Microsoft Dynamics is familiar to your people

Help people and teams realize their professional potential by lowering barriers to productivity

The best way to create a productive company is to empower your staff to produce. Provide them with the business software tools that work like and with the tools they use every day—Microsoft Office. As individuals and team members, your employees can do their jobs and surpass their goals.

Improve productivity with RoleTailored software

Microsoft Dynamics works like other Microsoft products you and your people are familiar with, helping reduce the time required to learn how to use it, and freeing up time to focus on what matters most. Designed with a focus on the roles people play throughout your company, Microsoft Dynamics delivers an individualized, task-based user experience and allows your employees to easily customize and automate based on their own preferences and work style. That means less training and development time and a quicker return on your investment.

Software that’s designed around the specific jobs people do can provide the unique information each person needs to improve performance in their role. The results:

- Improved individual productivity.

- Better business insight across the organization.

- Tremendous potential for increased company performance.

The Microsoft Dynamics Customer model. Based on careful research and input from business customers like you, Microsoft has developed a model to guide RoleTailored software design. The tool helps document, capture, visualize and share how people work within departments. It helps ensure that Microsoft business management software, including Microsoft Dynamics, is based upon a thoroughly-researched, consistent set of people and processes that you can easily configure to work with your business.

Get an up-close look at the “People and Departments” section of the Microsoft Dynamics Customer Model: Download a white paper (DOC 3.13 MB).

The Microsoft Dynamics Customer Model visually represents people in different roles, or personas. These are based on real user data, and create a common language to guide Microsoft Dynamics product design.

Download a larger version of the illustration:

Microsoft Dynamics Customer Model (PDF 931 KB)

The departments and work component of the Microsoft Dynamics Customer Model provides an in-depth view of the top-level business processes within a department, and describes key processes and workflow used across organizations.

Download a larger version of the illustration:

Microsoft Dynamics Customer Model: Departments and work (PDF 1.27 MB)

Give people permission to contribute

Because your people can work effectively with Microsoft Dynamics solutions right from the start, they can be more productive and more satisfied in their work. You can observe measurable productivity benefits and a strong return on investment.

Microsoft Dynamics solutions offer several key productivity features that help to empower people to function better:

- Comfortable, familiar, consistent user interface that works with and looks like Microsoft Office programs

- Capability to access quickly and without distraction high-priority business functions and information based on business role

- Streamlined, simplified business processes with less busywork

- Extensive collaborative capabilities

Provide integrated business software—then watch the results

By integrating technologies you can boost the value of each component of your business management infrastructure in many business areas. For example, integrating products and technologies can help you:

- Streamline efficient financial management. You can use the same set of software skills to: Perform financial management tasks, control and manage costs and finances, use reporting and analytical tools, collaborate with people across the company, and support regulatory compliance.

- Make sales that get results. Manage orders and production, build productive customer relationships, communicate effectively with customers and suppliers, and satisfy or exceed customer needs at every opportunity.

- Promote effective use of human resources. Enable your human resources group to process tasks more efficiently and keep your employees more satisfied. Give employees control over personal information, simplify or automate routine and administrative tasks for human resources managers, and streamline recruiting and hiring processes.

- Create sound business strategy. Company leadership must be in control of business direction. Microsoft Dynamics and other Microsoft technologies can provide your managers and executives with an easy way to answer important questions, accurately assess business events and market trends, make more informed decisions, and keep the business on a profitable course in alignment with strategic goals.

Invite your IT team to contribute more

To increase individual and organizational productivity, don't forget the IT group. When you run your business on the Microsoft platform, your IT people can use the same expertise, network infrastructure, and systems management tools to implement, monitor, distribute, and maintain all of your business technology systems.

Without the need for extensive user training, the IT group can focus more on mission-critical tasks. And by consistently using the Microsoft .NET Framework programming environment and developer tools, IT team members can customize the technology to optimally suit your changing business requirements, helping to ensure the long-term viability of your business.

www.pargesoft.com Microsoft Dynamics Global Partner

ERP - Microsoft Dynamics Family

Head Gear

Popular Fashion Brand Automates Operations to Accommodate 125% Growth, Bigger Retailers

Posted: 10/9/2009

To accommodate sales growth of 125 percent in one year, clothing designer and distributor Head Gear needed to automate and streamline its warehouse operation. The company’s existing Activant Eclipse ERP system, however, lacked the functionality needed to take on new business requirements. For example, the system did not support EDI, which became a necessity as Head Gear penetrated new markets. To meet this need and others, the company deployed Microsoft Dynamics® NAV and add-ons for shipping and the fashion industry. Since then, Head Gear has automated operations and increased responsiveness to customers through EDI. The company has also driven significant improvements in productivity, resulting in a savings of more than U.S.$250,000 a year, and reduced its turnaround time for orders from three days to only one—all while handling a sales volume as large as $1 million a day. We chose Microsoft Dynamics NAV because we discovered that it could grow into what we needed as our business changed.... Guy Stello, CFO, Head Gear Situation Headquartered in Virginia Beach and with a show room in New York City, Head Gear has 80 employees. The company designs and distributes urban fashion lines, including the popular Blac Label. Over 2,500 different retailers—from large department stores to small boutiques—sell Head Gear’s clothing lines. In 2008, Head Gear announced record sales of U.S.$47 million, up 125 percent from $21 million the year before. With the growing popularity of its brands, Head Gear began to penetrate new markets, including leading department store chains. This rapid growth brought about new business requirements. Guy Stello, CFO of Head Gear, notes, “To compete effectively against the more established wholesalers that dominate this market, we needed to provide advanced shipping notices to let retailers prepare for new shipments and get merchandise to the floor faster.” However, the company’s Activant Eclipse enterprise resource planning system lacked the fundamental electronic data interchange (EDI) capabilities that would enable Head Gear to automate delivery of the advanced shipping notices (ASNs). “If we can’t provide ASNs, then when our goods arrive—even if perfectly—they get put aside,” says Stello. “Someone has to receive it manually; it gets to the store floor slower and we receive payment later.” Looking at its current popularity and future company growth, Head Gear also needed a system that would grow with them, specifically, to support Web sales and retail point of sale as the company expanded. Head Gear’s rapid growth also put a strain on operations. The limitations of Eclipse—and the processes that the company could once rely on—became increasingly cumbersome. For example, because the system lacked functionality for creating UPC codes, Head Gear devoted four employees to this process. In addition, the company’s field sales team could not view inventory levels or place sales orders remotely. Instead, internal Head Gear staff would receive the orders via phone, fax, or e-mail, and then enter the orders into the system. Because field sales could not see the inventory levels, and the related information was not updated in real time, sales staff could unknowingly oversell a SKU or collection—the majority of which were already presold given the nature of the business. “Customers might not get what they ordered because we promised things that were already sold,” says Stello. “And, some customers would cancel an entire order because a few SKUs were unavailable.” Warehouse operations were also manual. Containers would show up from the port, and then warehouse staff would manually enter each item into the system from packing lists. Warehouse staff would then do their best to organize the warehouse by keeping collections together to aid in picking. Over time, however, the collections were moved around and SKUs were broken up. To aid in picking, Head Gear hired 30 temporary staff members on top of its 15-person picking team. “We had people literally walking around the warehouse looking for products,” says Stello. “With as much as $1 million a day in orders, there was no way we could manage our order volume with the existing system.” As a result, it took as many as three days after a customer placed an order to ship it out the door. The manual warehouse operation also had a large impact on accounts receivable. “If a system doesn’t support the process we need, what we end up with are islands of data,” says Stello. “It’s hard to manage a business with information that is not accurate. If we were going to get a handle on our growth and play with some of the big players, we were going to need a new system.” We went to the Magic trade show in Las Vegas for the first time with our inventory up and live in Microsoft Dynamics NAV and we had great success. Guy Stello, CFO, Head Gear Solution Head Gear engaged Microsoft® Gold Certified Partner ITA Corporation for its expertise in apparel distribution and deployed Microsoft Dynamics® NAV. Taking advantage of the extensibility of the system, ITA Corporation also helped Head Gear deploy two fully integrated add-ons: Pebblestone Fashion for fashion-specific functionality and Lanham E-Ship together with Intermec barcode scanners to handle shipping, barcoding, and item location. Says Stello, “We chose Microsoft Dynamics NAV because we discovered that it could grow into what we needed as our business changed, helping us first establish an automated warehouse, and then move to Web sales and retail point of sale down the road.” Warehouse Management To streamline warehouse management, Head Gear first tackled its inventory visibility issue at the source by requiring its manufacturers to provide UPC codes on all garments. Now, by using E-Ship on barcode scanners, the warehouse team scans incoming items as the goods come down the warehouse conveyor system. When scanning the item, E-Ship performs a direct putaway in Microsoft Dynamics NAV. Because all inventory is centrally accounted for in the underlying system, pickers only need to use item locator functionality on their barcode scanners to locate merchandise. Pickers can then scan the bin barcode and then the garment barcode to ensure that the bin contains the right item. If the item is incorrect, the picker can perform a dynamic move, enabling them to move the item to the correct bin. “The job is a higher-level job now,” says Stello. “People aren’t just wandering around and going through racks to fulfill orders. Now, there is a taste of technology behind their jobs and they can do new tasks, such as cycle counting and dynamic moves.” Head Gear is also using the system to track inbound containers. As a result, the accounting team can now figure freight costs and customs duties into inventory costs, rather than just expensing them. Sales Field sales staff can now view inventory information and place orders in Microsoft Dynamics NAV from the Web by using Terminal Services. Based on the specification that the salesperson creates, Microsoft Dynamics NAV generates the UPC codes and purchase orders. And now, the system locks out-of-stock items, so when a salesperson tries to offer an out-of-stock item, the system suggests a list of alternatives, such as garments of a different color. With the system only recently deployed, Head Gear was quick to test it at a trade show. “We went to the Magic trade show in Las Vegas for the first time with our inventory up and live in Microsoft Dynamics NAV and we had great success,” says Stello. “Our salespeople had visibility into inventory and were able to enter orders right there.” Supply Chain Management with EDI With its new system, the company can exchange transactional data with suppliers and retailers by using EDI, which has played a fundamental role in sustaining the company’s continued growth, especially with larger department stores. When Head Gear ships orders from its warehouse, not only do retailers receive alerts from the system, but they also know exactly what merchandise the orders contain when they scan the packages. Says Stello, “By using EDI, we can send retailers an ASN noting that the goods have left the dock. A retailer can scan the box and know exactly what is in it.” The level of detail that Head Gear can provide to retailers also means that these retailers are tracking Head Gear merchandise at the garment level instead of the SKU level, enabling them to understand just how well items are selling. As a result, retailers can get items on and off the floor quicker and increase inventory turnover. Benefits With Microsoft Dynamics NAV in place, Head Gear has gained control over its warehouse, accommodating rapid growth and building a foundation for the future. Since implementation, the company has seen significant improvement in warehouse productivity, gained valuable business insight, and matured its relationships with retailers. Microsoft Dynamics NAV gives me the ability to sleep at night because I have faith in the numbers. Guy Stello, CFO, Head Gear Drive Productivity, Save More Than $250,000 a Year By automating its warehouse and improving inventory visibility, Head Gear has been able to reduce its workforce of pickers from 45 to only 15 employees, for a savings of more than $250,000 a year—all while handling a sales volume reaching upwards of $1 million a day. And, now that employees benefit from a locator system and can enter all items into the system as items arrive, Head Gear has reduced the time to ship new orders from three days to only one. Says Stello, "With $800,000 to $1,000,000 in orders a day, there is no way we could handle this kind of volume without a system like Microsoft Dynamics NAV." Helping Head Gear to continually improve productivity, particularly if any issues arise in the warehouse, an audit trail of all actions that took place lets managers pinpoint and resolve problems. Says Stello, “When we run into an issue, we are able to find out what had happened, and then determine if it was a training issue or something else. All that log history is there.” Improve Supply Chain Management and Customer Service Although the implementation is still relatively new, Head Gear’s ability to provide ASNs to its retailers will greatly increase inventory turns, reduce reorders due to merchandise getting to the retail floor slower, and streamline the payment process, enabling the company to gain control over cash flow. Perhaps more importantly, this also means greater customer satisfaction through improved responsiveness. Says Stello, “At one point, we had one of our biggest customers reading us the riot act because our system didn’t support EDI. Now, the customer is much happier.” Centralize Business Information for Enhanced Insight Because sales, inventory, and other key business information is now stored in one system and updated in real time, Head Gear has complete insight into operations and can make better-informed decisions to guide the future of the company. Says Stello, “We can make more intelligent purchases because we can see the histories of sizes and colors, and determine our sell-throughs. Adds Stello, “Microsoft Dynamics NAV gives me the ability to sleep at night because I have faith in the numbers.”

Industry-specific solutions for Microsoft Dynamics NAV

Industry-specific solutions for Microsoft Dynamics NAV

In addition to the powerful financial and process management tools at the core of Microsoft Dynamics NAV, there are vertical applications that extend it further to meet the specialized needs of your industry. Also, it's highly customizable to match the unique requirements of your company.

Microsoft and its partners have extensive experience working with organizations of all types and sizes. Together we deliver solutions tailored to all of the industries shown below.

Construction

Effective management of projects with multiple sites and customers for general contractors and homebuilders.

Consumer packaged goods (CPG)

Lower costs, higher customer satisfaction, and rapid response to changing retailer signals for CPG manufacturers and distributors.

Distribution

Drive down costs for distributing manufactured goods by integrating business and financial systems with the warehouse.

Food and beverage

Develop successful new products, meet retailer demands, and keep products safe.

Government

Efficient constituent service and information sharing for government agencies and social-service organizations.

Manufacturing

Streamline processes and minimize inventory-carrying costs for producing goods from raw materials.

Chemical

High tech and electronics

Industrial equipment

Specialty retail

Manage specialty retail products, processes, and relationships for greater profitability.