Released on = July 29, 2007, 3:16 pm

Press Release Author = Alba Spectrum Group

Industry = Computers

Press Release Summary = Microsoft Great Plains Dynamics GP version 10.0 is out there
and a lot of existing GP customers are in the process of version upgrade. In the
case when you have Microsoft Dexterity customization or modification, you should
deploy professional Dexterity developer to help you with custom logic update

Press Release Body = Alba Spectrum Group http://www.albaspectrum.com
help@albaspectrum.com 1-866-528-0577 1-630-961-5918

Microsoft Great Plains Dynamics GP version 10.0 is out there and a lot of existing
GP customers are in the process of version upgrade. In the case when you have
Microsoft Dexterity customization or modification, you should deploy professional
Dexterity developer to help you with custom logic update. Let's come through Great
Plains Dexterity technology and upgrade process step by step
1. Dexterity is C shell. It was designed in earlier 1990th to provide DB and
computer platform transferability for new ERP application - Great Plains Software
Dynamics. Dexterity determines such attributes of GP as DYNAMICS.DIC, Dynamics.Set,
Dex.ini, Dex.exe, Reports.dic, Dex_row_id. Dexterity supports its own DB indexing
and table structure schemas as well as it own forms and reports, plus it has its own
scripting language - sanscript. If you have custom dex business logic, programmed
for you in the past by GPS software development partner, you should have
Dynamics.dic with your custom logic and scripts, in some cases former partner
provides you with extract.dic
2. What is new in Dexterity. Dexterity has some features of .Net, however they are
not really critical, if you have legacy Dexterity customization to be upgraded. In
this case you need your old sanscript codes to be reviewed and if former programmers
deployed Dex cursors, possibly you will need this old logic to be moved to SQL
stored procedures
3. COM objects support. This functionality was introduced in Microsoft Dexterity
version 7.0. If you think about software development architecture - COM object
support allows your dex code to penetrate into Windows platform and be in control of
your workstation and its custom applications: XML web services, MS Exchange com
object custom logic, integrations, etc. In 1990th GPS Dexterity evangelists
probably could not consider such proprietary technology as Microsoft Com objects to
be supported as they had the goal to keep dex computer platform independent: Mac,
Windows, Sun/Solaris, Unix, etc. But, when Microsoft purchased Great Plains
Software, Dexterity was revised
4. Dex customization update. GP Dex upgrade is pretty much the same process as 5
years ago. You should handle Dynamics.dic with your custom sanscript codes to your
Microsoft Dynamics GP customization partner and give them some hints on your custom
logic and all the technical documentation, if you have it
5. VBA/Modifier. Alternatively, you may have modified GP business logic programmed
in VBA scripts, attached to so-called Modified GP forms. If this is the case, you
should furnish Dynamics.VBA file to your MBS development partner with relevant
desctiptions
6. Dexterity Reporting. In the late 1990th Dexterity was used to create custom
reporting for Great Plains Dynamics/eEnterprise. In that time Crystal Reports were
coming on the scenes to become reporting tool, plus Dex has better integration with
GP security model and works in multiple databases: Pervasive SQL/Btrieve,
Ctree/Faircom, MS SQL Server 2005/2000.7.0/6.5. In customization upgrade you can
keep dex reports, but we recommend you to switch to either Crystal Reports or
Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services - SRS

Andrew Karasev, Alba Spectrum Group http://www.albaspectrum.com
help@albaspectrum.com 1-866-528-0577 1-630-961-5918 - Microsoft Business Solutions
Great Plains 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.
We are serving USA Nationwide: CA, IL, NY, FL, AZ, CO, TX, WI, WA, MI, MA, MO, LA,
NM, MN, Europe: Germany, France, Belgium, Poland, Russia, Australia, New Zealand,
Oceania



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

Contact Details = Alba Spectrum Group http://www.albaspectrum.com
help@albaspectrum.com 1-866-528-0577 1-630-961-5918