The Dynamics GP Blogster

Part 2/2 -  The Experience In my previous article, Part 1 of the series , I talked about provisioning a Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 development environment from the Windows Azure gallery. If you are already an MSDN subscriber and are already taking advantage of Azure, there isn't much new to you as far as provisioning a VM from the gallery goes. Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 VM image One of the first things you will notice on the desktop are shortcuts to Microsoft Dexterity , Microsoft Dynamics , Visual Studio Base Image Icons , a link to the Getting Started with the Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Developer Image , and Visual Studio 2013 Premium Edition . I started out by loading the Getting Started help file, which contains tons of information on all the development tools installed and links to resources. I then proceeded to open Visual Studio 2013, which of course, went through the traditional and lengthy initialization process after entering my Microsoft Account information....

Part 1/2 -  The Provisioning Process A few days aback, the Microsoft Dynamics GP product management team announced the availability of Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 from the  Windows Azure gallery. You can read more about it on the Inside Microsoft Dynamics GP blog: Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 image available in the Azure Gallery The image is available exclusively to MSDN subscribers, which means it's only slated for development and maybe even demo purposes. You can find more information and download some Word documents to assist with the configuration process directly from PartnerSource with the link provided below. PartnerSource: Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 image available in the Azure Gallery Since I am an MSDN subscriber courtesy of the Microsoft MVP Award Program , I thought I would dive into the process of provisioning a Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 virtual machine (VM) and walk through some of the things I found in the process - back in January of 2013, I explaine...

Codename DexNEXT - Part 1 of 2 You have probably been hearing the term kicked around the circles for almost a year now, but codename  DexNEXT  represents a major milestone in the evolution of the Microsoft Dexterity development platform and the Microsoft Dynamics GP application - Microsoft Dexterity is Microsoft Dynamics GP's native development platform. DexNEXT is fundamented on the vision that Microsoft Dynamics GP needs to consume as well as expose services to become a solid cloud offering. After all, when referencing "cloud", in reality we are referring to the various services that live in the cloud. It is generally accepted that the Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 web client is the first step in that direction. As such, starting with Microsoft Dynamics GP 2015, and to a certain extent, Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 R2 the Microsoft Dexterity and Microsoft Dynamics GP development teams are evolving the core architecture ...

Friday, March 7, 2014 - Day 4 Convergence is almost over. After a busy Day 3 , I simply decided I had enough and camped out at home for most of the morning. I decided to head down to the Convention Center at around 11:00 AM to take advantage of the USD $100 store certificate to get some goodies at the Microsoft onsite store. I picked up a couple mouses, a Microsoft Dynamics carrying bag, and some apparel to go along. The place was almost deserted with quite a bit of folks having flights out early in the morning. Convergence has come to an end. Acknowledgements I want to thank the Microsoft team for trusting both Mark and I with delivering the MVP section of the General Session. While a lot of time and prep work goes into making it happen, I certainly have quite a bit of appreciation for the team's effort. Also, thanks for letting me present the various breakout sessions presented. Filling in for Kelly Youells is not an easy task. I also want to thank the GP User Group...

Thursday, March 6, 2014 - Day 3 After a night of party at Rock-n-Rave on Day 2 , I would be delivering 3 sessions today. While getting up was painful in the morning, my wife and I managed to get an early start and made it down to the convention center to continue with our activities. Back at the Sydney Marcus auditorium, I caught the tail end of DDGP008 Excel, Excel, Excel: An Excel shootout (part 2 - how to do it yourself) hosted by MVPs Mark Polino and Belinda Allen and Microsoft's Jarred Hall. This session was attended by 255 people and ended with a lot of questions. DDGP008 Excel, Excel, Excel: An Excel shootout (part 2 - how to do it yourself) Belinda Allen, Jarred Hall, Mark Polino The things these guys are able to do with Microsoft Office Excel are just breathtaking and stunning all at once. The team demonstrated Excel's new visualization capabilities and how just about anyone can take advantage of these with just the basic knowledge of pivot tables....

Wednesday, March 5, 2014 - Day 2 Convergence  Day 1  brought us the product General Sessions. Day 2 of Convergence was all about the breakout sessions. Today, I would be delivering two sessions, starting with CSGP014 Microsoft Dynamics GP Customization for Beginners at 11:00 AM local time. With 150 people in attendance, I am forced to say that this was pretty good considering the session was a) geared towards customers and partners who needed an idea of how to get started with the customization tools, and b) a bit above the beginner's level. I have to admit that the session was a bit too technical, and probably featured a bit more code demonstration than I originally wanted to show, but again, it was a technical session. After some lunch, I had a chance to sit into MVP Mark Polino 's session CSGP009-R2 Microsoft Dynamics GP: 50 tips in 50 minutes . Mark had around 300 people at the Sydney Marcus Auditorium which is where I would be delivering my presentation next. O...

Tuesday, March 4, 2014 - Day 1 Convergence Atlanta 2014 Day 1 is marked by keynotes and product General Sessions. At the keynote session and in the best of Convergence traditions, we had a chance to see the volunteering work by attendees who signed up to make the lives of the least fortunate among us a bit better. Convergence Community Outreach The entertainment was provided by the Spirit of Atlanta Drum and Bugle Corps nonprofit organization. The Spirit of Atlanta is been around since the mid 70s and has traveled the world delivering numerous presentations. The Keynote session highlighted a number of Microsoft accomplishments and how the company has been delivering innovation through its various platforms and applications. Delivering Innovation It was time to present the Customer Excellence Awards and was good to see that Chobani and Weight Watchers were brought in a year later to talk about their implementations and the benefits they are currently getting...

March 3, 2014 - GPPC PreGAME PreGAME is an event hosted by GP Partner Connections (GPPC) focused on the partner community and preceding the Microsoft Convergence 2014 Atlanta event. This year, I have the fortune of having Microsoft Convergence 2014 Atlanta  being hosted in my home town. I got up this morning to go to the Georgia World Congress Center (GWCC) where I would meet up with Mark Polino  (twitter: @mpolino ) and the Microsoft team for the  General Session rehearsal. Except for the episode where I literally passed out, everything went fairly well. After my incident, I got back on stage and went on with the show. A dosage of cough medicine on an empty stomach proved to be a very bad decision to kick-off the morning. After rehearsal and still feeling a bit weak, it was time to go grab some lunch. My good friend and customer Mike Lupro had the presence of mind to head over to Taco Mac Sports Grill , considered an institution here in Atlanta by m...