Synergy Software Systems

Management Reporter 2012 CU10 (version 2.1.10001.112) ask Synergy Software Systems at Gitex 2014

October 8th, 2014 by Stephen Jones 4 comments »

Management Reporter 2012 CU10 (version 2.1.10001.112) is ready for customers to download.

This update release for MR 2012 contains enhancements around some of the most voted on suggestions
Here’s a summary of the new Management Reporter CU10 features:
• Export row-based TOT formulas to Excel
• An additional parameter has been added to control header and footer options for exporting to Excel in page view vs. normal view
• Removed account category from showing in the viewer and exported reports
• Improved generation and viewing performance if using SQL Server 2014 Enterprise Edition
• Improved integration performance for large ERP databases
• Additional fixes for product defects

Important note All customers will have their data mart reset as part of the upgrade. Prior to installing or upgrading Management Reporter, please review the Readme file for important system updates.
You can find the download for Management Reporter CU10 here: https://mbs.microsoft.com/customersource/northamerica/MR/downloads/service-packs/MROverview

To learn more:
• Register for our roundtable session on Ax reporting with BI4Dynamcis and Management Reporter the Microsoft stand at Gitex.
• Call and ask about our next Management reporter training course in Dubai.

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Posted in Corporate Perfomance Management, Events, General Synergy News, Microsoft Dynamics Ax

SQL Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 3 and SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 4

October 6th, 2014 by Stephen Jones No comments »

SQL Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 3 and SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 4 . Service Packs are available for download on the Microsoft Download Center.

SQL Server 2008 R2 SP3 and SQL Server 2008 SP4 contain fixes to issues Hotfix solutions provided in SQL Server 2008 R2 cumulative updates up to and including Cumulative Update 13, and SQL Server 2008 cumulative updates up to and including Cumulative Update 17.

The Service Packs also include the security bulletin MS14-044. SQL Server 2008 and 2008 R2 are now in extended support, which means there will not be Cumulative Updates for these Service Packs.

Miocrsoft will not release Cumulative Updates for SQL Server 2008 R2 SP3.

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Posted in Microsoft, SQL

EID Mubarak on behalf of Synergy Software Systems

October 2nd, 2014 by Stephen Jones No comments »

Our offices will be closed 3-5 and will re-open on Monday 6th October

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Posted in Dubai and regional news, General Synergy News

Microsoft Sway

October 2nd, 2014 by Stephen Jones No comments »

Sway allows anyone to create a beautiful website from just images and text without minimal effort- what you see is what you get (WYSIWYG) — a modern version of FrontPage. It will sit alongside the regular Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote apps as a rich content creation tool. Microsoft is billing this latest addition to its Office portfolio as a “way to re-imagine how your ideas come to life.”

The new Office app, released in preview on Wednesday, can be used to create a wide range of document types, such as: presentations and Web pages, as well as standard documents and reports. Components can include anything from text and tables, to photos, videos and animations.

Microsoft says Sway is designed to help users to quickly create and to share polished, interactive content. For example, a marketing professional could use Sway to craft a corporate brochure, or a do-it-yourselfer could share his woodworking expertise, complete with step-by-step video instructions.
More Than a Document

“A ‘Sway’ is the canvas you create using Sway, and it’s much more than a document in the traditional sense,” according to Microsoft. “It’s built from the ground up for the Web and devices.”

Microsoft said the new app adapts to fit any device, large or small. Sway is built for cloud computing, so users can just drop in their Sway is a cloud service, built on Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform, that stores all your data so you create, continue or finish any project either in a normal web browser (Chrome, Safari, Firefox or Internet Explorer) or through any desktop or smartphone app.

You can simultaneously collaborate with multiple authors on a single project.
content from their cloud storage, their individual devices, or their social networks. Users’ Sways are stored in Microsoft’s Azure cloud and the photos used to create their sways are stored in OneDrive, Microsoft’s storage app. Microsoft will use the company’s powerful Azure cloud servers to suggest page layouts and to quickly render content on the fly.

Sway will format pictures and text in a way that its algorithm feels is appropriate, even picking colors from photos to apply to the site. Although the end result is on the web as a site, it’s actually a complex new format that’s stored on Microsoft’s cloud servers. Sways will render differently based on device type, but they’re not traditional responsive design as Microsoft simply creates separate views on the backend.

Sway’s built-in design engine makes it easy for users to format their various pieces of content by integrating those into cohesive layouts. Users can easily adjust their designs to create something that reflects their unique styles. “This means from the first word, image, Tweet, or graphic you add, your Sway is already being formed for you,” Microsoft explains. As you add more of your content, Sway continues to analyze and arrange it based on built-in algorithms and design styles. You can then easily adjust and customize the format as needed.

Users can share their content with others even if they don’t have the Sway app installed via links as well as on certain social networks including Facebook and Twitter. You can also embed Sways in websites

Microsoft plans to add more business -specific features. A few examples include OneDrive for Business and SharePoint connectivity, integrating the Office Graph, and capabilities for information protection and IT management.

http://blogs.office.com/2014/10/01/announcing-office-sway-reimagine-ideas-come-life/
https://sway.com/

New Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella talks often about positioning the company for a “mobile-first, cloud-first world,” and Sway is another step in that effort. The goal is to make products like Office, Outlook and Skype staples for individual customers regardless of the device they’re using, and to transform Windows from a desktop operating system to cloud computing platform that can be accessed from anywhere

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Posted in Microsoft, Technology

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 – ask Synergy Software Systems

October 2nd, 2014 by Stephen Jones No comments »

We look forward to meeting you at the GITEX 2014. To learn more about CRM 2015 please visit the Synergy Software Systems – 12th – 16th October 2014. HALL 7 STAND: D7-10.

With CRM 2015, Microsoft will make available updates to its Dynamics Marketing and Social Listening social analytics components in the fourth quarter 2014.
A goal of CRM 2015 is to break down the silos between sales and marketing with the introduction of: new Sales Collaboration Panel, and capabilities like: graphical email editing, A/B testing, and integrated offers and approval workflows.

Lync click-to-call is also enabled in this release, and a new interactive marketing calendar.

Social Listening gets more location filters and supported languages/geographies in the Q4 2014 wave. Across the board, the 2015 releases gets enhanced search capabilities and enhanced business rules.

These products will be affected by the coming update:

• Microsoft Dynamics CRM online and on-premises versions
• Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Outlook
• Microsoft Dynamics CRM for tablets
• Microsoft Dynamics Marketing

These are just a few of the highlights of what’s coming:

• Create product families: Boost selling effectiveness with the ability to bundle products and recommend related products for cross-selling/up-selling opportunities.

• Utilize sales hierarchies: Manage and report on your sales data in a way that maps to your business. New hierarchical visualizations and roll-ups bring real-time territory and forecasting data to your fingertips.

• Mobile sales improvements: Increase field sales productivity with flexible, role tailored dashboards and analytics, personalized home pages and the ability to navigate by hierarchy. This version of the tablet app also includes improved support for disconnected scenarios.

• Enhanced sales processes: Guide sellers toward desired outcomes with enhanced branching logic within your sales processes. Increase impact via automation of business processes and enforcement of business rules across all devices.

• Expanded case management functionality: Enable agents to provide differentiated levels of support with flexible Service Level Agreements (SLAs). Gain insight into service effectiveness with the ability to track and analyze key metrics like SLAs and thresholds.

• Improvements in CRM for Outlook: Set up CRM for Outlook quickly and easily with the completely redesigned Configuration Wizard. With the 2015 version of CRM for Outlook, users can sync assigned tasks and appointment attachments. Admins can control synchronization between pairs of fields, which provides confidence about where data is coming from and how it’s shared.

• Customizable help: Personalize the user assistance by tailoring the in-product Help content to match the specifics of your Dynamics CRM implementation. You can modify what displays under the Help question-mark icon at either an entity-specific or organization-wide level.

Microsoft Dynamics Marketing

• Sales and marketing collaboration: Strengthen your marketing and sales synergies with the new Sales Collaboration Panel, which allows sellers to provide input into campaigns and targeting.

• Manage multi-channel campaigns: Streamline campaign creation and improve segmentation with graphical email editing, A/B and split testing, integrated offers, and approval workflows.

• Improve B2B marketing: Deepen your lead management capabilities with webinar integration and improved lead scoring, including the ability to introduce multiple lead scoring models.

• Enhanced marketing resource management: Gain unprecedented visibility into your marketing plan with the new Interactive Marketing Calendar and improve collaborative marketing with Lync click-to-call and webinars.

• Additional language & geographic availability: Microsoft Dynamics Marketing is now available in Japanese and Russian, bringing the total to 37 languages and 12 countries currently supported. Find more information in the Microsoft Dynamics Marketing Translation Guide.

For more information, see What’s New in Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

We always advise that you preview and test new versions of Dynamics CRM in a non-production environment before you update your live production instances. Verify the compatibility of any customizations that you may have made, or any third-party customizations that are installed. Test will help you to assess the impact of the upcoming changes on your organization and your users.

If you haven’t already done so, we strongly advise obtaining a non-production instance of Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

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Posted in Microsoft Dynamics CRM

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015

October 2nd, 2014 by Stephen Jones No comments »

See how field-level security in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 lets system administrators and customizers secure out-of-box fields in this short video featuring Brandon Simons.

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Posted in Microsoft Dynamics CRM

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 – new Business Process

October 2nd, 2014 by Stephen Jones No comments »

Business process flows are a great way to deliver guidance and implement best practices for your organization. In this short video Karan Srivastava sets up an example of business process flows for a medical business.

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Posted in Microsoft Dynamics CRM

Microsoft CRM 2015 – Upgrade: What you need to know.

October 2nd, 2014 by Stephen Jones No comments »

Watch the video for important guidance on pre-requisites for database operating systems, and the upgrade processes for the server, and to cater with the database structure changes.

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Posted in Microsoft, Microsoft Dynamics CRM

Forget Windows 9 – Windows 10 is announced

October 1st, 2014 by Stephen Jones No comments »

Microsoft Corp will skip a numeral in naming its next operating system, opting for “Windows 10”,

Maybe trying to put some distance between the new platform and the Windows 8, which met with little enthusiasm from enterprise and consumer users. Early adopters felt that the touch-optimised OS was ill-suited to productivity tasks. There was also widespread condemnation of Microsoft’s decision to abandon the Start button,

In a prototype of the new OS, two modes are provided, one for touch operation and one for traditional keyboard-and-mouse use. Windows still runs on the vast majority of desktops and notebooks, but on only 14% of devices, according to Gartner figures cited by Reuters.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in an effort to win mobile users has acknowledged the shrinking PC market by steering the firm towards a single mobile-and-cloud strategy.

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Posted in Microsoft, Technology

Effective cash flow planning with Prophix Corporate Performance Management

October 1st, 2014 by Stephen Jones No comments »

Keith Bergman, Managing Director at Ledgewood Advisory Group, put it clearly: “Cash forecasting is the art of estimating the future cash position. It ensures the right amount of cash is available when it is needed.”

Simply put, efficient and accurate cash flow forecasting allows firms to achieve full control of their budgets and capital structures, and thereby helps those companies both with day to day tactical decisions and to ensure their meet their strategic objectives.

Companies adopt the Prophix Corporate Performance Management software, to address challenges in cash forecasting:
◦ Lack of access to current and accurate data
◦ Poor communication with other departments
◦ Difficulties obtaining data from banks in a timely manner
◦ Insufficient historical data to predict future performance
◦ Absence of variance analysis between forecasted figures and actuals
◦ Forgetting to include tax liabilities
◦ Neglecting seasonal and cyclical trend adjustments
◦ Inability to aggregate data as needed

In today’s uncertain political and economic environment , it is essential to rapidly be able to evaluate to reforecast different ‘what if’ scenarios.

Paul Vickers, VP of Finance and Administration of PARTEQ Innovations recently commented >“The Finance Department should be a value-added department, not a necessary evil, money-draining department required for doing business. In order to achieve this shift, you must “raise your cash flow IQ” and leave behind the traditional methods of cash flow forecasting, moving into an environment where you maintain full control of your cash destiny..”

Your company needs accurate cash forecasts. You may need to determine if you have sufficient cash available to fund a new project or simply to ensure that your company won’t encounter financial difficulties in the future. Either way, understanding your precise cash position can lead to better decision making on behalf of the business.

Ask us for a copy of the new Prophix Whitepaper “Learn the secrets to control your cash” or meet with us at Gitex or just give us a call 0097143365589