Released on = July 2, 2007, 3:44 pm

Press Release Author = Alba Spectrum Group

Industry = Computers

Press Release Summary = We certainly understand and respect new technology embracing
approach. In order to implement Microsoft Great Plains Business Portal - you should
come through implementation guide and understand the architecture of Business Portal
and how it integrates with back office - Microsoft Dynamics GP

Press Release Body = Alba Spectrum Group, 1-866-528-0577, help@albaspectrum.com.
http://www.albaspectrum.com

We certainly understand and respect new technology embracing approach. In order to
implement Microsoft Great Plains Business Portal - you should come through
implementation guide and understand the architecture of Business Portal and how it
integrates with back office - Microsoft Dynamics GP. You should clearly understand
what is GP and what is Business Portal and where they have "shared territory" -
which SQL databases they both use and share and how BP utilizes GP eConnect, MS
Exchange, Terminal Services; how document is processes in BP and then how it travels
down to GP; how to create report sharing BP and GP data, etc.
. GP typical document workflow. Please, think about such BP module as Requisition
Management. Let's try to track RM document life cycle. In Business Portal:
employee creates Purchase Request and submits it to the manager for approval.
Manager (from Approval hierarchy) reviews PR, makes required changes (selects
vendor, expense account, price, inventory item, site - all or some of these
decisions will be available to the approver in the hierarchy, based on BP RM
security settings) and document goes up through approval hierarchy, finally reaching
purchasing clerk. Purchasing officer creates Purchase Order (or adds the lines to
existing PO for the same vendor) - at this moment the document reaches Great Plains.
In GP it shows up as Purchase Order, which has GP approval (this is typically not
as complicated as in BP RM). When PO is approved in GP - it should be sent to the
selected vendor as official PO. Vendor furnishes requested items typically with
vendor invoice; in some cases vendor invoice is sent separate - these two scenarios
in GP are handled as Purchase Receipt and PR with Vendor Invoice
. BP is GP extension. As you can see from the above example - BP Requisition
Management module could be considered as an extension to Great Plains. Similar
conclusion could be made for HR and Employee Self Service module - this BP module
requires either GP Payroll or GP Human Resources modules (or both) implemented in GP
backoffice.
. BP Hosting Databases. Microsoft Great Plains allows you to add objects: tables,
SQL views, stored procedures, triggers to existing GP databases, such as Dynamics
(GP system database) and company databases. "Allows" means - these custom object
will not be wiped out with GP version upgrade. GP tables names are not "human
friendly": IV00101, GL00100 - these are probably coming from UNIX naming traditions;
BP tables names, in contrast, are easily recognizable: ReqMgmtDocument and
ReqMgmtLines - these names you can probably recognize, don't you? BP places it
tables in Dynamics and companies databases, so in order to create BP-GP report - you
will need to review BP tables and views and research GP tables: Tools->Resource
Descriptions->Tables.
. BP licensing. This is where you get cost efficiency. You don't want to pay
costly GP user licenses for your employees and people who places purchase requests
(typically all your office employees). Instead you purchase BP user licenses (which
is below $50 per user/employee)
. eOrder, eRequisition version upgrade. Sometimes this is confusing issue. BP for
GP 8.0 and 9.0 is completely rewritten in .Net product and such legacy ASP
applications as eOrder, eRequisition, eEmployee, etc. are rewritten as well in BP.
In other words - if you used eXXX series of products - you will need to redeploy or
even reimplement them in Business Portal

Andrew Karasev, Alba Spectrum Group, 1-866-528-0577, help@albaspectrum.com.
http://www.albaspectrum.com. We are serving Microsoft Business Solutions Clients in
Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Denver, Phoenix, Minneapolis, New York, Boston,
Miami, Orlando, Monterrey, Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, Seattle, Dallas, Atlanta,
Kansas. Serving in the states of California, Illinois, Texas, Florida, Virginia,
Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, Colorado, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Mexico,
Arizona, Hawaii, Alaska. International remote support is available for customers in
UK, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, South East Asia and Pacific. Local
service (visit onsite) is available in Chicago suburbs and downtown: Naperville,
Aurora, Plainfield, Downers Grove, Bolingbrook, Romeoville, Joliet, Westmont,
Hinsdale; Houston and Dallas: Rosenberg, Katy, Sugar Land, Galveston, downtown
Dallas and Houston.





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

Contact Details = Alba Spectrum Group, 1-866-528-0577, help@albaspectrum.com.
http://www.albaspectrum.com