Twice in the same week!

I am now making a renewed effort to update this more regularly!!
Dynamics Nav work has been minimal this week. Usual issue at this time of year re Xmas holidays etc. Lots of potential but no sign offs. May get a request for a quote today for a report but that is all. Hopefully January will see a return to normal workloads.
On the accounts side, busy with personal tax calculations and related work. Over half already submitted with the usual set of late comers with the impending deadline of 31/1/14. No new clients this year which is unusual.
Applied for a part time Finance Director role yesterday so we will see how that progresses. This will fit well with the current business activity as it is part time.
The office will be closed from 23/12/13 until 6/1/14. But I will be available as usual on my mobile during that period but I expect little business activity.
That's all for now folks. A short version but this is the 2nd this week :)

It has been a while.........

Apologies for the delay in updating this blog.
So what has been happening the last 6 months.
On the Dynamics Nav side, we have gained more clients. Usual way (google search, new clients not happy with service from their Solution Centre) and a mix of industries. Also a mix of versions from 2009 R2 (database objects 4.0, database objects 2009 sp1) and 2013 (not R2). Services provided have been a mix of on site support and developments.
The fixed price first line support service has been reduced twice so we are now offering it at £10 per user per month from now until January 2014. A cracking deal. Some of our new clients have signed up. Details at http://www.dynamicsnavukhelp.co.uk/prices-grid/
We have a working version of web services for 2013 with a link from our web page showing how this works. Much better than 2009 as you can use on any device and browser. Details at http://www.dynamicsnavukhelp.co.uk/demos/web-services/.
Work completed in the last few weeks includes reports for Nav 2009 which are fast and accurate.

Equally in the last few months we have provided outline scoping documents confirming the stages and potentials timescales for upgrading to Nav 2013 R2. Waiting to hear as to when the projects start. More details at http://www.dynamicsnavukhelp.co.uk/services/implementation-upgrade/installation-and-upgrades/.
We are still actively looking for new customers so if you want a bespoke service for Dynamics Nav at a reasonable cost, let us know. We can help. 
On the accounts and tax side, the personal tax deadline for the tax year ending 5/4/13 is looming! Due date 31/1/14 so best get cracking. If you need help, let us know.
That's all for today. I will update this weekly from now on.

Never thought I would say this but it is hot!!

Another week gone. Another relatively quiet one with 1 or 2 potential new Dynamics Nav client enquiries, work order sign off and development completion and a minor delay to a fairly sizable project start. From next Monday to Tuesday. So all the prep work including backing up the live database over this week end deferred until Monday night.
Accounts work moving on with a few more client's books ready for me to review.
So all in all another quiet week. And sooooo hotttttt!

You can sure tell this is a holiday week!

Not much going on this week. We are requesting books from clients for the last tax year so we can plan the work ahead of the deadline for personal tax returns. We also now have a list of clients who have statutory companies that have deadlines for corporation tax (submissions to HMRC) and annual accounts (submissions to Companies House). Again so we can plan ahead. Bar that quiet on the accounts and tax front (http://www.fraseraccounts.co.uk/).
On Dynamics Nav, first newsletter went out this week. Restricted audience for now.
We have had a few enquiries this week re our services (training, fixed price support, configuration / data migration) but nothing like the scale in previous weeks.The first 2 were for potential new clients. Waiting to hear if quote acceptable and we therefore get the work.
Short and sweet blog this week. Should have taken the week off!

Another week goes by....

Odd week this week re work.
On the accounts side, specifically payroll services (http://www.fraseraccounts.co.uk/services/payroll/), its p14/p35 submission time. Emails with reports reconciled back to p30 submissions sent to all payroll services clients for approval pre submission. Half approved and submitted. Result!! Next half to be chased in the next few days. Interesting error on one on submission re HMRC response which will have to be resolved Monday. Only one to date though.
On the subject of RTI and the current tax year, did you know that the RTI submissions each week / month are cumulative? I didn't but after coming across a change on a monthly payroll after RTI submission, I discovered there is no process for recall and resubmission as each submission is cumulative.
Dynamics Nav wise (http://www.dynamicsnavukhelp.co.uk/), an interesting week for potential clients that started off promisingly but they have drifted out. By that I mean interest has dropped off. One was not too surprising as the potential client were going to implement QuickBooks but needed multiple companies and multiple currencies. Dynamics Nav can do this no problem but the cost base for it is very different from QuickBooks. More expensive. Anyway provided an online demo on Nav 2013 on a windows 8 pc via TeamViewer on 2 occasions (free of charge) so they could judge what they were getting for the investment. All ok bar loading of bank transactions which uses rules for their current bespoke finance system. Have to wait and see what the next stage is.
Another enquiry this week was on a specific 3rd party data feed in and out of Nav. Conference call lined up for this week but then postponed. So not sure what is going on there.
Hence the reference on both to drifting off.
Out at client sites next week so it will be a better week for chargeable time. This week awful for that.
Another client has just approved a large order for development and data migration work that will start next week and finish in June.
That's all for this week!

Is it Friday again?

The weeks shoot by do they not!!
Dynamics Nav: no trips out to clients this week but remote support via internet for both using our favourite application. Made short measure of any support / post go live development issues. Indeed I have a phone call shortly over a development delivered to a client. Due to lack of proper remote access the client loaded in the new objects and added them to the Navigation Pane. And I sent on step by step process based instructions on how to use the new development. Hence I suspect the phone call. Never as good as us delivering the development and configuring directly via RDP. But that's the choice made.
Most of the remaining support issues were around the basic use of Dynamics Nav for transaction (document and journal) processing. So quite simple. Supported also by client specific (database) instructions step by step with supporting screen dumps.

Bar that a quite week.

Accounts/tax: more work on the accounts side with compliance work (PAYE/NI and VAT). Pulling together next steps for the client so we can get going on the work.

On less work related matters my iphone 5 upgrade arrived this week (at last) and my photobox case for it and a recently purchased mini ipad are now on order.

That's all for this week.

Well I was getting better at updating the blog....

Yet again it has been a while since I provided a blog update re activities at Fraser Price Consulting Limited who specialise in Dynamics Nav services (all versions, all services) and accounting, bookkeeping and tax (personal and corporation).
Apologies first of all. The promised training material available for purchase from our web site for Dynamics Nav (http://www.dynamicsnavukhelp.co.uk/products-for-sale-coming-soon/) is taking longer to create than expected. All the training material is ready but needs some final proof reading. The demo database for a true UK business is not ready. May be a month or 2 before it is as I need to free up some spare time to create. Same goes for base configuration companies.
So the reason for the delay is the good news. Busy on client work at the moment. Had a holiday on the 2nd week of Easter and spent some time creating a general journal upload for versions 2 to 2009. Not 2013 obviously as you can now copy and paste directly into Nav - though be warned there is a learning curve on this process. Anyway, the new journal upload works from in all versions to 2009 (created in v4) and it allows the user to create a journal template in excel with the column headings in any order as long as the column headings are actual field captions. Looking good even if I say so myself.
Other Dynamics Nav work completed since the last blog includes opening TB data migration, consolidation process testing and confirmation of consolidation exchange rates and how they work. Especially for average exchange rate (manual). Also started a development for an expense sheet upload for a client for v4. Uses some of the above general journal upload development but also includes a great deal of add ons for client specific requirements and to account for client defined column headings.
Accounts and tax activities (http://www.fraseraccounts.co.uk/) slow at the moment as the tax year has only just ended. Though if you think you may be due a refund of personal tax, get your return in now!!
Anyway that's all for now folks!

I am getting better at updating this blog!

Another week has passed and a busy one for Dynamics Nav and Fraser IT Services.
Fraser IT first: Paul went on site to configure 4 new laptops, install Office 2013, install a network hard drive for back ups and provide a 30 minute tutorial on Windows 8. All successfully completed with a few interesting points for the learning curve on installing Office 2013 onto Windows 8.
The Dynamics Nav week's work included:
On site training - Sales and Receivables end to end process. Went well. 3 days more training this coming week for the same client on other Dynamics Nav modules.
Configuration and data migration work for a client. Complete base configuration for 4 new businesses, create a new consolidation business and then start master file, opening items and opening TBs data migration for each company. Consolidation testing to start next week.
Initial meeting with a prospective new Dynamics Nav client. Down in London. Good meeting and we can help with on site training and developments initially.
So overall a good week. Fingers crossed re new potential Dynamics Nav client.
As part of the training material for the Dynamics Nav training for a client next week, I have managed to find a list of new functionality in Nav 2013 (some very interesting bits as well) that would have been of use in London this week. I have also compared all objects from Nav 4, Nav 5, Nav 2009 and Nav 2013. Interesting to see what the changes are!
The web site for Dynamics Nav services (http://www.dynamicsnavukhelp.co.uk/services/) will be updated for a new page offering to sell our training material covering versions 4, 5, 2009 and 2013 (soon) through PayPal. The training material is in Word format with a navigation index bar, step by step process based instructions supported by screen dumps at each stage of the process.
The training material is based on the UK demo database but we can also provide training material for each client's own requirements in terms of functionality and / or screen dumps from the client's database rather than the demo database. Web page (http://www.dynamicsnavukhelp.co.uk/services/training-material-coming-soon/) will be live in the next 2 weeks.
Anyway that's all for now folks. Watch this space!

At last the week end draws ever closer....

Another busy couple of weeks on Dynamics Nav work.
We have had so many enquiries from end users and recruitment agents alike in the last week I have created a new page detailing enquiries received (obviously no names on the web page), how we can provide the service to meet the requirement and whether or not we are providing that service.
The requests have been varied to say the least. I have even had one asking if I would take a senior management role as a fill in for a person on leave. Not Dynamics Nav related except that the client will be implementing Dynamics Nav in the next 6 months.
The new page is at http://www.dynamicsnavukhelp.co.uk/recent-enquiries/. So enjoy. I am still updating the content and as yet has not included key words for SEO. But it does give an idea of what varied services we can provide to clients. The list of Dynamics Nav services is listed at http://www.dynamicsnavukhelp.co.uk/services/.  So enjoy and let me know what you think.
Just completed the first day of Dynamics Nav training (details of services http://www.dynamicsnavukhelp.co.uk/services/training/) for a new client with more to follow over the next 4 weeks. More super user and end user training combined.
Also met up with a potential new Dynamics Nav client this week to discuss their requirements. Basically the business wants to become more self reliant to support / develop the application. We can help by initially providing on site support followed by on site training followed by remote first line support. All at very good prices! And next week I am meeting up for a free consultation with another prospective client in London.
So if we were measured on potential sales, we would be rich. Fingers crossed some of these leads come off!
Very quiet on the accounts side (http://www.fraseraccounts.co.uk/) as tax season has finished. But we have some IT work next week which is rare and not really our core business. The margins are far too low. Never mind - onwards and upwards.

Well what a 2 weeks.....

A great fortnight for new customers for our Dynamics Nav services (http://www.dynamicsnavukhelp.co.uk/services/). We now have xx new customers. All from the new web pages and potentially another new customer in the near future.
Training services (http://www.dynamicsnavukhelp.co.uk/services/training/) required in the main - on site providing some training at 1 of the new customers tomorrow (Central London) and due to schedule training for a Leicester based client early next week. Potential customer also requires training but we will see if this comes off!
We have also started Nav 2013 work for a client - mainly on how to change existing Nav reports (documents and non documents) to be Nav 2013 compliant. Quite a learning curve as the Nav 2013 report tool (Visual Studio Web Developer with Nav add on) is an improvement on the Nav 2009 version but only just. And this probably reflects the better dataitem structures required when creating the new report. Whilst I remember what has happened to the Report Wizard from 2009 in 2013? Gone! I can see developers going down to JetReport route for Nav reporting for Nav 2013. Shame as getting data from Nav is not too hard in Classic.
To date we have taken a number of reports and amended in 2009 to facilitate the 'Report Upgrade' process in Nav 2013. A bit of a learning curve but very successful to date. Does require some alternative approaches in report creation in 2009.
So a busy week. Nothing much happening on the accounts side (http://www.fraseraccounts.co.uk/) as personal tax year end has long since gone.
That's all for now folks.

Another week but a new month

The Dynamics Nav on site support contract at Preston has now finished with job done as requested. Super user training completed. There may be some follow up at a later date but not on site 3 days a week. So all good.
Quite a busy Friday with contacts and potential clients. Sent off flyer emails re potential work with some large businesses that may need Dynamics Nav expertise. Submitted a quote for training to a potential new client in the East Midlands. A rarity - a Dyamics Nav business in the East Midlands!
So for this week, it will be quiet. Usual with the business - if it was valued on potential I would be rich! So we will have to wait and see if any of the potential work gets signed off.
Need to give serious thought to whether I want to change from my own business to employed.
On the accounts / tax side, all clients personal tax returns in well before the deadline. So all good again. It will be quiet on this side of the business as well.
That's all for now folks!

Nearly the end of January already!

Last week of 6 weeks on site (in Preston) for a client next week. It was 3 days a week but this week and next week is 1 day. It was only a short term fix for the client while they recruited a full timer based locally in Preston. In the last few weeks I have been providing Dynamics Nav user training to client staff covering areas including General and Navigation (look and feel, finding your way around the application), Fixed Assets (creating, links to purchase ledger, disposals and depreciation calculations), year end closing and super user training. More details of training provided on http://www.dynamicsnavukhelp.co.uk/services/training/.

Hoping for additional work after next week but only time will tell. More training to be provided but the client may choose their Solution Centre instead. Also provided quotes for specific remote based work but no bites as yet!

More data extract and reporting work for another client. Uses data from Dynamics Nav but reporting template so complex requires Excel to pull data together in the format required. Nearly finished.


On the accounts side of the business, actively getting all client personal (and partnership) tax returns submitted on line. All done bar 2. 1 has just been approved by the client so this will be submitted Monday. Meeting with the client tonight to discuss their accounts (first year of trading) and personal tax return. Should be approved tonight and so will be submitted Monday. So all done and dusted by close of play tomorrow.

Bar that, work pretty quiet. Usual thing with FPC - loads of potential but we need clients to firm up on work to be done and sign off on quotes.

That is all for now!