General Consultant Discussion

As far as the SMI presentation/training - I need to make sure I set the expectations low enough so that I can meet them. We have SOLD quite a few SMI deals, and we have at least 2 other consultants in our office that have more experience than I do with customizing these reports (but they won't be attending the 90 minds conference). That being said, I've been through the training, have presented some designer custom grouping/tree functionality at several of our MAS users' meetings that have gone over well - and feel like I can present the basics of how it works and why I think it's a nice solution (I think I got myself into this mess by defending it a bit on a post a few months back). We also have some good resources so when questions come up that I can't answer I think we will be able to find the answers and I can post them later if necessary. But I am definitely not an SMI expert at this point. I hope to be one at some point (along with Scripting, BizNet, KnowledgeSync, SageCRM, etc. etc,) but I've been very busy over the past several months with MAS implementations, upgrades, VI jobs, crystal reports - you know that standard stuff we do every day. Anyway, there is my full disclosure - but I am happy to facilitate the SMI portion and pass along what I know. Will anyone be showing BizNet? It would be nice to compare and contrast the two. Also, how long should we plan on for these sessions - or are we just going to play it by ear?

I'd like to seeat least 3 hours on SMI if we can.

I think we can increase the SMI presentation time either by going longer in the day or finishing up the scripting session earlier. At this point, the prevailing thought was that you could do a compare and contrast between the two programs since you have experience with both and that Biznet would not be a presenter. If the group would like a Biznet presentation, I am sure Denise could arrange a technical presentation. But at this point, the thinking is that you could carry the load for both. Thoughts?

We've pretty much left our BizNet implementations to BizNet - except for some of our larger MAS500 deals, so I have very little experience with it, other than being involved in the demos with Denise, who is great. But it's been on my to-do list for a few months now. We could either invite Denise asap or i can see if I can make some progress with it by next Friday, and if I don't have a minimum comfort level at that point we could invite Denise.

My .02 as someone with zero experience with SMI is that any amount of discussion is fine with me and even a basic ""here's how you load it and here's what you show the customer"" as a basic setup would be a win. I do not think we need BizNet for the same reason as Eric mentioned - I see that as largely a Denise area. I would rather get some additional SMI. My guess is that most of the people have very little SMI and a beginner ""get going"" would work -- though I would not be upset to be over-ruled. Just a thought...

Eric, I'm just in the process of learning SMI. I know how to install it. I can run the existing financials and make minor modifications. I am currently trying to create a 5 year Trend Rpt. Would any of the SMI ""experts"" be available to address specific issues via phone or email?

Another idea is Sage has a resource (I forget the name but if I look I can find it) who they have been offering. If he is in the San Diego area he may agree to come spend time.

We worked with Craig Juta quite a bit when we were trying to get familiar with SMI - he is a true SMI expert (has been working with it for years and years with AccPac) and would probably be happy to network with any of you as an SMI outsourced option. I believe this is his website http://theintelligencestore.com/ - not sure if that's who you're thinking of Wayne but I think he lives in Alberta (craig@bxintelligence.com). If there is a local resource/expert that could attend that would be great. @ClarkWalliser - a 5 yr trend report doesn't sound like a walk in the park. Let me if that can be done with the columns in the desginer. One thing I have learned is that if the customer mainly wants SMI for custom financials, you will want to designer.

Eric that's exactly who I'm thinking of. We don't have a ton of time (only 2 hours) devoted to SMI so I can't see us flying Craig in for a short session). I'll defer to the group. My experience level is low so I'm happy with anything.