Microsoft unveils Twitter tracker for Dynamics CRM

Yesterday Microsoft unveiled what can only be called a Twitter tracker as part of a collection of "solution accelerators" for their midrange Dynamics CRM offering that will be downloadable in the next few weeks. Two of the new applications covered conventional customer relationship tasks - website integration and channel partner lead management, but the third, the Social Networking Accelerator is rather different:

The Social Networking Accelerator allows business professionals to monitor and analyze customers’ conversations on social networking sites, and as a result, provides real-time status updates about their products and services. This accelerator delivers integration with Twitter; other networks will be introduced in future releases. The Social Networking Accelerator can be viewed online at http://crm.dynamics.com/.

If you follow the link, you’ll find that the demo is not currently working, but a Microsoft presentation summarizes the functionality as:

What it does:

• Create and manage multiple Twitter accounts.
  
• Create instant tweets or schedule them for publishing later.
  
• Re-publish one tweet many times in scheduled intervals for global reach.
  
• Provide a hyperlink with your tweets, that automatically gets shortened by bit.ly.
  
• Automatically track changes in followers and follows on all your Twitter accounts.
  
• Automatically track click-through on your tweets.

The SeattlePI also has an instructive video.

Microsoft is not the first to try mining the Twitter vein for contact relationship management - their nemesis Salesforce.com and a start-up named CoTweet are digging into it as well and there is also speculation that Twitter would like to do it themselves. Whether there is actually some gold there is another question but the topic of Twitter reputation management is currently getting a lot of buzz.

Related posts:

1. Microsoft ships freebies for Dynamics CRM Online
   
2. Microsoft touts Dynamics “Enterprise-Scale” deployments
   
3. Microsoft’s Dynamics CRM Online now generally available

SAP Brings Intelligence to Unified Governance, Risk and Compliance Apps

Governance, risk and compliance (GRC) challenges have been around for a long time, even before some of the newest requirements set forth by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the Patriot Act. The trouble is, many enterprises make things harder by separately addressing the components of GRC -- and even the individual applications and initiatives within each category.

"Companies are starting to realize that they are handling similar risk and compliance activities over and over again with different applications, different capabilities and separate initiatives," says Narina Sippy, senior vice president and general manager, GRC Solutions at SAP BusinessObjects. "Companies are now looking to lower GRC costs, and one way they can do that is to improve visibility so they can see where there are shared risks and dependencies."

SAP's strategy has been to unify the disciplines of governance, risk and compliance, ensuring uniform and reusable policies and controls, wherever appropriate, deployed within business processes across the enterprise. With last week's release of upgraded SAP BusinessObjects Risk Management and SAP BusinessObjects Process Control applications, the company says it's taking a next step to integrate GRC activities by embedding dashboarding, analytics and reporting capabilities from SAP BusinessObjects Xcelsius and Crystal Reports.

"With embedded analytics, we can give you insight into what's going on in your business tied to key risks and business objectives," Sippy explains. "These applications previously had key risk indicators, but they weren't as comprehensive as they are now, and we didn't have a way to easily visualize what's going on in the business."

Executives utilizing the Risk Management application, for example, can use the reporting capabilities provided by Crystal Reports software to create, customize and distribute reports on, say, ongoing compliance status or control activities. For a more proactive approach, Xcelsius-based dashboards can be used for real-time monitoring. When performing a compliance review, heat-map visualization capabilities from Xcelsius can be used to present a prioritized view of which activities or locations across the enterprise present the highest risk of being out of compliance. In addition, predictive capabilities can be used to spur preventative action.

"If a particular plant is approaching a risk threshold, you can trigger an alert that will prompt someone to review the compliance activities related to that site," Sippy explains. "That user can then put new risk mitigation plans in place, implement new controls or initiate new activities that will ensure compliance."

SAP says that for many years it has focused on managing multiple compliance programs centrally -- be it Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPPA, Patriot Act or other compliance mandates -- by ensuring consistent and cohesive policies and controls across initiatives. With the newly embedded reporting and monitoring capabilities, the intent is to help companies know when and where to take action to ensure compliance.

"We have customers that have thousands of controls and risks, and in many cases they don't know where to focus their energies," Sippy says. "With these upgraded applications, we're enabling them to quickly and visually tie what they are doing in GRC with key performance indicators, key risks and their overriding corporate strategy."

SAP System Architecture

The SAP System follows a three tier architecture containing Presentation, Application and a database layer. Each of these layer has it’s own software component. With this setup, the overall system can be distributed among a range of computers or it can also be in one system like MiniSAP which has all these components in one computer. A common configuration includes where in the database and the application server run concurrently in a single large computer. All the other application servers run on their computers. Let’s explain all these three components further so that you can develop a better understanding of the SAP system architecture.
Presentation Layer
This is the view you see when you login into SAP from your computer. This is presentation layer that has been generated. The SAP GUI Software components ensure that the SAP system user interface is shown and that the user’s actions are passed to the application server for further processing.
Application Layer
The application layer is the one where the entire work is carried out for your. All your actions are processed at this place. This software component can have one or more than one based on the requirements and the processing needs of each and every organization.The application server provides a range of services for the operation of the SAP system. The application servers processes are carried out through work processes. This is defined at the start of the SAP system. The work processes are components that are able to execute an application. One thing to note here is that each work process is registered as a user in the database system for the entire runtime of the SAP system.
Database Layer
Each SAP system has a central database in which the entire data is stored. Everything, like the customer records, programs, just about anything which needs to be stored is maintained at this level.
In a nutshell, any actions you do on the presentation layer is passed to the application layer for processing which would retrieve any relevant data from the database layer and the application layer processes the data and presents it to you via the presentation layer.

What is the Microsoft Dynamics-NAV?

A comprehensive, easy-to-use ERP software system, Microsoft Dynamics-Navision ERP enables mid-size organizations to streamline business processes for accelerated growth. You can tailor Microsoft Dynamics-Navision to your business processes—manufacturing, distribution, financial management, sales and marketing, human resources, and others—and use it to accomplish your goals with optimal efficiency. Navision, a part of the Microsoft Business Solutions, is today the world's most leading ERP solution for mid market enterprises. One of the most cost-effective and adaptable integrated business solution that has been helping companies in their quest to grow has the largest number of implementations worldwide amongst its class of products. A true enterprise level solution, Navision has one of the lowest possible total cost of ownership amongst its category of solutions. Its unique architecture and extremely efficient development environment ensure that unlike most other competing products, Navision customization and implementation can be completed within just a few weeks and by small teams

For More Information Please visit : Navision Planet(http://microsoft-dynamics-nav.blogspot.com/2009/06/what-is-microsoft-dynamics-nav-erp.html)

More About ERP Software

ERP Software (Enterprise Resource Planning) often leads people to a lot of confusion. Which software is best and which ERP software will be the easiest to implement. The key to selecting ERP software systems is to understand your own requirements first. Document your specific requirements of what the ERP software should do for you. Do not only make a wish list, but include the things your current software does right. Many times people make the mistakes of selecting systems on what their system doesn't do currently, but then come to find out, all the things that the old system did well, the new ERP software does not do. Be comprehensive.Next look at your business and determine the broader category of what you do. Are you a discrete manufacturer, a process manufacturer (using formulas or recipes), or are you a service based company? Is your company heavily retail with Point of Sale needs? ERP software is segmented by the various niches that a company can fall into. This makes it easier to narrow down the field of software to look at. Be sure to look at the size in sales and see what Tier of ERP software you might fit into. Tier 1 is for larger multinationals or companies with many diverse business units. Tier 2 is for the companies with one to many branches doing similar things. Tier 3 looks at smaller single site companies that do not have very complex processes.

For example. If you are work for a company with four manufacturing facilities, all making roughly the same sort of products, and your revenues are are under $250 million dollars, then you are a good candidate for a Tier 2 ERP software. The following is a sample list of some main ERP software vendors:
Tier 1 ERP Software

• SAP
• Oracle
• JD Edwards

Tier 2 ERP Software

• SSA ERP LN
• Epicor Vantage
• QAD
• IFS
• IBS
• Microsoft Dynamics AX (or NV)

Tier 3 ERP Software

• Made-2-Manage
• Microsoft Dynamics GP
• Intuitive Software
• Global Shop
• DBA Software
• Epicor Vista

Once you have narrowed down your criteria to which tier you fit into and then you can start investigating the focus niches of each of these systems. From that you can then compare your specific requirements to the functionality of each of the targeted the ERP systems. The selection process should be deliberate and there are many pitfalls.Once you have a few ERP vendors that you are working with, you can then narrow it down to the 2 or 3 based on requirements to have them show you the system in detail. This detailed system review should be done completely based on the requirements and should show the daily processing of your business processes. Don't forget too that you are also looking at a vendor with whom you can work for the next few years. It is like a marriage and so you want to make sure that the partner you are selecting is one you can live with.When you finally select the system, ensure that you do reference checks. The ERP software vendors will always give you favorable clients to contact. But remember that often what is unsaid is more important than what is said. If you visit the references, be sure to watch transactions being entered. Try to see how the people are using the system. Learn from their mistakes too! Find out what went right and wrong during their implementations. Often these lessons learned will help you in your implementation.In summary, ERP Software is very complex and requires more time and diligence than people realize. When selecting, it can be overwhelming. As such, a third party may be able to assist you. Take a look at consultants who are unbiased and specialize in helping companies select systems. But if you choose to do it on your own, make sure that you have your baseline of requirements to lead you through. Focus on the business process and the business needs, not only on the look and feel of the software. If you keep coming back to the requirements, you will ultimately see which ERP Software works for you.

What is PeopleSoft?

"PeopleSoft is an integrated software package that provides a wide variety of business applications to assist in the day-to-day execution and operation of business processes. Each individual application, such as Financials, Customer Relationship Management and Human Resources, interacts with others to offer an effective and efficient means of working and reporting in an integrated fashion across the enterprise"
For More information visit: http://www.peoplesoft-planet.com/whatispeoplesoft.html

What is SAP?

SAP is an acronym for "System Application & Products" which creates a common centralised database for all the applications running in an organization. The application has been assembled in such a versatile way that it handles all the functional department within an organisation. Today major companies including Microsoft and IBM are using SAP's Products to run their own businesses.
R/2, which ran on a Mainframe architecture, was the first SAP version. Sap's products are generally focused on Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). Sap's applications are built around R/3 system which provide the functionality to manage product operations, cost accounting, assets, materials and personnel. The R/3 system of SAP runs on majority of platforms including windows 2000 and it uses the client/sever model.
SAP provides majority of enterprise applications that includes:
1. SAP Knowledge Warehouse (KW)
2. Product Lifecycle Management (PLM)
3. Human Resource Management Systems (HRMS)
4. Supplier Relationship Management (SRM)
5. Supply Chain Management (SCM)
6. Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
7. Advanced Planner and Optimizer (APO)
8. Business Information Warehouse (BW)
SAP NetWeaver is the latest technology introduced by SAP. SAP's products are mainly focussed on large organizations which mainly comprises of Fortune 500 companies and its a number one choice for ERP system worldwide. SAP has software solutions called SAP Business One (SAP B1) and SAP all in one which are mainly created for small and mid sized organizations. SAP products are used by millions people worldwide and in more than 120 countries and is constantly increasing. SAP had over 38, 4000 employees in over 50 countries, and more than 36,200 customers around the world as on Jan 2007.
For More Information visit:http://www.sap.com/