Implementing the Microsoft
Dynamics Student Certificate
Program: Process and
Curriculum
Utah Valley University
Technology Management
Anne Arendt, Assistant Professor,
Assistant Chair
Anne.arendt@uvu.edu
801-863-5418
David Johnson, Professor
johnsoda@uvu.edu
801-863-6152
Utah Valley University Academic Alliance
The Technology Management department at Utah Valley University
(UVU) implemented the Microsoft Dynamics Academic Alliance
Program in fall of 2014 under the direction of the authors.
Overview of Presentation
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Academic Environment
Timeline for Implementation
Dynamics GP Curriculum
Dynamics CRM Curriculum
Lessons Learned
Next steps
Conclusion
Utah Valley University
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30,000 + students
576 full-time faculty
3,400 employees
Focus on engaged learning
Technology Management Department
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Within College of Technology & Computing
250 + Majors plus two general education classes
8 full-time faculty; 10 Adjunct instructors
Focus on hands-on learning
Emphasis on Excel skills
Certificates and Certifications
Technology Management Curriculum
2+2 Degree (AAS > BS)
Upper Division Courses in:
Innovation and change management, entrepreneurship, project
management, quality assurance, ethics, organizational information
technologies, financial management, human resource management,
marketing, and overall technology and operations management.
Fit with MS Dynamics Student Certificate program
- Meets university and department objectives
- Fills a need in the community (GP customers, small businesses)
- Support from Microsoft – free software and training
- Several MS Partners in the area
- Although not without challenges
Certificate Program Implementation
• Three year implementation period
• Professor to Microsoft Dynamics Academic Alliance preconferences
• GPUG user group (alliances established)
• Installation of GP 2010 on a university server
• One semester sabbatical to learn GP for Professor
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GPUG conference
• GP 2013 installed locally – used desktop client initially
• Applied for and Implemented program
• GP2013 R2 switched to web client; CRM web client
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Online classes
Certificate Program Implementation
The faculty decided to utilize two of our BS degree courses to
apply for the program with about 50 hours of Dynamics
student learning in each.
1 - MIS course (TECH4420) - use GP
* internal learning and training of faculty
* utilized e-learning and other GP training materials
2 - Marketing course (TECH4200) – use CRM
* Curriculum and lesson materials received from CRM
training class prior to the MSDAA conference last year
GP Dynamics Curriculum (TECH4420)
The first five weeks of the semester provided a lead-in to the
hands-on use of Dynamics GP.
• Week 1: Overview of information systems
• Week 2: Infrastructure to support ERP systems & IT role
• Week 3: Management decision making using decision
support systems, review of Excel
• Week 4 & 5: Central role of databases--data warehouse, big
data, design (E-R diagrams), relational databases
With this background, it was felt that student would be wellprepared for hands-on experiences in how an actual ERP
system worked using the sample Fabrikam data provided with
Dynamics GP.
GP Dynamics Curriculum (TECH4420)
Pattern of Dynamics GP Lessons:
- Readings,
- Demonstration and videos,
- Hands-on laboratory exercises developed by the faculty
- Students take screen shots and submit to
demonstrate completion
- Homework assignment, and
- Periodic quizzes.
GP Dynamics Curriculum (TECH4420)
GP Lesson 1: Week 6 - Overview of Microsoft Dynamics GP
ERP System
• Access Dynamics GP
• Set User Preferences & customize
• GP Roles
• Fabrikam – its employees, products, customers.
• To assess learning, students were required to write a report
about the company.
GP Dynamics Curriculum (TECH4420)
GP Lesson 2: Week 7 - Accounting & Financial Data - The
Heart of ERP
• Chart of Accounts for Fabrikam
• General Journal file for Fabrikam
• Account transactions (simple and complex)
• General Ledger (GL)
• The generation of financial reports (Balance Sheet and
Profit and Loss)—not in web client
• SmartLists
GP Dynamics Curriculum (TECH4420)
GP Lesson 3: Week 8 - Reporting Data from ERP
• SmartList Builder to create a report
• Create a refreshable Excel report using the desktop client
since this builder was not available with the Web client.
• Review Polino’s spreadsheet (GP 2013 tables and fields)
GP Dynamics Curriculum (TECH4420)
GP Lesson 4 - Week 9: Sales and Accounts Receivable
• “All Sales Transactions” navigation list, selecting an invoice
and then drilling-down to the “Item Detail” level.
• Customer & salesperson maintenance cards and the
creation of a sales order transaction covered.
• “SAMPL Customers past Due Customers” Excel report and
the “Aging” report for one of these customers.
• Letter Writing Wizard demonstrated from the desktop
client since that feature was not available in the Web
client.
GP Dynamics Curriculum (TECH4420)
GP Lesson 5: Week 10 - E-commerce & Customer Relationship
Management
• Inventory setup window to see the classes, types and options
• Item Resource Planning - various parameters for inventory mgmt.
• Asset navigation list
• Financials Set Up window
• Develop a SmartList from the Asset General Information Master
table, export the list to Excel, and created a pivot table showing
total acquisition costs for each asset class.
GP Dynamics Curriculum (TECH4420)
GP Lesson 6: Week 11 - GP Inventory and Fixed Asset Management
Week 12 - Supply Chain Management, Purchasing & Accounts Payable
• Vendor table
• Purchase order generation and use
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Generation of a PO, the receipt entry when the ordered items were
received, the entry and payment of vendor invoices, and the account
distributions for the transaction.
• Shipments received but not invoiced
• SmartList to see which payables were past due.
• Generating and printing checks for vendor invoices.
GP Dynamics Curriculum (TECH4420)
GP Lesson 7: Week 13 - Human Resources Management &
Payroll
• GP’s HR capabilities including maintaining basic employee
data, employee benefits, defining supervisory
relationships, employee dependents, and employee
reviews.
• The payroll features of GP were not covered.
• Dashboards:
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SmartList from the Payroll Master table
Export the data to Excel.
Use the Excel file to creating an HR Dashboard
GP Dynamics Curriculum (TECH4420)
Remainder of class:
- Information security,
- Computer crime and digital forensics,
- Workflow (discussed GP capabilities),
- Content management (discussed Sharepoint capabilities), and
- Future trends in information technology.
Final exam:
- Part 1: multiple choice and true/false questions covered the MIS
content.
- Part 2: Hands-on use of GP.
Dynamics CRM Curriculum (TECH4200)
• Utilized TECH 4200 Technology Marketing and
Distribution course.
• Content of previous course was significantly modified.
– Original version of the course did not make use of any database-driven systems.
– Focus was on the development of marketing plans and materials for management
and case study analysis.
• Structure of the curriculum and key areas of content
came from:
– MS CRM curriculum
– Research of relevant literature
Dynamics CRM Curriculum (TECH4200)
• First weeks: students and instructor worked together to define
Starboard Lashing.
• The instructor set up the MS Dynamics CRM to include data and
resources relating to the company.
• The instructor set up access for each student and ensured each had
applicable records and resources associated with them.
• Instructions, as was the case with MS Dynamics GP, are detailed,
often customized, and in a number of cases include graphical
depictions as well as written descriptions. Custom video tutorials
created and incorporated Spring 2015 as well.
Dynamics CRM Curriculum (TECH4200)
Modules 1 & 2:
• Focus on describing customer relationship
management systems generally
• Description of CRM context and definitions
• Potential CRM strategies and tools
Dynamics CRM Curriculum (TECH4200)
Modules 3 & 4:
• Students get their first actual experience with Dynamics CRM.
• Each student assigned a small number of customers which had
already been entered in to the system.
• Student was to identify their customers, add posts and
activities for each, and complete activities as necessary to
resolve case.
• Next they add a case of their own to a customer of their
choosing. They need to include details for the case.
• Lastly, they complete a module review in which they answered
multiple choice questions relating to the CRM.
Dynamics CRM Curriculum (TECH4200)
Modules 5 & 6:
• Create a marketing campaign (and associated marketing
list and schedule dates) for a 10 person static list.
• Create a marketing campaign (and associated marketing
list) for all of their dynamic current open leads
• Create a marketing campaign (and associated marketing
list) for a dynamic contact marketing list based on a city in
Utah.
• Add email addresses for open leads and create a marketing
email activity
Dynamics CRM Curriculum (TECH4200)
Modules 7 & 8:
• Module seven focused attention on measuring business
performance including profit and customer satisfaction.
• In module eight, students completed group work on the
pseudo company Starboard Lashing and assessed sales and
business performance.
• Students also independently completed a midterm exam.
Dynamics CRM Curriculum (TECH4200)
Modules 9 & 10:
Convert a lead to an opportunity.
Change a lead to disqualified.
Create, maintain and use sales literature.
Create, maintain and use competitors. Find a company
that could be an actual competitor to Starboard Lashing.
Add real company information.
• Create a product.
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Dynamics CRM Curriculum (TECH4200)
Modules 11 & 12:
• Students completed an assessment of Starboard Lashing
using dashboards and reports located within MS Dynamics
CRM;
• However, for the first term at least this assignment had
to be modified and replaced due to issues in
establishing access for students to dashboards and
reports.
Dynamics CRM Curriculum (TECH4200)
Modules 13 & 14:
• Students focused on planning and managing their own CRM
system implementations.
• During module thirteen they worked in groups to establish a
training plan as well as an overall customer service plan.
• During module fourteen they put all of their group work
together for a presentation which occurs in module fifteen-the final module of the class.
Lessons Learned - CRM
• Importance of checking and re-checking external resources and
systems throughout the term.
• Have a backup plan for all external resource use, even if the
originator is a company such as Microsoft.
• Check student access to all content (dashboards and reports).
– situation was used as a learning opportunity relating to system
implementations, training, and unexpected challenges.
• Giving students administrative access as well as access to all
system roles other than customization.
– In one case a student changed some of the default settings for adding pricing
to items in the online catalog which affected everyone else.
– Again this was used as a learning experience in the classroom.
Lessons Learned - CRM
Adding specific information for each student required the
instructor to spend time individually setting up each
account.
– While this is quite real-world, it does require not only extra
work but documentation as well.
There was a lack of a useful CRM data.
– Creating fictional company was time consuming.
– Considered use of default sample data supplied by Microsoft.
• Minimal data,
• Not clear how to get deleted sample data back again.
Lessons Learned - GP
• The Dynamics GP class was a bit easier since sample data was
included,
• However the authors did have to add more records in certain areas
to demonstrate the capabilities of GP.
• Much of the existing data was not helpful because it was
inconsistent.
A rich sample database for both CRM and GP would go a long
way to show meaningful results to students’ analysis.
Lessons Learned - GP
The use of the GP Web client proved to be a two-edged sword.
• Performed much faster than the desktop client had but,
• lacked the full functionality and reporting available in the
desktop client.
Problems with students deleting records from the sample data.
• One of the GP students (accidently or on purpose) deleted a
record about which a question was being asked on the final
exam.
• Utilize a backup copy of the sample data for each new term
rather than having to clean up the previous semester’s data.
Student Survey
Anonymous survey given in each class near the end of the term.
Distributed and collected by a third party
Benefit derived from the use of MS Dynamics GP and CRM,
- 31% responded that it was very beneficial,
- 65% that it was somewhat beneficial, and
- only 4% that it was not beneficial.
Should we continue to pursue the Student Certificate program,
- 58% responded with a definite yes,
- 35% with a qualified yes, and
- 7% with a no answer.
Overall the incorporation of MS Dynamics GP and MS Dynamics CRM was seen as
positive by students
Feedback
Students’ comments:
1. The department needs to advertise the
certificate program more widely.
2. Students wanted more in-depth use of Dynamics
CRM.
3. More clarity needs to be added to the GP labs
and assignment to guide the students’ learning.
Spring 2015 Semester
• Both classes being taught by the authors online
as Internet classes.
• Each class has approximately 40 students.
• Minor revisions were made based on survey.
• Courses offered online instead of traditional,
poses its own challenges.
Spring 2015 New Challenges
New challenges:
• Number of students changed account setup,
customization of data per student, method of grading.
• System issues and/or access issues.
• Moderation of accounts needs to be with department.
• Cannot require students to get Live accounts nor can
set up for each, making use of training resources an
issue. Since online cannot show in class.
Spring 2015 New Benefits
• Two students able to apply for certification end of last
term.
• Seventeen additional students this term,
• More expected following term.
• Increasing familiarity with systems making use in
classrooms smoother.
• Courses being built for any platform (traditional,
online, blended) and for multiple instructors.
Future Plans
• Upgrade to GP 2015
– Hoping Web client will be fully functional
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Install Dynamics CRM on college servers
Work on improving Fabrikam sample data
Develop a better sample database for CRM
Continue to offer both courses
Utilize GP in several other courses
Further promote certification at institution
Conclusion
• The Student Certificate is a good fit for our department
• Faculty training is key
• Considerable effort is required to implement the
program
• Challenges will continue over time (can be used as
learning experiences)
• Students appreciate the hands-on lessons
• We intend to continue and improve
• It can be done – may you have success with your efforts