It got me thinking, when three seemingly unrelated items crossed my desk in a single afternoon sometime in the middle of last year.  First, my daughter anxiously keeping an eye on whether flights were being cancelled because of ash from a volcano half a world away – she was heading for the ski-fields for university break.  An email arrived promoting Symantec’s 2011 “Disaster Preparedness Survey”, where they strongly point out the risks being taken by the 50% of SMB’s surveyed who have not yet put a plan in place to deal with a disruption to their computer systems.  The third item was reports of two major after-shocks in Christchurch – yes, I am writing from New Zealand, and I was reminded of all his again yesterday as we held one-year anniversary memorial services for those who lost their lives in the February 22, 2011 earthquake – in two building collapses, many or all staff of almost a dozen business were lost.

The last year or so has seen a succession of reports worldwide of earthquakes, floods, fires, volcanic eruptions and tornados, many of them in places where they weren’t expected.

So why don’t so many small-to-medium businesses have Disaster Recovery Plans in place?  My guess is that they either don’t know what to do, or having investigated what to do they find it’s simply too much work to consider in their already busy days. Read more…

Data Recovery Planning

When American Coatings, a leading interior & exterior coatings manufacturer, suffered a spectacular 16-hour long fire at their premise, they lost their entire building, equipment (including their computers), plant and physical records – fortunately, without any human casualty. The next big concern after human life was data – all they had was an off-site backup. What was left was knowledge in the minds of the people working there and a desire to get working again.

Fire, natural disaster, act of terrorism – data loss can come from any number of causes and as a result, the severity of the harm varies.  A short-circuit leading to fire in a company may result in major loss of important data, software or hardware, while an epidemic may leave the entire staff unable to work.

A Disaster Recovery Plan should cover every aspect of risk to your business, but what we will cover here is specific to the life-blood of your business – your data, and the systems it is stored on.  Your company needs to be prepared for all kinds of losses – business, data and human. The best approach to survive such disasters is to be prepared for them i.e. better safe than sorry. Read more…

BatchMaster is a truly global company, and I have been privileged to visit many diverse countries and cultures while visiting our resellers and customers.  Throughout the middle-east, I discovered that there is nowhere else in the world where meat is prepared and cooked quite as well – tender, succulent, great-tasting.  It is prepared with strict adherence to Halal, the animals are slaughtered in a ritual way known as Zibah.

Back home, I mourn, as do many others, the demise of the local butchery.  With the proliferation of supermarkets with their huge meat sections, the independent butcher has all but disappeared, along with their personal service and unique sense of humour.

Imagine, then, my delight at discovering a Halal butcher had opened not far from my home to service our growing population of immigrants from Islamic countries.  The quantum leap in quality more than justifies the modest premium on supermarket prices.  The owner and his staff are friendly and more than ready to give great advice on the best cuts and how to cook them.  Run out of stir-fry beef?  No problem, give me five minutes and I will prepare some for you.  Now listed in the ‘Top-10’ ethnic food stores in my city, my wife and I hope “our” butcher shop doesn’t become too popular.

There is, however, a serious side to the production of Halal-certified products.  I well remember visiting a food manufacturer in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta when the police descended on the adjoining business and arrested the owner and production manager.  The problem?  A minute quantity of pork gelatine had been discovered in one of their products, and this was clearly against the law for Halal-certified products.

Every single ingredient in Halal products must adhere to the standards.  Many of BatchMaster’s customers manufacture Halal-certified products, and BatchMaster provides them with the functionality to ensure their full compliance.

It starts with an expanded ‘Physical Property’ function which allows ingredients to be classified as ‘Halal’, ‘Kosher’, ‘Organic’, ‘NFI’ and more.  It extends to specific ‘Lot Features’ recorded on receipt of ingredients.

BatchMaster’s multi-level Ingredient Statement report accurately reflects the status of all ingredients, ensuring there is no contamination from non-Halal items.

When it comes to production, BatchMaster can provide advanced tools for scheduling like products together to avoid cross-contamination and minimize wash-downs.

If you are manufacturing Certified-Halal products, BatchMaster is the obvious choice to manage your processes and compliance.  Click the links above to learn more.  My own experiences with such products lead me to encourage your success!

BatchMaster Software, a global developer of ERP solutions for the recipe/formula based process manufacturing industry, announced today that its ‘BatchMaster Manufacturing for Microsoft Dynamics GP’ 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, ‘BatchMaster Manufacturing for Microsoft Dynamics GP’ can now carry the distinct Certified for Microsoft Dynamics logo.

BatchMaster Manufacturing for Microsoft Dynamics GP is now "CERTIFIED for MICROSOFT DYNAMICS”

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.

“The manufacturing world is evolving, and businesses need technology solutions that are flexible and robust enough to adjust with the changing environment,” said David Telford, director, Microsoft Dynamics Worldwide Manufacturing. “BatchMaster Software is helping today’s manufacturers meet that need by introducing innovative solutions with Microsoft Dynamics that have met our highest standard of testing.”

BatchMaster Manufacturing is completely ‘In-Built’ to Microsoft Dynamics GP, offering a single login, single database, single interface solution that brings all the required process manufacturing functionality inside Microsoft Dynamics GP. ‘BatchMaster Manufacturing for Microsoft Dynamics GP’ adds R&D, Formulation, Quality Control, Production Planning and Scheduling, and full Compliance support for this industry sector. You can read more about ‘BatchMaster Manufacturing for Microsoft Dynamics GP’ in the Microsoft Dynamics Solution Finder.