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Archives: 2016

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BI Is ERP

 Posted on October 31, 2016 by David Gillman

I am not the only one to say it – business intelligence is integral to enterprise resource planning. 

ERP does a great job of working with individual items, transaction, orders, and so on. Getting aggregate views is generally done in current generation ERP applications, but older versions usually lack the cool, built-in reporting features (often marketed as “analytics” by ERP vendors). Read more

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IQ Client + WebRunner: Bridge Builder

 Posted on September 15, 2016 by Bill Langston

Are you an NGS-IQ query developer who hasn’t had time to get familiar with our Web reporting features? You’ve probably seen us demonstrate WebRunner and IQ Client’s HTML design features, but up to now, your company has left Web software development and support in the hands of a separate person or team that views your IBM i environment as an uncharted island, best avoided. Maybe you feel the same way about that team’s strangely named Web servers, languages, and development tools. There’s a lot to be gained by connecting these islands. Read more

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Sales Reporting, Part 2
The Item File

 Posted on August 23, 2016 by David Gillman

The item file is seemingly a simple file. Use the item number the same way as on sales orders along with the human readable description and maybe a few other fields such as color, weight, and so on. Throw in a few department or categories, too, to make summarizing easier and more meaningful to businesspeople. Read more

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What Is the Cloud?

 Posted on August 3, 2016 by Bill Langston

IBM, Oracle, HP, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, SAP, and virtually every other major technology company want you and your company to use their cloud. Each quarter, these companies release new products and acquire companies to bolster their cloud offerings and grow their cloud revenue. Industry analysts forecast remarkable growth in cloud spending. Yet, global spending on information technology has been nearly flat for several years now and Gartner expects it to remain that way for the rest of this decade. So what is the source of all this cloud growth? Read more

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Sales Reporting, Part 1
Order Detail: You Just Need a Few Fields

 Posted on July 11, 2016 by David Gillman

In my last blog entry, I misspoke. I said there were two main entities – customers and orders – on which sales departments base their reporting. While true, the real world is a little less clear. Read more

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Self Service Sales Reporting

 Posted on May 25, 2016 by David Gillman

For a long, long time NGS has worked with customers who have sales related data tied up in their ERP system without easy ways to access and summarize it. Their CRM system (using that term loosely for many companies) does not interface well with the ERP data. Read more

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Perceptions Aren’t Reality Until Your Data
Says So

 Posted on May 12, 2016 by Bill Langston

In the 1980’s a political consultant coined the phrase “perception is reality,” and over the past 30 years that phrase has become widely used and accepted in both business and social settings to help explain or justify behavior. But in fact, perceptions we can’t verify through data provide a very weak foundation on which to make business and personal decisions. Read more

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IBM i ERP Migration—Exit with Caution

Posted on April 6, 2016 by Bill Langston

Many NGS customers run customized or internally developed enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. Given how long many of these ERP systems have been in place, it’s no surprise that every year a few customers tell us they are actively looking for a new system or have already begun a migration that their company expects to complete in the coming year or two. Read more

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Select Your Champion

Posted on April 4, 2016 by Teresa Moy

In our Jargon Crazy game, it certainly has been entertaining to see which IT buzzwords have been the most disliked. Some results have surprised me, and some have confirmed my own loathing. I won't identify any of them, though, because I don't want to sway anyone's opinions in the slightest. Read more

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Essential, Invisible Enterprises and IBM i

Posted on February 19, 2016 by Bill Langston

NGS supports customers of all sizes and across all industries. These companies create, distribute, and provide products and services that we all rely on or consume on a daily basis – engine parts, steel, agricultural products, snack foods, pest control services, groceries, medical devices, containers, tools, paint, lighting, carpet, newspapers, clothes, healthcare services, tires, financial services, sporting goods, education, and on and on. The bond they share is their decision to run their core business on IBM i. Read more

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Qport Office for IBM Query/400 Users—
Really, There’s No Catch

Posted on February 5, 2016 by Bill Langston

Most of us have a strong degree of skepticism about how companies market their products and services. We see “FREE!” and our eyes narrow and our minds say, “Don’t believe it!” Often that caution is warranted, but every once in a while, it isn’t. NGS’s offer of Qport Office is one of those rare times. Read more

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New Year’s Resolutions

Posted on January 12, 2016 by Teresa Moy

Here we are again, the start of another year, and the start of another 365 days of new year’s resolutions which we may or may not keep. What’s at the top of that well-intentioned list? For most of us, it’s exercising more and eating healthy. Read more

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