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SAP Business One Roadmap 2010-2014

March 13th, 2010 abdulmuneem No comments

Mission Statement for SAP Business One

Our goal is delivering an on-premise or hosted business management solution for small businesses that is easy to use, flexible, and affordable.

We will expand the solution into a highly flexible business platform so that SAP Business One will become the ideal platform for co-innovations with our Ecosystem, joining networked applications and cloud computing together.

SAP Business One Executive Management Team.

Key Objectives

  • Focus on Market Needs, Legal Compliance and Robustness
  • Advance product innovations across Functionality, User Experience and System Performance
  • Embed real-time Reporting and Analytics
  • Expand Integration Scenarios and Collaboration
  • Enable accelerated Partner innovations, add-ons and vertical industry solutions

 

Clear Roadmap and Accelerated Product Innovation: –

2006 – SAP Business One 2005

2008 – SAP Business One 2007 and 2007 SP01

2010 – SAP Business One 8.8 (May/2010 GA), 8.81, 8.82

2012 – SAP Business One 9.0 (Q3/2010 GA), 9.1, 9.2

2014 – SAP Business One 10.0, 10.1, 10.2

…. Continues business inovation without business disruption.

Release Family Definition: –

  • Enhancements are delivered in major or minor releases. Major releases (e.g. 8.8) contain major new functionality or architectural changes; minor releases (e.g. 8.81, 8.82) include new and improved business functions or corrections
  • Interfaces remain stable between major and minor releases
  • A major release and minor releases that follow it, present a release family

Release Family Maintenance: -

  • Each release family is supported for 3 years (begins with unrestricted shipment of the major release and covers any subsequent minor releases in the release family)
  •  
  • When a new minor release enters unrestricted shipment, maintenance of the preceding version is discontinued
  • Patch frequency varies from 4 to 12 weeks; gradually decreasing during maintenance period

Click Here to Download SAP Business One Roadmap 2010 – 2014

Categories: ERP - Enterprise Resource Planning, SAP Business One Tags: , ,

How to Choose a Hosted E-mail Solution

February 14th, 2010 admin No comments

Of all the technologies that run your business, chances are good that none impact your company as much as good ol’ e-mail. While larger organizations have the hardware, infrastructure, and human capital to manage e-mail in-house, small businesses with tiny to non-existent IT departments don’t have that luxury. Here’s how to get big-business e-mail efficiency on a small-business budget.

For businesses with 25 to 150 users or more, hosting your own mail server just isn’t worth the effort and expense involved, and can actually lead to more downtime than going with an outside service. While it can tempting for very small companies to simply rely on free e-mail services like Gmail, Yahoo, or Hotmail, there’s something about having your own domain name that makes your business look more legitimate. Using a free e-mail account is a dead giveaway that your organization runs on a shoestring. Fortunately, both Google and Microsoft offer affordable and robust hosted e-mail solutions.

Recently, Google had a huge lead as the most cost effective hosted solution, but Microsoft recently slashed its prices in half to give the Google some real competition. Still, Microsoft Exchange Online at $120 per user per year is  more than Google Apps Premiere Edition (GAPE) at $50. Both Google and Microsoft offer 25GB of storage with their accounts.

A huge factor for choosing hosted Exchange over Gmail was to use Outlook. Of course, Outlook supports Google Apps by way of IMAP, but since it’s a mail-only protocol, you won’t be able to share your calendar with coworkers without connecting to the Web. This is a make-or-break feature for lots of people. But Now with Google Apps Sync for Outlook that’s not true. With Apps Sync all your contacts and calendar will sync automatically

Google Apps Premiere Edition also has many strong advantages. If you’re a Gmail user, you already know how useful labels can be, and you won’t find them in Outlook. Google also has the advantage of being browser agnostic, you’ll get the same experience regardless of whether you prefer Firefox, IE, or Chrome. Until Exchange Online migrates to Exchange 2010 (still not launched), you’re limited to Outlook Web Access Light when using browsers other than Internet Explorer.

If you’re already a Google Docs user, you’ll enjoy having a single sign-on for e-mail, Google Docs, and other Google services. Of course Microsoft also offers a plethora of additional online features such as SharePoint, Office Live Meeting, and Office Communications Live, but you’ll need to upgrade to Business Productivity Online at $120 per user per year to use them.

Both Google Apps Premiere Edition and Exchange Online can synchronize with your organization’s Active Directory domain controllers. This reduces the number of passwords your users have to remember and enables a single sign-on experience.

Google Apps Premiere Edition gives small & medium businesses the best bang for the buck, by a narrow margin. Which guarantee of 99.9 percent up-time is no beat.

To Know more about Single Sign On for Google Apps contact Google Apps Reseller

Categories: Google Apps Tags: , , , , , , ,

Why Businesses Require Payroll Software

February 5th, 2010 abdulmuneem No comments


A bigger enterprise is a certain dream of every businessperson. Irrespective of the scale of operation, there is always a deep desire to take the business to the next level. There are many factors responsible for the growth of an organization. Some of these factors would look mysteriously unimportant, but can have sizable contribution in the long run.

For instance, there are many small and midsize business owners who do not feel the need to acquire a software package to deal with their payroll matters. It’s hard to believe that the boring calculations still have a profound place in these organizations. Without a payroll software solution, these companies do not have a choice, but to devote several hours on this taxing task. Unfortunately, since human errors are evident, the final results may not always be satisfactory. These erotic calculations are difficult to mend, and are a certain troublesome factor for both the employees as well as the government.

However, if you manage to get a good payroll software solution as per the needs of your company, then you are certainly making sure that your business is running on a smooth road.

These payroll software products are easy to use, and can save you truckloads of hours usually required for the payroll task. It’s a wise move to consider, instead of hiring a third person or a company to maintain your books. All you need to do is to figure out a good payroll software program which contains all the desired features required by you, and then install it.

There are several benefits which one enjoy with a payroll software program. First and foremost, you will not to worry about your sensitive data falling into wrong hands. With an onetime fee, you save yourself from the risk of data misuse.

A good payroll package will automatically calculate all the required figures such as the employee’s salary, taxes, deductions, refund etc. Once this information is calculation on its own, you are left with the only task of printing the payroll checks for distribution.

Before you lay your hands on a payroll software package, you need to make sure that you are dealing with a reputable company which has a solid background. Search for companies which are willing to offer a free trial or demo before you shave off your hard earned money. The payroll software company should necessarily have a good customer support system in place so that they cater to your problems, whenever the need arises. The best part is that there are many payroll software companies which do not hesitate from offering periodic updates of their product, absolutely free of cost. This periodic update will prove to be extremely helpful, if there are any changes in the tax plan or similar situations.

The right software will work like a charm for your business. It will help you keep in pace with the changes your business incorporates from time to time. Since you will be able to save loads of time with this software, these resourceful hours can be used for other fruitful purposes.

Eventually, your business will flourish!

A good time and attendance solution can help a medium sized business save money on poor workforce management, payroll software management practices and fraudulent staff record keeping.

Simple Fact: -

STD Code of Hyderabad, India is 040

Categories: Human Resource, Payroll Tags: , , ,

How to Evaluate Payroll Software

February 4th, 2010 abdulmuneem No comments
If your business has employees payroll processing is a recurring task that cannot be put off or ignored even though it can be a complex, time-consuming chore. Much more than simply writing a few checks, payroll requires accurate calculation, proper record keeping and compliance with state and federal regulations. There are many payroll system software packages on the market to take much of the pain out of this grating chore. There are some important considerations involved in selecting payroll software.

More than one million records were returned by a simple online search for ‘payroll software’. Selecting one package from this many possibilities looks impossible but there are some basic considerations that can quickly narrow the field. The calculation function of a payroll system is relatively straightforward. Any experienced spreadsheet user can put together a payroll calculator easily. The most important components of a payroll system are the recordkeeping, reporting and security measures. Any useful software package will integrate all these vital functions seamlessly.

Any user competent with spreadsheets can easily set up a worksheet for the basic calculation of a payroll system. The real issues that separate payroll systems are the record-keeping, reporting, security, and compliance with regulations. Any valid package must integrate all of these functions in one seamless package.

Any hacker can scrape together a more-or less functional program and sell it on the internet. These programs are rarely worth even the small price of admission. A real payroll system will include serious security measures for company records; robustness to perform under heavy use; customer support in case there are issues and full compliance with state and federal regulations. Reputable software vendors are large enough to meet these requirements with trained staff and actual customer service departments. Researching the vendor can quickly eliminate the one-person shops that cannot possibly deliver a full featured product.

Any new software must integrate with any current systems in use. Employee databases and other company records must be easily transferred or the existing systems must be supported. If your company is small enough, manual records transfer may be a viable option.

Investigating payroll system software should not stop at the vendor’s sales pitch and advertising claims. A glaring focus on one or two features may be disguising some shortcomings in other functionality. Independent reviews are good places to uncover functional problems or security issues.

There is no way to evaluate a package without a hands-on test. Legitimate software producers often have evaluation versions available. Download a copy and test the usability and functionality. Remember that evaluation packages should not be tested in a production environment with real data. One often overlooked point is who will actually be using the software. The data entry clerk in the next room must be able to quickly learn the system; the IT manager won’t be using it daily.Â
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Simple Facts: -
Hyderabad is capital of Andhra Pradesh.

Easy Payroll Software

Categories: Human Resource, Payroll Tags: , ,

Google Apps vs Microsoft Hosted Exchange Comparison

January 26th, 2010 admin No comments

Many small and mid-sized businesses are re-evaluating their email service. In the past, the de-facto email standard was Microsoft Exchange installed on a Windows server that you hosted in house. In the past couple of years, many new options have emerged and are being considered seriously by small business. The two major competitors in the Software as a Service (SaaS) market are Google Apps and Microsoft Hosted Exchange.

Why hosted email?

Before we can get into the pros and cons of Google Apps and Hosted Exchange, we first have to examine why people are moving over to hosted email in the first place. I think it is safe to say that most users expect email to work ALL the time. For small companies with a small or non-existent IT department, providing a service with 99.9% uptime is fairly difficult and expensive. Anytime that there is a disruption in service, such as the server going down or being compromised, the IT admin has to scramble to get everything up. Any downtime whatsoever results in extremely unhappy users and an exhausted and stressed IT admin. Another big issue for expanding companies is scalability and how much it costs to do that scaling.

How does hosted email solve this problem?

A hosted email solution with a reputable company offers extremely reliable email service without all of the headaches and costs. Scalability is a non-issue, as a company like Google or Microsoft is already handling hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of email accounts. Keeping their system up and running is something that both take extremely seriously, and pump millions of dollars and very talented engineering into. Basically, economies of scale allows these large companies to provide a better email service at a cheaper price.

Comparision with BPOS

Conclusion

I would go with Google Apps. The main reason for that is cost, Microsoft is simply charging too much. As you can see, Google Apps just beat out Hosted Exchange. The key was all those extras that Google throws in and that Microsoft does not.

Categories: Google Apps Tags: , , ,

Advantages and Disadvantages of ERP – Enterpriese Resource Planning

January 19th, 2010 abdulmuneem No comments

Advantages of ERP Systems
There are many advantages of implementing an EPR system. Few of them are listed below:

  • A perfectly integrated system chaining all the functional areas together
  • The capability to streamline different organizational processes and workflows
  • The ability to effortlessly communicate information across various departments.
  • Improved efficiency, performance and productivity levels
  • Enhanced tracking and forecasting
  • Improved customer service and satisfaction

 

Disadvantages of ERP Systems
While advantages usually outweigh disadvantages for most organizations implementing an ERP system, here are some of the most common obstacles experienced:

  • The scope of customization is limited in several circumstances
  • The present business processes have to be rethought to make them synchronize with the ERP
  • ERP systems can be extremely expensive to implement
  • There could be lack of continuous technical support
  • ERP systems may be too rigid for specific organizations that are either new or want to move in a new direction in the near future

Simple Fact: -

STD Code of Hyderabad, India is 040

Categories: ERP - Enterprise Resource Planning Tags: , , , ,

Implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning

January 18th, 2010 abdulmuneem No comments

Implementing an ERP system in an organization is an extremely complex process. It takes lot of systematic planning, expert consultation and well structured approach. Due to its extensive scope it may even take years to implement in a large organization. Implementing an ERP system will eventually necessitate significant changes on staff and work processes. While it may seem practical for an in-house IT administration to head the project, it is commonly advised that special ERP implementation experts be consulted, since they are specially trained in deploying these kinds of systems.
Organizations generally use ERP vendors or consulting companies to implement their customized ERP system. There are three types of professional services that are provided when implementing an ERP system, they are Consulting, Customization and Support.

  • Consulting Services – are responsible for the initial stages of ERP implementation where they help an organization go live with their new system, with product training, workflow, improve ERP’s use in the specific organization, etc.
  • Customization Services – work by extending the use of the new ERP system or changing its use by creating customized interfaces and/or underlying application code. While ERP systems are made for many core routines, there are still some needs that need to be built or customized for a particular organization.
  • Support Services – include both support and maintenance of ERP systems. For instance, trouble shooting and assistance with ERP issues.

ERP implementation process goes through five major stages which are Structured Planning, Process Assessment, Data Compilation & Cleanup, Education & Testing and Usage & Evaluation.

  • Structured Planning: is the foremost and the most crucial stage where an capable project team is selected, present business processes are studied, information flow within and outside the organization is scrutinized, vital objectives are set and a comprehensive implementation plan is formulated.
  • Process Assessment: is the next important stage where the prospective software capabilities are examined, manual business processes are recognized and standard working procedures are constructed.
  • Data Compilation & Cleanup: helps in identifying data which is to be converted and the new information that would be needed. The compiled data is then analyzed for accuracy and completeness, throwing away the worthless/unwanted information.
  • Education & Testing: aids in proofing the system and educating the users with ERP mechanisms. The complete database is tested and verified by the project team using multiple testing methods and processes. A broad in-house training is held where all the concerned users are oriented with the functioning of the new ERP system.
  • Usage & Evaluation: is the final and an ongoing stage for the ERP. The lately implemented ERP is deployed live within the organization and is regularly checked by the project team for any flaw or error detection.

Simple Fact: -

Climate is Tropical and Dry in Hyderabad, India.

Categories: ERP - Enterprise Resource Planning Tags: , , , ,

Hosted email solutions from Google – Premier or Standard ?

January 17th, 2010 admin No comments

I’m confused by the value of the offerings for Google Apps from Google.  Premier and standard edition ??.

I’m thinking of moving my corporate / business e-mail to a hosted solution.So, I am exploring the options that are available for Google’s email solution.

Here is what I am looking for:

  • First and foremost  is availability. I want it available always (100% availability) Since nowadays email runs businesses.
  • Value! ! I don’t mind paying but I expect to get additional value for the paid service when comparing it to a free service. Support is very important
  • IMAP and POP access to e-mail accounts.
  • Emails, contacts and Calender should be in Sync. I don’t want to open my outlook to see meetings. Want to access them from my Blackberry directly.
  • Clean and usable web interface to e-mail. This is going to be used by non-technical staff  (sales & marketing) , so ease of use is very important.
  • Decent amount of storage space. Decent is defined by me to be 10 GB of storage.

Google Apps Standard  edition does not have support.  No SLA (Service Level Agreement)  for availability which mean no uptime Guarantee ….Sorry not for businesses. But on the other hand Google Apps Premier Edition offers powerful messaging and collaboration apps that meet business-critical needs:

  • 99.9% uptime guarantee
  • 25GB of email storage per employee
  • Blackberry and Microsoft Outlook interoperability
  • Mobile email, calendar and IM access
  • Industry-leading security
  • Full administrative and data control
  • Helpful support choices
  • $50 per user per year
  • Proven cost savings

These above feature make it enterprise and business ready hosted email solution.

Compare Google Apps Standard v/s Google Apps Premier

Categories: Google Apps Tags: , , , , , ,

ERP System Improves Productivity, Speed and Performance

January 17th, 2010 abdulmuneem No comments
Prior to evolution of the ERP model, each department in an enterprise had their own isolated software application which did not interface with any other system. Such isolated framework could not synchronize the inter-department processes and hence hampered the productivity, speed and performance of the overall organization. These led to issues such as incompatible exchange standards, lack of synchronization, incomplete understanding of the enterprise functioning, unproductive decisions and many more.
 
For example: The financials could not coordinate with the procurement team to plan out purchases as per the availability of money.
Hence, deploying a comprehensive ERP system across an organization leads to performance increase, workflow synchronization, standardized information exchange formats, complete overview of the enterprise functioning, global decision optimization, speed enhancement and much more.
 
Simple Facts: -
Altitute of Hyderabad, India is 536 Meters
Categories: ERP - Enterprise Resource Planning Tags: , , ,

Ideal ERP – Enterprise Resource Planning System

January 16th, 2010 abdulmuneem No comments

An ERP system would qualify as the best model for enterprise wide solution architecture, if it chains all the below organizational processes together with a central database repository and a fused computing platform.

  • Manufacturing: – Engineering, resource & capacity planning, material planning, workflow management, shop floor management, quality control, bills of material, manufacturing process, etc.
  • Financials: – Accounts payable, accounts receivable, fixed assets, general ledger, cash management, and billing (contract/service)
  • Human Resources: – Recruitment, benefits, compensations, training, payroll, time and attendance, labour rules, people management
  • Supply Chain Management: – Inventory management, supply chain planning, supplier scheduling, claim processing, sales order administration, procurement planning, transportation and distribution
  • Projects: -Costing, billing, activity management, time and expense
  • Customer Relationship Management: – Sales and marketing, service, commissions, customer contact and after sales support
  • Data Warehouse: – Generally, this is an information storehouse that can be accessed by organizations, customers, suppliers and employees for their learning and orientation

Simple Facts: -

Hyderabad, India area is 217 Sq Km

Categories: ERP - Enterprise Resource Planning Tags: , , , ,