Merit Matters Blog

Merit Solutions has spent a lot of time over the past couple of months demoing our Microsoft Dynamics GP Risk Management Suite and its capabilities to new prospects while providing training to existing clients looking to upgrade. In both situations, two questions always seem to pop up:

1. How do we make sure that we get (got) the roles and users right?
2. How do we make sure we don't create a burden with tracking too many changes?

Interestingly enough, the answer to both is very simple. The implementation - not so simple.

1. The first thing that each client has to ensure is that their business processes are efficient and that their ERP system is setup in a way to support those processes. The Risk Management Suite will comply to any set of rules you require - helping you increase your efficiency while making sure you comply with regulations. To receive the maximum value, efficient business processes have to be in place - and, often, that is not an easy task to complete.
2. As for the second question, we recommend that tracking changes should be limited to business critical fields, tables, and processes, as that will make the system easier to implement, changes easier to track and will help a company meet compliance regulations.

On occasion, companies tend to track everything, including tables with high volume of transactions. While this is possible to do with Audit Trails, as with any other Microsoft Dynamics GP table, this is not recommended, as it will affect performance of your SQL Server, which will in turn affect all users and systems that use it.

In order to generate the highest value from the Risk Management Suite, we suggest that companies craft a smart tracking plan prior to implementation with procedures and policies in place that limit adding new tables to Audit Trails tracking without a strong business reason why.

Merit Solutions, a leading IT services company that helps clients transform their business, announced today that its Risk Management Suite is now Certified for Microsoft Dynamics, which signifies that the solution has met Microsoft Corp.’s highest standard for partner-developed software. By successfully meeting all certification requirements, the Risk Management Suite can now carry the distinct Certified for Microsoft Dynamics logo. It is the first Microsoft Dynamics GP-based Audit Trail and Electronic Signature application to achieve this distinct certification.

Solutions that are Certified for Microsoft Dynamics have demonstrated development quality and compatibility with the Microsoft Dynamics product on which they run by passing rigorous software testing for Microsoft Dynamics performed by VeriTest (a service of Lionbridge). In addition, the Microsoft Dynamics partner must have customers who are successfully using the certified solution and are willing to recommend it and be a Gold Certified Partner in the Microsoft Partner Program.

For customers, Certified for Microsoft Dynamics helps identify Microsoft Dynamics solutions that have been tested for compatibility, meet high quality standards, and are successfully used by existing customers. This certification represents a significant step in elevating the standard for partner-developed software solutions for industry-specific business applications. By highlighting these solutions, Microsoft also creates new opportunities for partners to expand their reseller channel and to better promote their packaged Microsoft Dynamics solution for customers.

“This milestone demonstrates Merit Solutions’ commitment to delivering leading solutions and expertise for our customers,” said Doug Kennedy, vice president, Microsoft Dynamics Partners. “We congratulate Merit Solutions for meeting Microsoft’s highest standards of software quality and earning the CFMD distinction.”

The Risk Management Suite from Merit Solutions enables companies to manage financial, operational, and reporting risk to protect assets and maintain compliance with FDA 21 CFR Part 11 and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Audit Trails deliver strong tracking, tracing and reporting capabilities for business process changes that may result in risk. And with Electronic Signatures, preventative authorization controls can be activated at any place in the system where data is changed.

“Merit Solutions has always been committed to software excellence, and achieving Certified for Microsoft Dynamics status is a reflection of that commitment,” said Bill Burke, President, Merit Solutions. “This milestone also validates our dedication to providing regulated companies with the highest quality software solutions based on the Microsoft stack.”

Don't be fooled by the speculation going around about Merit Solutions' Microsoft Dynamics GP Risk Management Suite. Hear directly from Microsoft Dynamics Director of Product Management, Errol Schoenfish: Please Read: Official Risk Management Suite Transition Update

“All SMB products are going through a Pricing and Packaging simplification process to better meet the demands of the customers that we serve. Part of that process is identifying the functional elements that are best served by Microsoft and those that are best served by our broad and healthy partner ISV ecosystem through the Dynamics Marketplace. Microsoft has had a valued partnership with Merit Solutions for many years. The Risk Management Suite has been a great product for us and with Merit Solutions driving the product forward I am confident that it will continue to give customers value now and in the future. Merit Solutions is also just completing the CfMD process for GP Risk Management, and now represent the first GP based Audit Trails and Electronic Signatures products that are certified at this level of quality assurance.” Errol Schoenfish - Director Product Management, Microsoft Dynamics

I am thrilled to take this opportunity to welcome the 500+ customers who currently license the Microsoft Dynamics GP Risk Management Suite to the Merit Solutions family!

Merit Solutions is the original developer of the Microsoft Dynamics GP Risk Management Suite (Audit Trails and Electronic Signatures). Microsoft acquired the product from Merit Solutions back in 2005, and since then, they have included it as part of their core Microsoft Dynamics GP offering. However, Merit Solutions has always been the company developing new releases and upgrades for Microsoft.

In an effort to simplify packaging and pricing, Microsoft has decided to remove quite a few OEM products from their core Microsoft Dynamics offerings (official announcements will be made Sept. 1). However, Merit Solutions is thrilled to have this opportunity to further enhance and improve the Risk Management Suite with a better focus on our partners' and customers' needs - enabling us to keep moving the product forward and get newer versions to market quicker. As noted above, Merit Solutions has already made the investment in getting the Risk Management Suite Certified for Microsoft Dynamics (CfMD) - the first GP based Audit Trails and Electronic Signatures products to receive such recognition.

Merit Solutions is committed to keeping all customer experiences with the Risk Management Suite consistent with previous Microsoft engagements, and all partners and customers can count on Merit Solutions to provide the same level of support, quality, and reliability that was experienced with Microsoft in the past. View our Customer Satisfaction Scores and check out some of our Customer Quotes online to learn about our satisfied customers!

If you have any questions at all about the future of the Risk Management Suite, or our commitment to your satisfaction, please don’t hesitate to contact Merit Solutions at any time to get the truth and learn more about the future of your product!

The harsh reality for every Life Sciences company - companies that manufacture drugs, medical devices, or other products with the potential of causing physical harm to humans - is that they must operate in control and according to numerous compliance regulations, including FDA 21 CFR Part 11. But within this constant, every company makes decisions about how to build their processes (tasks and resources applied to activities to produce an outcome) and what strategies to operate with in relationship to these regulations.

The idea we discuss with Life Sciences companies today is growing with muscle, not fat. Specifically, we help companies understand that the many compliance processes that they currently perform with manual methods are very costly relative to growth.

The biggest cost of manual processes is – yes – people. When you grow, you have increased volumes going through your business processes, and variations in those processes based on different types of customers, orders, products, suppliers, etc. Many times it is not a linear relationship, but exponential in terms of the people you have to add relative to the business growth. Sometimes, it cannot be covered just by adding people.

However, the more important costs of manual processes are time and visibility. Manual processes store data in a disconnected and difficult-to-access manner. If data related to these manual processes is required for decision making, there is often a time delay in getting the data into a consistent, usable format. And because it is costly to gather the data, many companies decide to operate without it, which leads to decisions that are less optimal and often time delayed. Of course, on top of all this is the issue of errors related to gathering and entering the data in to a usable format.

The bottom line is that manual processes add stress, costs, and risk to an organization, and is one of the main drivers for looking at automated compliance approaches.

Automated compliance is what the market rewards. Ultimately, the supply chain that you are in or will be in will quickly learn of the companies that are able to produce efficiently and with high control and compliance. Many companies that we speak with come to us because they have been given a choice to make about this. Buyers are now demanding that suppliers have an automated approach to compliance because the buyer understands what it means to them.

Traditionally, we talk to a lot of companies that think about efficient business processes and compliance processes as operating in an inverse direction. In other words, if you increase your level of regulatory compliance, you will reduce the efficiency of your business processes, and vice versa. We have found, however, that there are huge gains to approaching both within the same automated manner; thereby increasing the efficiency and flexibility of their business processes at the same time.

Companies can get the best of both worlds - that is, more efficient processes with automated compliance controls - by moving to a unified central business system that has enterprise compliance capabilities built-in already. These systems can help Life Sciences companies:

• Eliminate manual efforts and paperwork, reducing errors and saving time and human tasks
• Audit, capture and store information according to 21 CFR Part 11
• Automatically enforce controls according to SOPs
• Cost effectively and rapidly deploy business systems in a validated manner
• Enforce controls, but with the flexibility to adapt and grow with your changing business over time

At Merit Solutions, we have taken this philosophy and built the model of our company around it. This model includes service methods, pre-built intellectual property, and software components that are built within the Microsoft Dynamics ERP software – all to help Life Sciences companies realize the benefits of reduced risk, increased operational efficiency, and the continued building of a foundation on which to grow.