The Dynamics GP Blogster

The Microsoft Dynamics GP public newsgroup is always an amazing source of inspiration for new articles, this time, along the lines of a topic that I have been following closely since the announcements of the additions in Dynamics GP 10.0 Service Pack 4: Extender . Today, we will explore two methods for transferring Extender customizations between company databases. Method 1: Extender's Export/Import functionality Extender offers a native method for transferring customizations between company databases with the following steps: 1. Open Extender 's Export window. Go to Microsoft Dynamics GP > Tools > Extender > Export. a) Click on the Folder button to select the path and enter the file name for your export. Hint: try to use the name of the customization being exported as the file name. b) Select the customization(s) to be exported by clicking on each of the objects. 2. Click Save to continue. This will create the XML export file with the customizations. 3. Switch co...

"One thousand is a lot of posts on one subject and all of them came in less than 4 years..." If you thought for one instance that I could spit out articles for my blog like crazy, try this: MVP Mark Polino's DynamicAccounting.net has hit 1000 posts ! You have to give this guy credit... he has done a lot for the Microsoft Dynamics GP community and is certainly the reason why I started doing this too. Congratulations Mark! Hope to read the next 1000 posts. Until next post! MG.- Mariano Gomez, MIS, PMP Maximum Global Business, LLC http://www.maximumglobalbusiness.com/

Lets be honest! One of the most confusing aspects of working with Extender is being able to tell where things get stored. Even though all table names are pretty clear and need not too much explanation, the bottom line is people still get confused when trying to figure out what is stored where. I for once, have spent some time working on a T-SQL script that will show all the data stored in Extender tables. I constantly use this method, because I can clearly see where things are when I need to look around for some way data got stored, without having to go executing SELECT statements one by one on each table. The method is broken down into two steps: the script that retrieves all the extender tables, producing a formatted SELECT statement, and the script (a result of the former script) which actually displays the data in each table. GetExtenderTables.sql -- Created by Mariano Gomez, MVP -- Code is "AS IS". No warranties expressed or implied and conferes no rights SELECT '...

For those of you who did not attend Convergence 2009 and have been asking about release dates of service packs and new versions of Dynamics GP, the following shows the anticipated product roadmap . Keep in mind that release dates and product features may change on a dime and by no means can be considered absolute Microsoft commitments. One things is very sure: Microsoft Dynamics GP 10.0 Service Pack 4 is just right around the corner and with it comes a revamped Extender product. For those of you wondering about the feature of the customization tools, David Musgrave has some reflections on that subject. Click here to read what he has to say. Plus I have the following to add: if you are a Microsoft Dexterity developer or a Visual Basic for Applications guy, Extender is still not the panacea for complex business requirements. Yes, you will be able to add new windows, yes you will have the ability to create transaction workflows . However, there is only so much Extender can do as ...

"GP DPS and DPM Can Be Useful Tools" I just managed to finalize my new article on " Dynamics GP 3-tier architecture " and get it published on MSDynamicsWorld. I will be following up this article with a blog post on Process Server configuration. Stay tuned! Until next post! MG.- Mariano Gomez, MVP Maximum Global Business, LLC http://www.maximumglobalbusiness.com

If you missed out on Convergence 2009 in New Orleans -- I know I did ! -- you can go to the Virtual Convergence site . The site is pretty cool! Once the site loads, you can access almost everything as a non-attendee to the event. If you attended Convergence, you can use your CommNet credentials to unlock the full features of the site and view all sessions. Enjoy all the information available on the site. I am always a big fan of the keynote session. Until next post! MG.- Mariano Gomez, MVP Maximum Global Business, LLC http://www.maximumglobalbusiness.com

Ever wonder how to replicate a Dynamics GP Bill of Materials tree with SQL Server? The following query uses recursive CTE to generate a BOM tree. BOMTree.sql -- Mariano Gomez, MVP -- This query is provided "AS IS". No warranties expressed or implied. WITH BOMCTE (bom_path, tree_path, item, component, qty, effective_date, lvl) AS ( SELECT CAST(RTRIM(ITEMNMBR) AS VARCHAR(MAX)), CAST(RTRIM(ITEMNMBR) AS VARCHAR(MAX)), ITEMNMBR, NULL, --CAST(NULL AS VARCHAR(MAX)), CAST(NULL AS NUMERIC(19, 5)), effective_date, 0 AS lvl FROM BM00101 UNION ALL SELECT CAST(RTRIM(H.ITEMNMBR) + '/' + RTRIM(B.CMPTITNM) AS VARCHAR(MAX)), CAST(REPLICATE(' ', 13) + RTRIM(B.CMPTITNM) AS VARCHAR(MAX)), H.ITEMNMBR, B.CMPTITNM, B.Design_Qty, B.effective_date, 1 AS lvl FROM BM00101 AS H JOIN BM00111 AS B ON (H.ITEMNMBR = B.ITEMNMBR) UNION ALL SELECT C.bom_path + '/' + RTRIM(B.CMPTITNM), CAST(REPLICATE(' ...

I usually don't talk much about product strategy, because it tends to vary all too often, and what is said today, may not necessarily be what will be delivered tomorrow. However, and I as mentioned yesterday in the ad campaign post , I went to a rehashed sales seminar with excerpts from Convergence 2009 in New Orleans, where the roadmap for FRx and Enterprised Reporter was presented. Among other things, Management Reporter will become the de facto financial reporting tool built on the ever expanding Business Intelligence and MOSS platforms, and the overall Corporate Performance Management strategy. However, Management Reporting is undergoing some major development to incorporate support for Multicurrency -- currently supported by FRx and Enterprise Reporting. While Dynamics GP "V11" will offer support for both FRx and Management Reporter, new customers will only be shipped Management Reporter (MR V2), but can continue using the Forecaster product. Dynamics GP "V1...

Folks, I just came out of an all day partner sales seminar and thought I would post the link to the Extending the Reach campaign. The site features a bunch of cool demos of the capabilities of Dynamics GP with a host of other resources that I believe you should be introducing and offering to your customers and prospects -- I know I will be! -- but what stands out the most is this, properly named More and Less ad. You may have seen it on certain cable or satellite channels as well. More and Less advert Until next post! MG.- Mariano Gomez, MVP Maximum Global Business, LLC http://www.maximumglobalbusiness.com/ Updates: 04/14/2017 - Replaced the initial video for the official HD video released by Director of Photography, Tristan Withman on Vimeo.

Dynamics GP system administrators and Microsoft SQL Server DBAs often ask, " Why can't I setup users if I am a member of the POWERUSER role in Dynamics GP? ". The question can sometimes be paraphrased as " Why the SQL Server system administrator ( sa ) user is the only one that can setup users? ". The answer is simple: the Dynamics GP POWERUSER role is application specific, while the SQL Server sysadmin role is database specific. Since sa is a member of both the POWERUSER role in Dynamics GP and the sysadmin role in SQL Server, it can perform all maintenance operations of users in Dynamics GP, along with the setup of additional users. This allows the sa user login, in turn, to create the necessary logins in SQL Server. This is good if you are a DBA, but what happens when you are out and more users need to be added to the system. So you may now be asking, " How do I make other Dynamics GP users have the same abilities to setup users like the sa user? ...

My buddy Doug Pitcher at Rose Business Solutions has published one of the most hilarious anecdotes I have read in recent months. The subject: the all too famous David Musgrave [ Ed: broken link fixed ] . If you are reading this article and you are asking "Who is David Musgrave?", chances are you got hit by a bus in the last 5 minutes and can't remember anything or you are way too new to the GP community. In any case, if you are not a student or practicioner of the Musgravion Doctrine -- LMAO -- I invite you to get started by visiting Developing for Dynamics GP . Disclaimer : no characters were harmed while writing this blog. The Musgravion Doctrine is a registered trademarks of David Musgrave in Australia and/or other countries. :-)) [Edit] My friend Robert Cavill in Australia noted that all blog articles where Dexterity or VBA code is exhibited must be preceeded by " Following Musgravion principles and techniques.. ". This will show the developer has mad...

One of the questions I regularly get from DBAs and Dynamics GP systems administrators alike is, " how do I know how long a GP user has been idle in the system without the use of third party products ?". It is sufficient to say that they are good third party products out there that rely on Dexterity scripting to provide this information and perform all sort of actions that the system administrator may want to do, take for example Rockton Software's Omni Tools with it's inactivity timeout feature. SQL Server offers a great way of tracking idle times from a process perspective. This is very cool, because most of the time we want to know that there is absolutely nothing running on the user's session before we decide to take some action -- most of the time remotely. The following script displays the time (in seconds) the last batch was executed for a particular Dynamics GP user. It looks at the DEX_SESSION table and cross-reference it with the SPIDs retrieved via th...

If you are one of those fortunate souls who happens to work in the Equipment Rental industry, you may already have realized how difficult it is to get by with islands of systems that do not talk to each other: the dispatch system, the contract system, the equipment maintenance system, the invoicing system... ah, and I almost forgot... the accounting guy that comes in every month to try to make sense of what your business have been doing with the stack of invoices and timesheets that are sent to customers. I have to say that before my last project at a global Security Services and Equipment Installation and Monitoring provider, I had little regards for the Field Services Series (comprised of Field Service, Contract Management, and Depot Management). I thought it was a cumbersome piece of software and had too many moving parts. But, I quickly realized that all those moving parts ensure a level of flexibility and integration required by businesses in this field. Granted, there are a fe...

Are you tired of asking why is it that some transactions do post through GL and why some don't? Tired of changing the posting settings to no avail? This issue outta be one of the most confusing issues for users and consultants, new or seasoned alike. If you ever struggle with one issue in GP, please tell me it's this one, because even today, I cannot claim victory over this subject. So let's walk the walk together. What the theory says? According to Part 3, Chapter 13, page 87 of the Microsoft Dynamics GP's System Setup guide, " If you mark the Post Through General Ledger Files option, batches posted in other modules automatically will update the module in which the transactions originated and the appropriate posting accounts in General Ledger. Your transactions will post to General Ledger and not through General Ledger when posting transaction individually (without a batch). " Now lets break it down... It's important to really pay close attention to the t...

Recently, while working on a personal project, I realized that after more than 1 year of working with Dynamics GP 10.0 I had no idea why my toolbar menu items and menu drop-downs did not show the shortcut characters - the characters with an underline. I was really used to my shortcuts! Where were they now? Turns out that activating the shortcuts is a "feature"! Yes! You just don't open the application and expect all the menu items to show their shortcuts automatically. If you press the ALT key on your keyboard - once, the menu will light up with the shortcut characters, but this has to be done from the main toolbar, then all submenus will follow. Also turns out that, if you have all shortcuts activated and you switch from menu, these will be gone for the next menu. So here is the deal: maybe using shortcuts and drop-down menus will become an issue of the past and you may have to get use to the home page. If not, take a look at MVP Mark Polino's post on Dynamics GP 10...

The Dynamics GP world has a new Microsoft Most Valuable Professional . Please join me in welcoming MVP Mohammad R. Daoud to the family. Mohammad has worked very hard to attain his MVP status and has display a level of participation and accuracy in his responses that led him to the title of MVP. Mohammad is the founder of Great Package for Business Solutions, in Aman, Jordan, and is a leading Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, his passion for Dynamics GP started with release 7.5, and, in his own words " I have studied every single tip of this application technicalities and have done over 20 successful implementations ". Mohammad also runs his own blog . Congratulations also to MVP Monzer Osama for another successful run at the Microsoft Dynamics GP MVP title. Monzer's title has been ratified and he will continue to exhibit the MVP badge for another year. Until next post! MG.- Mariano Gomez, MVP Maximum Global Business, LLC http://www.maximumglobalbusiness.com/