CRM

Has any one created one?  Seems a little tricky.

 

Thanks,

Mary

Five years after Katrina, the CFO of New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity plays a role in rebuilding the city – with help from conventioneers.

The mission of the home-building organization Habitat for Humanity International, drawing on volunteer power and private funding, is to "eradicate substandard housing and to offer lower-income people a 'hand up' rather than a handout," according to Lisa Farris. As CFO of the New Orleans area affiliate, one of 1,600 separately filing 501(c) units that are part of the 34-year-old, Atlanta-based nonprofit, Farris has seen a lot of substandard housing — much of it destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in the summer of 2005.

Today, the annual home building of New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity is still more than five times the pre-Katrina annual total of 10 to 12 houses, but far below the peak of 119 in the June 30, 2009, fiscal year. (Qualifying families buy houses with no down payment and 0% interest mortgages, but invest "350 hours of sweat equity in a partnership agreement with us," says Farris.)

If the five-year total of 300 homes built seems impressive, the challenge of replacing housing lost to Katrina remains almost impossibly daunting. "Of course, eradicating substandard housing is an unreachable goal," says Farris. Meanwhile, potential donors are turning their attention from Katrina's devastation to the needs arising from more-recent catastrophes, particularly the BP Gulf oil spill, just offshore.

Still, New Orleans Area Habitat brings in more than $2 million annually, and is just now receiving its first federal grant aid. It is also attracting new volunteers (and funds) through a "service day" program, in which employees attending conventions in New Orleans can pitch in on home-building projects, with their employers covering the fee.

This week CFO talked with Farris, a New Orleans native who has headed the finance operation at New Orleans Area Habitat since May 2008. An edited version of the interview follows.

Five years after Hurricane Katrina, what has been the role of Habitat for Humanity in rebuilding New Orleans?
Habitat has been the largest home builder in the city. But the housing lost was in the hundreds of thousands. We've put back 300, and we'd like to continue at that kind of a pace — 55 to 60 a year.

How closely tied is your affiliate to the Atlanta parent?
Not very. International does do internal audits of the affiliates, but we've only had two since the storm — and that was because so much funding went through International to us. They just wanted to make sure we were recording it properly.

When you started at Habitat in 2008, what were your biggest challenges?
The biggest was that as the organization went from [building] 10 houses to 50, 60, or 70 houses, it didn't have the [necessary] financial systems in place. It was concentrating on getting the houses built and the families in. My first goal was to bring in an integrated system. It streamlined the operation and helped us increase the number of houses built. In fact, my department went from eight people to four, and the purchasing department went from four people to one. You have to run this like a business, although our first objective is to accomplish our mission.

In the first year after Katrina you received $20 million in donations. What is your funding like today?
It has substantially decreased. Part of it is that we're five years out, and the other part is the economy. Even the foundations don't have the income to come through with grants. From getting $20 million in that one year, now we're down to $2 million to $3 million.

Why did you wait so long to seek government funding?
International doesn't like to turn to government. But after Katrina, International said we could apply for government grants. And government funding is not just a pick-up-the-phone kind of thing. It's a long process and a lot of paperwork.

How many volunteers do you have around this time of year?
We have fluctuations in volunteers, and a lot of that is based on the weather. Nobody wants to be out there in August, and I'm one of them. We did get 300 volunteers a day for the fifth anniversary [of Katrina], but that's unusual. September is a slower month because of school starting, but in October we'll see an uptick in the number of volunteers to about 100 a day, and more than that on the weekend.

Tell us about the volunteers you attract from conventions.
The New Orleans convention business is back to where it was the year before Katrina. A lot of the conventions contact us and do a service day, either the day before the conference or the day after. If they bring in 5,000 people, they'll sign up some to volunteer with us. Right now we have [employees from] Gap and Anheuser-Busch volunteering.

There is a fee for volunteering. If Gap wants to send 200 volunteers, [the company pays Habitat] $50 a person. Individuals may want to contribute, too.

How much income does that generate?
Last year our income from that source was probably $300,000, including student volunteers. But all our volunteers get to stay in New Orleans and have a great time, and they do great work.

What's your view of New Orleans's future?
It's bright, and we're happy with Habitat's part in that. The musicians are coming back, along with tourism. Everybody's favorite restaurants are back — in fact, we have more restaurants now than before the storm. I've even started to eat seafood again. Like everybody else, I'd stopped after the Gulf oil spill. And, we're still celebrating the New Orleans Saints football championship.

Hi to All

     I had finished importing all the Open Sale Order into MS AX 2009.  However, the "On order" field has NO CHANGE when posting order confirmation. as a result leave "on order' negative when finished invoice updated.  below is in more details:

Order quantity = 100 , Opening quantity = 0 for item ABC

(1) After posting SO confirmation and Picking List updated  Order Qty = 0, should be 100

(2) Updated Picking List Registration: Transfer 100 from order Qty to "Pick".  Therefore,

        Order Quantity = 0-100 = -100

It works for posting Picking List Registration, Packing Slip and Invoice, but not for SO confirmation. 

Your help is greatly appreciated.

Three easy methods to update trend data without recreating the whole chart.

Editor's Note: To read more about spreadsheets, share a tip with other readers, or suggest a topic for Bill Jelen to cover in an upcoming column, click here to visit CFO.com's Spreadsheet Tips page.

Your department probably is responsible for producing a dozen or so monthly trend charts every month. These charts end up getting sent to an executive dashboard or tacked up on a bulletin board on the shop floor.  Each month, one of your company analysts collects data for the month that just ended, then re-creates the charts. This process usually takes the better part of a morning in Excel.

 There are several easy methods for adding a new data point to last month's chart. These methods will make it quick to update an old chart rather than re-creating a new chart.

Method 1 - If Your Chart and Data Are On Different Worksheets
I prefer this method because it works even if your charts and data are on separate worksheets. Say that you have a chart with monthly data running from January through July. You now have new data for August. Type the August heading and the August data to the right of the July data.

Select the new data, including the August heading. Use Ctrl+C to copy the data and the heading.

Navigate to the existing chart. Click on the chart to select it. Press Ctrl+V to paste the new data on to the chart. Magically, Excel will keep your current formatting, but will add the new August data to the chart.

Method 2 - If Your Chart and Data Are Near Each Other
This method allows you to add new data to the right side of the chart and also to remove data from the left side of the chart. This is very handy if you want to show a rolling six months of data.

Click on the chart. You will see a blue outline appear around the chart data in the worksheet as shown in Figure 1. In each corner of the outline is a blue square handle.

---

Fig. 1

 

To add August to the chart, grab the handle in the lower right corner of the blue outline and drag to the right. This will add a new month to the chart as shown in Figure 2. If you have a chart that needs to show a rolling six months, grab any edge of the blue outline and drag it one column to the right. This will add August to the chart and remove February from the left side of the chart.

---

Fig. 2

 

Other Methods
If you have an Excel guru on your staff, it is possible that he or she has created an OFFSET function in the SERIES formula for the chart so that the chart automatically extend as you type new data next to the existing data. Mere mortals can replicate this trick easily if you have Excel 2007 or newer:  Go to the original chart data and press Ctrl+T to define the range as a table. Now, any additional months that are typed next to the original data automatically will be included in the chart. This is far simpler than mastering the OFFSET function.

Bill Jelen is the author of 32 books including Pivot Table Data Crunching and is the host of MrExcel.com. Suggest a topic for his next column at CFO.com's Spreadsheet Community Center, and if your suggestion is chosen, you'll receive a copy of one of Jelen's new books.

I’m monitoring the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Beta forum on Microsoft Forums and there is a lot of great activity. If I were just about to install the Beta I’d start by scanning this site to see what other people are saying about this install. Here is...(read more)

I'm trying to import phone numbers with my address imports.  Most of my phone numbers are XXX-XXX-XXXX.  I also have some international phone numbers and some people put a 1- for long distance in the field of my non-GP system.  When I import the number, it is importing the -, but GP Integration Manager will add its own - as well.  So if I have 281-555-1234, GP IM  will import it as (281)-55-5-12 Ext0034.  Is there a way I can get GP IM to accept the phone number as is without reformatting it?

 

Thanks

I need to be able to put a comment or note on an order.  I am using Dynamics POS 2009 and it is not being very friendly to me.

 I cannot find a taskpas entry that will allow this

Thank you

Hi,

I ran the HITB wizard and got the following errors, how can they be resolved?

•  Average Item receipt QTY on hand does not equal IV QTY on hand.
• Receipt layer QTY is not 0, but is marked as sold.

Thank you,

Anita

 

 

Nigel Frank International would like to invite you to complete our annual Microsoft Dynamics Salary Survey.

The survey will only take a couple of minutes to complete and your response and any personal details will be kept strictly confidential. The survey is available in the following languages for your convenience; English, German, French, Dutch, Danish, Spanish, Italian, and Finnish.

As a thank-you for your contribution we will provide you with a PDF report of the results once compiled. This will give you an insight into the salaries, opinions and demographics of your Microsoft Dynamics counterparts worldwide.

Please find a link to the Microsoft Dynamics Salary Survey 2010 below:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Microsoft_Dynamics_Salary_Survey_2010_NH

Your response will be greatly appreciated and will help to give everyone in the Microsoft Dynamics community a greater understanding of their profession.

The 2009 survey was a great success and you can apply for a copy of the report by visiting the following link:

http://www.nigelfrank.com/en/fullSurvey

If you are interested in the results of the 2009 survey you can download a copy here:

https://sites.google.com/site/nigelfrankinternational/MicrosoftDynamicsSalarySurvey2009%28GlobalVersion%29.pdf

I’m monitoring the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Beta forum on Microsoft Forums and there is a lot of great activity. If I were just about to install the Beta I’d start by scanning this site to see what other people are saying about this install. Here is...(read more)

You find the documentation such as the Installation Guides, Readmes, SDK on this page:

http://offers.crmchoice.com/CRM2011Beta-Developer-Videos/#content780

Most of these documents include a feedback link on each page. We look forward to hearing from you!

There is more goodness at the CRM Resource Center ‘What’s New’ articles:

• Online -> http://rc.crm.dynamics.com/rc/2011/en-us/online/5.0/whatsNewCRM5.aspx
• OnPrem -> http://rc.crm.dynamics.com/rc/2011/en-us/on-prem/5.0/whatsNewCRM5.aspx

I sat back this morning, a little shocked as the news rolled in about Microsoft Business Divsion - President, Stephen Elop, let the world know he was leaving Microsoft, to become CEO of Nokia.



While at Microsoft, for the past four years, he has helped oversee Office 2010 rollout, and the Dynamics ERP and CRM business increase at great rates. He was always great to listen too at Convergence every year.

Now he will no longer be with Microsoft, and as of Sept. 21 he will be the CEO of Nokia.

ZDNet has covered this well, including asking some tough questions if Stephen is the right man for the Nokia Chief position. That article can be found here.: Can a Microsoft man fix Nokia? Here are 6 things that have to happen

I don't personally know Stephen, however the past four years working in the Dynamics Ecosystem, through a tough recession, and through new major releases, all-in-all, has been a great four years for Microsoft.

Being the leader of the Business Divison, Stephen has to be given credit, in part, to this success. There are of course many different reasons for the success, including great partners like Sunrise Technologies, Inc., the amazing VAR I am a part of.

So for Stephen and Nokia, I think we all wish him the best and hope he does well while at Nokia.

Now taking a step back, and looking at the bigger moving parts going on in the enterprise and Nokia's current position world wide and in the U.S. They have the top market share in Mobile OS actually, yet hardly exist in the U.S.

Now, lets take my blog post from yesterday.: Tech execs betting on enterprise mobility and look at what Stephen Elop was for Microsoft and is now going to be for Nokia.

For me at least, it has me thinking. Nokia is a big partner of Microsoft actually, believe it or not, and is fast losing share to iOS and Andriod for world wide marketshare.

There is a huge shift to the computing device most people use is a smart phone or tablet / slate based device. This will only continue to grow, and even more so in the Enterprise.

Now take the big focus for next year, Mobile Line of Business Applications. That is, stand alone, and connecting Mobile solutions that extend a customers enterprise investments to the mobile devices, smart phones, slates, tablets, etc.

Could Stephen Elop take Nokia, and revive it, bringing the giant into the U.S. Markets, continue to grow in developing markets, and offer a platform that enterprise swarm to for Mobile LOB applications?

Right now, hard to say. However do I think this will be a top priority for Stephen Elop, bringing Nokia into the US and a focus on the Enterprise? I do!

It will not be his only focus, but a big one. How big of a success he is, will be determined by how Nokia engages the market, if they beef up Mobile LOB app creation ability on their platform (either with Symbian OS or another one), and how he involves Partners.

If Stephen believed anything about what he preached, around the Microsoft Partner Ecosystem, to help drive Dynamics, then I would be willing to bet that this will be an early on project to enable Nokia's push for being a viable mobile LOB platform for enterprise in the U.S. and the world.

So, that's my two cents... trying to tie a bigger picture together here. For me, still will be focusing on Dynamics AX, as well as Windows Phone, Apple iOS and Andriod for devices. If Nokia has a valid push, and it's a great value to enterprises, and can bring value to my customers... then it will be added to the list. Time will tell!

That's all for now, check back soon and have a blessed and wonderful weekend!

"Visit the Dynamics AX Community Page today!"

The resource center has been updated with a What’s New article for CRM Online.  Enjoy!

http://rc.crm.dynamics.com/rc/2011/en-us/online/5.0/whatsNewCRM5.aspx

Oh, and did you sign up for beta yet?  www.crm2011beta.com

~Laura

I’m monitoring the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Beta forum on Microsoft Forums and there is a lot of great activity. If I were just about to install the Beta I’d start by scanning this site to see what other people are saying about this install. Here is...(read more)

Para quem estiver procurando, pode baixar um xls com todos os códigos de municípios aqui:

http://www.ibge.gov.br/concla/cod_area/cod_area.php?sl=1

[]s
Pichler

Tagetik , a Microsoft partner and provider of performance management, enterprise governance, risk and compliance and business intelligence announced in an earnings statement that the company saw positive growth in the first half of the 2010 fiscal year Read More...

Tagetik , a Microsoft partner and provider of performance management, enterprise governance, risk and compliance and business intelligence announced in an earnings statement that the company saw positive growth in the first half of the 2010 fiscal year Read More...

Tagetik, a Microsoft partner and provider of performance management, enterprise governance, risk and compliance and business intelligence announced in an earnings statement that the company saw positive growth in the first half of the 2010 fiscal year, and that their new release, Tagetik 3.0, would include integration to Microsoft Dynamics ERP and CRM.

Tagetik's COO, Manuel Vellutini, said the company ended the period with a 33% consolidated growth compared to last year, 61% growth on new license revenues and 32 new customers worldwide. And, officials said the company is on track to grow even more in the second half of the fiscal year.

As part of the company's expected technological growth, officials said they're...

read more

I came across this excellent article on MailChimp that made me stop and think “Do I always do it right? Or do I forget the “best practices” that will ensure my newsletter is opened?” I must confess, when I read this article (http://www.mailchimp.com/articles/best_practices_in_writing_email_subject_lines/) I knew I was guilty of a few “what you shouldn’t do” tactics. MailChimp took the time to analyze over 200 million emails and provided results on… ·         Three words to avoid (Help, Percent Off, Reminder)·         Localization helps·         Subject line length (under 50 characters is good)·         And best of all, some best and worst subject line examples! I won’t spoil the surprise and tell you all the details, but suffice it to say, we could ALL do a better job when communicating with our target audience. If your open rates are below 25%, then you could really use an email marketing “makeover”.  Opt into The Partner Marketing Group’s monthly newsletter at www.thepartnermarketinggroup.com and we promise to provide interesting, relevant content to help you market your technology business better. And you won’t see “HELP” in the subject line!

 

The Account Roll Ups functionality in Microsoft Dynamics GP allows you to add together the balances on any number of GL accounts, from anywhere in your chart of acconts, and enquire / report on this balance. This is a very flexible piece of functionality.

To begin, you need to set up an Account Rollup Enquiry Option. Ya what Gay? ..fairly simple. Click on Enquiry >> Financial >> Account Rollup. Type in an enquiry ID and tab off the field. Click ‘Add’ when prompted. This brings you to the enquiry set up window.  First you can create up to 4 columns for your enquiry – and these can have the following types of values: 1. Actual GL balances 2. Budget Balances (you can select which budget to use) 3. Calculated – (does what it says on the tin)  4. Previous Year actual balances from the GL and  5. Other currency. Your 4 columns can be all Actuals, or all Budgets etc. or any combination.

You then select if you want to use Unit or Posting accounts (you can’t combine these two types of accounts one enquiry).

Then its down to selecting the accounts you want to display. You can select the segment ID you want to filter on. In a simple example you could select the Natural Accounts segment. Then start to select the segment values you want included. You can enter multiple selections, and add filters for more than one segment. For example, I could add the values 0000 and 0001 and 3000 and 3400 for the natural segment, and then also add a filter for the first segment of  ’01 to 02′ – now account numbers 01-0000, 01-0001, 01-3000, 01-3400, 02-0000, 02-0001 etc will be included in the query.

Save this window and close it. Select your enquiry in the Enquiry >> Financial >> Account Rollup window and your data will be displayed. Select any one of the financial periods and drill back on any of your columns to see how the data is built up. This really is a good piece of functionality and is much neglected.