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Showing posts from September, 2009

Inside multi-platform integrations with Integration Manager

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I have been working on a very challenging systems conversion project, from JD Edwards on AS/400 and DB2 to Microsoft Dynamics GP v9. Part of the challenge stems from the fact that certain processes, mainly in-house applications developed for the AS/400 will continue to support existing business processes pass the "go-live" date. I am tasked with developing multiplatform integrations to support application processes in place and by doing so, I've had to dust off my DB2 - AS/400 skills. Per the client's request, the integrations need to be easy to use, extremely flexible and adaptable, and low maintenance (as in little to no programming required). Many of you may think that due to the nature of the systems involved, this could very well be an eConnect implementation. However, Integration Manager was chosen because of the characteristics previously described. As I work through implementing the first integration to manage expense reimbursements from Lotus Notes, my in...

Microsoft Dynamics GP Roadmap Update

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Back in April I published an article describing Microsoft Dynamics GP roadmap up to release GP 11 Future Pack. The timeline also described what would happen at least up to 2011. Just recently the Microsoft Dynamics GP Product Management and Marketing team released a new stub titled Microsoft Dynamics GP "11" Preview with a link to the Dynamics GP "11" Presentation Pack (visit their site for more info). The presentation pack contained a Microsoft Office PowerPoint presentation describing the Dynamics GP roadmap up to GP "14". To comment a bit on the roadmap, the Product team has a vision that extends beyond the initial 2011 scope delivered back in April, throughout to 2016, which quiets down rumors as to the future of Dynamics GP and reafirming Microsoft's real commitment. While the bullet points accompanying GP "12" and GP "14" are pretty vague, it's worth mentioning that GP "14" is contemplating a major user interf...

How to startup GP with a default navigation page rather than the home page

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So you want to be able to startup GP with a navigation bar option instead of the typical home page? This request was posted today by Mary Fetsch on the Microsoft Dynamics GP community public newsgroup. After playing around with the navigation bar for a while and some head scratching, the light bulb went off... use a macro! One peculiarity about the navigation bar is, while click actions are off limits to the macro system -- the navigation bar is part of the .NET managed code application wrapper -- each option can be accessed with a combination of the Control key on the keyboard and a numeric sequence associated to the option. As such, Home can be accessed with the CTRL+1 keyboard combination; Financial, with the CTRL+2 combination, and so on. The macro The macro I created is the typical login macro documented in the Integration Manager manual with an extra touch: I recorded extra steps to close all windows and the keyboard combination for the default startup navigation option, in this...

Microsoft Dynamics GP v10 and supported virtualization platforms

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The Windows Server Catalog site may just be one of the best kept secrets on the web. According to the About This Site page, " [t]he Windows Server Catalog lists thousands of hardware and software items compatible with the Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2003 operating systems. In addition, products may also be compatible with other versions of Microsoft Windows as shown in each product details page. " In response to my friend Steve Endow's inquiry on Microsoft's support of vitualization environments and Dynamics GP, I went in quest of finding the answer since it is not always apparent where to find this information. The first place of course, the Systems Requirements page of CustomerSource/PartnerSource. On this page, you can clearly read the software and hardware virtualization platforms supported, but as usual the fine print is rather more interesting. It turns out this page points to the Windows Server Catalog pa...

The Technology Corner - Windows 7 and Microsoft Dynamics GP 10.0 Update

In the previous article I reported having an issue with Support Debugging Tool not unchunking and generating a "Table not found" issue. After a couple of minutes online with my good friend David Musgrave he made me realize that unchunking applications with User Account Control activated can also cause the Dynamics application runtime engine to wreak havoc in the process. After running Dynamics GP as administrator (only needed for unchunking the Support Debugging Tool) everything went just fine. One can make the general assumption that if you are installing any third party Dexterity-based application, then UAC must be disabled or Dynamics GP must be run as an administrator to allow chunk files to install properly. PS. David took offense in the part where I said " SDT remains broken " as he felt I was blaming him. The problem is there will be little or nothing I can do to make up for this one, because the guy don't even drink Coca Cola or smoke anything... ah, I...

The Technology Corner: Windows 7 and Microsoft Dynamics GP 10.0

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For those of you who follow me on Facebook and Twitter , you probably already got first hand updates as I was going through rebuilding my laptop with the new Windows 7 and getting all my core applications installed. Most of you are aware that I am more of a technical guy, so hardware and applications performance is very critical. Let's start with my laptop... I currently own a Dell XPS M1710 running Intel Centrino Duo core and 2.5GB in RAM. I know, yes! I use a gaming notebook taking advantage of the processing capabilities and the massive 17" screen. A little outdated when compared to the new XPS, but it still gets the job done! The goal was to install the following software: Windows 7 Enterprise Microsoft Office 2007 Enterprise, including Microsoft Project 2007 and Microsoft Visio 2007 Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Standard with Service Pack 1 Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Standard with Service Pack 1 Microsoft Dexterity 10 with Service Pack 4 Microsoft Dynamics GP 10 with Servi...

Integration Manager 10 INI settings

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The Integration Manager parameter file, Microsoft.Dynamics.GP.IntegrationManager.ini , provides a few keys that allow the application to perform certain actions according to the values and the sections in which these parameters are initialize . Here is a list of keys for the initialization file per section within the file: IMBaseProvider section This section controls the overall behavior of the Integration Manager application. AutoUpgradeIntegrations= 0/1 Prompts IM to check whether to upgrade an integration or not. CommandTimeout=30 Time allotted to execute a particular IM operation. If the operation is not successful in the time alloted, the record integration will fail. HideMsgBox= False/True Hides IM registration window during the application launch. UseOptimizedFiltering= False/True Allows you to maintain the same sorting as the original source. One note that I would make is that the following switch was put in more for performance. If you notice that your data is not coming in th...

What do those strage reference codes in GL mean?

The following applies to inventory items with a valuation method of Average Perpetual, LIFO Perpetual, or FIFO Perpetual items. As of the release of Dynamics GP 9.0 the system will automatically generate General Ledger adjustment entries for situations where an item was sold or consumed from inventory, but its cost was later changed. In earlier versions of GP, adjustments to Inventory and COGS needed to be entered manually to correct the accounts used by the transactions that sold or consumed the items. As of Dynamics GP 9.0, those adjustments will now be automatically generated. You will see different codes in GL (MCTERCT for example) depending on the type of transactions entered and timing of the transactions. Unfortunately at this time there isn't a document describing the codes for Manufacturing. However, here are some codes based on various sources of info: 1. MCTERCT - If the items were issued in the Component Transaction Entry window and then the invoice is completed the a...

GPUG now in full gear in Chicago

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The GPUG Summit is now in full gear in Chicago and you can check the first pictures on the Microsoft Dynamics Community Facebook wall . "Spin the Wheel" chance to win a Convergence 2010 pass and 120GB Zune Microsoft Dynamics Communities conference booth Is that Mark Rockwell? The UnRuly Ladies The GPUG Summit features a wealth of information-packed Educational Sessions and Role-Based Tracks that deliver Dynamics GP knowledge and experience designed to help organizations optimize the functionality, flexibility, performance and return on investment benefit offered by Dynamics GP. Be sure to keep up with the Facebook wall or check the live blog at http://www.gpug.com/ Until next post! MG.- Mariano Gomez, MVP Maximum Global Business, LLC http://www.maximumglobalbusiness.com

RW - Working with POSTNET barcodes for US zip codes

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The Postal Numeric Encoding Technique (POSTNET) is a barcoding system developed by the United States Postal Service to assist with automatic mail sorting and routing. The POSTNET barcode uses a combination of half-bars and full-bars to encode the zip code that appears on a mail piece. The barcode starts and ends with a full bar (often called a guard rail or frame bar and represented as the letter "S" in the USPS TrueType Font). In the United States, zip codes can be of 5 digits, 9 digits (also known as Zip+4), or 11 digits in the case of a specific delivery point. Each digit in the zip code is represented by 5 bars. Therefore a 5-digit zip code is represented by 25 bars. In addition, to ensurePOSTNET accuracy during mail processing, a check digit, which is five bars, is calculated and added to the zip code. Hence a 5-digit zip code would render a total of 32 bars: 25 bars for the 5-digit zip code + 5 bars for the check digit + the 2 enclosing guard rail bars. Hence, Zip+4...

Code Named "Version 11" now formally Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010

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V11? No more. I could not help noticing that on the Microsoft Dynamics GP Technical Conference 2009 , they were no references to Microsoft Dynamics GP "v11", and rather every sessions GP related has introduced the future product as Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 . It's no secret the Product Management and Marketing team had been thinkering on whether to continue with the consecutive versioning, or adhere to the year versioning approach used by all other Microsoft products. I guess it's clear now! The new product release name coincide with multiple "2010" products we will see from Microsoft: Microsoft Office 2010 Microsoft SQL Server 2010, code named Killimanjaro Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Until next post! MG.- Mariano Gomez, MVP Maximum Global Business, LLC http://www.maximumglobalbusiness.com/

Microsoft Dynamics GP Technical Conference 2009 Update

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It's official! I will be co-presenting two sessions with no one other than Mr. David Musgrave at the next Microsoft Dynamics GP Technical Conference, to be held in Fargo, North Dakota from November 9 through November 11. This is my first experience presenting at a Microsoft event and I am sure to have a lot of fun delivering it, but also sharing knowledge and getting to meet a lot of you who are planning to be there. The following is a summary of our sessions: Session Title : Customizing the Microsoft Dynamics GP Client with Visual Studio Tools, Dexterity and Modifier with VBA Presenters : David Musgrave, Mariano Gomez Session Description : Get an in-depth analysis of the various client-side customization tools for Microsoft Dynamics GP, including Modifier with Visual Basic for Applications, Dexterity, and Visual Studio Tools for Microsoft Dynamics GP. This session will help you understand how each of the tools can be used to create user-interface customizations as well as help yo...

The Technology Corner: Integrating Silverlight and Virtual Earth with Dynamics GP

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Starting today, I will introduce a weekly series dedicated to explore other Microsoft technologies that may seem totally unrelated to Dynamics GP. These articles are based on experiences acquired through pet projects. These are projects that have not made it beyond my computing lab and have become a true passion of mine. My intention is to present them to you the reader with only one goal in mind: show how the use of technology can enhance user interaction with data . The articles will present practical samples of these technologies and how they could perhaps be incorporated into your Dynamics GP development efforts. Part I: The Virtual Earth Silverlight Map Interface Today we will explore Silverlight and Microsoft Virtual Earth . Silverlight was originally introduced as a video streaming plug in, but has rapidly evolved into a feature-rich interactive web applications development framework. In turn, Microsoft Virtual Earth, now Bing Maps for Enterprise, is a set of controls and APIs ...

How many Report Options can I create for any given report?

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I fielded this question just recently in the newsgroup, and have to admit, I had to dust off my old training manuals and do some inquiries in my Dexterity help file. Bottom line, this could well be a question worthy of a certification exam. Straight to the answer: you can have up to 32,767 report options for any given report. The number comes from the size limitations imposed to the Dexterity drop-down list control. You may be saying, " but, I was told that you can have 32, where does the number 32 come from? ". 32 is the number of report options that can be assigned to any given report group. Now this limitation stood up to version 8 (see KB article 849505 ) and I am not sure it has changed for v9 and v10, but if you test it out and find a different value, I would love to hear from you. Until next post! MG.- Mariano Gomez, MIS, MCP, MVP Maximum Global Business, LLC http://www.maximumglobalbusiness.com/