|
Microsoft Great Plains Installation, Setup and Configuration - overview
By Andrew Karasev
Microsoft Business
Solutions is on the way to popularize it's ERP systems implementation. Right
now such products as Microsoft CRM and Small Business Manager (cheap version of
Microsoft Great Plains, based on the same Great Plains Dexterity runtime and
DYNAMICS.DIC dictionary) are targeted to self-implementation by in-house IT
group. This is short article, written in question/answer/FAQ style to give IT
Director/Controller balanced top level information on Microsoft Business
Solutions Great Plains implementation. If you have decided on Microsoft Great
Plains as main accounting and ERP system you need to know some technical details
on Great Plains installation and implementation and what is going on behind the
scenes. As of right now the current version is Microsoft Great Plains 8.0 and
we expect 8.5 to hit the market in June 2005
What is installation
in the language of technology? Installation has server and client sides.
Server side -
Installation creates security environment (logins) on MS SQL Server or MSDE,
creates system database - DYNAMICS and then company databases. All these
tasks are performed by Microsoft Great Plains Utilities
Workstation side
- workstation installation copies the client side application, installs
current version of MDAC (we need SQL ODBC driver - please check documentation
on ODBC DSN setup), registers the application. If you plan to run Great
Plains Utilities from the workstation to create server side (see above) - you
need to check Install Client and Server Components
What is following
implementation? Implementation requires combination of technological and
accounting skills
System Setup -
you should refer to GP documentation. In general setup consists of Company
information, General GL/AR/AP/Payroll setup, User classes,
Customer/Vendor/Employee classes to name a few
Master Records
- you should either use integration tools, such as Integration Manager, SQL
queries or have users to type in all your GL Accounts, Customers, Vendors,
Employees .
Beginning Balances
- this is recommended approach - you place aside the old accounting
application for querying the historical data and enter beginning balances in
Great Plains GL, AR, AP, SOP, POP, Payroll. When you have balances in the
system you are ready to use it in production
Historical Data
conversion - this is optional,
in order to do historical data conversion you need to know basic Great Plains
tables structure (Setup->Tools->Resource Description->Tables Structure). This
is similar to surgery - so you probably need outside consultant to help you.
If the volume of historical data is small - you can deploy Great Plains
Integration Manager and then post the records in the modules.
User Training
- we are just listing this item - it is up to you to decide on the way to
train your users
Using Two Systems in Parallel - this
is recommended. You should print the reports from both systems during this
test period and compare the results
Customization - typical areas of
customizations: Invoice form, Crystal Reports, pulling info from multiple
databases, including Great Plains database, Great Plains forms modification
with Modifier/VBA, Great Plains Dexterity forms and logic customization,
integration with CRM, RMS and other business systems, web publishing from
Great Plains tables, EDI with your suppliers, SQL Data Transformation packages
Do I need consultant?
We strongly recommend you to use consultant in the
following cases
You have identified the need for
Great Plains Dexterity customization
You are doing migration from
Pervasive/Ctree to Microsoft SQL Server/MSDE, especially when you have
third-parties without migration tools
You are doing migration from Great
Plains Accounting to Microsoft Great Plains
You have to create a lot or
ReportWriter Modified Great Plains Reports
You have old version of Great
Plains: Dynamics or eEnterprise 6.0 or prior - in this case you can not appeal
to Microsoft Technical Support - it is discontinued
Your Great Plains has more than 20
users in this case the mistake may lead to serious business problems
You don't have support for your old
Great Plains - then you have to select your Microsoft Business Solutions
Partner and pay for the annual support/enhancement plan - you will get new
registration key and will be ready for the upgrade
Good luck with
installation, implementation, upgrade and if you have issues or concerns – we
are here to help! If you want us to do the
job - give us a call 1-866-528-0577!
help@albaspectrum.com
About the Author Andrew Karasev is Chief
Technology Officer in Alba Spectrum
Technologies – USA nationwide Great Plains, Microsoft CRM customization
company, based in Chicago, California, Texas, Florida, New York, Georgia,
Washington, Minnesota, Colorado, Canada, UK, Australia and having locations in
multiple states and internationally (www.albaspectrum.com),
he is CMA, Great Plains Certified Master, Dexterity, SQL, C#.Net, Crystal
Reports and Microsoft CRM SDK developer. You can contact Andrew:
andrewk@albaspectrum.com
Article Source: http://www.simplysearch4it.com/article/1808.html
If you wish to add the above article to your website or newsletters then please include the "Article Source: http://www.simplysearch4it.com/article/1808.html" as shown above and make it hyperlinked. |
Some other articles by Andrew Karasev | SAP Business One Implementation for Multinational Companies with subsidiaries in Brazil SAP B1 has over 200 installations in Brazil at this time and the number of new customers is growing. In this article we would like to recommend SAP BO as ERP system for multinational corporation with ...
SAP Business One in Illinois: implementation, upgrade, customization, integration Chicago metropolitan area and downstate Illinois might be characterized as mid-west distribution place. This means that we see large number of diversified mid-size businesses, engaged in light assembly, ...
SAP Business One Chicago Market Review, plus customization, integration & data conversion SAP B1 is becoming more popular in the USA, increases number of implementation each year substantially. Originally designed by one of the Israel software development companies, now it is part of SAP ...
Microsoft Dynamics GP Office Stack Integration advances – Microsoft Great Plains Dynamics GP is on the way of Microsoft Dynamics or former Microsoft Project Green advances. Great Plains Dexterity is ...
eConnect and Microsoft Dexterity: Dynamics GP development tools comparison notes This article is dedicated to Microsoft Great Plains eCommerce and web software development primarily, plus Microsoft Dynamics GP customization, integration, data conversion ...
Microsoft Dynamics GP Dexterity Customization Microsoft Great Plains software development, customizations, reporting. Microsoft Dexterity programming as reliable alternative to newer technologies and platforms, such as .Net, C# and VB MS Visual Studio development, eConnect, XML: Web Services.
Alba Spectrum Group ...
|
|
| |