SYNERGY RESOURCES NEWSLETTER - MAY, 2010
New this month:
- View From the Top - Are You Leveraging Social Media and Networking Forums?
- Customer Spotlight - ICx Technologies improves productivity and visibility in their threat detection sensor operations
- Partner Highlight - DCS brings process automation to VISUAL with its web based EDI
- Partner Highlight - Mark Lilly to Speak at Qdata's CONNECT NOW Event in Canada
- Quarterly User Group Meetings - Pennsylvania User Group is officially launched
- New Products - Fixed Assets module integrates with VISUAL Financials
- Product Extensions - Products that enhance your VISUAL System
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| View from the Top: Are You Leveraging Social Media and Networking Forums? |
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After a winter that seemed to mirror the economy with its relentless bombardment of record breaking storms, it is particularly nice to finally see the emergence of Spring, and what appears to be growth in the business climate as well. While it is sometimes difficult to focus on new initiatives while maintaining a steady rudder in these turbulent times, it is important to be able to look for these periods of calm in order to not miss out on new opportunities to grow our respective businesses.
Once considered something that only our teenagers could use, FaceBook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn are now being adopted as business to business and business to consumer mediums to interface with prospects and customers. And these media sources will likely become increasingly important as more and more industry and trade print publications stop production. Many magazines are becoming so thin, it is a wonder they are still hanging on, as manufacturers and distributors are spending more on their web presence than they are on print advertising.
At Synergy Resources, we see these new social media platforms as another way to provide our customers with access to information, and to facilitate customer to customer collaboration with one another. We'd like to hear how you are using these social media sites. Do you see these platforms as a passing fad or as something that will continue to build momentum? You can comment and follow us on the following sites:
Along with the Regional User Groups that have continued to grow and increase in attendance, focused groups like the ERP Alliance on Long Island continue to gain momentum. The ERP Alliance recently held its latest meeting at the Farmingdale State College on April 22nd, with attendees representing faculty, students, and local business leaders, including attendees from American Aerospace Controls, Peerless Instrument, West Point (school), BAE Systems, DFCI Solutions, Arkwin Industries, Meopta, CPI Aero, Tower Fasteners, Intransition, East Coast O & P, Roman Stone Construction, and Koehler Instruments. The main focus of the Alliance is to keep manufacturing strong on Long Island through collaboration between industry, workforce development institutions such as Farmingdale State College, and professional services organizations like APICS and Synergy Resources. To learn more, visit the ERP Alliance Website, We look forward to hearing what you think and hopefully seeing you online or at one the next Alliance events.
Regards,
Gene Caiola
Partner
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| Customer Spotlight: ICx Technologies improves productivity and visibility |
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ICx Technologies strategically understands the importance of closely monitoring critical environments. The Arlington, VA-based company develops and integrates advanced sensor technologies for homeland security, force protection and commercial applications. After successfully engineering an aggressive corporate expansion strategy that netted more than 16 acquisitions in short order, it knew it needed a corporate enterprise business system that could enable managing and monitoring disparate operating divisions with one standard system – yet one that would provide the flexibility to encompass unique requirements where necessary.
“Our objective was to secure an out-of-the-box software package that could meet our needs in manufacturing, project accounting, and Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) compliance,” says Jill Burns, ICx operation controller. The system needed to be able to track and manage diverse, complex contracts for the government with stringent accounting requirements; and provide robust SOX compliance as the company aimed to go public. “Infor ERP VISUAL was by far the best choice. It required no customization – which meant the lowest cost, fastest implementation, and quickest return on investment.”
Central to the project’s success was the need to develop standard processes and operating procedures capable of weaving what had been 17 different companies into one seamless enterprise. There needed to be common processes supported by a single business system so management would have one unified view of all operations. ICx turned to Synergy Resources Canada based in suburban Toronto, Ontario, to provide the services expertise for guiding the implementation.
“We started with an in-depth gap-fit analysis of business processes,” says Michelle Loucks, Synergy Resources Canada professional services manager. The Toronto-based company recently joined Synergy Resources as a business unit providing professional and ERP implementation services in Eastern Canada. Considerable initial effort was focused on understanding the business requirements of top corporate management; and then building a cross-functional, ‘super-user’ implementation team representative of the needs of all the different operations.
“In many cases, the acquired companies were run by entrepreneurial engineers who’d founded them and had focused primarily on completing projects rather than formally developing business processes,” Loucks says. “We brought a lot of knowledge about the VISUAL Aerospace and Defense module, about implementation methodology, and business processes that support industry best practices. We emphasized to the team that this was not just a system implementation, but a business process improvement initiative. They developed in advance all the standard operating procedures and work instructions for the entire rollout. They trained all users as we began to roll out the implementation across all 17 divisions.”
The implementation was very aggressive, seeking to keep apace a schedule to concurrently implement the system in two sites over two months; then moving on to the next two. “By deploying the application two sites at a time, we began to see almost instant value,” says Burns. “For the first time we’ve been able to dig into the data and see gross profits by product lines. And the visibility into all of our subsidiaries is incredible from a corporate perspective,” she adds. “Our biggest cost savings has resulted from consolidating back-office operations. In addition we’ve been able to see benefits that wouldn’t have been possible before Infor ERP VISUAL – including increased productivity and comprehensive information for management reports that enable better company-wide decision-making.”
Read more
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| Partner Highlight: Mark Lilly to Speak at Qdata's CONNECT NOW Event in Canada |
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Synergy Resources' Mark Lilly will be a guest speaker at the upcoming CONNECT NOW 2010 on Tuesday, June 8th, at the Paramount Conference Center in Woodbridge, Ontario, Canada.
CONNECT NOW 2010 is all about mobility and how it can raise your performance bar. It is not just an exhibition of wireless
technologies, but features case studies, customer presentations and supplier keynotes that will inform and inspire on how you
can ‘Own your Podium”.
We are in the golden age of mobility. This means wireless technologies are no longer just found in the warehouse; it’s on the
truck, in the store, in restaurant, on the street and in your homes. So it’s about extending your reach of information wherever
and whenever.
Mobility is going to change our lives in ways we’re just starting to understand and Connect Now 2010 is an important stop
along the way that will provide you with the road maps and destination points leading to your business success.
For this year we’ve assembled the best that the industry has to offer. We’ll have representatives from Motorola, Intermec,
Zebra, Psion Teklogix, Honeywell, OKI Data and Microsoft to name a few. Also in attendance will be customers like you;
looking to stay informed, share best practices and experiences.
For more information, visit the qdata website: www.qdata.com/ConnectNOW2010.
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| Partner Highlight: DCS brings process automation to VISUAL with its web based EDI |
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Isn't it time you considered improving the process flow of your most important business transactions? DCS (Data Communications Solutions) can help you speed-up and smooth out the flow your Web based EDI with a cost effective business process automation consulting engagement. If you use popular and reliable EDI VAN’s such as GXS’ TradeWeb, Inovis’ Inovisworks.net, Sterling Commerce’s Information:Broker, SPS Commerce, True Commerce, ESIS and others, did you know that:
- Customer Sales Orders can be automatically loaded (no data entry)
- Shipment Notices (ASN’s) can be sent at shipment time without delay
- Invoices can go directly to customers’ Accounts Payable departments
This process automation helps you save in at least 3 ways:
- Wider fulfillment window and more time to scrutinize Sales Orders
- ASN’s arrive on time, so no more costly Charge backs
- Faster cash flow when you know immediately an Invoice was rejected
A typical cost for process automation for your first 3 customers is about $10,000 USD; the next are about $1,000 USD each. Your cost may differ.
For more information see http://www.dcs-is-edi.com/Visual.html. The first step is easy, contact DCS for a Free Assessment, info@dcs-is-edi.com
Or contact Donna LaMontagne at 631-665-2050 or email. or Paul Tedford at 603-560-7650 or email or Robert Anand in Canada at 416-451-2427 or email
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| Quarterly User Group Meetings: Pennsylvania User Group is officially launched |
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Local User Groups
- Long Island
- Mid-Altantic
- New England
- New York/New Jersey
- Ontario, Canada
- Pennsylvania
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We're pleased to announce that the Pennsylvania Regional VISUAL User Group has been officially added to the VISUAL User Group Website, www.vmneug.org. We would like to welcome this new User Group and its members to our community.
Users in the Pennsylvania region can now begin to collaborate with other users in open discussions and forums, create and review enhancement requests, register for upcoming meetings, and view the latest news across VISUAL's user community. With the first Pennsylvania User Meeting completed, and Steering committee members assigned, the group looks forward to the next meeting on June 17th in Reading, PA. This meeting will feature an update from Danna Nelson, the Infor ERP VISUAL Product Manager on what’s coming in version 7 of VISUAL. Prior to the meeting, be sure to log in and register your questions in the section in our Forum titled: "Meeting Questions/Topics".
The Pennsylvania Steering Committee Members include:
Russ Abraham
RLC Electronic Systems
Denise Bates
Pyrotek, Inc
Rick Frey
PrecisionForm Inc.
Carolyn Noreika
Philadelphia Scientific LLC
Tom Shanley
Off The Wall Company
Andrew Witzel
RLC Electronic Systems
To learn more about this new User Group, please contact:
Kevin Sanford at: 610.603.6404 or Russ Abraham at: 610.589.1988 ext 118
Visit: www.vmneug.org to learn more and to register for upcoming events.
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| New Infor Products - Fixed Assets module integrates with VISUAL Financials |
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FAve (Fixed Assets for VISUAL Enterprise) is fully integrated with VISUAL Enterprise and VISUAL Financials from Infor Global Solutions, Inc. Comprehensive part information already maintained in the part maintenance window in VISUAL Enterprise can be retrieved easily within FAve when required.
FAve will also automatically retrieve the Supplier’s invoice number and the invoice date (if available) from within the VISUAL Financials Accounts Payable module. The flexibility of this module also allows assets to be created without going through inventory. A journal entry for these new parts will be created which can be posted to the General Ledger in VISUAL Financials.
The FAve Fixed Asset Module Features the ability to:
- Keep track of Valuable Assets
- Handle Monthly Depreciation with User Defined Formulae
- Manage Asset Disposal and Scrap
- Calculate Profit & Loss upon Disposal
- Integrate with VISUAL Financials
- Link to General Ledger & Accounts Receivable and Part Maintenance
- Create User-Definable Depreciation Methods
- Create
Unlimited User-Defined Fields
For more information, contact Donna LaMontagne at 631-665-2050 or email. or Paul Tedford at 603-560-7650 or email or Robert Anand in Canada at 416-451-2427 or email
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| Product Extensions - Products That Enhance your VISUAL System |
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Synergy Resources Regional North American Offices
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New York/New Jersey
45 Park Avenue
Bay Shore, NY 11706
631-665-2050 | Telephone
866-896-6347 | Toll Free
631-665-2084 | Fax
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Mid Atlantic
1001 Owls Nest Drive
Reading, PA, 19606
866-896-6347 | Toll Free
631-665-2084 | Fax |
New England
6 Old Rochester Road
Suite 302
Dover, NH 03820
603-742-0005 | Telephone
888-544-0357 | Toll Free
603-742-0023 | Fax |
Eastern Canada
2680 Matheson Blvd. East
Suite 102
Mississauga, ON, L4W 0A5
416-915-4101 | Telephone
416-915-3177 | Fax
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