Go To Software Information Home
Software Information
Troubleshoot Windows with Task Manager
Task Manager is a Windows system utility that displays thetasks
or processes currently running on your computer. Toopen Task
Manager, press Ctrl+Alt+Del. The Applcations tablists the applications
currently running on your computer.A single application may
actually consist of several runningprocesses, and many programs
that run in the background arenot listed (you can see icons
for some of these programs inthe System Tray).
Microsoft Great Plains Upgrade - Version 8.0 Overview for
IT Director/Controller
If you have Microsoft Great Plains as main accounting and
ERP system you need to know some technical details on Great
Plains version upgrade and what is going on behind the scenes,
which options do you have in case of Dexterity, VBA, SQL customizations,
ctree/Pervasive migration to MS SQL/MSDE. As of right now it
is reasonable to upgrade to Microsoft Great Plains 8.0 Is upgrade
required? Not actually, but you have to consider these factors
? Technical Support discontinuation - the old version may not
be supported - currently if you are on version 6.0 - support
is already discontinued. You can not have Microsoft Business
Solutions help you, but obviously you have MBS partners who
can still help you. If you are on Ctree or Pervasive SQL, then
your support expires December, 31 2004. Tax Updates/Magnetic
media expiration - if you have US Payroll module and depend
on it with W2 and other forms - you must stay with the version,
which is supported and has tax updates. If you are on Ctree
or Pervasive SQL - then you will not have tax updates for these
platforms at the end of 2004 and your W2s maybe inaccurate.
If you have a lot of employees - you may have issues with government. Following
the Technology and Microsoft rules - Microsoft wants you to
be on the newest platform and provides you the best support
when you follow this rule. If you do have heavy customization
- we recommend you to skip one version, for example if you are
on version 7.5 - do not upgrade to 8.0 and wait for the next
version What is upgrade in the language of technology? Upgrade
has server and client sides. Server side - upgrade converts
tables from old format to the new one. In general words - Microsoft
Business Solutions developers may change table structure, append
additional fields to add new functionality, things like that.
Upgrade copies the table with changes to temporary table, then
drops original table, recreates it with new structure and copies
all the data from temp table to the newly created one. Workstation
side - workstation is written in Great Plains Dexterity and
has Dynamics.exe - engine and DYNAMICS.DIC - dictionary. These
two plus all the additional files will be replaced with the
new ones. Other dictionaries, such us REPORTS.DIC and FORMS.DIC
should be also upgraded and upgrade will try to deal with them
automatically. In some cases modified reports (in REPORTS.DIC)
could not be upgraded and need to be recreated in the new version.
What is customization upgrade? You should consider different
types of customizations: Dexterity, VBA/Modifier, SQL, ReportWriter,
Crystal Reports Dexterity Customization - being very short -
Dexterity may have so called Custom Forms - these do not need
upgrade - they should work as is. Then Dexterity may alter
existing Great Plains forms (so-called Alternate Great Plains
forms) - in this case Dexterity customization should be redone
for these forms/screens. Plus additional consideration should
be given to Dexterity triggers, shadow tables, etc. VBA/Modifier
customization - Modifier allows you to modify existing Great
Plains windows - it creates so called modified Great Plains
windows, stored in FORMS.DIC. Usually modification is placing
new buttons or fields, which in turn will be given VBA scripts
(stored in DYNAMICS.VBA). VBA scripts may call something nice,
like Crystal Report, or have some data access logic. Usually
the old version of DYNAMICS.VBA workds with the new version.
You may need to rearrange buttons on the modified form. SQL
- you may have some stored procs for data integration, EDI or
the like - if the addressed tables will be changed in the new
version then you need to analyze your SQL code. The good news
is - Microsoft Business Solution doesn't make a lot of changes
since version 7.0, because Microsoft is now trying to merge
the products it owns: Great Plains, Solomon, Navision and Axapta
- and so has different priorities. ReportWriter - MBS doesn't
change tables, but it keeps changing Dexterity formulas used
in ReportWriter original reports - this is the problem in so-called
Modified Reports upgrade - usually you have these reports modified:
SOP Blank Invoice form, SOP Blank Picking ticket, etc. If
report can not be upgraded - it should be redone in the new
version with some exceptions. Crystal Reports - the nice thing
about Crystal Report - id doesn't need to be upgraded (if the
fields in the tables exist in the new version - which is usually
true statement)What is upgrade for third-party modules? Your
Great Plains may have so-called third party modules: Mekorma,
Kampdata, Horyzon, Wennsoft, Avalara, Truepay, Trinity, Intellisol
to name a fewThird party modules may have their own utility
for upgrade. You just need to know that your third-party is
ready for the new Great Plains version - if not - you just wait
and stay on the old version. What is migration from Ctree/Pervasive.SQL
2000 to MS SQL/MSDE? MBS has migration tool. You need first
to install Great Plains on SQL Server with exactly the same
account/segments structure and then install migration tool (it
is Dexterity chunk) on your ctree/Pervasive workstation - then,
when you integrate the chunk - you will map it to target SQL-based
Great Plains Company, select all system and company tables,
click the button and it will move all your tables one-by-one.
In the case when your Great Plains ctree/Pervasive has third
parties - you need to check if the vendor has migration tool
- otherwise you have to do manual move, use SQL Linked server
to your legacy data Do I need consultant? It is probably good
idea to have consultant to do the upgrade. We strongly recommend
you to use consultant in the following cases. You have Dexterity
customization? You are doing migration from Pervasive/Ctree
to Microsoft SQL Server/MSDE, especially when you have third-parties
without migration tools. You have a lot or ReportWriter Modified
Great Plains Reports? You have old version of Great Plains:
Dynamics or eEnterprise 6.0 or prior - in this case you can
not appeal to Microsoft Technical Support - it is discontinued. Your
Great Plains has more than 20 users and you have to have upgrade
done over the weekend - if it fails - you have business problems. You
don't have support - in this case you have to select your Microsoft
Business Solutions Partner and pay for the annual support/enhancement
plan - you will get new registration key and will be ready for
the upgrade Good luck with upgrade and if you have issues or
concerns; we are here to help! If you want us to do the job
- give us a call 1-866-528-0577! help@albaspectrum.com
Instant Messaging is a Sweet Way to Communicate
MSN messenger is a pretty cool invention. I mean I'm not
really into serious discussions on the email, answers to questions
can often take a few days to arrive because people are so busy
these days. I've just been 'hooked up' into Messenger and it's
really a different kind of communication, quick, simplistic
and even humorous with the capability to express your feelings
with 'emotion' cartoons. With Messenger you can communicate
with a group of close friends or business partners instantly
whenever they are at their computer. When a message is received
you are informed instantly on your desktop, you don't have to
be at an email site. A little box appears flashing the name
of the sender, you read the message and send a reply when you've
got a second free. There's a contact list and when you go
on-line, it automatically tells you who of your connections
are on and off-line at that moment. If someone goes on-line
after you've already been at your computer, a small box appears
on your screen to tell you who are now also instantly message
able. It's like the spontaneity of a telephone call but you
don't even have to dial any numbers! Just log in your password
and you're connected. The huge array of smiley faces and other
'emotional' icons add another dimension to the conversations.
Some of the smiley faces actually move (sticking their tongues
out etc.) and there are many other symbols to express the moment.
E.g.: Show a little sun when it's sunny in your neighborhood,
flash a wilted rose when your love life isn't going to well,
put up a black sheep when you're feeling disconnected from society.
How about expressing your dream of a holiday by flashing up
the tropical island icon when you're stuck in dreary office
working hard on a cloudy day. They say a picture speaks a thousand
words? Well I certainly don't work for Microsoft but I guess
Bill Gates and his buddies have made a few bucks because they've
had a couple of good ideas. They're helping the world with their
knowledge, and I reckon their MSN Messenger is another step
forward in bringing the Earth together into one world. Besides
the normal email format you can also have web cam and audio
conversations, as well as sending files and photos instantly.
It's as sweet as that first time you kissed your honey bunny,
well maybe not that sweet.
Reduce TCO: The Java Database Way
TCO (Total Cost Ownership) is the buzzword in today's business
world. This metric helps enterprise managers assess direct and
indirect costs and benefits derived from their investment on
IT components and services. A vital component of overall TCO
is database management. All information-centric applications
need databases for data storage. Also, the storage demands of
small and mid-sized companies are growing rapidly, as more emphasis
is given on data backup and long-term archival of data disaster
recovery. Embedded databases have arrived in this scenario as
a major cost-cutting tool. They help organizations in managing
the growing storage requirements by providing a cost-effective
and reliable solution for data backup, file storage and archiving,
thereby assuring a lower cost of ownership for small to medium
sized business organizations. The remainder of this article
will focus on the database server that I am most familiar with
(Daffodil DB) and how it helps in the reduction of TCO. Though
the example has some nuances specific to Daffodil DB, I am sure
that readers will be able to extrapolate the theme to better
understand the role of a database in TCO reduction. Let's begin
with Development and Deployment Costs. Gone are the days when
applications had to be tested extensively for all underlying
platforms. Now, one can shrink the cost and time required to
develop and setup solutions on multiple platforms by using a
Java database. A separate deployment for different platform
implementations of a large application is a major expense that
an enterprise can do without. Administration Costs are a major
concern for many-a-company. Logically, database administration
costs are a significant component of TCO. When embedded with
an application, a compact Java database can be made practically
invisible to the user, since it (the database) requires no administration
and runs on the same Java virtual machine (JVM) as does the
application. Its simple performance tuning process helps in
optimizing database performance and vastly reduces database
administration costs. Now let's move on to Compatibility Cost.
Java databases, being platform independent, are compatible with
all operating systems and application servers. This feature
helps developers in choosing their own range of effective and
economical solutions. For example, with Daffodil DB the developer
can use Open Source tools like JBOSS application server for
reducing overall TCO. Last, but certainly not the least, let's
get to Licensing Costs. Pardon me if I seem to evangelize Daffodil
DB, but that's one area where I can 'preach' with confidence.
As Daffodil DB can be used / embedded with a wide array of applications,
flexible licensing policies have been developed to accommodate
the diverse needs of the development community without restricting
the same to just one standard license. Each application development
organization may pick the right combination of licenses that
best meets its needs. The organizations may also acquire additional
licenses or upgrade their licenses. Do I hear someone shout
'What about Open Source'?
Microsoft Great Plains Implementation - Overview for IT
Director/Controller
What is installation in the language of technology? Installation
has server and client sides. Server side - Installation creates
security environment (logins) on MS SQL Server or MSDE, creates
system database - DYNAMICS and then company databases. All
these tasks are performed by Microsoft Great Plains Utilities
Workstation side - workstation installation copies the client
side application, installs current version of MDAC (we need
SQL ODBC driver - please check documentation on ODBC DSN setup),
registers the application. If you plan to run Great Plains
Utilities from the workstation to create server side (see above)
- you need to check Install Client and Server Components What
is following implementation? Implementation requires combination
of technological and accounting skills System Setup - you should
refer to GP documentation. In general setup consists of Company
information, General GL/AR/AP/Payroll setup, User classes, Customer/Vendor/Employee
classes to name a few Master Records - you should either use
integration tools, such as Integration Manager, SQL queries
or have users to type in all your GL Accounts, Customers, Vendors,
Employees . Beginning Balances - this is recommended approach
- you place aside the old accounting application for querying
the historical data and enter beginning balances in Great Plains
GL, AR, AP, SOP, POP, Payroll. When you have balances in the
system you are ready to use it in production Historical Data
conversion - this is optional, in order to do historical data
conversion you need to know basic Great Plains tables structure
(Setup->Tools->Resource Description->Tables Structure). This
is similar to surgery - so you probably need outside consultant
to help you. If the volume of historical data is small - you
can deploy Great Plains Integration Manager and then post the
records in the modules. User Training - we are just listing
this item - it is up to you to decide on the way to train your
users Using Two Systems in Parallel - this is recommended.
You should print the reports from both systems during this test
period and compare the results Customization - typical areas
of customizations: Invoice form, Crystal Reports, pulling info
from multiple databases, including Great Plains database, Great
Plains forms modification with Modifier/VBA, Great Plains Dexterity
forms and logic customization, integration with CRM, RMS and
other business systems, web publishing from Great Plains tables,
EDI with your suppliers, SQL Data Transformation packages Do
I need consultant? We strongly recommend you to use consultant
in the following cases You have identified the need for Great
Plains Dexterity customization You are doing migration from
Pervasive/Ctree to Microsoft SQL Server/MSDE, especially when
you have third-parties without migration tools You are doing
migration from Great Plains Accounting to Microsoft Great Plains
You have to create a lot or ReportWriter Modified Great Plains
Reports You have old version of Great Plains: Dynamics or eEnterprise
6.0 or prior - in this case you can not appeal to Microsoft
Technical Support - it is discontinued Your Great Plains has
more than 20 users in this case the mistake may lead to serious
business problems You don't have support for your old Great
Plains - then you have to select your Microsoft Business Solutions
Partner and pay for the annual support/enhancement plan - you
will get new registration key and will be ready for the upgrade
Good luck with installation, implementation, upgrade and if
you have issues or concerns; we are here to help! If you want
us to do the job - give us a call 1-866-528-0577! help@albaspectrum.com
Software Companies: Generate New Revenue Streams and Decrease
Costs with Custom e-Learning Content
It's no secret that software companies operate in a very
competitive space where rivalry is increasingly fierce and where
profit margins can be razor thin. New, smaller software companies
are sprouting up each month and the leading software companies
continually make strong advancements forward leveraging massive
cash flow reserves. This cycle makes it difficult for the mid-sized
software company to compete because (a) they don't typically
have the cash flow necessary to take giant leaps forward in
the industry and (b) because they need to continually move forward
to stay ahead of the smaller software companies that are vying
for their slot in the marketplace. Consequently, making the
jump from an unknown to a mainstream brand can prove to be very
difficult for the mid-sized software company.
Cisco CCNA Certification: Becoming A Truly Valuable CCNA.
I've been active in the Cisco Certification track for four
years, working my way from the CCNA to the coveted Cisco Certified
Internetwork Expert title, and during that time I've conducted
job interviews and casual conversations with hundreds of CCNAs
and CCNA candidates.
Software Piracy
We regularly hear reports about the cost to the software
industry of software piracy, but are the claims to be taken
at face value' Statistics are notoriously biased towards what
the author is trying to say.
Microsoft Great Plains Integration with Microsoft Access
- Overview for Developer
Microsoft Business Solutions stakes on Microsoft Great
Plains as main Accounting/ERP application for US market. At
the same time it seems to be staking on Navision in Europe and
has Axapta as high end large corporation market competitor to
Oracle, PeopleSoft, SAP, IBM. This article is brief review
of Microsoft Great Plains integration with Microsoft Access.
This is also applicable to Small Business Manager (which is
based on the same technology - Great Plains Dexterity dictionary
- DYNAMICS.DIC and runtime DYNAMICS.EXE) and Great Plains Standard
on MSDE or MS SQL Server. If you are developer who is asked:
how do we implement Great Plains integration/interface with
your MS Access-based system - read this and you will have the
clues on where to look further. 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. Microsoft
Access is ODBC compliant and so you can do direct Integration
Manager query to MS Access 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. 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. 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.
You can have DTS working with Linked Server - SQL Server Construction
for linking to Microsoft Access 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.
Modifier/VBA custom buttons on the existing screens - alternative
to Dexterity is you are comfortable with VBA and ADO. SQL Linked
Servers ? you can do direct SQL queries to other ODBC compliant
platform via SQL Linked Server (including Microsoft Access)
- 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. 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
Microsoft Great Plains Reporting - Overview for Developer
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. There are several reporting
tools available and you definitely need to know which one to
use for different types of reports. If you are developer who
is asked: how do we create report for Microsoft Great Plains
? read this and you will have the clues on where to look further.
Great Plains Report Writer (ReportWriter) ? this is built-in
reporting tool. All the original report in Great Plains are
written in ReportWriter. ReportWriter itself is Dexterity module.
You should use this tool if you would like to modify existing
Great Plains reports, such as Blank Invoice Form - here you
can place your company logo, change the positioning, fonts,
colors, etc. ReportWriter will allow you also do new reports
- simple option if you want to export all the records from
one Great Plains table - use it. New report, however doesn't
have interface where you would enter parameters - so it is not
useful for real custom reports. Another limitation of ReportWriter
- you can not do cross-modules report - when you need sales
and purchasing info on the same report for example. FRx. This
is excellent tool when deal with financial reporting - it works
on the General Ledger level (Balance sheet, P&L, Cash Flow Statement,
etc.). It also allows you to do multiple companies consolidation
- when you do consolidated Balance Sheet (with inter-companies
transactions elimination). Smart List - Export to Excel ? this
is nice feature in Great Plains - you could create a list with
simple criteria and then export it to Excel. Crystal Reports.
It gives you unlimited functionality. Obviously flexibility
requires you to know Great Plains table structure: 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. Create ODBC
connection to GP Company database. Use the same technique as
when you create standard ODBC connection for GP workstation
? but change default database to targeted company database.
Create SQL Query to probe the data ? we always recommend tuning
your query and see that you are getting adequate results ? in
any case ? Crystal Report is just a nice tool to show the results
of your query. Direct Web Publishing off Great Plains databases
? yes - it is easy now with Visual Studio.Net and you can hire
good programmers. This is good - Microsoft Business Solutions
products: Great Plains, Solomon, Navision and Axapta will be
integrated into so called Microsoft Business Portal - which
will have web interface - you can get the idea if you look at
Microsoft CRM web client - so direct web publishing is good
taste. SQL Queries. If you have SQL background - this is great
field for you. You know - with properly formatted SQL query
you can realize simple EDI export/import for the integration
with legacy systems. Happy designing! if you want us to do
the job - give us a call 1-866-528-0577! help@albaspectrum.com
Crystal Reports for Microsoft Great Plains ? Overview for
Developer
Microsoft Great Plains is main accounting / ERP application
from Microsoft Business Solutions, targeted to the US market.
It serves the whole of vertical and horizontal market: most
of the industries and company sizes. Crystal Reports on the
other hand is the leader in the reporting software industry
and Microsoft is willing to use Crystal as main reporting tool
for Great Plains, Solomon, Microsoft CRM, .Net platform, etc.
If you are developer who is asked: how do we extend Great Plains
ReportWriter with somewhat more sophisticated ? read this and
you will have the clues on where to look further. Great Plains
Tables Structure ? first of all you need to know the tables
to link. 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. Create ODBC
connection to GP Company database. Use the same technique as
when you create standard ODBC connection for GP workstation
? but change default database to targeted company database.
Consider SQL Views ? if you don?t want complex links in Crystal
Report itself or if you need unionization from several companies
? SQL view is the answer. Consider SQL Stored Procedures. Sometimes
you can not pull the data in one view ? you need temporary tables
to be created and the final query should be based on these temp
tables ? this is when you need stored procedure. Call Crystal
Report from GP Screens via VBA/Modifier ? if the user wants
to call Crystal report for example - printing Invoices in GP
and do it from SOP Entry window ? you can use Modifier and VBA
to call Crystal Reports engine. Create SQL Query to probe the
data ? we always recommend tuning your query and see that you
are getting adequate results ? in any case ? Crystal Report
is just a nice tool to show the results of your query. Happy
customizing, querying and designing! if you want us to do the
job - give us a call 1-866-528-0577! help@albaspectrum.com
How to Upgrade Dexterity Customization ? Tips for IT Manager
If you have Microsoft Great Plains and support it for your
company and have light or heavy Great Plains customization,
written in Dexterity ? you need to know your options in upgrading
Great Plains or migrating it from ctree/Pervasive to MS SQL/MSDE.
Great Plains Dexterity is proprietary programming language/environment,
which was created in early 1990-th to provide platform / database
/ graphical interface independence for Mac and Windows based
Great Plains Dynamics. Today it is legacy and Microsoft Business
Solutions is phasing Dexterity out. However Great Plains 7.5
and even 8.0 is Dexterity based application, so you have to
deal with it and it?s customization. Good news. Prior to
version 7.0 Great Plains had plans on expanding GP functionality
and so was changing tables structure ? forcing Dexterity customization
to be analyzed and partially rewritten with each upgrade. Not
any more ? GP structure stays the same ? Microsoft is doing
new modules acquisition and unifying it?s graphical interface
to move all it?s ERP packages: Great Plains, Solomon, Navision
and Axapta to web-based Microsoft Business Portal. Still pain.
Dexterity has possibility to customize existing Great Plains
screens, so called Alternative Great Plains forms. This was
upgrade problem in the past and it stays now ? there is no way
to do it in house (until you are willing to pay for full-time
internal developer ? who is usually in the learning curve).
You got to bring in consultant. Recommended approach. You should
have the strategy to migrate Dexterity customization to SQL,
Crystal Reports, custom web publishing ? Visual Studio.net and
slowly abandon Dexterity customization SQL Stored procedures
- performance improvement. Consider replacing dexterity data
manipulation with SQL stored procedures. Dexterity is cursor-driven
language and it is not efficient when processing huge datasets.
Crystal Reports. Take advantage of open and leading technology.
Crystal Reports will eliminate the need in the future for painstaking
Dexterity reports upgrade. Base you Crystal report on the SQL
view or stored proc Do direct web publishing off your GP database.
Use Visual Studio ? it is easy to find specialists and have
them in staff. We are in the World when web publishing is very
easy. Good luck and if you have issues or concerns ? we are
here to help! if you want us to do the job - give us a call
1-866-528-0577! help@albaspectrum.com
IT Department Skills to Support Microsoft Great Plains and
Microsoft CRM
Microsoft Great Plains as ERP and Microsoft CRM as Client
Relation Management system is very robust combination and could
serve midsize to large corporation as Business System. Being
VP IT or IT Director you need to foresee the positions to have
in your IT department to do internal MS Great Plains and MS
CRM support. Let us give you the directions, based on our research
and consulting practice. Microsoft SQL Server Specialist ? we
specially do not name this position as MS SQL DBA, because both
Great Plains and MS CRM are not very complex from the database
administration side, they do not use indexes optimization, referential
integrity, probably do not require complex transaction log backup/recovery
scenarios. On the other hand this position requires Great Plains
and Microsoft CRM tables structure analysis and some primary
Great Plains data fixing skills via SQL queries, described in
MBS Customer source techknowledge database. The best candidate
should have some accounting background - to be able to address
ongoing issues to MBS technical support. Network Administrator
with good Microsoft Exchange and Active Directory skills. Microsoft
CRM uses all the newest Microsoft technologies, and Exchange
is a workhorse here. In order to install and upgrade MS CRM
this guy needs to understand the under-laying Microsoft technology.
In the best case - she/he should know Exchange security structure
and probably program Exchange handlers, due to the fact that
CRM/Exchange connector is not a perfect tool yet. C# or VB.Net
programmer with excellent SQL Skills? if you are midsize or
large company - you should have this position - you will need
web publishing and MS CRM customization and its support. Currently
Microsoft CRM SDK has C# examples - so C# programmer would be
the best fit, it may have more VB code in the future, so the
C# - VB balance maybe restored. Crystal Reports Designer/Programmer
- Crystal Reports is the best tool available on the market to
address both Great Plains and MS CRM reporting needs. This
position maybe merged with one of the above. These people should
be probably cross-trained in both Great Plains, Microsoft CRM,
Crystal Reports, SQL and C# programming, so you do not depend
on the unique skills of one person. In our opinion, which is
based on our long term consulting practice - these skills will
allow you to keep the cost of IT support reasonably low and
avoid paying high consulting price to your Microsoft Business
Solutions Partner. Happy hiring and training! But in any case
you need to select Microsoft Business Solutions Partner/Var/Reseller
to be your official representative. This is how MBS has its
channel working - it assures that Microsoft Business Solutions
products are properly implemented. If you want us to be your
Microsoft Business Solutions Partner - give us a call 1-866-528-0577!
help@albaspectrum.com
SQL: Querying Microsoft Great Plains ? Overview for Database
Administrator/Developer
Microsoft CRM Custom Design & Development: SDK, C#, SQL,
Exchange, Integration, Crystal Reports
Microsoft CRM is new player on the CRM software market.
The whole conception behind CRM seems to be different. In case
of traditional CRM software (Siebel, Oracle) - the application
was designed with platform independence in mind. Microsoft
CRM is dedicated to Microsoft technology and so deploys all
the Microsoft tools: Windows Active Directory, Microsoft Exchange
2003/2000, SQL Server, Crystal Reports Enterprise, Biztalk server,
Microsoft Outlook, Internet Explorer, Microsoft Great Plains
as backend, etc. If you are software developer, database administrator
or web designer who is asked: how do we customize Microsoft
CRM ? we are giving you directions in this article. Microsoft
CRM SDK ? this is software development kit with C# and partly
VB.net code samples ? it is supported by Microsoft Business
Solutions technical support. It is based on web service calls,
if you are C# .NET developer ? you are excellently positioned
to do this type of customizations. This is the preferred modification
scenario and this should be easily upgradeable customization.
VB.Net examples will be available soon. Legacy SQL Data integration.
This is also easy and safe. If you have SQL database, sitting
on the same or linked SQL Server ? you can create ASPX .Net
application and simply integrate it into CRM. You can place
it on the navigation bar or menu in isv.config ? please refer
to MS CRM SDK Legacy ASP integration ? this is somewhat more
sophisticated. You have to deploy HTTP handler to be a middle
party between CRM which is .Net based and ASP which is legacy
IIS. The trick is ? you have to have INI file with security
settings to penetrate into MS CRM with proper credentials, calling
web service. Microsoft Exchange Programming. Microsoft CRM
has Exchange connector ? which moves CRM incoming email to MS
if it has GUID in its subject. You can alter this logic (for
instance - move email to CRM if it doesn?t have GUID but it
is from the sender who is contact or account in MS CRM). Refer
to MS Exchange SDK onsyncsave event handling. Then simply apply
some MS CRM SDK programming - you need some COM+ objects creation
and VB programming experience. Direct SQL touch ? in #4 above
I described you the scenario with MS Exchange handlers ? this
would be ideal world if MS CRM SDK does the job. But ? in real
world this is not always true ? you have to do direct flags
correction in CRM database (like making Activity closed, moving
email attachments/octet streams, etc). This is not supported
by MBS technical support ? but you can rescue to this technique
if you have to get job done. MS CRM Customization tool ? this
is rather end-user tool and we don?t describe it here ? read
the manual. We?ve described above the options to use when this
tool doesn?t do the job Crystal Reports - feel free to create
Crystal report - tables and views structure is self explanatory.
Try to avoid the temptation to create your own SQL view or stored
procedure in MS CRM database, instead - create custom database
and place your view and stored proc in it. Happy modifying!
If you want us to do the job - give us a call 1-866-528-0577!
help@albaspectrum.com
More Articles from Software Information:
2 | 3
| 4 | 5
| 6 | 7
| 8 | 9
| 10 | 11
| 12 | 13
| 14 | 15
| 16 | 17
| 18 | 19
| 20 | 21
| 22 | 23
| 24 | 25
| 26 | 27
| 28 | 29
| 30 | 31
| 32 | 33
| 34 | 35
| 36 | 37
| 38 | 39
RE: Software rights and wrongs.OS News - 1 hour agoNow the typical commercial EULA gives you a right to ~use~ the software in question, but not a right to a COPY of it. But if this is the case, ... |
software - Google News
|
 |
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
The XP Firewall Isnt Enough
Every computer that connects to the internet has an IP address. This is like
a sort of phone number, and is issued either to an individual computer or to
a "gateway" that connects a private network to the 'net.
The Hidden Power of Online Manual
Writing software manuals is boring, isn't it? We often think: "My software is easy to use. The user interface is intuitive. Why should I waste so much time for writing the document which nobody reads anyway?" Sometimes it's true ? I've never read the WinZip or Internet Explorer manuals ? everything seems clear without explanations. Nevertheless, even if your manual doesn't help to your software users, it may help to you. Publish your manual online and turn its hidden power into the real benefits for your business.
Online Manual Makes Your Web Site Visible
User manual is a huge bunch of words, the highly targeted words, which are specific for your software market. For instance, if you develop a database management system, its user guide will certainly contain such words as "database", "query", "transaction", "table", "record", and etc. On the other hand, people use these words in their queries when they are looking for a database management solution on the Google, Yahoo, or other search engine. Let the interested people to find your web site and your product. Upload your manual on your web server and make it available for indexing by search engine spiders. This area specific content will make your web site and your software more visible to potential customers. Making the user guide available online will increase your web site rank in relevant search results and will bring highly targeted traffic to web your site. Let the manual to work not only for your users, but for you as well.
Online Manual Saves Your Time
A picture worth a hundred words. Those who are engaged in user support know this for sure. When replying to user concerns, very often we have to write sentences like this "Open the Document settings dialog. Choose the External modules tab. Select the 'ABC Spell Checker' in the module list. Enter your registration key and verification code in the corresponding text fields which will appear at the bottom of the window. Then, press Activate". If your application is simple the user will likely understand you right and will do everything as you have explained. However, if your application is a complex system with lots of setting windows which behave differently in various modes, the user may be puzzled which window and which fields do you mean. In this case you risk getting into a long conversation by repeatedly explaining the same things again and again.
The screenshot could be a very helpful illustration of your explanations. You may run your application, go to the certain window, open that tab page, activate the corresponding item in the list. Then make the screenshot of the window by using Alt+PrtSc key combination or another screen capture tool, save the picture in a file, and finally attach it to your message. Sometimes it's also necessary to add callouts, annotations and other enlightenments to the screenshot picture. Thus, you have to launch your image editor and to manually draw all the elements required. As you see, it may takes up to a half hour to reply to a single message only. And how many messages are yet in the queue?
Having the screenshots prepared is a good approach which may save your time. But having screenshots already prepared together with callouts, explanations, and annotations is a great approach which will save you much more time. Most likely, you have all that stuff prepared in your software manual but it's not very polite to reply to the user: "Read that fantastic manual". User may have no idea where the manual is on the PC and on what page is the looked-for solution located. On the other hand, you may also have no time to manually cut particular pages with screenshots and related instructions from the manual and to attach them to each support message.
The solution is easy. Put your manual on your web site in the form of HTML pages. Make all the pictures, screenshots with callouts, descriptions, and instructions accessible for every user. When you are processing another support request, simply insert an URL link to the appropriate page of your online manual and add just a few clarification words ? more words and pictures are already on that page. You will save much time and nerves because you will be sure that the user is looking at the same thing which you are describing. At the same time, the user will get a fast solution which is supported by clear pictures and neat instructions.
Online Manual Makes Your Products Trustworthy
Besides the users get the faster and more helpful support, they also see that you did this tedious job ? writing the handy and well structured manual with great screenshots and clear explanations. They know that this job is boring and developers don't like to do it. Therefore, if you did it and if you did it perfectly, it means that you respect your customers, not only their money. Good manual means that you consider your business and product seriously yourself. This helps your business to look more credible and serious. So, make your manual available online and prove your respect to your existing and prospective users. Make them trusting in you and in your product before they even download a demo copy of it.
Online Manual Brings Sales
As we see, the software manual which is a part of your web site generates a targeted traffic. The people may easily find your product because online help makes your web site more visible in relevant search results on the search engines. Those new visitors get more loyal when they see a well done help system. Also, if a prospect experiences difficulties with your software and asks for technical support, you may easily resolve the issue by referring the user to a certain page of your online help. With just a one click the user will see screenshots and explanations which will help them to settle the case. So, you have a motivated and targeted visitor, who feels loyal to your company and products, and whom you can easily help in case of a technical problem. The probability of such visitor ordering a license is several times higher than of the average one.
Windows x: Basic Windows ?Security? Issues
Language development computer:
Computer-based method for aiding language development seems like an interesting idea, the trick with this would be in getting the computer to take on part of the role of the human in the checking process.
Screenshots Vista Windows
Features
Additionally, Vista will include many other new features.
How to Get The Best Accounting Software For Your Small Business
Buying accounting software is a major investment. It's an important decision and you need to be sure of all the facts before you buy.
Can You Calculate Complex Financial Calculations?
Are you a whiz at calculating financial information? Not the easy
personal stuff, like figuring out your monthly mortgage based on
a fixed interest rate for x number of years, or how much money
you have available each month after all your bills are paid. (You
can probably use your fingers to figure that one out!)
Introduction To ISDN, Part II
In the previous ISDN article, we looked at how and why one router dials another using ISDN. Just as important is knowing what keeps the link up once it is dialed.
Microsoft Great Plains: Government & Non-Profit Organization ? Workflow Implementation
Usually workflow & messaging is realized in CRM and then transactions are just logged into Accounting/ERP/MRP. In the case of Microsoft Business Solutions products: Microsoft Great Plains, Navision, Solomon, Axapta the natural CRM choice would be Microsoft CRM. However typical CRM application targets Sales automation, which is usually not applicable to government structure, non-profit or public company (community services, public utilities, churches, charities, etc.). Not-for-profit organization needs purchasing and requisition workflow, payroll approval workflow, and in certain cases special General Ledger (GL) transactions workflow. Microsoft CRM doesn't provide the functionality. Then how could this be realized? We'll provide two scenarios to realize this customization:
Selecting Microsoft Great Plains Partner/VAR/Reseller: ERP Implementation & Customization ? Overview
In the case when you represent mid-size or mid-size-to-large business, it is not a surprise that you have to do ERP selection and switch to new technologies, doing your own research. If you a trying to stay with Microsoft technologies and try Microsoft Business Solutions products: Microsoft Great Plains, Microsoft Navision, Solomon, Axapta with integration to Microsoft CRM, you should know the history of Great Plains Software and Navision partners over the last 10 years.
New Web-Based HR Tool is Max From NAS, Hannibal, and InfoLink
Three highly respected names in Human Resources have joined forces to provide companies with a revolutionary blend of services that make the hiring process more efficient and effective. The partnership joins three companies: NAS Recruitment Communications, a recognized leader in the specialized field of human resource communications, Hannibal, Inc., a software development firm specializing in recruiting automation solutions, and InfoLink Screening Services, Inc., a nationwide leader in employment background screening, drug testing and physical exam services.
Microsoft Great Plains Payroll Module Customization Scenarios
It is now common thing when large corporation selects mid-market ERP or so-called standard functionality MRP solution as its corporate accounting system. Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains is very good candidate. As all MBS ERPs it has MS SQL Server 2000/2005 database platform and allows you to deploy customizable and altered solution, serving large corporation HR department. If you use US / Canadian Payroll module as paycheck solution for internal employees ? you probably don't need custom logic. In this small article we'll show you the way of tailored integrated solution for nation-wide placement agency.
Ukraine: a Prospective Player on the World Software Outsourcing Market
The destruction of the Soviet Union about 15 years ago, made a huge country with a great level of IT science divided into small bricks. Nowadays, despite Russia's expansion into the world software development market, Ukraine keeps playing an important role here too. There are several prerequisites for this.
Corporate ERP: Standard vs. Rich functionality ? Microsoft Great Plains
Traditionally we were considering functionally rich systems, such as SAP, Oracle Financials, PeopleSoft, JDEdwards as the fit for large publicly traded corporation. There might be multiple opinions for the future corporate ERP/MRP systems. We would like to give you our prognosis: high-end systems will be losing market to generic granulated standard functionality systems. Customization will be in high demand ? but it will be appropriate to go for light of medium customization versus purchasing high-end functionality system. It is not a secret, that nowadays multiple companies from Fortune 500 list use midmarket solution, such as Microsoft Great Plains as their corporate ERP. In this small article we'll try to defend our position and give you highlights on deploying Microsoft Great Plains for large corporation.
Five Steps to Rapid Development with TierDeveloper 4.0
Follow the steps below to quickly design, generate, and deploy a great portion of your real-life N-Tier application.
Microsoft Update - 5 Reasons to Update Service Pack 2
Microsoft released Service Pack 2 (SP2) for the Windows XP operating system back in August (2004), representing significant improvements in many areas, especially system security. For those people that are still unsure whether they should update to it, the following five reasons may help make the decision easier.
OLAP, An Alternative Technology Over Spreadsheets
Are Spreadsheets Robbing your Enterprise of Competitive Advantage?
Builders Beware
Which Type of Shop Can Rely On A Home Built System?
What To Do When Windows Wont Boot
When Windows fails to boot it is normally caused by you installing a program or device and it has caused a conflict with one or more other programs.
Spyware Statistics -- Whats New in May 2005?
Although statistics often is blamed for various deadly sins -- from being biased to being inaccurate -- there is nothing left to those who are anyhow connected with IT but to keep up with fresh data. Since spyware is literally ubiquitous, nobody who owns or uses a PC can say that it is none of his business. So general public also has to keep an eye on the news about spyware.
Microsoft CRM ? Consulting in the Post-Recession Time
New post-recession era has new features, which didn't exist in late 1990th during high-tech boom. This will be in our opinion on new directions for Microsoft Business Solutions products consulting, including Microsoft CRM.
New features:
|
