Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 Architecture Whitepaper available for download

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 Architecture Whitepaper is now available for download from Microsoft Download Center. Architecture is something dear to my heart so please be sure to download this document and read up. The document discusses the following topics:

• The structure of the Microsoft Dynamics GP application, which is composed of the Dexterity runtime engine, the Dynamics application dictionary, and the Microsoft SQL Server database.
• How Microsoft Dynamics GP efficiently uses system resources for both client workstations and servers.
• The customization tools that are built into the software and are accessible to all users, and the tools that system administrators can use to customize Microsoft Dynamics GP, such as Modifier, Report Writer, and Visual Basic for Applications (VBA).
• The tools that are available for importing and exporting Microsoft Dynamics GP data, such as eConnect, Web Services, and Integration Manager.
• The features that provide platform enhancements, such as flexible account numbers, lists, data-driven scrolling windows, security, international support, macro capabilities, named printers, the mail API, and error reporting.
• The reporting and analytics tools that are available for Microsoft Dynamics GP, including Report Writer, SmartList, Management Reporter, SQL Reporting Services, and Excel Reports
• How the workflow capabilities in Microsoft Dynamics GP control the flow of documents through the accounting system
• The architecture and features of Business Portal, which you can use as your company intranet or as an extension to it to provide Web-based access to Microsoft Dynamics GP data.
• The additional industry- or market-specific capabilities that are included with Microsoft Dynamics GP, such as multidictionary architecture, the trigger system, and available development options.

Hope you find this whitepaper useful and certainly a gem to have in your product documentation arsenal.

Related Articles

Microsoft Dynamics GP Architectural Foundations Series – featuring Microsoft’s Tim Brookins

Until next post!

MG.-
Mariano Gomez, MVP
Maximum Global Business, LLC
http://www.maximumglobalbusiness.com/

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 first impressions

Folks, it’s been almost a full week since the official general availability date of Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010. I wanted to collect your first impressions on this major product release and have consequently opened a discussion on The Dynamics GP Blogster Facebook page. Please stop by and join in with your experiences. If you haven’t had a chance to review Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010, don’t worry, you are also welcome to drop a note and let all followers know of your plans moving forward.

Until next post!

MG.-
Mariano Gomez, MVP
Maximum Global Business, LLC
http://www.maximumglobalbusiness.com/

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 now available for download

Folks, as a member of the TAP program, I had been test driving Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 since January, however this is truly an exciting time to be a part of the Microsoft Dynamics GP community overall. Microsoft has made the links to Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 available to the general public. That’s it! You can go ahead and download the RTM version and begin planning your upgrades.

• Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 – PartnerSource download
• Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 – CustomerSource download

According to Microsoft, registration keys are being updated for customers and partners and may take up to 24 hours to have all the keys available. Be sure to check the new hardware requirements for each product listed below as they have changed.

• Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 System Requirements
• Web Application System Requirements

Until next post!

MG.-
Mariano Gomez, MVP
Maximum Global Business, LLC
http://www.maximumglobalbusiness.com/

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 – General Availability Release

Just got off a conference call with some of the Microsoft Dynamics GP executives who announced general availability of Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010, the highly anticipated new release of Microsoft’s ERP solution for the SMB market, on May 1, 2010 — just five days after Convergence Atlanta event.

In preparation for the launch event, Microsoft has scheduled a number of partner roadshow events around 19 cities in the United States, giving partners the opportunity to come in contact with the product and learn the key closing strategies. If you are a Dynamics GP customer, expect a number of partner events that will give you a chance to experience the GP 2010 buzz.

Until next post!

MG.-
Mariano Gomez, MVP
Maximum Global Business, LLC
http://www.maximumglobalbusiness.com/

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 – Service Call Management Enhancements, Part 2

You had a chance to review the first set of enhancements in my Part 1 article. Now we will review a second set of features to conclude the Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 Service Call Management enhancements series.

Generate payables vouchers for subcontractor charges

You can automatically generate vouchers in Payables Management for subcontractor labor, expenses, or additional charges. The vouchers are created during service call billing. To enable this feature, you must specify a Vendor ID for each subcontractor technician. You also can designate subcontractor service types.

Post labor information to U.S. Payroll

You can now post labor information from Field Service to U.S. Payroll. New setup options, Payroll Integration and Post to Payroll, are added to the Service Setup window. When these options are activated, Field Service integrates to U.S. Payroll for labor or indirect labor. Payroll transactions can be based on the information that is entered in the Service Call Entry – Labor, Labor Information, and Indirect Labor Entry/Update windows, and in a new window, Field Service Labor – Payroll. This feature also integrates the cost from the employee’s pay code to the labor record in Field Service.

Service Setup window

Service Setup – Service window

Service Call Entry – Labor & Labor Information Windows

Use kit items in the Field Service Series

You can add kit items to parts lines, and you can make changes to the component lines, including quantity ordered. You can create a purchase order from a kit item or from one or more component items. If you do so, the kit item cannot be transferred, but the individual inventory components can. You can specify a kit as a part for an engineered change order. The resulting service calls that are generated include the kit item and the components that are specified in a new window, Service Parts – Kit Components.

Service Call Entry – Parts window

One thing I found interesting when entering a kit on the Service Call Entry – Parts window is, when a kit is selected you have one and only one chance at entering the quantity being ordered before the code breaks down the kit into its components on the Parts window. I also think that a validation is missing where users are warned when a component belonging to a kit is removed from the Service Call Entry – Parts window.

Use workflow to manage service call escalation steps

You can now create a standard workflow to manage the approval process for service call escalation steps. A new workflow type, Escalation Override, applies to service call documents in the Service Call Entry/Update window. You can activate the workflow by using the Service Type – Escalation window.

Hope you enjoyed this 2-part series and have had a chance to explore some of the new Service Call Management enhancements. Huge, huge are the integrations to payroll and the ability to post payables vouchers for subcontractors. This certainly reduce the amount of steps users have to engage in when closing a service call. I won’t be surprised you will see more integration with Manufacturing in a future revision of this module.

Until next post!

MG.-
Mariano Gomez, MVP
Maximum Global Business, LLC
http://www.maximumglobalbusiness.com/

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 – Service Call Management Enhancements, Part 1

As I prepare to do more work with the Field Service Series modules, I wanted to blog about a few of the enhancements to the Service Call Management module in the upcoming Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010. So let’s get started.

1. Users now have the ability to automatically move service calls to history when the billing process is complete. I don’t know about you, but this one is huge! I did not like the fact that this process had to be done as a routine in Service Call Management, but I guess now is a choice. To enable this feature, the Service Setup – Service window has been provided with a checkmark.

*Click image to enlarge

2. Field Service Series has been provided with a Check Links routine! Fi-na-lly! However, a bit of a caution: you should only run check links on the Field Service Series if the reconciliation routines have been run, but the original problem persists. In other words: BACKUP YOUR DATA before your try this.

*Click image to enlarge

You can choose to run Check Links on Contract Cards, Contract Transactions, Equipment Cards, Service Cards, Service Transactions, and the Service Setup records. Very good start.

3. Now you have the ability to enter non-inventoried items for Service Call transactions (and throghout the Field Service series. This is going to be huge for a number of customers out there! As a good sign of thoughtfulness, this feature has been provided as a setup option to the Service Series.

*Click image to enlarge

4. In addition to the previous ability to escalate service calls to a technician’s manager, users can now send escalation notices to the manager’s manager, and to the manager of the manager’s manager. You can specify the additional manager levels in the Service Type Escalation window.

*Click image to enlarge

The Field Service Series has a tremendous amount of improvements, too many to cover in one article, so I will be following up this post with a 2nd part on the enhancements introduced in Service Call Management.

Until next post!

MG.-
Mariano Gomez, MVP
Maximum Global Business, LLC
http://www.maximumglobalbusiness.com/

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 – International Enhancements

After spending a week in Costa Rica enjoying the spectacular beaches and the fabulous weather in San Jose (although my purpose in San Jose was to deliver Microsoft Dexterity training), I thought it was just appropriate to blog about the international features sported by Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010. The bottom line, there are quite a bit of enhancements for the international community, so let’s get right to them:

1. VAT Daybook. You will be pleased to know that the VAT daybook has become a feature available for installation to all countries. Since value added taxes are very common across the globe with most countries requiring pretty much the same tracking and reporting capabilities, the good folks at MS have decided to make it available to everyone.

For you folks up in Canada, the VAT Daybook can be used to generate the Canadian GST/HST return in electronic format. You can set up the reporting periods for the return as specified by the tax Canada Revenue Agency. You can assign the tax detail IDs to consider for each line of the return. You can set up the default claim percentage for input tax credit for each tax detail ID. You can change this percentage for each transaction before you generate the return. You can resubmit the return after making changes, if required.

Vous serez heureux de savoir que le fil de la journée de la TVA est devenue une caractéristique disponible pour l’installation de tous les pays. Depuis la valeur ajoutée les impôts sont très courants dans le monde entier avec la plupart des pays ayant besoin d’à peu près le même suivi et de reporting, les braves gens qui habitaient les États membres ont décidé de le rendre accessible à tous.

Pour vous, les amis au Canada, le fil de la journée la TVA peut être utilisé pour générer la TPS canadienne / TVH en format électronique. Vous pouvez configurer les périodes de déclaration pour le retour tel que spécifié par l’impôt du revenu du Canada Agence. Vous pouvez attribuer le détail impôt identifiants à considérer pour chaque ligne de la déclaration. Vous pouvez configurer le pourcentage par défaut de réclamation de crédit d’impôt d’entrée de chaque détail d’identification fiscale. Vous pouvez changer ce pourcentage pour chaque transaction avant que vous produisez la déclaration. Vous pouvez renvoyer le retour en cas de modifications, si nécessaire.

2. Fixed Assets Enhancements. For you folks in Australia and New Zeland you will be pleased to know that Fixed Assets Enhancements is a tool that allows you to create a depreciation method to calculate depreciation for low-cost and low-value assets. This product is automatically installed when you choose to install the Fixed Assets Management product for Australia or New Zealand installations.

3. Export Financial Data. Export Financial Data is a tool that allows you to export the ACCON account balance report for the users in Belgium and the ETAFI account balance report for the users in France. These reports are exported to a format that can be imported by the respective legal authorities. This product is available for selection only for Belgian or French installations of Microsoft Dynamics GP.

Données Financières de L’Exportation est un outil qui vous permet d’exporter les soldes des comptes rapport Accone en Belgique, et le rapport solde du compte ETAFI pour les utilisateurs en France. Ces rapports sont exportés vers un format qui peut être importé par les autorités judiciaires.. Ce produit est disponible pour la sélection uniquement pour les installations belge ou française de Microsoft Dynamics GP.

4. “Principles of Data Access and Verifiability of Digital Documents”. GDPDU is a tool that allows you to extract tax related data from Microsoft Dynamics GP based German legal requirements. You can send this data to the auditor for analysis before submitting the final report to the tax authorities.

You can choose to install this feature from the …\DvdImage\Interntl\Products\ folder located within your Microsoft Dynamics GP installation package.

GDPDU – Grundsätze zum Datenzugriff und zur Prüfbarkeit digitaler Unterlagen -ist ein werkzeug, dass sie die steuerrelevanten daten aus Microsoft Dynamics GP lebenden deutschen gesetzlichen anforderungen zu extrahieren. Sie können diese daten an den abschlussprüfer für die Analyse zu schicken, bevor die vorlage des abschlussberichts an den fiskus.

Sie können wählen, um diese funktion aus dem … \DvdImage\Interntl\Products\ in ihrem Microsoft Dynamics GP installationspaket befindet.

Now, you will want to excuse my French and German, but I did the best I could… now, go enjoy your new features!

Until next post!

MG.-
Mariano Gomez, MVP
Maximum Global Business, LLC
http://www.maximumglobalbusiness.com

What’s new in Microsoft Dexterity 11.0

The excitement around Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 could not be any higher. Traffic on my site has doubled since I began releasing information about the upcoming version, which is currently being beta tested by a number of partners and have even seen a customer gone live as reported by Inside Microsoft Dynamics GP. For past articles, click on the following links:

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 – Navigation Enhancements
Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 – Security Enhancements

However, none of these application enhancements could have been possible without the hard work of the Microsoft Dexterity team, which brought the following enhancements of their own to version 11.0 of Dexterity:

IDE Enhancements

• Enhancements to Report Writer – While a number of you still dredge the fact that there is still Report Writer, the bottom line is I believe there will be Report Writer for a while. There’s simply too much code tied to Report Writer and way too many reports in the system to simply replace them all. So to compensate, my friends in the Dex team have significantly improved the rendering of report outputs in HTML format and have provided a way to create an XML representation of the report layout.
• Context Menus – While this is nothing new in the Windows world and holds true for many other applications, it was a long overdue feature in Dexterity. Dexterity now supports right-click enabled context menus for windows, window fields, scrolling window lines and scrolling window fields. When a context menu is displayed, a script is run that allows commands to be added to the context menu. Here is a sample script:

local integer result;
local integer command_tag;
local integer view_menu_command_list;
local integer context_menu_command_list;

{Build the View submenu}
view_menu_command_list = Command_GetTag(command View of form RESM_Explorer);

{Only need to build this once. Unlike the context menu, it is not cleared automatically when the context menu action is complete.}
if CommandList_NumCommands(view_menu_command_list) = 0 then
  {Large Icon}
  command_tag = Command_GetTag(command Large_Icon of form RESM_Explorer);
  result = CommandList_Add(view_menu_command_list, command_tag);

  {Small Icon}
  command_tag = Command_GetTag(command Small_Icon of form RESM_Explorer);
  result = CommandList_Add(view_menu_command_list, command_tag);

  {List}
  command_tag = Command_GetTag(command List of form RESM_Explorer);
  result = CommandList_Add(view_menu_command_list, command_tag);

  {Report}
  command_tag = Command_GetTag(command Report of form RESM_Explorer);
  result = CommandList_Add(view_menu_command_list, command_tag);

end if;

{Build the context menu}
context_menu_command_list = Command_GetTag(command cmdListContextMenu);

{Add the View sub-menu}
result = CommandList_Add(context_menu_command_list, view_menu_command_list);

{Separator}
command_tag = Command_GetTag(command cmdSeparator);
result = CommandList_Add(context_menu_command_list, command_tag);

{Print}
command_tag = Command_GetTag(command Print of form RESM_Explorer);
result = CommandList_Add(context_menu_command_list, command_tag);

As you can tell, context menus are based on command lists… same principle used for standard menu items.

• Dexterity now sports a new Watch window, wich can be selected from the Debug menu in test mode.



• The Script Debugger has a context menu in test mode. The truth is, I could not get this feature to work in my current build of Dexterity – 11.00.0206.000

 

SanScript Enhancements

• run report statement now has the option to define a new XML export type. The constant defined for this operation is XMLFILE. The statement syntax is still the same:

run report report_name {with restriction boolexp}{sort by field{nocase}{descend}}  {by key_name  by number expr}{legends [string_expr_list  array_index_list]  {destination screen_boolean, printer_boolean  {, export_type, export_name}}{  printer printer_settings}

• Similar enhancements have been implemented for the run report with name statement. You can also specify an XML export type.

run report with name report_name {with restriction boolexp}{sort by field{nocase}{descend}}  {by key_name  by number expr}{legends [string_expr_list  array_index_list]  {destination screen_boolean, printer_boolean  {, export_type, export_name}}{  printer printer_settings}{in dictionary product_ID}

• The savefile() function has also been given the ability to save documents to XML format by using the XMLFILE constant.

local string path;local integer file_type;

if savefile("Export file", file_type, path, "XML file (*.xml)*.xml) then    call Export_XML_File(file_type, path);end if;

 

New Functions

File
File_GetSize()
File_GetTempDirectory()

File list
FileList_Add()
FileList_Count()
FileList_Create()
FileList_Destroy()
FileList_Get()
FileList_Remove()
FileList_ShowDialog()

File type
FileType_CanAppend()
FileType_FillList()
FileType_GetExtension()
FileType_IsValid()

MAPI
MAPI_DisplayReplyToDialog()
MAPI_GetAddress()
MAPI_IsLoggedOn()
MAPI_IsMailEnabled()
MAPI_LogOff()
MAPI_LogOn()
MAPI_ProfileGetAddress()
MAPI_PropertyListCount()
MAPI_PropertyListCreate()
MAPI_PropertyListDestroy()
MAPI_PropertyListGetValue()
MAPI_PropertyListGetValueByIndex()
MAPI_PropertyListSetValue()
MAPI_ResolveAddress()
*MAPI_Send()
*MAPI_SendDialog()

* Enhanced to support attachments, reply to lists, and properties not exposed through the MAPI function.

Path
Path_ParsePathFromPath()

Registry
Registry_DeleteKey()
Registry_DeleteValue()
Registry_GetProtectedString()
Registry_GetValue()
Registry_SetKeyValue()
Registry_SetProtectedKeyString()

Trigger
*Trigger_RegisterFocus()
*Trigger_RegisterFocusByName()

* Enhanced to support focus triggers on context menu events.

Until next post!

MG.-
Mariano Gomez, MVP
Maximum Global Business, LLC
http://www.maximumglobalbusiness.com/

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 – Navigation Enhancements

After the Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 Security Enhancements mentioned in my previous article, I wanted touch base on some of the enhancements to the overall navigation experience.

One of the first things that jump out right at you when you get to the desktop is the new Microsoft Dynamics Online Connect feature. Think of this feature as your window to the Dynamics Community. That’s correct! Behind that window there are hundreds of thousands of other Dynamics GP users just like you. The problem? The Connect link seems to be down since sometimes yesterday, as of the date and time of publishing of this article. By the way, you can find the Connect site link (also known as the GP Role Center site) in the HomePage.xml file stored in your temp folder (%temp%).

You also have the ability to now view reminders as visual cues and multiple metrics on the page. I have to play more around with this feature as I was not quite sure I was able to get all metrics to be displayed at once.

The Navigation Pane will now only show the series buttons and associate lists for modules that are marked in the Registration window. Phew! This will certainly clean up the amount of options you have to sift through when working with your navigation lists.

You can now define and save a default lookup view for your master records by selecting the Set as Default View option from the View menu or using the right-click menu in the lookup window. The default view you select will be the view displayed when you open the lookup window the next time. You can set a default view for the following lookup windows:

• Items lookup window




• Accounts lookup window



• Employees lookup window



• Customers and Prospects lookup window



• Salespeople lookup window



• Vendors lookup window

The default view is saved on a per user, per company basis. The truth is, this functionality is not working as intended at this time. After I changed the sorting options and attempted to set these changes as the default value for my lookup window, the option appeared grayed out. I discussed this with MVP Mohammad R. Daoud who confirmed it in his new article titled Inside Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 – Issues found so far.

All and all, in the above images you saw the right-click context menu, which leads me into the next navigation enhancement.

“You can right-click in a text or numeric field to see a shortcut menu. The shortcut menu contains options from the Edit menu” — this, per the What’s New help file, but I believe Microsoft felt short in the definition as, right-click enables more of a context sensitive menu, rather than just shortcuts and operates in a number of places. For example, in SOP, you are able to display not only the standard copy/paste options, but also the scrolling window insert and delete options.

There are a few more enhancements in this area that I would like to discuss, but they will be part of a future article as I will need Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services to demonstrate a few of them.

Until next post!

MG.-
Mariano Gomez, MVP
Maximum Global Business, LLC
http://www.maximumglobalbusiness.com/

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 – Security Enhancements

This article opens the series on the new features and enhancements available in Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010. I will start out with something dear to the heart of systems administrators and that’s security. So let’s take a look at the first set of enhancements that have been introduced to the new release.

Automatic Login

Now you have the option to log on to Microsoft Dynamics GP and a default — favorite if you will — company automatically. In order for the login to take place automatically, the system administrator must mark the Enable Remember User field in the System Preferences window.

You will notice a new checkmark on the Welcome to Microsoft Dynamics GP window to Remember user and password.

And you will also notice a checkmark on the Company Login window to Remember this company.

As mentioned before, having the ability to access these new enhancements is a system wide administrative option set via the System Preferences window – MSDGP > Tools > Setup > System > System Preferences.

Copy User Security Settings

System administrators lost a lot of the cool features available in version’s 8.0 and 9.0’s Advanced Security module after upgrading to Microsoft Dynamics GP 10.0 role base security model. One feature in particular that put dents in a lot of desks was the fact that security could not be copied across user accounts.

For Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010, you can now use the Copy User Security window and the User Setup window to copy security settings (roles, tasks, and company access) you want to copy from one user to another.

For example, if you hire a new purchasing agent, you can copy the security settings from an existing purchasing agent instead of manually specifying the security settings. If the new purchasing agent is transferring from another position in your company, copying replaces any existing security settings for the user you are copying to.

Security Roles and Tasks Filters

You can now filter out only the security tasks and items to which access has been granted in the Security Task Setup window, the Security Role Setup window, and the User Security Setup window instead of viewing all security tasks, roles, and items. This makes understanding security settings assigned to tasks, roles, and items a breeze.

These enhancements will certainly facilitate security administration for the system administrator, while allowing users the ability to speed up login into the company of their preference. Please let me know what you think about these enhancements.

Until next post!

MG.-
Mariano Gomez, MVP
Maximum Global Business, LLC
http://www.maximumglobalbusiness.com/