Released on = August 24, 2006, 3:26 pm

Press Release Author = Alba Spectrum Group

Industry = Computers

Press Release Summary = Microsoft Dynamics GP or former Great Plains Software
eEnterprise/Dynamics is matured ERP/MRP application and its customization tools
evolution came in parallel with the evolution of our computing tools and hardware
fleet. This article gives you highlights on the Legacy and New tools and you are
the one to make a decision.

Press Release Body = Microsoft Dynamics GP or former Great Plains Software
eEnterprise/Dynamics is matured ERP/MRP application and its customization tools
evolution came in parallel with the evolution of our computing tools and hardware
fleet. This article gives you highlights on the Legacy and New tools and you are
the one to make a decision.
. Legacy Tools. Great Plains Dexterity was designed on several fundamental idea,
popular in the beginning of 1990th - computer graphical platform and database
platform independence, and logically as you might remember the stake was on C
programming language, as the hybrid of assembler and at the same time more generic
programming or high level language. Obviously if you decide to stake on one - you
have to sacrifice or disregard the other. In the case of Great Plains Dexterity we
see the following problems: lack of Unicode support (making it not a good choice for
international expansion), DEX_ROW_ID - in SQL Server database - each dexterity table
must have this field, used by Dexterity engine internally, inflexibility in
ReportWriter or Dex reports, where you have to use only key-based links. Plus
graphical interface is kind of outdated - again it is based on C transferable
graphics
. eConnect & XML web services. With the progress of Project Green or now Microsoft
Dynamics project, there is the potential need to resolve multiple database kernels
for several Microsoft ERP: Great Plains, Navision, Axapta, Solomon with unified
interface, utilizing .Net or its successor. eConnect allows developer to manipulate
Microsoft Dynamics GP objects through programmable .Net interfaces. If you will
deploy web service envelopes then you potentially can be independent from
programming language and computer technologies, and so manipulate Microsoft Great
Plains business logic from your front end application of choice, including
eCommerce, EDI, J2EE, Oracle, Business Intelligence (BI), etc.
. Dexterity Customizations Upgrade recommendations. It is probably not reasonable to
spend large budget to switching to new technologies in one step, however you should
consider step-by-step switch. We recommend you to deploy eConnect and web service
interfaces as much as you can, plus try to switch reporting from Dexterity to SQL
Server Reporting Services
. Crystal Reports. As you can conclude - Microsoft will be recommending SRS versus
Crystal Reports, and you probably remember, that Crystal was the reporting tool of
choice for older Microsoft Great Plains versions: 5.5, 6.0, 7.0 and 7.5
. Recent Tools. Xtender, Excel, Explorer and other "end-user-friendly" tools. In
this article we definitely recommend you to do your intuitive discovery, but we
concentrate on programmer approach and instruments.
Please do not hesitate to call or email us: USA/Canada: 1-866-528-0577,
1-630-961-5918, Europe: +44 20 8123 2580, +45 36 96 55 20, Mexico: 52-55-535-04027
help@albaspectrum.com
Andrew Karasev is technical consultant at Alba Spectrum Technologies (
http://www.albaspectrum.com http://www.ronix-systems.de http://www.enterlogix.com.br
) - Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains, Navision, Axapta, MS CRM, Oracle
Financials and IBM Lotus Domino Partner, serving corporate customers in the
following industries: Aerospace & Defense, Medical & Healthcare, Distribution &
Logistics, Hospitality, Banking & Finance, Wholesale & Retail, Chemicals, Oil & Gas,
Placement & Recruiting, Advertising & Publishing, Textile, Pharmaceutical,
Non-Profit, Beverages, Conglomerates, Apparels, Durables, Manufacturing and having
locations in multiple states and internationally.



Web Site = http://www.albaspectrum.com

Contact Details = 1-866-528-0577, 1-630-961-5918, help@albaspectrum.com skype:
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