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How Microsoft's ERP System works with the Retail Industry
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How Microsoft’s ERP System works with the Retail Industry
How Microsoft’s ERP System works with the Retail Industry 700 500 Xcelpros Team

The Changing Retail Industry

With the rapid pace of changes in the retail industry, especially some of the more dramatic changes that have emerged over the past few years, it’s become increasingly important to have full control over your business. Now more than ever this means investing in software that supports the changes seen across the retail industry in recent times, and into the future.

Today’s retail consumers are much more informed, and looking for a safer, more streamlined experience regardless of purchases made online or in-person at brick and mortar locations, which are still very much in demand. The omnichannel shopping experience is quickly becoming a key point to longevity in the retail industry. This means offering a safe and consistent shopping experience, integrating your CRM, ERP and eCommerce systems for a more unified view of your customers, and being able to quickly scale and adapt to support new applications and services as they develop.

96%

of emerging businesses that excel in their respective industry rely on some form of ERP solution.

Source: Aberdeen Group

15%

of executives believe AI could fundamentally change which companies win and lose.

Source: UST SmartOps, 2020

36%

Small businesses with ERP systems can make decisions with 36% less time than they did without the solution.

Source: Aberdeen Group

This has become a great opportunity for retailers to modernize and streamline their operations which can lead to greater long-term profitability as the industry continues to evolve. For this, businesses need a complete solution like Microsoft’s Dynamics 365 Commerce, the evolution of their Dynamics 365 Retail product line, able to offer a complete and unified solution across different channels with maximum scalability.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Commerce

One of the first words when it comes to enterprise planning, Microsoft has been developing their Dynamics 365 products for many years, and the latest version of Microsoft’s Dynamics 365 Commerce offers unparalleled access to a lot of cutting-edge technology for businesses in the retail industry.

Microsoft’s newest retail ERP solution helps streamline many different areas like merchandising, inventory and order management, warehousing, financials and more. In fact, the exact same technology powering Dynamics 365 Commerce has been driving Microsoft’s storefronts around the world for years to deliver a secure, scalable, compliant solution that offers a world-class shopping experience.

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These are just a few more ways Microsoft Dynamics 365 Commerce supports businesses in the retail industry.

Figure: 1Microsoft Dynamics 365 Retail ERP Solutions

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Retail ERP Solutions

Omni-channel shopping experience

With today’s consumers focused on quality, the right software helps ensure the experience is the same across different devices online and in-store with the ability to offer more increasingly popular options like Buy Online Pickup In-Store (BOPIS), curbside pickup and next or same-day shipping. These trends are becoming staples for many looking to avoid long lines and queues.

Powerful customer insights

Even now, customer data has become extremely valuable for driving AI and ML solutions to create personalized experiences designed to boost sales and increase customer retention. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Commerce is built with AI and ML in mind to further enhance customer engagement along with the ability to integrate to other Microsoft products like Dynamics 365 Customer Insights and Dynamics 365 Fraud Protection.

Warehouse and inventory management

Growing to be equally important is the ability to more accurately predict and manage product stock levels along with up-to-date pricing. Today’s customers don’t want to chase phantom stock counts from store to store when they can easily give their business to another retailer, right from the comfort of their home.

Powerful Integrations

Microsoft’s Dynamics 365 products have always been highly adaptable and configurable, able to integrate with numerous existing applications and services offering a unified experience across different platforms. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Commerce is no different, able to directly connect to a multitude of modern and legacy systems for reporting, compliance, and more to help protect your investment in previous systems.

What’s Next

As emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) and Augmented Reality (AR) continue to advance, the retail industry will continue to be fraught with the challenge of trying to keep up – including providing modern, personalized shopping experiences to today’s savvy consumers to help retain loyalty across different channels. More and more businesses in the industry are looking for technology partners that understand their challenges and can offer support for modern solutions.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Commerce is a scalable solution that can be made to work for anything from SMBs to larger multi-brand or multi-company organizations helping Increase your revenue and brand loyalty with better engagement. Better focus your operations to reduce costs and boost efficiency over your entire supply chain.

The Power of Integrated Material Requirements Planning (MRP)
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The Power of Integrated Material Requirements Planning (MRP)
The Power of Integrated Material Requirements Planning (MRP) 700 500 Xcelpros Team

At a Glance

Today, growing companies need to keep tighter reins over their inventories. Having too much on hand means capital outlays will suffer. Too little could mean trouble meeting unexpected demands. Materials requirements planning (MRP) allows companies to better plan their production, ensuring needed supplies are available without hampering other business functions. The benefits of using MRP software, like that found in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management, include:

  • Proper MRP and supply chain planning acts as a catalyst for growth
  • Ability to better manage customer expectations and reality behind the scenes
  • Addressing real-life pain points becomes easier
  • Ability to plan production campaigns in advance
  • Easier to overcome resistance to change while adapting to newer, more efficient planning methods

Supply Chain Planning Methods Benefit All Companies

Whether you’re a bakery or a pharmaceutical manufacturing company, planning your inventory is an essential part of daily operations. If a bakery does not order enough flour, yeast, or eggs, it can’t meet customer demands. Order too much and the company loses money from spoiled or wasted materials.

When it comes to chemical companies, managing waste is not as simple as throwing away a loaf of bread. The repercussions to unplanned operations in highly regulated industries can be significantly worse: Creating bad batches of hazardous or volatile chemicals, along with continuously yielding unplanned co-products or by-products will require additional storage or disposal based on quality tests.

For another example, consider a pharmaceutical company. The production of batches with a lower than planned potency can easily result in an over-extended campaign, the over-consumption of raw materials and lower production yields. If a batch is planned for a certain potency, the production process can’t be considered complete until the quality department confirms it meets the required specifications. Then, after reworking the batch a few times, it may even be reclassified to a lower potency when it does not yield the desired results.

While the concept of MRP was originally intended for manufacturing companies, it now extends itself into all industries, including those whose products are services.

MRP can be even more critical in small-to-medium manufacturing companies: the smaller a company is, the more precise the allocation materials and resources needs to be. These planners and buyers need clear and precise signals allowing them to make informed decisions on when to buy, and when to produce. The availability of materials and capacity of resources is everything in optimizing and streamlining a plant’s supply chain.

Especially today, MRP should be included as part of optimizing a company’s overall supply chain. This is one of the reasons were seeing MRP integrated into Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software more and more. Combined with other parts of supply chain management, MRP lets companies offer their customers a better experience along with the added benefit of lower inventory costs.

A Real-Life Example

Customer A requests a quote for a specific product they need quickly. This customer has already reached out to secondary vendors for quotes.

In order to please this customer, especially with added competition, may require a thorough inventory evaluation to know if you can meet their deadline.

Without a proper MRP system in place, it’s likely you’ve had to develop and manage dozens of complex spreadsheets with sales orders, supply and demand forecasts, production schedules and more. After that, you’ll probably have to superimpose inventory availability and resource capacities into the same spreadsheet. Does this sound familiar?

This method can take 2-3 days just to determine if you can meet their deadline. The work and precision required puts tremendous pressure on planners, alienates customers and impairs organizational growth. Competitors with an MRP system integrated into their ERP platform can provide a realistic promise date significantly quicker than companies still relying on manual methods.

Without the ability to provide reliable available-to-promise (ATP) dates, you can easily lose customers to suppliers able to commit and deliver on time.

Meeting customer demands by a certain date requires at least three inputs:

  1. 1.Planned supply
  2. 2.On-hand availability after all allocations and reservations are considered
  3. 3.Resource capacity

Meeting customer demands

What Happens on the Ground?

Preparing a production schedule can be a challenge if you don’t have a complete understanding of inventory levels, labor and resource availability. Even with a forecast in place, it’s hard to efficiently schedule production if you’re facing capacity issues. This Standard Costing in Pharmaceutical Manufacturing – Industry Challenges and Solutions offers an example of the batch manufacturing processes and the data inaccuracies that can occur while consuming inventory. Add these data inaccuracies on top of lack of resource capacity and the challenge should be clear.

These problems illustrate the need for accurate production planning and scheduling, which are critical in any manufacturing or distribution company, especially if youre trying to streamline operations.

Not only do customers often expect 99 percent-plus service levels within 24 to 48 hours, but supply reliability is also becoming more tenuous as once local supply chains now extend around the world. Source – McKinsey and Company

Being able to boost production efficiency with accurate inventory plans is becoming critical in today’s business environment. Companies face constant pressure to perform at a higher level, especially with growing competition and customer loyalty seen as directly connected to a company’s perceived value.

Meeting Customer Demands

It’s important to know your planner is able to meet the demand of your customers, along with being able to relay and provide important information, including things like:

  • Resource availability
  • Production capacity
  • Overall demand
  • Quality requirements
  • Batch potency requirements

Without even basic planning, a company operating reactively will lose inventory and suffocate resource availability, resulting in a considerable waste of time and money. Systems that can take advantage of modern technologies like AI an ML can generate needed results in minutes much more efficiently. That’s where a system like Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management comes in.

Cost of inaccurate inventory

Not being able to track capacity means waiting for one machine operation to finish before the next job starts. Knowing how long each process takes is crucial in providing a reliable promise date. Companies who aren’t able to meet customer deadlines can easily lose any edge they may have over their peers. Continuing to operate without proper supply chain planning, companies stunt their own growth.

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Benefits of an Integrated MRP and Forecasting System

An integrated materials requirement planning and forecasting system offers much better control over production. These systems can take advantage of different coverage settings like lead times and time fences for upcoming projects, and creates production signals based on material availability plus resource capacity and capability.

The system’s built-in algorithms take into account all products that require planning while sharing the same raw materials and resources. It shows the planner schedules for all material requirements to meet supply and demand based on the calendar with working time.

The planner is able to access a similar visual schedule to what they would create manually on a spreadsheet but with much more functionality and the ability to make informed decisions. The planner can then decide how and where reprioritization needs to happen and then which lot production runs to schedule first.

A good MRP algorithm empowers users to be able to proactively plan, letting them keep better tabs on raw materials and resource allocations. On top of that, being able to add stringent production floor operating procedures with stop gaps can help reduce or eliminate uncontrolled activities that can alter inventory projections.

Role of People

Having a well-trained, experienced workforce is invaluable. It’s undoubtedly your biggest strength. But because some people are comfortable performing tasks a specific way, they may find it challenging to adapt to changes designed to streamline your supply chain. How do you convert workers who are unwilling to change?

Some proven ways are:

  • Educating your workforce on how adapting to newer methods and tools to increase supply chain optimization benefits them
  • Explaining and showing them how the modern tools are actually simpler to use and follow standard execution methods
  • Creating a change management process
  • Involving them in the overall transformation from no planning or manual planning to a systematized planning and scheduling tool
  • Teaming your workforce with newer team members who act as change agents during the software implementation process

40%

More than 40% of financial services executives feel cultural or behavioral change is the biggest challenge they face in pursuing their technology transformation.

Source: Inference from McKinsey

Key Takeaways

There are several steps any company can take to proactively plan its supply chain. These include:

  • Looking at current cycle count procedures and then re-categorizing the top items for better visibility
  • Using better time and management procedures to better allocate resources to the right jobs
  • Providing proper handoffs for machines and operators from one step in the production process to the next
  • Proactively scheduling jobs and finding more efficient operating methods

Finally, ask yourself this question: Is your company on pace to beat your competition right now or are you lagging behind? Could MRP help you capture more sales and improve the customer experience by letting you deliver quotes faster and meet, or beat existing production deadlines?

If you aren’t getting ahead maybe it’s time to take a closer look at how Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management can help.

How an ERP system can help improve Manufacturing performance
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How an ERP system can help improve Manufacturing performance?
How an ERP system can help improve Manufacturing performance? 700 500 Xcelpros Team

At a Glance

  • Installing modern enterprise resource planning (ERP) software comes at a high cost for manufacturing companies. They want to use their software investments to maximize manufacturing performance.
  • Manufacturers can best use their ERP model by letting their production line and vendors work in tandem with the software to streamline processes.
  • ERP systems are no longer a part of the business backend. Newer tools and applications like cloud computing, Internet of Things (IoT) and Machine Learning are changing ERP systems. All of these technologies affect overall return on investment (ROI).

Introduction

The general benefits of using a comprehensive tool like ERP are well known by most manufacturing organizations regardless of size. However, there are still ways with which ERP systems can be used to better overall operational efficiency in manufacturing, streamline existing processes and improve the production line. How solutions like ERP become the catalyst in generating ROI are usually the difference-makers for the manufacturing sector.

Mid-size businesses’ adoption of ERP software will grow at a CAGR of 7.9% from 2014 to 2020.– alliedmarketresearch.com

As more companies modernize their ERP, they want to understand how they can adapt and manipulate their current practices to maximize their technology investments. First, understand how ROI is calculated in terms of ERP in the manufacturing industry.

Figure 1:Determining the ROI of Manufacturing ERP

Determining the ROI of Manufacturing ERP

Calculating the ROI for ERP Manufacturing: A Comprehensive Look at the Benefits of Installing an ERP System

Every organization has specific short and long term goals in mind when installing an ERP system. While the ROI might be a relative concept for every manufacturer, certain common areas can help decide the benefits an ERP system brings to your company:

  • Does the ERP system help streamline production processes and improve overall production line efficiency?
  • Does it reduce human intervention, lowering the cost of labor for data management and analytics?
  • Does it help better manage purchases, procurements and inventory?
  • Does it provide real-time visibility across the production line for improved communications and faster response times?
  • What other tangible benefits in terms of cost savings and profit gains can you see after installing the ERP system?

Answering these questions lets you calculate the ROI for your ERP.

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The Road to Better Manufacturing ROI: Improving Manufacturing Performance with ERP

01.Efficient Machine-to-Machine and Machine-to-Human Interaction

In today’s cloud-dominated software world, everything is connected through the Internet. Manufacturers can enhance their ecosystems by making real-time connections between the workforce and machines. When everyone from the top floor to the shop floor can view the entire production line, it lets skilled workers use smart manufacturing techniques to save time and effort.

Using ERP software to adopt smart manufacturing techniques helps manufacturers avoid production delays while efficiently tracking material and equipment. Using these methods will generate significantly more revenue.

Figure 2:ERP in the Manufacturing Industry

ERP in the Manufacturing Industry

02.Better Inventory Management

Large-scale manufacturers can afford to hire a larger workforce to manage their inventories. Small and mid-scale businesses lack that luxury so inventory problems can cause financial losses. Efficient larger companies are looking for a centralized network that can keep track of raw materials, incoming and outgoing shipments plus maintenance schedules.

A sturdy, modernized ERP system is designed to handle these tasks where older legacy platforms fail.

ERPs allow companies to get real-time data on their inventory, allowing them to better predict and manage inventory. Every manufacturing company—large or small—understands that accurately managing inventory is a must if it wants to avoid stock-outs and related production delays. A robust ERP system improves ROI by helping manufacturers more accurately manage inventories.

03.Forming a Competent Skill Base

Advanced software and or mechanical tools can only help boost ROI when the workforce is trained in how to use them. An ERP system is no exception. When an ERP is integrated with cutting-edge applications like IoT, machine learning, advanced analytics, and artificial intelligence, training becomes critical. Having a well-trained, expert workforce lets companies take full advantage of their ERP. Taking the time and spending the money to train staff reduces problems and provides long-term profit gains.

Key Takeaways

Making these changes in your manufacturing ecosystem will help you maximize the benefits of your ERP system. They will also solidify your work standards and technical competencies.

  • The cost of installing a modern ERP system for manufacturers is countered by improving the return on investment.
  • Regardless of size, manufacturers should look at ERP software as an integral part of their production line. Training their workforce in how to use its many features will boost overall profits.

Guide to Adopt Microsoft Dynamics 365 ERP: Upgrade or Migrate
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Microsoft Dynamics 365 Upgrades
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Upgrades 700 500 Xcelpros Team

Series Intro: Upgrades in Dynamics 365

This is the first in a series of posts we are sharing about Microsoft Dynamics 365 upgrades. Learn everything you need to know about upgrading to Microsoft Dynamics 365’s Finance & Operations Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software through this easy to understand and informative series. We will go over reasons to upgrade, features, benefits, prerequisites, what happens when moving from on-premises to the cloud, change management, data migration, budgeting, updates, backing up, considerations, and more.

Why a Dynamics 365 Upgrade?

Change is the only constant. We define it in our daily lives as, “the process of undergoing a transformation or transition.” We see this transformation every day with every new regulation, every new discovery and every new trend. Transformative trends are driving all industries: chemical, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, manufacturing, distribution and others. Keeping up with these market trends and more importantly, staying ahead, is the key to being a successful company.

Many companies are reluctant to upgrade their software from stand-alone siloed programs to an ERP. Others don’t want to change from a comfortable older ERP to a newer version even though the older version is obsolete. Why don’t they change? Some leaders are scared that an upgrade may disrupt business operations. The lack of a proper budget or resources, insufficient information, and a lack of proper guidance hold them back.

These companies are not alone. In fact, we have seen customers face this more than once in the past.

In one case, “Alpha Customer” was a high-performing, mid-sized pharmaceutical manufacturing company. It had been running an older ERP system for over 20 years. Recently, its legacy application failed to recover after regular maintenance, and the ERP crash brought operations to a grinding halt. Everyone across the company was forced to perform previously automated functions manually. This meant manually inputting sales orders, confirmations, purchase orders, invoices, shipments, and everything else.

Luckily for them, they were just a few weeks away from a planned go-live update to Dynamics 365. The staff could see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Upgrades: Reasons

Using unstable systems poses significant risks to business operations and hampers growth opportunities. Companies expect their software to work. They expect it to do a specific job or series of jobs, do them well, and never fail. They expect stability. Anyone who has ever dealt with an unstable operating or financial system knows that fixing up software is not a simple “rip and replace” task. Upgrading older systems requires extreme caution and planning, particularly from the standpoints of cost and the critical business functions they perform.

Many business leaders enjoy working in their own comfort zone, enabling them to overlook inefficient systems and processes. The result of not evolving from a dinosaur system is that the company will end up spending too much time and money building up complex customizations, that now they need constant updates to keep up with their new standards and business needs.

Companies under a more watchful eye, such as chemical or pharmaceutical companies, are required to meet various regulations set up by government agencies. Old systems could even be prohibiting companies from keeping up with their standards digitally, and compliance failures cause unwanted audits, fines, and penalties. Despite all efforts, the old system seems to be always “in repair.” Keeping it going continually drains your IT resources and budget.

Ultimately, it becomes critical that these companies continue spending on customizations just to keep lights on and meet today’s needs. With the current rate of change, the cost of doing nothing is significantly amplified. Delaying the migration to a modern ERP can impact not only internal systems and processes but a company’s speed-to-market, customer service, profitability, competitiveness and more.

Microsoft Dynamics 365, Upgraded: The Differentiator

Companies using an older version of Microsoft’s “legacy” ERP find that upgrading to the latest version of Microsoft Dynamics 365 streamlines operations. It allows them to allocate IT resources and budget to other pressing needs since maintenance costs are dramatically lowered.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Supply Chain Management is Microsoft’s flagship ERP. The application includes industry best practices. It was designed to fit the needs of these industries right out of the box:

  • Manufacturing (Discrete, Process and Mixed Mode)
  • Distribution
  • Retail (Operations and POS)
  • Oil and Gas
  • Food and Beverage
  • Finance etc.

What sets Dynamics 365 apart from its competitors are the included features and functions designed for the process manufacturing industry. Dynamics 365 offers best-in-class functionality for process industries like chemical, pharmaceutical, life sciences and Biotechnology. These industries benefit the most in upgrading to the latest version of Dynamics 365.

ERP solutions began years ago. They continually evolve and adapt to changing regulations and industry requirements. Microsoft Dynamics 365 continues this trend. Major updates are scheduled twice a year, keeping your company in compliance with the newest regulations.

Real-Life Stories and Data Points

Companies leaders must ask themselves: Is upgrading to Dynamics 365 the right choice for their companies?

There are many other ERP solutions out there. Will Microsoft Dynamics 365 work for your business?

Many companies can answer “yes” to both questions. They successfully upgraded to Dynamics 365 and achieved their intended project objectives.

Success stories

  1. 1. A specialty food company needed a platform to efficiently manage their inventory and orders between their warehouse and distribution center. The older ERP could not handle the increased sales volume during the two-month holiday season. Microsoft Dynamics 365 tracks inventory data in real-time through mobile devices, which is exactly what the company wanted. By upgrading to Microsoft Dynamics 365 and making use of its included real-time data tracking and sending functions, it created multiple benefits. Employees could make more informed decisions. They could serve their customers faster and more efficiently. Customer service improved.
  2. 2. An Italian aircraft manufacturer wanted to shift its ERP system to the cloud without disrupting its facilities. The company chose Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations, ensuring its five global facilities remained up-to-date. This helped the company reduce IT costs while streamlining the data flow between them.
  3. 3. A shipping giant was facing data accessibility challenges and severe security risks. By upgrading to Microsoft Dynamics 365, it gained data accessibility and security while reducing overall operational costs. Another benefit was automatic prediction of maintenance needs letting executives concentrate on developing new products and services.
  4. 4. A global weather company handles almost 17 billion data requests from 1.5 billion people every day. The high request volume also makes it an ideal advertising platform. The company was struggling to balance transitory weather events and advertisers trying to reach affected markets. After making the switch to Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations, it can track data in real-time. This function lets us make informed decisions on allocating inventory to meet advertiser expectations.
  5. 5. A not-for-profit healthcare network transformed its patient engagement with the support of Microsoft Dynamics 365. Running a Microsoft ecosystem single platform combining Office 365 and Azure, one of the doctors developed a business application with PowerApp. It gave physicians and nurses visibility into each other’s teams, helping them collaborate more effectively.

Making ERP upgrades like those above must be planned before starting the change. Requirements include a thorough understanding of the current business needs, aligning them with product capabilities. Unfortunately, some companies learn the hard way that their decisions during the upgrade were not in their best interest, costing them time and resources.

Real-life upgrade failures

Upgrades require a significant investment and failures can be heartbreaking. ERP failure stories can teach us valuable lessons on avoiding such failures in the future. Some notable disasters include these.

In 2013, a famous cosmetic company invested $125 million and almost four years of work in an ERP project that became a disaster. The company started testing its new ERP system in Canada, quickly realizing it had problems. The software’s failure to perform required processes required sales reps to perform more work, not less.

A series of problems costing millions in lost sales, expedited shipping fees, declining customer service levels and other expenses caused the company to ultimately end its relationship with the ERP firm.

Investments & Failure in Dynamics 365 Adoption

In 2000, a major sporting goods manufacturer spent $400 million on a software upgrade to its ERP system. The upgrade was supposed to help the company manage its supply chain and make its demand forecasting more efficient. Instead, the upgrade caused $100 million in lost sales and a 20% decrease in stock prices. How? Through an unresolved transient error causing a total system failure.

Dynamics 365 Adoption Statistics

In 2004, Hewlett-Packard (HP) decided to upgrade its ERP system. The intent was saving money, creating shorter delivery times and improving its global distribution network. The result was catastrophic. Instead, the company suffered a $160 million loss while 20 percent of all orders were trapped in the older ERP system.

Any ERP system failure is painful and expensive to companies and their leaders, especially when proper planning and more investigation could have uncovered the issues above. Customers should not have to pay for the mistakes of their vendors.

Still, failures like these are more common than you think. The monetary losses mentioned in these examples do not fully represent the dangers of a poorly planned upgrade: they could easily be three or four times more expensive.

81%

Organizations are either in the process of implementing ERP software or have completed Implementation.

Source: Panorama Consulting Solutions

Your Benefits from the Upgrade

As companies begin exploring upgrade options, they will face challenges and difficulties in finding the right software for their needs. Fully understanding the requirements and reasons in upgrading to Microsoft Dynamics 365 is the best way to minimize problems and maximize your upgrade budget.

Ensuring the success of an ERP upgrade starts with clearly understanding the size and scope of your upgrade desires. Create a detailed plan, estimate your investment budget and timeline, determine your company’s needs, weigh all available options, set achievable targets and goals, and then choose the ERP solution that best fits your specific needs.

Picking an ERP solution that can handle anything you can throw at it – like Dynamics 365 – is always a good choice.

Upgrading to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations has many benefits. For example, with Dynamics 365 you can:

  • Eliminate incompatible software with one simple, powerful platform
  • Eliminate the risks and challenges associated with outdated systems
  • Enhance the productivity of your company with streamlined processes and workflows
  • Allow your company to grow with a scalable solution
  • Reduce integration and maintenance costs by having everything under one familiar roof

Upgrading to the right technology at the right time is imperative. Microsoft Dynamics 365 is not just an application: it’s a comprehensive platform with seamless and easy connectivity to other Microsoft products like Outlook, Word and other third-party applications.

D365 is the evolution of Microsoft from a company providing individual solutions to having the Microsoft One Commercial Partner (OCP) organization designed for enterprise customers.

Microsoft Eco System

Make Upgrading to Microsoft Dynamics Your Top Priority

Weighing up all the benefits and new features available, upgrading to the latest version of Microsoft Dynamics 365 in 2021 should be at the top of your to-do list.

With Microsoft Dynamics 365, enjoy a secure, convenient, and up-to-date system. Reduce integration costs. Securely connect to all your apps and increase productivity.

Key Reasons for Upgrading to Dynamics 365

Consider upgrading to Dynamics 365 when:

  1. 1. Your system lacks the comprehensive functionality to meet your current business needs. A growing business requires an agile system to support it. Investing a lot of time and money in customizing an old system to meet your current needs may well be a needless waste.
  2. 2. Your most-used applications are no longer supported or were replaced.
  3. 3. Finding support for an older system is a major problem.
  4. 4. Your infrastructure needs an expensive overhaul so shifting it off-site to the Cloud is a less-costly alternative.
  5. 5. Productivity in the warehouse, on the production floor and in the sales suffers from lack of mobile access to important data.
  6. 6. You are finding it increasingly difficult to integrate with other portals or systems.
  7. 7. Your current system no longer meets data security and other regulatory requirements.

If you are experiencing any of these issues, you know it’s time to upgrade.

Key Takeaways

Continuing to use an unstable older ERP solution is an unnecessary risk to company operations.

Only consider upgrading to a newer ERP such as Dynamics 365 after evaluating the software’s ability to handle your businesses’ day-to-day operations and achieve short- and long-term business goals.

Consider the potential value for your upgrade investment. Ensure the return on investment from the ROI makes sense as does the total cost of ownership and productivity increases.

Upgrading to Microsoft Dynamics 365 has a huge economic and transformative value to your business.

If your enterprise is still using an older Microsoft ERP such as Microsoft Dynamics AX, Microsoft Dynamics Nav, Microsoft Dynamics GP or SL or any other legacy system, it is time to upgrade to Microsoft Dynamics 365.

Conclusion

This concludes Part 1 of the 10 part series, which provides and considerations for upgrading to Microsoft Dynamics 365. In upcoming articles, we will provide all the information you need in evaluating the business case for the upgrade.

Stay tuned for more…

Get a consultation to learn about an upgrade or migrate to Microsoft Dynamics 365 ERP

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Also Read: Microsoft Dynamics AX to Dynamics 365 : A Guide to Migration

Customizations and Configurations in the Microsoft Dynamics 365 ERP
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Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Adoption Made Simpler with Agile
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Adoption Made Simpler with Agile 700 500 Xcelpros Team

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Adoption Made Simpler with Agile

Based on a wonderful piece from our friends over at McKinsey, Explaining why Companies and system integrators need to dispel the myth that agile can’t be applied to ERP, instead of adopting an agile approach towards ERP transformations. While every ERP transformation has its unique challenges, these challenges are much less of a hurdle for organizations taking an agile approach.

Get a consultation to know how your ERP transformation can be made agile and successful.

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ERP and Big Data
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ERPs Make Big Data and Big Business a Good Match
ERPs Make Big Data and Big Business a Good Match 700 500 Xcelpros Team

Introduction

What does “Big Data” mean to you and your company? To many, the phrase means large quantities of information from different sources, data that changes by the second. For example, it can refer to the temperature of a chemical process where a small variation makes the difference between good product and wasted materials.

A common big data definition is, “a collection of data that is huge in volume yet growing exponentially with time,” guru99.com states. The “4 Vs of Big Data” are:

Figure: 14 Vs of Big Data

4 V's of BigData

  • Volume, in terms of data coming from multiple sources at the same time
  • Variety, which can be flow volumes, temperatures, production costs and other information calculated separately
  • Velocity, referring to the speed of information from application logs and device sensors (IoT)
  • Variability, data flows when a machine is running and stops when the production cycle ends

“Big Data” can also refer to lines from sales contracts referencing products, volumes and/or quantities from several customers. From a supply chain perspective, those same sales numbers require raw materials plus labor and machine operating time to produce them.

In the past, “Big Data” often referred to information from one department such as Production or Sales. One of the biggest challenges with big data is providing information siloed in one department to other areas that need it.

There are even challenges to searching big data, which includes getting results based on the query. When the query isn’t phrased correctly, or a required document has a naming error, important information is left out.

A key challenge is overwhelming volume.

  • The New York Stock Exchange generates one terabyte of data each day
  • Facebook cranks out more than 500 terabytes of customer-uploaded photos and videos every day
  • A jet engine generates more than 10 terabytes of data in 30 minutes of flight

By the Numbers

Many businesses are drowning in data, not all of which is useful.

  • 8%: the number of businesses using more than 25% of internet of things (IoT) data available to them
  • 10% – 25%: Marketing databases containing critical errors
  • 20% – 30%: Operational expenses directly tied to poor data
  • 40%: The growth rate of corporate data with a study by SiriusDecisions finding organizational data typically doubles every 12-18 months
  • 40%: the number of businesses missing business objectives because of poor data quality
  • $13.3 million: The average annual cost of poor data quality

Big Data Costs

Big Data comes with costs, especially for in-house networks. Once data is obtained, it gets stored before being analyzed. Data is usually backed-up in case something happens to damage, destroy or in the case of hacking, hijack it.

The actual costs of this data varies based on business size and need. Estimates place the lowest range at $100 – $200 per month to rent a small business server. Installation costs typically start at $3,000 and go up from there.

Big Data includes up-front as well as hidden costs. Up-front costs most people see consider includes:

  • Software tools to manage and analyze data
  • Servers and storage drives to hold the data
  • Staff time to ensure the physical devices work properly and to manage the data

These costs scale proportionally depending on the business’ storage and retrieval requirements and the processing power required to gather the data.

Hidden costs usually refer to the bandwidth needed to move data from one source or site to another. While we might consider it a simple task to download a movie on a cellphone, moving terabytes of data between servers can be significantly more expensive.

Accurately estimating big data costs is basically impossible without a detailed look at each company’s specific requirements and needs. However, online research estimates them to be anywhere from several hundred dollars per month for a small business to tens of thousands of dollars per month or more. Infrastructure costs alone can easily top $1,000 – $2,000 per terabyte (TB) with qualified outsourced consultant pricing averaging between $81 – $100 per hour.

Big Data Limitations

Having access to large volumes of data is great – when a company knows what to do with it. Especially when servers are in-house, big data has its limitations. These problems include:

  • Software tool compatibility, such as different types and brands of databases
  • Correlation errors, such as linking incompatible or unrelatable variables
  • Security and privacy from the standpoint of only exposing your data to the eyes of qualified people

From a mechanical perspective, one industrial device might use a Siemens programmable logic controller (PLC). Another device can use a Rockwell PLC and a third could be from Mitsubishi Electric. These different devices add additional layers of complexity.

Using supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) architecture is one way some larger companies are resolving PLC compatibility issues. SCADA includes computers, networked data communications and graphical user interfaces.

Figure: 2Big Data Limitations

Big Data Limitations

Resolving Big Data Issues

One way pharmaceutical companies can resolve rising big data issues, especially those caused by using older, legacy systems is with a modern ERP. Enterprise resource planning software such as Microsoft Dynamics 365 (D365) resolves many of these incompatibility issues.

Data integration is a major big data problem for companies that use one database in production and another in finance.

D365’s data integrator is a point-to-point integration service used to integrate data. It supports integrating data between Finance and Operations apps and Microsoft Dataverse. The software lets administrators securely create data flows from sources to destinations. Data can also be transformed before being imported.

Dual-write—a related D365 function—provides bi-direction data flow between documents, masters and reference data.

This type of data collection raises potential ethical issues when accessing large quantities of personal information, which could include contact information for patients enrolled in a new drug study.

Installations by professionals experienced in working with pharmaceutical companies can organize data and help strip out personal information. Removing it reduces the chance of a HIPAA (health insurance portability and accountability act) violation.

Being a cloud-based product, D365 also cuts down many of the personnel costs associated with big data management and maintenance. Microsoft assumes those costs along with the burden of data security.

Conclusion

Having a lot of information lets companies make accurate, informed decisions. Problems crop up when data is kept in departmental silos. Using an ERP to integrate information across departments removes many barriers to sharing information, which leads to more accurate sales and inventory predictions, reducing overall costs and boosting profits.

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Importance of Robust ERP in Sustaining Manufacturing
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Importance of Robust ERP in Sustainable Manufacturing
Importance of Robust ERP in Sustainable Manufacturing 700 500 Xcelpros Team

Importance of Robust ERP in Sustainable Manufacturing

ERP has been critical to the manufacturing sector, from business strategies to meeting increased demand for specific products. Moving forward, manufacturers need to rethink their supply chain and inventory management strategies and implement proven and systematic resource planning tools. For more information see the full article here.

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ERP For Small Business
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A Beginner’s Guide to ERP Systems for Small Business
A Beginner’s Guide to ERP Systems for Small Business 700 500 Xcelpros Team

Introduction

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) software can help any small to medium enterprise (SME) flourish and grow.

Six key benefits of using integrated ERP in a small business are:

  • Sharing information between different business processes such as inventory management and finance.
  • Enhancing productivity through using a single database accessible to all relevant departments.
  • Improving control and reducing operating costs by reducing data entry errors.
  • Greater flexibility, allowing the company to rapidly adapt to changing conditions such as supply chain disruptions brought on by new Covid-19 restrictions.
  • Boosting sales through tighter inventory control.
  • Enhancing data security when using cloud-based products such as Microsoft Dynamics 365 (D365).

Figure: 1ERP Software for Small Business 6 Key Benefits

Benefits Of ERP software for small business

Upsides and Downsides to an ERP

Updating a small business to a modular cloud-based ERP program like D365 has its drawbacks. They include:

  • Resistance from executives, managers and workers. They don’t understand why they can’t keep using the same old spreadsheets the same old way. ERPs are much more efficient.
  • Cost of licensing and installation, which is generally done with the help of the right ERP consultants. Costs are recovered through increases in efficiency. The ability to respond quickly to customer requests generates more sales.
  • Possible on-site computer upgrades as the primary servers migrate to the cloud. High speed internet connections permit real-time viewing of data regardless of location.
  • A potential reduction in productivity while the new system gets online and the staff adapts to the new ERP. Eventually, users get to the point that small errors like typos or duplicate data entries disappear entirely, further boosting productivity.

These drawbacks are easily offset by an ERP’s inherent advantages, especially when using a modular system like D365. Additional functionality can be added as the business requires. Each module can also be expanded, adding more users and increasing capabilities such as storage.

Among the factors to consider when choosing an ERP system are the willingness of different departments to share data, and more importantly, contribute to eliminating any disintegrated processes. Finance will know what sales has in the works. Sales will know what raw materials Inventory has on-hand. Production will know when the next big order is coming up. Departments need to move beyond the “what’s mine is mine and no one else’s” mentality. A unified ERP such as D365 allows companies to do just that.

For example, sharing access to data means managers and executives have the ability to spot and correct errors quickly. They can also keep tabs on what every connected department is doing. An example is having inventory, production, finance and sales working together ensuring a project is delivered on time and on budget.

Another advantage of using an ERP in a small business is scalability in terms of:

  • Expanding existing facilities
  • Adding potential new suppliers
  • Increasing the size of projects
  • Increasing product lines

Inventory Control or Finance?

Two of the most visible and valuable D365 ERP modules are Supply Chain Management and Finance. Both are appropriate for small and medium businesses updating their systems. Which one to install first depends on the company’s current and future needs.

D365 Finance lets companies of any size, “Assess the health of your business, improve financial controls, and make timely decisions to drive agility and growth using comprehensive, real-time financial reporting, embedded analytics, and AI-driven insights,” Microsoft states.

For example, the artificial intelligence built into the software lets SMBs do a better job of managing business applications. Key elements include:

  • Accurately determine project cash flow
  • Predict customer payments
  • Rapidly provide budget proposals
  • Simplify financial management
  • Automate vendor invoice processing
  • Manage credit risks and collections
  • Provide a unified information source

When the company’s major issue is a lack of accurate inventory management, such as small business manufacturing, then D365’s Supply Chain Management module makes sense as one of the first modules.

One of Supply Chain Management’s critical functions is its ability to improve product deliveries. Functionality like creating barcode labels enhance a business’ ability to track supplies. Labels coupled with hand-held scanners or cellphones indicate where raw materials are in terms of their physical location. They also indicate where they are in the production cycle. Tracking continues from the time items arrive at the warehouse to when they are delivered as finished products.

Tracking incoming and outgoing ships is also a key reason to invest in the Supply Chain Management module. In a world beset by an ongoing pandemic, it’s important to know that raw materials will continue flowing. Last minute delays can make or break a company’s production schedule.

When the Supply Chain Management module ERP is used in small business manufacturing, companies are able to more accurately schedule certain production tasks. This leads to overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) being maximized.

When combined with internal Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, production machines can provide a continuous stream of wear data. Instead of shutting down a production line while waiting for a replacement part to arrive, the part can be ordered in advance so it is on-hand when needed. Production delays are reduced while active working time increases.

The Supply Chain Management module also helps provide advanced knowledge of potential quality control issues before they occur. Instead of wasting raw materials and worker time making deficient products, information from the Supply Chain Management module helps managers know when to stop production and resolve the issue. This boosts efficiency by maximizing raw material use.

Supply Chain Management and Finance are two of the D365 modules. Other Microsoft products cover Sales, Marketing, and the overarching Business Central (ideal for a company that is small)

Data Security

Another issue plaguing businesses worldwide is industrial espionage, also known as data theft. Private and some state-sponsored actors gain access to a company’s data and then threaten to destroy or corrupt it unless a ransom is paid. Even then, proprietary formulas and patent information may be sold to an unscrupulous competitor.

Some small businesses lack the resources to prevent every potential data theft attempt. Using a cloud based ERP like D365 for small business means you have Microsoft’s massive team protecting your data in distributed server farms. Data is safely stored away from company property that can be damaged or destroyed by a fire, flood, hurricane or earthquake.

Information as a Product

Today’s businesses buy, sell and use one main product, regardless of industry: information.

ERPs store information in a central repository, available to anyone with the right access. Older programs tend to silo data: Sales has its data. Finance has its numbers. Inventory has its own database. None of them share what they know effectively or efficiently.

ERP systems configured for a small business let it use its information much more efficiently. Data produced in the factory is immediately viewable by Inventory, allowing that department to order just enough materials to meet expected demands. When potential supply chain disruptions are forecast, Inventory and Finance working together, can quickly determine the best way to minimize impacts on production.

This allows small business’ funds to be used more wisely, allowing the company to make wiser investments as they continue to grow.

Final Thoughts

Modern ERPs like Microsoft Dynamics 365 can help small businesses grow by efficiently using data it produces on a daily basis, and helping remove artificial barriers and data silos, allowing information to flow freely to all departments of a company. Help with selecting the right ERP is best achieved with a team that understands your industry, and supports the best products along with the experience to implement them.

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Advantages of Using an ERP System to Ensure Regulatory Approval
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Advantages of Using an ERP System to Ensure Regulatory Approval
Advantages of Using an ERP System to Ensure Regulatory Approval 700 500 Xcelpros Team

Introduction

Employing the right enterprise resource planning (ERP) system can help pharmaceutical companies gain regulatory approval of drugs and other new products faster and with fewer requests for missing information.

“One of the benefits of enterprise management systems is that much of the data these regulations require can be collected through automated means. Thus, enterprise systems can be used to ensure compliance with increasingly onerous federal regulations without taking personnel away from their essential customer service functions,” the University of Scranton states.

Other advantages of an ERP system include:

  • Real-time data access
  • Standardizing business processes
  • Secure data
  • Usable and shareable data

The FDA Approval Process

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) is the agency responsible for ensuring new drugs follow the regulatory approval process. CDER does not test drugs but its Office of Testing and Research performs limited drug quality, safety and effectiveness research.

CDER physicians, chemists, pharmacologists, statisticians and others review every piece of new drug application (NDA) data. This includes labeling, which follows specific FDA formatting and requirements.

The FDA currently has 12 approval steps that follow preliminary drug development. ERPs are designed to ensure pharmaceutical companies keep accurate track of every step from the purchase of raw materials to the labeling of individual samples.

Figure: 1FDA’s Lengthy Drug Approval Process in Twelve Steps

Regulatory Compliances

Gaining FDA Approval

Pharmaceutical manufacturers can easily invest years and years, and vast amounts of money developing a new drug therapy.

The regulatory approval process itself can take 6 to 10 months depending on how many benefits the medication provides. Changes to the FDA Standard Review process in 2002 defined a 10-month goal to look at drugs offering minor improvements over existing marketed therapies.

The FDA also offers Priority Reviews with the goal of completing them in six months. These reviews are applied to drugs offering treatments where none currently exist. Priority Reviews are also given to medications that offer major advancements in treatment.

Using the most recent update to the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA)—the sixth version—the FDA uses collected fees to hire more reviewers and support staff.

These fees are not cheap. In fact, according to the FDA, the 2021 application fee with required clinical data is $2,875,842, a change of -2.3% over 2020 ($2,942,965). The FDA can also issue additional invoices for program fees not previously invoiced.

User Fee 2020 2021 Change
Application Fee: Clinical Data Required $2,942,965 $2,875,842 -2.3%
Application Fee: No Clinical Data Required $1,471,483 $1,437,921 -2.3%
Program Fee $325,424 $336,432 +3.07%
Source: FDA

Regulatory Audits

The FDA inspects and assesses regulated facilities during a regulatory audit. Some of the audit information is released to improve the public’s understanding of how the agency protects public health, its website states.

According to the FDA, “Disclosure of a firm’s inspection information encourages firm compliance and provides the public with an understanding of the Agency’s enforcement actions and an ability to make more informed marketplace decisions… Laboratory records and logs represent a vital source of information that allows a complete overview of the technical ability of the staff and of overall quality control procedures.”

The FDA has 10 detailed inspection guides related to drugs alone. For example, the guide for pharmaceutical quality control labs has 21 sections, which includes laboratory management.

The Role of ERP Systems in Regulatory Compliance

The Microsoft Dynamics 365 ERP platform seamlessly gathers data from different teams and stores it on Microsoft Cloud Servers. Researchers can review records during the development phase. Easy access to earlier successes and failures ensures work is not duplicated, increasing efficiency. Microsoft 365 has the ability to let information technology (IT) administrators apply labels to different documents. These labels let companies classify and protect sensitive data—like formulas—allowing access only to qualified, approved users. Sensitivity labels also apply content markings that can encrypt data, preventing it from being viewed by competitors and outside sources. Pharmaceutical companies can control who is able to view this data and for how long.

Regulators are allowed to see only the data they need, not private, confidential materials.

During the Investigational New Drug (IND) phase, the sponsor submits an application containing the drug’s composition and manufacturing and an outline of the human trials. Among the documents being reviewed in this stage are those related to informed consent and human subject protection.

The ERP Regulatory Advantage

ERP software has several advantages over using spreadsheets and external databases when dealing with regulatory compliance.

A key element is tracking the supply chain from ordering raw materials to delivering finished products to customers. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management is an example of an ERP product that uses a single, secure, cloud-based database to eliminate duplicate spreadsheet entries and transposed numbers. Additional key compliance benefits of using the right ERP include:

  • Visibility and transparency: ERPs have lot and serial number traceability, tracking material flow. This is a common compliance requirement.
  • Audit trails: This is included in D365, allowing administrators to know who accessed the system and when, what actions—including file deletions—were taken and where updates originated. Auditing can be enabled or disabled for an entity or specific fields within an entity.
  • Data access and security controls: these are built into Dynamics 365 products as mentioned earlier.
  • Encryption: Transactional data is securely stored and automatically encrypted when accessed by authorized individuals.
  • Electronic signatures: Secures transactions by confirming the operator is authorized while also creating a transaction summary and log.
  • Record Retention: D365 allows this to be set through the Privacy settings and elsewhere. For example, D365 Finance automatically saves attached documents for 180 days. That number can be adjusted through the document management parameters > General > History > Enable document history settings
  • Inspection Controls: D365 allows companies to store and track test evidence, ensuring materials meet quality control standards.
  • Document Controls: Tracks and manages formulas, engineering specifications, material specifications, operating procedures and other document types.

Summary

Getting a drug approved by the FDA is a time-consuming, expensive proposition. The cost of regulatory approval for pharmaceutical products can easily exceed $3 million in government fees alone.

The right ERP can help companies track materials throughout the supply chain and product development. This enhanced tracking and secure data storage reduces the efforts required to navigate the drug approval process.

Book a assessment to learn how an optimized ERP system ensures regulatory approval.

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5 Key Reasons Why Distributors Should Invest in a Robust ERP
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5 Key Reasons Why You Need ERP Software in Distribution
5 Key Reasons Why You Need ERP Software in Distribution 700 500 Xcelpros Team

5 Key Reasons Why You Need ERP Software in Distribution

Distribution management, supply chain and logistics planning can be few of the most challenging areas for any wholesale distribution company. Especially today, implementing the correct solution has become much more affordable, offering significantly improved response times, increased efficiency, and stronger customer relationships. For more information see the full article here.

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