Wave Goodbye to Uncertainty with Your Overseas Business Orders!

Hello Customized Order Management!

Managing business orders can be a stressful process. When will my order arrive? How will it be shipped? Will its landed cost resemble previous estimations? Will our profit margin increase or decrease? Is there enough inventory? These are simple questions that should, in theory, be easy to answer. But that's not always the case—unless a real-time order-tracking solution can be implemented in tandem with your business orders!

Because of the interregional nature of business orders, order-tracking solutions typically require a customized web-based ERP service as their backbone. This is why ERP Guru’s Container Management solution is based in NetSuite. Through NetSuite’s business management software, our customized Container Management solution gives users better visibility into their business’ procure-to-pay process; tracking items in each container and shipment, monitoring the entirety of its value and landed costs, all while delivering status updates at every step. ERP Guru’s customized Container Management solution ensures that the delivery of items ordered and the containers in which they are stored remain easily accessible, that the value of each container stays one click away, and that products in the container retain their visibility from factory, to port, to warehouse, to retailer (or whatever route orders may travel). In addition, because this customization is specialized for NetSuite, it links all purchase information to the transactions already performed on the ERP system, allowing users to focus on other, more important things!

Managing business orders through a customized ERP solution best serves businesses that:

1) Need real-time access to their inventory.

2) Group their overseas shipments in one or more containers.

3) Wish to keep track of containers while they transit from one region to another.

4) Require their landing costs to be effectively calculated in order to safeguard estimated profit margins.

Keeping track of business orders engenders lots of questions, but, with a customized ERP solution, you won’t be left wondering long! Let experts customize your ERP platform and experience the results yourself.

For more on Container Management, see: http://erpguru.com/products/netsuite/project-portfolio/app/container-management

To contact an ERP Guru representative, email us at: sales@erpguru.com

To learn more about ERP Guru and what we do, visit: www.erpguru.com

Author: Marissa Rosen

Don't be Afraid of Data Integration!

Data Integration: Middleware Considerations

When an organization chooses to enhance their business infrastructure with a cloud-based ERP, CRM or PLM product, such as Netsuite, Salesforce, or Autodesk PLM 360 respectively, the question quickly arises:

“Can I keep information in my existing systems synchronized with my new ERP/CRM/PLM system?” 

The answer, in short, is “Yes!”

This is achieved through a task known as Data Integration or Enterprise Application Integration. This entails putting in place a middleware application to synchronize information between the different systems, enabling a complete worldview of business logic across every application platform.

There are many considerations when choosing how to implement a middleware application, including:

• The scale of information being synchronized
• The programmable interfaces of the systems being integrated
• The resources allotted to putting in place the middleware application

With that being said, the two types of middleware approaches to consider are:

• Commercial Middleware Products 
• Customized Middleware Applications

Commercial Middleware Products

Data Integration is not entirely a new concept. Several companies have built commercial middleware products to help organizations perform their Data Integration needs with as much ease as possible. A couple of these commercial products, which ERP Guru has experience with, include Jitterbit and Boomi. Within these types of products are the necessary pre-built connections to popular products such as Netsuite, Salesforce, and Autodesk PLM 360. As a result, in order to get your Data Integration started, all that is needed is to assign the proper field mappings between systems. One advantage of commercial middleware products is that they will continue to adapt to the inevitable changes in the systems they are integrating with. 

These products often come with the choice of being located on servers on-site or being cloud based.

Pricing is often characterized with a first-time fee followed by either a monthly or yearly subscription fee.

Customized Middleware Application

In the case where a commercial middleware product cannot be customized to fit a particular need or the investment price is not justifiable for the Data Integration project, a Customized Middleware Application can be built. ERP Guru specializes in creating these applications using the Spring Framework, which is based in the Java programming language. Other common toolkits for this type of customization work include Apache Camel and Talend.

Once a custom middleware application has been delivered, should there be any changes to the infrastructure of the systems being integrated, additional development effort will be needed to update the application.

This application will generally sit on a server managed by the organization and will not require any yearly or monthly cost.

The right Middleware for the right situation

ERP Guru has the experience to recognize which type of middleware application will provide the best results and the best value whether you are integrating with Netsuite, Salesforce, or Autodesk PLM 360. We are continually on the look-out to stay up to date with the current trends in middleware techniques and embrace new technologies.

Contact ERP Guru for more information and let our knowledge be your organization’s competitive advantage when implementing a middleware project.

Author: 

Christopher Neal

Integration Specialist at ERP Guru

Effective Product Development Processes with Autodesk PLM 360

“In this new era of manufacturing, breakthrough innovation is within reach for the start-up, just like the industry titans,” said Diego Tamburini, Manufacturing Industry Strategist at Autodesk (1).

At this very moment, manufacturing companies, of all sizes, are jumping on the innovation bandwagon and completely redefining how products are designed and made. 3D printing has trail-blazed through the industry by continuously growing in credibility, leading us to this new technology era. Today, the entire industry needs to be ready for change. Status quo is no longer an option and old-fashioned product development needs a serious revamp for survival.

Embracing this change may seem scary to most, which is why Autodesk launched Autodesk PLM 360 (in 2012) to help companies, of all sizes, dive right into this new manufacturing era - with a splash.

How will this help you?

Let’s start with the basics...

Product development is often conceptualized as a funnel of ideas flowing from a conceptual phase all the way to real consumer-ready products.

This funnel looks straightforward. Right?

Many companies that have collaborated with ERP Guru have faced bottlenecks that ultimately prevent the successful execution of good ideas. With consumer demands shifting and competition increasing, the time between Concept to Production must be optimized.

Autodesk PLM 360 provides automated process workflows (as pictured below) that can capture a company’s specific Product Development Process into a common place to go for all product-related information, for all stakeholders.

A standard product development workflow in Autodesk PLM 360

A little bit more detail…

Harnessing the power of the stage-gate process, PLM 360 workflows, automated notifications, on-the-go approval capability, milestones definition and dashboard charts all provide the visibility that cross functional teams require for success. From focusing on value-added tasks to improving collaboration between locations and departments, the benefits of PLM 360 result in increased profitability. But the full power of PLM 360 resides in its accessibility and flexibility. ERP Guru has helped many small and medium businesses to tailor, quickly deploy and, most importantly, use PLM 360 to its full potential.

Need a little bit more info?

Register today for our webinar on Effective Product Development Processes with Autodesk PLM 360. Gain further insight on how your company can tackle this new manufacturing era and emerge as a leader!
Tuesday, April 28th, 2015 @ 2:00 PM EST

Simple and Flexible Labelling with NetSuite and NiceLabel

Manufacturing and distribution companies, regardless of size, certainly understand the importance of printing labels efficiently. I know what you’re thinking… Labelling is not exactly the sexiest topic in business today. What could possibly be enticing enough about labels to continue reading this post?

Well, our perspective on labels is different. Cloud technology has managed to give labels a full-blown makeover to unleash it’s hidden beauty.

Here’s how:

With the new 2015.1 upgrade release, NetSuite offers more advanced features to step up PDF layouts to satisfy varying business needs. To take labelling and printing capabilities to the next level, ERP Guru looks to la crème de la crème in the industry: NiceLabel. Simply put, NiceLabel is the best and most simple cloud-based solution for labelling. Not only does NiceLabel integrate seamlessly with NetSuite, but they also provide services that are proven to surpass customers’ expectations.

With NiceLabel software, you can easily create your own form and instantly upload and integrate with any NetSuite transaction. In the example below, you will find a NiceLabel user interface integrated as a specific tab on a NetSuite Fulfillment transaction. This form was configured and tailored to the customer’s requirements. The different fields are also filled out automatically to eliminate any possibility of error. A preview and printing options are also embedded for further flexibility. 

NetSuite centralizes labelling requirements.

The NiceLabel public web printing platform allows for the printing of labels across the entire supply chain while optimizing printer commands.

ERP Guru has successfully implemented NiceLabel for multiple NetSuite customers to satisfy challenging labelling and printing requirements. As any other cloud solution, the NetSuite-NiceLabel integration is easy to maintain and remote support is always available.

Still not convinced?

Check out our most recent webinar with a NiceLabel expert below, and give us a call for more information!

Simplify Barcode Labeling Requirements in NetSuite from Mark Olivier on Vimeo.

Author: Luis Palmitesta, ERP Specialist at ERP Guru

Put your NetSuite Data on the Map - ERP Guru’s MapQuest Integration

A big benefit of NetSuite is its ability to quickly visualize and analyze your numbers: simply add a chart or graph to your dashboard and voilà you have full visibility.

If only we could get the same visual benefits from addresses…
Oh wait, you can.. for less $ than you think!

Imagine this: you’re a sales representative. It’s 7:15 AM, and you’re sitting at your kitchen table with a freshly brewed cup of coffee in one hand and iPad in the other. After sifting through the morning news, you’re ready to plan out your day. You have a customer that you are going to visit and you would like to maximize your time on the road (because you’re a bad@$%). You’re relatively up-to-speed with technology and you plot your route into your Google Maps. But, hmm… Who else can you see along the way? You scratch your head and go through your endless lists to see who would be feasible to meet on your route. It’s now 7:55 AM and it’s time to rush out the door. You quickly plot in another three customers, before you jump into your car and connect to your bluetooth to start selling!

As techies, we can safely say that you can do better than that.

Now picture this instead: Rewind back to 7:15 AM. You plot in your customer visit into MapQuest and you wonder how you can best maximize your day. Since your NetSuite database is automatically connected to your maps, you can instantly grab a quick visual of all other leads, prospects and customers located within a specified radius of your meeting. In just minutes, you have planned your visits to a logistical T with minimal thought involved. You have your zoomable, visual map with maximized travel time. It’s 7:19, why not start selling?

Back to reality: ERP Guru has been offering a Google Maps integration solution for many years. Lately, the Google Maps API license price was slightly increased so we developed an additional solution - equivalent but cheaper - using MapQuest. Both options are great and will take you exactly where you need to go!

Need to add some maps to your dashboard? Give ERP Guru a call and we will be glad to help you leverage your locations information.