Microsoft Great Plains, former Great Plains Dynamics is excellent fit for service oriented business and in this small article we'll give you magazine publisher and advertiser implementation and reporting scenarios. The system we describe is not real, we are putting together industry specifics, based on our consulting practice. In the case if you do not see some unique features of your publishing business - this just means that publishing industry is diversified and say, regional newspaper publishing is quite different from magazine with narrow specialization.
• Advertisement Selling. This is the blood of every publishing company/house. In Great Plains you usually deploy Sales Order Processing module without Inventory control and all your SOP lines are advertisement services.
• Multiple Magazines. Publishing house has very turbulent life and it is industry norm when you do frequent acquisitions and spin-offs. There is time lag between acquisition and incorporation new magazine into your main company. In Great Plains you typically create new company for your newly acquired magazine, transfer chart of accounts, modules settings, enter beginning balances and you are ready to go. There are SQL scripts that you can deploy for new company initiation
• Collection Department. Advertisement sales require very strong collection and follow up. In Microsoft Great Plains you deploy Collection Management module. This module integrates with AR and SOP modules and allows you create collection query, where you select customers for your collections calls batch. For example, if you are in Houston - you may create your East Coast clients batch for your morning calls and then by the end of the day - another batch for California. And the most productive hours you can use for day of the week specifics - say - on Monday your call large collection accounts, on Tuesday - to who is almost hopeless and should be sold to specializing collection agency, etc.
• Complex Financial Reporting. Assuming different size and data format of financial data, belonging to variety of magazines - you need advanced FRx reporting technique: Reporting Trees for consolidation and even combining Great Plains GL data with Excel spreadsheets. Also turbulent publishing environment requires you to have reliable cash flow report.
Tip! You're in total control of how your book is marketed, which can be a distinct advantage. If you're not a well-known author and you're lucky enough to sign with a major publishing company, you can't expect them to promote your book.
• Data Import. Some magazines may give you their daily batches in text logs and you need Microsoft Great Plains Integration Manager customization to handle various data format import automatically with minimal user intervention.
• Customizations. You probably need several industry specific Crystal Reports, we saw advanced requirements coming from collection management department. Alternative way is to do this in Great Plains Dexterity. If you have authors, writing articles for honorary - you might need advanced 1099 filing scenarios and reporting - this is Great Plains Dexterity customization candidate.
We encourage you to analyze your alternatives. You can always appeal to our help, give us a call: 1-866-528-0577 or 1-630-961-5918, help@albaspectrum.com
Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer at Alba Spectrum Technologies ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ), serving Microsoft Great Plains, CRM, Navision to mid-size and large clients in California, Illinois, New York, Georgia, Florida, Texas, Arizona, Washington, Minnesota, Ohio, Michigan
Microsoft Great Plains in Advertising & Publishing - implementation highlights
Desktop Publishing - A Great Home Business Opportunity
In my nine years of operating my own small business, I have had to design and print my own business cards, invoices and letterheads.
Any desktop publisher who wanted to call me, could have had that business!
Desktop publishing is an ideal way to begin a business from home. Most small business operators do not have time to create their own business stationery or marketing materials, and this represents an opportunity for a home-based desktop publisher.
Using software such as Microsoft Publisher, you can quickly and easily create professional flyers, business cards, letterheads, envelopes, and other such materials. These are quick to produce once you have learned the software, and you can have good profit margins on these items. $75 per hour is easily achievable.
If you wanted to move into the consumer market, the wedding market is huge, and many desktop publishers are fully booked with high-ticket "wedding packs" composed of wedding invitations and name placers.
Microsoft Publisher has excellent ready-made templates for all the above. There is also some good information on my site at http://www.small-business-resource-centre.com.au/dtp.html
Once you have become competent at one of the DTP (DeskTop Publishing) packages, you need to know how to market your services. You will need a portfolio to show prospective customers. You can make up samples until you have your own work. Network with other businesses and let everyone know you are open for trading.
Don't worry about cold-calling other small or home businesses with your services. I'll bet most will welcome your call. I know I would have!
Warwick Foster Small Business and Home Business Opportunities http://www.small-business-resource-centre.com.au http://www.small-business-resource-centre.com.au/dtp.htm
