner

For some of the more technical Microsoft Dynamics GP users, you may want a little more control and customization when reporting on your GP data.  SmartLists provide a fairly quick and dynamic option to custom reporting, but they may not be visually satisfying.  On the other hand, integrating BI360 with GP will allow you create very clean and organized reports in an Excel-like environment, but won’t give you that rudimentary control that your technical mind may crave.  If you’re looking for some sort of middle ground between these two options, take a look at SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) for Dynamics GP.

The key to creating effective SSRS reports is having a good knowledge of SQL – or at the very least, a fairly strong knowledge of databases.  This is what scares away some users, but for those that have this type of background, SSRS Reports could be your salvation in the pursuit of both visually appealing and fully customizable reports.

While SSRS Reports can be easily viewed within Dynamics GP, they are created in Microsoft Report Builder – a separate software program that is offered for free by Microsoft.  Using Report Builder allows you to take a custom SQL query that you have created (either from scratch or by using Report Builder’s intuitive Query Designer) and turn it into an appealing report.  With the ability to easily create tables, charts, and even visual scales/gauges, you can turn a simple list of data into a work of art!

If you have SSRS Reports deployed in your GP environment, you can view them by going into any series and selecting the “Reporting Services Reports” item in the Navigation Pane.

[caption id="attachment_674" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="SSRS Reports in Dynamics GP"][/caption]

With the weather getting a little colder, we all know the Holidays are fast approaching.  It is around the Holidays that many, like myself, begin to travel to see loved ones.  This year in particular, I have a lot of travel lined up.  This got me thinking about how popular Dynamics is around the world.  So with that said, here are some quick facts about Dynamics GP's worldwide popularity …

• Dynamics is most popular in North America, the Middle East, Singapore, UK, Australia & Ireland.
• Dynamics GP, originally called Great Plains, was developed in Fargo, North Dakota by Great Plain Software.
• There are currently over 300 000 Dynamics customers around the world, spanning 41 languages

Adam MacIntosh is the Senior Project Manager with WebSan Solutions Inc., a professional services consulting firm specializing in helping companies get the most out of their ERP systems. You can contact Adam at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or at 416-499-1235 ext. 213.

Buying accounting software is a big decision you have to make when the time is right for your company. It’s a harder decision, especially when you’re a small business owner and don’t know much skill about accounting. Some people might wonder if online accounting software is right for them. What I’m going to do is point out the pros and cons of inquiring online accounting software. Hopefully some of these pros and cons will give you an idea if it’s for you or not, make sure you do your research and find the right accounting software for you.

The Pros of using online accounting software:

• Some software can be straightforward to use even though you don’t have much financial knowledge. Their job is to help small business owners with the necessary tools to operate their business.
• It’s easy to make updates because it can be done automatically.
• You can check up on your financials everywhere and anywhere you are because all of your finances are online.
• The software company has online support just in case you have a question. 
• Most accounting software’s out here have mechanisms to back up your data so nothing happens to your data.

The Cons of using online accounting software:

• There’s still the risk of hackers getting in the software.
• Make sure you have an up-to-date internet connection because if your computer is running slow, so is your accounting software.
• Having mobility is a good thing to have but be careful if you ever have to log in a public computer or even a friends computer, make sure you log off properly because you don’t want just anyone looking at that information.

By: Natalie Williams, Marketing Coordinator, WebSan Solutions Inc., a Canadian Certified Microsoft Dynamics Partner

A while back Microsoft offered two new cloud-based services that can be very beneficial to your company if you are already in the cloud or if you’re planning on moving to the cloud.

Microsoft has announced the first two accounting offerings for Dynamics GP 10.0 and GP 2010. Payment services and commerce services are the new two new services that are cloud based. Payment services have credit and debit card that is processed from Dynamics GP. Payment services work with: VISA, MasterCard, Discover Card, American Express and PayPal. The good part about it that there will be the same existing data entry screen and you don’t have to install or integrate new software and your customer benefits from this service because they have more options to make payments.

A commerce service has item catalog functions also with integration to Dynamics GP, using the same tool used to connect Dynamics CRM to Dynamics GP. This service is to support a business to consumer website it also allows you to extend your sales reach.  The great benefit about commerce service is that you can expand your sales across different channels and enabling online shopping, therefore, using another resource to increase your sales.

By: Natalie Williams, Marketing Coordinator, WebSan Solutions Inc., a Canadian Certified Microsoft Dynamics Partner

If you haven’t read part one of this blog please click the link to get caught up!

If checklist one through three gets a check mark, you’re on the right track to avoiding as little problems as possible. Number four on the list is something that you must be responsible for because, you can’t blame all ERP implementation failures on your partner. Sometimes when a partner gets a client and there ready to kick start their plan, the clients give them all their “baggage” to fix and then leave. They eventually come back at the end, near the go-live date and say things like “Are we ready to go live yet?” Have you tested the system? Nope. Has your staff gotten trained? Nope. Then the answer to your question is nope. You don’t want to be that kind of client. Therefore make sure the implementation goes in steps or phases and make sure to have regular follow ups on the progress that has taken place.

Be motivated! Sometimes implementations take a while to finish, you might be checking off each suggestion on the list but when you come to number five you realize that what’s your lacking in. You need to be upbeat about this whole process, I’m not saying jump up and down and scream for joy that you are getting new accounting software. But at least have a good attitude towards the implementation; I say this because getting something new isn’t always a good thing. You have to retrain your staff; get familiarized with a new system and implement it to your company. That can be a bothersome to someone resulting in them giving you a hard time. As the client, be positive and have a good outlook on this new system, which could ultimately better your performance in the long run.

Last but not least number six on the checklist is to plan for everything and anything that could happen. Once one to five is checked off, be aware of number six. Even though you have everything planned to a T anything could happen from employees’ issues to company changes. Just be prepared for whatever can happen because even though you might be well prepared when it comes to the implementation there’s always a chance of a problem that could occur. You can’t predict and prevent everything but give yourself a fighting chance if a problem arises.

By: Natalie Williams, Marketing Coordinator, WebSan Solutions Inc., a Canadian Certified Microsoft Dynamics Partner