GPUG Summit 2013 Recap

Written By Kelli Sexton,
CEO of Rockton Software

GPUG Summit was a great event! Tony Dungy was awesome; his message about finding meaning outside of
work hit home for me. The Q & A afterwards with real questions from attendees highlighted his ability to share the similarities between creating a professional sports team and building a team (in business) to tackle business problems. He was very authentic, and his stories really connected to the audience of 3,000 attendees.

Our Partners Showcases were a hit! Over 120 GPUG attendees joined our Making Microsoft Dynamics GP Work Simpler & Easier sessions. Mark Rockwell, President of Rockton Software, sprinkled the Rockton Software product jingles throughout his demonstrations. There were many collective “oohs” and “aahs” when seeing the ways our products—SmartFill, Dynamics GP Toolbox, Auditor, Dynamics Report Manager, and Omni Price—make Microsoft Dynamics GP work simpler & easier. The attendees were engaged and many received prizes!

In the Expo Hall, we had a prime location: Bar #413. We received tons of compliments on our colorful bar. There were also Seahawks, Broncos, and Buccaneer fans in attendance because we did receive compliments on our jerseys! Frequently, our booth was full of people who had heard about Rockton Software from other GPUG attendees, which makes sense because approximately 35% were first time GPUG attendees.

Lastly, we hosted our first time ever Customer Appreciation Event! This event was a huge success. We enjoyed meeting with many of our loyal customers and hear about the variety of businesses they are in. Some of our customers were from government agencies, media, wholesale distribution, technology, and manufacturing companies. It was a fantastic way to end our week in Tampa!

Tell us your highlight of GPUG Summit in a comment below! And, we cannot wait to see you in St. Louis next year.

Microsoft Dynamics GP: Ensure Mentor Recognizes Your New Products

One of the many tools in Rockton Software's popular product, Dynamics GP Toolbox, is Mentor. This tool allows you to find any window in Microsoft Dynamics GP. All you need to do is enter a name or part of a name of the window that you are looking for, and Mentor will instantly return a list of matches based on what you entered. Then, you can double-click on the list to access the specific window you are looking for. It also includes the menu location in case you want to access it through the GP menus.

You may ask yourself, how does Mentor know the names of all of the windows in Microsoft Dynamics GP? Upon installation of Dynamics GP Toolbox, there is an option to build the tables that Mentor uses to pull the data from. But, what happens if you added another product in Microsoft Dynamics GP after you installed Mentor? How does it see those new windows?

Here are the steps to easily update the tables Mentor uses to see the new product's windows:
1. Log into GP as a Toolbox Administrator
2. Click on the red "r" icon on your Toolbar and select Dynamics GP Toolbox Setup, or go to Tools > Setup > Dynamics GP Toolbox > Dynamics GP Toolbox Setup
3. Click the Troubleshooting tab
4. Click Rebuild Mentor Search Tables
5. When the process is finished, click OK on the Process Complete Popup Message.

Each time you add a new product in Microsoft Dynamics GP, complete these steps to ensure Mentor is performing and its maximum.

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Kelli's Musing: Listening for the Offer

Written By Kelli Sexton,
CEO of Rockton Software

Have you ever had the experience where you suddenly notice themes that you have never seen before? Like,
when you buy a new car and suddenly see that same make and model everywhere? Or when you learn a new word, and suddenly see that word in multiple places?  This similar type of awareness of themes in our own lives can open us up to new experiences.

My most recent thematic discovery starts in the days when Mark & I were still in college. While Mark sought classes around theatre, I avoided them.  In order to satisfy my graduation requirements, I took what I thought would be an easy class: theater improvisation. It turned out to be anything but easy for me! I couldn’t jump in when someone pretended to hold the door open of a car for me and pick up the story line; I simply froze.  Ever since that fateful class, I have believed that I lacked the quickness to really play theater games, and proudly conferred my distinction of being a Premier Audience Member. So there’s the start of my theme – theater games are not for me.

Fast forward to my recent attendance of my daughter’s back to school night.  Her theater teacher shared insights that a business owner had identified the character strengths of creativity, critical thinking, communication, collaboration and confidence coming out of his participation in theater http://tomvanderwell.wordpress.com/2012/01/16/10-ways-being-a-theatre-major-prepared-me-for-success/. These character traits rang true as I could recognize Mark’s strengths in these areas and suddenly my daughter’s participation in theater sounded much nobler than simply taking an easy elective class.

The third tie related to playing theater games came from a book I am currently reading: “To Sell is Human” by Daniel Pink http://www.amazon.com/Sell-Human-Surprising-Influencing-ebook/dp/B0087GJ8KM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1381151755&sr=8-1&keywords=to+sell+is+human. In one section of the book, he describes how business executives were attending a class on theater games and learning some very valuable skills; namely, the art of listening. See, in theater games, you don’t what the other actor is going to offer – such as a spaghetti noodle that suddenly takes the shape of a fire hose that leads to firefighters arriving at the door of the scene. You can’t plan ahead of time, you simply have to listen for the offer.

And that word, listen, is the final piece of my themed event.  Just recently, our entire team completed 360° reviews of everyone, and the consistent suggestion for improvement in my peer evaluation was around having the ability to listen to other view points, particularly when I think I already have the answer. Suddenly, it has come full circle to me: how my earlier challenge in playing theater games may have had less to do with my ability to respond quickly and more to do with being in the moment and really listening. Is there a place in your life that you should be listening?

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