Synergy Software Systems

Sharepoint Updates

July 8th, 2018 by Stephen Jones No comments »

Idle-Session Timeout Policy
The general availability release of the new Idle-Session Timeout Policy feature, will help businesses to avoid the risk of data leaks and theft.

When devices are left unattended or are shared among multiple users organizations can set timeout thresholds to automatically sign out users when SharePoint Online remains inactive. The Idle-Session Timeout Policy feature is available for both SharePoint Online and OneDrive, ,
Companies that use SharePoint Online tend to keep some sensitive information on the collaboration platform.

Bill Baer, Senior Technical Product Marketing Manager for SharePoint at Microsoft, in a July 2 announcement said:. “Idle session timeout provides [a way for] an Office 365 administrator to configure a threshold at which a user is warned and subsequently signed out of SharePoint or OneDrive after a period of inactivity.”

SharePoint Migration Tool-compatible cmdlets
Administrators can migrating from on-premise to the cloud can now use PowerShell “cmdlets”, or single-function commands, to create, start and add tasks to a migration session, among other actions. The complete list of new SharePoint Migration Tool-compatible cmdlets is available in the online support document.

Page Diagnostics Tool for SharePoint.
SharePoint content renders well on PCs, smartphones and tablets, but some legacy pages can give problems. The Page Diagnostics Tool for SharePoint runs older pages through a set of baseline rules, and e.g. checks for large image sizes, alerts users when it encounters an issue, and points them to a support page to help solve the issue. The Chrome browser extension helps users get to the bottom of performance problems affecting Classic SharePoint pages hosted in SharePoint Online.

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Posted in Microsoft, SharePoint and EPM, Technology

Infor Sunsystems 6.3 ask Synergy Software Systems why its time to upgrade.

July 7th, 2018 by Stephen Jones No comments »

If you have not yet upgraded to SunSystems 6.3 from Infor it is time to consider what major benefits are available for existing SunSystems clients. Infor has for many years provided ongoing support for a range of SunSystems versions. This has been great for clients to maximise their investment in the solution over extended time frames, but it can cause difficulty when assessing when and why to upgrade to the latest version. This comprehensive, updated financial management system is particularly significant because it not only delivers mnay new features and enhancements but also runs on Infor Xi, the latest and most innovative enterprise technology platform from Infor.

Let’s have a look at the various top level versions in use today:
SunSystems v4 (The current production release is v4.4)
Pros: A proven, self-contained system that operates on minimal IT infrastructure and demands little support and maintenance effort. Continues to be patched and upgraded with new features and Microsoft technology framework compliance.

Cons: Its been around a long time with an aging user interface, some operating limitations on modern technology platforms and is not integrated to the Infor Platform Xi enterprise framework.
SunSystems v5 (The final version is v5.4)
Pros: Still covered under the support framework.
Cons: This version is effectively at end-of-life from an extension point of view. There are no new patches or updates being released, it will not be kept compliant with future versions of Microsoft Windows and SQL Server and it is not possible to purchase additional user licences.

SunSystems v6 (v6.3)
Pros: Significant increase in power and scalability from the original Sun 4.
A complete re-visioning of the system :more agility, flexibility, and control for companies with complex financial management requirements, multi-company operations, multi-currency trading.
Modern user interface stemming from Infor’s in-house user experience and design team, Hook and Loop.
Cons: SunSystems itself and the broader Infor Platform Xi framework demands more computing power and hardware than v4 or v5 did.

Why upgrade now to SunSystems v6.3?
User experience and usability – the screen designs and operation are revised to enhance user experience. Think “apps” on smartphones and tablets that require little or no user training, Infor has a vision of enterprise grade software usability going the same way. Every new release take steps towards that goal using content feeds, visual triggers and graphics to help people navigate rather than menus and options.
SunSystems users can now replace their Favorites menu page with a customizable homepage—available through Infor Ming.le® or directly within SunSystems. Users can also select the graphical content that best reflects their roles and daily tasks with drag-and-drop widgets. Widgets allow users to create links to relevant SunSystems functions, reports, and records, to help speed up routine tasks and navigation

Integrated Document Management Repository – best practice financial management is underpinned by substantiating documents from many sources. The integrated document management repository lets you attach a PDF or other document to the exact transaction or reference data it relates to and to easily find and view that document again at any time. Documents can be searched and retrieved directly from within the web-based IDM application.

External web portal – this new module allows secure access to SunSystems documents to for additional stakeholders to engage electronically with the financial arm of the business. Get your suppliers to upload their own invoices and maintain their own details; let your clients access their own statements and order history, or let your employees access their expenses history. Reduce the number of queries into the finance team and the rekeying of data when external stakeholders could choose to serve themselves.

Automated master data management – for larger companies running multiple sites or business units the administration of managing common reference data between systems and entities can be centralised. Define a primary business unit for your supplier register and any moves/adds/changes/deletes applied to this primary data can be automatically applied to any nominated secondary entities.

Configuration
Infor SunSystems 6.3 consolidates all configuration settings, over 400 of these, into a single web-based console and makes complete control of all aspects within the system much easier.

Performance
Allocate memory capacity in Ledger Import caching, to speed up the process – up to 2 – 3 times faster.
For many processes system’s memory is now dynamically allocated for maximum performance. The caching limits can be set in the Configuration Manager and a task is completed, all allocated memory will be freed immediately. Similar web-enabled enhancements are extended to functions like Transfer Desk, Business Unit Administration, and SunSystems Connect portal.

Currency Rate Type
Multicurrency functionality has always been a key strength of Infor SunSystems. In the 6.3 release, users wcan create different sets of exchange rates for different purposes and have control of when and how they can use a specific rate type. Use one exchange rate that is different from the default monthly rate for a specific collection run. Use a different rate for evaluation than the rate used for day-to-day transactions. These rate types are defined at business unit level.

Withholding tax
Now a core function. SunSystems can now automatically calculate withholding taxes for payment and invoice posting directly from within the core, SunSystems application

Form management
Currently, when users want to make some changes to a form, they need to check out that form, make necessary changes, and check it in again. Sometimes, users check out forms and forget to check them back in again. With SunSystems 6.3, the check-in and check-out process is performed entirely in the background. Users only need to open the form and make amendments using Forms Designer.

For more information contact Synergy Software Systems, your SunSystems U.A.E. partner, supporting clients across MEA for over 20 years, 0097143365589

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Posted in Hospitality, Infor Financial solutions, Sunsystems and Vision, Technology

‘Hello’ -no passwords!

July 3rd, 2018 by Stephen Jones No comments »

Microsoft plans to replace passwords with Windows Hello and other tools, starting from the Windows 10 April 2018 Update in S mode which allows cloud users an end-to-end experience that does not require any passwords.

Microsoft promises to rid the world of passwords and to replace those with more convenient and secure options, the company announced in a Tuesday blog post. “Nobody likes passwords. They are inconvenient, insecure, and expensive,” ………. end users “should never have to deal with passwords in their day-to-day lives,” and to replace passwords with “user credentials [that] cannot be cracked, breached, or phished.”

Windows Hello, which was introduced in Windows 10, uses biometric sensors to verify a user’s identity e.g. fingerprint or a face scan. It has since introduced the Authenticator app, which allows users to log into their Microsoft account on their desktop using their phone.

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Posted in Security and Compliance

Hero Rat is targetting your android devices

July 3rd, 2018 by Stephen Jones No comments »

HeroRat, a nasty new Android remote access Trojan (RAT) is capable of giving anyone GUI-based control over an infected device.

It is spreading via third-party app stores and messaging services and can take complete control of infected devices. Currently the main target region seems to be Iran. It uses offers, like free Bitcoin, to trick users into downloading it, at which point it says it will not work on the affected system before apparently “uninstalling” itself. Instead it deletes its icon and registers itself with the attacker as a newly accessible device

Hero Rat relies on traditional methods to infect Android devices. Users are advised to install apps only from official sources, to keep update anti-malware software, and to always check app permissions.

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Posted in Security and Compliance

Password ‘Spray attacks’ target ADFS

July 1st, 2018 by Stephen Jones No comments »

Be aware of ‘Password Spray’ style attacks which target ADFS. Attackers no longer simply launch ‘Brute Force Attack’ to guess someone’s password to gain access – they are adopting a stealthier approach to automate this process over a longer time frame so they don’t trigger any alerts.

The FBI released this Alert in late March 2018: Brute Force Attacks Conducted by Cyber Actors. This “Slow and Low” method is evermore commonplace and one area in particular tat has been targeted to externally facing ADFS. Malicious traffic can be hidden/masked amongst genuine traffic and when successful this offers very valuable credentials possibly even across more than one organisation .

ADFS must be connected to the public internet to work so it offers an attack vector. Review the informative article from Beau Bullock @ BlackHills InfoSec. Once you have determined the valid accounts, simply try all accounts with one password at a time and this should leave enough time between each attempt to allow the “lockout threshold” timeout to expire.

If ADFS itself is could be compromised to gain entry, then how can we improve the security around this authentication mechanism?

On 5 March 2018, Microsoft released an article on Azure AD and ADFS best practices –’ Defending against password spray attacks’, which covers how multi-factor authentication (MFA) and a number of other elements can be applied to improve security. Subsequently Microsoft released an updated and more improved article – ‘Monitor your ADFS sign-in activity using Azure AD Connect Health’s risky IP reports’.

With Azure AD Connect Health, Microsoft’s “Risky IP Reports” :
– Easily detect risky external IP addresses that are generating large numbers of failed logins
– Get instant email notifications when risky IP addresses are detected
– Download detailed reports to perform offline analysis or share within your organisation
– Customise your threshold settings to match the security policy of your organisation

A mechanism to differentiate a single user attack pattern versus multi-user attack pattern.

One simple indicator of malicious activity is: “Unique Users Attempted” ( a count of unique user accounts attempted from the IP address during the detection time window. This provides a mechanism to differentiate a single user attack pattern versus multi-user attack pattern.)

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Posted in Microsoft, Security and Compliance

SharePoint 2019 – coming soon ask Synergy Software Systems

July 1st, 2018 by Stephen Jones No comments »

Microsoft recently announced SharePoint 2019 with lots of new features and capabilities, which are backed by Azure and Artificial Intelligence.

With the release of SharePoint 2019, the new platform provides features from the SharePoint Online world to on-premises users. SharePoint 2019 supports powerful, integrated hybrid scenarios out-of-the-box, and delivers user interface improvements: modern team sites, communication sites, list and libraries, pages, and news.

the SharePoint Framework eliminates major differences between sites on-premises and in Office 365.

The new SharePoint migration tool supports automated migration using PowerShell.

Any device: SharePoint 2019 helps ensure that you have access to the information regardless of the screen by which you access.

Navigation: The SharePoint 2019 navigation model aligns with Office 365.

New sites: Compelling communication and collaboration experiences for both cloud and on-premises.
– Communication Sites, Team News and modern Team Sites to include lists and libraries with broader data mobility. Use the Next Generation Sync Client support for reliable access to documents anywhere, anytime.

Business process improvements: With InfoPath for customising forms, Microsoft added PowerApps and Flow in the cloud. In SharePoint 2019, Microsoft has further improved support for building business processes with PowerApps and Flow.

SharePoint Home: A user can visit SharePoint Home and find all relevant sites or news in one place. Users in SharePoint 2019 will also be able to utilise this feature.

Prepare for cloud: SharePoint 2019, provides for improved hybrid scenarios and support.

Developers: Microsoft rolled out the SharePoint Framework capabilities from SharePoint 2016 via updates. In SharePoint 2019, expect to have SharePoint Framework web parts and extensions available to enable developers to build solutions aligned with a cloud model. This is the recommended path- especially if you are planning to take the road to the cloud soon.

Availability: SharePoint 2019 will be generally available in the second half of 2018. The new Office 2019 contains the well-known Office apps like Word, Excel and PowerPoint as well as the Office server products such as Exchange, SharePoint and Skype for Business. Previews of the new products will start shipping mid-year 2018, the final release will be late 2018.

The SharePoint Server 2019 on-premises version is built on the foundational release of SharePoint Server 2016. The goal is to bring you closer to the cloud and the cloud closer to you.

What you can expect from SharePoint Server 2019 on-premises:
• NextGen OneDrive Sync Client, no support for SharePoint 2016
• PowerApps integration
• Team News and Communication sites, but no Hub Sites
• Modern UI
• InfoPath is still supported

Apply for the SharePoint Server on-premises TAP: https://aka.ms/sptap (Code: SPT232)

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Posted in Microsoft, SharePoint and EPM

SQL training in Arabic – free on line course

June 26th, 2018 by Stephen Jones No comments »

A free video course presented in Arabic to help you learn about SQL Server 2012. The course covers a number of concepts important to database professionals such as installation, configuration, storage, backup, security and high availability/disaster recovery concepts. Ayman El-Ghazali narrates the course in the Arabic language and demonstrates the skills so you can follow along on your own instance. You can find the videos and more information here.
https://thesqlpro.com/ArabicSQL/

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Posted in SQL, Technology

Dynamics 365 recent news June 2018

June 14th, 2018 by Stephen Jones No comments »

Microsoft is rolling out a new Support Center for Dynamics 365. It’s still in Preview (as of June 2018), but if you meet the Prerequisites then, you can check it out now! It’s really simple to navigate when you have the appropriate Office 365 role. After logging into Portal.office.com, just go to https://admin.dynamics.com to see the new support center. Once you’ve submitted a ticket, you can monitor open support issues from the same place, https://admin.dynamics.com

Dynamics 365 Spring 2018 release – updates and resources

On June 1st, Microsoft announced on their official Dynamics 365 Twitter channel (@MSFTDynamics365) that the Dynamics 365 Spring 2018 release notes are updated. Several changes were made to the Field Service, Social Engagement, Talent, Finance and Operations, PowerBI, Microsoft Flow and Data Integration sections of the Spring 2018 release notes.

This follows another series of updates announced on May 1st, so if you’ve read the Spring 2018 update notes upon their first release last April, there is now a lot of new information!

Information and links about the Dynamics 365 Spring 2018 release:
•Dynamics 365 Spring 2018 release page (with on-demand videos to learn more about the Dynamics 365 capabilities)
•Spring ’18 Release Overview page on the Microsoft website (includes link to download the release notes)
•Spring ’18 change history (to check everything that has changed since April)
•Dynamics 365 Spring 2018 release – documentation & readiness (for a few additional resources)
•Watch the Business Applications spring launch event on‑demand – for more information about Dynamics 365 Business Central

In the Microsoft Documents site, you will find information and a number of resources to help you understand how Dynamics supports GDPR and tools for customers to define and support their GDPR obligations.

Visit the site to access the following types of information:
•White papers
•Data Subject Requests
•Compliance Manager
•Webcasts
•Blogs
•eBooks
see https://blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2018/05/21/microsofts-commitment-to-gdpr-privacy-and-putting-customers-in-control-of-their-own-data/

Customer consent is major aspect of the regulations. It is important that you include relevant information in your marketing objects (like landing pages and email marketing message) that unambiguously informs your audience about the data you collect and the purpose of your processing. Your audience must have the option to give consent freely, make an informed decision, and be able to review, update, or revoke consent at any time.

Dynamics 365 for Marketing:
• Allows you to request, capture, and store consent
•Lets you design your marketing activities to respect the consent given by your audience

see this informative post https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/lystavlen/2018/06/07/consent-management-in-dynamics-365-for-marketing/

Microsoft delivers new features and improvements to Dynamics 365 (online) through service updates that are periodically delivered to customers. They recommend you update to the latest major version when it becomes available. The update policy defines how customers move from one version to the next. Customers have the option to provide consent prior to updating their organization. Customers also have the choice to either take the updates as they become available or take only one update per year. If a customer chooses to take only one update per year, then this update is mandatory and the customer will be required to take the update during the available dates for that release.

In keeping with this policy, all organizations running version 8.1 (two versions behind the current version) will be upgraded to Dynamics 365 (online), version 9.0.2. The automatic update will take place during your normal maintenance window. So please ensure you plan for testing and any updates you need to make.

At the beginning of the year, Microsoft set out to bridge the gap between Dynamics 365 App for Outlook, the future of Dynamics 365 and Outlook integration, and the legacy Outlook add-in, Dynamics 365 for Outlook. The latest improvements to server-side synchronization and Dynamics 365 App for Outlook in Dynamics 365 (online) version 8.2,enable customers to track emails, appointments, and tasks in Outlook with a special “Tracked to Dynamics 365” Outlook category enabled through server-side synchronization. Assigning the category to an email, appointment, or task in Outlook will track the item to Dynamics 365. Category-based tracking via server-side synchronization is an opt-in experience. This is currently available on Dynamics 365 (online) version 8.2, with support for version 9.0 soon to follow.

Service Update 8 for Microsoft Dynamics 365 8.2.2 (online) is now available. Resolved issues include:
• Recurring Appointment occurrence is not updated correctly when synchronizing with Dynamics 365 for Outlook
• A user should able to Untrack an auto tracked email before email tagger processes the item
• Duplicate Detection triggers when SuppressDuplicateDetection parameter is set to true
• Views saved with Custom Filters do not respond to changes in filter criteria
• Generic SQL Error occurs while trying to perform an Offline Sync with the Dynamics 365 for Outlook
• Unable to filter Orders by Currency
• Associated View icon for Leads does not appear on an Account

The latest update to the Field Service and Project Service Automation solutions for Dynamics 365 version 9.0.x is now available

The Voice of the Customer app provides a new experience in survey and theme designing. The new survey designer provides a simple and intuitive experience to add, remove, and modify survey pages, sections, questions, and answers. see https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/crm/2018/05/23/whats-new-in-voice-of-the-customer-version-9-0-1162/

Microsoft Social Engagement 2018 Update 1.5 is now available. Social Engagement now shows attached images and videos in private messages on Facebook and direct messages on Twitter directly in the post list. Resolved issues include:
• Fixed an issue to ensure that private messages in any language are acquired by Social Engagement.
• Fixed an issue where private messages in Indonesian language were discarded due to wrong language mapping.
• Fixed an issue where the ‘Link to Dynamics 365’ filter didn’t have a tooltip, making it impossible in some languages to understand if a post from Social Engagement is or isn’t linked to Dynamics 365.
• Fixed an issue that prevented adding multiple Facebook pages as social profiles.

Microsoft Inspire is next month! It will be held in Las Vegas, Nevada, from July 15th to July 19th.

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Posted in Corporate Perfomance Management, Dynamics 365

Eid Mubarak from Synergy Software Systems to one and all.

June 14th, 2018 by Stephen Jones No comments »

The first day of Eid Al Fitr – which translates in Arabic to the feast of breaking the fast – marks the end of Ramadan and coincides with the first day of the lunar calendar month of Shawwal.
Eid al-Fitr 2018 in United Arab Emirates will likely this evening of Thursday, June 14 and end in the evening of Sunday June 17
Our offices will be closed Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
With Ramadan ended our normal office working hours resume Monday at 9am.

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Posted in Dubai and regional news, General Synergy News

Free parking in Dubai for Eid Al Fitr 2018

June 11th, 2018 by Stephen Jones No comments »

Its reported that U.A.E. Residents will be able to enjoy four days of free parking in celebration of Eid Al Fitr, announced the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) on Monday. Eid Al Fitr is yet to be announced, but it is thought it will fall on June 15 and on that basis:

From 29 Ramadan to 3 Shawaal 1439H, which falls on Thursday June 14 to Sunday June 17, all public car parks will be free, except for multi-level parking terminals,

The parking tariff will be re-activated on Monday June 18 – as of 4 Shawaal 1439H,

The Dubai Metro stations on the Red Line will be operating on Thursday, June 14, from 5am to 2am (of the following day) and on Friday, June 15, from 10am to 2am (of the following day). From Saturday to Monday (June 16-18, 2018), the service will be running from 5am to 2am (of the following day).

The Dubai Metro Stations on the Green Line will be operating on Thursday, June 14, 5.3am to 2am (of the following day) and on Friday, June 15, from 10am to 2am (of the following day). From Saturday to Monday (June 16-18, 2018), the service will be running from 5.3am to 2am (of the following day).

The Dubai Tram will operate from Saturday to Thursday from 6am to 1am (of the following day), and on Friday from 9am to 1am (of the following day).