Dynamics,Partner,News,Getting, computer Dynamics GP Partner News: Getting Second Opinion in Great Pl

----------------------------------------------------------Permission is granted for the below article to forward,reprint, distribute, use for ezine, newsletter, website,offer as free bonus or part of a product for sale as longas no changes a Gone are those times when the companies and the organisations didn't need a hi-tech system to handle them. Owing to the considerable increase in the business sector and thus, an enormous increase in the complexity of the organisational struc

or even from nationwide firm with strong Great Plainsimplementation, data conversion, reporting and customization expertise in yourindustry.  Think this way - Dynamics GPis a tool and Corporate ERP platform, but it allows you to design and organizeAccounting, Sales Order Processing, Manufacturing, Shipping and Receiving,Procurement, Inventory and Warehouse management procedures.  Plus it open through Dexterity, eConnect,Integration Manager, ReportWriter, SQL Server Reporting Services, CrystalReports and other tools to data conversions, customizations, integrations andreporting.  To implement your newCorporate ERP you would have to probably assign internal Project Manager, plusprobably allocate some members of IT team if data migration and customizationis needed, and of course you should select the right Dynamics GP Partner, whocould help you implement Great Plains as real team of GP gurus.  We are trying to make this article readablefor both IT managers and Company Executives, so please take it to considerationand skip the paragraph that is too technical or too philosophical.  Let's come through the most typical CorporateERP failures scenarios: 1.       UnrealisticData Conversion.  We were discussingwhich topic should go on the first position, and looks like the "winner"is data migration, massage and conversion. And this might be also related to lack of management involvement (whensomebody from executives orders Dynamics GP VAR to convert "everything"and period) as well as to some learning curve from your Dynamics GP Resellersales engineering team, where they say Yes to all customer requests in theirdesire to push Software Licenses Sale through (better approach would be to setthe right expectation and explain recommended and possible levels of DataConversions, their cost and potential risks). We described Dynamics GP data migration in previous publications,however here we would like to give you summary. You should first consider to convert only master records (customers,vendors, GL accounts, employees, addresses) and GL balances and leave your oldAccounting system (QuickBooks, Peach Tree, etc.) for data inquiry only tosecure possible strategies for future audit and IRS compliance.  If you must have some GL history - consideronly current year and only monthly balances - this exercise is possible viaDynamics GP Integration Manager via ODBC connections to your legacy CorporateERP data base or to exports in text files from legacy accounting, the mosttypical case is when you are migrating from QuickBooks.  Migrating "everything" to GreatPlains is very costly and very risky, as GP business logic and tables structureare complex 2.       UnnecessaryDeep Modification.  Great Plains alreadyhas pretty rich mid-market Corporate ERP and MRP applications business logicand first you should try to cast your business processes in Dynamics GP setupsand procedures.  We recommend you to becertain and not accept shortcuts approach, when if process is not apparent,realize it via Dexterity, Modifier or eConnect customizations.  However if customization is required, pleasecheck with your Dynamics GP Partner that they have reasonable experience toaccomplish it for you, versus try it first time and come through learning curvewith facing most of the potential Great Plains Dexterity programming pitfalls 3.       Integrationwith Legacy System limbo.  Often you mayhave something from non Microsoft World: Oracle Based Sales Order Processingsystem, EDI, PHP MySQL and Linux based eCommerce web application.  Typically to integrate the two you would needconsultants who are either cross trained or consulting team with expertise inboth platforms 4.       CrystalReports limbo.  Industrial reportingtools, such as Crystal Reports, SSRS also require reports developer to havereasonable experience and exposure.  Ifdeveloper is novice and tries all sorts of Wizards - results might bedisappointing.  Professional reportingfor Corporate ERP applications requires data query abstraction from the toolitself.  In the term of Crystal Reportfor Dynamics GP it means that report should be based on SQL Stored Procedure orat least on SQL View, and these techniques are crossing the boundaries ofapparent reports wizards 5.       ProcessManufacturing.  If you were pushed in GPsales phase with the promise to implement Process Manufacturing, you probablyshould slow down, as Microsoft Business Solutions really features AxaptaDynamics AX as process manufacturing Corporate ERP option: food, meat andpoultry processing, farmers associations, mining, drilling, energy, oil andgas, etc.  Dynamics GP ManufacturingSuite is for so-called Discrete Manufacturing 6.       GreatPlains Upgrade Limbo.  If you aremigrating from really old version, such as Great Plains on Pervasive SQL orCtree: 7.5, 7.0, 6.0, 5.5, 5.0, 4.0 or even from Great Plains Accounting forDOS and Windows, you should be aware on the possible problems.  For example Intellisol Purchase OrderProcessing was recommended in time (2002) to be migrated to Great PlainsPurchase Order module.  You can still dothis, but this should be performed for Great Plains Dynamics version 7.5, whereyou chosen Dynamics GP Partner may have no clue.  Great Plains Accounting for DOS, Windows orMac is even better puzzle, as its support was terminated by Great PlainsSoftware somewhere around 2001.  If youneed to migrate away from this archaic Corporate ERP platform to MicrosoftDynamics GP 10.0 - you should carefully design upgrade path with your DynamicsGP Partner  7.       Tryingto Implement Dynamics GP in International environment in the country where itis not localized.  Please, note that GP isonly localized in English speaking countries, plus in Spanish speaking LatinAmerica.  If you are trying to expand itfor Brazilian, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Russian subsidiary - you will nothave success.  International CorporateERP is not piece of cake, it requires research and dedication to internationalbusiness rules.  We advise to consideralternatives to Great Plains, such as SAP Business One, or Microsoft DynamicsAX Axapta, these are Unicode characters compliant and available to broadspectrum of countries.  For example, ifyou have small facility in Brazil, SAP B1 would be the way to go in ouropinion, plus it is very friendly for data export and GL level consolidation toCorporate ERP Great Plains or even on FRx Reporting base.  There are some exceptions - we can help youwith options on Crystal Reports in Chinese with Great Plains Dynamics GP 8.       Howto get help?  Please, feel free to callus: 1-866-528-0577, outside of USA: 1-630-961-5918 or email [email protected]  We are verytechnical and real Dynamics GP Dexterity, SAP Business One SDK programminggurus.  We have Great Plains SoftwareDevelopment Factory and could support unlimited Dynamics GP Customization andProgramming needs.  Plus we speakEnglish, Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, and not only as native speakingsales folks, but as real technical consultants. If you prefer skype: albaspectrum