According to Narayan Laksham, CEO of Ultriva, (www.ultriva.com), “We design lean manufacturing software and solutions that drive lean processes across the supply chain, from suppliers to customers.” Ultriva's flagship product, Ultriva Electronic Kanban, eliminates stock-outs while reducing inventory levels up to 75 percent. Ultriva Lean Scheduling complements demand-driven replenishment strategies by optimizing production schedules in real time around the most variable customer demand. Ultriva Supplier Replenishment extends the replenishment capabilities of Kanban to include schedule-based replenishment, discrete POs, min/max, consignment and VMI (vendor-managed inventory) replenishment methods. Ultriva's products are in use in more than 100 plants worldwide, incorporating more than 4,000 suppliers, transacting over one billion dollars of inventory and reducing manufacturing costs for industry leaders such as AGCO, Emerson, Ingersoll-Rand, McKesson, Rexnord, and Timken.

 

Nandu Gopalun, an Ultriva consultative implementation expert, noted, “IT, MRP and ERP systems have prompted the lean electronic kanban implementation. Every plant has lean initiatives but only 10 to 15% understand it correctly. That is why we act as lean consultants. At most installations the internal kanban side is addressed by Material’s Managers and on the external kanban side, it is the Supply Chain Manager.”

 

Gopalun has handled a wide variety of plants and industry sectors for Ultriva including             Hussmann- IR (a large plant), Franke Food services (IT), Trane- Fort Smith, Motorola-China, Trane-Mexico.  Gopalun said, “Defining and drawing the value stream mapping is my first step. We set the vision and goal correctly, and explain to customer what we are going to do. We help customers by showing what the bottlenecks are and how to breakthrough these bottlenecks. Typically every plant used to say they are unique. I agree everyone is unique in some form. Some of them are really non-value added, we need to explain and prove the value of lean and how to get into continuous improvement mode.”

 

Gopalun suggests that, “The current economy is the best opportunity for lean solutions like Ultriva.”  The value proposition of this company is clear:

 

 

1)      Standardizing the process

 

2)      Value Ultriva brings to the success of a lean organization

 

3)      Real cost-savings

 

4)      Implementing continuous improvement metrics

 

5)      Eliminating errors

 

6)      Visibility

 

7)      Easy integration with Resident system

 

8)      User friendly

 

 

 

 

 

Ultriva

www.ultriva.com

Cindy McGowan

pr@ultriva.com

408.248.9803

 

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Software is the foundation to a user friendly service that enables you to have a quick and efficient way to pull up data and forms. <a title=Learn More About Business Rules Engines at Zoot! Href=http://www.zootweb.com/additional_information/business_rules_engine.html>business rules engine</a> and <a title=Learn More About Software as a Service at Zoot! Href=http://www.zootweb.com/additional_information/software_as_a_service.html>software as a service</a>have become leading developments in the industry so you don"??t have to work so hard to use software efficiently. Software helps us all pull up documents when we need them and our customers notice the difference in ease when they"??re deciding who they"??d like to do business with.

Rules engines are a great tool because they allow you to search for any document in a database without having to look for it manually through a file cabinet or papers on your desk. Imagine you being able to pull up a form for a customer 30 seconds faster than your competition. It may seem miniscule, but your customers will notice the difference in service even if you do not.

You can think of software as a service like any other type of software, for example any email software that you currently use. You have a Contact list so you can pull up personal email addresses quickly. An appointment calendar so you are notified when your next appointment is. All of these types of services are there to make your life easier and change what were once long processes into short ones.

With software, compatibility becomes an issue, especially when they upgrade it. If you"??re still running an old operating system like Windows 2000, odds are that a lot of the new software is not compatible with your computer. So as updates come to software, so should you want to update the computer you"??re using. This new software runs quicker and more efficiently, but the backside of it is you need a computer that can run the software effectively.

Usually any updates to software that needs to be done are done at night so not to slow the performance during work hours. The software should notify you when an update is complete and if you need to restart your computer when the update is installed. It is usually the case when software is installed that you will need to restart the computer, but there are some exceptions to the rule.

An important thing to remember about software is that it is a tool to help you. You should not let software run the way you do business, but instead have it run your business in a efficient and informative manner. Software can easily help you train new employees while hastening the effectiveness of your current ones.

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In order to install Dynamics GP in evaluation mode (version 10.0 is open for 90 days evaluation period), please download Dynamics GP CD #1 and #2 from MSDN subscription web pages.  If you cannot find it if you do not have MSND subscription, please let us know - we will let you download it from our ftp site.  If you are representing company, which is in new Corporate ERP evaluation cycle, we would be happy to give you executive or technical Great Plains Dynamics GP presentation via web session or simply come with you through your required and recommended functionality checklist.  We recommend you the following computer hardware and operation system:

1. Windows XP Professional workstation, Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Developer edition, you can use both 32 or 64 bit version.  If your XP has Service Pack 3 or higher, you will need to follow this techknowledge to install GP workstation: http://www.albaspectrum.com/news/000001378.html  It describes how to work around .Net check and Dexterity Components required preinstalls check.  You will probably face these problems if you have Microsoft Office 2007 loaded on this Windows XP workstation

2. Microsoft Dynamics GP Demo.  Please, give us your specifications for your future Corporate ERP, so we could put together Dynamics GP Presentation with your business requirements addressed.  As Great Plains Dynamics covers various industries and business niches, it is probably impractical to deliver generic Great Plains presentation.  It is always good idea to Sales Engineering phone conference to review your business type, required processes, integrations, reporting

3. If you are University Student and study Accounting, ERP and MRPII courses.  Please, check with your University IT department, typically universities have Educational MSDN subscription and you can have IT folks to download Dynamics GP CD for you

4. How to get help?  Please, feel free to call us: 1-866-528-0577, outside of USA: 1-630-961-5918 or email us help@albaspectrum.com  We are very technical and real Dynamics GP Dexterity, SAP Business One SDK programming gurus.  We have Great Plains Software Development Factory and could support unlimited Dynamics GP Customization and Programming needs.  Plus we speak English, Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, and not only as native speaking sales folks, but as real technical consultants.  If you prefer skype: albaspectrum

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We saw multiple scenarios, where Corporate ERP implementation goes into limbo phase and you think that this system might be not the one you need.  In our opinion - over 90% of these Corporate ERP implementation failing cases had rather subjective reasons and could be efficiently recovered if customer would stop at some point and asked for Second Opinion from one of local Chicagoland and Northern Illinois based Dynamics GP Resellers, or even from nationwide firm with strong Great Plains implementation, data conversion, reporting and customization expertise in your industry.  Think this way - Dynamics GP is a tool and Corporate ERP platform, but it allows you to design and organize Accounting, Sales Order Processing, Manufacturing, Shipping and Receiving, Procurement, Inventory and Warehouse management procedures.  Plus it open through Dexterity, eConnect, Integration Manager, ReportWriter, SQL Server Reporting Services, Crystal Reports and other tools to data conversions, customizations, integrations and reporting.  To implement your new Corporate ERP you would have to probably assign internal Project Manager, plus probably allocate some members of IT team if data migration and customization is needed, and of course you should select the right Dynamics GP Partner, who could help you implement Great Plains as real team of GP gurus.  We are trying to make this article readable for both IT managers and Company Executives, so please take it to consideration and skip the paragraph that is too technical or too philosophical.  Let's come through the most typical Corporate ERP failures scenarios:

1. Unrealistic Data Conversion.  We were discussing which topic should go on the first position, and looks like the "winner" is data migration, massage and conversion.  And this might be also related to lack of management involvement (when somebody from executives orders Dynamics GP VAR to convert "everything" and period) as well as to some learning curve from your Dynamics GP Reseller sales engineering team, where they say Yes to all customer requests in their desire to push Software Licenses Sale through (better approach would be to set the right expectation and explain recommended and possible levels of Data Conversions, their cost and potential risks).  We described Dynamics GP data migration in previous publications, however here we would like to give you summary.  You should first consider to convert only master records (customers, vendors, GL accounts, employees, addresses) and GL balances and leave your old Accounting system (QuickBooks, Peach Tree, etc.) for data inquiry only to secure possible strategies for future audit and IRS compliance.  If you must have some GL history - consider only current year and only monthly balances - this exercise is possible via Dynamics GP Integration Manager via ODBC connections to your legacy Corporate ERP data base or to exports in text files from legacy accounting, the most typical case is when you are migrating from QuickBooks.  Migrating "everything" to Great Plains is very costly and very risky, as GP business logic and tables structure are complex

2. Unnecessary Deep Modification.  Great Plains already has pretty rich mid-market Corporate ERP and MRP applications business logic and first you should try to cast your business processes in Dynamics GP setups and procedures.  We recommend you to be certain and not accept shortcuts approach, when if process is not apparent, realize it via Dexterity, Modifier or eConnect customizations.  However if customization is required, please check with your Dynamics GP Partner that they have reasonable experience to accomplish it for you, versus try it first time and come through learning curve with facing most of the potential Great Plains Dexterity programming pitfalls

3. Integration with Legacy System limbo.  Often you may have something from non Microsoft World: Oracle Based Sales Order Processing system, EDI, PHP MySQL and Linux based eCommerce web application.  Typically to integrate the two you would need consultants who are either cross trained or consulting team with expertise in both platforms

4. Crystal Reports limbo.  Industrial reporting tools, such as Crystal Reports, SSRS also require reports developer to have reasonable experience and exposure.  If developer is novice and tries all sorts of Wizards - results might be disappointing.  Professional reporting for Corporate ERP applications requires data query abstraction from the tool itself.  In the term of Crystal Report for Dynamics GP it means that report should be based on SQL Stored Procedure or at least on SQL View, and these techniques are crossing the boundaries of apparent reports wizards

5. Process Manufacturing.  If you were pushed in GP sales phase with the promise to implement Process Manufacturing, you probably should slow down, as Microsoft Business Solutions really features Axapta Dynamics AX as process manufacturing Corporate ERP option: food, meat and poultry processing, farmers associations, mining, drilling, energy, oil and gas, etc.  Dynamics GP Manufacturing Suite is for so-called Discrete Manufacturing

6. Great Plains Upgrade Limbo.  If you are migrating from really old version, such as Great Plains on Pervasive SQL or Ctree: 7.5, 7.0, 6.0, 5.5, 5.0, 4.0 or even from Great Plains Accounting for DOS and Windows, you should be aware on the possible problems.  For example Intellisol Purchase Order Processing was recommended in time (2002) to be migrated to Great Plains Purchase Order module.  You can still do this, but this should be performed for Great Plains Dynamics version 7.5, where you chosen Dynamics GP Partner may have no clue.  Great Plains Accounting for DOS, Windows or Mac is even better puzzle, as its support was terminated by Great Plains Software somewhere around 2001.  If you need to migrate away from this archaic Corporate ERP platform to Microsoft Dynamics GP 10.0 - you should carefully design upgrade path with your Dynamics GP Partner

7. Trying to Implement Dynamics GP in International environment in the country where it is not localized.  Please, note that GP is only localized in English speaking countries, plus in Spanish speaking Latin America.  If you are trying to expand it for Brazilian, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Russian subsidiary - you will not have success.  International Corporate ERP is not piece of cake, it requires research and dedication to international business rules.  We advise to consider alternatives to Great Plains, such as SAP Business One, or Microsoft Dynamics AX Axapta, these are Unicode characters compliant and available to broad spectrum of countries.  For example, if you have small facility in Brazil, SAP B1 would be the way to go in our opinion, plus it is very friendly for data export and GL level consolidation to Corporate ERP Great Plains or even on FRx Reporting base.  There are some exceptions - we can help you with options on Crystal Reports in Chinese with Great Plains Dynamics GP

8. How to get help?  Please, feel free to call us: 1-866-528-0577, outside of USA: 1-630-961-5918 or email us help@albaspectrum.com  We are very technical and real Dynamics GP Dexterity, SAP Business One SDK programming gurus.  We have Great Plains Software Development Factory and could support unlimited Dynamics GP Customization and Programming needs.  Plus we speak English, Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, and not only as native speaking sales folks, but as real technical consultants.  If you prefer skype: albaspectrum

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• Windows Update Freeze – Fix the Windows Update Freezing Bug
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Adware is on of those things that most internet users don't even think about until its too late. More often than not the majority of us do not even realise the existence of spyware until the damage has been done. Each and every day thousands of hidden applications are trying to gain access to computers all over the internet.

The amazing thing is that only a small percentage of people protect themselves from this kind of adware parasite and most only seek protection once the damage has been done. There are many ways that spyware and adware can take advantage of those of us who tend to be lacking in the area of computer security. Most times it is just our internet usage details that these nasties are after but at the other end of the scale there are some adware programs that are acting in a completely sinister manner. If we all treated our computers like our bank accounts then you would not even be reading this article. The sad fact is we do not and every day there are thousands of people that are putting their private details at risk. None of us should have anything in our computers that we do not want and did not willingly invite but I would bet my last paycheque that anyone reading this article has a few unwanted extras lurking in the depths of their P.C's.
It is absolutely essential that you be very aware of the possibilities with the latest of today's scumware. If you are not willing to purchase some internet protection on the grounds that you might be infected then you should at least take advantage of an online scan. These scans are free and easily accessed so to be honest it would be sheer madness to ignore their existence and simply carry on regardless. Run a free adware scan and the end result will be you are either spyware free or do in fact have a computer stowaway nestling inside your computer. If you are adware free then you can carry on without a care in the world, Your money will still be in your pocket and your computer will be running safely. If on the other hand you do find an intrusion then you can simply spend a little of your cash and rid the gremlin from your computer.
There are many free adware help sites all over the internet and it is very easy to get the latest news on all the recent adware outbreaks. Listen to the experts and weigh up what you have to lose.
If your computer is clean then a free scan will cost you nothing.
If it is infected then just how much do you stand to lose should your data be accessed?   You also need to visit http://protect-speedupyourpc.blogspot.com for important information on part 2 of this article.

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• Windows Update Freeze – Fix the Windows Update Freezing Bug
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