With the contempo re-branding of the Microsoft Business Solutions artefact band as Microsoft Dynamics, Solomon, Microsoft's flagship able casework automation (PSA) band-aid for the baby and boilerplate business (SMB) market, has been repackaged as Microsoft Dynamics SL. Microsoft Dynamics SL adaptation 6.5 extends the solution's above-mentioned functionality through its business portal, as able-bodied as by alms new modules for acquirement requisitions and coffer reconciliations. Moreover, Dynamics SL offers its audience all-encompassing activity portfolio administering (PPM) capabilities with its absolute time bi-directional affiliation with Microsoft Activity Server 2003.
Replacing the old Activity Green strategy, the new Microsoft Dynamics action will adjust its artefact band of business solutions, including Microsoft Dynamics SL, with its analysis and development (R&D) efforts in two waves. The aboriginal wave, which is underway and will abide into 2007, involves re-branding all business solutions beneath the Microsoft Dynamics banner, and developing these articles to accept a agnate attending and feel in agreement of their interfaces and their acceptance of the business portal. The added beachcomber will bear a individual Microsoft Dynamics band-aid that combines best-of-breed functionality from anniversary artefact band by the end of 2008. To advice its audience with the transition, Microsoft has put in abode its Transformational Assurance plan that will acquiesce users to drift to the Microsoft Dynamics solutions at their own pace.
Eventually, Microsoft acceptable will blot its PSA artefact action into its Microsoft Dynamics artefact strategy, accouterment a unified band-aid that will serve the assorted vertical markets acute financials, action ability planning (ERP), accumulation alternation administering (SCM), chump accord administering (CRM), and PSA solutions. However, the catechism remains: will Microsoft move in the administering of alms a individual chip PPM band-aid for annual organizations by embedding Microsoft Activity Server with the Microsoft Dynamics artefact line, or will it abide to action audible solutions, amalgam Microsoft Activity area needed? In either case, the Microsoft Dynamics artefact band will abide acute to SMB organizations by continuing to action a individual technology that provides absolute PPM capabilities through Microsoft Activity Server.
Microsoft Dynamics SL is advised for organizations with 50 to 2,000 advisers and revenues of amid $5 actor (USD) and $250 actor (USD). The boilerplate Microsoft Dynamics SL activity costs about $150,000 (USD) for both licenses and implementation, with a individual user authorization starting at $5,000 (USD). Dynamics SL serves project-centric and service-oriented organizations, and is aswell acceptable for administering organizations.
Microsoft Dynamics SL comes in two flavors: the accepted copy advised for a individual website alignment with up to 99 advisers and a best of 10 user licenses; and the able copy advised for multisite organizations and a best of 2,000 employees. The capital apparatus of Microsoft Dynamics SL cover the following.
Financial Administering and Amount Microsoft Dynamics SL has a complete banking amalgamation accouterment accepted balance (GL), accounts receivable (AR), accounts payable (AP), and amount modules. The modules are advised to handle multisite organizations and assorted currencies. For annual organizations that accomplish internationally, Microsoft Dynamics SL's absolute multicurrency capabilities (especially for announcement and expenses) are a analytical feature. For SMB annual organizations, the banking amalgamation offers complete chip back-office functionality, which is not about begin in best-of-breed PSA solutions.
Project Administering and Accounting Microsoft Dynamics SL's backbone lies in its activity administering and accounting capabilities, which are tailored for project-centric organizations. By accouterment all-encompassing time, billing, and amount modules for annual organizations, Microsoft Dynamics SL supports the abundant tracking of tasks and costs accordant to billable projects. In allegory to added PSA solutions, Microsoft Dynamics SL provides aloft boilerplate ability utilization, arrangement management, and activity ascendancy capabilities.
Field Annual This bore streamlines annual supply and all accompanying activities. For able casework organizations (PSO), Microsoft Dynamics SL provides added functionality, such as managing accessories maintenance, annual akin agreements (SLA), collapsed appraisement functionality, and annual tracking of annual history and agent profitability. Moreover, Microsoft Dynamics SL is one of the few chip PSA solutions that offers acreage annual functionality to baby organizations.
Distribution Microsoft Dynamics SL aswell differentiates itself by confined administering organizations. In accession to accouterment all-encompassing functionality to administer shipments, bills of abstracts (BOM), and account ascendancy and replenishment, Microsoft Dynamics SL supports cyberbanking abstracts altering (EDI) and e-commerce capabilities. Furthermore, this bore has able-bodied adjustment administering and purchasing appearance that are specific to administering organizations.
Foundation Microsoft Dynamics SL's Foundation bore allows users to plan with added Microsoft applications and technologies, as able-bodied as with Crystal Reports and the Business Portal. In addition, the Foundation bore is delivered with a apparatus kit for customizations and integrations utilizing accepted Microsoft technology. Consequently, Microsoft Dynamics SL provides the best accoutrement to advantage an organization's absolute Microsoft-based advice technology (IT) infrastructure.
Microsoft Dynamics SL adaptation 6.5 offers new modules for requisitions and coffer reconciliation, and includes new affection enhancements at both the abstruse akin and in the business portal. The requisitions bore is primarily targeted at administering organizations. It provides a appeal admission arrangement for advisers and assorted levels of approval per project. Afterward the acquiescence of a request, managers can seek for agnate items in account and antecedent bids, and accommodate approvals and rejections of requests. In the new coffer adaptation bore (found aural the banking administering module), users can accommodate coffer statements, acceptance users to accord coffer accounts to accounts and sub-accounts in the GL. They can aswell accommodate coffer statements adjoin affairs in the G L, AP, AR, and amount modules.
Another new affection in adaptation 6.5 is abutment for SQL Server 2005 and Visual Studio 8.0. This allows added adaptability for customizations. There are aswell added appearance in administering with EDI affiliation and acquirement adjustment management. However, the majority of new appearance are begin in the business portal. New appearance in the business aperture cover extranet functionality, account appeal admission and approval in the new application module, account lookup, multi-company enabled queries, accumulation acceptation of users, artful of business aperture role, a role-based home page, chump and bell-ringer abstracts admission policies, abutment for Windows SharePoint Casework adaptation 2 (SP2), and administering of abstracts permissions in the administering console.
Product Strengths
Microsoft's Dynamics SL offers complete PSA functionality for project-centric organizations. Its ambition bazaar is billable organizations, such as PSOs, computer and IT accompanying services, engineering and architectural firms, and administering consulting firms. The Microsoft Dynamics SL band-aid has aswell acquired some absorption in the not-for accumulation and bloom sectors, but it is accurate able in the architecture and administering markets. This is because all-encompassing functionality in account management, adjustment management, and purchasing provides a complete band-aid for administering organizations. Architecture organizations, meanwhile, can account from Microsoft Dynamics SL's all-encompassing activity accounting and workflow functionality, which is advised for accepted contractors.
In agreement of accouterment abysmal functionality in portfolio management, Microsoft Dynamics SL has seamless absolute time bi-directional affiliation with Microsoft Activity Server 2003, enabling activity managers and stakeholders to barometer the advance of projects and the appliance of activity resources. Microsoft Dynamics SL aswell has the audible advantage of alms its audience a absolutely chip PPM band-aid for PSOs by accumulation (and continuously enhancing) Microsoft technology with Activity Server 2003 and Sharepoint Services. Furthermore, SMB project-driven organizations that accept already congenital Microsoft Activity Server and Sharepoint into their basement can accept a absolute chip PPM band-aid with the admittance of Microsoft Dynamics SL.
The absolute claiming of Microsoft Dynamics SL is in attention to its PPM functionality. Currently, project-driven organizations are appropriate to acquirement Microsoft Activity Server to handle all-encompassing portfolio administering and activity administering capabilities. Microsoft's contempo accretion of PPM bell-ringer UMT will alone admixture this problem. Consequently, organizations acute able PPM functionality accept to acquirement Microsoft Activity Server in accession to Microsoft Dynamics.
For the moment, with abounding PPM and PSA vendors casting agnate functionality, Microsoft has auspiciously delineated its artefact accession of Microsoft Dynamics SL (as a PSA solution) and Microsoft Activity Server (as a PPM solution). However, should there be a trend of consolidations amid PPM and PSA vendors in the future, Microsoft's may accept to accommodate its PPM band-aid into the Microsoft Dynamics artefact band in the near- to mid-term.
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