• Saving money through server consolidation. By running Microsoft Dynamics applications virtually with Hyper-V, our customers can reduce their data centre footprint along with costs of sourcing, purchasing, and maintaining server hardware.
• Easier, quicker access to information. With the improved taskbar and other innovative desktop management features in Windows 7, it’s easier than ever to find and interact with business information.
• Interacting with information in new ways. The Windows Touch feature in Windows 7 supports multi-finger manipulation of programs displayed on a touchscreen computer.

The Microsoft Dynamics research and development team is already exploring possibilities for integrating various features and capabilities into the next release of our products.

Posted by Tom Brookes

Just take a look…

Posted by Tom Brookes

·         PartnerSource link to Dynamics GP VAT 2010 white paper

·         CustomerSource link to Dynamics GP VAT 2010 white paper

Regards

Steve Farr

We’ve got some fantastic technical training organised for as the US technical and support team are over for Convergence. The following courses have been arranged:

October 26th: Implementing and Configuring Business Portal for Microsoft Dynamics GP 10.0

October 28th: Implementing and Configuring Workflow for Microsoft Dynamics GP 10.0

October 29-30th: eConnect and Web Services for Microsoft Dynamics GP workshop

Please register as soon as possible as they are filling up fast!!

Posted by Tom Brookes

Errol Schoenfish and the guys from the States have kindly agreed to stay over for an extra day to meet our GP partners at Thames Valley Park. Make a note in your diary for the 28th October – full agenda and registration link to follow!!

Will

Make plans to attend the Microsoft Dynamics® GP Technical Conference, November 9 - 11, 2009. This conference will provide learning opportunities for the developer and highly technical community.

This event is focused on the product, development tools, best practices and other technical subject matter for Microsoft Dynamics GP. Partners are advised to send developers, implementers, and other technical resources. Specific conference objectives include:

• Gain technical readiness for Microsoft Dynamics GP 11; focusing on new features coming out in the next release
• Interact with the Microsoft Dynamics GP development, support, and leadership teams
• Network with other Microsoft Dynamics GP partners

Posted by Tom Brookes

We’re pleased to announce that service pack 4 for GP10.0 has been released. You can download it from here:

CustomerSource

https://mbs.microsoft.com/customersource/downloads/servicepacks/mdgp10_patchreleases.htm?printpage=false

PartnerSource

https://mbs.microsoft.com/partnersource/downloads/servicepack/mdgp10_patchreleases.htm?printpage=false

Along with all the usual fixes we have additional Extender functionality that we are releasing including:

Forms features (also included with Detail forms)
Create new data entry forms for master files and transactions
Create SmartLists for each new form
Add Note windows and Note List windows
Create conditional and calculated fields
Use lookups to link to any Microsoft Dynamics GP or third party table
Generate the next master ID numbers automatically
Add up to 50 extra windows for each form
Open associated applications from files
Use templates to default fields and increase data entry speed
Create multicurrency forms
Create views
Import data into forms
Detail Forms features
Create scrolling windows with up to ten user defined fields
Import data into detail forms
Add detail forms as quick links on the Home Page

If you want to know more about Extender and the power it can bring to your solution we have loads of documentation on CustomerSource and PartnerSource.

Posted by Tom Brookes

We recently announced the availability of the the next version of the GP 10.0 VPC. This has loads of additional features including GP10 SP3, SQL 2008, Extender demos, etc, etc. You can download it here.

Another upgraded feature was the upgrades to Dundas for Data Visualisation and Charting for Reporting Services. I’ve talked about Dundas to partners and customers alike since we included these on the VPC, as you can build some great looking dashboards in SharePoint and SQL Reporting Services – have a look at their gallery to get ideas!

http://www.dundas.com/Gallery/Flash/

One of the more diffiuclt things about the Dundas controls is the design of the pages, and making sure everything fits where you want it. To help with this the nice people at Dundas have produced a white paper to get you going and give you tips in the right direction.

http://www.dundasconsulting.com/Articles/ArtofDashboarding/ArtofDashboarding.pdf

Enjoy!

posted by Tom Brookes

I’ve just found that we have written a white paper on the functionality of Extender to coincide with the additional functionality that we are delivering in service pack 4 for GP10.0.

Now anyone who talks to me about Extender knows I am hugely enthusiastic about this product as it really can make life simpler and solve some complex issues using GP. In reading the white paper one use I hadn’t thought about it previously was using it to manage workflow. Combining this with the SmartList Builder and the ability to create your own SmartLists to report on the new details can make for a very simple, powerful solution.

I’d highly recommend having a read of the white paper and then thinking hard about how you could use Extender to deliver solutions.

Posted by Tom Brookes

Some of you may have heard on the grapevine that there is an adapter in development between Dynamics CRM and Dynamics GP. Well we have just announced the availability of a new DemoMate demo showing a high level example of the integration.

Dynamics partners can find the integration demo here.

Posted by Tom Brookes

Anyone who has recently seen me do a demo recently will know I like to talk about SmartList Builder and Excel Report Builder as great ways of getting data and reports out of GP. It’s one of my frustrations when I hear users cannot get the report they want from GP.

Well to assist we have now produced over 200 SmartList Builder  templates that you can simply import into your GP install to give you a good start on finding the reports that you need.

To get the templates click here.

If you don’t already have SmartList Builder you can find more about it here.

Posted by Tom Brookes

Those of you who have been listening to me recently will know that we are using a product called DemoMate to build more interactive slicker demos. It is a great tool and also really useful for ISV’s to build out their own demos to sell their products to the channel.

We’ve put together some webcasts and user guides as well as building out a number of demos across all our products. See what you think.

DemoMate demos

Posted by Tom Brookes

I was looking through PartnerSource recently and came across a new white paper on benchmarking Dynamics GP on SQL Server 2008. We added this compatibility into the product back when we launched the feature pack and often I get customers asking me about why they should go to SQL 2008.

The performance testing highlighted that Dynamics GP 10.0 showed an impressive 18% increase in performance through upgrading from SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition to SQL Server 2008 Enterprise edition when using Row Compression on select tables. 

Without Compression enabled, SQL Server 2008 still showed a 9% gain in performance when compared with SQL Server 2005.

An additional benefit demonstrated by the benchmark performance tests was how enabling Compression in SQL Server 2008 also reduced the disk drive space requirements of the Microsoft Dynamics GP company database, by as much as 52% in one benchmark test scenario.

It is interesting reading especially for those who are considering upgrading hardware and software.

Posted by Tom Brookes

As we all know environment accounting  is one of the current hot topics globally. One of my vast network of contacts recently pointed me in the direction of this document on PartnerSource on Environmental Management Accounting Implementation Guidance for GP.  It contains suggestions to help your company get started in using Dynamics GP to enable you to practise environmental management accounting.

There are a number of suggestions covering:

• Modify the chart of accounts
• Use Extender to track environment-related information
• The purchase costs of regulated raw materials
• Vendor costs for management/disposal of regulated wastes
• Track packaging materials and costs in the bill of materials
• Track water, fuel and electricity usage in the bill of materials
• Track waste outputs in the bill of materials
• Track environmental activities and costs via the project accounting module
• Improve allocation of environment-related costs
• Reporting

And my favourite is the use of Extender (as it’s also one of my favourite modules!) due to the flexibility it offers you can track what you want against whatever transaction you want.

If you don’t know about Extender yet and its capabilities then have a look as its a fabulous tool.

Here are a couple of links to get you started!

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics/gp/bb457190.aspx

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=d2a199fd-8969-4089-b8a0-1876ec1ec072&displaylang=en

Posted by Tom Brookes

In June we release our rapid migration/implementation tools and based on feedback from the partners we have just released an update

This new release will allow partners to easily make changes to the Chart of Accounts from Intuit QuickBooks prior migrating to Microsoft Dynamics GP. 

Because many QuickBooks customers do not use the Account Number feature, or lack any structure to the Account Number field, significant changes to the Chart of Accounts format and numbers are typically required when performing a migration from QuickBooks to Microsoft Dynamics GP.  The updated 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.
Download the updated Rapid Migration Tool today, located here.

Posted by Tom Brookes