Steve Endow's Business Central Podcast: Recent Episodes

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I Need Coffee - Episode 216 - Weekly BC Review! (July 10, 2026)

1. AI Development Practices & Lessons

Development Process Improvements:
Uses PRD → Detailed Design Doc → Comprehensive Development Plan (52 pages in latest example).
Adds wireframe walkthroughs for early validation.
Implements review gates, proofs of concept, and phased execution.

Key insight: One-shotting complex apps with AI is risky. Needs heavy guidance, nurturing (especially with Opus), and context.
Experimenting with Fable for development.
Learned hard lesson on prompting: Giving AI only code leads to hallucinations and poor root cause analysis. Needs full context (docs, rules, history, sample data).

1. Berlin ERP Academy Progress

Full curriculum built: 10 phases, 22 documents, 441 pages.
Timeline: 18–20 months for complete beginners (zero ERP knowledge) to become BC consultants + manufacturing experts.
Includes training guides, quizzes, labs, gates (exams/practicums).
Team (Fatima, Ronald) loading into LMS; using Notebook LM heavily for infographics, slides, and study aids.
Daniela (new marketing associate) will also participate to gain BC knowledge.

1. New Side Project: AI-Powered Project Management

Goal: Systematize project management using AI agents (OpenClaw, Claude, etc.) integrated with Teams Planner via MCP.
Vision: Auto-generate tasks, risk assessments (ISO 31000 style), status reports, budget vs actual, blockers, etc.
Fed by requirements docs, estimates, timesheets.
Enthusiastic about the potential but notes tools are still janky/slow.
Enlisting Fatima to help build this framework.

1. Business Central Development & Version Issues

Multi-company demo tenant trick: Use evaluation company setup wizard in unlicensed demo environments to create multiple companies.
BC Version Circus (28.x):
Avoid developing on 28.1, 28.2, 28.3 — major issues (Application Test Library fails, symbol download problems, update date resets).
Stick to 28.0 for stability.

DevOps/GitHub pipeline struggles with complex dependency scaffolding.

1. Marketing & Daniela Update

Daniela started as Marketing Associate.
Learning fundamentals from scratch (value propositions, Business Central vs ISV differences).
Will participate in ERP Academy for domain knowledge.
Steve’s approach: Building marketing capability in-house with minimal budget instead of expensive agencies ($13k/quarter quotes).

1. Conference Updates

Partner Vibe 2.0 (September 2026, Provo, UT):
Steve speaking on two sessions: “Marketing Without a Marketing Team” and AI-assisted project delivery.
Blue Dragonfly sponsoring (cocktail/mocktail + gamer prize).

Summit NA – October 2026, Nashville.
Other mentions: Dynamics Con Regionals (Ghana July, Columbus August).

1. Team Excellence Updates

Joselyn: Heavy financials, config packages, data loads.
David: Complex contacts migration (GP → BC).
Ronald: Continia Document Capture expert; formal project plans; Academy curriculum support. Starting implementations soon (6–7 week timeline).
Franklin: Sales Price List PTE + assemblies/kits; bug diagnosis; AI-generated user guides.
Fatima: Academy LMS setup; planning El Salvador DUG meetup in August; project management initiative support.
Daniela: Marketing fundamentals training.

1. Other Notable Items

Customer thank-you for responsive support.
Azure Foundry: Not recommended for frontier model dev work (quota, access, and model limitations).
Windows hardening tool: “Harden System Security” by Violet Hansen (recommended, available in Microsoft Store).
New Bill.com integration user guide in progress.
Upcoming tasks: Vibe code new ERP Center of Excellence website, finalize proposal, enhance integrations.

1. Closing Thought

Artwork highlight: “Fly Quietly” by Masaki Sasamoto (2016).
Encouragement: Go build/vibe code something, but be aware of AI’s limitations and the need for strong processes.

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I Need Coffee - Episode 215 - Weekly BC Review! (July 3,2026)1. Trip to El Salvador Highlights
Flew to El Salvador office in Berlin.
Airport experiences: Ate pupusas at 7 AM (heavy but good), used the SEPA/Ca Sepa lounge.
Stopped at famous roadside Papuseria La Infia.
Set up new office decor (Microsoft Dynamics 365 pillows).
Morning walks around town, coconut tree maintenance (OSHA hazard – needs regular trimming).
Team lunches/dinners with Joselyn, Franklin, Fatima, and English Academy students.
Took professional studio photos in-office using Sony mirrorless + lights.

1. Personal & Website Updates
   Launched several new websites using Claude Vibe Coding (Astro + Cloudflare Pages):
   Blue Dragonfly site.
   Old Precipio site refresh.
   New personal site (steveendo.com) with terminal Easter egg (Konami code hint), contact form (Resend + Turnstile).
   Praises vibe-coded sites for easy maintenance — agents can update icons, sections, etc., in minutes.

2. Marketing Strategy & New Hire
   Submitted conference talk: "Marketing Without a Marketing Team".
   Created a 6-month zero-budget marketing plan using AI.
   Hired Daniela (E4CC English Academy scholarship recipient) to execute the plan.
   She starts next week.
   Will handle CRM setup, newsletters, outbound marketing, webinars, etc.
   Plans to follow successful patterns from Ben Cole (ERP Connect / Ruck Software).

3. Major Technical Project Success (Agentic Engineering)
   Completed a massive, complex customization for a customer:
   Reverse-engineered a 1,600+ line SQL stored procedure from Dynamics GP.
   Built extensive design doc (~44 pages), wireframes, and 41-page development plan.
   Result: 38 AL files, ~3,800 lines of Business Central code.
   Used Fable (AI coding agent) to diagnose and fix a subtle decimal rounding bug (down to ~28th decimal place).
   Emphasizes the need for strong prompting, design docs, and oversight to prevent AI from hallucinating in complex apps.

4. Berlin ERP Academy Launch (Big New Initiative)
   Goal: Train 4 locals (including university students) to become Business Central consultants (MB800 certified) + manufacturing experts in 18 months.
   Target completion: ~Feb/March 2028.
   ~10 hours/week study schedule with light weeks for holidays/exams.
   Curriculum covers: ERP foundations, financials, sales, purchasing, inventory, APIs, manufacturing practicum, etc.
   Team teachers: Joselyn, Ronald, Fatima (experienced with Google Classroom).
   LMS platform being set up.
   First lessons: BC navigation, tenant setup, admin center (by Ronald).

5. Team Updates (Excellence Report)
   Joselyn: Crushing financials & workflows (38 workflows completed). Discovered strange disappearing records issue in one environment.
   David: Working on messy GP → BC data migrations (contacts) and new customizations.
   Ronald: Completed Continia Document Capture implementation plan; helping with Academy content.
   Franklin: Refined Sales Price List PTE (assembly explosion handling).
   Fatima: Leading Academy LMS setup and structure.

6. Upcoming Events
   Partner Vibe 2.0 – September 21, 2025, Provo, Utah.
   Summit NA – October 11, 2025, Nashville, TN.
   BC Bash – Nashville (big party during Summit).
   Dynamics Con Regionals 2026: Ghana (July 25), Columbus (August 25).

7. Cybersecurity Lesson
   Story of a 19-year-old hacker arrested after Microsoft traced him via Global Device Identifier (GDID) + Windows telemetry.
   Key takeaway: Windows emits telemetry that bypasses VPNs/proxies. Don’t use Windows for serious cybercrime.

8. Closing Wisdom / AI Reflection
   AI dramatically lowers the cost of building (apps, websites, complex customizations, curricula).
   The real challenge remains getting users/customers — building ≠ success.
   Incumbents with technical debt and complacency will also face disruption.
   Encouragement: Try Fable on hard projects before it potentially changes.

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I Need Coffee - Episode 214 - Weekly BC Review! (June 19, 2026)

1. Opening & Casual Notes
   Morning coffee: Good Beans Guora Pakamara Washed (milder than natural process).
   Light-hearted joke about project managers and PMP exam struggles.
   Audio troubleshooting at the start.

2. AI & Development Wins
   Missed Anthropic’s short-lived Fable model (high-cost, advanced AI that was pulled quickly).
   Created high-fidelity wireframes + narrative walkthrough with Claude for a complex GP-to-BC migration project. Excellent for customer reviews.
   TRDP (The Really Difficult Project): Complex financial reporting with beginning balances, period subtotals, restrictions, etc. Using incremental agentic development approach (tables → UI → code units with review gates).

3. Hardware & Troubleshooting
   Multimeter tip: Need capacitance mode (curved line symbol) for capacitors — not available on cheapest models (~$70–90 range).
   Mac Mini M4 (ARM64) issues:
   Windows 11 VM on Parallels.
   x64 tools (Process Monitor) fail; need ARM64 or 32-bit emulation versions.
   FastKeys utility had a helpful 32-bit workaround.

4. Website Redesign (Major Win)
   Replaced ancient 2013-era WordPress site (security issues, expensive hosting) with a new static site.
   Built in <1 day using Claude + Cloud Code CLI, Astro 6, Cloudflare Pages, GitHub Actions, Wrangler, Turnstile, Resend.
   Result: Fully functional, mobile-responsive, contact form working. Switched from $31/month hosting → essentially free.
   Estimated savings: $5k–$10k vs. hiring a professional.

5. Media Processing
   FFmpeg optimization via OpenClaw/Claude for Teams recordings.
   Reduced 218 MB MP4 → 54 MB with no noticeable quality loss for analysis/training.
   Used btop to monitor CPU; leverages full cores on M4.

6. Business Central / ISV Topics
   Registration Dashboard: Internal tool to manage licenses, trials, renewals, and automate extensions upon payment (via iSolutions integration).
   Permission Sets workaround: Use the “Permission Set by User” page for bulk(er) assignments instead of the user card.
   Email issues: Microsoft 365 Defender quarantine overly aggressive — blocking legitimate BC invoices and even internal Teams notifications.

7. GitHub Migration Challenges
   Migrating from Azure DevOps to GitHub Enterprise.
   Pitfall: Choosing “Managed Users” creates a ghe.com isolated tenant that ALGO for GitHub does not support.
   Recommendation: Use Personal Accounts option for compatibility.
   Reverted to DevOps temporarily due to this.

8. Productivity & Prompting Tips
   Claude Opus 4.8 acting “dumber” recently → bump thinking effort (High → Extra/Max or X High) for better coherence on complex tasks.
   Incremental development with agents is preferred over one-shot prompts.

9. Security Alerts
   Fortinet massive breach: ~74,000 firewalls compromised via credential stuffing + hash cracking (45-GPU cluster).
   VS Code 1.25+: Enable extension auto-update delay (24–72 hours) to mitigate supply chain attacks.

10. Personal / Misc
    Replaced Intermatic whole-house fan timer switch (easy DIY electrical work).
    New tires (“llantas” in El Salvador Spanish — not “neumáticos”).
    Cost-sensitive customer reminder on estimates.

11. Team & Business Updates
    Joselyn & David progressing on MB800, reports, data exchange, check layouts.
    Ronald: Continia project planning + new English Academy cohort.
    Franklin: Registration Dashboard + new PTE (multi price list selection).
    Fatima: Learning partner/registration dashboards + PTE testing.

12. Upcoming Events
    Partner Vibe 2.0 – Sept 21–23, Provo, UT.
    Dynamics Summit NA – Oct 11–15, Nashville, TN.
    Dynamics Con Regional – Ghana (July 25), Columbus OH (Aug 25–26).

13. Q&A
    Explained DevOps → GitHub migration rationale and current ghe.com blocker.

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I Need Coffee - Episode 213 - Weekly BC Review! (June 12, 2026)1. Personal & Fun Updates
- Served as part-time caterer: Grilled veggies and steaks for a 20–30 person potluck.
- Discovered Loupe app (by @myk_co) — reveals extensive iOS device fingerprinting (copy/paste count, activation timestamps, reboot history, SSIDs, etc.). Highlights near-impossible anonymity on mobile devices, especially with roadside Bluetooth/Wi-Fi/ALPR tracking.

1. Major Achievement: New Website Launch
2. 100% vibe-coded (500% AI-assisted) using Claude Code CLI.
3. Tech stack: Astro + TypeScript, Cloudflare Pages (free hosting), GitHub Actions for auto-deploy, Wrangler, Turnstile (CAPTCHA), Resend for contact forms.
4. Process: AI helped with design research, brief, full build, and maintenance.
5. Saved ~$7,000 compared to professional quote.

6. Easy ongoing maintenance (e.g., adding products, logos, summaries via AI).

7. AI Usage & Proposal Workflow

8. Consistently uses AI for rapid deliverables: Record Teams call → transcript → combined FRD/PRD (10–15 pages) + 2–3 page executive summary proposal.
9. Total time: ~30-min call + 1 hour AI work.
10. Challenges with AI estimating hours (inconsistent task lists and ranges).

11. Claude 4.8 issues: Bizarre/abstract language, gibberish phrases, overconfidence, refusal to decide ("I am not deciding this for you"), hallucinations, and compounding design errors (e.g., unnecessary fields for 20-char Code constraints).

12. Development & Product Updates

13. Multi-Entity Management (MEM) oversight: Forgot to check for MEM in a new sandbox; may require app adjustments.
14. Business Central 28.2 rollout: Frustrating upgrade date control — new versions become default without easy delay options. Using internal Partner Dashboard tool to bulk defer upgrades.
15. New Marketplace app: BAI2 Direct Debit Import (US-focused, Bank of America initially). Handles automated vendor payments via bank files, matching, exceptions, etc.

16. Ongoing monster project: Migrating 1,260-line SQL stored procedure → BC. Created 40-page design doc; now doing high-fidelity wireframes (excellent with Opus) and detailed development plan for potential sub-agent orchestration.

17. AI Model News

18. Anthropic released powerful Mythos → downgraded/guard-railed as Fable 5. Heavy data logging (30+ days) by Anthropic, so avoided for customer work.
19. Microsoft (major investor in Anthropic) reportedly restricting employee use of Fable 5 due to privacy concerns.

20. Prompting remains difficult; even multi-agent setups risky without strong human oversight.

21. Cybersecurity Updates

22. MS Nightmare (formerly Nightmare Eclipse) releasing zero-days after MSRC conflict:
23. Rogue Planet: Windows Defender bypass (race condition).
24. Great XML: BitLocker drive encryption bypass (second after Yellow Key).

25. Warning of more zero-days coming due to MSRC's poor handling of researchers.

26. Team Updates (El Salvador)

27. Joselyn: Financial reporting expert; studying Fixed Assets & Posting Groups for MB-800 retake.
28. David: RDLC/Word layouts, Data Exchange, customizations; part-time MB-820 study.
29. Ronald: Completed BAI2 app testing; BC email setup; helping with Partner Dashboard.
30. Franklin: Partner Dashboard refinements; workflow approvals study.

31. Fatima: Taking PMP exam today (tough 4-hour exam); learning Partner Dashboard.

32. Upcoming Events

33. Partner Vibe 2.0: Sept 21–23, 2026, Provo, Utah (submissions open until June 15).

34. Summit NA: Oct 11–15, Nashville (presenting with Brad on AI for PTEs). Avoiding expensive on-site hotel.

35. Fun / Misc

36. English contronym: "Peruse" means both "examine in detail" and "skim casually."
37. Opsec fail story: NSO Group (spyware) left a cup of noodles photo with their logo visible in WhatsApp testing — used as evidence in court.

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I Need Coffee - Episode 212 - Weekly BC Review! (June 5, 2026)1. AI Tooling & Claude Frustrations
- Claude continues to use overly abstract, meaningless phrases (e.g., "first class citizens", "casting nets", "rung scaffolds").
- Steve wrote a blog post on blog.steendendo.com with a style guide to force better, literal English.
- Significant hallucinations still occurring (Opus 4.8 criticized heavily).
- Example: Claimed it could extend standard BC Web API v2.0 pages (incorrect).
- Positive: Claude's Mermaid diagram generation has improved significantly after follow-up prompts.
- Recommendation: Jeremy Visa’s Agentic Development Training (jeremyvisa.com/blog).

1. Personal & Family Updates
2. Daughter graduated high school (now 18, heading to college).
3. Hosted a large rooftop graduation party (40–50 people) in Huntington Beach — Steve smoked 9 racks of ribs.

4. Attended wife’s dance performance and did photography.

5. Business & Operational Updates

6. Claude Teams Plan: Surprised by sales tax (Utah ~9.55%) on top of 25% higher business pricing → ~35% premium vs. competitors.
7. Website work: Using Resend for contact form emails (easier than SMTP). Major domain/DNS cleanup and transfer to Namecheap (praised for excellent support).
8. OpenClaw SMTP authentication bug (quotation marks in credentials file).

9. New PTE for minimum order quantity / sales multiples based on "inner pack" / case pack quantities (using Item Units of Measure).

10. Development & Proposals

11. Cost-sensitive customer PTE proposal: Heavy emphasis on overhead (design, project setup, Git, pipelines) even with AI.
12. AI dramatically reduces pure development time, but design/review/cleanup remains essential.

13. BC Quality new Microsoft repo: Expanded AL guidelines with focus on agentic/AI-readable knowledge base, design patterns, and anti-patterns.

14. Cybersecurity Highlights

15. Major incident investigated by Vlexity: MSP compromise via pfSense firewall → full access to customer networks (including NAS). Signs of compromise for 18+ months (web shells, crypto miners, etc.).

16. MSRC (Microsoft Security Response Center) drama: Poor handling of researchers leading to withheld responsible disclosures. Expect wave of zero-day exploits in June for Microsoft products (BitLocker, Windows, etc.).

17. Other Notable Items

18. Flight to Summit NA (Nashville, Oct 11–15) expensive; LA → Buenos Aires roundtrip is comparably priced.
19. OpenAI security notice: Update apps due to Tanstack npm supply chain vulnerability.
20. Webinar (South Africa Doug Meetup): "Leverage AI to be the best Dynamics consultant" — level playing field argument; advice on transparently telling customers you use AI.
21. Red dyed gasoline in El Salvador (different from US dyed diesel).

22. Bad field naming in BC APIs (e.g., "Custom Purchase Order Reference" for "Your Reference").

23. Team Updates (El Salvador)

24. Joselyn: Took MB-800 exam — did not pass (strong on most areas but weak on Fixed Assets scenarios and Posting Groups). Retaking after more study.
25. David: Working on reports, Data Exchange Framework, EFT/Safe Pay.
26. Ronald: Leading Continia Document Capture implementations (now also for other partners); helping with app/PTE testing.
27. Fatima: Retaking PMP exam soon; managing internal Partner Dashboard (bulk environment upgrade deferral tool).

28. New internal tool for managing customer tenants and upgrades.

29. Upcoming Events

30. Partner Vibe 2.0: Sept 21–23, 2026, Provo, Utah (submissions closed June 15).
31. Summit NA: October 11–15, Nashville (Steve presenting with Brad on AI-accelerated PTEs).

32. Dynamics Con Regionals: Toronto (June 18), Ghana (July 25), Columbus (Aug 25).

33. Fun / Misc

34. Recommended video: Rabbit Hole channel — deep dive on the history of Lorem Ipsum placeholder text.
35. Generator maintenance training for El Salvador office (fuel, carburetor, self-sufficiency).

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I Need Coffee - Episode 211 - Weekly BC Review! (May 22, 2026)1. Recent Conferences
- Attended Dynamics Con in Las Vegas at the Fontainebleau Hotel.
- Flew in same morning, presented a session immediately after landing.
- Accidentally booked/upgraded to the Emerald Suite ($550+/night) — luxurious but noisy (party pool + bright LED signs).
- Hosted the "Doug" (El Salvador) meetup table.
- Assisted at the GP + BC superhero station with John Krauss.
- Noted heavy use of AI-generated slides (recognizable colored box layouts).

1. AI Usage in Client Proposals
2. Used Claude to create:
3. 21-page combined Functional + Product Requirements Document (FRD/PRD) with traceability, field mappings, scope, etc.
4. 15-page Statement of Work (SOW) including warranty and hypercare.
5. Key Lesson: Comprehensive AI-generated docs are high quality but overwhelming. Clients often don't read long documents.
6. Solution: Provide a 2-page executive summary first.

7. Outcome: Customer declined the $12k project (4 custom file integrations for GP → BC migration) citing complexity/volume; may try configuration packages instead.

8. Tech & Development Updates

9. Andre Karpathy joined Anthropic (positive for the company).
10. Uncle Bob Martin (Robert C. Martin) encourages applying formal software engineering principles to "vibe coding" / agentic AI development.
11. Built a functional control add-in prototype (expandable/collapsible tree view for sales lines) using guidance from Sasha Herman.
12. VS Code now supports Mermaid diagram rendering in Markdown preview.

13. Experimenting with Obsidian Canvas vs. Mermaid diagrams for simple workflow visuals.

14. Support & Operational Challenges

15. Customer environment issue: Approval workflows show documents pending but tiles/counter is zero (unable to reproduce in sandbox).
16. Major fire drill: Third-party consultant's Entra app registration secrets expired (max 2 years). Poor documentation led to panic emails.

17. Emphasized need for proper secret management and documentation.

18. Cybersecurity Session & Insights

19. Co-presented with Alexis Shabau (cybersecurity student) at Dynamics Con on SMB cybersecurity (limited budget/staff).
20. Recommendations from audience:
21. Huntress (includes SIEM capabilities).
22. ThreatLocker for endpoint detection/response.
23. Mariplex (SOC service) impressed with post-login risk analysis using Entra P1 logs.

Government Fail Highlight:
- CISA (Cybersecurity agency) contractor leaked highly privileged AWS GovCloud credentials on a public GitHub repo.
- Agency has a $3 billion budget and prior controversies (e.g., disinformation efforts).

1. Current Technical Project
2. Reverse-engineering a 1,258-line SQL stored procedure (essentially a full application) for migration to Business Central.
3. Challenges with AI analysis (Claude produced 13-page summary that still requires heavy verification).

4. Considering AL implementation over Power BI due to complexity/maintainability.

5. Team & Company Updates (El Salvador Center of Excellence)

6. Joselyn: Studying for MB-800 exam; working on Data Exchange Framework (EFT integration).
7. David: Studying MB-800; working on reports and Data Exchange.
8. Ronald: Continia Document Capture expert; multiple implementations queued.
9. Franklin: Application support + internal Partner Dashboard (bulk upgrade deferral tool).
10. Fatima: Organized Doug Meetup; studying PMP; learning page scripting; managing partner dashboard.

11. New professional in-house photo studio for headshots.

12. Upcoming Events

13. Dynamics Minds — May 25–27, 2026 (Slovenia).
14. Partner Vibe 2.0 — September 21–23, 2026 (Provo, Utah). Call for submissions closed; focus on partner challenges (not product-specific).

15. Regional Dynamics user groups (Toronto, Ghana, Columbus).

16. Fun / Misc

17. Starship Flight Test (IFT-12) expected soon — new launch stand, flame diverter, etc.
18. Tip: To politely exit unwanted conversations, say “I work with business accounting software.”

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I Need Coffee - Episode 210 - Directions NA Recap (May 1, 2026)1. Directions NA Conference Recap (Orlando)
1,400 attendees — largest ever.
Excellent venue layout (compact, logical hallway design) enabled much better conversations and networking compared to last year’s chaotic Vegas setup.
Noticeably more collaborative, humble atmosphere — partners openly sharing challenges and seeking help.
Many GP partners attending to transition to Business Central.
Highlight: AI shell shock creating a sense of shared uncertainty and openness.

1. Sessions Presented
   Modern Support / Rethinking Managed Services (with David Lasser) — Best session feedback so far; strong conversations on fixed-fee support vs. time & materials.
   “So You Think You Need a Dev?” — Pivoted due to rapid AI changes; explored evolving role of developers.
   Faster Path for Requirements, Design & Prototype — Demonstrated building functional PRDs + working prototypes in hours using AI. Received overwhelmingly positive (5-star) feedback; several attendees had “mind blown” moments.

2. AI Time & Skill Dilation
   AI creates massive perceived gaps: adopters feel like they’re moving at near-light speed while others lag years behind.
   Smaller partners/teams can adapt faster than large ones with inertia or resistant management.
   Story of an enthusiastic employee at a large partner whose AI insights were dismissed — potential for internal conflict or him leaving.

3. Vibe Coding & Tooling Updates
   Website: Initially built with Astro (via Perplexity). After review, sticking with Astro for its benefits (shared layouts, content collections, image optimization, etc.) rather than switching to pure HTML.
   Planning heavy vibe coding weekend:
   Business Central Control Add-ins (JavaScript) — inspired by conversation with Sasha (ex-Netronic).
   Improving Number Series prompting (consistent pain point).
   Table relation / lookup fixes.
   Camille Code Review refinement (and meta code review of reviews — too many false positives).
   Code orchestration workflows.
   User guide prompting improvements.

Jeremy Visca’s Agentic Development training recommended (beginner to expert levels available).

1. Networking & Memorable Moments
   Met long-time GP customer Paul (8+ years using Postmaster) now working at an ISV.
   Met viewers (Sasha from Germany) and other partners (Alteora LATAM team, Sarah from Synak, Corey from iSolutions).
   Universal Orlando after-party (private section of the park) — impressive logistics.
   Marketing swag praise for Blue Moon (logo mints + clean product postcards) → Steve plans to steal the simple visual card idea for their own brochures.

2. Travel & Personal Notes
   Long travel day (11 hours back).
   Humorous comparison of Avianca vs. Southwest “first class” legroom expectations.
   Photography gear upgrade in progress (Canon R7 sniped on eBay).

3. Upcoming Events
   Summit NA Road Show – Chicago (May 5–6).
   Dynamics Con – May 12–15.
   Directions Asia – May 13–15 (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam — get tourist visa).
   DUG Meetup El Salvador – May 19 (likely in Spanish).
   Dynamics Minds – May 25–27 (Slovenia).
   Partner Vibe 2.0 – Sept 21–23, Provo, UT (Call for Speakers open until June 15).

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I Need Coffee - Episode 209 - Weekly BC Review! (April 24, 2026)1. Weekend Activities

Vibe-coded a full new website in ~4–6 hours (Astro + Cloudflare).
Learned a lot, but decided to scrap the complex architecture.
Planning a simpler vanilla HTML + CSS version (cleaner, no heavy frameworks).

Attended a Chinese dance performance and did amateur photography (technically challenging low-light conditions).
Sniped a Canon R7 mirrorless camera on eBay (~$980) to upgrade photography gear.

1. Marketing & Business Development

Received a $7,000 quote for a new website → decided to vibe code it instead.
Vibe-coded a 35-page marketing plan for ~$4.35 in tokens (emails, blogs, webinars, conferences, brochures, etc.).
Acknowledges marketing is outside his comfort zone but sees value in letting AI generate ideas and plans.

1. AI Tooling & Experimentation

Opus 4.7 released (goodbye 4.6).
GitHub Copilot / Pro subscriptions paused due to major changes in pricing model.
FFmpeg mastery via AI: Compressed large Teams recordings (285 MB → ~150 MB), trimmed dead space using VTT transcripts, GPU acceleration (very fast).
Training Session Analysis Prompt (based on Dimitri + Jeremy’s work):
Fed 1-hour Teams video + VTT transcript.
Produced a 32-page metric-based report with educational, psychological, and communication metrics.
Examples: Words per minute (135.5, optimal range), filler words, speech clarity, jargon density, pause timing, CFU (Check for Understanding) rate, participant talk ratio, etc.
Detected privacy issues (visible Outlook inbox, sensitive PDFs on screen).
Recommended improvements (define terms upfront, presentation mode, remove distractions).

1. Business Central / Development Wins

GL Account Filter foresight by AI saved a project: Predicted and solved 1 MB JSON payload limit in Flowcast integration.
Complex support fire drill (issue since April 6th):
Recorded troubleshooting call with customer.
AI analyzed video/transcript → narrowed down root cause.
Built and deployed a diagnostic PTE → fixed the edge-case data issue same day.

Lesson: Record calls, narrate clearly for AI analysis — massive time saver on complex bugs.

1. Challenges & Observations

Customer mindset frustration: Customer with 11-year-old shadow lot tracking PTE only wants one lot fixed, not the root bug or full cleanup.
GitHub issues: Merge queue commits randomly reverting previous merges.
AI font rendering bug in Perplexity (bad dollar sign font confused PowerShell $PSVersionTable).
WordPress still hated (security vulnerabilities, complexity).

1. Upcoming Events

Directions NA – Next week (prepare & pack).
Dynamics Con – May 12–15.
Directions Asia – May 13–15 (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam).
DUG Meetup El Salvador (likely in Spanish).
Dynamics Minds – May 25–27 (Slovenia).
Vibe Partner Conference 2.0 – Sept 21–23, Provo, UT (Call for Speakers open until June 15).

1. Team Updates

Joselyn & David: Continuing MB-800 study + config packages.
Ronald: Document Capture training & implementation; guinea pig for training analysis.
Franklin: Debugging + new PTE work.
Fatima: PMP study + experimenting with Page Scripting + AI.

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I Need Coffee - Episode 208 - Weekly BC Review! (April 17, 2026)1. Weekend – World of Coffee Conference (San Diego)

Attended with friend Gabe from San Salvador (his coffee business ranked #69 in North & Central America – huge achievement).
Massive event: thousands of hardcore coffee nerds, huge convention center, top roasters (Onyx, Weber, Probat, etc.).
Highlights: premium packaging, wild processing methods (double fermented, anaerobic, nitrogen infused, co-fermented lychee, etc.), latte art competition, high-end light roasts.
Bought premium specialty coffee (~$30 per small box).

1. Customer AI Stories & Warnings

Customer used ChatGPT to justify reusing check numbers in BC → team had to intervene with real risks.
AI responses should be taken with a grain of salt — especially for ERP/accounting decisions.

1. Legacy PTE Nightmares (Inherited Lot Tracking)

11-year-old PTE (from ~2015, migrated from C/NAV) that bypasses all native BC lot tracking.
Automatically assigns lot numbers to everything while keeping items as non-tracked.
Causes quantity discrepancies and breaks standard inventory adjustments.
Decision: Do not try to fully fix/migrate — just patch bugs. Classic “shadow system” horror story.

1. Hardware Upgrades

Ordered Mac Mini (M4 base) for heavier AI workloads (replacing eBay tiny PCs).
Used OpenClaw + custom “lobster shopper” script to monitor Apple refurbished store every 30 mins.
New Human Scale G5 keyboard tray (Rolls-Royce of trays) — tilt/height adjustable, very happy.

1. AI Tooling & Vibe Coding Insights

Stefan Moron’s AL Symbols/Dependency MCP + Jeremy’s BC Code Intelligence MCP installed but inconsistent tool usage in agents.
Improving AI-generated user guides/documentation — Joselyn’s brutal (and valuable) feedback led to much better prompts.
New strict grounding rules: no hallucination, tie everything to actual code/pages/fields.

Corto vs Pandoc: Corto is mostly a wrapper; sticking with custom Pandoc + Word template workflow.
AI is terrible at time/duration estimates — completely hallucinates. Added custom hooks for real timestamps.
Claude Code + Tmux on Linux for running multiple agents efficiently.

1. Major AI Disruption Example (Survival Mode)

Friend’s company: 2.5-year, multi-million dollar custom .NET project with 8 developers.
Customer vibe-coded the entire system in 12 days (including missing features + improvements).
Result: Laying off 6 developers, major contract renegotiation.
Steve’s warning: Everyone should be in survival mode in 2026. The world is changing extremely fast.

1. Microsoft Account & Access Frustrations

Microsoft login dialog hell (no account specified) → accidentally created personal account conflict with M365 business account.
VPN/Conditional Access blocks for international team members (geolocation + other policies).

1. Open Source Contribution Fun

Helped Stefan with ALRunner project (super-fast AL unit testing, no Docker/container).
Ran multiple Claude agents via Tmux on Linux box → 100+ commits/PRs.
Cleared 1,100+ issues with several people contributing agents.

1. Model & Tooling Updates

Opus 4.7 released — even better, but very expensive on GitHub Copilot (7.5x → 15x multiplier).
Local models (LM Studio, Qwen, etc.) tested on RTX 3080 → disappointing for BC work.
Overlay VPN experiments (UniFi Teleport = garbage, Tailscale = okay but slow).

1. Team & Other Updates

Team studying MB-800, working on Document Capture, PMP, weather cam project.
Upcoming events: Directions NA, Dynamics Con, Dynamics Minds, Vibe 2.0 Partner Conference (Provo, UT – Sept 21-23).

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I Need Coffee - Episode 207 - Weekly BC Review! (April 10, 2026)1. Keyboard Tray & Personal Life

Old Human Scale ergonomic keyboard tray (27–28 years old) broke → ordered Gen 5 replacement.
Paper usage metric: 500 sheets lasted almost exactly 1 year.

1. AI & Vibe Coding Breakthroughs

Reproduced a complex Dynamics GP partner application (17 years of work) in 12 hours with a partner using AI (3 phone calls + cleanup).
New version is better and features are now trivial to add.

Bitter Lesson Engineering (Daniel Mistler essay) – Highly recommended.
Stop micromanaging models with detailed instructions/frameworks.
Describe desired outcome + constraints (or remove constraints for creativity).
Let emergent behavior shine.

Preference for minimal abstractions: Direct LLM interaction over complex agents, MCPs, custom prompts, etc. (to better observe model behavior/changes).
Emergent behavior examples in Business Central apps (clever implementations he wouldn’t have thought of).

1. Claude & Tooling Wins

Uploaded Teams video transcript (VTT) → Claude generated perfect PRD/FRD.
OpenClaw fixed OAuth issue with OpenAI.
OpenClaw transcribed 83MB Teams video using FFmpeg → then analyzed with Claude.
Considering upgrading OpenClaw hardware (Mac Mini).

1. Business Central Development Notes

Consistent AI struggles:
File/object naming.
Number Series setup.
Factbox refresh issues (needed full page reload initially).

Stefan Moron’s AL Dependency MCP Server – Excellent for schema understanding (set up via Copilot).
Central Gauge (Torben Leth) – Great AL benchmarking site.
Check layouts: Finally delivered after weeks (now building AppSource app for common formats to avoid per-customer PTEs).
In-flight / halfway-done transactions design flaw (discovered twice) – Important to anticipate in new apps.
Lot tracking shadow system horror story (2015 PTE) – Wild independent lot system on non-lot-tracked items.

1. GitHub / DevOps Migration

Transitioning from Azure DevOps to GitHub + ALGO.
Massive speed gains (scaffolding in minutes vs. 30+ mins).

1. Tools & Productivity

Pandoc + Word template workflow for beautiful MD → DOC conversion (via Copilot scripts).
Windows + H for voice typing (excellent in VS Code).
Logan Legacy MCP for legacy code analysis.
GitHub Copilot iOS app praised for full agentic capabilities (issue → PR without cloning).

1. AI Hype vs Reality

Warning on performative engagement bait and hard-to-benchmark “tips.”
Claude Mythos hype largely overblown (context-heavy benchmarks).
Models change daily; stay humble and test.

1. Team & Company Updates

Joselyn: MB-800 studying + painful config package / 1099 work.
David: MB-800 + report layouts.
Ronald: Document Capture implementation + Berlin English Academy (intermediate/advanced).
Franklin: Released 2nd AppSource app; learning in-flight issues.
Fatima: PMP studying + partner dashboard.

1. Upcoming Events

World of Coffee Conference (San Diego) – This weekend.
Directions (Orlando) – Soon.
Dynamics Con (Las Vegas) May 12–15.
Dynamics Minds (Slovenia) May 25–27.
Vibe 2.0 Partner Conference (Provo, UT) – Call for speakers open.
Various SummitNA Roadshows.

1. Fun / Memorable

College photo shoot (dresses + cowboy boots in flower field).
Unpredictable users as perfect (unintentional) QA.
Mila Jovovich doing open-source AI work (Claude memory system) → “Best timeline.”

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I Need Coffee - Episode 206 - BC Weekly Review! (April 3, 2026)1. MVP Summit Reflections
- Microsoft product managers are exceptionally sharp and operate 6–18 months ahead; they run circles around most technical discussions
- Microsoft is uniquely positioned for comprehensive end-to-end AI (Office, Teams, Excel, BC, GitHub, etc.)
- Even PMs and MVPs struggle to keep up with the pace of AI changes
- Strong emphasis that Microsoft is investing heavily in making AI actionable and integrated across the entire stack

1. Prompting Philosophy Shift
2. Key realization: Less is more — heavy guardrails and overly constrained prompts often produce worse, lazier results
3. Removing excessive constraints allowed Opus 4.6 to “spread its legs” and deliver far better outputs (e.g., numbered wireframes with referenced requirements and user stories)

4. Coincidentally reinforced by a tweet from Jonathan Smith (Microsoft) about reducing constraints to let the model use its full intelligence

5. AI Tooling & Workflow Updates

6. Defaulting back to GitHub Copilot in VS Code for coding tasks (Opus models were extremely slow this week)
7. Added GitHub Copilot event hooks (PowerShell) to automatically timestamp prompts (start time, end time, duration) — very useful for tracking performance
8. Claude still preferred for high-quality Word documentation

9. Experimenting with Playwright for automated BC UI screenshots (for user guides) — generated 21 screenshots with inline references; created full 35–40 page documentation of the setup

10. Marketplace (AppSource) Progress

11. Published two apps to Microsoft Marketplace this week
12. Created detailed 20–30 page step-by-step procedures so any of the three devs (Steve, senior dev, Franklin) can reliably publish

13. Now treating Marketplace publishing as a repeatable, low-overhead process

14. Networking / Infrastructure

15. Ordered UniFi Cloud Gateway Max to test as potential replacement for SonicWall (focus on Teleport VPN for better customer conditional access compatibility)

16. Goal: create clean exit nodes (Los Angeles + Utah) to avoid IP-hopping alerts and commercial VPN blocks from customer tenants

17. Team & Operational Notes

18. Franklin & Steve published Marketplace apps
19. Joselyn & David continuing MB-800 studies
20. Ronald on Continia + iSolutions implementations
21. Fatima reviewing the 500-page Prospect Discovery Questionnaire

22. 1099 procedures for BC v27 still painful and complex

23. Upcoming Events

24. Directions NA – Orlando, April 27–29 (preparing presentations with Brad)
25. Dynamics Con – Las Vegas, May 12–15 (3 sessions)
26. Directions Asia – Ho Chi Minh City, May 13–15
27. DynamicsMinds – Slovenia, May 25–27
28. Partner Vibe 2.0 – Provo, Utah, September 21–23 (submissions due June 15)

29. Summit NA – Nashville, October 11–15

30. Fun / Personal Note

31. Weekend: washed garage door and daughter’s car, cleaned sunroom to resurrect home theater (now shared with pottery wheel and a cat using the center channel as a perch)
32. Watched Shallow Hal with wife (laughed a lot)
33. Forgot laptop on flight day → wife delivered it to the airport
34. Biohacking note: decaf experiment showed no noticeable difference in sleep/energy

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I Need Coffee - Episode 205 - BC Weekly Review! (March 27, 2026)1. MVP Summit 2026 Recap (Seattle)
- Attended via Southwest flight (felt luxurious compared to Avianca)
- Highlighted how smart Microsoft product managers are; they operate months/years ahead and run circles around most people in technical depth
- Key insight: Microsoft is uniquely positioned for comprehensive AI across its ecosystem (Office, Teams, Excel, BC, GitHub, etc.)
- Strong impression that Microsoft is investing heavily in making AI actionable and integrated, not just chat-based
- Noted that even hardcore MVPs and PMs struggle to keep up with the pace of AI changes

1. AI Experimentation Highlights
2. OpenClaw nightly self-improvement**: Prompt “scan yourself and suggest top two improvements” — running every night
3. Claude still dominant** for professional Word documentation and large structured outputs
4. Playwright automation project**: Built a system inside an AppSource app to automatically log into BC, navigate, prepare screens, and take named screenshots for user guides (21 screenshots generated with inline references)
5. Created 35–40 page documentation of the entire setup, lessons learned, troubleshooting, and scripts so the team can replicate
6. Next step: test Chrome MCP as alternative for BC UI automation

7. AI Project Management**: Continuing to use OpenClaw + Teams Planner for task analysis, risk assessment, daily top-5 reports, etc.

8. AppSource & DevOps Migration

9. Actively packaging multiple apps for AppSource (registration, licensing, pipelines, testing)
10. Decision to migrate from Azure DevOps to GitHub (Microsoft’s clear direction; DevOps pipelines have become too painful with 32+ pages of procedures)

11. Expect GitHub to have its own pains but better AI integration (Copilot CLI, agentic PRs, code review from mobile, etc.)

12. Microsoft Ecosystem Observations

13. Hopeful for better model selection and harness control in M365 Copilot, Teams, and Office tools
14. Wants true agentic behavior (e.g., meeting summary → auto-create & prioritize tasks in Planner, not just show to-dos)

15. GitHub Copilot now model-agnostic in VS Code → should be competitive with Claude Code / Cursor

16. Team & Operational Notes

17. 1099 procedures for BC v27 still causing pain (complex setup, poor usability)
18. Franklin publishing first AppSource app
19. Joselyn advancing MB-800 practice exams + financial reports
20. Ronald on Continia + iSolutions

21. Prospect discovery questionnaire (500+ pages) now under review by Fatima for project use

22. Upcoming Events

23. Directions NA – Orlando, April 27–29 (preparing presentations with Brad)
24. Dynamics Con – Las Vegas, May 12–15 (3 sessions)
25. Directions Asia – Ho Chi Minh City, May 13–15

26. DynamicsMinds – Slovenia, May 25–27

27. Fun / Personal Note

28. Weekend chores: washed garage door and daughter’s car, cleaned sunroom to resurrect home theater (shared with pottery wheel)
29. Forgot laptop at home on flight day → wife delivered it to airport
30. St. Patrick’s Day dinner: Korean soon tofu + galbi + ice cream (traditional Irish meal)
31. Watched classic movies (Days of Thunder, What Women Want)

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I Need Coffee - Episode 204 - Weekly BC Review! (March 20, 2026)1. AI Mindset & Experimentation
- Strong bullish stance: AI makes previously impossible projects feasible; the real challenge is thinking big enough to use it effectively
- OpenClaw nightly self-improvement prompt: “Every night, scan yourself and suggest the top two improvements” (meta configuration suggestions)
- Using prospect discovery questionnaire (500+ pages) and new project risk assessment framework as test beds for large-context prompting

1. Claude Dominance in Documentation
2. Claude (Opus 4.6 Extended via web/app) remains the undisputed champion for professional Word documents
3. Created full Prospect Discovery Questionnaire: 500 pages, 35 documents, “choose-your-own-adventure” structure with gating questions + deep-dive sections (GL, AP/AR, inventory, manufacturing, warehouse, integrations, compliance, etc.)
4. Value estimate: equivalent to $500k+ enterprise consulting work that no small team would normally attempt

5. Fatima (PMP) now reviewing it for learning ERP features and project management

6. AI Project Management Breakthrough

7. Hypothesis: most project management drudgery (task updates, risk assessment, follow-ups, documentation) can be handled by AI agents
8. OpenClaw now fully connected to Teams Planner via custom MCP server (built by OpenClaw itself in minutes)
9. Capabilities demonstrated: upload Excel → create plan, recategorize tasks, assess risk, apply labels, generate daily top-5 reports, analyze delays/high-risk items

10. Can be used from phone during morning walk for instant project status

11. AppSource Preparation Realities

12. Actively packaging multiple PTE prototypes into proper AppSource apps
13. Emphasis: “It is a lot of work to do it properly” — registration, licensing, telemetry, pipelines, dependencies, testing, object ID management
14. Created detailed procedures/checklists with AI assistance

15. Object ID overlaps previously discovered; now systematically fixing

16. Mundane vs. Magical Contrast

17. AI creates “impossible” things quickly, but everyday tasks remain painful (Western Digital RMA still delayed, WordPress website redesign frustration, Microsoft Defender spam rules that reject subdomains)

18. Compared Claude vs. M365 Copilot for change request document: Claude produced professional, detailed output in 5 minutes; Copilot was basic GPT-4 level at best

19. Development & Team Updates

20. Franklin working on first AppSource publish + PTE change request (AI-generated from email thread in minutes)
21. Ronald handling 1099 procedures for BC v27 (new design is complex and user-unfriendly)
22. Joselyn studying MB-800 practice exams + financial reports
23. David on vacation during Berlin’s month-long fiesta patronales

24. New Salvadoran furball update (the “runt” kitten living the good life)

25. Upcoming Events

26. MVP Summit – next week in Seattle
27. Directions NA – Orlando, April 27–29 (preparing presentations)
28. Dynamics Con – Las Vegas, May 12–15 (3 sessions: 2 BC + 1 cybersecurity)
29. Directions Asia – Ho Chi Minh City, May 13–15
30. DynamicsMinds – Slovenia, May 25–27
31. Partner Vibe 2.0 – Provo, Utah, September 21–23 (submissions due June 15)
32. Summit NA – Nashville, October 11–15 (submissions due March 31)

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I Need Coffee - Episode 203 - Weekly BC Review! (March 13, 2026)1. AI Experimentation & Large Projects
- Finished the Prospect Discovery Questionnaire project: 500+ pages total across 35 documents (main 40-page questionnaire + topical sections + 24 detailed questionnaires)
- Designed as a “choose-your-own-adventure” style tool with yes/no gating questions to determine which deep-dive sections are relevant (company overview, GL, AP/AR, inventory, manufacturing, warehouse, integrations, compliance, etc.)
- Created using Claude.ai (web) over several days and many tokens — estimated value equivalent to $500k+ enterprise consulting work
- Now building a Project Risk Assessment Framework based on the same approach (using PMP/ISO 31000 principles)
- Using these massive documents as test beds to push context windows and prompting strategies

1. Claude Projects Feature
2. Discovered and started using Claude.ai “Projects” — allows uploading dozens of files (35 docs used only 15% capacity) for persistent context
3. Successfully used to deduplicate questions across all documents (found only 4 true duplicates via Jaccard index)

4. Enables better multi-document analysis and consolidation than single long chats

5. AI Efficiency vs. Mundane Reality

6. Coined theme: “Creating the Impossible yet Fighting the Mundane”
7. AI enables building things previously unthinkable, but real life still involves slogging through broken RMA processes, website redesigns, spam filters, etc.
8. Western Digital drive RMA saga: submitted Jan 8, still waiting after 2+ months due to repeated system failures

9. Microsoft Defender anti-spam rules cannot whitelist subdomains (e.g., Anthropic magic-link emails from mail.anthropic.com) → ongoing login frustration

10. Website Redesign Struggle

11. Tanya and Steve both hate working on the company website
12. Using Perplexity to critique and guide WordPress + Elementor cleanup

13. Frustration with WordPress base product, themes, and plugin ecosystem (constant upsells and vulnerabilities)

14. Business Central / Development Updates

15. Object ID range overlaps discovered in AppSource apps (due to manual tracking instead of spreadsheet or AL Object ID Ninja) — only two actual duplicate IDs
16. Preparing three prototype PTE apps for conversion to AppSource (created checklist via AI)
17. AI (Perplexity) instantly found mapping errors in RDL/Word report layouts (e.g., Payment Terms wrongly bound to Shipping Terms; spelling error “Bacid” instead of “Batch ID”)

18. Franklin becoming unintentional approval workflow expert after multiple AI-assisted refactors

19. Team & Nearshore Updates

20. Joselyn & David continuing MB-800 study
21. Ronald implementing Continia Document Capture
22. Fatima reviewing prospect questionnaire and resuming PMP studies
23. Franklin prepping apps for AppSource + handling approval workflow issues

24. Two Salvadoran furballs (kittens) update — one looks like a Maine Coon, the other is the “runt” with big personality

25. Upcoming Events

26. Directions NA – Orlando, April 27–29
27. Dynamics Con – Las Vegas, May 12–15 (hotel prices insane; Steve flying in same-day for some nights)
28. Directions Asia – Ho Chi Minh City, May 13–15
29. DynamicsMinds – Slovenia, May 25–27

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I Need Coffee - Episode 202 - double feature BC Review! (march 6, 2026)1. OpenClaw & AI Tooling Updates
- Upgraded second iteration of OpenClaw (broke after Linux update); fixed with heavy AI assistance
- Created automated backup routine for OpenClaw configuration, scheduled jobs, etc.
- Connected OpenClaw to Discord (new server with topic-specific channels that preserve context)
- Created “momento.md” file so OpenClaw can refresh its own memory of skills, emails, Nextcloud access, etc.
- Installed OpenAI CodeEx (requires WSL on Windows) – found setup too cumbersome for daily use

1. Claude Projects Feature
2. Discovered Claude.ai “Projects” – allows uploading many files (used 15% capacity for 35 docs)
3. Enables better context retention across sessions than single chats
4. Successfully used to deduplicate questions across documents (found only 4 true duplicates using Jaccard index)

5. Allows creating consolidated versions (50-page, 100-page summaries, etc.)

6. AI Efficiency & Mindset

7. Reiterated “AI Efficiency Paradox” – more productive but busier than ever
8. Personal philosophy: “If you don’t have a Plan B and Plan C, you don’t have a Plan” (heavily influenced by El Salvador experience)

9. Applied to software: endless edge cases possible, but practical approach is to ship, test, and iterate rather than over-engineer upfront

10. Travel & El Salvador Trip (March 2026)

11. Flew to El Salvador, met Ronald at airport, stayed overnight at hotel near airport
12. Morning app review session with Ronald at hotel restaurant
13. Picked up “hitchhiker” Brad (another BC MVP) who arrived with no hotel or plan
14. 3-hour drive to Berlin with Brad riding in the back of the pickup truck (authentic Salvadoran experience)

15. Hosted team dinner at the compound (boneless beef ribs, banana bodín, etc.)

16. Berlin Activities & Team

17. Presented at Kenya DUG meetup (via Teams) on “Leverage AI to be the best Dynamics consultants in the world”
18. Private tour of government animal sanctuary (monkeys, wild cats, owls, etc.)
19. Visited geothermal power plant (“volcano energy”)
20. Hiked volcano La Cruz with Brad and team (pickup truck adventure + sulfur smells)
21. Visited active coffee farm (raised beds for natural-processed coffee) – met twin girls starting English scholarship
22. Team cooked breakfast (frijoles, fried plantains, fresh pan francés)

23. Birthday surprise sabero at Tacos Hermanos

24. Team Excellence Updates

25. Continued MB-800 prep (Joselyn & David)
26. App development and testing ongoing
27. English scholarship program expanded (twins at coffee farm now enrolled)

28. Berlin English Academy students/graduates joined team dinner

29. Upcoming Events

30. Directions NA – Orlando, April 27–29 (Steve presenting with Brad)
31. Dynamics Con – Las Vegas, May 12–15
32. Directions Asia – Ho Chi Minh City, May 13–15

33. DynamicsMinds – Slovenia, May 25–27

34. Random / Fun Notes

35. Watched classic movies on YouTube (Rudy, Good Will Hunting)
36. Gas station dinner near airport (typical Salvadoran experience)
37. Formula 1 weekend upon return – planning to relax

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I Need Coffee - Episode 201 - Weekly BC Review! (february 20, 2026)1. OpenClaw Update
- Reinstalled with its own domain, email, and Nextcloud server
- Connected to Telegram (main interface), WhatsApp (flaky), and a dedicated M365 Business Basic tenant

• Peter Steinberger / OpenClaw now sponsored by OpenAI; project heading toward open-source foundation (Anthropic relationship described as unpleasant)

• Claude Opus 4.6 Dominance

• Generated 700+ pages of professional Word documents this week
• Clear winner for complex, consistent, beautifully formatted business documents (templates, checklists, prospect discovery questionnaires, etc.)
• Native real-time SVG diagram generation with instant editing (e.g., change arrow colors on the fly)

• Context window issues: hit hard limit after ~300 pages → had to restart chats and re-upload documents to maintain formatting

• AI Efficiency Paradox (Steve-coined)

• Massive time savings (weeks → hours) → marginal cost of new code/features approaches zero
• Result: accepting more work, building apps for free or low cost, converting one-offs into potential AppSource products

• Paradox: to-do list longer than ever, working 14-hour days, but having more fun than ever (risk of burnout acknowledged)

• Advanced Vibe-Coding & Debugging Techniques

• Agentic diagnostics: AI generates its own 10-page diagnostic queries on GL accounts, enums, and database values when stuck
• Detailed activity logging with FactBox showing every API payload and response
• Auto-added “Enable Detailed Diagnostics” toggle on setup page (unprompted by Steve)

• Built full preview pane page for GL extraction → JSON assembly → API submission → logging

• **Brilliant BC UI Workaround (JSON Viewer)

• Needed tall, searchable, scrollable JSON display
• Standard multi-line text box in BC has severe line limits
• AI solution: parse JSON → store each line as record in temporary table → expose as standard List Page

• Bonus: built-in BC search box instantly searches the entire JSON payload

• Diagramming Experiments

• Draw.io MCP server tested – useful for validation but weak for initial creation; requires manual fixes for arrows/spacing
• Lesson: complex diagrams must be broken into smaller ones or they become unreadable spaghetti

• Claude web/app SVG output currently best – generates and redraws in real time

• Tool Landscape

• Using mix: Perplexity (Q&A), Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Claude Code (terminal), Claude.ai web/desktop (documents + SVG)
• Cursor now has marketplace for plugins/MCP/skills

• Warning: red “context window of doom” dot in VS Code with Opus 4.6 – stop immediately

• Team & Nearshore Updates

• First Dynamics User Group (DUG) meetup in El Salvador held yesterday – conducted in Spanish, first in all of Latin America (Argentina & Costa Rica followed)
• Fatima organized and ran the meeting; team presented their work
• Joselyn & David advancing in MB-800 (now on sample questions)
• Ronald: iSolutions collections training + ongoing implementations
• Franklin: new app + custom check report (moving toward AppSource)
• Fatima: using AI for project plans, ISO 31000 risk assessment, task allocation

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I Need Coffee - Episode 200 - Weekly BC Review! (February 13, 2026)

1. Vibe Coding / Agentic Engineering Mania
2. Steve stayed up past 10 p.m. multiple nights vibe coding with Claude + GitHub Copilot
3. Customer (inspired by previous stream) published a full custom API in one evening
4. New internal app idea → started and largely completed in ~8 hours total (vs estimated 100–120 hours manually)
5. GitHub Copilot suggested complete redesign of Sales Hold app → 80 % complexity reduction, better UX, aligns with standard BC workflow

6. Franklin (junior dev, <1 year experience) fully refactored the app and is now vibe-coding automated approval-workflow pre-configuration on install

7. Claude Code (new tool) & PRD Explosion

8. Installed Claude Code (Opus 4.6) – called “more developer-friendly, empathetic, no noise”
9. Generated 71-page PRD (started at 28 pages) with ultra-detailed acceptance criteria, API call validation, error handling for every HTTP response, etc.

10. Agentic debugging innovation: added “Run Diagnostics” button to setup page so the AI can query BC data itself and self-diagnose (solved account classification bug in 3 rounds)

11. Diagramming & Tools Quest

12. Exploring Draw.io MCP server for fully agentic business-process / wireframe diagrams

13. Still evaluating PlantUML vs Mermaid vs Draw.io for “agentic diagramming” inside PRDs/SOWs

14. Business & Operations Highlights

15. iSolutions training completed (payments + tokenization); internal implementation started
16. Partner Dashboard live in production; registration dashboard next
17. Mysterious production environment deletion in demo tenant → treated as breach, full lockdown performed (passwords, 2FA, app registrations reset)
18. Fixed 13-year-old Dynamics GP 1099 bug (partial payments/credit memos)
19. MEM Aged AR report extension broken when using “Print to Excel” (bypasses report extensions)

20. DevOps project creation automated via vibe-coded script (was 28-page manual nightmare)

21. Team Excellence Updates (Berlin, El Salvador)

22. Joselyn & David studying for MB-800
23. David → Simple Object Designer wizard
24. Ronald → leading Partner Dashboard + iSolutions + Continia
25. Franklin → vibe-coding Sales Hold + auto-approval setup
26. Fatima → PMP + vibe-coding full Greenfield BC project plan (stakeholders, risks, steering committee, etc.)

27. First El Salvador Dynamics User Group meetup confirmed: Thursday, February 19, 2026 (in Spanish)

28. Personal / Weekend Notes

29. Packing 3 suitcases as “mule” for El Salvador trip (soccer balls, backpacks, luggage rack, mattress pad)
30. Received free Apple Watch Ultra 2 via insurance claim
31. Achieved Avianca Elite Gold status for 2026

32. Air-fryer ribeye + veggies dinner story

33. Upcoming Events

34. Directions NA – Orlando, April 27–29, 2026 → Steve + Brad presenting “Vibe Coding the Entire Partner Process” (phone call → PRD → wireframes → full app)
35. Dynamics Con – Las Vegas, May 12–15, 2026
36. Directions Asia (HCMC) – May 13–15, 2026 (Tanya attending)
37. DynamicsMinds – Slovenia, May 25–27, 2026
38. Summit NA roadshows starting Feb 19 (Tampa)
39. Dynamics Con regionals: Denver (April 9), etc.

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I Need Coffee - Episode 199 - Weekly BC Review! (february 6, 2026)

1. Vibe 1.0 Conference Recap
2. Small, intimate (~100 people), highly interactive & collaborative
3. Three presentations delivered:
   a. Managed Services / subscription pricing transition (with David Ler) → very interactive session
   b. “Avoiding a Million-Dollar Lawsuit” – project management & risk (with Tanya) → real lawsuit survivor in audience
   c. Building nearshore consulting/support practice in El Salvador from scratch (with Tanya) → strong positive feedback, even from non-BC attendees
4. Praised the format; next event (Vibe 2.0) planned for September 2026

5. Recap video available on YouTube channel (youtube.com/steveendo)

6. What Else Does Steve Do? (Weekend/Geek Activities)

7. Saturday mornings → researches business diagrams (swimlanes, BPMN, DFD, ERD, UML…) with Perplexity
8. Sunday mornings → reads legal/IT contract presentations → strongly warns against “generally accepted industry standards” clause in IT/MSAs (landmine for expert witnesses)
9. Deep-dive into Notepad++ supply-chain compromise (state-sponsored → Lotus Blossom / Chrysalis backdoor via Hostinger hosting breach, ~June–Dec 2025)

10. Read full Rapid7 report on the attack

11. Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Notes

12. Notepad++ update mechanism hijacked (man-in-the-middle on HTTP step) → targeted backdoor delivery (not mass malware)
13. Azure Front Door frustration → recent BC customer hit “service behind this page isn’t responding” error (triggered “Love Shack” joke)

14. Surprise Azure Functions cost explosion → new “Flex Consumption” plan (much more expensive than old Consumption plan) deployed by mistake via Visual Studio change (~$75/month per idle function)

15. Business Central / Partner Operations Updates

16. Implementing iSolutions internally (electronic payment link in invoices → portal supports CC/EFT/check → auto-reconciles in BC)
17. RDLC check printing bug found/fixed (margin pushed MICR line up ½ inch)
18. Sales order hold / release logic in development
19. PTE vs AppSource app decision framework: ≥2 customers → prefer AppSource for easier updates & potential subscription revenue
20. Dynamics Con BC track: heavy technical/admin submissions this year (~60–70 sessions total, targeting 22+ technical ones); Vegas May 12–15, 2026

21. Added third-party API / SaaS risk warnings to MSA templates

22. AI & Development Experiments

23. Using AI agents to review/refactor code → dramatically simplified Sales Hold app (50%+ complexity reduction) by suggesting alignment with standard BC workflow
24. Created full Product Requirements Document (PRD) + medium-fidelity SVG wireframes in ~1.5 hours using Claude 3.5 / Cursor

25. Exploring “agentic diagramming”: AI generates PlantUML or Mermaid syntax for process flows / ERDs / swimlanes (leaning toward PlantUML for hard pinning & reliability)

26. Team & Nearshore Highlights

27. Joselyn: financial reports (trial balance, BS, IS), cat fostering/vet care
28. David: Simple Object Designer expert, RDLC fix, MB-800 prep
29. Ronald: Partner Dashboard rollout, iSolutions deployment
30. Franklin: Sales Hold refactor using AI suggestions
31. Fatima: PMP / SDLC study, organizing first El Salvador Dynamics UG meetup (Feb 12, 2026)

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I Need Coffee - Episode 198 - Weekly BC Review! (january 23, 2026)

1. Weekend & Personal Life
2. Oil change + mobile office setup at dealership (good remote work test via SonicWall & tethering).

3. Weekend mostly a blur due to cold; little memory of non-work activities.

4. Weekly Work & Projects

5. Preparing Vibe conference presentations (co-presenting with Tanya & David Ler).
6. Progress on Partner Dashboard app, Teams Planner, maintenance/service agreement pricing.

7. New AppSource app now live in production → surprises (obscure permissions, out-of-sequence user actions).

8. AI / "Vibe Coding" Experiences*

9. Discussion of agentic/AI development tools & efficiency (podcast appearance on "Window on Technology" with Jeremy Vyska).
10. "Vibe coding" experiments → fast prototyping but bad code ("Michael Jackson" style), bugs in PTEs, performance profiler revealing excessive events.

11. Critique of viral "live stream to $1M revenue" vibe-coding project (crypto coin pivot turned him off).

12. Time Zone Challenges in Business Central

13. Job queues, tenant time zones, DST issues → built custom time zone management with nightly refresh.

14. Surprising bug: one Mexican time zone causes 1-hour offset in license validation timestamp.

15. Edge Cases & Production Surprises

16. Repeated theme: bizarre, unforeseeable sequences of events and bugs appearing only in production/real usage.

17. Philosophy shift → "bugs are actively finding us".

18. DynamicsCon Session Review

19. Reviewing hundreds of submissions → humorous observations on self-awarded titles ("world-renowned", "expert", "wizard").

20. Cybersecurity & OSINT

21. Mind-blowing OSINT webinar (Anti-Cyphon / Michelle Khan): doxing via voter records, insurance databases, hotel Wi-Fi room enumeration, GitHub email exposure, etc.
22. Ransomware hitting a partner → reminder of real risk.

23. Recent attacks: Fortinet firewalls/portal bypasses, Cloudflare WAF zero-day.

24. Security / AI Critique

25. Zach Corman interview breakdown of MCP servers (Anthropic-related) → horribly insecure single-endpoint design, prompt injection risks.

26. Integrations & Pain Points

27. Nightmare Salesforce → BC integration (customized, messy data model, years-long project).

28. Completed painful but successful Bill.com + Multi-Entity Management (MEM) integration.

29. Team & El Salvador Updates

30. ERP Center of Excellence in Berlin, El Salvador: team studying (MB-800), building Partner Dashboard, payment portal, custom reports.

31. Fatima passed PMP exam; planning local Dynamics user group.

32. Upcoming Events & Personal

33. Partner & Vibe conference (next week, Texas).
34. Directions NA (late April, Orlando?), DynamicsCon (May, Las Vegas), etc.

35. Personal: prom escort practice with daughter, standing desk experiment, at-home AI-generated workouts, key person insurance research.

36. Closing Notes

37. Shout-out to Mauricio (podcast producer).
38. Light-hearted sign-off: cats, coffee, Claudebot/AI lobster project.

View Details

I Need Coffee - Episode 197 - Weekly BC Review! (january 16, 2026)

1. Tech setup struggles & camera troubleshooting
2. Live camera aperture/shutter/exposure hacks during stream

3. $1,000 Sony camera repair (gear grinding failure) → new backup body ordered

4. Personal weekend activities

5. Detailed engine bay cleaning (inspired by ChrisFix YouTube videos)
6. AGM battery testing, sulfation concerns, OptiMate 7 charger upgrade

7. Emphasis on small, satisfying analog/mechanical projects

8. Vibe coding & agentic AI development

9. Voice coding on watch/phone fantasy
10. Prompt Requests > Pull Requests philosophy
11. Junior developer blown away by live vibe-coding demo (wireframe → AL page in ~1 min)

12. Limits of AI in complex Business Central AL scenarios (PTE event cascade problem)

13. Business Central / Dynamics 365 pain points

14. Teams Planner UX disaster (tedious, fighty interface)
15. Business Central V27 1099s configuration = “absolute user experience disaster”
16. Reverse voided check + bank rec + credit memo mess (no easy undo button)

17. 1,440+ events firing in customer PTE sandbox (debug nightmare)

18. Microsoft 365 Copilot / Excel agent mode

19. New-ish agent capabilities in Excel (data cleanup, fill blanks, etc.)
20. Limited without full M365 Copilot license → creates new workbook instead

21. Potential use-case: cleaning messy customer migration data files

22. Cybersecurity highlights

23. Anti-Phishing / Black Hills DNS C2 threat hunting masterclass (highly recommended)
24. Fortinet FortiSIEM RCE actively exploited (CVE)
25. Browser extension takeover attack vector (Paste Ready → malware in 3 days)
26. SignToolEx – using expired/stolen certs without clock tricks

27. MCP servers = massive security risk (“The S in MCP stands for security”)

28. Nearshore / outsourcing discussion

29. Building in-house nearshore practice in El Salvador
30. Researching outsourced nearshore providers (Uruguay, Mexico, Colombia)

31. Strong opinion: outsourcing fails without new customer-side skills

32. Team / company updates (ERP Center of Excellence – El Salvador)**

33. Partner Dashboard app ready for deployment
34. Vibe-coded PRs flowing fast from junior devs
35. MB-800 exam prep (Joselyn, David)

36. Fatima taking PMP exam next week

37. Upcoming events & pricing

38. Vibe Conference (South Padre Island, < 2 weeks away) – 3 sessions
39. Pricing updates 2026 (AppSource, consulting, support plans)

40. Session idea: modern SaaS support / managed services for cloud BC

41. Cultural / philosophical notes

42. Difficulty explaining current AI reality to “normies”
43. Growing preference for human-made, analog, low-budget, hands-on content
44. Vibe-coding rabbit hole → 15–20 unfinished side projects instead of 2–3

View Details

I Need Coffee - Episode 196 - Weekly BC Review! (january 9, 2026)1. Clawdbot / CLAWD explosion
- Viral open-source personal AI assistant (“space lobster”, pun on Claude → CLAWD)
- Exploded in days → thousands in Discord, huge community excitement
- Runs locally (even on old ThinkCentre tiny PC or Raspberry Pi), connects to WhatsApp/Telegram/Discord/email/calendar/Amazon/etc.
- Described as “what we wish Siri was” — real action-taking agent
- Some chaos when updating (flooded WhatsApp with thousands of messages)

1. Vibe coding / AI-agentic development experiences
2. Heavy use of AI (Claude, Copilot, Cursor) to generate AL code, PTEs, tests, docs
3. Very fast prototyping → but extremely weird, unintuitive bugs (counting log lines instead of invoices, conflating headers/lines/logs)
4. Testing vibe-coded apps is a completely different skill — no rational assumptions possible
5. Huge productivity gain once you accept looping “fix your bugs” cycles

6. Copilot sometimes breaks known-good obscure AL patterns (while Claude/Cursor handle them fine)

7. Business Central development & AppSource reality

8. Struggles with registration/licensing system (self-built after bad experiences with third-party providers) → geo-redundancy, heartbeats, failover
9. Mysterious production-only issues debugged with in-client Performance Profiler → traced to Microsoft Subscription Billing app blocking field changes
10. Very close to finishing major AppSource app release (classic “halfway to the finish line” feeling)

11. Adding visible version info directly on pages for easier support

12. Challenges with rapid AI iteration & bleeding-edge risks

13. Claudebot project architecture changed multiple times in days → update broke things badly
14. Accidental high-volume spam to contacts during bug

15. Senior developer quits team when shown agentic coding (sees only bugs, not fix speed)

16. Tools & productivity workflow observations

17. Pandoc + Markdown Monster for AI-generated documentation → Markdown → Word/PDF pipeline
18. GitHub Copilot now doing git staging/commit/push/PR creation

19. Upcoming VS Code improvements (agent skills, centralized chat sessions/archive)

20. Security & cyber news highlights

21. IP-based KVM devices extremely insecure (backdoors to critical systems)
22. Tailscale config auditor (Tail Snitch) — found outdated nodes
23. Massive alleged leaks (1.2B Chinese citizen records)

24. n8n CVE-10.0 full host compromise vulnerability (~100k exposed servers)

25. Business / operations notes

26. Need better contract lifecycle management (considering PandaDoc) after clause dispute

27. Upcoming talks: nearshore consulting setup, avoiding million-dollar lawsuits, modern SaaS support models

28. Light / humorous recurring motifs

29. “Crustacean power” / lobster memes
30. “It works fine in dev”
31. Drive failures (Steve is “the luckiest administrator in the world”)
32. “Vibe coding warning”

View Details

I Need Coffee - Episode 195 - Weekly BC Review! (january 2, 2026)

1. Personal & Weekend Recap
2. Went on a 6-mile hike with wife and daughter in Orange County; mostly paved trail but exhausting (sore feet/legs); beautiful beach views on a sunny day during rain break.

3. Experimented with "poor man's" ceramic coating on wife's 10-year-old unwaxed car (Griot's spray-on wax hybrid, ~$100–150 range); based on Project Farm YouTube tests; clayed half the hood as test.

4. Vibe Coding & Productivity Insights

5. Non-stop vibe coding all week; learning tools' capabilities (good/bad at certain tasks); described as a new career/industry/toolset.

6. Released two fully vibe-coded PTEs; discovered GitHub Copilot bugs/flaws (e.g., ignores instructions, bad design patterns like exposing internals, missing permissions, skipping Excel headers); workarounds: Prompt for best practices, double-check/refactor.

7. Business Central Issues & Projects

8. BC v27.2 1099 bugs: Confirmed broken (doesn't calculate vendor amounts correctly; reports/useless overviews); recommend avoiding until fixed; configs different, mess likely to last a year.

9. Cyber Security News & Insights

10. "Agentic hacking" demo at Black Hat: Exploited LLM vulnerabilities (e.g., prompt injection via hidden image text); implications for AI agents (e.g., reading emails, executing commands).
11. LastPass breach: Fake Chrome extension stole $16k in crypto; advice: Download from official sources, enable 2FA/hardware keys.

12. Password manager extensions: Full browser access (security trade-off) but convenient (auto-fill, detects suspicious fields); AL syntax highlighting

13. Upcoming 2026 Events

14. Partner in Vibe Conference: Jan 28–30, South Padre Island, Texas; register at partnerin.io (price increase soon); sessions on building nearshore practice from scratch, avoiding $1M lawsuit, agentic AI considerations, modern support/managed services contracts for cloud Dynamics.
15. Directions NA: April, Orlando.

16. Dynamics Con: May, Las Vegas.

17. Team & Office Updates (ERP Center of Excellence, Berlin, El Salvador)

18. David & Joselyn: Wrapping BC implementation tasks; studying for MB-800 certification.
19. Ronald: Managing 1099 "war room" (abandoned v27.2 due to bugs); beta testing/ops for partner dashboard (bulk tenant management/upgrades).
20. Franklin: Finalizing partner dashboard releases; daily PTE vibe coding practice (improving skills).
21. Fatima: Scheduled in-person PMP exam in San Salvador (2-day process: drive/hotel night before); planning first Dynamics user group meetup (late Jan/early Feb).

22. Furry team: Mama ERP cat and 3 kittens healthy/well-fed; bought $70 Wi-Fi enabled cat feeder for automated care (team traveling, manual feeding tiring; limited El Salvador options).

23. Q&A/Recommendations

24. Art restoration channel: Baumgartner Restoration (Julian Baumgartner, ~2M subscribers); fascinating process (e.g., restoring shredded painting); meticulous, patient work; not AI/robotics-replaceable soon.

25. Misc & Closing

26. Quiet New Year's week overall.
27. Holiday wishes: Happy New Year 2026; cheers to surviving the week; go learn something, vibe code.

View Details

I Need Coffee - Episode 194 - Weekly BC Review! (Dec 26, 2025)

1. Vibe Coding / AI-assisted development (central theme)
2. Heavy promotion of "vibe coding" with GitHub Copilot (and similar tools like Claude, Cursor)
3. Rapid creation of complex deliverables via prompts

4. Repeated call: "vibe code all the things" – adopt this workflow urgently as a competitive edge

5. Extremely fast document generation examples

6. 19-page design document / PRD created almost instantly from one customer call scenario
7. 16-page functional requirements document (incl. process flows, data mapping, wireframes) after 15-min call

8. Full AppSource app user guide first attempt = 520 pages → refined down to ~135 pages

9. GitHub Copilot bugs & limitations identified

10. Specific bug in AL language coding: fails repeatedly on certain tasks (verified; works in Claude/Cursor)

11. Output length limit frequently hit on large documents (>15–20 pages) → requires chunking / section-by-section prompting

12. Business Central v27 – serious 1099 preparation issues (critical warning)

13. Major problems printing 1099 forms (missing dollar amounts, unreliable functionality)
14. Strong recommendation: STAY ON VERSION 26 if possible
15. v27 users expected to face significant pain

16. LLMs give dangerously wrong advice (mix v26 and v27 behavior) → do NOT rely on AI for v27 1099 guidance

17. DevOps automation breakthrough (~75% automated)

18. Previously: 1–2 hours + 25-page manual guide to create new PTE/project in Azure DevOps
19. Now: Copilot-generated PowerShell + DevOps API automation → target <5 minutes

20. Goal: reduce errors to <5%, increase capacity from 1 PTE/day → 3+ PTEs/day per developer

21. AppSource app development & production surprises

22. Many issues only appear in production (not caught in dev/sandbox)
23. Hidden BC feature: list pages/subpages have built-in "Open in Excel" option

24. New app release stuck in AppSource pipeline over Christmas period

25. AI-powered wireframing of Business Central pages

26. Copilot generates usable page mockups (incl. custom fields) in <60 seconds

27. Now standard in all design documents instead of manual drawing

28. Team productivity & nearshore updates (El Salvador CoE)

29. Juniors (Joselyn, David, Franklin, etc.) highly productive very quickly
30. Franklin: zero BC knowledge (Nov 2024) → now building internal partner dashboard + full vibe-coded PTEs in one day

31. Partner dashboard: bulk upgrades, tenant management via BC Admin API

32. Other technical / business notes

33. Starlink satellite anomaly + Vantor imaging capture (impressive 12 cm resolution from 241 km)
34. Config package import performance: 72,000 rows very slow → workaround by splitting files
35. 13-year-old

View Details

I Need Coffee - Episode 193 - Weekly BC Review! (Dec 19, 2025)

1. Personal & Travel Recap: Trip to El Salvador
2. 12th trip to El Salvador; primary purpose was attending the El Coyolar Christmas Festival with partner Tanya.
3. Packed heavily (120–130 lbs in suitcases); arrived Monday morning amid unusually high number of Americans at the airport.
4. Spotted a $3 million Ferrari F40 in downtown San Salvador.
5. Aeroman MRO facility expansion: New wide-body hangar under construction (company rumored to use Dynamics ERP in El Salvador).
6. Coincidental meetup with Wade Tatsuka (golf trip); breakfast chat and interest in his product.
7. Scenic drives, volcano views, visits to Alegria and a finca, obligatory pupusas multiple times.

8. Berlin, El Salvador decorated extensively for Christmas.

9. El Coyolar Christmas Festival – Major Success

10. 250–300 attendees (kids + adults); military-precision planning led by Fatima (“PMP” nickname).
11. Team prepped 250–300 snack/gift bags, drinks, popcorn, piñatas, prizes.
12. On-site: Tent setup, wristbands by age group, snack tickets, checklists, name registration.
13. Activities: Professional clown (highly entertaining), Santa, bouncy castle, trampoline, games, balloon animals, ice cream bars (galletas), piñata smashing.
14. Toys handed out to every child; huge community impact (“Disneyland in El Coyolar”).
15. Volunteers included recipients of the team’s English Academy scholarships.
16. Sponsors: Integrity Data, MTP Consulting Group, iSolutions, Mecorma — covered growing budget.

17. Second annual event; first time host attended in person — massive success with happy kids and community.

18. Team & Office Updates (ERP Center of Excellence, Berlin, El Salvador)

19. New furry team members: Mother cat now named “ERP” with three kittens (E, R, P); spoiled with imported U.S. pet beds.
20. Joselyn and David: Deep in new implementations (config packages, data migration, financial reports, GL setup); studying for MB-800 exam.
21. Ronald: Leading 1099 “war room” for BC27; expects most customers to delay upgrade to 27 until after 1099 season (stay on 26.5 through February).
22. Franklin: Beta testing internal partner dashboard; completed first vibe-coded PTE, starting second (full SOW-to-PTE process).

23. Fatima: PMP exam attempt cancelled (proctor didn’t speak Spanish); rescheduling soon. Leading new Dynamics Professionals of El Salvador user group — first meeting planned for January (first Dynamics user group in Latin America from Mexico to South America).

24. Hardware & Productivity Updates

25. MacBook Air M4 transition ongoing: Learning power-user customizations, adjusting to dongle life (USB-A → USB-C), blaming Brad for the switch.
26. New portable monitor discovery: 14-inch, ultra-light model — ideal for travel and dual-monitor setup.

27. Mechanical keyboard rabbit hole: Briefly mentioned going down it.

28. Extreme Vibe Coding Milestone

29. Completed an entire complex PTE project in one day (previously estimated 60–80 hours, reduced to ~12 hours).
30. Process:
31. 4-hour proof-of-concept prototype → validated with Tanya.
32. Created 45–52-page comprehensive PRD (vibe-coded with AI coaching):
33. Design, implementation details, permission set matrix, error handling philosophy/categories, transaction management, edge cases (discounts, negatives, zeros), user notification strategy, functional acceptance criteria (P1/P2), full testing checklist (functional, UI, permissions, error handling), test sign-off criteria.

View Details

I Need Coffee - Episode 192 - Weekly BC Review! (Dec 5, 2025)

1. Personal Updates
2. Camera malfunctioned after a live stream but mysteriously started working again; bought a backup on eBay.

3. Visited old friend and first client Scott, who is dealing with dementia/Alzheimer's — highlighted the ironic paradox of modern technology (e.g., iPhones, remotes) becoming barriers for the elderly.

4. Vibe Coding & AI Productivity

5. Daily vibe coding is becoming natural; using AI (Copilot, agents) to draft user guides, fix bugs, and more — saving days of work.
6. Learned specifics for placing actions in Business Central (use "processing" area and "promoted" for correct placement).
7. First vibe-coded customer PTE delivered (in 1/4 the quoted time), but found a bug requiring thorough testing; led to rethinking developer roles (now include test data generation, user guides, checklists).
8. Created vibe-coded test data generator; submitted first PR with bug fix.
9. Discovered VS Code Speech extension for voice-to-text input to Copilot — enables "talking" to code (vibe coding by speech).

10. Positive outlook on AI: Treat it as a teammate for superpowers and growth, not job replacement; massive upside in productivity and innovation.

11. Business Central Version 27 (BC27)

12. Ongoing discoveries and preparations for 1099 form changes (potential chaos, especially with MEM); Ronald leading as "1099 guru."

13. Some partners delaying upgrades; recommendation to test early.

14. Team & Office Updates (ERP Center of Excellence, Berlin, El Salvador)

15. New "team members": A mother cat (Mrs. Kitty) and her kittens found in the office compound — being cared for.
16. Joselyn and David studying config packages and prepping for MB-800 certification (then Microsoft certified trainers).
17. Ronald handling 1099 war room and alpha testing partner dashboard.
18. Franklin developing partner dashboard with vibe coding and agile iterations.
19. Fatima's PMP application accepted; leading new "Dynamics Professionals of El Salvador" organization.

20. Upcoming El Coyolar Christmas Festival (next Friday): 250–300 attendees, toys, clown, bouncy castle, etc.; sponsored by Integrity Data, MTP Consulting Group, I Solutions, and Mecorma.

21. Hardware Switch: New MacBook Air M4

22. Bought on sale for $750 (Black Friday); major upgrade from Windows/ThinkPad due to intrusive ads/bugs.
23. Pros: Native apps (Office, RoboForm, SnagIt, Teams, Termius), excellent screen/webcam, seamless iPhone integration (iMessage, photos).
24. Minor issues solved: New Yubico Security Key C NFC; Nitro PDF license separate.
25. Only downside: Keyboard shortcuts (complex modifiers).

26. Verdict: Highly recommended so far.

27. Security & Tech Tips

28. Passkeys: Recommended (portable ones in dedicated password manager like RoboForm); tested on X accounts.
29. Code signing: Uses GlobalSign with Azure Key Vault HSM (manual but supports requirements).

30. Self-service Key Vault onboarding now available for AppSource apps (since BC26).

31. Cyber Security Updates

32. Ongoing npm supply chain attacks (1,200+ organizations affected).
33. Certificate validity shortening: Let's Encrypt to 45 days; GlobalSign SSL to 200 days; code signing max to 460 days (from March 2026) — major hassle.
34. Critical React vulnerability (CVSS 10.0): Actively exploited; potential impact on Business Central front-end (uses React)? Cloudflare outage related to mitigation.
35. Recommendation: HotcakeX Harden Windows Security tool (free on Microsoft Store) for safe Windows&

View Details

I Need Coffee - Episode 191 - Weekly BC Review! (Nov 28, 2025)1. Thanksgiving Vibes
- Happy post-Thanksgiving (yesterday in US); wearing a turkey hat with Santa legs; overate like everyone.

1. AL Vibe Coding Launch & Speedrun
2. Debuted new live stream: "AL Vibe Coding" (inspired by Andrej Karpathy quote); chill, Bob Ross-style with custom analog TV theme (AI-generated CRT for visuals).
3. Monday speedrun: Built full BC extension (real project) in 6 hours vs quoted 28 dev hours; added extras like auto-data gen, Excel export, logging.

4. Full speed ahead: Laundry list of topics; GitHub Copilot Workspace updates (e.g., auto-fixing errors, multi-file edits).

5. Tech Woes & Rants

6. Windows boot failure (black screen + cursor; 1-hour fix).
7. AI bloat: Rumor of AI/tables/formatting in Notepad → "game over for Windows."

8. Shy Hallude malware: Infected 500-800 npm packages via GitHub compromises; Node.js security "dumpster fire" (concerns for BC MCP servers).

9. Project Troubleshooting & Opportunities

10. 3 days debugging registration/license system error → vibe code overhaul needed (new dashboard, telemetry).

11. 1099 changes in BC27: Complete overhaul; Ronald becoming team expert via vibe-coded code analysis (26 vs 27 diffs).

12. Berlin, El Salvador Invasion & Team Updates

13. "Two blondes" (Tanya Henderson + Shannon Mullins, BC MVP) visited: Toured ERP Center of Excellence, met team; first official visitor.
14. Joselyn: Fighting config packages; vibe-coded bulk delete tool; starting MB800.
15. David: Config packages for new impls; SOD expert (hit limits on customer craziness); MB800.
16. Ronald: 1099 war room lead; helping Berlin English Academy grads with RSM trainee apps (English exams, resumes, typing).
17. Franklin: Vibe coding master; rapid partner dashboard progress (defer upgrades button).

18. Fatima: Submitted PMP application (50+ hours study); wrapping Elco Christmas Festival (Dec 13-14); applied for El Salvador DUG.

19. Berlin English Academy & Nearshore Wins

20. 4 grads applying to RSM US El Salvador trainee program (9-10 weeks, Sat sessions; exposure to depts like BC, cyber, IT).

21. EF EPI 2025: El Salvador #2 in Central America, #5 in Latin America for English proficiency; ideal nearshore (US time zones, USD, safe).

22. Q&A / Misc

23. Hyperpolyglot Von Smith: Speaks 24 languages fluently (learned via random encounters); brain scan shows unique activity; day job: carpet cleaner (amazing YouTube vid by Ali Richards).

TL;DR: Post-Thanksgiving turkey hat fun; launched AL Vibe Coding stream + 6-hour speedrun miracle; Windows/AI rants; npm malware scare; Berlin "invasion" by Tanya/Shannon; team vibe coding 1099s/configs; English Academy grads eyeing RSM; El Salvador English proficiency rising. Vibe code or bust!

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I Need Coffee - Episode 190 - Weekly BC Review! (Nov 21, 2025)1. Health & Weekend Recap
- Lingering cold (week 3+), bad headaches from monitor glare → tried dark mode but Office apps break (toolbars/formatting/screenshots).
- Car troubleshooting: Rear wiper/sprayer failed → Perplexity gave generic advice; 2017 forum post nailed it (window not fully up).
- Rainy LA; played video game but anti-cheat required BIOS update/secure boot fixes (AMD firmware bug from 2021; 2-hour ordeal).
- Linux gaming progress (Steam Machine on Arch); worked on AL Vibe Coding live stream idea (chill Bob Ross-style).

1. Vibe-Coding / AI Dev Updates
2. GitHub Copilot Workspace: Game-changer for AL dev? Creates full repos from prompts/PRDs; Steve tested a Support Plan app → 100% success but random errors persist.
3. Cursor innovations: Composer (multi-file gen), rules (enforce patterns); still better UX than Copilot but extension limits.
4. AI for SOWs: Tried feeding his style/blogs → "horrible" output (6th-grade level); can't use yet.

5. New live stream: "Steve's Stupid AL Vibe Coding Tricks" – random, chill sessions this weekend (no schedule).

6. Project Management Rants

7. SOWs are "kryptonite": 4+ hours each due to vague requirements (e.g., no customer # in imports); partners underestimate.
8. Cash receipts import: Excel can't change, multi-applies, hates payment journal UI/apply entries.
9. Real PM vs theory: Fatima passed PMP (congrats!); Steve: Study dumpster-fire projects (overselling, blame games) over PMBOK ideals.

10. GP customers: Spending $10k+ entrenching in outdated system they barely use.

11. BC/Admin & Outages

12. BC outage: Azure Front Door global DDoS (15 Tbps from 500k devices) → survived, but Front Door is ironic single-point failure.

13. Partner dashboard: Auto-defer upgrades; flag bad settings.

14. Cybersecurity Nightmares

15. CAPTCHA fatigue malware: Tricks users into running Win+R / Ctrl+V / Enter to install.
16. Black Hills pentest webcast: Go straight to Copilot for sensitive data exfil.
17. Fortinet CVEs: New kill-chain cluster → "dumpster" their appliances.

18. ZTNA/firewall configs, NAT routing, code-signing certs – impossible to expert everything.

19. Infrastructure Deep Dives

20. Azure geo-redundancy: Manual failover (West/East US); first manual SQL backup (.bacpac format – schema/metadata/data zipped; mind-blown).

21. Relies on infra he doesn't fully understand (iPhone, Linux servers).

22. El Salvador Team & Events

23. Joselyn: RDLC fights, config packages, MB800 study.
24. David: Report layouts, SOD limits (w/Tanya), MB800.
25. Ronald: Mastered McCorma/Continia; onto new journey.
26. Franklin: Partner dashboard (defer upgrades button).
27. Fatima: PMP passed; Elco Christmas Festival (Dec 13-14; Steve/Tanya attending); Dynamics User Group signup.

28. Conferences: Partner in Vibe (Jan 28-30, South Padre – Steve going); Directions NA (Apr 27-29, Orlando – submitted w/Brad); DynamicsCon (May 12-15, Vegas – 2 sessions submitted); Dynamics Minds (May, Slovenia).

29. Misc / Fun

30. Tech meme: What companies think we want (RGB overload) vs need (more USB ports).
31. BC certifications/training for team (and maybe Steve).

View Details

I Need Coffee - Episode 189 - Weekly BC Review! (Nov 14, 2025)1. Audio/Tech Setup Woes
- Scarlet Focusrite interface dials failing annually → open to sub-$1k alternatives.
- Blue Origin rocket launch (full booster landing on ocean ship) impressed him.

1. Health & Weekend Recap
2. Lingering cold (week 2+) → limited productivity.
3. Cursor vs Copilot testing: Cursor better UX but can't use Microsoft extensions (licensing issues); sideload hacks break things like Cosmo Alpaca.

4. Watched delayed Brazil F1 race (chaotic) + movie "The Family Man" (loves it).

5. AI Integration & Mindset Shift

6. Using Perplexity 10x/day for everything (recipes to app settings).
7. AI-first routine: "Hey, could AI do this?" → reviewed a full AL project in Cursor, caught missing setup option & suggested fixes.

8. Dev question: When to abandon AI? Steve's cutoff ~1 hour if it's leading astray (avoid sunk cost); restart with new prompts/approach.

9. Support Tickets & BC Quirks

10. Integration error: Field length overflow after 1 year (255 chars limit hit); added truncation.
11. Cronus sales order won't post to "invoice only" (needs "ship & invoice" first) → bad error message; Perplexity failed to help.
12. Corrections from order-to-invoice don't recreate editable invoice copy.

13. Seeking US equivalent to SEPA direct debit (avoid relying on Europe-specific features).

14. Security & Phishing Rants

15. "Phishing-resistant MFA" buzz (e.g., passkeys, conditional access).
16. Partner got phished (distracted, entered creds) → "How? Really?"

17. Microsoft account locked popup confusion (too many logins); discovered .microsoft TLD (e.g., admin.cloud.microsoft).

18. External APIs & Vendor Nightmares

19. SAS API delays: Promised Sept feature → still missing in Nov; requires drilling into each transaction (thousands possible).

20. Wells Fargo supplier payment portal: "Horrible" – no pasting, repeated passwords, aneurysms-inducing UX → just print checks instead.

21. Tuesday Morning Catastrophe

22. Cat sat on Apple TV remote at 5:30 AM → blasted F1 Brazil race at full volume/brightness.

23. Conferences & Submissions

24. Submitted co-presenter session for DynamicsCon 2026 (Las Vegas, May 12-15).

25. Upcoming: Summit NA Road Shows (Dec 9 Houston, Dec 11 Fort Lauderdale); DynamicsCon Regionals 2026 (Jan Tampa, Mar Vancouver, Apr Denver).

26. Berlin, El Salvador Team Updates

27. Joselyn: RDLC reports, KB article on vendor refunds.
28. David: Custom reports/layouts, SOD mods.
29. Ronald: McCorma supercheck/overflow demo prep.
30. Franklin: Partner dashboard PRs.
31. Fatima: PMP exam prep (180 questions, 4 hours); Elco Christmas Festival planning (Dec 13-14, Steve/Tanya attending).

32. Starting Dynamics User Group in El Salvador.

33. Mechanical Keyboards Rabbit Hole

34. Ergonomics focus: Kinesis Advantage 360 ($400-600) for RSI prevention (floating hands, thumb keys) – used by Lex Fridman, but too pricey/funky.
35. Coffee-themed keycaps spotted.

36. OG typing: IBM Selectric typewriter (golf ball heads, correction ribbons, humming motor).

37. Q&A / Misc

38. Framework Laptop: Modular/repairable, $1,500-1,900 for mid-high specs → cool but he'll stick to used ThinkPads.
39. Heading to "important meetings with fancy people."

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Show Notes: Episode 188 - I Need Coffee (Nov 7, 2025)1. Still Sick (Week 2)
- Persistent cold since Halloween → low energy, cancelled calls, mostly resting.

1. Vibe-Coding / AI-Agent-Assisted AL Development
2. Spent the previous weekend refining a full “Vibe Coding Benchmark” PRD for a hypothetical Support Plan / Contract Management app.
3. Now consistently hitting 99 % correct code from a single prompt + detailed Markdown PRD + PowerPoint wireframes.
4. Tested Cursor vs GitHub Copilot head-to-head:
5. Code quality essentially identical.
6. Cursor wins on UX, speed, and innovation (rapid new features, smoother flow, no constant approval dialogs).
7. Copilot feels “dialogue-fatigued” and exposes too much plumbing.
8. Best practices he now recommends:
9. Write PRD in Markdown (VS Code) → Git from day one.
10. Use PowerPoint for quick wireframes (screenshots → docs folder).

11. Explicitly define launch.json, app.json, number series, and setup pages — agents have no intuition here.

12. Partner Dashboard (formerly Tenant Admin Dashboard)

13. Actively building an in-BC app to centrally manage all customer environments:
14. Auto-list prod environments, flag non-recommended update windows/next-version settings.
15. Will use BC Admin API to bulk-fix update windows, dates, etc.

16. Triggered by a painful incident: customer auto-scheduled to 27.0 instead of 26.5 → Tuesday morning chaos (PTEs uninstalled, users locked out).

17. BC Update & Admin Center Nightmares

18. New minimum 6-hour update window (can no longer do 2-hour windows).
19. Restore-point quirks: can’t always roll back to just before an upgrade if inside the window.

20. Email notification overload is untenable → partner dashboard is the solution.

21. Funny / Annoying Stuff

22. Windows File Explorer “Date” column is meaningless (random mix of created/modified) → caused PRD rollback disaster → another reason for Git.
23. Got asked to be a “subcontractor” who pretends to work for the customer (use their email, timesheets, etc.) → hard pass.
24. Competitor claiming they’ll migrate 30 years of history → Steve: “Hand them the deal and grab popcorn.”
25. New Business Central icon announced at Directions EMEA → RIP to the guy with the old BC logo sculpted into his office ceiling.

26. “Set Applies-to ID” in cash receipt journal still applies the full invoice amount even when payment is smaller → change request submitted.

27. AI Agent Security / Shenanigans

28. Prompt-injection exploits now being embedded invisibly in websites (Oreos & baseball example).

29. Perplexity’s Comet agent shopping on Amazon → Amazon is suing them.

30. Events & Travel

31. Directions EMEA happening now (new icon + 2026 Wave 1 focus areas).

32. DynamicsCon 2026 (Las Vegas, May 12-15) session submissions just opened (closes Dec 31).

33. Berlin, El Salvador Team Updates

34. Joselyn (joined June 2024, zero accounting background) now deep in complex financial reports & RDLC.
35. David crushing report layouts & Simple Object Designer work.
36. Ronald becoming the Western Hemisphere’s #1 McCorma Super Check + Overflow Remittance guru; prepping big demo.
37. Franklin refining the partner dashboard (new beta released).
38. Fatima finishing PMP prep (50+ hours study + 100+ practice questions).

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Show Notes: Episode 187 - I Need Coffee (oct 31, 2025)1. Personal / Life Updates
- Persistent cold, late start, brewing coffee
- Rotated 18-month-old generator gasoline (10 gallons)
- Homemade “Zante bowls” (rice-beans-tofu bowls)
- Replaced/filled tiki torches for Halloween party
- Visited first ERP client/mentor (1996) who now has early Alzheimer’s

1. Hardware & Power-Saving Obsession
2. LA electricity prices insane (~33–55 ¢/kWh, bill up 63% in 4 yrs)
3. Switched 24/7 servers to Lenovo M910Q Tiny PCs
4. Ubuntu Server idle: 3.6–4.4 W (!)
5. Windows 11 idle: 9–10 W

6. Entire “data center” (3 servers + NAS) now <20 W

7. Linux Desktop vs Windows Reality Check

8. Tried Linux desktop again → quickly remembered why he doesn’t use it
9. Deep Microsoft 365 ecosystem (Excel, Word, OneNote, Outlook, Teams, Snagit, etc.) simply doesn’t work well on Linux

10. “You should use Linux” crowd ignores the “you” part (Lamborghini SVJ vs family minivan analogy)

11. Open-Source Realities

12. Comic about endless unpaid feature requests = open-source life
13. Customer asked detailed security questions about 2012 closed-source GP ISV → ironic because open-source is now seen as higher risk by some auditors

14. Attended Directions webinar on BC open-source apps → cool but maintenance is a thankless job

15. Business & Project Updates

16. Building multiple custom file-import solutions (sales/purchase invoices, bank deposits, AR apply)
17. Customer on 15-year-old Dynamics GP10 waffling between upgrade vs BC
18. Teaching Franklin about proper Statements of Work, scope, exclusions, change management

19. Top practical PM practices he values: (1) crystal-clear scope, (2) budget tracking, (3) change management, (4) risk awareness (still figuring out how to formalize)

20. Microsoft Outages & Azure Front Door

21. Second major Azure Front Door global outage in a few weeks (90+ minutes for many BC tenants)

22. Front Door is marketed as high-availability but itself becomes single point of failure

23. AI & Development

24. Cursor released Composer v1 (very fast frontier coding model)
25. AI agent/MCP security nightmare is beginning (prompt injection, exfiltration, etc.)
26. OnePassword adding “agentic autofill” with human-in-the-loop (scary but at least trying)

27. Terminology chaos: agent vs persona vs MCP vs skill

28. Upcoming Conferences & Travel

29. Directions EMEA (Poland) next week
30. Partner in Vibe Conference – Jan 28-30, 2026, South Padre Island (Steve is going)
31. Directions NA – Apr 27-29, Orlando (call for speakers opens Nov 12)

32. DynamicsCon May 12-15, Las Vegas

33. El Salvador / Berlin Team Updates

34. Helping huge multinational GP customer whose entire IT is in El Salvador
35. Team bringing 500 ft Cat5e + rice cooker on next trip

36. Ronald finished 70-hour “Berlin English Academy – Call Center” program with certificates & Halloween party

37. Fun / Miscellaneous

38. Windows 11 tiny taskbar icons “feature”
39. Ridiculous BC admin job posting in Baton Rouge asking for one person to do 20 different senior roles
40. Mechanical keyboard rabbit hole → hot-swappable custom boards (drooling over retro ThinkPad-style board)
41. Family Halloween costumes & teenager’s party (Steve may be exiled from his own house)

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Show Notes: Episode 186 - I Need Coffee (oct 24, 2025)1. Personal Updates
- Sharpened knives while watching BC launch videos (Tinfister tip); engaging.
- Storage comic: Floppy disks to 2TB micro SDs; consumer-grade unreliable.

1. Professional/Technical Updates
2. AI/Engineering:
3. Dave Farley video: DORA 2025 report; use engineering practices for AI chaos.
4. Reading "Vibe Coding" by Kim/Yegge: AI coding success.
5. Windgate blog: Trust consultants to vibe code with principles.
6. BC Projects:
7. AL file import PTE (~30hrs): Single-page upload; beats config packages/Power Automate; sellable.
8. McCormma overflow: 30 lines/check success; needs testing/demo.
9. Partner Dashboard: Progress despite DevOps rename issues.
10. BC v27: Learning features (page scripting, reports).
11. Bulk delete invoices: Use Edit in Excel.
12. DevOps: Don’t rename Azure projects (breaks pipelines); Cosmo Apaca helps but rule-bound.
13. AWS Outage: DNS error downed US East-1; exposed redundancy myths; smart beds failed (16GB/day telemetry, GitHub fix).

14. Pi Hole: On Ubuntu (Lenovo ThinkCentre); GeoIP blocking; DNS config issues fixed.

15. Cybersecurity

16. Reassess redundancy (Azure Front Door risks); Namecheap SSL renewal messy, good support.

17. Avoid smart homes; loose IoT on VLANs.

18. Community/Events

19. El Coyolar Festival: $2K funded (Summit NA); toys/snacks for 150+ kids; 2026 sponsors open.
20. Events:
21. Partner in Vibe: Jan 28–30, 2026, South Padre Island (partnerin.io/vibe).
22. Directions NA: Apr 27–29, 2026, Orlando.
23. DynamicsCon: May 12–15, 2026, Las Vegas.
24. Dynamics Minds: May 25–27, 2026, Slovenia.
25. Summit NA Road Shows: Dec 9 & 11, 2025, Houston/Ft. Lauderdale.

26. Vibe Sessions: Nearshore scaling, practice building, lawsuit avoidance, AI engineering.

27. Other Notes

28. Keyboards: Filco Majestouch 3 Ninja + O-rings; Switch and Click YT; eyeing mechanicalkeyboards.com.
29. Linux: Testing Ubuntu; considering Omari (Arch); critiques theme obsession.
30. Video: Cort Guitars factory (Indonesia, 2M+ guitars/yr, 2,500 employees).

31. Team: Joselyn (reports), David (SOD/SOW), Ronald (v27/McCormma), Franklin (dashboard), Fatima (PMP/festival).

32. Q&A/Closing

33. Vibe code AI? Learn BC v27; prep for outages.
34. Closing: Vibe code, break/learn, enjoy weekend.

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Show Notes: Episode 185 - I Need Coffee (oct 17, 2025)

1. Personal Updates
2. Woodworking: Built shelves/spice rack for El Salvador with pine and Festool Domino; will flat-pack and ship.
3. Desk Cleanup: Rare cleaning, noted by daughter.

4. Wi-Fi Angel: Bought humorous "Wi-Fi Angel" at Dollar Tree.

5. Professional/Technical Updates

6. Business Central (BC):
7. BC v27 Issues: "Average days to pay" field obsoleted; no clear upgrade path from v26.5. Avoid upgrading without testing.
8. Number Series: Poor configurations (e.g., 5-digit limits) cause issues; recommends 7-8 digits, no ending number. Number Series Copilot ineffective.
9. PTE Challenges: Hard to find PTE due to poor naming; suggests AI for repo scanning.
10. BC Web API 2.0: Overnormalized API complicates image retrieval; custom API not viable.
11. Report Customization: 10,000-series reports use temp tables, needing PTEs for custom fields.
12. Invoice Cancel: AL procedure lacks payment checks, unlike UI; needs customer input.
13. Tenant Admin Dashboard: Franklin’s pull request hit DevOps issues; fixes needed.
14. BC v27 Features: Ronald’s curated feature doc for internal review.
15. Project Management:
16. Saying No: Declined risky software project due to liability.
17. Fatima: Training for PMI PMP, leading calls, organizing festival.
18. Azure DevOps: Don’t rename projects (breaks VS Code/pipelines); migrate code instead.
19. Cosmo Apaca: Automates DevOps setup for small teams.
20. AI/MCP:
21. BC Telemetry Buddy: Waldo’s VS Code extension queries BC telemetry via MCP.

22. BC Code Intelligence: Jeremy Visa’s 14-agent project for code optimization, security, upgrades. See Dynamics Corner Ep. 434.

23. Cybersecurity

24. F5 Compromise: Hackers accessed systems for months, affecting 23,000 customers.
25. Cisco Flaw: SNMP exploit deploys rootkits; replace devices.
26. LastPass/Bitwarden Phishing: Fake alerts compromise systems; prefers OnePassword.

27. Sonic Wall: Testing Cloud Secure Edge for secure VPN overlay.

28. Community/Events

29. El Coyolar Festival: Team shopping for toys in San Salvador for 150+ kids.
30. Events:
31. Summit NA: Oct 20–23, 2025, Orlando
32. BC Bash: Oct 21, 2025, Orlando
33. Directions AMIA: Nov 4–6, 2025, Poland
34. Summit NA Road Shows: Dec 9 & 11, 2025, Houston/Ft. Lauderdale
35. Partner in Vibe: Jan 28–30, 2026, South Padre Island
36. Directions NA: Apr 27–29, 2026, Orlando
37. DynamicsCon: May 12–15, 2026, Las Vegas

38. Dynamics Minds: May 25–27, 2026, Slovenia

39. Other Notes

40. Manufactured Urgency: Criticized manipulative email urgency; sanitized requests.
41. Dynamics GP 18.8: Upgraded ISV solutions.
42. Starship 11: Praised SpaceX launch.
43. Global Operations Center: Planning clocks/dashboard for El Salvador BC support.

44. Team: Joselyn (reports), David (Simple Object Designer), Ronald (McCormma), Franklin (DevOps), Fatima (PMP/festival).

45. Q&A/Closing

46. Focus: Learn number series, AI, MCPs.
47. Closing: Encouraged learning and “MCP all the things.”

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Show Notes: Episode 184 - I Need Coffee (oct 10, 2025)

1. busy week, time flies.

2. Viewer Interaction:

3. Encourages questions via X/Twitter, YouTube, Twitch.

4. Trivia and Food Experience:

5. Turkish delight from Locom in Santa Barbara: Chocolate-hazelnut (chewy, intensely sweet, one piece/month max); traditional red pistachio milder but very chewy, honey-based; education via Joselyn's recommendation.

6. Weekend Activities:

7. Road trip with wife to central California (winery region) for friend's R-rated adults-only wedding: Casual, comedians, balloon animals, caricature artist.
8. Visited Hearst Castle: First time, highly recommended; ornate, managed by California State Parks; tour guides know every detail (e.g., light fixtures).

9. Ongoing mild cold.

10. Credit Card Lessons:

11. Overcharges: Passenger Coffee subscription ($34.68 → $75.24 randomly, twice; credits issued, must monitor); Turkish delight ($6 → $9.60, possibly weighed vs. per piece; owner blamed POS, others reported issues).

12. Annoying principle; now requires receipts for all transactions; hard to refute without proof.

13. Work and Projects:

14. Team Updates (ERP Center of Excellence, El Salvador):
15. Joselyn: Report layouts; learned copy document for recurring purchase invoice lines; exploring service contract recurring billing.
16. David: SOD updates; petrified of after-hours deployments (kicks users out, risks breaking); needs single-pager on implications, best practices; late nights (midnight/1 AM).
17. Ronald: McCormma super check/overflow remittance; repetitive data prep/testing (10-50 invoices); internal demo/sell to Tanya/Alyssa; dogfooding for expertise.
18. Franklin: Resuming tenant admin dashboard: One BC page for customer environments, apps, capacity, updates (API limits: no apps pull; avoids admin centers).
19. Fatima: PMI PMP studying; runs daily 8 AM/2 PM Pacific team calls (plans/reviews); leads Doug user group (first in Latin America); El Coyolar Christmas (microbus to San Salvador for toy/food shopping next Friday).
20. One-on-one team calls: 2 done, 2-3 left.
21. McCormma: Luxury of 16-24 hours internal testing before customer offer.
22. Azure tenants: Imagined setup; redid as independent for security (pros: isolation; cons: admin hassle); lacked documentation, concerning.

23. Lawyering: Contract review, legal quotes ($1,200-$3,000 fixed, $175-$500/hour); disliked task.

24. Technical Challenges:

25. SOD deployments: Eric working on sandbox scheduling; needs disciplined procedures for chaotic partners (e.g., Tanya).
26. Recurring billing: Avoid if complex.

27. Job queues: Unreliable, no notifications.

28. Professional Development:

29. Berlin team: Focus on medium/long-term goals vs. fire-fighting.

30. Upcoming Events:

31. Summit NA Road Shows: Houston Dec 9, Fort Lauderdale Dec 11 (year-end; none in Oct/Nov).

32. Q&A and Headline:

33. BC antics: Undiscovered features like copy document (17 menu levels deep).

34. JP Morgan: Paid $115M legal bills for Charlie Javice (codefendant in $175M fraud); contract clause forced JP to cover defense; underscores due diligence.

35. Weekend Plans:

36. Modify app, finalize file import SOW, handle lawyer/contract review.

37. Community and Collaboration:

38. Shout

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Show Notes: Episode 183 - I Need Coffee (oct 3, 2025)

1. Introduction and Weather:

2. Episode 183, Friday, October 3rd; 97% humidity in Los Angeles County, described as steamy.

3. Viewer Interaction:

4. Encourages questions via YouTube, Twitch, X/Twitter; simulcasting through global production studio.

5. Microsoft Dynamics 365 BC Updates:

6. YouTube channel has 48-49 new videos for Business Central 2025 release wave 2 (version 27), released October 1st.

7. Features like excise taxes framework; some rollout over next 6 months.

8. Weekend Activities:

9. Dealt with a cold; experimented with Gajuino (Arduino-based controller for Gaggia Classic Pro espresso machine).
10. Wired Gajuino, booted successfully; turns $500 machine into $4,000 equivalent with touchscreen, profiles, Bluetooth scale.
11. Beach trip to Seal Beach; $7.45 small latte (disappointing, watered down).
12. Advocates home espresso: $1,000 setup breaks even in 9 months at $5/shot, vastly superior quality.

13. Watched "Fletch" (Chevy Chase) with wife; revisited Fetzer valve, ball bearings, antifreeze references.

14. Work and Projects:

15. Team Updates (ERP Center of Excellence, El Salvador):
16. Joselyn: GL account categories, financial reports expertise.
17. David: Report layouts, custom fields, SOD fire-fighting.
18. Ronald: McCormma super check/overflow remittance learning; data testing.
19. Franklin: Excel file import AL completion; Tenant Admin Dashboard resumption.
20. Fatima: PMI PMP training progress; 3 hours/day English; El Coyolar Christmas Festival management (toys, food, supplies; Tanya/Speaker attending December).
21. New project: 18-month delay; kickoff call revealed uncertainties (invoicing system, cash receipts, BC-Salesforce data direction).
22. McCormma Payment Hub: Learning curve (Cronus defaults, bank setup, remittance advice, overflow printing); support tickets needed.
23. Contract lawyering: Hates it; paying lawyer for review.
24. Weird PTE: 50+ companies → MEM → back to 50+ companies; proposing unusual integration design.

25. Job queues: Failed revalue inventory (January) caused unit cost issues; BC silently stops without notification.

26. Technical Challenges:

27. BC Word add-in: Hides empty rows/columns/tables, zero fields; clean reports.
28. Aider tool: Feedback on challenges; not ideal for small projects.
29. Dimension restriction: Restrict dimension values by user (non-MEM); possible customization.
30. MCP hype: Jeremy's BC knowledge server, Stefan Marone release; watching cautiously, practical use cases unclear.
31. Terminology confusion: Partner email mixed entity/company/environment; demands precision.

32. Wrong emails: Copied on confidential financials (invoices, bank details); wrong sensitive meeting invite; AI bots threaten privacy.

33. Cybersecurity and Privacy:

34. Data brokers: Removed info after ransom demands (incorrect co-owner listing); recommends Aura services.

35. Personal Tech Experiments:

36. Minecraft server: Hostinger setup ($60/year, 4GB Debian, 20 users, auto backups); cross-platform play for intern's daughter.

37. Hobbies and Interests:

38. Mechanical keyboards: r/mechanicalkeyboards subreddit; custom keycaps, 3D sculpted (Pokemon), collectors' setups.

39. Professional Development:

40. Berlin team: Medium/long-term goals vs. fire-fighting; Joselyn's financial reporting/PowerBI payoff (12-18 months).

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Show Notes: Episode 182 - I Need Coffee (sept 26, 2025)

1. Personal Updates and Weekend Activities:
2. Received Gajuino kit after 6-month group buy (Hong Kong); upgrades $500 Gaggia espresso machine to $2,000–$5,000 equivalent with electronic controls (boiler temp, pump control, pre-infusion, pressure curves, scale integration).
3. Picked up wife at LAX Saturday night; airport unusually empty, easy parking.
4. Harvested three dragon fruits from backyard (one overripened, split); yields tripled from last year.

5. Discovered yellow dragon fruit at Amazon Fresh ($8/lb, individually wrapped).

6. Work and Projects:

7. Team Updates:
8. Ronald: Learning McCormma Payment Hub, focusing on supercheck/overflow remittance for US check printing (beyond 10–13 line limit).
9. David: Handling Word/RDLC report layouts; found multiple fields in one grid space.
10. Joselyn: Tackling Word report layouts, learning hidden tricks.
11. Franklin: Refining Excel file import prototype via code review; working on Tenant Admin Dashboard for internal multi-tenant management.
12. Fatima: Completed 8–10 hour PMI PMP video series; seeking next course; aiding El Coyolar Christmas Festival planning.
13. Bill.com MEM Integration: Successful go-live after complex project (started February); managed multi-entity/company setup with bill.com API (version 3 incomplete, used version 2).

14. Statement of Work Improvements: Added prerequisites (50+ record sample files, field screenshots); explicit scope (anything unlisted is out); assumptions (BC online US v26.5, English, no multi-currency); error handling; no intercompany/APIs; BC update warnings.

15. Technical Challenges and Discoveries:

16. BC Word Add-in: Discovered Dynamics 365 Business Central Word Add-in (~1.5–2 years old); features hide empty tables/rows/columns, zero fields; SOD-compatible after import error fix.
17. AppSource Region Bug: El Salvador team faced app install issues (SV vs. US region); resolved via company info change or PowerShell/AL code.

18. Aider Tool (Jeremy Howard): Tested AI code intelligence with 14 "agents" (e.g., architect, coder); heavy setup (Node.js); not suited for small projects; better for test-driven development; provided feedback.

19. Cybersecurity and Industry Insights:

20. MITRE Evaluations: Microsoft and vendors withdrew from MITRE ATT&CK evaluations, deemed low-value; akin to meaningless firewall certifications.
21. Social Engineering: Viewed Rachel Tobac (hacked Jeffrey Katzenberg via Aura) and Erica Zelik (Teams impersonation for wire transfers) videos.

22. Privacy/Data Brokers: Removed personal info from brokers after ransom demands tied to incorrect listing (co-owner of "Blue" company); recommends services like Aura; bad data fuels phishing.

23. Professional Engagements and Conferences:

24. Vibe Partner Conference: Jan 28–30, 2026, South Padre Island, TX (partnerin.io); remote, 4-hour drive from San Antonio.
25. Summit NA Road Shows: Houston Dec 9, Fort Lauderdale Dec 11.

26. Contract Negotiations: Rejected removing liability cap ($5M proposed for small project); viewed as red flag.

27. Technology Preferences:

28. Keyboards: Sticking with Filco Ninja Majestouch MX Brown (14 years); rejected Cherry MX Board 3.0; found Norbauer Senica ($3,600–$8,000, custom, no numpad); Ducky cheaper but Filco preferred.

29. Coffee and Experiments:

30. Ordered Dera Brazil coffee (Passenger Keystone favorite); experimental cherries ripen/dry on tree; interesting but not enjoyable; shared with Gabe in El Salvador.

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Show Notes: Episode 181 - I Need Coffee (sept 19, 2025)

1. Personal Updates and Multitasking:

2. Managed live stream while arranging express courier for daughter's forgotten science project (thermal capacity/insulation experiment).

3. Weekend Activities:

4. Visited El Tazumal, a Salvadoran restaurant, for pupusas ($5 each, $40 for 8, shocked El Salvador team).
5. Performed pool maintenance with cybersecurity intern, prepared for fall/winter.
6. Smoked a 14.8 lb brisket for 14 hours, shared with neighbors; daughters made brisket sandwiches.

7. Watched F1 movie on Amazon with Brad Pitt and Javier Bardem, exceeded expectations.

8. Work and Projects:

9. Team Updates:
10. Joselyn: Working on BC financial reports, categorizing GL accounts for row formats/layouts.
11. Tanya: Provided PowerBI billable hours report for weekly team utilization tracking.
12. David: Finalizing report layout changes.
13. Ronald: Handling McCormma Payment Hub, troubleshooting permission set issue; testing bill.com MEM integration.
14. Franklin: Completed E4CC and English conversational classes, improving BC development discussions; conducted code review.
15. Fatima: 70% through 10-hour PMI PMP training, tracking BC27 pipeline errors and El Coyolar Christmas Festival planning.
16. Bill.com MEM Integration:
17. Go-live scheduled today; complex project started in February, using bill.com API (version 3 incomplete, relies on version 2).

18. Ronald tested end-to-end; published for internal AppSource testing.

19. Technical Challenges:

20. RDLC Report: Joselyn fixed negative top property error (-0.00001 inch) in US check report by editing RDLC in Notepad.
21. Documentation: Perplexity generated prompt for Cursor to create 10-page user guide for AppSource app in 1 hour.

22. BC Issue: Perplexity confirmed unit cost variances in lot-controlled item process as expected BC behavior (FIFO/LIFO/average cost).

23. Cybersecurity and Industry Insights:

24. Microsoft Entra Vulnerability (CVE-2025-5241): Actor tokens granted global admin access across tenants via Azure AD Graph API; fixed by Microsoft.
25. SonicWall Breach: My Sonic Wall portal breach exposed <5% firewall backup files, likely via brute force/credential stuffing.

26. GP Partner Issue: Partner stored passwords/license keys in plain text on customer’s SQL server, refused assistance due to being "too busy."

27. Professional Engagements:

28. Attended Aropa Academy webinar on AL code for SQL performance (youtube.com/aroposewebinars).
29. Signed up for MVP Summit, March 2026, Redmond; hotel costs $200–$300/night vs. $37/night in El Salvador.

30. Reconnected with college friend in cybersecurity, discussed potential El Salvador cybersecurity center.

31. Conferences and Events:

32. Summit NA: Oct 20–23, 2025, Orlando; sponsoring BC Bash, Oct 21, 9:00 PM, Cuba Libé (steveendo.link/bc-2025).
33. Directions EMEA: Nov 4–6, 2025, Poland.
34. Partner in Vibe: Jan 28–30, 2026, South Padre Island, TX (partnerin.io); remote location, 4-hour drive from San Antonio.

35. Dynamics Minds: May 25–27, 2026, Porto Rose, Slovenia.

36. Statement of Work Challenges:

37. Custom PTE SOW requires foresight; excluded code structure updates, non-functional fixes, saved scope creep on unit cost issue.
38. Struggled with SOW for custom PTE due to complex, poorly detailed Excel field mapping.

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Show Notes: Episode 180 - I Need Coffee (Sep 12, 2025)

1. Episode Milestone and Greetings
2. Celebrates 180 episodes, a significant milestone despite irregular periods.
3. Technical hiccups: dying keyboard, Stream Deck issues.

4. Shoutouts: Moardes, Tanya (RSM), Ola RSM, Eric Hogard, Christian Lais, DF, Demani.

5. Community Poll on BC Features

6. X poll: "What relatively new BC feature should functional consultants/developers learn?"

7. Responses: Queries (older), Copilot/Text/AI (newer), CI/CD (older), interfaces (years old), price calculation engine (~2 years), performance profiler (~2 years), data transfer/audit fields (underused, e.g., system modified on/by).

8. Personal Anecdotes and Blog Revival

9. Tanya (RSM) resurfaces host’s 2021 blog solving Chrome autofill overlay in BC—enjoys “artisanal” blogging but notes time cost; dislikes AI-generated content.

10. Weekly Projects: PTE Nightmare

11. PTE Disaster:** Adding one report field took 4 weeks due to:
12. Wrong field (duplicates across record types; hidden dataset issue).

13. Stuck pull request added MEM dependency, forcing redo.

14. Sandbox and Tenant Chaos

15. Team of 5 in Berlin juggled shared sandboxes for reports, imports, ISVs—disrupted by upgrades/MEM installs.
16. Solution: Host assigned 9 personal demo tenants (some from 2019); new free demo creation method (custom domain/email, kept low-key).

17. Issue: Browser profile overload (9+ tenants, manual setup across devices).

18. Technical Deep Dives

19. OData Deprecation: Marcel Schab’s blog warns of 2027 Wave 1 (v30) removal; urges Web API v2.0 migration (despite flaws). Simple Object Designer as alternative.
20. AL Upgrade: Fixed v26 issues (duplicates, old number series); v27 deprecations loom (200+ objects). Deferral possible to March 2026, but Nov 2025 urged.

21. Import Design: Staging tables for file imports (Excel/CSV/JSON) enable set-based ops (validation, history). BC list pages add UI polish. Exploring generic fields for multi-customer flexibility.

22. Cybersecurity Highlights

23. NPM Attack: Phished dev added malicious code to 15 packages (2B weekly downloads); caught in <1hr but exposes open-source risks (no audits, obfuscated code).
24. AI Coding Risks: Adds fictional deps, secrets, misconfigs (XKCD 2347 Jenga tower). Useful for explaining complex code.

25. M365 Breaches: Weekly partner compromises—enable Defender, conditional access, geo-locks.

26. Integrations and Events

27. Bill.com + BC/MEM App: Complex, over-budget, nearing go-live (next Friday).
28. Corporate ACH Debits: B2B auto-withdrawals (e.g., fuel suppliers) unsupported in BC NA; scoping paid design (CCD format).
29. Events:
30. Summit NA (Oct, Orlando): BC Bash party (700 cap last year).
31. Directions MIA (Nov 4–6, Poland): Christian Lais session.
32. Dynamics User Group: Dallas (Sep 17, 200+), other regions.
33. Summit Roadshows: Houston (Dec 9), Fort Lauderdale (Dec 11).

34. Webinar: Aropay (Sep 15): AL code’s SQL performance impact.

35. Team Updates

36. Joselyn: PowerBI, RDLC; speedrunning check layouts (<2hr goal).
37. David: Report layouts; paused data migration.
38. Ronald: McCroma Payment Hub (super checks).
39. Franklin: Excel imports, staging tables.
40. Fatima: PMP course; shadowing AL/PM tasks.

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I Need Coffee - Episode 179 - Weekly BC Review!1. ERP System Challenges & Solutions:
- Code cleanup for Business Central (BC) upgrade (BC26/BC27 issues, deprecated fields, code cop warnings).
- Report extension PTE struggles (field addition, pipeline issues).
- Data migration complexities (item imports, deletions, VLOOKUP for sub-records).
- PowerBI performance bottlenecks (slow refreshes, proposed dataset consolidation, custom API endpoints, Azure SQL mirroring).

1. cummunity Engagement & Events:
2. El Coyolar Christmas Festival planning (Dec 12, El Salvador; 210 attendees, $2K budget, corporate sponsors needed).

3. Industry events: Summit NA (BC Bash, Orlando), Directions EMEA (Poland), Dynamics Minds (Slovenia), DynamicsCon Regionals (Copenhagen, Dallas), Summit NA Roadshows (Houston, Fort Lauderdale, Charlotte).

4. Professionalism & Communication:

5. Avoid saying "I have no idea" in client interactions; use proactive responses like "I'll check" or defer to experts.

6. Critique of overly scripted webinars (stiff, buzzword-heavy); recommend rehearsed bullet points instead.

7. Technology & Process Insights:

8. System integration issues (double shipments from manufacturer due to duplicate POs).
9. Gift card complexities (third-party platforms like FirstServe; API-heavy, fraud prevention challenges).

10. Inventory chaos at China Depot (El Salvador’s “AliExpress warehouse”; ERP nightmare for low-value items).

11. Personal Productivity & Efficiency:

12. Power bill reduction (25% energy, 24% cost savings via server shutdowns, peak-hour avoidance).

13. Word document font glitch (Arial 10pt misrendering; unresolved despite experience).

14. Team Development & Training:

15. ERP CoE team tasks: PowerBI, RDLC/Word report layouts, Document Capture, Mercurius Payment Hub, Continia Expense Management, Excel imports, project management.

16. Berlin English Academy: Multitasking training (call center sims, typing at 60 WPM, computer skills) beyond English proficiency.

17. Cultural & Fun Elements:

18. Matrix movie night to teach geek references (red pill, code rain) to Berlin team.
19. HMart Ramune shelf (diverse flavors); pricey in El Salvador.
20. Classic childhood movie tease (obscure, unspecified).

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1 Personal Life and Setup
- Steve is broadcasting from an impromptu home studio in Berlin with some technical setup adjustments.
- Weekend activities included supporting spouse surfing at Seal Beach and configuring a new Berlin weather camera for live city views.
- Upgraded home internet to gigabit fiber, uncovering network bottlenecks and troubleshooting Wi-Fi performance issues.

2 Technical Work and Projects
- Continued work on document capture and engaging with quirky customer business processes.
- Discussion of challenges in reproducing production performance issues in sandbox environments for Business Central.
- Insightful reflections on estimating development effort for customizations and dealing with customer expectations.
- Handling messy ERP data with duplicate and conflicting entries requiring cleanup.
- Extensive travel logistics and packing for work trips between Berlin, El Salvador, and the US.
- Planning and development of a new video production PC to enhance live streaming and gaming setups.
- Coordinating with the team on custom computer parts purchasing, exploring local tech stores in San Salvador.

3 Team and Community
- Berlin English Academy students actively advancing English and project skills; their enthusiasm is highlighted.
- Efforts preparing for the El Coyola Christmas festival community event.
- Team engagement in project management with upcoming PMP certification training.
- The team balances many projects including data loads, financial reporting, Power BI, and customizations.

4 Industry and Event Insights
- Reflection on the challenge of managing old vs new customers and projects simultaneously.
- Evaluating ISV responsiveness, support capabilities, and risks related to ISV products and business longevity.
- Announcements for upcoming events like Proximos Aventtos Summit (Orlando), Directions Amia (Poland), and Dynamics Minds (Slovenia).
- Discussions about software debugging, telemetry, and testing best practices.
- ERP-related anecdotes about inventory management challenges and customer service simulations.

5 Culture and Miscellaneous
- Cultural observations about Berlin and San Salvador, including photos and scenes from daily life.
- Coffee recommendations and personal favorite roasts, emphasizing the host’s love for good coffee.
- Encouragement to explore Business Central features deeply to discover unknown facets and potential.

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I Need Coffee - Episode 178 - Weekly BC Review! 1 Travel and Personal Life
- steve returns home after a long 13-hour travel day from Berlin to Los Angeles with various airport and flight experiences.
- A weekend trip around El Salvador with scenic visits including Lake Ilo Pango, local resorts, and dining experiences.
- Describes accommodations, local culture, and work-life balance during trips.
- Mentions trying new coffee roasts and a home coffee setup in Berlin, El Salvador.

2 Work and Projects
- Focus on several technical and project management efforts:
- Crafting detailed statement of work documents.
- Setting up and troubleshooting the office network including Wi-Fi issues and a plan for network 2.0 involving hard wiring and UniFi access points.
- Discussion about building or outsourcing gaming/streaming PC setup.
- Ongoing work with Bill.com integration, multi-organization mapping, and complex testing.
- Efforts to simplify custom data import processes and the debate of build vs buy solutions.
- Explanation of internal development workflow practices using DevOps, VS Code, PR, and pipelines to maintain code integrity and avoid mistakes.
- Challenges faced during a simple report extension modification, highlighting pipeline and key management complexities.
- Emphasis on proper API key and certificate lifecycle management to avoid outages and failures.
- Review and recommendation of Microsoft 365 Business Premium and Defender for Business tools for improved security.

3 Team and Training
- Introduction of Fatima, a new team member undergoing English language and PMP project management training.
- Insight into Berlin English Academy activities, aiming to improve English skills of the team and prepare them for remote call center work.
- Team collaboration examples include mock call centers, project management for local events, and financial report consolidation efforts.
- Recognition of team members contributing to technical documentation, customizations, and process automation.

4 Events and Community
- Upcoming conferences and summits including Dynamics Con regionals and events in Orlando, Poland, and Slovenia highlighted with travel and visa advice.
- Planning of El Coyola Christmas Festival with community sponsorship efforts, logistics, and budgeting.

5 Technical Observations and Opinions
- Power Automate is criticized for reliability issues, token expiration problems, and lack of production readiness for critical workflows.
- Valuable lessons learned on modern motherboard features, cable management, and PC building challenges.
- Appreciation for good coffee roasters and equipment along with the barista skills developed within the team.

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1. Personal Updates and Weekend Activities:
2. Dragon Fruit Plant: Shared photos of a blooming dragon fruit flower in the backyard, planted by his wife. Noted it produces fruit annually but flowers wilt quickly.

3. Family and Leisure: Celebrated his younger daughter's (cyber security intern) birthday with ribs, baked potatoes, and friends. She's grown tall and excels in school. Went to Seal Beach for his wife's surfing session (pink surfboard); plans to provide moral support again this weekend. Grilled trout and shared with neighbors.

4. Business Central and Technology Projects:

5. Continia Document Capture: Ongoing implementation with Ronald, including testing nuances, quirks, and advanced features (e.g., line recognition for multi-line invoices, routing across companies). Sandbox testing ready for customer/partner; noted challenges with messy PDFs (e.g., multi-page with attachments).
6. Blue Dragonfly Recurring Billing: Added MEM (Multi-Entity Management) support (dimension fields); testing revealed a minor unrelated bug.

7. App Development Subcontracting: Assisting a software firm with feature requests; challenges include estimating complex code (e.g., 3,000+ line objects), code review processes, bug handling, and aligning with their architecture/culture.

8. Cybersecurity and Tools:

9. Encrypted/Protected Email in M365: Struggled with "Do Not Forward" feature in Outlook (not true encryption; requires authentication). Not available despite Business Premium license; navigation in Purview is a "nightmare" for SMBs.

10. Turn Off VPN Series: Highlighted Fortinet SSL VPN brute-force attacks and vulnerabilities (e.g., ForManager flaws); joked about Fortinet's CVE issues. Reiterated advice: Close ports, unplug appliances; alternatives like SonicWall Cloud Secure Edge or Tailscale (limited use).

11. AI and Tool Selection:

12. Claude's Update: Claude Sonnet 4 supports 1M tokens (5x increase; ~75,000 lines of code). Noted limitations in tools like VS Code/Copilot, which send limited context.

13. Mixing AI Tools: Advice against loyalty to one tool (e.g., Cursor, ChatGPT); startups optimize by task (e.g., Claude for some, Gemini for others). Perplexity used for troubleshooting but led to dead ends.

14. Business Central Performance and Bugs:

15. Telemetry Sleuthing: Used telemetry to diagnose slowdowns (e.g., financial reports with MEM via Binary Stream); issues vanished in sandbox copies, shifting to core BC queries (1,600+ SQL operations). Culprit: Auto-calculation on report previews with many columns; reduced columns improved performance from 30-60s to 1s. Questioned auto-calc toggle.

16. Sales Order Posting Error: Persistent error ("nothing to post" despite quantities/amounts); preview doesn't catch it. Stumped after checks; seeking more eyes.

17. Community and Events:

18. Upcoming Events: Summit NA (Oct 20-23, Orlando), Directions EMEA (Nov 4-6, Poland; verify visa requirements). DynamicsCon Regionals: Denver (Aug 21), Dublin OH (Aug 26-27), Copenhagen (Sep 4), Dallas (Sep 17). Summit NA Roadshows: Charlotte (Sep 9), Houston (Dec 9), Fort Lauderdale (Dec 11). Double-check dates/locations.

19. ERP Center of Excellence: Interns advancing: Joselyn (RDLC reports), David (warehousing), Ronald (Continia), Franklin (dashboard). Berlin English Academy: Evening workshops on advanced English, pronunciation, call center skills; recent exposition on customer service scenarios.

20. Q&A and Entertainment:

21. Movies Watched: Relaxed with The Departed (2006; great potential but inconsistent acting/accents), American Gangster (phenomenal era immersion, top actors like Denzel Washington/Russell Crowe), Groundhog Day (classic with Bill Murray).

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1. Personal Updates and Projects:
2. Security Camera Upgrade: Completed a home project replacing old Hickvision and DOA cameras with Ubiquiti UniFi Protect NVR and cameras. Upgraded to 10 cameras, running on four 4TB hard drives (12TB total, ~25-28 days storage). Highlighted the ease of installation and compact design of Ubiquiti cameras, motivated by urban security needs in Los Angeles County.

3. Power Bill Reduction: Addressed high electricity costs in Los Angeles (25¢/kWh off-peak, 55¢/kWh on-peak). Reduced projected bill from $484 to $368 by adjusting energy usage (e.g., turning off servers, NAS, and air conditioning). Noted a downside: computer overheating (blue-screened) due to high office temperatures (80°F, 50-70% humidity).

4. Business Central and Technology Projects:

5. Continia Document Capture: Ongoing project with Ronald, drafting procedures and project plans. Customer discussions revealed surprising practices (e.g., no workflow approval for AP invoices, relying on manager emails), highlighting risks like business email compromise.

6. Business Central (BC) Telemetry: Reviewed telemetry to diagnose performance issues, set up scripts for effective use, and prepared KQL queries for support tickets. Identified ISV-related errors (AL/SQL query timeouts, database lock timeouts) for further investigation.

7. Cybersecurity and VPN Concerns:

8. SonicWall VPN Zero-Day: Highlighted multiple SonicWall VPN zero-day vulnerabilities bypassing authentication, urging listeners to disable VPN appliances and close ports due to security risks.

9. ERP Center of Excellence (Wave Two):

10. Intern Program: Four full-time interns (Joselyn, David, Ronald, Franklin) advancing in BC expertise. Planning “Wave Two” to nurture new talent through English Academy scholarships (10-month intensive training).
11. Spanish-Speaking Intern: Experimenting with Fatima, a Spanish-speaking intern with an information systems degree, learning BC and English simultaneously using Spanish/English tenants.

12. Community Impact: Sponsoring Berlin English Academy and planning the second annual El Coyolar Christmas Festival 2025 for over 100 children in a disadvantaged area, including toys, games, and food.

13. AI in ERP:

14. Industry Trends: Noted marketing claims from NetSuite (AI cloud ERP) and QuickBooks (AI agents). Questioned practical AI use in BC, citing underwhelming Copilot features (e.g., bank reconciliation issues).

15. Listener Query: Asked audience about AI integration in BC (native features, Copilot in PTEs/AppSource apps). Referenced Navnab’s use of AI Builder in Power Automate and Copilot for AL development in VS Code.

16. Dynamics GP Challenges:

17. On-Prem Issues: Ranted about a Dynamics GP customer facing SQL deadlocks due to poor queries/customizations, not core GP. Highlighted their lack of ERP expertise post-staff turnover, advocating for cloud solutions like BC to avoid such issues.

18. Community and Events:

19. Upcoming Events: Highlighted Summit NA (Oct 20-23, Orlando), Directions EMEA (Nov 4-6, Poland, with visa warnings), and DynamicsCon Regionals (Denver, Dublin, Copenhagen, Dallas). Noted Summit NA roadshows (Madison, Nashville, Charlotte, Houston, Fort Lauderdale).

20. Berlin, El Salvador Updates: Discussed Fiestas Patronales and Fiesta de San Salvador, featuring parades, classic vehicles

21. Q&A and Anecdotes:

22. Development Challenges: Shared frustrations with missed requirements (e.g., API endpoint limitations) impacting project budgets. Related a colleague’s story of a 120-hour project derailed by undocumented data needs.
23. Music Trivia: Quizzed listeners on musician Moby, referencing his album Play and its use in the Bourne films.

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1. Morning Routine and Podcast Setup:
2. The podcast opens with a cheerful morning greeting, marking August 1st, 2025, as a new month and reflecting on the adventures of July.

3. Steve welcomes listeners, including mentions of "Excel" and "Mo," and confirms audio functionality, setting a casual and engaging tone.

4. Personal Anecdotes and Weekend Activities:

5. Coffee Grinder Challenges: The host discusses a Eureka Minion Zero espresso coffee grinder, highlighting how a 20-micron calibration issue affects performance. A second, better-calibrated grinder revealed the limitations of the first, underscoring the learning curve in high-end equipment.

6. Cat and Screen Repair: Shares a humorous story about the cat punching through a window screen to confront a neighborhood stray, leading to the steve replacing the screen, a task likened to the tediousness of sprinkler repairs.

7. Business Central (BC) and Professional Challenges:

8. ERP Knowledge Limitations: Emphasizes that no single person can master all aspects of ERP systems like Business Central due to their complexity, reflecting on 20+ years of experience and skepticism about claims of comprehensive expertise in multiple ERP platforms.

9. Technology and Tools:

10. Sonic Wall Cloud Secure Edge (CSE): Testing a SaaS-based VPN solution to replace traditional VPN appliances, with features like routing all traffic through the VPN. Tests showed varied IP locations (e.g., Oregon, North Carolina), but some services flagged Google data center traffic as high-risk, prompting further investigation.

11. Travel and Logistics:

12. Affordable Flight to El Salvador: Booked a round-trip flight from LA to El Salvador for $384, the cheapest yet, due to off-peak August travel and gold elite status with Avianca’s LifeMiles program, offering benefits like free checked bags and seat upgrades.

13. Global Business Insights:

14. Apple’s Manufacturing Shift: Notes a Slashdot article about India becoming the top supplier of US-bound Apple smartphones (44% of shipments vs. China’s 25%), driven by supply chain diversification and India’s import restrictions, with rapid scaling since 2022–2023.

15. Team Management and Practice Challenges:

16. Practice Management Analogy: Likens managing a team to Bobby Fischer playing 50 simultaneous chess games in 1964, requiring rapid context-switching across diverse issues (e.g., RDLC reports, data entry, support tickets, BC upgrades, telemetry, Continia).

17. Team Updates and Projects:

18. Joselyn: Tackled a check layout with excessive detail that the customer ultimately didn’t need, and is working on a complex BC pick list, described as a challenging task.
19. David: Managing a messy data migration with thousands of items and attributes, plus report layouts using monospace fonts, leading to font discussions.

20. Ronald: Advancing with Continia document capture implementation, showing

21. Berlin Updates:

22. Laptop Purchases: Acquired two near-mint ThinkPad T470s for $110 and $215, plus $57 for batteries, totaling $382, for use by E4CC English students and as office spares in Berlin, El Salvador. Praised their durability in harsh conditions.

23. Upcoming Events:

24. Summit NA: October 20–23, 2025, in Orlando, Florida.
25. Directions AMIA: November 4–6, 2025, in Poland (directionsforpartners.com).
26. Dynamics Con Regionals: Meetups in Denver, Dublin (Ohio), Copenhagen, and Dallas in August and September 2025.
27. Summit NA Road Shows: Madison and Nashville in August, Charlotte in September, Houston and Fort Lauderdale in December.

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1. Morning Routine and Podcast Setup: - The podcast begins with a casual morning greeting and the host setting up the production studio, indicating a live or semi-live format. - Acknowledges the effort required to prepare the podcast, mentioning a last-minute preparation due to time constraints.2. Home Maintenance and Weekend Activities: - Discusses home ownership challenges, specifically replacing a broken sprinkler, which took a surgical approach and wasn’t enjoyable but was necessary. - Mentions landscaping tasks like preparing a flower bed after removing a problematic willow tree that caused damage to sprinkler pipes and bricks. - Describes attending an art fair in Newport Beach, California (not the Sawdust Festival), highlighting unique hand-carved wooden artworks and woven glass art, showcasing an appreciation for craftsmanship.3. Business Central (BC) Challenges and Insights: - RDLC Report Layout Issue: A blank line appeared on the remittance section of a check stub layout, discovered when adding dollar signs. A custom function (blank dollar sign) was created to resolve this, marking the first use of custom code in RDLC reports for the team.4. Technology and Tools: - AI and LLM Usage: The host uses Perplexity for various tasks (e.g., troubleshooting BC errors, researching ThinkPad models, checking Microsoft Teams NDI output), emphasizing its time-saving benefits for routine queries.5. Business Operations: - Car Service Challenges: Discusses servicing a 2007 Volkswagen convertible, facing issues with obsolete parts (e.g., CV boots, axles) and a 3% credit card processing fee at the dealer, prompting a discussion on whether businesses should charge such fees.6. Team Updates and Projects: - Continia Document Capture and McCormma Payment Hub: The team is learning these tools, with McCormma offering features like overflow remittance and electronic payments, seen as improvements over BC’s default remittance system.7. Community and Infrastructure Developments: - Road Paving in Berlin, El Salvador: A significant infrastructure project to pave a road from the Literal Highway to Berlin, reducing travel time from the airport by 40 minutes, expected to be completed in 6–12 months. - Berlin English Academy: The team sponsors English training for job interview prep, targeting seasonal call center jobs to enable remote work opportunities for Berliners.8. Business Central Extension Issues: - Upgrade Failure: A customer’s BC environment couldn’t upgrade to version 26.3 due to an incompatible extension (version 21.0.45) with a field conflict (“quantity in transit”). The lack of source code access (due to disabled source code download) complicates fixes, highlighting the importance of prefixing fields to avoid conflicts with Microsoft’s updates. - Stefan Marone’s BC Code History: Praised as a valuable resource for identifying when fields like “quantity in transit” were added (version 26.0).9. Upcoming Events: - Summit NA and Directions AMIA: Events in October (Summit NA) and November (Directions AMIA in Poland) for professional development and networking. - Dynamics Con Regionals: Meetups in Denver, Dublin (Ohio), and Dallas in August and September. - Summit NA Road Shows: Recent event in Seattle with upcoming shows in Madison, Wisconsin, and Nashville, Tennessee.10. Miscellaneous: - Palm Tree Maintenance: Describes the hazards of palm trees (coconuts and fronds) in El Salvador, requiring aggressive trimming for safety. - Anona Fruit: Mentions an exotic fruit (“wild dragon egg fruit”) in El Salvador, now expensive due to tourist demand.

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1. Personal and Professional Travel:

2. Steve traveled 700 miles from California to Utah to visit the Park City office, stopping in Vegas en route. The trip was spread over two days due to its demanding nature.

3. Activities in Utah included a team dinner with colleagues (Roger, Zandra, Tanya, David, and daughter Sarah) and working from the Park City office for two days.

4. Home Improvement Challenges:

5. Tackled multiple home projects in Utah, including:

6. Replacing chandelier bulbs 13 feet high and a wired smoke detector at 16 feet, both requiring ladder work.

7. Fixing a failed air conditioner by replacing a fried capacitor, burnt wires, solenoid, and contactors.

8. Installing an outside vent for a range hood, which involved rewiring an outlet and cutting a hole through stucco with a carbide hole saw.

9. Highlighted the cascading dependencies in home repairs, referencing a Malcolm in the Middle scene where one task leads to multiple unforeseen issues.

10. Cybersecurity Developments:

11. Discussed a Sonic Wall graphic visualizing cyber attack attempts, likening it to a "war games" display.

12. Explored Sonic Wall’s Cloud Secure Edge (VPN as a service) and Capture Client (Sentinel One-based endpoint protection). Praised their intuitive interface compared to Microsoft’s Intune and Defender, which were deemed overly complex for mid-market SMBs.

13. Plans to install a Sonic Wall TZ firewall in the Park City office to streamline VPN access for US-based Business Central clients.

14. Daughter Sarah, a cybersecurity intern, received the 2025 Tony Savage Business and Technology Scholarship, celebrated at Ferraro’s Restaurante in Vegas.

15. Business Central and ERP Updates:

16. Ongoing customer training for Business Central, led by Tanya, with Joselyn and David participating to learn implementation processes.

17. Ronald completed Continia document capture training and is working on field detection for invoices.

18. Franklin finalized a customer PTE, but faced immediate change requests and challenges with DevOps pipelines. Efforts are underway to automate pipeline setup.

19. Exploring McCorma Payment Hub for Business Central, particularly for overflow remittance in accounts payable. Training sessions are scheduled for July 23rd (partner sales) and July 28th (product configuration).

20. AI and Local LLM Exploration:

21. Interest in hosting a private local LLM to test its capabilities, inspired by a Mac Mini setup running Claude (“Claude Pewtor”) with full computer control.

22. Community and Office Initiatives in Berlin (El Salvador):

23. Installed a 2500L water tank, pump, and new piping for the Berlin office, improving water pressure reliability (except during power outages).

24. Added a video doorbell for the office gate to manage deliveries and visitors.

25. Sponsored 28 sets of soccer jerseys for FCL Coyola, a local team.

26. Launched the Berlin English Academy, led by Ronald, offering advanced English and job training (e.g., call center prep) to help locals secure remote seasonal jobs.

27. Upcoming Events and Recommendations:

28. Anti-Siphon Summer Camp (cybersecurity training) recommended, though the host couldn’t attend due to travel costs. An on-demand course ($250) is considered for self-paced learning.

29. Summit NA conference scheduled for October 20–23 in Orlando (summitna.com).

30. Dynamics Con regional meetups: Accra (July 19), Nairobi (July 24–25), Denver (August 21), Dublin, Ohio (August 22, 26–27), Dallas (September 17).

31. Summit NA roadshows: Seattle (July 22), Madison (August 12), Nashville (August

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I Need Coffee - Episode 171 - ERP Center of Excellence 2 Year Update
1. Inspiration and Vision: The idea for the ERP Center of Excellence in Berlin, El Salvador, stemmed from a thought-provoking question by the speaker’s tour guide, Salva, about whether tourism and service jobs were the future for El Salvador. This sparked the concept of creating a Business Central ERP training program to provide higher-value job opportunities.

1. Personal Initiative and Risk-Taking: The speaker took a bold step by announcing the ERP Center of Excellence via a live stream on July 29, 2023, without prior connections or a clear plan, highlighting the courage and determination to pursue a challenging idea despite uncertainties.

2. Building from Scratch: The project began with minimal resources in a remote location (Berlin, El Salvador). The speaker had to supply everything, from laptops and furniture to electrical wiring and windows, emphasizing the logistical challenges of establishing a training center in a resource-scarce area.

3. Community Engagement and Impact: The initiative extended beyond training to include community support, such as sponsoring 16 students for an intensive English training program (English Academy scholarship), supporting a local soccer team, and hosting a Christmas festival for children in Canton El Coyolar.

4. Team Development and Growth: The center started with two trainees, Joselyn and David, in June 2024, and expanded to include Ronald, Franklin, and Fatima by July 2025. Each team member developed specialized skills, such as PowerBI, data migration, ISV expertise, and AL development for Business Central.

5. Partnerships and Networking: The speaker leveraged connections (e.g., RSM, Nikki, and James) and serendipitous encounters to build relationships and gain local support, underscoring the importance of persistence and networking in an unfamiliar environment.

6. Overcoming Challenges: Challenges included the lack of local resources, high costs of equipment, and the need for self-sufficiency (e.g., bringing tools and parts for laptop maintenance). The team also renovated a house to serve as a more comfortable office and classroom space.

7. Educational Innovation: The establishment of the Berlin English Academy for advanced English training, focusing on American pronunciation, highlights the commitment to enhancing local skills beyond ERP training to improve employability.

8. Resilience and Adaptability: Despite setbacks like illness from a trip and initial skepticism from locals, the speaker persevered, adapting to challenges and maintaining momentum over two years.

9. Long-Term Commitment: The speaker’s repeated trips to El Salvador, investment in infrastructure, and ongoing support for team and community initiatives reflect a sustained dedication to the project’s success and its impact on Berlin, El Salvador.

These themes collectively illustrate a journey of vision, perseverance, and community-focused development in building a unique training initiative in a challenging environment.

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I Need Coffee - Episode 170- Live from Berlin El Salvador!1. Live Stream Setup Improvements:
- Improved audio by disabling noise and echo cancellation on the streaming platform.
- Addressed mirrored video issue during the stream.

1. Life in Berlin, El Salvador:
2. Highlighted challenges of living in Berlin, El Salvador, including daily problem-solving (e.g., trash management, water supply).

3. Noted the presence of coconut trees at the office, posing a risk to parked cars due to falling coconuts.

4. Weekend Activities:

5. Conducted English classes at the ERP Center of Excellence on Saturday.
6. Visited San Miguel for shopping at Metro Centro, Walmart, Super Selecto, and PriceMart (El Salvador’s Costco equivalent).

7. Observed a volcano visible from San Miguel’s shopping areas, emphasizing the region’s volcanic landscape.

8. Cybersecurity and Technology:

9. Daughter’s cybersecurity internship focusing on Entra, conditional access, and Defender.
10. Using SonicWall Cloud Secure Edge for seamless VPN-like connectivity via SAML authentication through Entra.

11. Challenges with Microsoft Intune for device management; ongoing efforts to configure Defender for Business.

12. Berlin English Academy:

13. Hosting English classes at the office.

14. Plans for a four-month training program starting in October to prepare locals for seasonal call center jobs (November–January).

15. Local Challenges and Solutions:

16. Installed a fortified trash can to prevent animals (e.g., cats) from scattering trash, addressing a local issue.
17. Implementing a 2,500-liter water tank with a concrete platform to ensure independent water supply for the office/house.

18. Dealt with a power outage during a storm, prompting plans to acquire backup lighting (lanterns).

19. Cultural Observations:

20. Introduced fresh cherries (imported from the U.S.) to the Berlin team, a rare and expensive treat locally.

21. Shared a homemade ramen meal with the team, incorporating local and imported ingredients.

22. Work Projects:

23. Team member Ronald learning Continia Document Capture for AP automation, troubleshooting configuration issues.
24. Franklin conducting web API testing to resolve version-related issues (25.5 to 26.0).
25. Joselyn training in Power BI and DAX for complex financial reporting.

26. David working on configuration packages for a customer with over 10,000 inventory items.

27. Documentation Challenges:

28. Struggles with maintaining Product Requirement Documents (PRDs) in Word for customer presentation, while needing markdown/text for AI tools (e.g., Copilot, Cursor).

29. Seeking a workflow to sync Word and markdown files to avoid version control issues.

30. Upcoming Events and Training:

31. Anti-Syphon cybersecurity training recommended, including a cloud security course (July 11) and summer camp (July 21–22).
32. DynamicsCon regional meetups scheduled in multiple cities (June–September).

33. Summit NA event planned for October 20–23 in Orlando, Florida.

34. Infrastructure and Maintenance:

35. Addressing a roof leak and poor wiring issues at the office.

36. Power bill for the office (with heavy AC use) was $50, considered high locally but low by U.S. standards.

37. Coffee Setup:

38. Described a pour-over coffee setup using a Hario V60, Kin Grinder K6, and Salvadoran electric kettle, well-received by the team.

39. Personal Note:

40. Speaker mentioned feeling tired and achy due to a cold, impacting the stream’s energy.

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I Need Coffee - Episode 169 - BC Weekly Update!Show Notes: Episode 169 – Live from Berlin, El Salvador

Overview: This episode is a live stream attempt from a makeshift setup in Berlin, El Salvador, covering local experiences, professional activities, and community initiatives. Steve discusses their visit, their daughter’s cybersecurity internship, and local cultural and organizational events.

1. Ad Hoc Live Streaming Experiment:
2. The episode is an experimental live stream using a laptop, microphone, and a new version of Reream Studio, set up in a bedroom at the office in Berlin, El Salvador.

3. Challenges include difficulty checking audio and accessing public chat, leading to a switch to a cell phone for Plan B.

4. Cultural Observations in Berlin, El Salvador:

5. Description of local life, including a woman carrying a large bag of produce, highlighting the resilience of locals.
6. Mention of an Earth Day parade with loud music, costumes, and community participation, emphasizing the vibrant, festive atmosphere of Berlin.

7. Daily life challenges, such as water shortages, with a backup tank issue resolved late at night by a local contact, Joselyn.

8. Cybersecurity Internship for Daughter:

9. Steve brought their daughter to El Salvador for a cybersecurity internship with the ERP Center of Excellence Blue Dragonfly Test Team.
10. Tasks include researching Entra P1, conditional access, and Microsoft Defender to secure a distributed team’s laptops without a central office.

11. Testing Sonic Wall Cloud Secure Edge, connecting to a firewall in California, with generally positive results despite minor issues with multiple Microsoft logins.

12. Berlin English Academy Launch:

13. Official launch of the Berlin English Academy, providing advanced English training for graduates of a 10-month English for Callers program.
14. Steve and daughter taught the first American English accent training class, using a Udemy course by Gabriel, focusing on vowel sounds challenging for Spanish speakers.

15. The program is held in a dedicated classroom at the office, with plans for a 10-class series.

16. Travel and Logistics:

17. The Steve and daughter traveled with 160 pounds of luggage, benefiting from Star Alliance Gold Elite status for quick check-in and lounge access.
18. Unexpected business class upgrade on Avianca, despite prior issues with upgrade credits.

19. Discussion of setting up a bedroom in the office to save on accommodation costs, estimated at $1,200 for 16 days.

20. Local Food and Community Activities:

21. Description of Salvadoran cuisine, including soapa dez (beef soup with vegetables) and aso tico breakfast (frijoles, queso, salsa de tomate, and pan).
22. Coffee culture highlighted with the host’s first pour-over coffee in El Salvador using a Hario V60 and Toro’s coffee beans, improvised with a hand grinder and dripper.

23. Visit to El Portal cafe for a sweet lemon tea (T de Lemon).

24. Professional Engagements and Upcoming Events:

25. Participation in a Dynamics Con post-conference review for the Business Central track.

26. Office Setup and Cost-Saving Measures:

27. The office serves multiple purposes: a main workspace, a bedroom to reduce accommodation costs, and the Berlin English Academy classroom.

28. Technical Challenges and Local Infrastructure:

29. Discussion of local infrastructure issues, including water supply problems and the need to purchase a tank and pump.
30. Mention of a luxury garbage can and the noisy garbage truck, reflecting unique aspects of local services.

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I Need Coffee: Episode 168 - May 30 2025 1. Home Repairs and Tech Issues * Fixed kitchen sink and dishwasher issues, with the plumber resolving the sink and self-repairing the dishwasher by addressing back pressure in the drain line. * Car stereo (Apple CarPlay with Alpine head unit) experienced intermittent issues, likely due to non-Apple cables; considering switching to an Apple USB cable. 2. Gaming and Weekend Activities * Played Warzone with a friend, achieving a victory in the beginner-level Boot Camp mode, marking a personal milestone despite limited gaming skills. 3. Business Central (BC) Updates * New BC Admin Center features allow creating sandboxes with prior versions (25.0 to 26.1), aiding partner support for customers on older versions. * Investigating a purchase invoice API issue after a customer’s upgrade to BC 26.0; unable to reproduce the error in testing. * Exploring automation to defer BC environment upgrades via Power Automate and BC Admin API. 4. Expensive Cell Phone Bill * Received an $817 cell phone bill due to a $275 insurance deductible for a lost iPhone and international roaming charges for family in El Salvador. 5. Cybersecurity and Technology * Discussed Sonic Wall Cloud Secure Edge, a VPN replacement service using SAML and Microsoft Entra ID for secure cloud-based connectivity. * Warned about AI package hallucination risks, where LLMs suggest non-existent packages, potentially leading to malicious code inclusion (21% hallucination rate in open-source models). * Recommended eliminating traditional VPNs due to constant attacks and zero-day vulnerabilities; suggested Tailscale or Sonic Wall’s Cloud Secure Edge as alternatives. 6. Team and Office Updates * Congratulated Ronald for completing Continia Expense Management certification, preparing for upcoming projects. * Berlin, El Salvador office preparations for June visit include three air conditioners, new office chairs, and furnishings to enhance comfort and protect equipment. * Sponsoring FC El Coyolar soccer team with custom jerseys and planning a Christmas festival for kids in the area. 7. Upcoming Events and Training * Dynamics Mind Conference in Slovenia, BC Tech Days in Antwerp (June 12-13), and Summit NA in Orlando (October, though session submissions were rejected). * Anti-Syphon Summer Camp (July 21-23, Laurel, Maryland) for cybersecurity training, with in-person attendance planned with daughter. * Highlighted BC Performance Profiler for troubleshooting performance issues and scheduling automated profiling. 8. Coffee and Cultural Notes * Discussed "Coffee Land" audiobook about El Salvador’s coffee industry history and its economic impact. * Announced Fina La Cruz, a new coffee brand in Berlin, El Salvador, with plans to purchase some during the next visit. 9. Berlin English Academy * Daughter will volunteer to help build the academy, focusing on advanced English and call center training for scholarship graduates.

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I Need Coffee: Episode 167 - May 23 2025

1. Software Development Challenges:

2. Business Central (BC) Version Issues: Discussion of a potential breaking change in BC version 26.0, affecting default dimension set lines behavior for a third-party developer's API integration. The host describes the tedious task of reconstructing API calls in versions 25.5 and 26.0 to diagnose the issue, using AI tools to prepare payloads and set up Postman for testing.

3. AI in Work and Learning:

4. AI Adoption: The host emphasizes the growing role of AI in research and development, sharing anecdotes about AI’s impact, including a customer referral via ChatGPT for a Dynamics GP solution. They also discuss a humorous scenario where employees brought AI chatbots to a meeting, reflecting on AI’s increasing presence.

5. Microsoft Authenticator and MFA Setup:

6. MFA Challenges: After losing a phone, the host discusses the difficulties of restoring Microsoft Authenticator MFA codes, recommending backup options like SMS, email recovery, and TOTP in password managers (e.g., RoboForm) to mitigate risks. They advise setting up multiple authenticator entries (e.g., phone and iPad) to avoid losing access to environments.

7. Personal Anecdotes and Challenges:

8. Home Maintenance Issues: A chaotic day involving a clogged kitchen sink, a mouse under the sink, a dishwasher fault, and a car stereo failure (subwoofer working, other speakers not). These incidents highlight the host’s juggling of personal and professional responsibilities.

9. Travel Mishaps: A humorous recounting of booking a return flight from Utah after a flight to El Salvador, requiring a last-minute rebooking to correct the scheduling error.

10. Business and Community Initiatives:

11. Berlin English Academy: Introduction of a new initiative in Berlin, El Salvador, to provide intermediate to advanced English training, including pronunciation, job skills, and resume preparation. The program will use a dedicated classroom in the renovated office.
12. Office Renovation in El Salvador: Details on the newly renovated office, including a new kitchen, blinds to combat intense sunlight, and cleaned bathrooms. The office will also have sleeping accommodations to save on hotel costs during visits.

13. ERP Center of Excellence: Updates on team activities in El Salvador, including Joselyn’s work on PowerBI reports and check formats, David’s preparation for a large BC implementation, Ronald’s Continia training, and Franklin’s AI-assisted development using Cursor for a customer PTE.

14. Upcoming Events and Community Engagement:

15. Conferences and Meetups: Mention of upcoming events like Dynamics Minds in Slovenia, BC Tech Days in Antwerp, Summit NA in Orlando, and various regional meetups (e.g., Toronto, Ghana, Denver). The host notes submitting sessions for Summit NA and the potential cost of attending if not selected.

16. Podcast Syndication: Acknowledgment of Mauricio’s help with podcast editing and syndication on platforms like Buzzsprout, LinkedIn, and Twitter, encouraging listeners to check show notes on podcast.stevend.com.

17. Security and Infrastructure Concerns:

18. VPN Vulnerabilities: Discussion of SonicWall VPN appliance issues, including a zero-day vulnerability and bricked devices, prompting the host to consider switching to cloud-based solutions like Cloud Secure Edge.
19. DDoS Attack Reference: Brief mention of a 6.3 terabit per second DDoS attack on Krebs on Security, highlighting the scale of modern cyber threats.

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I Need Coffee: Episode 166 - May 16, 2025

1. Community and Networking at Conferences:

2. Steve’s extensive involvement in DynamicsCon (booth, presentations, party) and promotion of upcoming events (Dynamics Minds, Summit NA, regionals) highlight the critical role of conferences in fostering professional connections and knowledge-sharing.

3. El Salvador Advocacy and Cultural Ties:

4. Steve’s promotion of Salvadoran coffee, booth theme, and unexpected connections with Salvadorans (Daniel, medical mission volunteer) underscore his deep commitment to El Salvador’s culture and community, both personally and professionally.

5. AI and Emerging Technologies in Development:

6. The use of Cursor and GitHub Copilot for AL development and page scripting exploration reflects the growing integration of AI and automation in BC, with potential to streamline but requiring refinement.

7. Operational Challenges and Solutions in El Salvador:

8. The Berlin office renovations and community-driven painting party illustrate the logistical challenges of operating in El Salvador, addressed through team effort and local collaboration (E4CC scholars).

9. Team Development and ISV Expertise:

10. Training interns on ISV solutions and establishing the Berlin English Academy emphasize the importance of skill-building to support global customers and create career opportunities in El Salvador.

11. Customer Support and Partner Services:

12. The ERP Support Team’s partner support plans and help desk development address the challenge of balancing support with other business functions, aiming to enhance partner efficiency.

13. Creative Marketing and Branding:

14. The custom mugs, Salvadoran coffee giveaways, and swag collection showcase creative marketing strategies to stand out at conferences and reinforce Blue Dragonfly’s brand identity.

15. Personal Resilience and Adaptability:

16. Steve’s pool cleaning, sunscreen testing, and recovery from a cold while managing a busy conference schedule demonstrate personal resilience and adaptability in balancing personal and professional demands.

17. Telemetry and Performance Optimization:

18. Sessions on BC telemetry and custom telemetry for PTEs highlight the growing importance of data-driven insights for optimizing BC performance and customer solutions.

19. Global Accessibility and Regional Engagement:

20. The mention of regional meetups (e.g., Kenya, Ghana) and concerns about BC affordability in developing regions reflect a focus on making technology accessible and engaging communities globally.

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Show Notes: Episode 165 - I Need Coffee (may 9, 2025)

1. Cultural Engagement and Local Connections:

2. Steve’s focus on El Salvador’s coffee culture (Good Beans, Fina La Cruz) and events like the Judas Priest concert highlights the importance of engaging with and promoting local culture, both personally and professionally.

3. AI-Driven Development and Its Challenges:

4. Steve’s experiments with Cursor AI for BC development underscore the potential and pitfalls of AI tools, producing rapid but inconsistent code that requires human oversight, reflecting the evolving role of AI in software development.

5. Technical Reliability and Scalability:

6. Issues with Azure Key Vault, NAS drive failures, and Google’s telemetry challenges illustrate the critical need for reliable, scalable infrastructure in both small-scale (NAS) and enterprise (Google) contexts.

7. User Experience (UX) Design:

8. Steve’s critique of poor UX in Twitter and grocery store systems emphasizes the importance of intuitive, frictionless design and the consequences of intentional or unintentional design flaws.

9. Security and Data Protection:

10. The Pearson cyberattack and AI bot issues in Teams highlight ongoing security challenges in managing credentials and uninvited AI presence, stressing the need for robust security practices.

11. Affordability and Accessibility in Technology:

12. The BC price increase and its potential impact in regions like Kenya and El Salvador reflect challenges in making cloud-based solutions affordable and accessible globally.

13. ISV Integration Challenges:

14. Difficulties with Continia’s setup process compared to other ISVs like Binary Stream MEM underscore the complexities of integrating third-party solutions, requiring streamlined partner processes.

15. Team Skill Development:

16. The team’s focus on training (e.g., Joselyn’s user guides, Ronald’s Continia training, David’s page scripting) highlights the importance of continuous learning to meet customer needs and support migrations.

17. Community and Professional Networking:

18. Steve’s promotion of DynamicsCon, Dynamics Minds, and Summit NA emphasizes the value of community events for networking, knowledge-sharing, and business promotion.

19. Operational Challenges in El Salvador:

20. The Berlin office painting party and reliance on community help (E4CC scholars) reflect the practical challenges of operating in El Salvador, requiring creative solutions and local collaboration.

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Show Notes: Episode 164 - I Need Coffee (may 2, 2025)

1. Cultural Immersion and Travel Experiences:

2. Steve’s vivid descriptions of El Salvador’s culture (greetings, food, local challenges) highlight the importance of understanding and adapting to local customs when traveling or operating abroad.

3. Personal Resilience and Preparedness:

4. Stories like the phone loss and having a backup phone underscore Steve’s emphasis on preparedness and adaptability in handling unexpected challenges.

5. Technical Challenges in Software Development:

6. Issues with APIs, pipeline dependencies, artifact management, and code typos reflect the complexities of modern software development, particularly in Business Central and ISV integrations, as discussed by Steve.

7. Second-Order Thinking:

8. Steve’s rant on second-order thinking emphasizes the need for deeper, strategic consideration of decisions’ long-term impacts, applicable to both technical and business contexts.

9. Community Engagement and Networking:

10. Steve’s references to upcoming conferences and community events highlight the importance of professional networking and knowledge-sharing in the tech industry.

11. Operational Challenges in El Salvador:

12. Renovation issues, trash management, and noise from rain illustrate the practical challenges Steve faces in setting up and running an office in a developing country, requiring creative problem-solving.

13. Team Development and Skill-Building:

14. Steve’s focus on team members’ training (PowerBI, BC scripting, expense management) underscores the importance of continuous learning and skill development in a competitive tech environment.

15. Customer Resistance to Technology Adoption:

16. Steve’s discussion of the struggle with ISV adoption reflects broader challenges in convincing clients to invest in specialized solutions, highlighting the need for effective communication and simplified offerings.

17. Technology Tools and Efficiency:

18. Steve’s endorsements of tools like Perplexity Pro and Code Spell Checker emphasize the role of technology in improving productivity and reducing errors in professional workflows.

19. Grief and Community Loss:

20. Steve’s mention of Tim’s passing highlights the emotional impact of losing a community member and the importance of acknowledging such losses within professional and expat communities.

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Show Notes: Episode 163 - I Need Coffee (April 18, 2025)

1. Introduction: Turbo edition of the weekly BC review, pre-recorded due to travel to El Salvador.
2. Weekend Homeowner Chores:
3. Managed pool maintenance with daughters, cleaning the cover and addressing green water, to be completed post-vacation.
4. Dealt with a bumper crop of loquats from trees overhanging the pool, sharing fruit with neighbors.
5. Fixed a broken garage door spring, resolved quickly by a professional.
6. El Salvador Office Updates:
7. Undergoing a complete electrical rewire due to hazardous wiring, including makeshift “wire nuts” made from plastic packaging.
8. New conduit, outlets, and boxes installed for improved functionality, including outdoor lighting and shower heaters.
9. Weekly Projects:
10. Received Binary Stream MEM runtime packages for Cosmo Alpaca pipelines, learning to incorporate for multi-entity management.
11. Investigated a customer statement oddity regarding unapplied payments, suspecting date range issues; verifying with vanilla BC.
12. Addressed unauthorized PTE and AppSource app installations in a customer’s production environment, likely via BC Admin API.
13. Business Central Challenges:
14. Critiqued BC’s job queue for automated posting (e.g., transfer orders) due to lack of error visibility; planning a custom app.
15. Struggled with third-party APIs, adding a disclaimer clause to statements of work to mitigate risks and lawsuits.
16. Power Platform Issues:
17. Confirmed Azure Key Vault permissions for Power Automate take ~5 days to propagate, limiting its reliability for BC integrations.
18. Resolved BC approval workflow notification issues by using a shared mailbox instead of a user mailbox in Office 365.
19. AI and Technology Insights:
20. Subscribed to Perplexity Pro ($200/year) for reliable AI search, solving issues like OneDrive errors and crafting legal clauses.
21. Highlighted a Transloose AI study exposing ChatGPT’s fabrication of data (e.g., fake prime numbers) and false claims about processing.
22. Mobile OS Updates:
23. iOS 18.4.1 patched a zero-day audio stream exploit targeting high-profile users.
24. Android introduced auto-reboot after 3 days to thwart data extraction, following iOS’s lead.
25. Upcoming Events:
26. ColorCloud (Hamburg, April 24-25), DynamicsCon (Chicago, May 13-16), Dynamics Minds (Slovenia, May 26-28), Summit NA (Orlando, October 20-23, featuring BC Bash).
27. Summit NA Road Shows: Toronto (April 29), Minneapolis (May 1), Columbus, Chicago, Philadelphia (June).
28. DevOps Progress:
29. Franklin in El Salvador submitted his first DevOps pull request for a PTE, overcoming permission and credential issues.
30. El Salvador Trip:
31. Traveling with family and Tanya Henderson to Berlin, El Salvador, to visit the ERP Center of Excellence office.
32. Meeting four full-time interns, E4CC English scholarship recipients, and assessing ISV apps.
33. AppSource App Evaluation:
34. Guided a prospect on evaluating Big Commerce integrations on AppSource, cautioning against G2 ratings and hand-numbered app versions.

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Show Notes: Episode 162 of "I Need Coffee" - Weekly BC Review

1. Steve Introduction: Tanya Henderson joins the livestream, adding insights and energy to the episode.
2. Vegas Conference Recap:
3. Attended Directions NA 2025 in Las Vegas with 1,300 accounting and software professionals.
4. Stayed at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas (formerly Hard Rock Hotel), noting its quirky design and high rates.
5. Dined at Hofbräuhaus and Batista’s Hole-in-the-Wall, a historic Vegas restaurant with unique character.
6. Parenting Adventures:
7. Managed a busy weekend, organizing a beach bonfire for daughter’s group and delivering a boba bar for high school prom.
8. Conference Highlights:
9. Microsoft’s Mike Morton announced 45,000 Business Central online customers, signaling significant growth.
10. Heavy emphasis on AI and Copilot in Business Central, with skepticism about its immediate customer value.
11. AJ Kaufman’s session critiqued BC web hooks, advocating for Business Events due to fewer limitations.
12. Eric Hogar live-coded an AI app for formatting international addresses, showcasing multi-engine compatibility.
13. Freddy’s DevOps session recommended ALGO with GitHub or Cosmo Alpaca for streamlined development.
14. Presentations Delivered:
15. “Provide Impressive Customer Support with BC Admin Center API”: Introduced a BC Admin Dashboard to enhance support efficiency.
16. “Avoiding a $1 Million Lawsuit”: Highlighted litigation risks for BC partners with strategies to avoid lawsuits.
17. Business Central Community Insights:
18. Shannon Mullen emphasized collaboration over competition among BC partners, given the vast market opportunity.
19. Expressed concerns about Power Platform’s reliability, citing potential seven-day downtimes.
20. Third-Party API Challenges:
21. Discussed unpredictability of third-party APIs in BC integrations, suggesting explicit disclaimers in statements of work.
22. Upcoming Events:
23. ColorCloud (Hamburg, April 24-25), DynamicsCon (Chicago, May 13-16), Dynamics Minds (Slovenia, May 26-28), Summit NA (Orlando, October 20-23).
24. Operational Updates:
25. Expanding Spanish-speaking BC support in El Salvador for Latin American markets.
26. Ordered custom coffee from El Salvador for DynamicsCon giveaways.
27. Upgrading electrical systems in El Salvador office for improved functionality.
28. Technical Issues:
29. Ted identified missing AppSource versions in 26 countries, causing upgrade issues; Microsoft is investigating.
30. Closing Thoughts:
31. Critiqued sloppy AI-generated images in presentations, urging higher quality standards.

Call to Action: Register for upcoming BC events, dive into Business Central, and engage with the community!

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Show Notes: Episode 161 of "I Need Coffee" - Weekly BC Review

1. Personal Updates:
2. Host is recovering from a cold, managing with water due to a failed coffee attempt.
3. Watched "The Bondsmen" on Amazon Prime, enjoying Kevin Bacon’s performance in a light, silly show.
4. Performed grill maintenance, replacing Weber flavor bars for veggie grilling.

5. Watched "Malcolm in the Middle" and "The Residence" on Netflix, praising the cast, including Uzo Aduba and Giancarlo Esposito.

6. Community Engagement:

7. Encourages listeners to share projects, Business Central features, customizations, or interesting blogs they’re working on or reading.

8. Curious about obscure or unique projects in the community.

9. Professional Updates:

10. Cosmo Alpaca Issue: Resolved a VS Code authentication issue causing permission errors with Cosmo Alpaca, requiring a settings profile reset.
11. Business Central Report Layouts: Discussed challenges with Dynamics GP to Business Central migrations, particularly mapping GP-specific fields (e.g., reprint flags, order types) to BC, requiring implementation pauses for clarification.
12. Power Automate and Azure Key Vault: Noted a 3–5 day delay for permissions to propagate in Power Automate when using Azure Key Vault, necessitating documentation to warn customers.
13. Passkey Authentication: Adopted passkeys via RoboForm password manager, praising its seamless, portable implementation across devices.
14. NFC Authentication: Impressed by NFC-based bank app authentication using a credit card on an iPhone, enabling Face ID setup.

15. Business Central Admin Dashboard: Junior developer Franklin in El Salvador is building a BC Admin Dashboard to display admin center data (e.g., environment status, storage, upgrade dates) within Business Central for improved customer support.

16. Upcoming Events:

17. Presenting at Directions NA (April 7–9, 2025, Las Vegas) on avoiding lawsuits through better project management and using the BC Admin Center API for customer service.

18. Other events: ColorCloud (April 24–25, Hamburg), DynamicsCon (May 13–16, Chicago), Dynamics Minds (May 26–28, Slovenia).

19. Project Management Insights:

20. Session on avoiding lawsuits emphasizes declining risky sales opportunities, unrealistic customer requests, or projects lacking sufficient skills/staff.

21. Importance of saying “no” to focus resources, declining on-prem BC/NAV projects, and potentially firing problematic customers to reduce risk.

22. Workshop Observations:

23. Admires highly organized workshops (e.g., Porsche garage in Germany, Rocket Lab in New Zealand) for their meticulous tool management and cleanliness, aspiring to apply similar discipline to ERP projects.

24. Tech Issues:

25. Reported Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon keyboard failures in El Salvador due to high heat and humidity in a coffee roastery and beach environment. Ordered a replacement keyboard and a hygrometer to monitor conditions.

26. Travel Coffee Setup:

27. Planned a coffee setup for El Salvador office: Kin Grinder K6 ($99), Hario V60 pourover, and Aeropress Go with a steel travel mug for pour-over brewing. Aims to leave equipment at the office for convenience.

28. Closing:

29. Plans to rest, recover, and finalize a presentation for Directions NA.
30. Encourages listeners to share weekend plans, learn Business Central, and attend Las Vegas event.

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Show Notes: Episode 160 of "I Need Coffee" - Weekly BC Review

1. Technology Challenges and Frustrations:
2. Persistent issues with Microsoft product sync delays (e.g., Azure Key Vault, Power Automate, Business Central email notifications), highlighting unreliable internal system integration.
3. On-premise system struggles, including consultants’ lack of basic SQL Server knowledge and misdiagnosed issues, underscoring the complexities of maintaining legacy systems.

4. Docker environment problems caused by IPv6 DNS settings, emphasizing the need for deep technical knowledge to troubleshoot modern development stacks.

5. Importance of Detailed Application Logging:

6. Critical role of meticulous logging in defending against false accusations and diagnosing issues, as demonstrated by resolving an ISV app blame scenario.

7. Proposal for a $1,000 award to encourage innovative logging solutions, reflecting the value placed on robust logging for application reliability.

8. Learning and Skill Development:

9. Team’s rapid progress in mastering PowerBI, BC Admin API, and ACH file formats, showcasing a commitment to building expertise within the ERP Center of Excellence.

10. Emphasis on fundamental troubleshooting skills, contrasted with the lack of such skills in on-prem consulting, highlighting the need for continuous learning in IT.

11. Cost Optimization and Efficiency:

12. Cancellation of unnecessary subscriptions (Zoom, Pact, training, web hosting) to save ~$400/year, reflecting a proactive approach to financial efficiency.

13. Use of cost-effective tools like Notepad++ with plugins as alternatives to expensive software like UltraEdit, balancing functionality with budget constraints.

14. Work-Life Balance and Personal Enjoyment:

15. Balancing professional demands with personal activities like smoking ribs for neighbors, beach trips with family, and re-watching Rick and Morty to unwind.

16. Emphasis on enjoying life outside work, reinforced by weekend recaps and encouragement to the audience to “go do something fun.”

17. Community Engagement and Knowledge Sharing:

18. Upcoming participation in industry events (Directions NA, DynamicsCon, etc.) to connect with the ERP community and share expertise.

19. Call for audience Q&A and sharing of Business Central experiences, fostering a collaborative learning environment.

20. Microsoft Ecosystem Concerns:

21. Criticism of Microsoft’s consumer-facing practices, such as Windows 11 spam emails and Teams’ security issues, raising concerns about the company’s direction and its impact on professional users.

22. Transition to Modern Development Practices:

23. Acknowledgment of Microsoft’s deprecation of BC Container Helper by 2027, signaling a shift toward new tools like ALGO for GitHub, and the need to adapt to evolving development environments.

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Show Notes: Episode 159 of "I Need Coffee" - Weekly BC Review

1. Weekend Recap: Cherry Blossoms and Chicago Play
2. Trip to San Diego to see cherry blossoms with wife, involving a long drive and crowded Balboa Park.

3. Evening outing to see the play "Chicago" at a local performing arts center, highly enjoyable.

4. New Hobbies: Card Tricks and Metal Detecting

5. Received "Card College Volume 1" to learn card tricks and sleight of hand, a childhood interest requiring significant practice.

6. Purchased a surprisingly effective $50 metal detector from Amazon, fascinated by its eddy current technology.

7. Life Lessons from a Memorial Service

8. Attended a friend’s memorial, prompting reflection on life’s brevity and a new goal to enjoy it daily.

9. Tech Upgrades and Coffee Adventures

10. Upgraded to Sennheiser IE 100 earphones after old headset failed; found them adequate but not exceptional.

11. Learning to use a new Gaggia E24 espresso machine, more challenging than consumer-grade models but rewarding.

12. Business Central Performance Testing

13. Used BC Client Performance Profiler to analyze app performance, benchmarking against Dynamics GP (23-25 transactions/minute).

14. Results showed no major bottlenecks, with enhancements improving efficiency.

15. Directions NA Presentations

16. Two accepted sessions:
17. "Avoiding a $1 Million Lawsuit" (partner-focused, addressing litigation risks and mitigation).

18. "Impressive Customer Support Using BC Admin Center API" (proactive tenant management tools).

19. Google’s $32 Billion Whiz Acquisition

20. Discussed Google’s acquisition of Whiz, a cloud security provider, for $32 billion—its largest ever.

21. Noted Whiz’s obscurity despite rapid growth and focus on Google Cloud security.

22. Family Moments and API Struggles

23. Made steak and egg breakfast sandwiches for daughters; enjoyed a convertible ride with daughter in LA.

24. Ongoing challenges integrating a third-party SaaS API with Business Central, citing documentation and sandbox issues.

25. Vibe Coding Pitfalls

26. Critiqued "vibe coding" (AI-assisted coding without fundamentals), citing examples of technical debt and security risks (e.g., Firebase $121K bill).

27. Fiestas Patronales de Berlin

28. Learned about a week-long festival in Berlin, El Salvador, celebrating the patron saint with concerts and fireworks.

29. Positive Pay File Solutions

30. Resolved a bank’s positive pay file issue (IS/CN codes) using Business Central’s record type code, thanks to team member Alyssa.

31. New Laptop and PCI DSS Updates

32. Bought a $299 eBay laptop (Gen 7/8, 16GB, i7) for daughter’s schoolwork.

33. Noted new PCI DSS requirements (effective April 1, 2025) for e-commerce script monitoring to prevent skimmer attacks.

34. Upcoming Events

35. Directions NA (April 7, Las Vegas), ColorCloud (April 24-25, Hamburg), DynamicsCon (May 13-16, Chicago), DynamicsMinds (May 26-28, Slovenia).

36. Summit NA Road Shows in various cities (April-June).

37. Microsoft Teams Personal Nightmare

38. Frustrated by Teams Personal update prompting Skype migration, causing login issues and PowerShell script alerts.

39. Team Excellence Updates

40. Joselyn learning PowerBI for detailed financial reports; David mastering positive pay exports; Ronald and Franklin advancing BC Admin API projects.

View Details

Show Notes: Episode 158 of "I Need Coffee" - Weekly BC Review

1. Technical Challenges and Solutions:
2. Struggles with audio issues due to faulty studio monitors and Microsoft Teams updates causing security alerts.
3. Encountered and resolved a glitch in Business Central (BC) admin center and issues with incorrect MICR fonts in check formats.

4. Highlighted the complexities of BC Web API (e.g., PATCH operations, bound actions) and the need for thorough testing due to inconsistent functionality.

5. Professional Development and Learning:

6. Emphasis on continuous learning at the ERP Center of Excellence, focusing on billable hours, utilization, and intensive training (e.g., Joselyn reducing check format time from 8 hours to 1.5 hours).
7. Team in El Salvador expanding skills, including website creation with Namecheap and Power Automate for automation.

8. Exploration of BC admin API for Sentinel rules and telemetry sessions for DynamicsCon.

9. Business Central Updates and Processes:

10. Business Central version 25.5 dedicated to 58 hot fixes with no new features, prioritizing bug fixes and refactoring.
11. Deep dive into ACH and Positive Pay configurations, noting non-standard bank file formats as a challenge.

12. Development of standardized processes, like a check request form to streamline customer interactions.

13. Community and Social Impact:

14. Building an English Academy in El Salvador to support students transitioning to call center jobs, including sponsorship of English scholarships.

15. Creating a community-focused website to promote the program, teaching team members new technical skills (e.g., domain registration, website building).

16. Consumer Technology and Cybersecurity:

17. Painful experience setting up a new iPhone from scratch, losing app data (e.g., WhatsApp, Authenticator), contrasted with the seamless eSIM transfer process.
18. Discussion of cybersecurity trends, including Google’s $12M bug bounties, X’s DDoS attack, and phishing scams with suspicious SMS job offers.

19. Highlighted Microsoft Threat Intelligence Podcast insights on malware persistence and malvertising campaigns.

20. Evolution of Information Access:

21. Questioned the relevance of traditional web search due to ad-heavy, noisy results, advocating for LLMs like Grok for quick, ad-free answers.

22. Referenced Techno Tim’s shift away from Google to LLMs, aligning with personal experiences of using Grok for practical queries (e.g., recipes).

23. Cost-Saving Strategies and Consumer Behavior:

24. Introduced “color arbitrage” as a strategy to exploit pricing differences based on product color (e.g., buying blue Bose headphones to save $80).

25. Critiqued luxury pricing at stores like Hermès (e.g., $10,000 pouch) and reflected on being out of place in affluent settings.

26. Logistics and Systemic Inefficiencies:

27. Shared a frustrating experience with a package (iPhone) transiting the US multiple times due to shipping errors, highlighting logistics inefficiencies.

28. Discussed US check usage persisting due to financial incentives like float, drawing parallels to slow adoption of digital payments.

29. Conference and Networking Preparations:

30. Detailed involvement in upcoming conferences (Directions NA, DynamicsCon), including session planning (telemetry, AI tools) and logistical challenges (e.g., expensive Las Vegas hotel rates).
31. Encouraged attendance at local events like Summit NA Roadshows for professional growth.

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Wake up and smell the coffee with Steve on a chilly March morning full of Business Central learning and ERP antics!

Show Notes

1. Twitch Platform Experience
2. Positive feedback on Twitch’s video/audio quality and streaming capabilities

3. Host enjoys using it as both a user and streamer

4. Coffee Talk

5. Host drinks Cafe Negro Togo from Good Beans El Salvador
6. Mentions a variety of coffee mugs at home, including a 20-year-old one

7. Discussion on decaf coffee experiences (good and bad)

8. Weekend Hiking

9. Host went hiking with wife in Orange County, ~5.5 miles, exhausting but enjoyable

10. Playfully suggests sofa testing as a preferable hobby

11. Tribute to Friend Mike

12. Friend Mike passed away from a heart attack
13. Introduced host to coffee passion, attended a coffee class together

14. Considering an internship program in El Salvador’s coffee industry in his honor

15. Weekly Work Updates

16. Managing US and Berlin teams, conference season prep, reporting extensions
17. Issue with integration app: registration validation error

18. Telemetry showed slow Azure function performance, still investigating

19. Franklin’s Progress

20. Completed first report extension and pull request

21. Submitted first Sentinel rule to GitHub for GL posting date validation

22. Tech Purchase and Setup

23. Bought a Lenovo ThinkCenter tiny PC on eBay for $99
24. Came with a 512 GB SSD despite listing, set up as Pi-hole server with Ubuntu

25. Struggles with configuring static IP in Ubuntu due to YAML file complexities

26. Rant on Open Source Software

27. Criticizes reliance on unmaintained libraries (e.g., Passlib, last updated 2020)

28. Highlights security risks and dependency issues (e.g., Log4Shell)

29. Upcoming Events

30. Directions NA (April 7-9, Las Vegas), Color Cloud (April 24-25, Hamburg)
31. DynamicsCon (May 13-16, Chicago), Dynamics Minds (May 26, Slovenia)

32. Summit NA Roadshows (April-June, various US cities)

33. Cybersecurity Webinar

34. Attended Black Hills Information Security session on Wi-Fi Forge tool

35. Tool simulates Wi-Fi networks for offline pen testing practice

36. Power Platform Admin Center

37. Discovered to manage Power Automate flows, shared a flow with himself

38. Criticizes its poor interface and usability

39. Berlin Office Update

40. New electrical panel and air conditioning installed in El Salvador office

41. Aims to improve comfort and laptop longevity

42. Q&A and YouTube Recommendation

43. Recommends M539 Restorations channel for BMW restoration content
44. Reflects on personal interest in 8 Series BMWs from youth

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Raise your mug and take a sip of fresh brew with Steve as he wraps up a busy February of Business Central consulting and development

Show Notes: Video Transcript Summary (March 04, 2025)

Topics Discussed:

1. Intro & Audio Check

2. Brief audio test and welcome to the live stream across platforms (YouTube, Twitch, X/Twitter).

3. Weekly Recap

4. Monday-to-Friday whirlwind: Work crawl, Friday arrives unexpectedly.

5. Family Adventures

6. Wife’s Joshua Tree trip: Hiking and rock-climbing challenges.

7. Daughters’ high school talent show: Impressive choreography and performances.

8. The "Geekend"

9. Solo weekend with cats, tackling tech projects.

10. Pi-hole upgrade debacle: DNS issues, Quad9 discovery, and Raspberry Pi lessons.
11. New Lenovo ThinkCentre PC for DNS: $100 i7 steal.
12. Ubuntu vs. Windows 11: Slick Linux install impresses.

13. Smart TV and Soundbar woes: A "Malcolm in the Middle" moment.

14. Tech Updates

15. Quad9 DNS service exploration via Tom Lawrence’s YouTube recommendation.

16. Docker cleanup: 100GB+ of orphaned images removed.

17. Azure outages: Unreliable services, hidden logs, and the need for redundancy.

18. Work Projects

19. Bank reconciliations pending.

20. Sentinel rule finalized, BC Admin API progress, and report extensions.

21. Subscription cleanup: Saved $126/month (e.g., MidJourney, Backblaze).

22. Business Central Insights

23. IAT payment trivia: A mysterious ACH variant for international transactions.

24. BC environment refresh for MEM users.

25. Berlin team’s growth: From ERP novices to pros in under a year.

26. Cybersecurity & News

27. $1.4B Bybit hack: Supply chain attack via a compromised JavaScript file.

28. GitLab vulnerability: Password reset exploit discovered.

29. Firefox privacy shift: Speculation on data collection for AI training.

30. Upcoming Events

31. Directions NA (April 7-9, Las Vegas), DynamicsCon (May 13-16, Chicago), and more.

32. Discount code: “BCAMIGOS25” for DynamicsCon.

33. Team Dynamics

34. Berlin El Salvador crew: Smiling struggles, help desk mastery, and training.

35. 24-hour dev cycle: Coordinating across LA, El Salvador, Australia, and India.

36. Quantum Computing Tease

37. Azure Quantum module: Superposition and teleporting qubits with Q#.

Q&A Wrap-Up:

• Encouragement to explore IAT, Quantum Computing, and share updates.
• Plans to turn the stream into a podcast with show notes.

Closing:

• Cheers to a wild week—enjoy the weekend!

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Brew a cup of your best coffee and ease into the weekend with Steve as he shares his busy week of Business Central learning

Show Notes

February 24, 2025 - Steve recaps a week of tech explorations, including AI-driven AL coding with Cursor and Claude, a planned family trip to El Salvador, and BC project updates like sandbox automation and a sentinel rule. Steve also shares cybersecurity insights from SMS scams to SIM swapping, reviews a Niimbot label printer and GrapheneOS.

Main Topics Discussed

AI Tools and Development - AI coding with Cursor/Claude, knowledge tools (CentralQ, Perplexity, Grok 3), and the impact on software developers

Tech Gadgets and Experiments - Niimbot label printer and GrapheneOS

Business Central (BC) Projects - Sentinel rule, sandbox refresh, workflow issues, BC environment restore, Vendor auto-apply setting

Cybersecurity Insights - Email alias blocks, SMS scams, SIM swapping risks

Upcoming Business Central Conferences and Events

Team Updates - 10 BC knowledge base articles

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Join Steve as he nurses a latte and a new cold, and shares his recent trip to El Salvador and current BC happenings

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Grind. Brew. Pour. Then sip that delicious coffee and join Steve as he wraps up the last week of Business Central excitement in January 2025!

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Drink some coffee with Steve as he tries to figure out where the entire week went, and his Business Central learning adventures!

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Join Steve as he sips a juicy cup of Salvadoran PACA Honey roast and recounts a funtastic week of Business Central learning!

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Brew a cup of your strongest coffee and join Steve to discuss survival strategies for 2025! And we can talk about Business Central.

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Brew your finest premium coffee and join Steve as he raises his cup to an amazing year of Business Central!

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Brew a cup of premium roast as Steve shares updates from a busy week of Business Central learning

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Lift a pinky as you sip your favorite heirloom espresso and join Steve for an update from the US production studio

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Grind, brew, and enjoy your favorite specialty coffee beans and wrap up a bustling week with Steve

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Coffee plus Business Central plus Steve's meandering recap of a busy week. A recipe for a great weekend.

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Let's talk about coffee and Business Central, live from the Volcano Studio in Berlin El Salvador!

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Cradle a cup of brew and join Steve as he recounts an amazing DynamicsCon LIVE 2024 conference!

Music by Philip E Morris - Good Morning - https://soundcloud.com/philipemorris

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Happy Friday! Grab a cup of brew as Steve shares his week of BC antics and learning!

Music by Philip E Morris - Good Morning

https://soundcloud.com/philipemorris

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Chug some coffee with Steve as he does a turbo Weekly BC Review before running to the airport!

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Brew a cup of premium third wave coffee and join Steve as he tries a new Weekly BC Review live stream format!

Tool of the Week: COSMO Alpaca!
https://www.cosmoconsult.com/cosmo-alpaca/

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It's been a while! Grab a coffee and join Steve as he shares some Business Central updates and observations!

Directions NA Conference: https://directionsna.com/

DynamicsCon Live Conference: https://live.dynamicscon.com/

Dynamics Minds Conference: https://www.dynamicsminds.com/

BC Web API v2.0 Docs: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/business-central/dev-itpro/api-reference/v2.0/

Spare Brained Ideas: https://sparebrained.com/books/

ERP Center of Excellence: https://erpcoe.org/

Good Beans Coffee: https://thegoodbeans.com/

Passenger Coffee: https://passengercoffee.com/collections/shop

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Grab a cup of your fanciest coffee as Steve shares a list of potential warning signs that ERP customers should look out for

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Enjoy the aroma of your favorite coffee as Steve lists some classic warning signs from past ERP implementations

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Grab a cup of your favorite brew and join Steve as he shares some Business Central updates!

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Join Steve as he works on developing the best Business Central training program in the world

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Dynamics 365 Business Central Training and Certification program for Latin America

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Steve chats with Jeremy Vyska about the Dynamics Minds 2023 Conference.  Grab a drink and join us to hear about this new Dynamics conference!

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Grab an iced coffee and join Steve as he asks: How do you make progress?

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Relax with your favorite beverage and hear about Dmitry Katson's CentralQ search engine!

www.centralq.ai

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Step into the Coffeeverse as Steve ponders if everyone can know everything

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HalZMPpBpIo

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Sip some fresh gourmet coffee as Steve ponders the value of 1% extra effort

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How can small partners and ISVs start to improve their cybersecurity?  Steve offers some suggestions on how to get started.

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Steve nurses a hot latte, shares Business Central updates, and more!

https://links.steveendow.com

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Steve and Christoph Krieg talk about being a Business Central ISV and geek out about Address Validation!

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Steve tries to argue that complexity is not mandatory

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Steve and Christian discuss the controversial topic of Estimates in the context of Agile software development!

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Steve shares a story about a production Azure outage and new contingency plans

Make all things redundant
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/guide/design-principles/redundancy

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Steve shares ten more interesting Business Central updates!

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Steve shares ten interesting Business Central updates!

Please visit youtube.com/steveendow to see the links an QR codes for this episode.

QR Code Generator
DynamicsCon LIVE Conference
AL Workbook for Beginners V2
Troubleshoot BC Connectivity
Should AppSource Apps show pricing?
BC Guided Experience Item
BC 21 Dev Enhancements
Business Central Snapshot Debugging
Launch in Specific Company from VS Code
Using Query to Get Distinct Values
Application Insights Data Collection Rules
Filtering telemetry signals with Azure Monitor Data Collection Rules
Kim Dellefeld's Business Central Blog
Window on Technology Podcast by Tobias Fenster

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How do you and your company manage mistakes? Steve speculates that it might matter more than you think.

Music by Philip E Morris - Good Morning - https://soundcloud.com/philipemorris

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Steve shares a long list of back end work required to support a BC app

Azure Functions Security:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azur...

Azure SQL Security:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azur...

Business Central Security and IP Protection:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dyna...

Business Central AL Access Property:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dyna...

Music by Philip E Morris - Good Morning - https://soundcloud.com/philipemorris

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Join me to review a busy month in the BC world!

Music by Philip E Morris - Good Morning - https://soundcloud.com/philipemorris

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Can small & medium businesses implement cybersecurity?

Blog post: Mitigating WiFi deauth attack
https://blog.steveendow.com/2022/05/m...

Book: Incident Response Techniques for Ransomware Attacks
https://www.packtpub.com/product/inci...

Nicole Enesse - IT & Cybersecurity YouTube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB88...

Google IT Support Course:
https://www.coursera.org/professional...

CompTIA Security+ Certification:
https://www.comptia.org/certification...

Music by Philip E Morris - Good Morning - https://soundcloud.com/philipemorris

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How can we encrypt data in BC?  Can we do better?

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Steve speculates about the practicality of OAuth v2.0 adoption by Business Central customers and partners.

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Steve investigates what custom Business Central fields and indexes look like in SQL Server when you create a Table Extension

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What do an SUV and ERP have in common? Steve shares his car repair story.

Music by Philip E Morris - Good Morning - https://soundcloud.com/philipemorris

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Ever work on a small project that became a big messy project? Steve has.

Music by Philip E Morris - Good Morning - https://soundcloud.com/philipemorris

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Steve sees so many bugs, he should be an entomologist

When trying to insert a General Journal Line with the Power Automate Business Central Create Record (V3) connector, I am getting this error:

ErrorCode: Application_DialogException  You must specify a journal batch ID or a journal ID to get a journal line.

Music by Philip E Morris - Good Morning - https://soundcloud.com/philipemorris

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Grab your favorite libation and join Steve as he shares some BC news, tips and info!

https://links.steveendow.com

Music by Philip E Morris - Good Morning - https://soundcloud.com/philipemorris

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Steve drinks coffee and shares a BC Web API issue that he found.

There are quite a few screen shots and text referenced in this episode, so if the audio only version is a bit confusing, head over to youtube.com/steveendow to watch Episode 89 to see what I'm talking about.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgCpUT3yFho

Music by Philip E Morris - Good Morning - https://soundcloud.com/philipemorris

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Grab a cup of comforting coffee and hear a tale of fried electronics and Business Central topics! 

Music by Philip E Morris - Good Morning - https://soundcloud.com/philipemorris

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Grab a drink and gather round to gab about BC telemetry and logging

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Get some yummy coffee and get comfortable as we talk about application support

Music by Philip E Morris - Good Morning - https://soundcloud.com/philipemorris

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Grab a drink and let's talk about providing good support to customers

Music by Philip E Morris - Good Morning - https://soundcloud.com/philipemorris

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Steve wakes at 4am to seek answers to deep ERP questions 

More info:  links.steveendow.com

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Should a Business Central Consultant Learn About AL?

Can learning about Business Central AL development help an application consultant provide more value to customers and developers?

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Let's explore the many ways to default Dimensions in Business Central!

0:00 Default Dimensions & Dimension Priorities
1:05 Introduction
3:55 Blog Post on Default Dimension Priorities
5:57 Default Dimensions
9:51 Default Dimensions & Priorities Demo
22:29 What about Company Defaults?
25:33 Company Information Default Dimensions
26:18 User Setup Default Dimensions
27:42 Company Default Dimensions Demo
31:58 Default Dimension Priorities
34:20 Default Dimension Priorities Demo
42:27 Use BC Defaulting Code? Or write our own?
44:48 Questions and Discussion
48:23 The End

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Grab a steaming cup of your favorite brew as Steve ponders the limits of his knowledge

Music by Philip E Morris - Good Morning - https://soundcloud.com/philipemorris

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Sip some coffee and join Steve to discuss backup power and preparedness

Music by Philip E Morris - Good Morning - https://soundcloud.com/philipemorris

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Drink heavily and laugh at Steve as he recounts a roundabout journey in his futile attempt to test a simple PTE!

https://www.youtube.com/steveendow

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Grab a cup of liquid as Steve celebrates his victory and discusses some Business Central stuff

Video available at:    https://www.youtube.com/steveendow

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Enjoy your Friday libations as Steve shares the activity, news, and updates of the amazing Business Central community!

https://www.youtube.com/steveendow

https://twitter.com/steveendow

https://blog.steveendow.com/

Music by Philip E Morris - Good Morning - https://soundcloud.com/philipemorris