Your Microsoft Dynamics GP Product Management & Marketing team:
Errol Schoenfish
Pam Misialek
Jay Manley
Jen Dorsey
Gerice Anderson
Darrin Hawley
While this blog is technically "owned" by the Microsoft Dynamics GP Product Management and Marketing team, it truly belongs to ALL of those who call themselves a part of the Microsoft Dynamics GP community!
Hello GP Friends!
We are extremely excited to announce the availability of a Microsoft Dynamics GP 10.0 Public Sector Industry focused fact sheet around Human Resources and Payroll. Feel free to forward to any of your partners and customers, or prospects for that matter in the Public Sector industry.
We will be placing this document out on PartnerSource and CustomerSource as well. Please see below:
PartnerSource:
https://mbs.microsoft.com/partnersource/marketing/marketingcollateral/factsheets/MDGPHRandPPS
CustomerSource:
https://mbs.microsoft.com/customersource/productinformation/factsheets/MDGPHRandPPS
Thanks,
Ben C.
REDMOND, Wash. — April 28, 2009 — Furthering an ongoing commitment to help businesses thrive in today’s economy, Microsoft Corp. today introduced major incentive offerings.
The first is Business Ready Flexible Pay, which gives new Microsoft Dynamics ERP and CRM customers in the U.S. the option to purchase the solutions today but pay for them in equal payments over three years. Unlike financing offers that may have associated interest charges and application processes, this represents an opportunity for businesses to manage their budgets and drive business productivity with Microsoft Dynamics when they really need it. The Business Ready Flexible Pay initiative is one of many examples of how Microsoft is helping customers make strategic IT investments and realize rapid return on investment. While other vendors have significantly raised their maintenance fees over the past year, Microsoft has not only held its enhancement rates steady, but has also launched a number of money-saving offers, again raising the bar for customer services established earlier through Microsoft’s Business Ready Customer Care.
Second, in an effort to make it easier for companies to move from outdated and costly business applications to Microsoft’s modern ERP solutions, the company will make available a set of competitively focused offerings in the U.S. specifically targeted at customers who may not be receiving the levels of innovation that they expect from their current vendor. Starting in May, select partners will be able to extend their customers an offer to move to a Microsoft Dynamics ERP solution with a 50 percent discount on licensing, and receive a rebate equal to 25 percent of the suggested retail price of the Microsoft Dynamics solution (up to a maximum of $25,000) to help offset the costs of switching from Sage MAS 90 or MAS 200, or Oracle’s JD Edwards EnterpriseOne.
Third, Microsoft wants to make it even easier for its ERP customers and partners to expand their solutions to include industry-leading CRM, so now Microsoft Dynamics CRM can be purchased as a stand-alone product from Business Ready Licensing. This gives customers and partners worldwide the added flexibility to grow and extend their Microsoft Dynamics solution, and realize even greater business benefit. Microsoft Dynamics CRM continues to be available through Microsoft’s broad range of Volume Licensing programs.
More information about Microsoft’s Business Ready Flexible Pay initiative can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/dynamics/purchase/offers-brfp.mspx.
Dynamics Newsroom
Microsoft Dynamics ERP Web site
Microsoft Dynamics CRM Web site
Business Ready Customer Care Web site
Volume Licensing Web site
Business Ready Flexible Pay Web site
For those Microsoft Dynamics GP Partners out there, I wanted to give a quick update on the Rapid Implementation Tools that we initially released last year. This toolset actually includes two tools that are designed to help Partners more quickly and easily configure the application (the Rapid Configuration Tool), and migrate data from other systems, namely the Intuit QuickBooks products (the Rapid Migration Tool). Well our development team has been hard at work lately making some improvements to this toolset, and just last week released an update to the Rapid Migration Tool that I think our Partners will find very helpful!
We’ve heard from many of our current customers who migrated from QuickBooks that they seldom used the Account Number feature within QuickBooks (which in some versions is disabled by default), or that they lacked any semblance of structure in the Account Number field. This often means significant changes to the Chart of Accounts format and numbers are required when performing a migration from QuickBooks to Microsoft Dynamics GP. Using the newly released Rapid Migration Tool will enable partners to quickly and easily make those changes during the migration process, allowing you to take advantage of Microsoft Dynamics GP's flexible and powerful structured Chart of Account functionality.
Here is a screenshot of one of the new screens in the tool, demonstrating how you can quickly edit Account Numbers or Descriptions at will. You’ll also note that sub-accounts from QuickBooks are clearly displayed within the user interface, making it easy to identify those accounts most likely to need editing within the new Microsoft Dynamics GP account format you have specified.
This new and improved functionality will greatly enhance our Partners ability to quickly and more easily migrate key information from the QuickBooks products to Microsoft Dynamics GP. You can download the new tool from the Microsoft Download Center today! Please note that if you already have the tool installed, you should uninstall it before loading this updated version.
If you are reading this and happen to be a QuickBooks customer interested in moving to Microsoft Dynamics GP, be sure to check out www.asmartmove.com for more information and to order our “QuickBooks Replacer Kit.” We would love you to become the next customer who has made a “Smart Move” to Microsoft Dynamics GP!
AndyW
The Dynamics GP team could not be more excited with the large audience this blog has amassed since our launch last month! We have seen a considerable and rapid increase in both web views and RSS subscribers lately, so a big THANK YOU goes out to all you GP Insiders for joining our small corner of the web. One reason for this success has been the help of a number of other blogs who have pointed people in our direction.
One of those blogs is BlogMS, a site dedicated to consolidating all of the “official” Microsoft blogs into one location so users interested in more than just one MSFT blog could easily peruse postings from one central place. This blog posts a weekly update that allows the reader to scan through all blogs posted that week in a very short period of time, picking out the articles of specific interest, and then by clicking on the link to access the full article on the team blog. They also have compiled a detailed list of the Microsoft product group blogs, which you can find here.
One of my favorite posts from this blog is the “Resource Guide to Free Microsoft Software and Online Services.” You’ll find TONS of cool and useful software here. They’ll continue to update and maintain this guide as new software is available, so check it often! I’ve added a link to this blog on our site as it is a great resource for ANY customer using Microsoft products.
I’d be a fool not to mention a couple other blogs that have definitely helped us attract a larger audience to this blog. The “Developing for Dynamics GP” blog is a WONDERFUL resource targeted at the technical and developer community around Dynamics GP, and is one of the MOST viewed blogs in the Microsoft blogosphere. Definitely worth your time to check out if you have any technical interests in Dynamics GP! The other one I want to mention is the “US Microsoft Dynamics GP Field Team” blog. Jeff does a wonderful job of pushing out relevant updates and announcements regarding Dynamics GP and other topics relevant to our customers and partners. This blog too has a HUGE following and has been a big help spreading all of the great things happening in the GP community!
Be sure to check these blogs out when you have the chance!
I am thrilled to let you know that Virtual Convergence is now launched! Virtual Convergence is super cool and fun. And, Convergence Attendees get access to everything.
Virtual Convergence Contains:
Take a minute and visit Virtual Convergence.
Note that the general public (Non-Convergence Attendees) have access to the expo, keynotes and general sessions; they also can view one concurrent per track.
If you’re a Convergence attendee you can ‘unlock’ the site by choosing the button in the lower left hand side:
Enter your CommNet credentials and you can view everything!
So, go out there today and re-experience your favorite session, watch one you weren’t able to get to, and most importantly HAVE FUN!
Microsoft Dynamics GP Extender is a amazing module that helps you get more flexibility, more solutions that is configurable to meet your specific needs. And, it is extremely easy to use. Do you have a strong understanding of how Extender can get you more?
The module is priced low and you can easily achieve a quick ROI. Ask yourself, how many pieces of data they are tracking in an Excel Spreadsheet or access? It would be easier to take that information out of Excel and have it part of Dynamics GP for everyone to see an update. If you agree, then most likely Extender will give you more ROI in your overall solution.
Important Microsoft Dynamics GP Service Pack 4 Extender Announcement including: Price Announcements, FAQ, Fact Sheet, Demo Scripts, and Feature List for Service Pack 4.
PartnerSource Extender Landing Page
CustomerSource Extender Landing Page
Common myths about Extender:
Reporting is Difficult: NO, NO, NO. Reporting is easy, you just need to know how. By using the Extender view function, writing reports on Extender data is simple. You can use Report Writer, Crystal, SQL Reporting Services, SmartLists, SmartList Builder, Excel Report Builder.
The table structure is odd and therefore performance can be a problem: The structure is designed to support unlimited numbers of custom fields, so the data is stored differently. Extender has a function called Extender views. With views, you do not need to understand the table structure. Performance is not a worry and with changes in Dynamics GP 10.0, service pack 4, it will be even better.
An Existing Customer Web Cast is being planned and will be scheduled for late April. I will update when it is scheduled.
Pam
Microsoft Dynamics GP V10 delivered 200 out of the box Excel Reports that allow you to quickly generate, modify and save refreshable excel files. The beauty of this is the ability to create pivot tables and graphs quickly off of Dynamics GP information that is easily refreshable from inside Excel. Now . . . I’m no graphing guru and I suspect there are many out there that are in the same boat (no Fargo flood pun intended). Sooooo here’s a great Office Excel 2007 add-in that suggests different kinds of charts according to the data that is selected.
http://www.officelabs.com/projects/chartadvisor/Pages/default.aspx
Based on the data in your spreadsheet, it identifies, ranks, and displays an array of charts most relevant to you so you can make the most out of your information.
Have fun with it.
Errol
The Microsoft Dynamics GP Product Team receives many requests for customer case studies, customer quotes, and references.
Partners, check this out.
We have taken all of the current case studies which can be found at www.microsoft.com\casestudies and put them in a spreadsheet with tagging information by product, industry, etc.
It’s nothing fancy, but it gives you a little more information.
Case Study Inventory List
We rely on leads from partners to create case studies! If you have a great customer story you would like to share with us, please fill out the Customer Reference Nomination Form.
Looking for a customer reference?
Customer Reference Program Information
Customer Reference Request Form
Questions about the program can be directed to: referenc@microsoft.com
Enjoy!
Are you a Microsoft Dynamics GP Partners who has one or more existing customers that are currently using Small Business Financials? If so, I wanted to make sure you were aware of a great promotion we have going on through the end of this fiscal year to help your customers upgrade to Microsoft Dynamics GP more affordably than ever! It is called the SBF “Step Up to Microsoft Dynamics GP” Offer, and it isn’t too late for your customers to take advantage of some significant savings. The biggest highlight of this offer is that your qualifying existing customers can receive a 90% discount off most license costs of Microsoft Dynamics GP!
You can read all of the details about the offer here. We also have a number of materials available to Partners as you work with your existing SBF customers, available here. If those resources don’t answer all of your questions, feel free to contact sbfrdmap@microsoft.com for more information.
One last thing…our Professional Services team can even assist with the data migration from SBF to Dynamics GP if you or your customer desires. They even have a special offer available to make it as cost effective as possible to perform the migration. Contact Microsoft Business Solutions Professional Services at mbsprosv@microsoft.com or 888-875-9071 for more details.
PS: If you are a SBF customer reading this, YOU can find out more about all of this by visiting this page on CustomerSource or by contacting your Partner.
During Convergence 2009, we shared details about our product strategy and roadmap with our partners and customers.
To locate PowerPoint presentations from Convergence concurrent sessions, you can find them immediately via the Schedule Builder tool here.
The Convergence experience continues… and lives on in the virtual world. Virtual Convergence is your online resource for all post-conference materials. Keynote presentations, general sessions and concurrent sessions will all be available for viewing online in streaming media format, so that you can revisit sessions or view them for the first time.
Virtual Convergence will be available within the next two weeks. You will need your CommNet credentials to access this secured site.