jQuery is the most popular javascript library today.  It is used by over 46% of the 10,000 most visited websites on the Internet and we, the Development Team at WebSan, use it extensively.

jQuery is designed to be cross browsers compatible with syntaxes to make it easier to manipulate the DOM elements and allows the creation of powerful and dynamic webpages.

The following snippets of codes shows how with a few lines of codes you can do a lot.

Are you ready? It was just announced that Toronto will play host to one behemoth conference in 2012. This will be the second time Toronto will play host to the conference since 2004. Microsoft Corp. said it plans to hold its Worldwide Partner Conference from July 9 to July 13. More than 15,000 people are estimated to attend the conference in Toronto which will represent over 130 countries in the technology industry. While this year’s 2011 Worldwide Partner Conference is currently wrapping up in Los Angeles, we Canadians are already excited for 2012.

Cloud computing is the latest & greatest innovation in the technology industry & for good reason.  I previously discussed how cloud computing takes the worry out of disaster recovery.  Another way cloud computer helps take strain off executive shoulders is that it helps your company avoid service disruptions often associated with service updates.  Imagine never worrying about having to upgrade your software.  Imagine it was just done for you, with no downtime, disruptions or worry.  That is what the cloud offers.  At WebSan, we offer hosted Microsoft Dynamics GP for a number of client, taking care of necessary service packs, system updates & necessary maintenance that comes along with owning an ERP system.  By taking advantage of Saas Dynamics GP (or software as a service), customers can stay focused on their core competencies.  Hosted solutions allow clients to scale up or down as the market dictates without & overhead burden often associated with on-premise solutions.  Lastly, they don’t have to worry about having a full-time IT resource to help with issues where one might not be required.

WebSan is a Microsoft Partner offering hosted Dynamics GP to clients big & small.

Adam MacIntosh, Senior Project Manager

If you're a business owner and frequent user of Dynamics GP, you might think, "I have a lot of data in my Dynamics GP system. I need to analyze my data, extract a new knowledge from it and make decisions based on this analysis. I want to see  the KPI of my business in real time mode to drive my business better. I want to have a tool which will help me see hidden trends in my business and industry...". If you already have these thoughts, there's good news - the Business Intelligence technologies (BI) will help you.

Basically, you need to have three things:

1. The data warehouse. It is a special data base which has a star-schema data model (info cubes). Also, this database is in read-only mode for users and it is optimized for reporting and multidimensional analysis.
2. Extraction, loading and transformation  process (ELT) which loads your data from OLTP system like Dynamics GP to your data warehouse. Generally speaking this ELT process "cleans", transforms and loads your daily operation data from Dynamics GP into your data warehouse.
3. Tools to create analytical reports and KPIs based on data from your data warehouse.

There are alot of BI tools which can help you to create a whole process of these 1-2-3 steps. However, if you have ERP based on MS SQL Server (i.e. Dynamics GP - you have a simple way of studying the system and pretty powerful BI tool right out from the box! It is SQL Server Reporting Service (SSRS) which actually is the part of MS SQL Server installation.

So, let's see what SSRS can provide you:

• Simple access to your Dynamics GP database and use it as a data warehouse, you just need to write a bunch of SQL-statements and SSRS will transform on the fly the results of these queries to BI reports
• Loading and analyzing data from MS Analysis Services which is more powerful solution to build data warehouse from Microsoft
• Special tool for building in drag-n-drop mode you BI reports - Report Builder 2.0 It is free and can be downloaded from Microsoft site
• Creating beautiful graphic dash-boards with KPI's in Report Builder 2.0
• Different filters for your BI reports
• Access to your reports, dash-boards and KPIs via Web, you can see all your BI stuff just in your internet browser
• Generating your BI reports in off-line mode and sending them via e-mail on a schedule. (Do you want to see some daily reports every morning in your inbox? No problem, SSRS will do it for you. Just create your reports in Report Builder, then publish and schedule them)
• Integration with your MS Share Point portal, yes you will be able to build reports and analyze data right in your portal
• Built in export of reports to Word, Excel, PDF and TIFF-format

MS SQL Server Reporting is very simple for installation and studying. You could get BI tool and start analyze your data in Dynamics GP in two or three days. Simple, powerful and ready for use right out from the box.

Welcome! This is the first entry in a series of posts focusing on some of the basic functionality within Microsoft Dynamics GP. This entry will cover the creation, use and advantages of classes.

Stated simply, classes allow various record types, such as customers, venders, items, users, or employees to be grouped together by a certain characteristic. For example, a New York customer class could be setup to group all customers based in New York together. To create a new customer class, browse to Microsoft Dynamics GP >> Tools >> Setup >> Sales >> Customer Class.

Enter a Class ID to identify the customer class, a description, and the properties associated with the class, including payment terms, salesperson, shipping method, and so on. In this example, I am creating a NEW_YORK customer class to group all of my New York-based customers together. Click the Accounts button to open the Accounts Setup window and to assign distribution accounts. Save the class when completed.

Now when creating a new New York customer, all I need to enter is some basic name, address, and phone information, and then assign the NEW_YORK class. The properties entered for the NEW_YORK class are carried over to the customer, including the distribution accounts. If I had to enter ten New York-based customers into Dynamics GP, I’ve just saved myself a lot of time and from a lot of tedious data entry. If there are properties that default from the NEW_YORK class that do not apply to the specific customer, I can still modify the individual customer. 

In the future, if a new salesperson needed to be assigned to all New York customers, I would make the change to the NEW_YORK class. Dynamics GP would then ask if I would like to roll-down the changes to the customer records. Selecting “Yes” will apply that change to every customer record the NEW_YORK class has Again, I’ve avoided a large amount of tedious data entry.

We had an interesting support call the other day. One of our Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 customers was having sporadic issues with adding users to Business Portal. When trying to add new users and assign MBF roles, occasionally the wizard would not show any domains in the Windows domain drop down. Other times it would show the wrong domain(s) – this client has a number of trees in their forest, and sometimes it would work fine.

Our support team was perplexed, so we did some investigation to determine how Business Portal interacts with the Windows domain -  the answer was Component Services.

Business Portal uses the “Microsoft.BusinessFramework.Identity” component to interface to AD and thus retrieve the domains and users. By setting the Identity on this component to a specific domain service account you can ensure it retrieves the proper AD info.

From the control panel on the Business Portal server, go to Administrative tools -> Component services.

Then expand Component Services -> Computers -> My Computer -> COM+ Applications and look for the Microsoft.BusinessFramework.Identity component.

PHP is one of the most versatile programming languages for building web applications.   However, one of the problems with PHP is that there is more than one way to do the same thing.  This might not sound like a problem, but PHP's ease of use is also its downfall.  Because there are less restrictions on the structure of the code you write, it's much easier to write bad code. The solution to this problem is to use a framework and design pattern such as Model, View, and Controller (MVC).

There are many PHP frameworks out there.  Here, at WebSan, one of the PHP frameworks we use regularly is Codeigniter.  The reason is that it is well documented, small footprint, exceptional performance and has a large user community.

Here are some resources to get started with Codeigniter:

Tutorials:
CodeIgniter From Scratch: Day 1, Nettuts.com - Getting Started With the Framework
CodeIgniter From Scratch: Day 2, Nettuts.com - Database Selecting Methods
CodeIgniter From Scratch: Day 3, Nettuts.com - Sending Emails
CodeIgniter From Scratch: Day 4, Nettuts.com - Newsletter Signup

IBM developerWorks - Getting started with CodeIgniter

Imagine a world where Microsoft Dynamics GP and mobile applications merged. No, this idea isn’t just in the ‘clouds’, it’s actually coming sooner than you think.  

Launching as a Blackberry App for Blackberry devices, the application works with the familiar Dynamics GP platform and gives its clients the power of accessing their Dynamics accounting system while on-the-go. 

The highlights of Dynamics Insight develop upon the Microsoft Dynamics GP solution with on-the-go features.

These features include:

• Ability to check for upcoming reminders
• Monitor and access your KPI’s
• View company metrics at any time.

Business has evolved since the introduction of the Internet - business is indeed faster, stronger and more efficient. Information needs to be communicated faster but most importantly, to the right people. WebSan Solutions Inc. makes it easier to do so by simplifying the solution and ‘unlocking your systems potential’.

Recent  Microsoft acquisition of Skype has landed a partnership with US cable giant Comcast Corporation. The ideal partnership will bring Comcast’s television service to be partnered with Skype’s video conferencing service. There will no longer be a need for conferencing through pixelated video on laptops at the boardroom now that businesses will be able to conference in high definition video calls through their projectors.

The forecast of the partnership are still in talks and planning, however, one can only anticipate when “smell-o-vision” will exist.

Disaster recovery is often neglected until an actual disaster occurs.  A number of people assume it will never happen to them.  We don’t drive cars without insurance, so why compute without a disaster recovery plan?

Well enter the cloud with hosted Microsoft Dynamics GP …

Access to files & reports when you want them.  Take the worry out of disaster recovery.  Accessing your ERP over the net has never been more secure, convenient or faster.  When you enter the cloud with WebSan, we ensure the highest level of disaster recovery.  We have redundancy upon redundancy to protect your data.  From protection against power failures to floods to fire.

Never worry again about a service disruption.

Adam MacIntosh, Senior Project Manager

Congratulations Team WebSan! The final tally of the fundraiser is in at a respectable total of $1,260 in the Becel Heart and Stroke Ride for Heart. It has been a proud moment for all the employees here at the office. Dressed in bright orange shirts, the team could be visibly seen from miles away - way to represent! (Pictures soon to follow)

The recent news of Microsoft’s purchase of Skype has proven to be a bold move to dominate the global technology space. The 8.5 billion US dollar buyout of the company will cause a shake-up in the telecoms arena.

While speaking at a recent press conference, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer stated, “Today is a big day for Microsoft, and Skype, as well as consumers and businesses around the world.”  Moreover,  “…we'll move beyond e-mail and text to rich experiences in the future; talking to friends and colleagues around the world will be as seamless as talking to them across a kitchen table or a conference room.”

With the new acquisition, Skype will become a unit within the Microsoft Corporation and will add to the company's range of products, which includes enterprise-focused solutions and consumer-oriented offerings.

Ballmer further says “at Microsoft, we see enormous opportunity that brings together what people want: data, voice, video, IM, all on a single screen; whether it's a smartphone, a PC, a slate, or the TV. Microsoft and Skype together will define this future and what it really, really looks like.”

One can only anticipate for an updated release that may incorporate Skype communication functionalities with the Microsoft Dynamics GP system.

For those who drive, we’re all experiencing the same phenomenon of a lighter wallet. Reading and listening to news reports of rising gas prices has everyone in a cringe. Spending more money than what we’re use to isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, especially not mine. This poses a question for alternatives. There are lists of possibilities but one does seem like an effective solution, Public Transit. Why? It’s affordable and it’s just as efficient by getting me to work. I know you’re asking how does this relate to Microsoft Dynamics GP. Think about it this way. Your company is spending more money on antiquated systems that can’t keep up with  business or on multiple disparate systems which both have the effects similar to ‘spending more than you should’. You need a solution and that’s where Microsoft Dynamics GP comes in. Think of it as your company’s ‘Public Transit’ that can help your business do more with less. It incorporates all functions such as HR, Accounting, Sales and more, which adds to productivity. It’s a familiar interface, and gives you the power of choice in deployment, purchase and use.

Here’s a list of why you should chose Microsoft Dynamics GP for your company:

-         Affordability: One system that does it all

-         Great Fit: Easily integrates into your existing systems

-         Improve Productivity: Connect information across your entire organization

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 R2 was recently released earlier than expected on April 27^th with rave reviews since the product launch.

The updated GP 2010 R2 expands upon the Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 solution with key themes of Enhancing Insight, Making It Easier and Extending Connections.

Overall highlights of GP 2010 R2 include:

• Industry leading business intelligence with enhancements to SQL Reports, Word Templates, and Email
• Release of Business Analyzer – a tool that helps enhance business decisions by viewing Dynamic GP reports and extends the reach of ERP to everyone within the organization
• Additional 50 features added to overall platform to build on advancement and use

Let us show you how we can help your organization implement the right Dynamics GP solution.

For a limited time, take advantage of the rich functionality of one of the top Enterprise Accounting systems on the market today!

From now until June 24, 2011, buy 1 Dynamics GP user (either AM or BE) and get 3!

“Microsoft is excited to announce the “Buy 1, Get 3” offer – a Microsoft Dynamics promotion for small and medium sized businesses that wish to take advantage of the rich functionality offered by Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 R2. The promotion allows a customer purchasing either the Advanced Management (AM) or Business Essential (BE) Foundation Pack (which both includes 1 user as standard) to then get two (2) additional user licenses. This offer applies to new customers making their initial purchase of Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010″

By : Andrew King, Managing Partner, WebSan Solutions Inc.

Recently, one of our Directors, Andrew King, has been featured at www.techrepublic.com, a website for IT professionals.

See his latest blogs here :

• The Perfect Enterprise Software Project : Myth or Reality?

• Is enterprise software for the small to medium business market truly safe and affordable?

Interested in a career with a dynamic, growing Firm? Check out our open postings: here

We are currently advertising for a PHP developer, but we're interested in meeting talented people willing to join our team.

The foundations of ERP are found in manufacturing resource planning, traditionally used by companies which produced tangible goods in factories. The adoption of ERP and MRP systems was initially quite slow – management were content with the status quo and saw no reason to change what seemed to be working. However, the recession experienced in the late 1980s and early 1990s forced many companies to make a choice: Either find new ways of operating more efficiently and effectively, or go under. This created a massive boom in the ERP market, which lead to massive changes in the ways in which fundamental business operations were conducted, and those organizations that made it through the recession came out stronger.

North America is no longer the goods-producing collection of nations it once was and is instead dominated by service industries. However, many of the same problems that existed in manufacturing organizations twenty years ago still exist in these businesses: Lack of integration, inability to respond and take advantage of environmental change, time and money wasted on data entry and redundancies, and so on. Much like the recession twenty years ago, the economic downturn caused by the subprime mortgage crisis has forced many modern companies to find new ways of performing more effectively and efficiently.

This is the time to get ahead of the competition, and Microsoft Dynamics GP is the perfect solution for organizations looking for more than simple accounting and reporting features without high maintenance costs and complexity.

It’s that time of the year when many employee are taking time off to spend time with family.  Whatever holiday you celebrate, this is definitely the time of the year for family.  With employees out of the office, companies must track the amount of time taken by each employee.

Microsoft Dynamics GP has a number of vacation tracking options:

1. The Human Resources module has a Vacation Calendar option.  This presents a calendar view, with a listing of employees that have taken time off for each day.
2. The Canadian Payroll module makes Vacation Accruals every pay period.  Each employee has a vacation rate attached to them. With each pay cycle, automated accruals are made to each employee record to track the amount of vacation earned.  When vacation is taken, it comes out of this same pool of time earned.  Further, all the appropriate entries are made to the General Ledger with each transaction.

Adam MacIntosh is a Senior Project Manager at WebSan Solutions Inc with numerous Human Resources & Canadian Payroll implementations completed.

These days, everyone is throwing around buzz words like “Software as a Service” or “Hosted” or “Cloud”, but how do I really go about calculating the total cost of the solution and whether to choose “the Cloud” or on-premise (traditional) solutions?

There are a number of cost figures to include :

1.       License fee

2.       License fee for upgrades

3.       Maintenance costs