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February 2009 Newsletter	Inside this Issue: Product Spotlight: AX 2009 Vendors Journal Convergence 2009 New Orleans Tips and Tricks: Consolidate Data with FRx New Dynamics GP Demo Videos Microsoft New Customer Offers

Product Spotlight: Vendors Journal for Dynamics AX 2009 Merit Solutions is proud to announce the development of the Vendors Journal Snap-In for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009. A leading Microsoft Gold Certified IT consultancy and software development firm specializing in Microsoft Dynamics, Merit Solutions will launch the Dynamics AX 2009 Vendors Journal at Microsoft Convergence 2009 Booth #840. Today’s business environment requires more on-site visits and time spent out of the office in meetings, and, therefore, off of the network. To optimize the time spent at these meetings, it is essential for your employees to know as much as possible about the history of the relationship and the status of all on-going transactions. Additionally, any commitments made during the meeting need to be accurately recorded for future reference. The Vendors Journal Snap-In allows an employee to quickly view and capture a complete view of your organization’s relationship with a vendor from data within the Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 system. This data is available to be taken to a meeting in order to view, add to or edit that data all while off of the network. Once back on the company network, the employee can easily update the changes into Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009. The ability to work offline provides your employees many benefits: Increase the productivity of meetings, providing access to important information when needed. Increase the accuracy of your records by updating them while offline. Minimize duplication of effort and possible errors in data entry by uploading changes when online. The Vendors Journal Snap-In functions by capturing the vendor information in a Microsoft Office InfoPath® 2007 form that pulls the data from Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009. This gives you the ability to capture critical data from the Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 system and then refer to it from within the Office environment whenever offline. Make edits to the profile, and easily update all changes once back in the office. Stop by Convergence Booth #840 to be one of the first to see the Vendors Journal in action. Be sure to ask our representatives how you can get a copy of the Vendors Journal FREE.

Merit Solutions at Convergence 2009 New Orleans Merit Solutions will be sending Bill Burke, President, and Tim Strudeman, Business Director, to Microsoft Convergence 2009 New Orleans. Be sure to stop by and connect with these experienced team members at this expert trade show. Exhibiting in Booth #840 Merit Solutions will be exhibiting in Booth #840 at Microsoft Convergence 2009 New Orleans. We will be showcasing, among other things, our Microsoft Dynamics AX Development Services. Stop by the booth to be the first to see the Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 Vendors Journal in action. Learn about the integration capabilities of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 with Microsoft Office, MOSS, WSS and more! Be sure to ask how to receive your FREE Vendors Journal Snap In for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009. Bill Burke Presents "Risk Management" at Convergence 2009 Merit Solutions' President Bill Burke will be presenting a concurrent session for Microsoft Dynamics GP. The session, titled, "GP20 Successfully Managing Your Business Risk with Microsoft Dynamics GP" will be presented along with Randy Pack. Dedicate your time in this session towards a focus on how companies can reduce their risk and increase their security with Microsoft Dynamics GP. We'll spend time reviewing audit trails and electronic signatures and will overview security functionality, with a heavy emphasis on risk management. The Convergence Session Catalog Armed with feedback from previous events and the results from the "Call for Topic" survey, sessions for Convergence 2009 are rapidly coming together to provide you with an abundance of learning opportunities. Now available in the Session Catalog, concurrent sessions and interactive discussions are formulated into ten separate ‘tracks’, and are further broken down by their target audience and skill level for a self-tailored education experience. Be sure to check back to the Session Catalog frequently (located under the “Content” navigation) for the very latest information as we continue to add content daily.

Tips and Tricks of the Month: Consolidate Disparate Systems with FRx Just bought some distressed companies? Need to consolidate their financial data? How in the heck are you going to consolidate reporting when one company keeps their books on Excel and another in Dynamics AX, and two more use Dynamics GP? On top of that, they all have different chart of accounts structures! The answer: Microsoft FRx. Naysayers will talk about how old Microsoft FRx is, and how modern reporting tools are so much better. However, to date, nobody else - including Management Reporter, Microsoft’s supposed successor to FRx - have managed to make this scenario doable for an end-user. The secret is in Microsoft FRx’s unique tree functionality. Anybody can roll up apples to apples. If you have five companies in Dynamics GP, and they all have the same account numbers, it’s a slam dunk. But when you are rolling up apples to oranges, you want to use FRx’s row linking functionality. By allowing units of the tree to actually report not only directly on accounting data sources but also on data from spreadsheets and other units of the tree that use different row formats, Microsoft FRx won’t even break a sweat when 1100-000-123 is cash in one company and 115806-86722-555-444 in another. Look at this visual representation of how Microsoft FRx rolls up financial data from three separate companies: So, the above picture should give you an idea of how Microsoft FRx pulls this information together. Though my drawing leaves out some minor details and might leave you with questions such as, "How does Microsoft FRx know what column in the spreadsheet contains my numbers?", you can see that what FRx basically does is report on reports, not just GL sources. It was years ahead of its time, and for end-user and consultant ease of implementation for complicated enterprise consolidation reporting, still is. If you have FRx or other financial reports that have seen their better days, or you feel like you are working around your financial reporting tools, let us know how we can help you.

New Microsoft Dynamics GP Demo Videos Over the past week, Merit Solutions has posted a series of Dynamics GP videos on our site. View each individual video by clicking one of the demo links below. In the first of the series, we look at an introduction to Microsoft Dynamics GP. Additional Dynamics GP Demo videos include: Dynamics GP Financials Dynamics GP Supply Chain Dynamics GP HR / Payroll Dynamics GP Reporting Dynamics GP IT Systems Be sure to check out our new demo lab for a complete list of all of our Microsoft Dynamics / Merit Solutions demos. Contact a Merit Solutions representative to request a live demo / walk-thru with one of our expert team members.

Microsoft New Customer Offers Microsoft Financing Smartpay! Zero Payments for Six Months SmartPay from Microsoft offers total IT financing with no payments for six months, so you can address your IT infrastructure while retaining critical cash flow. Get the solid expertise of Microsoft along with the rest of your IT solution in one streamlined package with SmartPay. After the initial six-month payment period, the loan balance is paid in regular monthly payments for the remaining 36 months, or 30 months for licensing agreements. Redeem By: 6/30/2009 Microsoft Dynamics 0% Financing Promotion 0% Financing available to new Microsoft Dynamics ERP and Microsoft Dynamics CRM customers. Help maximize your budget or use of capital, finance the IT solution you require now and help drive productivity. Please visit www.microsoftfinancing.com for more information on this 0% for 36 months promotion. Redeem By: 3/20/2009 Outgrown QuickBooks Trade-In Offer Take advantage of the “Outgrown QuickBooks Trade In Offer” - a Microsoft Dynamics (US) promotion targeting businesses currently using QuickBooks that wish to take advantage of the rich functionality offered by Microsoft Dynamics GP. The promotion is comprised of an escalating trade-in value based on Microsoft Dynamics product edition and number of users purchased that can be applied to the purchase of Microsoft Dynamics user licenses. Redeem By: 3/19/2009 Manufacturing Makeover Offer* A Microsoft Dynamics (US) promotion for medium sized manufacturers that wish to take advantage of the rich functionality offered by Microsoft Dynamics GP. This offer is for manufacturers either looking for a new or replacement solution. This offer provides a 25% discount off of the standard list price for each user above 11 users (i.e., discount applies to the users 12 and higher). This offer is not valid for those companies that have purchased Microsoft Dynamics GP prior to the start date of September 29, 2008. Redeem By: 3/20/2009 Don't see any offers for you? Visit www.microsoftincentives.com for more great offers!

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