Microsoft Dynamics GP ERP implementation process is similar to other mid-market accounting and MRP products: GP partner selection and sales cycle, business processes mapping, customization design if required, customization upgrade, data conversion and migration, reports. Then we will give you Microsoft Great Plains implementation overview, ordering schema, customer class, GL account, state tax tables: SOP10100, IV00101, POP30120, SOP30200.
1. Microsoft Dynamics GP Sales Order Processing Module Setup. This module is integrated with your legacy (Direct Set Accounting, severely lacking in Microsoft Dynamics GP). It is simple Great Plains Dexterity application, based on SOP10200 and SOP30200. If you are looking at the placement of your orders in the ERP, please review first Microsoft Great Plains Business Portal with Order Management module. This should be considered as quick introduction to the ordering module. In the case of our company – we see mostlymenteduration order, which is recommended to be heterogeneous: lines, state, country, etc.
2. Document Setup. Here you need professional Great Plains consultant, who has experience implementing the former VerifyPoint/ countiesbank PBA system. When you plan to implement verify pointer functionality, read the following procedure. Refer to Dynamics GP SDK, located in Dynamics GP folder
2.1. eConnect overview. eConnect is SDK with encrypted stored procedures and it opens peripheral SDK: Dex.exe, SQL.exe, Microsoft.Applicationschema.exe, DEX.EXE, plus so-called encrypted procedures, present only in eConnect version (functionalities are similar for Microsoft Dynamics GP 10.0 and 9.0). We recommend you to install eConnect in all the company and just synchronize the work transactions only. If you would need richer functionality, consider Integration Manager (in our opinion – this tool is better than eConnect – but requires a license purchase).
2.2. eConnect drawbacks. First – eConnect doesn’t post batches, consider deploying Alba Spectrum Autoposting server, or combination of JBOSS and eConnect, or even Dexterity posting server. If you are dealing with third party ISV – please check on the Dex technology and third party ISV modules compatibility.
3. FRx. This integration tool is in essence geared toward graphical analysis and reporting, so we expect FRx to be more popular among financial end users, especially in USA. However if you look at Microsoft FRx licenses – you will see that in niche cases you can get discounts for large number of users: 20 users on $200 per year, for instance. FRx is tightly integrated with Microsoft FRx and Microsoft GP Business Portal. In order to install FRx, you should have your GP user id and password, available on the GP user login. Installation instruction for GP 10.0 or 9.0 is provided by Microsoft in CDsetup article
3. ReportWriter reports. Microsoft Dynamics GP Report Writer is seamlessly integrated with GP user interface and business logic. Report Writer uses all the popular reporting tools: MS SQL Server Reporting Services, Crystal Reports, Microsoft BizTalk; plus aggregate logic: Text, Web, Query, Lookup tables. RW is available for GP versions 10.0 or 9.0. When you close RW, all the open stored procedures and views are locked, until next OLAP initialization, typically five minutes. This is good, as you don’t want users to duplicate the same fields. Alternatively, if you don’t need complex report, you can initialize DB only. RW is hard embedded. If you launch GP from MS Visual Studio CD, ReportWriter is already setup and ready to use, but it lacks designer, especially in ReportWriter Advanced designer. We recommend you to install MS Dynamics GP Dexterity, available from your Dynamics GP reseller, or purchase Dexterity CD if you have one. We’ll be more specific with customization tools in future articles
4. Web sessions. This technology was first introduced and then greatly improved in Microsoft Great Plains eCommerce and eOrder P2P module. If you are using eCommerce, you should consider to deploy eConnect in your web application, which will allow you to avoid GP installation, plus it will allow you to integrate data from outside GP system: SOP, GL, AR, AP, Payroll, AR/ Expense, POP, Payroll, etc.