If you are a user of Dynamics GP, when is the last time you went out to CustomerSource? Have you taken advantage of any of the online training? What about new releases - what version of the software are you on? The current version is 10 and support for version 8 is running out soon! If you are on the Business Ready Licensing (BRL) model, are there modules you already own that you have not implemented? If you are not on BRL, have you looked at the offer to migrate? What about conferences? Convergence? GPUG (GP Users Group)?
Have you heard of the “Unleash Your Potential” tool? It’s a tool that your partner has access to that allows you to mine for information within your organization and plan ahead. It works like this: your partner sits with you and other members of your team, ideally across different departments - even if they do not currently use GP and talks to you / them about business plans, challenges and roles. Once all of these interviews are complete, the partner provides you with a report, summarizing all of the findings. It will show you areas where perhaps you can use the tools you already own to improve processes or maybe, point out a module or two that would greatly improve processes - often time, justification for migrating to BRL can be found after this information mining exercise. Finally, this exercise allows you and your partner to build a road map together, looking at the results that came from it and plan the next steps. This final part is very beneficial because it allows for you to budget both your time and costs to help the process move along very smoothly, ensuring no surprises.
I believe that if you are going to make the initial investment of time and money into a set of tools, like Dynamics GP, it is important to maintain that investment and make sure you continue to get the most out of it. It’s like buying a car - you don’t just drive the car off the lot and never bring it back for maintenance or service work, do you?
