In slow economic times, it is often hard for customers to justify upgrading technology when they cannot easily identify specific benefits they will enjoy as a result of the upgrade.  For those Microsoft Dynamics GP customers who haven’t yet upgraded to SQL Server 2008, I think you may find the results of our recent Performance Benchmark tests to be reason enough to make the jump!

In the latest test results utilizing a very large sample Microsoft Dynamics GP database, the application showed an 18% increase in performance through upgrading from SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition to SQL Server 2008 Enterprise edition when using Row Compression. Even without Compression enabled (which is a NEW feature to the 2008 release), SQL Server 2008 still showed a 9% gain in performance when compared with SQL Server 2005. 

If that isn’t reason enough, an additional benefit demonstrated by the benchmark performance tests was how enabling Compression reduced the disk drive space requirements of the large sample Microsoft Dynamics GP company database used in the test, as outlined in the table below.

These results clearly show that upgrading to SQL Server 2008 Enterprise edition can have a significant impact on system performance, especially when Page or Row compression is enabled on select tables in the company database. Also, considerable amounts of hard disk space can be conserved by the Compression functionality offered in SQL Server 2008, allowing customers to perhaps postpone hardware upgrades when facing low disk capacity.

Microsoft Dynamics GP Partners and Customers can check out the full results of the test by downloading the new White Paper available here:
PartnerSource: https://mbs.microsoft.com/partnersource/newsevents/news/MDGPSQLWhitepaper

CustomerSource: https://mbs.microsoft.com/customersource/documentation/whitepapers/MDGPSQLWhitepaper

Enjoy your weekend everyone!

AndyW

PS: I almost forgot to mention another HUGE reason to upgrade to SQL Server 2008.  The upgraded Report Builder tool and the new features in SQL Reporting Services represent tremendous value to our customers as well.  You can follow all the happenings of these tools over on the SQL Server Reporting team blog here http://blogs.msdn.com/sqlrsteamblog/.

Part of the Dynamics Partner Community, new partner radio broadcasts are now being transmitted.   They are fun and fast paced, with a mix of silliness. 

These monthly broadcasts have interesting interviews and proven tips. It covers marketing, selling, and services in small bits.  And bonus, no PowerPoint. 

Microsoft Dynamics Invigoration Station Radio Broadcasts: April 2009

Microsoft Dynamics Invigoration Station Radio Broadcasts: May 2009

Microsoft Dynamics Invigoration Station Radio Broadcasts: June 2009

And, I am excited to say, one of the broadcasts has an interview with me!  I doubt I have an entourage of fans, but if you are interested, it is is the May broadcast.  The entire Dynamics GP team will be doing little segments highlighting different areas of the product.

Let us know if these broadcasts are valuable.  I think they are.

Pam

PS: The original links in the post were broken...they should be working now!

During the last twelve months, the Dynamics GP team with the help of some of our GP friends, have recorded several web seminars geared towards our existing Dynamics GP customers. 

Each hour web seminar has information that many people are not aware of.  If you see a topic that interests you, please take a look. 

Enjoy!

Pam

We get asked on a pretty regular basis, how do you determine what features are added into the next release of Microsoft Dynamics GP?

Or, do even look at the suggestions I post out on CustomerSource or PartnerSource?

Well, the short answers:

1.  The process to determine features is complicated.

2.  Yes, we do look at the suggestions and use that as one of the main sources of input.

The longer answers:

The best place to give your product suggestions is MS Connect.  I guarantee that someone at Microsoft looks at every Dynamics GP suggestion submitted to this site.

So, how do we determine the feature list of a new major release? 

1.  We take feedback from events, advisory boards, online databases, support statistics, independent research, and combine the information into one large list.  We also include features that were cut from previous release lists.

2.  We take the features that rise to the top, and we go through the process of ranking each feature on several factors.  The factors center around our product strategy and direction.  For example, is this feature important to all existing customers or specific industries?  Or, does this feature make it easier to integrate applications?

3.  Each feature is also rated on how large the feature is to develop, small, medium, large, extra large.

4.  Then statistically the list is sorted, the most important features become our preliminary feature list.  From there we debate through the tough decisions that need to be made.

5.  I guess it’s not that complicated, but it is a time consuming process that we take very seriously. 

So if you have ideas for Dynamics GP, please use MS Connect.  Having a customer or partner saying a feature is important carries more weight than me saying it.

Pam

Looks like the gang over at Merit Solutions is having some fun with the Rapid Configuration Tool that we released last summer for Microsoft Dynamics GP 10.0 SP2!  They posted a great video showing how they configured a blank GP company using the Rapid Configuration Tool in 3 minutes (YES, I said 3 minutes!).  They also issued a challenge to other GP Partners to try to beat their time.  If you are successful, a Garmin Nuvi 265T could be yours!  Check out the video and contest details on their blog here…

http://meritsolutions.com/meritmatters/index.php?/archives/216-How-Fast-Can-You-Do-It-Win-A-Garmin-Nuvi-265T!.html

I have an idea for how I think their time could be beat potentially…but I’m keeping it to myself in hopes someone else figures it out and submits a winning entry. :)  Good luck!

PS: If you haven’t already, download the Rapid Tools here…

AndyW

Tom from our UK Team has a new blog posting about Environmental Management for Microsoft Dynamics GP.  It points to some great stuff on this topic.  Check it out!

 http://blogs.msdn.com/ukgp/archive/2009/04/30/go-green-with-gp.aspx#comments

Thanks,

Pam

I recently found out about a new blog that I think our Partners will find very beneficial. The Microsoft Dynamics Partner Community Blog launched last month, and is doing a great job of surfacing the newsworthy events, information, and “tips” that are of most interest to our Dynamics Partners.  This blog isn’t GP specific, but does include lots of good posts about topics important to just about any Dynamics Partner.

Being fairly new to the blogging world ourselves, I am sure there are MANY other blogs out there that you GP Insiders find helpful and visit regularly.  If so, please post a comment and let us know which blogs you find helpful, insightful, or just plain fun!  I’m interested to find out about the other blogs our readers view on a regular basis…

AndyW

Did you know that we have a collection of video demos?  They range from commercial type videos to product demos and we’ve had a ton of positive feedback.

Microsoft Dynamics GP Product Overview

Microsoft Dynamics GP is a complete and scalable business management solution that helps growing and mid-sized organizations get up and running quickly, maximizing the productivity of your people.

 Get More and Less with Microsoft Dynamics GP

With Microsoft Dynamics GP you get the best of both worlds. More access to relevant business information. Less searching and confusion. More efficiency and productivity. Less down time and frustration. More power and collaboration. Less cost and complexity. Discover for yourself how you can have more and less with Microsoft Dynamics GP.

Download for wmv files: here.

Would you like to just do an online hands on demo of Dynamics GP? Check out our test drive!

We are always looking for feedback.  If you have any, please let us know.

Pam