The Dart Maker Blog

As we could imagine, if you are reading this article - you are in the decision making mode, probably replacing legacy system with the new one or abandoning either Unix/Mainframe or Apple direction for your corporation. In any case, nobody should make an outside influence on your decision - you should be maximally objective. Let us give you our estimates and the parameters to check on the pool of the possible ERPs/MRPs.

• Lifecycle. Each application has its lifecycle: from inception and initial fighting for the “place under the sun”, to maturing and then slowly or rapidly declining. Great Plains Software Dynamics, which is prototype of our days Microsoft Great Plains was released in 1994-95 as the first Graphical Accounting/MRP application, working on the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS. Plus Great Plains Dexterity - Dynamics platform was designed as both computer graphical platform as well as database platform independent (to some extent of course, especially when we talk about tuning it to the database platform for performance reason). So, technically Microsoft Great Plains has 10 years of history and is currently in the maturity phase.

• Database Platform. Current trends in the IT applied science are biased toward reliable and standard database platform. If you look at such product as SAP (Abap) or Navision (C/Side native database). This is probably reflection of the future multiple OS harmony: Linux, Windows, Unix systems will coexist communicating via XML (pure text) inbound and outbound streams. We’d say you should be looking for ERP which sits in the standard database: Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, IBM DBII, Ingress, Sybase, Unidata. SQL is the survivor and it will stay for a very long time. It should be possible to query your data via SQL queries - this will make your life easier when you face integration, customization and reporting needs. Microsoft Great Plains uses MS SQL Sever.

• Positions in your country. If you are in the USA - you should know these facts about Microsoft Business Solutions. First jewel, that was bought by Microsoft was Great Plains Software, in fact Doug Burgum, GPS leader was old friend of Bill Gates. Few years before acquisition by Microsoft GPS bought Solomon Software, its old and major competitor. Currently Microsoft Solomon is targeted to Project Oriented Business - Construction, Consulting, etc. Few years after Great Plains acquisition, Microsoft Business Solutions purchased Denmark based Navision Software. Navision had long presence in the USA, especially in the manufacturing ERP market. But, as we believe - and this is our private opinion - Navision acquisition allowed Microsoft to gain substantial portion of the European ERP market. We think that if you are in the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Middle East, Latin America and your are not a construction company - then Great Plains is good choice for you.

• Industry specifics. Microsoft Great Plains should be considered as ERP platform ready for tuning to your business needs and so, you should make your decision if you would prefer customization or purchasing so-called rich-functionality ERP. Great Plains is the platform for the customization. It fits to all the spectrum of industries: apparel, medical, pharmaceutical, distribution, logistics, aerospace, defense, wholesale, metals, chemicals, retail to name a few.

Good luck with selection, implementation, customization and integration and if you have issues or concerns - we are here to help! If you want us to do the job - give us a call 866-528-0577 or 630-961-5918! help@albaspectrum.com

Andrew is Great Plains specialist in Alba Spectrum Technologies ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ) - Microsoft Great Plains, Navision, Microsoft CRM Partner, serving clients in
California, Minnesota, Illinois, Washington, Florida, Arizona, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Canada, UK, Australia, Brazil, Germany, Russia

When I first set out to quit my job and make money online it seemed like a very big task. Everything out there tells you how easy it is. They tell you how much money you can make in a month, or a week, or even a day depending on what you’re looking at.

The money won’t just fall into your lap, but I can tell you what you can do to make the steps to getting there much, much easier. I’ll skip the part of long hours, time put in, how you seem to think about it even when you’d think yourself “off work” and the like, as you probably are already familiar with that stuff before you even thought of trying an online business.

First, KNOW exactly what you want to sell and/or what service you want to do. This will save you lots of time just in trying to make your website or sales page correct. The rest of your website will make sense around it as well and your web page will look and feel complete. You need to know as specifically as possible what goods or services you’re offering. A subject that is too broad will not only make your site hard to find, but hard to update and keep track of as well.

Second, is get familiar with Search Engine Optimization(SEO), even with a finished site and a product ready to go, if noone can find your site you won’t sell anything or get no visitors. You don’t need to know it in the expert sense, but you should know what aspects search engines look for and adjust your website accordingly. Research the keywords and phrases common to your website’s topic to find what people are searching for to properly optimize your page for the right traffic you want to go to your website.

Third, promote your site in as many different ways that you can think of. While it’s not normally recommended to directly submit your website to the biggest search engines, taking out a few seconds to do it can’t hurt. You can do so many things to promote a website, and as you work with one way, you’ll often discover another way to get the word of your site around. From posting on forums to email advertising to Google Adwords, try and do as much as you can. Not every person surfing online will use the one or two ways you started promoting your site and may not see it. Get your hands dirty and experiment with as many as you can to give your site it’s best chance of being seen.

This will hopefully help tweak and refine your site so when you follow the steps after it visitors will see what they were looking for and keep coming back or buy from you.

Robby is the owner of http://www.creative-enterprises.net, selling and giving away free eBooks to help people enjoy the same success from their own websites.