Convergence 2010 - Exciting Atlanta

I always give my feedback a week after the conference but I take notes during all the action is happening so I don't forget the important stuff later. Here's some notes that I've kept and wanted to share with everyone: 

- I was surprise on the number of Dynamics GP attendees this year. After the keynote session more than half stayed for the next session which was on the next version - Dynamics GP 2010.

- There's a new group of GP attendees and they're eager to contribute in the future of GP. This is critical as in the past attendees were just there to learn but now they want to contribute and put their skin in the game.

- In the past a lot of attendees spent their time going to basic sessions but now more went to Advanced sessions and also to Project Management sessions. Dale Carnegie came this year with different sorts of sessions on project management and it was well attended.

- New sessions from experts like the Support Debugging Tool which David Musgrave and Mariano Gomez hosted. This was well received and hopefully they come back next year with more.

- I saw old friends which I haven't seen in years including David Musgrave(Match Data days), Ayodale Cole (Cole Solutions), Frank Buckley and guys from Tectura who helped me implement GP in a NJ manufacturing.

- My favorite session this year was the one by New Orlean Saints coach Sean Payton. So much emotion during the session and you see his excitement in the coming season. He's very passionate about what he does, he cares for his players and he loves New Orleans.

- Other feedback:
    - The walk was too long from the food court to the sessions. So far this is the biggest in terms of area.
    - Food in the conference was ok, nothing to get excited. We tried Mary Mac Tea Room during one of our dinner and the ribs were incredible. Here's a pic of my plate:

    - Bus service was always available and when it's full you can get assurance from somebody that the next one is available....and it is.
   
- Lastly, Atlanta was a great host. I want to go back and visit the World of Coca-cola, CNN, Georgia Aquarium and others.

Sharepoint 2010 and SQL database mirroring

http://blogs.technet.com/b/wbaer/archive/2010/05/03/database-mirroring-in-sharepoint-2010.aspxHere's my first article on Sharepoint 2010, it's about creating a SQL database mirroring for the environment. Click here to read the article.

InfoView for Crystal Reports

Finally started working on publishing all my Crystal Reports to InfoView, a web application from Business Objects Enterprise (BOE).

Infoview runs on the web browser and is utilized to run and schedule Crystal Reports or any other report.

Business Intelligence experiences

During my 17-plus years of being a business owner or employee, I've had the opportunity to implement, feed, test or used a Business Intelligence (BI) product including Cognos, Microsoft's PerformancePoint Server Planning(discontinued) and now Business Objects. I like the look and feel of this product but wonder what will change in 2010 since SAP took over. Nowadays, database vendors provide Business Intelligence solutions in their product line and you can check vendors like SAS (Voted by Fortune as the top company to work for in 2010), Oracle, Microsoft, IBM and now SAP.

You can add value to your customers if you can implement a BI solution right on top of their ERP/SCM/CRM system.

Windows 7 is now the fastest selling OS

Last night at the CES 2010 keynote, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced that Windows 7 has become the fastest selling operating system in history....read it here

Information Rights Management (IRM)

Here's an interesting article from Fahim Siddiqui, EVP of Intralinks, Inc. His article can help organizations in understanding the complexity of applying encryption and permissioning to corporate information. Read article here

Revenue and Expense Deferral

What is Revenue and Expense Deferral (RED)?

Revenue Deferral is considered a liability until it becomes relevant to the business at hand, such as a payment received for work that has not yet been performed. opposite of deferred charge. Expense Deferral refers to an item that will initially be recorded as an asset but is expected to become an expense over time and/or through the normal operation of the business.

Who can use this module?

Dynamics GP RED (Revenue and Expense Deferral) was designed for any company that needs to defer revenue or expense.

Let's say you're a media company with business in magazine publishing. You're offering your magazine subscription on a yearly, semi-annually or monthly (one-time) basis. When somebody subscribes to your magazine and pay a year subscription, you'll need to defer part of this subscription. At the end of the subscription period, you will have fulfilled your responsibility and the subscription will be fully realized as earned income.

How do I book a deferred entry from a Sales Invoice in Dynamics GP?

Once you have the sales invoice created, open the Distribution window select the account you want to defer then go to Extras>Additional>Deferral. Enter your Start and End dates, billing recognition account and choose your deferral method (Days Period, Equal Period and Miscellaneous).


Things to note when using this module:
- Deferred entries are always valued at functional currency
- You can only defer one invoice at a time
- Void Deferral Transactions can be utilize to void deferred entries only and have the original document like a Sales Invoice unvoided

There's room for improvement with this module including:
- Mass document deferral
- Audit-trail from a GL entry
- Multi-currency reporting based on originating document currency

To learn more about Revenue and Expense Deferral, you can visit RevenueRecognition.com