Looks like Microsoft Great Plains becomes more and more popular, partly because of Microsoft muscles behind it. Now it is targeted to the whole spectrum of horizontal and vertical market clientele. Small companies use Small Business Manager (which is based on the same technology ? Great Plains Dexterity dictionary and runtime), Great Plains Standard on MSDE is for small to midsize clients, and then Great Plains serves the rest of the market up to big corporations.
If you are developer who is asked: how do we implement Great Plains integration/interface with your legacy or other system ? read this and you will have the clues on where to look further.
1. Great Plains Integration Manager - this is rather end-user tool - it is very intuitive, it validates 100% of business logic, brings in/updates master records (accounts, employees, customers, vendors. etc.) brings in transactions into work tables. The limitation of Integration Manager - it does use GP windows behind the scenes without showing them - so it is relatively slow - you can bring 100 records - but when you are talking about thousands - it is not a good option. By the way you can program Integration Manager with VBA.
2. eConnect ? it is type of Software Development Kit with samples in VB.Net. Obviously the development environment should be Visual Studio.Net. eConnect will allow you to integrate master records - such as new customers, vendors, employees, etc., plus you can bring transactions into so called Great Plains work tables (eConnect doesn't allow you to bring open or historical records - you need to post work records in Great Plains, the same limitation applies to Integration Manager above) eConnect is rather for ongoing integration. It was initially created for eCommerce application integration to Great Plains.
3. SQL Stored Procedures. Obviously you have unlimited control and possibilities with SQL queries. You need to know Great Plains tables structure and data flow. Launch Great Plains and go to Tools->Resource Description->Tables. Find the table in the proper series. If you are looking for the customers ? it should be RM00101 ? customer master file. If you need historical Sales Order Processing documents ? they are in SOP30200 ? Sales History Header file, etc. Do not change existing tables - do not create new fields, etc. Also you need to realize that each GP table has DEX_ROW_ID - identity column. Sometimes it is good idea to use inbound/outbound XML in the parameters - then you can deploy web service as a middle party between two systems.
4. Data Transformation Services (DTS) ? Good tool for importing your third party data into staging tables in GP - then you can pull them in using either stored procs of Integration Manager. You can also deploy this tool for EDI export/import.
5. Great Plains Dexterity Custom Screens. Sometimes users prefer to have seamlessly integrated into GP interface custom screens - for parameters settings and initiating integration. Dexterity is a good option, however remember - it is always better to create new custom screen versus customizing existing one - due to the future upgrade issues. Also - Dexterity is in phasing our by Microsoft Business Solutions.
6. Modifier/VBA custom buttons on the existing screens - alternative to Dexterity is you are comfortable with VBA and ADO.
7. MS Access ? if you are doing one time conversion and your legacy has old ODBC compliant platform - you can use MS Access to create linked tables there - or import into MS Access.
8. SQL Linked Servers ? you can do direct SQL queries to other ODBC compliant platform via SQL Linked Server (including ORACLE, UNIDATA, Pervasive SQL, Ctree, etc) - you may need to familiarize yourself with OPENROWSET command in Transact SQL. This is also good option if you need cross-platform Crystal Report - pulling data from SQL Server and third party databases on the same report.
9. Warning - do not place existing GP tables into Replication! - you will have upgrade issues.
Happy integrating! if you want us to do the job - give us a call 1-866-528-0577! help@albaspectrum.com
Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer in Alba Spectrum Technologies ? USA nationwide Microsoft CRM, Microsoft Great Plains customization company, based in Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles, Houston, Atlanta, New York, and Miami and having locations in multiple states and internationally (help@albaspectrum.com ), he is Dexterity, SQL, VB/C#.Net, Crystal Reports and Microsoft CRM SDK developer.
shuttle from O'Hare Bingham .. Lockport Chicago limo O’HareIf you feel intimidated when someone tries to teach you... Read More
C/SIDE (Client/Server Integrated Development Environment) - The core of... Read More
If there still are few unprotected computers left, I haven't... Read More
Upgrading. Downtime. Maintenance. Hardware obsolescence. Implementation issues. The litany of... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions main middle market ERP application - Microsoft... Read More
Whether you have used Microsoft Word for years, have just... Read More
Cyberspace has opened up a new frontier with exciting possibilities... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains, former Great Plains Software eEnterprise,... Read More
Beginning with Domino version R4 it has integration with the... Read More
It's not very often I get excited about a software... Read More
As we could imagine, if you are reading this article... Read More
IntroductionDuring the early years of our modern computer era, very... Read More
In order to meet regulatory and corporate compliance requirements reporting... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains is marketed for mid-size companies... Read More
Microsoft CRM is CRM application, maintained and supported by Microsoft... Read More
Great Plains Accounting, accounting package for mid-size and small companies... Read More
A few months back I really got sick of my... Read More
Some companies that are in need of fleet management may... Read More
If you are in a business that passes documents around... Read More
Music downloads are off the charts! We're listening to digital... Read More
While Ukraine is becoming a new popular IT outsourcing destination,... Read More
Looking at all the ads which promise to get rid... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions is emerging as very attractive vendor for... Read More
Sometimes your PC will start acting strange for no apparent... Read More
Have you noticed WordPerfect is gearing up for a comeback... Read More
Mishawaka limo O'Hare ..Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains is very popular ERP/MRP applications... Read More
Are you one of those people that keeps track of... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions CRM is web-based CRM application, deploying all... Read More
Microsoft Client Relation Management system (Microsoft CRM) and Microsoft RMS... Read More
Spyware is software or hardware installed on a computer without... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains is very good fit for... Read More
When Great Plains Software was designing and developing Great Plains... Read More
The software giants don't do everything and don't always produce... Read More
What is Colossus?Colossus is software licensed to about twenty-five insurance... Read More
This article illustrates the best practices to improve the performance... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains is Dexterity-written application and currently... Read More
It's not very often I get excited about a software... Read More
It is possible that if one avoided all sources of... Read More
Whether you have used Microsoft Word for years, have just... Read More
In the case when you represent mid-size or mid-size-to-large business,... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions main middle market ERP application - Microsoft... Read More
Microsoft CRM is winning market share step-by-step from such the... Read More
So, why should you use any O/R mapping tool? I... Read More
Mike Dunville* had a decision to make. As the new... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains is marketed for mid-size companies... Read More
There are certain pluses and minuses in both cases and... Read More
Did you ever want to erase everything on your computer?... Read More
Microsoft Great Plains is one of the Microsoft Business Solutions... Read More
When it comes to screenplay software each screenwriter needs to... Read More
Follow the steps below to quickly design, generate, and deploy... Read More
Software |