In the latest edition of the Microsoft Dynamics NAV User Group magazine,  NAVUG featured ISV Partner Data Masons and highlighted an interview with Dennis Bruce, Director of Business Development. NAVUG: Tell me about Data Masons. Dennis Bruce (DB): Data Masons has been around since 1996,

Upcoming Webinar Wednesday, December 7th; 1:00PM Eastern Presented by the Dynamics AX User Group and Data Masons Software Looking for easier ways to integrate EDI documents in and out of Dynamics AX? Are you tired of customizing AX to integrate a simple purchase order or

At next week’s GPUG Summit in Las Vegas, EDI Expert Glenn McPeak of Data Masons will present “Profiles in Successful EDI Integration to Dynamics GP” as part of the conference’s educational agenda. During this session, attendees will learn how GP users can solve EDI integration

Now that Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 is released, Microsoft recently invited partner experts in the AX community to participate in a panel to help answer your questions about upgrading to AX 2012. You have a week, Oct 17th – Oct 21st, to get involved in

Join Microsoft’s Jeff Edwards, Director of Channel Strategy, for the next GPPC virtual Town Hall Meeting on Wednesday, October 19 at 1:00pm (ET). In this radio talk-show style call, GPPC Director Kim Peterson will talk to Jeff about hot topics that affect Partners and ISVs.

The Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Global Virtual Launch Event is approaching fast and Data Masons is excited to support this highly-anticipated online event on Thursday, September 8th. Tune-in to this free 90-minute event to hear from Microsoft executives, customers, and Gartner analyst Nigel Montgomery about

While honeybees are critical to the success of Burt’s Bees, a manufacturer of earth-friendly natural personal care products, so is the behind-the-scenes technology that supports this thriving company. For Burt’s Bees any technology investment must be able to accommodate their extensive growth and in the case of EDI, meet partner mandates on-time and cost- effectively. Having started in a one room schoolhouse, Burt’s Bees’ outstanding growth has resulted in having 51 leading retail partners within its network. Anticipating that growth, scalability was a key factor when it came to selecting an EDI solution provider.

Prior to engaging an automated and fully-integrated EDI solution, Burt’s Bees avoided the task all together. When it came to EDI transactions, the processes were 100% manual – duplicate data entry utilizing various websites and web forms. Inevitably, Burt’s Bees had to manage the repercussions of the error-prone manual processes across disparate systems. In many cases, these methods delayed transactions and the on-boarding of new retail partners during crucial growth periods.

Working with their technology solutions partner, Applied Strategies of Charlotte, NC, Burt’s Bees looked for an EDI solution that could seamlessly integrate with their ERP platform and grow with their business. The need to automate their manual EDI processes had become a vital requirement, thus removing the inherent risks and unnecessary expense associated with their manual processes.

Data Masons Software, LLC., a leading provider of EDI & XML solutions for Microsoft Dynamics® ERP customers, is proud to announce that it will be a Gold Sponsor of the Tribridge Annual Southeast Customer Summit at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, FL on Jun 9, 2011. This event will provide insight into product updates and new releases around Microsoft Dynamics AX, CRM, GP, SL, Cloud, SharePoint, Virtualization, Office 365 and many more. Customers will be able to speak to Tribridge experts, visit with some of their most valued partners, enjoy breakfast and lunch at the stadium and test-drive the latest features in their hands-on labs.

“Supporting Partners in their mission to showcase how technology can help their customers businesses is a key component of what Data Masons does. Tribridge has a great reputation for assisting their customers in making smart and qualified technology decisions for the overall benefit of their business. We are proud to be a Gold Sponsor for this year’s Customer Summit” said Dennis Bruce, Director, Business Development at Data Masons.

Data Masons will conduct a short presentation to the attendees after the Dynamics AX & NAV sessions. They will also take part in The Partner Theater where attendees can see…Read Full Press Release

Dynamics ERP experience, check. EDI experience, check. Automotive EDI requirements, no check.

The automotive supply chain is not something in which I have much first-hand experience, and so I was all ears when I recently spent the day with Donna Ward, former co-chair of the Automotive Industry Action Group’s Supply Chain Management Project Team. Given Donna’s extensive experience within the automotive industry, she could clearly outline just how critical EDI is to the supply chain, as well the most common EDI challenges companies using Microsoft Dynamics face.

To understand the magnitude of daily transactions related to what we were discussing, Donna informed me that the average automotive assembly plant makes about 1 vehicle per minute and as many as 2000 per day. With each vehicle having 5000 – 7000 components, we’re talking that a typical automotive assembly plant is handling up to 14 million parts each day.

That’s a lot of parts to say the least, and if you’re a supplier to this 14 million part-a-day industry, then you’re not only familiar with the rigorous EDI requirements that accompany each transaction, but also the most common challenges: 1) Release Management, 2) Forecast and Sales Order Replacement Logic…

One element of Dynamics EDI transaction processing that is frequently overlooked or not addressed is the challenge of resolving the different “views of the world” that often clash between organizations. For example, a company such as Wal-Mart may see themselves as a straight-forward organization with stores and warehouses that are considered delivery destinations in their corporate structure. However, some of Wal-Mart’s partners may see it quite differently; they may see Sam’s Clubs and Wal-Mart USA as separate entities (customers). Still other companies may see the individual stores as separate customers, or a mixture of customers and delivery destinations. Herein lays significant automation complexity.

On this topic, I recently had a conversation with Glenn McPeak. For those of you who don’t know Glenn, he’s a supply chain expert with over 25 years of EDI/ERP solution consulting and ERP/EDI software product and management. Here’s a recap of Glenn’s insight on this all too common challenge:

Jon: What happens when companies acquire other organizations that are already conducting business with an existing partner like Wal-Mart?

In some cases Wal-Mart will view the newly-combined company as two separate suppliers and it will look to keep all of the interactions distinct while the company decides to combine product lines and operations on to a single ERP platform, such as Microsoft Dynamics. On the other hand the complete reverse could happen – the companies are to remain distinct but Wal-Mart elects to see the two companies as a single supplier. That decision can be quite random and based on circumstances that cannot be predicted.

Jon: Is this the same for all partners?

No, other organizations can pose the opposite challenge. For example, Caterpillar could approach each of their manufacturing plants as separate organizations, yet their suppliers see Caterpillar as a single organization/customer and each plant as a different delivery location. This can be a big factor…