by gfcpartners | May 30, 2023 | Business, Manufacturing & Distribution, Medical Startup, Software Customization
The demand for medical supplies is ever-increasing; this was made especially evident during the recent COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, it is a field of opportunity, and tens of thousands of companies are catering to the needs of an industry generating over $450 billion in revenue annually.
Many have been in business for some time; with longevity comes legacy systems. Perhaps such software solutions served their needs well at the time, but with growth, tighter regulation, and increasing competition, those solutions fall far short of meeting today’s challenges.
This article will highlight two significant areas of difficulty for instrument and medical device manufacturers: Production Efficiency and Regulatory Compliance. Then, we’ll take a look at how Acumatica Manufacturing Edition has solutions for the pain points these companies experience.
Industry Challenges
Production Efficiency. With legacy systems, it is not hard to find inefficiencies, data silos, and bottlenecks in production. For example, many in this segment have not one, but multiple information systems that each provide functionality specific to one aspect of the overall operations of the company. Inevitably, the data overlaps between systems in areas such as customer profiles, job tracking, financial data, and more. This results, not only in duplicate data, but often unsynchronized information that is inaccurate and leads to mistakes. Because of this lack of integration, teams often devise error-prone manual processes, frequently in spreadsheets, for critical data interchange.
Other inefficiencies are found in the warehouse and on the shop floor. Often, there is hampered communication between administrative and production departments that impedes productivity or causes waste. Decision-makers lack insights into production activities that would help them make adjustments for greater profitability. What is more, as many medical products are composed of multiple parts in a kit, each with its own lot tracing data and expiration dates, inventory management becomes a very complex process that most legacy systems are not able to handle, leaving staff to devise more manual “solutions” to help them accomplish their work.
Regulatory Compliance. Since the quality of their products affects not only their reputation, but the lives of those who will use them, medical manufacturers are facing a wave of new government and industry regulations. GDPR, SOC Type 1 & 2, PCI DSS, and many other standards require strict recordkeeping to ensure compliance. Since such regulations are often changing, it can be a real challenge to update legacy solutions so medical manufacturers can conform to regulatory adjustments.
How Acumatica Helps Instrument and Medical Device Manufacturers Meet Those Challenges
Acumatica is a modern, cloud-based ERP solution that has been built from the ground up on a future-proof platform, providing powerful solutions for today’s challenges and the flexibility to adjust for future changes and growth. What are some of the features that benefit medical device manufacturers?
A Centralized Data Source. Storing all financial, administrative, and production-related data in one system allows you unparalleled visibility into your operations, along with dashboards showing you, at a glance, the health of your business. System alerts keep everyone on track, and reporting is done on clean, accurate, and up-to-date data on which you can rely to drive your business decisions.
A Single Solution. Acumatica has modules to cover the needs of every aspect of your business. Manufacturing, inventory, distribution, field service, CRM, and more, are available in a suite that works together seamlessly.
Easy Integrations and Customizations. Acumatica was made to be extensible. If you have a specialized need that the base product doesn’t cover, it has an extensive API to integrate other products, such as e-commerce or tax-compliance solutions. What is more, it is built with industry-standard technologies (C# and .NET) so developers are not hard to find, nor exorbitantly priced.
Scalability. Built on cloud technology, Acumatica is a solution that grows with you, adjusting to higher volumes as you grow without increasing employee headcount. Also, with unlimited users, you are able to provide access to anyone that needs it without breaking the bank.
Accessibility. Your Acumatica instance is available 24/7, 365 days a year, from any device, anywhere there is an Internet connection. This ensures business continuity and enables executives and representatives to be on the go and yet still on top of daily operations.
Security. Administrative controls in Acumatica give you fine-grained control over user access to the system and critical business data. You can rest assured that with multiple layers of security and data integrity, your information will be safe, secure, and compliant with industry and government regulations.
Industry-Specific. Acumatica understands the needs of the Manufacturing segment and provides the needed functionality so that even instrument and medical device manufacturers will be hard-pressed to find something lacking.
Warehouse Management. The job isn’t done when the product rolls off the line; warehousing and kit assembly are other critical and complex processes that require an industrial-strength ERP to keep them running smoothly. Pick-Pack-Ship operations are automated, dashboards display critical KPIs, and inventory data is easily accessed and analyzed to ensure production processes stay in motion.
How Can You Benefit from Acumatica in Your Organization?
The above list is only a select few features that instrument and medical device manufacturers enjoy. There are so many more, including product lifecycle management, quality assurance controls, change control, material planning, scheduling, product configuration and estimating, kitting with disassembly, lot and serial tracking, and much more.
Would you like to more closely examine Acumatica’s feature set, and compare it with your needs? Contact us today and get expert guidance from professionals that know your industry and have implemented Acumatica for many businesses like yours.
by gfcpartners | May 1, 2023 | Business, Project Accounting, Software Customization
Gone are the days when accountants simply recorded transactions and produced standard reports for management review. Today’s accountants are facing an increasing demand from business leaders to deliver more in-depth analysis of data collected from across the organization so they can let the numbers drive their decisions.
This, at first, can seem to be an uncomfortable shift in job requirements. Accountants are traditionally drawn to time-tested methods and solutions, and are hesitant to adopt new things, especially at the risk of disrupting the orderly and accurate systems they’ve become accustomed to.
Yet, the business landscape continues to evolve at an ever-quickening pace; companies that are agile and able to adapt – usually those that leverage newer technologies to make the most of their business data – are the ones that will stay ahead of their competitors.
How can accountants meet the increasing demand for information from management without sacrificing structure, order, and accuracy? Better yet, how can they become proactive, getting ahead of the technology curve and setting their company up for future growth?
In this article, we’ll explore how Acumatica’s advanced features can become the secret weapon accountants need to deliver the insights management is demanding – now and in the future.
Acumatica Facilitates Accurate and Organized Data Capture
Many organizations are still depending on manual methods to collect data and generate reports. Due to the rapid pace of business, such reports are often out of date before accountants can finish formatting them.
What is more, since accounting, customer, and process data often live in disparate systems, it can be difficult – if not impossible – to get a truly accurate picture of current operations. This also puts decision-makers at a disadvantage, forcing them to go with their “best guess”.
On the other hand, with Acumatica, everyone is working with one centralized system – a ‘single source of truth’. All departments contribute to the collection of customer and organizational data, and the system ensures orderly and accurate data capture. Rather than duplicate data, or customer records that are out of sync, you have reliable and complete information on which to base your reports.
Many ERP solutions strive for that ideal, but because of costly user-based licensing schemes, only certain personnel are able to enter data and interact with the ERP. This can create a roadblock, forcing users without access to rely on others or resort to manual processes. However, Acumatica allows unlimited users by default, letting everyone in your organization access the system at no additional cost.
How Acumatica Helps You Become Proactive
Acumatica has a host of powerful features that help the proactive accountant go beyond the basics.
Financial Management. To get ahead and stay ahead, you need a properly structured and segmented chart of accounts, along with multi-location support, and the ability to allocate expenses across different business segments. Not all systems can deliver the depth of accounting control necessary to produce the kind of analysis and insight that today’s leaders need while still maintaining regulatory and accounting standards compliance. Acumatica goes above and beyond, giving you unparalleled flexibility and fine-grained control.
Cash Management. Cash on hand is what keeps operations running smoothly. It’s about more than just bank reconciliation; delivering accurate reports on current balances, along with cash flow forecasting will help management adjust to changes and keep the company solvent. Proactive cash management allows both accountants and business leaders to move beyond the balance to recognize and take advantage of future opportunities to improve cash flow.
Customer Management. Managing incoming orders and ensuring they are invoiced in a timely manner is critical to generate net income. Inefficient Accounts Receivable processes can create a backlog, and such delays can result in inaccurate data. Not having an accurate financial picture can affect business decisions, and even result in lost revenue. Slow invoicing thus delays incoming payments, occupying a significant portion of your accounting staff’s time with collection activities. Acumatica automates much of the repetitive work, eliminating bottlenecks and keeping your financial data accurate up-to-the-minute.
Vendor Management. Establishing proper controls while streamlining approvals is key to an agile Accounts Payable process. Yet, if the process is largely manual or inflexible, your organization is prone to budget overruns and missed opportunities. Acumatica automates much of the workflow, allowing efficient management of purchasing, spending, and vendor relationships while being flexible enough to allow you to take advantage of opportunities when they come along.
Inventory Management. Inventory levels are another crucial aspect of your business. Too high, and your raw materials will dry up your cash flow. Too low, and your production line comes to a halt. Keep your company in the black and ensure timely, consistent delivery to your customers with the extensive inventory management tools in Acumatica.
Customer Relationship Management. Acquiring new customers is an order of magnitude more costly than nurturing your relationships with the customers you already have. Cultivating those relationships is made easier with CRM software built into Acumatica. Moreover, customer data has become just as valuable as financial data, and it makes good sense to keep it all in the same system to add further depth to business insights.
Proactive Accounting with Acumatica Leads to Success
With the right tools, accountants and business leaders alike can move beyond reactive management to proactive practices that put them ahead of the competition. Cloud ERP allows easy, yet very secure access to all stakeholders, whether in the office or on the go, on any device. Business data is accurately captured and kept current. Processes flow smoothly. Reporting and forecasting are reliable, being based on a single source of truth that stays up to date.
Acumatica helps the proactive accountant to keep company records accurate, stay compliant, and deliver timely insights to keep the business moving forward.
Would you like to learn more about the features of Acumatica that benefit the proactive accountant? Download the eBook for greater detail and contact us today to learn how Acumatica can help you unify and streamline your operations.
by gfcpartners | Feb 7, 2023 | Business, Construction, Project Accounting, Software Customization
Microsoft Dynamics SL allows you to create templates for reports, which can help streamline the report creation process saving you time, making reporting easier, and ensures consistency and accuracy in your report formats. Businesses that use templates for financial reports in Microsoft Dynamics SL improve their financial reporting processes.
Some examples of report templates that can be created in Microsoft Dynamics SL include:
Financial statements:
- Balance sheet: A report that summarizes a company’s assets, liabilities, and equity at a specific point in time.
- Income statement: A report that summarizes a company’s revenue and expenses over a specified period of time, typically a month or a year.
- Cash flow statement: A report that tracks the movement of cash into and out of a company, providing information on cash inflows from operations, investments, and financing, and cash outflows for operations, investments, and financing.
- Sales by customer: A report that displays sales data broken down by customer, providing insights into the performance of individual customers.
- Sales by product: A report that displays sales data broken down by product, providing insights into the performance of individual products.
- Sales by region: A report that displays sales data broken down by geographical region, providing insights into regional sales trends.
Purchasing reports:
- Purchases by vendor: A report that displays purchasing data broken down by vendor, providing insights into the performance of individual vendors.
- Purchase order history: A report that tracks all purchase orders for a specified time period, including information on the vendor, items ordered, and amounts paid.
Inventory reports:
- Inventory valuation: A report that displays the value of a company’s inventory, including information on the quantity, cost, and value of each item in stock.
- Inventory by location: A report that displays inventory data broken down by location, providing insights into the distribution of inventory across different sites.
Project reports:
- Project cost analysis: A report that displays the costs associated with a project, including information on labor, materials, and overhead expenses.
- Project billing: A report that displays project billing information, including the total amount billed, the amount paid, and the amount outstanding.
- Project profitability: A report that displays the profitability of a project, including information on revenue, costs, and profits.
Payroll reports:
- Employee earnings history: A report that displays a summary of an employee’s earnings history, including information on salary, bonuses, and benefits.
- Employee tax liabilities: A report that displays the amount of taxes withheld from an employee’s paychecks, including information on federal, state, and local taxes.
Job cost reports:
- Job cost analysis: A report that displays the costs associated with a job, including information on labor, materials, and overhead expenses.
- Job cost to complete: A report that displays the estimated cost to complete a job, based on current expenses and projected expenses for remaining tasks.
How to Create a Report Template in Dynamics SL
No matter your industry or department, using templates will help you look good and save you time. Here are the general steps, using the report writer tool, to create a template in Dynamics SL:
- Open the Report Writer tool in Microsoft Dynamics SL.
- Select the report that you want to use as a template.
- Make any necessary modifications to the report, such as changing the format, adding custom fields, or modifying the layout.
- Click on the Save Template button. The Save Template (98.600.01) screen should appear, and you will see the existing template id and description.
- Enter a new Template ID, type out a Description, and then click OK.
- Save the report as a template.
- The new template is now saved and ready to be used.
- To use the template for future reports, select the template when creating a new report.
Note: The specific steps for creating and using a template may vary based on the version of Microsoft Dynamics SL you are using.
Do you have questions or need assistance with Microsoft Dynamics SL? From upgrades, development, report writing, licenses, or training, we have the experts on hand to help you.
by gfcpartners | Nov 10, 2022 | Business, Software Customization
We’re Expanding Our Portfolio of Services to Include Greentree ERP Software
GaleForce Consulting Partners (GFC) is excited to bring Greentree ERP Software and support services to their portfolio of offerings. Greentree is a powerful, fully integrated business solution for small and mid-sized firms (SMBs) who need a system to grow with them, but who have limited budgets. This product enhances GaleForce’s commitment to their clients and future customers.
“GFC’s mission – “to make many work as one” – conforms to what our mid-market clients demand, which requires GFC to offer our clients truly innovative software systems that actually mitigate non-value added tasks,” states Eric Emerson, Managing Partner at GaleForce Consulting. “After a wide and long search in the market we were excited to discover and embrace the Greentree system and community. We are thrilled to offer their systems and our support to existing and new clients who crave innovation and make a difference.”
Greentree ERP Software is designed to make businesses more effective and more profitable. Since 1984, Greentree has committed to continually improving their product, delivering more value to businesses everywhere. It is a completely integrated, unified solution. Simply turn on what you need knowing that the modules work cohesively because they are all on one complete business management platform.
“We quickly realized Greentree would be a great fit,” Emerson stated. “Both Greentree and GFC have common core values based around listening and working side-by-side with clients to deliver a product to fit their business needs. For more than 16 years, GFC has assisted clients with a personalized, old-school approach of listening and creating an actual dialogue with our clients. We collaborate with many other firms to find those systems and services that compliment what our clients require. We believe it’s about our clients’ growth; not ours. Our growth will be at the pace our clients’ take us,” said Emerson.
Harry Mowat, Greentree Managing Director, agrees with the aligned core business values. “We are extremely excited to be entering into partnership with GFC as our master reseller for America. Greentree has been building innovative ERP software for more than 30 years, and in that time, we have established a solid customer base in the region. GFC has a long history of success in the business software space, and we believe that Greentree is a perfect solution to add to their portfolio, to continue their growth. With mutual high aspirations, Greentree and GFC will work in unison to continue to build and maintain a happy, vibrant Greentree customer community.”
GFC has recently brought on some experienced Greentree resources, who are at the ready to service and support a robust community of clients.
For More Information, Contact: Donna Krizik, GaleForce Consulting, dkrizik@gfcpartners.com.
Download Press Release
by gfcpartners | Jun 6, 2021 | Investment Banking, Software Customization
There is no “one size fits all” solution for investment banking software. While financial software can streamline many investment banking tasks, a large portion of the day-to-day work must be done manually or, at best, in a semi-automated fashion.
This is a well-known fact throughout the industry, yet even the savviest of modern investment bankers have been unsure about how they can solve this issue.
Until now.
Learn how your organization can leverage customized investment banking software to get more done, in less time, using automation for even the most complex of tasks.
Customized Investment Banking Software: Your Secret Weapon
In the battle to build your investment bank, your mission is to broker more deals and land more clients. You do not have a moment to lose – and you certainly do not have time to waste on:
- Complex conflict checking
- Detailed disclosures
- Regulatory compliance mandates
- Extensive expense accounting
Galeforce Consulting Group can help you take back your time by developing customized investment banking software that automates these tasks and more to drive your business forward into the future.
Why Choose Galeforce Consulting Partners as Your Investment Bank’s Partner?
The investment banking industry faces unique requirements, as well as extremely close regulatory scrutiny. That means you cannot choose just any software expert to serve your organization.
You need a partner with deep expertise in software and deep expertise in your industry. Galeforce is that partner.
Galeforce delivers:
- 20 years of experience helping investment bankers streamline their operations
- More than 2 decades of software customization experience tailored to project-oriented companies
- Personalized attention to your investment bank’s precise needs
- Fully secure and compliant solutions to automate your data processing activities
In other words, Galeforce Consulting Partners is your secret weapon for customized investment banking software development.
With more than 500 successful system implementations and dozens of clients working with us for more than two decades, we are proud to be one of the most trusted names in project and services-focused business management technology.
If you feel that your investment bank is caught in a crosswind that is pulling you in different directions, trust the expert partners at Galeforce to put the wind at your back and get your business not only back on track, but storming ahead of the competition.
- Investment banks do not have “one size fits all” software solutions that fit their needs
- You can automate conflict checking, disclosure, compliance, and expense accounting using customized investment banking software
- Galeforce Consulting Partners deliver 20 years of experience helping customize solutions for investment banks
