#FabrikamDay: the holiday that wasn't

#FabrikamDay: the holiday that wasn't

Unknown   April 13, 2017   Comment  

Yesterday was ceremoniously an unofficial holiday. That's right! The date did not show up on any local or international calendar, it wasn't part of any federal or state registry. Frankly, the world did another spin on its axis without skipping a beat and life for billions of people on this planet went on without a hitch - OK, I'm not trivializing what's going on around some problem spots in the world, but I digress. Not so for a few hundred in the Microsoft Dynamics GP community of customers, partners, and independent software vendors (ISVs). We celebrated our own 'holiday' of sorts: #FabrikamDay.

Breaking it all down

To understand what Fabrikam Day is, you first have to ask yourself, "What is Fabrikam?". Fabrikam (and more precisely, Fabrikam, Inc. or Fabrikam, Ltd, formerly The World Online) is the sample company used for demos, development, and testing in Microsoft Dynamics GP. The sample company provides sample data for all core and extended modules, including Field Services, Manufacturing, Project Accounting, and Human Resources/Payroll.

NOTE: Other Microsoft products use the sample company name Fabrikam for demo purposes. Click to obtain a list of fictional Microsoft companies.

For the longest time, the sample company transactions data was based on an April 12, 2017 fictitious date. Each time you log into Microsoft Dynamics GP and select the sample company, by default, you obtain the following warning dialog:

In the early 2000's a first change was done to convert the sample company data to a fictitious date of April 12, 2007. When 2007 came along, the date was forwarded once more 10 years ahead. If you are a veteran in the channel, I'm sure many of you thought, like I did, that you would probably be doing something differently when 2017 came around. At the time, it seemed so far removed from anyone's imagination. You can read more details and technicalities behind the sample company date in this very detailed article by my friend and fellow MVP, David Musgrave.

#FabrikamDay is today or is it? 

Where did the idea of a #FabrikamDay came from?

Back at GPUG Amplify 2016 in Anaheim, CA a group of us (Pam Misialek, Bob McAdam, Chris Dobkins, Amber Bell) started toying around with the idea of putting together an event around April 12, 2017 to commemorate the advent of the sample date. Back then, the original intent was to have a one day celebration costume party close or around one of the major events this year. Given the logistical challenges (and possible cost) the idea never took off.

Fast forward to the beginning of March, 2017 and Amber Bell with Training Dynamo releases the first blog post titled Fabrikam Day in which she describes the sample company date and how has Fabrikam helped her over the years to train her customers.

In mid-march, GPUG Amplify featured a number of "Fabrikam-themed" badges for attendees name tags, hoping to draw attention of the upcoming date.

GPUG Amplify badges for name tag

By the latter part of March, 2017, Chris Dobkins and Melissa Sandrovich over at Njevity picked up where Amplify left off and were just determined to not let the date go by without doing something. Chris and Melissa posted their first #FabrikamDay picture requesting the community to follow up with pictures of their own.

Chris Dobkins and Melissa Sandrovich at Coors Field in Denver, Colorado

Ever since this first picture by Chris and Melissa, the community began responding slowly but surely to the request. According to Hashtracking.com we had just about 479 original tweets and 924 retweets that included the #FabrikamDay, with about 1.7M impressions and reaching over 300 thousand people.

It was now April 12, 2017 (yesterday). The day started with a barrage of tweets allusive to #FabrikamDay and ended with a 4:00 PM EDT online meeting hosted by Pam Misialek, Product Marketing manager at Microsoft which did a quick run down memory lane showing some of the nostalgia and accomplishments over the years. At 4:12 PM EDT we did a "ball dropping" of sorts with a countdown to welcome #FabrikamDay. Those of us in attendance listened to stories, saw old time videos, and played a little trivia game to gauge our knowledge of Microsoft Dynamics GP history.

To say I have attended a few events over the years would be quite an understatement, but #FabrikamDay reminded me of the importance of community and the heart and passion to improve the lives of customers and partners. I hope to continue working for this community and do my part to make it stronger. You do the same!

Now, some posts from around the globe:

David Musgrave (Winthrop Development Consultants) 
- #FabrikamDay How to quickly update the sample data to 2027
- #FabrikamDay is today or is it?

Amber Bell (Training Dynamo)
- Fabrikam Day

Chris Dobkins (Njevitytogo)
- Attention Dynamics GP Customers and Partners: We Need Your Help to celebrate Fabrikam Day!

Mark Polino (DynamicAccounting)
- Happy #FabrikamDay

Rhonda Sutliff (Rockton Software)
- Happy Fabrikam Day!

Until next post,

MG.-
Mariano Gomez, MVP

New Year's Resolution

New Year's Resolution

Unknown   Januari 17, 2017   Comment  

Well, hello everyone! I hope you had a great time with family and friends and that you are now cranking it in high gear to get this year started off on the right track. I know I am.

A little of what I'm working on...

As the Lead Software Engineer for Mekorma, my job is to make sure we build quality new products, while improving the capabilities of our existing offerings. To that effect, my team has been working on a really cool product that automates the entire processing of payments (checks, EFTs, and Credit Cards) and remittances by leveraging our existing MICR offering, all the while, delivering total Accounts Payable automation in the process. I am really excited to talk about this, so more on this in an upcoming article.

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Blogging challenge for the New Year

One of the questions I get asked the most in my comments section is, "does this article still apply to the newer versions of GP?" Usually, the person asking the question is referring to versions GP 2015 R2, or GP 2016, and now GP 2016 R2? What I found surprising about this question wasn't so much the question itself, but in revisiting my articles, I have over 1000 that would qualify as "old". So I asked myself, "wouldn't it be cool to go back and revisit some of the older ones to see whether they still apply or not, or what changes they require for them to work with today's newer versions of GP?". In response, I will be revisiting as many articles as I can over the course of this year, and republishing them with newer code and better development patterns (where applicable), or even improved solutions noting whether there's standard functionality now available for what was covered before as a workaround.

Starting tomorrow, I will begin a new series called "Revisiting" where I will cover some of the old material I have on this site under the light of the newer GP versions - you asked, you got it! - all the while introducing new topics.

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Community Activities and Events

This year, I have the honor to serve as Vice-chair of Association of Dynamics Professionals Credentialing Council Board. You can read more here. The Credentialing Council Board is the most senior leadership body of members of the Association of Dynamics Professionals (DynamicsPro) and is responsible for setting the direction for nearly all aspects of the association. I share the stage with a number of professionals from other disciplines like NAV and SL, and probably one of the most diverse group you will ever find, with folks hailing from Europe and the United States.

I have also taken an active role with my GPUG local chapter, GPUG Georgia, assisting with the planning and marketing of the 2017 quarterly meetings. I will also be delivering sessions at the local chapter meetings. Our goal is to improve participation while delivering rich content that all who attend can immediately leverage in their organizations. If you are currently an active GPUG member and you live in the Metropolitan Atlanta area, please see our Chapter page for more information.

I will also be participating as a speaker at GPUG Amplify 2017 in Anaheim, CA, GPUG Summit 2017 in Nashville, TN, and reIMAGINE 2017 in Fargo, ND. You may also see me at some international events, but that's still being worked out as I type. The following tune has been chosen as the theme song for this year's GPUG Summit.

Finally, this year I'm making an absolute commitment to attend the Microsoft MVP Global Summit 2017 in Seattle, Washington, assuming I get re-awarded as a Microsoft MVP to begin with, in July.

As you can tell, my blogging agenda, along with my agenda of activities and events is quite pack for this year. I hope to meet a good number of what I have planned for the year and see quite a few of you at the events I will be attending. Please join me in continuing to make Microsoft Dynamics GP the leading middle market ERP with over 47,000 customers world wide, by showing your support to your local GPUG chapter, joining the events whether you are a partner, a customer, or an ISV.
Until next post!

MG.-
Mariano Gomez, MVP

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2016 RTM

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2016 RTM

Unknown   April 27, 2016   Comment  

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2016 has reached the Release to Manufacturing (RTM) stage.

A little primer on Software Release Lifecycle: The term "release to manufacturing", known still as "going gold", is a term used when a software product is ready to be delivered or provided to customers. At this stage most if not all .NET assemblies and components are digitally signed, allowing the customers to feel confident about the integrity and authenticity of the software they are purchasing. A copy of the RTM build known as the "gold master" or GM is sent for mass duplication - nowadays, the majority of software products are downloaded from software distribution servers, but you still get the occasional vendor that ships DVD media. RTM precedes general availability (GA), when the product is released to the public.

Dynamics GP's GA is still scheduled for Sunday, May 1, 2016, at which point, customers and partners will be able to download from CustomerSource and ParterSource, respectively.

If you want to learn more about the enhancements and features in Microsoft Dynamics GP 2016, please come to GPUG Amplify in Anaheim, California. There's still plenty of time to complete your registration. Also, keep up with the Features of the day Series. I have summarized these by week for you, as follows:

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2016 Feauture of the Day Series - Week 1

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2016 Feauture of the Day Series - Week 2

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2016 Feauture of the Day Series - Week 3

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2016 Feauture of the Day Series - Week 4

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2016 Feauture of the Day Series - Week 5

You can find other articles on the web on Microsoft Dynamics GP 2016 RTM, at:

Inside Microsoft Dynamics GP

Dynamics GP 2016 Feature of the Day: Release to Manufacturing (RTM)

Until next post!

MG.-
Mariano Gomez, MVP

Where in the world is Mariano?

Where in the world is Mariano?

Unknown   Maret 03, 2016   Comment  

Hello folks!

I'm back! Well, it's been a few months of drastic changes in my professional career and the truth is I've been immersed in it all, absorbing as much as I can, and really learning some cool new stuff. Who would have "thonk"?

Now that I'm back in the blogging saddle, I will be talking about upcoming events, the cool new features in the upcoming Microsoft Dynamics GP 2016, as always, I will be bringing back those very cool tips and tricks that make your day go by easily, and of course, looking into those obscure errors and troubleshooting techniques used to resolve them.

I also want to thank all of you who have always graced the comments section of this blog and want to let you know that I will be getting back -- slowly but surely -- to you. This blog would never be what it is without your readership.

Until next post!

MG.-
Mariano Gomez, MVP

Open letter to Jeff Edwards, Microsoft Dynamics Partner Strategy

Open letter to Jeff Edwards, Microsoft Dynamics Partner Strategy

Unknown   September 10, 2014   Comment  

Mr. Edwards,

I read your lines in response to MVP Mark Polino's article No upside to Microsoft's decision to kill Dynamics GP exams on MSDynamicsWorld and I really hope you get to my article Why the end of Microsoft Dynamics GP exam certifications is bad news for customers at some point for an along-the-lines perspective on the issue.

Nonetheless, my objective here today is to offer some direct comments and frankly to keep an open line of communication (there's probably nothing to debate) on the subject of the retirement of ERP certifications - primarily Dynamics GP which is my area of expertise.

Counter-argument 1:
On the shift to the Cloud - We are not saying it is Azure/O365 in place of GP, we are saying GP AND Azure/O365. The integrated solution provides true value to customers and differentiation for our partners. Issues like use tax, approval workflow and cash flow projections are absolutely critical, and they are improved by the use of GP working together with O365.

I happen to be, probably, one of the most tech savvy MVPs in the Dynamics GP pool of MVPs, with over 15 deployments on Azure along with Office 365 and even Azure Virtual Network to On-Premise network integrations. In fact, I have written a number of articles featured on this site on the subject of cloud and ERP deployments and continue to be one of its biggest proponents.

The real benefit of ERP cloud deployments - at least for my clients - is time-to-execution. After all, being able to complete an implementation project on average 4 to 6 weeks earlier than your typical on premise deployment has its merits and allows companies to quickly realize a ROI, not having to worry about the infrastructure on which their solution will be deployed. When you really get past this fact, the second biggest driver to a cloud deployment is the expertise of the individuals that allowed the client to realize their solution much quicker: BUSINESS APPLICATIONS SPECIALISTS. Let's not kid ourselves, ERP systems are unlike any other type of technology in the market. You simply cannot take a Windows Server guy and make him/her a manufacturing specialist or a project accounting or tax specialist. It just doesn't work! Despite all the arguments stating "certifications don't make experts", a certification, current or otherwise, is still a vehicle used by customers to understand NOT THE LEVEL OF EXPERTISE, but the LEVEL OF UNDERSTANDING of any given individual on a particular business application subject. For example, if my client perceives my certifications to be strictly technical, then they have a right to question my functional abilities and vice versa.

Counter-argument 2:
On your statement that the Dynamics team does not own the expense of their exams. We certainly wish this was the case, but it was not. We had complete budgetary and P&L responsibility for all the exams we created. As stated, we looked at our budget and the current skills and needs in the channel and decided more training, available online, covering more of the integrated Microsoft solution, was a better use of our budget and would have a more positive impact on both our Partners' business and customer success.

Respectfully, I sense a degree of contradiction in this argument. I fail to understand how rescinding the certifications directly improve building "current skills and needs in the channel", and furthermore how can it not have an effect your own bottom line (more on that later). If Microsoft's goal now is skill-building and targeting of specific needs, the better alternative, in my humble view, would have been to work with said channel to understand how the certifications needed to change or improve in response to your own goals, all within the budget you had. There are various entities who would have gladly worked with Microsoft - for free, even - to ensure the certifications were adequate and sufficient enough, namely Dynamic Partner Connections, the GP User Group (GPUG), and the always willing Microsoft Dynamics GP MVP group. Strangely enough, the collaboration model I described seems to exist and work well for other Microsoft divisions. For example, the SQL Server team is one that works closely with special interest groups and MVPs to ensure the certification is a benefit to the community of SQL Server professionals.

How are you going to ensure that more online training is being assimilated by the channel when your stated intention is to have a "more positive impact on both our Partner's business and customer success". After all, you cannot control what you can't measure, correct? The bottom line is, Microsoft have the mechanisms in place to ensure the assimilation of other technologies - to use your example, Azure and Office 365. If your goal is to ensure partners are driving customers to the cloud and cloud-based solutions, that's what the partner channel competency program is for. Ironically, partner competency in a specific technology vertical is intrinsically tied to individuals within the organization attaining certifications in those very areas.

Polino is also correct in stating that we do pay for these exams which should offset to some degree the cost of producing them. If cost was a concern for Microsoft, why not raise the retail price of the exam as opposed to simply doing away with them? After all, those of us who really value the Microsoft Certified Professional program and achieving a certification to prove to our clients that we've put in the sweat would have gladly paid for them. As an anecdote, we had been offering vouchers to our consultants for upgrading their certifications to the most current product release before news of cancellation hit the streets. I would also venture to say, that most responsible partners offer some form of incentive to their consulting and delivery teams, monetary or otherwise, to maintain existing and attain new certifications that can only benefit the partner organization - what's that word again? Competency!

Counter-argument 3:
With the expansion of the solution, I would argue it is not easier to become a partner.... We did try to make it cheaper by dropping the cost of unlimited online training from $6,000 to $1,000. As far as a flood of new, untrained entrants, we instituted a requirement for a business plan and proof of investment for any partner signing up. This must be approved by the US Partner Director. New partners coming into the eco-system have dropped by 70% over the last two years, as was our intent. The new partners that do get in offer unique value and are committed to training their people to deliver value to customers

I find it very interesting that you mention a "business plan and proof of investment" as a mechanism to vet new entrants. In one of my management classes in the MIS/Technology Management program I graduated from, I learned that business plans and funding are only the starting point for any business and that most companies fail where it matters most: sales and execution.

As I am sure you are aware of, there are partner organizations that can sell and there are partner organizations that can execute or deliver. Rarely do you find the one organization that is very good at both. Mea culpa!

If there is a silver line here, you have now opened up the floodgates to the return of the boutique consulting firm. After all, large partners can now focus on selling, selling, selling (which is got to be at the top of the list of drivers behind this move) without the added pressure of maintaining a pool of certified individuals just to keep up with some SPA requirement. Less partners, less administration, more revenue, more to the bottom line... I get it!

The flipside of that coin is larger partner firms tend to outsource the delivery to boutique firms specializing in implementing. Case in point, 80% of my organization's business derives from professional services delivered on behalf of these larger firms, so I may not fit the bill of a traditional revenue partner on your books. The bottom line of this already lengthy explanation is, Microsoft and its larger ERP partner organizations need SOMEONE to deliver such implementations so customers can smile, and Microsoft and, conceivably, the selling partner can perceive those coveted and profitable maintenance plan renewals and margins, respectively.

Then, why not give us the small guys a chance to continue differentiating ourselves in the ecosystem? After all, I would want to believe that your large (selling) partners also have a vested interest in seeing their entrusted customers' projects being done by individuals who have at least gone through training and completed a product certification. I will say it again, I'M WILLING TO PAY MORE if that's what it takes, but consider bringing back those certifications for the greater good of the community of customers and partners.

I promise I won't hold my breath on seeing any of my humble views being entertained at any level within Microsoft, but hope you at least get a chance to read them.

Sincerely,

MG.-
Mariano Gomez, MVP
Intelligent Partnerships, LLC
http://www.IntelligentPartnerships.com