Join us in February and March for three powerful web seminars about accelerated demo scenarios specifically for Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 and best practices when working with Hyper V. The details and registration information are included below for each session.

Microsoft Dynamic GP – An Accelerated Demo (Part I)
February 2, 2012 at 11:00 AM Pacific
If you are seeking ways to shorten your sales cycles, attend the upcoming Presales Profits web seminar. This session will empower your presales professionals to demonstrate how Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 informs, prioritizes and facilitates communication and ultimately improves decision making. To support your efforts of building a REPEATABLE sales demo we’ve built a click-through DemoMate for you to model future demonstrations.

Presenters: Microsoft Partner Technology Advisors - Jon Elliot  and Chad Niswonger
REGISTER NOW

Microsoft Dynamic GP – An Accelerated Demo (Part II)
February 23, 2012 at 11:00 AM Pacific
Part II of our series will provide you with ideas on how to build and maintain a repeatable demo environment using Dynamics GP 2010 R2. During this session we will provide you with a library of demo “scenarios” – such as Finance, SOP, POP, etc. which you can import via a spreadsheet and be instantly prepared for your next prospect demo.

Presenters: Microsoft Partner Technology Advisors – Craig Crescas and John Dooley
REGISTER NOW

Best Practices When Using Hyper V
March 8, 2012 at 11:00 AM Pacific
Please attend this informative session covering the Hyper V technology. You will learn best practices regarding hardware requirements, configuring your Dynamics environment and maintaining your system for demonstration reliability and performance.

Presenter: Microsoft Partner Technology Advisor, Tom Higginbotham
REGISTER NOW

Since there are a number of GP partners that also work with Dynamics SL . . . I thought I'd let you know that an updated Statement of Direction is now available on Partnersource here.

Microsoft Dynamics GP is making a strategic investment into Microsoft Dynamics GP with Connect.  By giving customers information on their Home Page inside of Microsoft Dynamics it gives them more value and awareness.  Connect will communicate with customers on important tax updates, service packs, what's going on in the community.

Kelly on the Support and Services Blog explains the benefits well. 

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/dynamicsgp/archive/2012/01/19/get-connected-with-connect-in-microsoft-dynamics-gp.aspx

Please take a look and setup Connect to say informed on what's happening with Microsoft Dynamics GP.

The Rapid Migration Tool for Microsoft Dynamics GP has been a greatly under-utilized tool that can bring a lot of value to the implementation process.  

The Rapid Migration Tool for Microsoft Dynamics GP has been designed to quickly converts key data from three different sources to Microsoft Dynamics GP, and best of all, it has an easy-to-use interface and gives the user lots of information on potential data issues. 

The three migration sources are:

• Intuit QuickBooks – We support Quickbooks (Pro (2003-2008), Premier (2003-2008), and Enterprise (3.0-8.0)) data migrations.
• Sage Peachtree – We support Peachtree (2009-2010) versions of Pro, Complete, and Premium, for data migrations.
• Microsoft Excel – We allow you to use Excel as a tool to bring data from any other application that you can then push into Excel, manipulate and massage as necessary, and then import it directly into Microsoft Dynamics GP.

The types of data migrated are:

• Master Records: Accounts (including opening balances), Customers, Vendors, Items, Employees
• Open Transactions*: Sales Orders, Purchase Orders, Payables, Receivables, Inventory (including inventory levels)
• Configuration Settings: Company Address, Customer Type, Payment Terms, Shipping Methods, Sales Tax, Vendor Type, Fiscal Years

*Note: Open transactions include those transactions not yet fully paid or applied. Transactions that have been fully paid and/or applied to another document are not migrated. There is also a capability to migrate data from an Excel Template. Master records and open transactions exported from any sources system can now be populated into the provided Excel Template. Rapid Migration Tool will use this template as a data source for importing the data into a new Dynamics GP company. Before proceeding, download the Rapid Implementation Tools for Dynamics help documents available on this page for complete, detailed instructions on installing and using these tools.

Rapid Migration is a tool that can bring increased satisfaction with the implementation each and every time that you use it, increasing the value to the customer, and strengthening your relationship with them as someone that solves their issues.  Some of the other features of Rapid Migration are: 

• Bringing over actual data from the company that you are implementing Microsoft Dynamics GP for, saving them countless hours of record creation and reducing potential data errors that would likely occur.
• Automatic data validation helps make sure that the data brought over conforms with the setup that has already occurred in Microsoft Dynamics GP.  For instance, if you have used the Rapid Configuration Tool to bring in the setup, and a shipping term doesn’t match now from the data you are migrating to what is in Microsoft Dynamics GP, it flags that for you and lets you map the difference.  This allows you to redefine some of the settings “on the fly” from existing data to a new system implementation.
• Bringing over open transactions – making it as seamless as possible to implement a new ERP system.  This reduces one of the greatest barriers for switching from another product to Dynamics GP and helps your sales process. 

For more information about the Rapid Implementation Tools, please visit http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=4071 

And there is a great video of the Rapid Implementation Tools here https://training.partner.microsoft.com/learning/app/management/LMS_ActDetails.aspx?UserMode=0&ActivityId=579540

Jay Manley

The Rapid Configuration Tool for Microsoft Dynamics GP has been, I believe, somewhat misunderstood as a tool.  Most partners shy away from anything that is Rapid when it comes to their consulting time and billing revenues during the implementation of Dynamics GP.  While I can understand that, having worked in consulting for over a decade, I also understand the benefits of going after a few key industries or verticals and being very, very good at delivering on the implementation process.

Rapid Configuration offers a variety of impactful items that can really help your Dynamics GP implementations go more smoothly: 

• You can use one of the pre-configured industries in the tool as a way to get a jumpstart on typical settings for those industries.  For most partners, this will be the overall 60-80% of normal settings, but your more senior implementation consultants will still tweak settings to better fit individual and/or more vertical settings needed by those types of customers.  So, while we give you a great starting point, you’re still delivering on that last mile of deep knowledge that your team has.
• You can export an existing companies configuration settings.  With many partners going more and more vertical in their customer base, this is a huge benefit.  If you have either used one of our industries and “gone deep” with the rest of the settings, or if you’ve completed your own full implementation, you can export those settings and save them in a file that you can then take with you to your next customer.  That’s right, now instead of being 60-80% there, you’re likely 95-99% of the way to being configured at the next customer!  And the biggest benefit?  You know that those settings WORK!
• Instead of taking a lot of time with future customers on “tweaking” the configuration of Dynamics GP, you can now send in a more junior resource to install the 95-99% solution and have them fix up the little bit of changes that is needed for a new customer (customer name, shipping terms, etc.), freeing up your high-value assets for more impactful work – either helping close more business, or driving through deeper customer needs during the implementation.  Either way, you benefit. 

As you can tell, Rapid Configuration is an asset that you should be utilizing.  Some of the other features of Rapid Configuration are: 

• Settings and data such as the chart of accounts, fiscal years, payment terms, shipping methods, taxes, core financial and distribution module setup, and more can be quickly set up using this tool.
• You can also select individual Setup Areas allowing configurations to proceed in a phased approach rather than an all or none approach when importing configuration data from another Dynamics GP company.
• Select one of the standard industry configurations provided by Microsoft Dynamics GP, modify the configuration, and then import the data into Microsoft Dynamics GP.
• Import a configuration from a Microsoft Excel® workbook prepared by a Microsoft Dynamics GP partner or business consultant. When you import a configuration, you also can use the wizard to modify the configuration.
• Export an existing Microsoft Dynamics GP company’s setup information and use it as a template when setting up other companies. 

For more information about the Rapid Implementation Tools, please visit http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=4071

And there is a great video of the Rapid Implementation Tools here https://training.partner.microsoft.com/learning/app/management/LMS_ActDetails.aspx?UserMode=0&ActivityId=579540

Jay Manley

Partners.  Mark your Calendars.  We will be having a technical conference in Fargo!

We will have two tracks, Consultants and Developers.  This will be your main source for readiness for Microsoft Dynamics GP '12.'  Make plans to attend.

Mark You Calendars, September 12-14! 

Since this is prime time where partners have their own events, we wanted to tell you as soon as possible.  More information will come.

Pam

NEW! Projects containing a subset of documents for
an implementation, diagnostic, or optimization based project can be built and
stored to your SharePoint using the new Sure Step Online Project Wizard.

Benefits of using the Sure Step Online Project Wizard:

• Each project created must be set for a specific Sure Step Project Type, a
  specific Microsoft Dynamics Product and Solution. New projects contain editable
  copies of all Sure Step documents applicable to these criteria.
• Projects are editable. You can customize them to leverage your own best
  practices or to make them customer- or solution-specific. You can do this by
  using the following methods:
  • Adding new documents (and removing unneeded ones)
  • Editing Sure Step documents
• Projects can be copied, or “cloned “from within SharePoint using SharePoint
  functionality.
• There is no limit to the number of projects you can create. The system is
  designed so that a new project should be initiated for each engagement
• Each time a project is created using the wizard, the latest content
  available from Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step Online will be retrieved.

To enable the Project Wizard in your own SharePoint environment, you must
download the Online Project Wizard file from this page, following the
instructions in the Sure Step User Guide.

Here's a blog site to add to list of good sites to keep up to date with.  The Connector team has a great blog site with some really good information on their latest release.

You can find it here.

Below are some helpful FAQs for the new 64-bit Hyper-V image set. 

• Your primary login information for the image is:
• Name:             Contoso\Administrator
• Password:        pass@word1
• On the GP2010-A image, if you log in, there is a “Start Services” icon on the main desktop, but when the you try to run it, it gives you errors.  RESPONSE: The errors are fine. Some of the Windows Services will not start but need to be set to automatic. The script is primarily for Exchange and Lync services. So you can safely ignore the errors.
• On the GP2010-B image, if you log in as ‘sa’, there is a “rsSharePoint” icon on the main desktop.  What is it for?  RESPONSE: You should not log in as Administrator, rather log in as Contoso\Administrator, and you won’t see that icon.
• On the GP2010-B image, if you log in as ‘sa’, Outlook is not set up. RESPONSE: Log in as Contoso\Administrator and it’ll work appropriately.  All AD users are setup for Email and Lync. Only Contoso\Administrator and Phyllis have been through the Outlook wizard.
• The Business Portal Administration page is at http://gp2010-b:81/BP/Administration/Applications%20Common%20Pages/Administration%20Home.aspx
• Workflow:  It is under IE Favorites. The Menu Bar is not enabled, you might want to make that visible. Under Favorites there is BP and Workflow.  Workflow site is:  http://gp2010-b/sites/dynamicsgpworkflow    All the workflow types are enabled, you just need to setup your workflow steps and enable in the company.  Because multiple users have not yet been implemented, workflow approvals may be challenging.
• What to do if you’re having issues with MR
• Make sure that you’re logged in using the primary login information at the top of this page – you will get errors and have issues if you log in as “Administrator” and not “Contoso\Administrator”.
• Make sure that both GP2010-A and GP2010-B images are running, and that their system clocks are within 5 minutes of each other on the same date/time.
• All databases had their dates normalized (consistent year) to 2018 (as the most “current” year).  What does this mean when you start the image? 
  • If you use the Contoso Entertainment company and leave the machine date as the current date, the SRS reports are 0.
  • If you use the Contoso Entertainment company and change the date to sometime in 2018, some dashboards have numbers.  In future releases, we’ll be evaluating the data displayed to ensure that its representative of the underlying data.

Jay Manley

For those of you that have been waiting for the latest release of the Support Debugging Tool for Microsoft Dynamics GP, David has finally released it!

This was a huge effort by David Musgrave, and he's spent several months' time on making changes, additions and fixes to the tool so that you'd get even more value out of it.

A few of the new features include the following:

• Macro Recording
• SQL Profiler Recording
• Trigger Administration

Instead of rehashing all of David's blog here, take a look at what he has to say:

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/developingfordynamicsgp/archive/2012/01/06/support-debugging-tool-build-16-released.aspx.

Jay Manley

Convergence is approaching quickly and I am looking for a final few customers to be on a panel to talk about their experience.  It's easy and painless to be on the panel.  We will have experts in the room to assist with questions, so no pressure.  Many of previous years panelists ask if they can do it again.

If you are interested in being a panelist at Convergence please email me at pam.misialek@microsoft.com.  You will receive $200 off your registration fee for helping out.

Thanks,

Pam

Topics:

• Microsoft Dynamics GP: Extender
• Ask the Experts:  Financials for Microsoft Dynamics GP
• Microsoft Dynamics GP for the Public Sector
• Microsoft Dynamics GP for Healthcare
• Microsoft Dynamics GP for Not-For-Profit Organizations

Why attend Convergence 2012

By Pam Misialek

Today while I drove into the office, I thought about writing a blog post on Convergence, telling everyone that registration is open and GPUG is hosting a pre-day event that bring additional value.  It occurred to me that I should really write a post on Why Convergence.  Why should anyone attend? 

I've been to many Convergence events, missing only three of them.  I've described the event to first time attendees many times with much difficulty, feeling words didn't really explain it with accuracy.  Convergence is an experience and you would never understand it until you go.  It's huge with up to 10,000 attendees, it's bold and extravagant, yet it gives people a sense of belonging to a community. 

Really though what are the top reasons to attend Convergence 2012?

• Find Solutions:  The biggest gathering of the top ISV's in the world.  Microsoft Dynamics GP has a vast and robust channel of ISV's that extend the product.  You can find solutions for problems you didn't know you had.  You can find ways of doing things easier.
• Find Answers:  Bring every question your entire company has about Microsoft Dynamics GP.  The support help desk is there to answer any questions you have about the product and many of them have over ten years of experience, being The Expert.  A few examples:
• Need help creating a report.  Bring your requirements.
• Want to make sure you are making backups properly?  Go ask.
• Find Connections:  Talk to people like you and share experiences.  I bet there is someone out there who has experienced the same challenges as you and have resolved them.  Learn what they did and what they learned.  Finding connections will give you more ideas from the real world.
• Find Out the Future:  Microsoft Dynamics GP '12' is coming and it could have a massively positive impact on your business.  Find out when its coming and what's in it.  We will also talk longer term showing you what's coming after that!

Now, an interesting idea to think about.  After you attend Convergence and get a ton of ideas and valuable information, what are you going to do?  Last year I gave a challenge to all of the Microsoft Dynamics GP customers.  I asked them to pick one thing.  One.  Pick one thing you are going to bring back and do. I would love to hear stories from people who picked their one thing and brought change to their business!

To Register for Convergence:  http://www.microsoft.com/dynamics/convergence/houston12/

To Register for the GPUG DayONE: www.gpug.com/conferences/DayONE.      

When I presented RapidTools at GPUG, I got the feeling that our Rapid Implementation Tools are one of our best-kept secrets that we have.  With this first blog about them, I want to remind you about what the tools are.  In future blogs, we’ll discuss more about why you should be excited about them. 

The Rapid Implementation Tools for Microsoft Dynamics GP include two tools designed to shorten deployment time and enable greater Partner productivity by reducing the time required for routine implementation tasks. 

The Rapid Configuration Tool for Microsoft Dynamics GP quickly configures core application setup data to meet specific business needs. By using one of thirteen available industry templates, or a customized configuration template created in Microsoft Office Excel, a new Microsoft Dynamics GP company can be configured easily within the intuitive user interface. Settings and data such as the chart of accounts, fiscal years, payment terms, shipping methods, taxes, core financial and distribution module setup, and more can be quickly set up using this tool. You can also select individual Setup Areas allowing configurations to proceed in a phased approach rather than an all or none approach when importing configuration data from another Dynamics GP company. 

The Rapid Migration Tool for Microsoft Dynamics GP quickly converts key Intuit QuickBooks company data or Sage Peachtree accounting company data to Microsoft Dynamics GP within an easy-to-use interface. Customers using QuickBooks (Pro (2003 - 2008), Premier (2003 - 2008), Enterprise (3.0 - 8.0)) and Peachtree (2009 - 2010) versions of Pro, Complete and Premium benefit from the tool's ability to efficiently migrate the following data:

• Master Records: Accounts (including opening balances), Customers, Vendors, Items, Employees

• Open Transactions*: Sales Orders, Purchase Orders, Payables, Receivables, Inventory (including inventory levels)

• Configuration Settings: Company Address, Customer Type, Payment Terms, Shipping Methods, Sales Tax, Vendor Type, Fiscal Years

 *Note: Open transactions include those transactions not yet fully paid or applied. Transactions that have been fully paid and/or applied to another document are not migrated. There is also a capability to migrate data from an Excel Template. Master records and open transactions exported from any sources system can now be populated into the provided Excel Template. Rapid Migration Tool will use this template as a data source for importing the data into a new Dynamics GP company. Before proceeding, download the Rapid Implementation Tools for Dynamics help documents available on this page for complete, detailed instructions on installing and using these tools.

 Jay Manley

There have been quite a few people having issues and/or questions about the new 64-bit Hyper-V Dynamics GP demo image set.  I’ll try to cover what I did to get the image up and running.

I downloaded the image set (A, B, C images) to my hard drive and then “installed” (uncompressed) them to my D drive, specifically I set the directory to install them to as D:\Images\GP2010R2HV64. 

Then I started Hyper-V Manager.  When you start it, if you haven’t installed any Hyper-V images in the past, you should see something like the below image:

Once you are there, you’ll see “Virtual Network Manager”.  When you click on it, you should see something like:

Now, it is very important that you add a new virtual network.  Click New virtual network, select Private, click Add (Name: GP2010, Connection type: Private virtual machine network), click OK.  The name MUST be GP2010.

For Internet access from the VM a second virtual network (Connection type: External) is required.  Repeat the above “New virtual network” but select External (Name: [any name can be used], Connection type: External).  If you have an existing virtual network you can assign it to the VM after import.

NOTE:  The most import thing in the setup is creating the Private Virtual Network adapter with the name GP2010.  Not doing so will cause all kinds of networking issues that will break just about everything.

After setting up virtual networks, the next step is to import the three virtual machines.  Importing them does not mean that you have to use/start them, as most of the time you’ll start the A image, then the B image, and only if you’re doing a Lync demo will you need to be concerned about the C image. 

To import them, click Import Virtual Machine…Browse to the folder GP2010-A in the output location (in my case D:\Images\GP2010R2HV64\GP2010-A).  Import Settings: Move or restore the virtual machine (use the existing unique ID) and click “Import”. 

Repeat this step to import the GP2010-B virtual machine, selecting the directory appropriately.  In my case D:\Images\GP2010R2HV64\GP2010-B.

Repeat this step to import the GP2010-C virtual machine, selecting the directory appropriately.  In my case D:\Images\GP2010R2HV64\GP2010-C.

 When you’re done, you should have something similar to this:

Next, internet connections need to be set up for each image. Select the GP2010-A image, go to Settings, and select “Network Adapter” to add a new network adapter and select your external connection, similar to the screenshot below:

Once you have done that, click on Apply and OK to close it.

Repeat this for GP2010-B and GP2010-C.

Either during this process, or when you do the next process of activating windows, you will likely see that you will need to “Restart Now” the image.  This is because the network drivers will be loaded and linked to your laptop’s network interface card.

Windows Licensing Model

With Microsoft GP 2010 R2 we are not using the time-bombing technology, but instead we have installed an evaluation version of Windows Server 2008 R2. The evaluation period for Windows Server 2008 R2 is 180 days, and you are given 10 extra days in the beginning to activate the image. During these 10 days you should activate Windows via Internet. (Product key not required) After that you are given 180 days to use the image. You will be able to extend, or “rearm”, the evaluation period three times, which gives you in total 720 days + 40 days for activation. The count down for evaluation period will start once you activate Windows.

Windows Activation

When you run each of the virtual machines for the first time or first time after the “rearm”, you should activate Windows within 10 days.  Start GP2010-A first, then do below steps under Description, then Start GP2010-B, again complete the two steps below, and finish by starting GP2010-C and doing the two steps below.

Please note that you should log in to each image as “Contoso\Administrator” with a password of “pass@word1”.

Windows Rearm

Once you have activated Windows you are given 180 days of evaluation period. After 180 days are over, you can extend the evaluation period for the same number of days – maximum three times. The section below shows how to “rearm” Windows and provides several useful commands to track the remaining number of days and rearms.

Best Practice

It is recommended that you do all your customization on the virtual machine during your first evaluation period (first 180 days), and then you run rearm command, shut down the machine and save it. The benefit of this is that you can start your image again whenever you want it, it can be in a week, a month or more, but once you start the image again, you have 180 days ahead of you. To the contrast with the time-bomb technology you were bind to a specific date when the VM expires.

Commands to track remaining number of days and “rearms”:

To see the remaining number of evaluation days and “rearms”, in Command Prompt on the image type slmgr.vbs /dlv

At this point, you should have internet access on all images, you should have completed activation of all images, and you should be ready to take advantage of the image.

Dynamics GP 2010R2 64-bit Hyper-V FAQs

• On the GP2010-A image, if you log in, there is a “Start Services” icon on the main desktop, but when the you try to run it, it gives you errors. – The errors are fine. Some of the Windows Services will not start but need to be set to automatic. The script is primarily for Exchange and Lync services. So you can safely ignore the errors.
• On the GP2010-B image, if you log in as ‘sa’, there is a “rsSharePoint” icon on the main desktop.  What is it for? – You should not log in as Administrator, rather log in as Contoso\Administrator, and you won’t see that icon.
• On the GP2010-B image, if you log in as ‘sa’, Outlook is not set up. – Log in as Contoso\Administrator and it’ll work appropriately.

I know there are some other concerns with how to access functionality, and I will begin documenting that as well, so look towards future updates in that regard as well.

Jay Manley

Check out the new connector for Microsoft Dynamics GP that includes new functionality and problem fixes.  The connector blog has more detail:

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/dynamicsconnector/archive/2011/12/26/new-connector-for-microsoft-dynamics-release-available.aspx

 Pam

Attention All Microsoft Dynamics Partners!

To get ready for Microsoft Dynamics GP '12' attend PreGAME 2012 in Houston on Saturday, March 17.

PreGAME features sessions for Dynamics GP Partners in sales & marketing, consultant and developer roles. Sessions will be led by Microsoft Dynamics GP executives and will give Partners an opportunity to learn about new features in Dynamics GP "12" and what should be done now to prepare for this significant upcoming release. 

 Click here to register!

Event: PreGAME 2012

Date: Saturday, March 17

Time: 1:00-4:30pm

Cost: Free

PreGAME is hosted by Dynamics GP Partner Connections (GPPC), a peer-to-peer Partner
networking group dedicated to increasing the knowledge and competency of those
who work with Dynamics GP.

Specific session, location and registration details will be available shortly. Please watch
PartnerSource and the GPPC website for updates. All Dynamics GP Partners are welcome to attend,
whether or not you're attending Convergence 2012. Save the date and plan to join us in Houston on Saturday, March 17!

Click
here to
register!

Nothing starts off the new year in the best way possible than a new and updated Statement of Direction . . .

One of the most common questions we receive from partners involves the direction of Microsoft Dynamics GP and how they can best communicate the strategy and roadmap to prospects and existing customers. The Microsoft Dynamics GP Statement of Direction has been revised as of January 2012 and updated with the most current plans for the product. The statement includes information about both Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 R2 and the upcoming release of Microsoft Dynamics GP “12”.

As part of the Business Ready Customer Care initiative announced October 2007, Microsoft is providing ongoing roadmap visibility through comprehensive statements of direction (SODs) that provide our customers with insight into the planned product innovations at least 12-18 months in advance of the next version release. Learning about future technology innovations in advance, will help you more efficiently manage your infrastructure and undertake product and IT planning with greater foresight.

This document outlines the future direction of Microsoft Dynamics™ GP through the year 2016. By leveraging the planned innovations in Microsoft Dynamics GP, organizations can connect your business vision with your software, connect your people with your processes, and connect your company with your community. This is the value we are committed to delivering to our customers, and this is the vision that guides our investments in Microsoft Dynamics GP.

Located Partnersource.

CustomerSource

The Support and Escalation Teams have released a new whitepaper to help you understand better how to support, optimize and maintain Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010.  This is also a good read if you're considering a new implementation of Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010.  From the document:

The purpose of this white paper is to complement, rather than replace, existing resources that are specific to optimizing and maintaining the components of a Microsoft Dynamics GP implementation. This white paper provides relevant information on maintaining and optimizing a Microsoft Dynamics GP environment as well as links to related resources that may offer additional guidance. This white paper also provides a starting point for troubleshooting performance issues with Microsoft Dynamics GP.  If you are experiencing performance issues with Microsoft Dynamics GP, please review this white paper to ensure your environment meets the recommendations provided. 

Important: The optimization techniques and performance improvements provided in this paper are based on a Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 implementation with a standard configuration. When considering the applicability of the information provided in this paper to a specific implementation, be sure to keep in mind the following points:

• Depending on the level of customization in a specific Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 implementation, these techniques may perform differently or yield varying results.
• Verify the functionality and performance impact of any of these optimization techniques before implementing them in a production environment.

Important: Create backup copies of all databases before performing any of the optimization techniques described in this white paper.

If you have basic questions regarding the content in the white paper, please contact Microsoft using the links below:

Customers:
https://mbs.microsoft.com/customersource/support

Partners:
https://mbs.microsoft.com/partnersource/support/
https://partner.microsoft.com/US/Partner

If you would like assistance applying the recommendations to your system or would like assistance with continued performance issues following the review of the white paper, please contact your Partner or e-mail askpts@microsoft.com to arrange for an advisory services engagement.

Key Contributors:                                                         Technical Reviewers:
Chad Aberle - Sr. Escalation Engineer                            Microsoft Dynamics GP Escalation Engineers
Kelly Youells - Sr. Support Escalation Engineer              Microsoft Dynamics GP Support Team

The document can be downloaded at:

https://mbs.microsoft.com/customersource/documentation/whitepapers/MDGP2010_WhitePaper_Performance

Jay Manley

Today we are releasing our first-ever 64-bit Hyper-V image for Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 R2.  This image, as we previously discussed, is actually a set of 3 images.  We have discussed many aspects of this image previously in our blog at http://blogs.msdn.com/b/gp/ but here are a few highlights: 

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 R2 RTM VPC PartnerSource Download Page:

https://mbs.microsoft.com/partnersource/marketing/marketingcollateral/demos/MSDYN_GP2010R2HyperVDemoImageSet

GP-A (2GB) – Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1

• Active Directory Services – Need that for Dynamics GP (domain controller)
• Exchange 2010 SP1 – Mail Server
• Office 2010 x64

GP-B (4GB) – Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1

• Remote Desktop Services
• Lync Client 2010 – Gives you presence information when demoing Dynamics GP
• SharePoint 2010 Foundation SP1
• SQL 2008 R2 SP1
• SSRS Report Builder
• Office 2010 x86 SP1
• PowerPivot 2010 – For deeper BI experience
• Visual Studio 2010 SP1 – For developer experience
• Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 R2
• Microsoft Dynamics GP Business Analyzer
• Management Reporter
• Forecaster

GP-C (2GB) – Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1

• Lync Server 2010 – Personas are created and have Lync accounts

The idea is that you can start the parts that you need.  In the future, we might add other images to support other functionality. 

We will also be releasing along with this image a document that discusses creating a dual-boot machine (assuming Windows 7 is your primary OS) and we will also be releasing a Hyper-V image of Windows 2008 R2 Server to use as the secondary OS.  This is an option if you don’t have a server to run the image on.

The image will also have many new databases:

• Databases from previous installs will be used – Fabrikam (TWO, TWO-A), CES, USD and CAD
• Industry databases to be added – FM and FF (Public Sector), PHONE, BIKES, and SUBS – These are from the Industry DVDs that were sent out in GP 9, but might add value in demo scenarios
• We will include a file that you can download separately that has many walk-through demo scripts from GP 9.  While they have not been updated, and while the  ones that required ISV products are there, but we have not installed the ISV product, they can be used for a good basis of a new demo script that you create.

Supported Scenarios

• For all functionality, the user will need to change the system date to anything in the year 2018.  If that is not done, then all reports/analysis/BI will appear as “0” information.
• Business Analyzer – Set up and working (see year change above).
• SSRS and Excel Reporting – Set up and working – Excel reports deployed.
• Workflow - Installed and activated each workflow type.  User can then go in and setup a PO workflow if they want.  Did not setup the actual workflow or activate it in the company.
• Web Services – Installed and functional.  No setup here except for whats needed for Business Portal and Workflow.
• Payroll – Tax tables are installed.
• Management Reporter and Forecaster – Installed and functional.
• Extender / Smart List Builder – Installed and functional.
• Business Portal – All modules are installed.  A basic req hierarchy is set up and assigned to the company.  BP is setup for all companies.
• Users – Phyllis is setup in Dynamics GP and Business Portal.  Phyllis is set up as the Accounting Specialist in Business Portal, which means she can see financials.

Enjoy this demo image set, and wishes for much business success with it!

Special thank you to: Kelly Youells, Lyle Curry, Jason Siever, Ryan Sandness, Daniel Sly, Jon Studsrud, and John Dooley for your help to make this release a success!

Jay Manley

I know there is some concern out there right now as the current Dynamics GP VPC and Hyper-V image "time bomb" today.  It was our intention to have the new 64-bit Hyper-V out and available today so that this wouldn't have been an issue, but with a couple of technical glitches, and people out on Holiday leave, we're been delayed just a bit.

I'll post on here as soon as it's available, but would assume that it'll be no later than Wednesday end-of-day, as it's already going through the "signing and scrubbing" process.  After that, it's just a matter of getting it on PartnerSource.

In the interim - changing the system date on your hardware might help...

Jay

Shortly, the image set for the Microsoft Dynamics GP Hyper-V image will be released.  In the past, this has typically meant that we have shipped with just a couple of databases – mainly “TWO” and “CES”.  With this image, we are releasing it with many more databases than past releases.

These databases are included “as is” and while I cannot say that you’ll get a use out of all of them, I’m hoping that you’ll be able to build more industry-based focused demos with at least one of them.

• “TWO” and “TWO-A” will be back in this image – TWO-A is a copy of TWO.
• “CES” – The consumer electronics dataset is also back.
• “USD” and “CAD” – These might be useful for multicurrency applications.
• “FF” and “FM” – These are public sector databases and can be used nicely in that vertical.
• “PHONES”, “BIKES”, and “SUBS” – All of these again are from industry DVDs that were sent out in the time of Microsoft Dynamics GP 9.0, and should add value in vertical industry demos.

I will be packaging some of the demo scripts and powerpoints that were shipped on the DVDs originally.  While they will not be perfect, and we are not updating them from Microsoft Dynamics GP 9.0, they should help you with building your own demo scripts on Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 R2.

Very soon, the image set will ship.  We hope that it’ll bring many successful sales and deep demo experiences!

Jay

In a previous blog, I talked about the move to a 64-bit Hyper-V image, and the reasons why.  Now, with the inevitable end to our 32-bit VPC image, I thought I would give you an update on where we are.

The image set (and I’ll discuss that more in a second) is designed to run on any machine that can run a Hyper-V (typically Windows 2008 R2 Server), and has at least 8GB of RAM, approx. 200GB of free hard disk space (or an external hard disk with appropriate space and a quick enough interface – preferably USB3), and at least a dual core processor. 

As most sales consultants don’t want to run Windows 2008 R2 Server as their primary operating system on a laptop, we will publish with the image a guide to help explain how you can take a Windows 7-based laptop and create a dual-boot-to-VHD (dual boot to a Windows 2008 R2 Server Hyper-V image) scenario.

We will deliver a few different things with this Hyper-V:

• A guide on how to set up a dual-boot system to run the Microsoft Dynamics GP image set
• A Windows 2008 R2 Server Hyper-V image to be used in the dual-boot system
• Guides for the Microsoft Dynamics GP image set
• A image set to be used for demonstration purposes – this set will at least initially come in three parts:
• Image A – This image is our domain controller for the demo, and runs in 2GB of memory, and also contains:
  • Active Directory Services – Need that for Dynamics GP (domain controller)
  • Exchange 2010 SP1 – Mail Server
  • Office 2010 x64

• Image B – This image is the Microsoft Dynamics GP image, and runs in 4GB of memory, and also contains:

  • Remote Desktop Services – Can help for multi-user scenarios/multi-instance
  • Lync Client 2010 – Gives you presence information when demoing Dynamics GP
  • SharePoint 2010 Foundation SP1
  • SQL 2008 R2 SP1
  • SSRS Report Builder
  • Office 2010 x86 SP1
  • PowerPivot 2010 – For deeper BI experience
  • Visual Studio 2010 SP1 – For developer experience
  • Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 R2
  • Microsoft Dynamics GP Business Analyzer
  • Management Reporter
  • Forecaster
• Image C – This image is the Lync Server, and runs in 2GB of memory.  This image is only needed for demos where you want to use Lync and indicate presence.  Otherwise it does not need to be started.  If you want to run this part of the image, you’ll need at least 10GB of memory since the image set will use 8GB ram and the Windows Server Hyper-V image will require another 2GB ram.

 Very soon, the image set will ship.  We hope that it’ll bring many successful sales and deep demo experiences!

I wanted to send out a quick note to make sure you are aware that the Customer Excellence Awards nominations for Convergence are now open.

The Customer Excellence Awards recognize, honor, and celebrate customer organizations that are achieving outstanding success with their Microsoft solutions. There are nine (9) categories this year, including the Dynamic Business Award which will recognize the organization that best exemplifies a true dynamic business with their use of Microsoft Dynamics ERP, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, and other Microsoft technologies.

This is a great way to recognize your customers and have them recognized by Microsoft as well!

 Nominations are made by partners and start, December 5 and go through January 9!

 AwardCategories this year are:

Dynamics Business Award

Champion

Cloud Transformation

Global Business Excellence

Industry Excellence

OngoingEvangelism

Operations Agility

Productivity

Technology Innovation

Please click here to learn more and start nominating your customers today!

Remember,we need Microsoft Dynamics GPpartners to nominate their customers.

This doesn’t happen without you!

Happy to let you all know that eOne is holding two hour trainings on SmartList Builder.  Even if you are an expert you will learn something in these sessions.  It is our number one add-on product for Microsoft Dynamics GP so if you are not using it, it might benefit you to take a look at it.

1:00-3:00 CST

1/4/12 – “Advanced SmartList Builder”

1/11/12 – “Intro to SmartList Builder”

1/18/12 – “Advanced SmartList Builder”

1/25/12 – “Intro to SmartList Builder”

2/1/12 – “Advanced SmartList Builder”

$200.00 per person

To find out more:  www.eonesolutions.com

GPUG has announced their annual all star award.  Congrat to these people who work so hard to make our community strong.

Pam

2011 GPUG All Star
Award recipients were announced and recognized at Summit in Las Vegas - thank
you, Bob, John and Zubin for all you do for the GPUG community! http://www.gpug.com/news/2011gpugallstarwinners

GPUG
- Microsoft Dynamics GP User Group - Microsoft Dynamics GP User Group Announces
2011 All Star A

www.gpug.com

The Microsoft Dynamics GP User Group (GPUG®) released the recipients of the
inaugural GPUG All Star Award. These winners were announced and recognized at
the recent 2011 GPUG Summit at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, NV

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