Recent Microsoft marketing move from Microsoft Business Solutions to Dynamics means Project Green wave 1 progress. This will mean increasing role of XML web services enabled as connectors to eConnect or Integration Object SDK. Let's come to the subject. When Great Plains Software introduced the first graphical accounting application for Mac and Windows in the beginning of 1990th it had Great Plains Dexterity customization tool, IDE and programming language.
Dexterity design was based on several longevity principles: Graphical platform independence and database platform independence and easy switch from one DB to the other among the most important ones. Dexterity was written as a shell in C programming language, which was platform independent and at the same time very efficient in compilation (close to assembler). Since then we saw new tools and options:
Modifier with VBA. This tool allows you place custom buttons and editable fields on the forms and attach VBA scripts to these buttons and fields. Theoretically you can deploy ADO and make a call to the database, but typically this would be given to Dexterity programmer. Also Modifier can deal with ReportWriter report, which is rarely used option, but you should be aware of it. Another usufull feature - calling Crystal Reports engine from VBA, so you can print custom Crystal Report - Invoice from SOP Entry screen, instead of regular Report Writer SOP Invoice Form.
Continuum for VB and Delphi. We do not touch obvious features of Continuum, but would like to mention its advanced use. First, in Dexterity you can not easily target multiple modules (coming from different software vendors, those days Intellisol Advanced Purchase Order Processing, Project Accounting and ForeStar Fixed Assets). This feature could be addressed through Continuum generated VBA code with inclusion of Dexterity Scripts (Sanscript). The second nice feature of Continuum could be Great Plains Integration Manager custom apps, which allows you to switch Great Plains companies automatically and integrate the whole corporation during the night
Dexterity SQL Support. When Great Plains C/S+ was introduced on MS SQL Server 6.5 platform, instead of using Dexterity cursors, you could use the way more efficient stored procedures and simply call them from Dexterity code. The negative side of this was, you can not have your custom piece running on Btrieve or Ctree platforms, where Dexterity cursors were the only way to work with the database
Dexterity COM object support. This was new feature of Microsoft Great Plains Dexterity version 7.0. This feature allows you to call something nice, like web service from your COM object and in this case replace, say Great Plains tax engine with the one working from your web server, located in one place and serving numerous subscribers.
eConnect. This tool was initially designed for eCommerce developer, who deploys Microsoft Great Plains as the back end/ERP. eConnect is SDK with SQL Stored Procedures and parameters descriptions.
Extender. We'll wait the next version, but even now it is very promising and it doesn't require you to be programmer to customize Great Plains.
Microsoft Dynamics Gp For Dummies
Microsoft Dynamics GP is new name for Microsoft Great Plains and first wave of former Microsoft Project Green. You probably have the impression that Microsoft is leveraging all the set of its technologies: .Net, MS SQL Server, Sharepoint, Visual Studio, Active Directory, MS Exchange, XML Web Services. The fact that Microsoft has several ERPs: Microsoft Great Plains / Dynamics GP, Microsoft Navision / Dynamics NAV, Microsoft Axapta / Dynamics AX, Microsoft Solomon / Dynamics SL, Microsoft CRM / Dynamics CRM makes the Project Green realization direction to turn to the thin client interface as the bridge between database structures of ERP solutions. Business Portal realizes this strategy. Microsoft idea goes deeper, but the format of small article dictates the rules of genre.
• From Reporting & Analysis to Transactions Entry. Microsoft has wisdom and ability to launch technical solution not as a technical solution itself, but also as a probe to be the future market guide. Look at eConnect, primarily created for eCommerce developers to connect to Great Plains objects – Customer, Sales Order, Invoice. Now eConnect is the middle connection level for Dynamics GP, Integration Manager and Business Portal. Initial idea of classical (non Microsoft) Business Portal of 1990th was primarily reporting and analytics. When Microsoft released MS CRM as Web Interface – the idea to move transactions to the web became popular
• From Analysis to Workflow. The idea of Microsoft as we see it is to make it invisible for the user to judge – where is say, Microsoft CRM, Business Portal or where is Sharepoint. Sharepoint is the platform for workflow and document management, and being integrated into Business Portal it can compete with traditional workflow management tools, such as IBM Lotus Notes Domino.
• Human Resources. Probably, if you are customer – you don't want to pay full price for concurrent user license – if the user is your manufacturing or service employee, in this case you should purchase relatively inexpensive Business Portal user license and utilize employee self service.
• eOrder fate. eOrder was legacy IIS product and it will be rewritten in .Net web services platform.
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