Community April 2026

AI is changing how ERP systems are built, extended, and supported—and in many cases, how organizations get value from them. ERP consulting becomes even more critical in this sense. Having a solution architect and platform expert running your implementations and upgrades provides the peace of mind that your goals will be achieved as you envisioned them. AI is a powerful tool for improving efficiency and expanding capabilities that is meant to work alongside experienced consultants.

As is the case across many industries, AI has changed the way the financial industry operates. While there are some definite benefits to AI in the financial industry, the impact that it is having on the job market, particularly with entry level jobs, cannot be ignored. Entry level positions can be largely automated with AI, leaving many people without a place to land once they’ve finished their education. AI is changing what sort of skills are valuable in the workforce.

For the development and release of EzExpense Essentials, I got to try my hand at project managing. During the course of my education, I’ve learned some management theory and even project managed a small group for an assignment, but this was my first time putting those skills to the test in a live environment. The team I was working with was very knowledgeable which made things a bit easier for me. 

I had a few different roles throughout the development phase of EzExpense Essentials. Initially I worked on wireframing and ideation back before Christmas. This allowed me to have input on what features we were prioritizing for this release. I also created the development schedule and worked with the developers on the team to ensure that deadlines were reasonable. The app was worked on in phases, which led me into my third role as a QC tester. Every time a new feature or set of features was ready for testing, I made sure that things were working properly or offered my feedback if they weren’t. This led to iterative cycles of testing and improvements where our whole team worked to refine the app before ultimately ending up with a product we were proud to launch. 

One of the lessons I learned from this experience was the importance of continuous communication and feedback from all directions. I needed to be clear and consistent in my communications with the development team, and I needed to create a space for them to do the same with me. I also got to experience the reality of development cycles and how flexible a schedule needs to be. You never know how many bugs or feature changes are going to be required before a product is ready to launch, so it’s best to accommodate a flexible project timeline. Overall my first project management experience was very positive, and I look forward to our next big project.    
 

Over the past few weeks, my work has focused on strengthening the reliability of the application through testing, while also expanding my knowledge in areas outside of the core project.

A major part of this phase involved working with Test Studio to build and execute automated tests. These tests were used to validate key workflows and ensure that new updates did not break existing functionality. This process helped surface issues earlier and reinforced the importance of maintaining consistent behavior as the application evolves. Writing and maintaining test cases also gave me a clearer view of how users interact with the system in practice.

In addition to testing, I’ve been learning about SEO optimization independently. This included understanding how content structure, metadata, and page organization influence search engine visibility. Although this work is separate from the main application, it has provided useful insight into how software can be made more accessible and discoverable to users.

I’ve also been exploring front-end development using Power Pages as a separate learning track. This involved working on layouts, responsiveness, and overall user interface design. While not directly tied to the application, it has helped build a stronger foundation in front-end concepts and user experience considerations.

Finally, I gained exposure to deployment processes, understanding how changes move from development environments into production. This highlighted the importance of stability, proper validation, and controlled releases to ensure smooth updates.

Overall, this period has been less about building new features and more about improving reliability, while also developing complementary skills in areas like SEO and front-end design. It’s a more complete view of development, beyond just writing code.