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When you think about the future of your Microsoft Dynamics GP architecture, youprobably expect that business logic will be increasingly exposed or even moved as inthe case of Requisition Management module through web technologies, or application,which you run in internet browser, such as IExplorer. Good example of such solutionamong Microsoft Dynamics family of products is Microsoft CRM. In the case of ERPproducts, MBS moves them into Business Portals. This small article is aboutRequisition Management module, which is built on Microsoft Dynamics GP BusinessPortal platform Sharepoint. Business Portal in turn is based on Microsoft Sharepoint and it couldonly be installed on the Sharepoint extended web server. If you are not verycomfortable with this statement and expect that you will have to learn a bunch ofstuff about Sharepoint, this is not the case  if you donÂ't have Sharepoint BusinessPortal Installation will install Sharepoint in MS SQL Server select eConnect. Technically eConnect is the set of stored procedures, which allow youto create, modify, delete GP objects: Account, Customer, Sales Order, etc. eConnectis a connector, which allows such products as Microsoft Business Portal for GreatPlains do not use traditional technology as Microsoft Dexterity or former name GreatPlains Dexterity and deal with GP data manipulation via eConnect. Business Portalutilizes eConnect seamlessly behind the scenes, all you should take care of isinstall eConnect properly following installation guide for Microsoft Great PlainsBusiness Portal Licensing. Business Portal user license cost is typically a way lower thanMicrosoft Dynamics GP System Manager user license. And this is natural  you do notexpect all your employees who places Purchase Request (probably all your permanentemployees, or at least all your office inhabitants) to be Great Plains users  instead they will be just Business Portal users, creating purchase requests inRequisition Management and using others BP modules: HR and Employee Self Service,for example Approval Hierarchy. Requisition Management is geared toward the needs of largepublic corporation, where each purchase request is subject to tiered approvals withemail notifications. In certain steps of approving, Purchase Request should beconsidered as Requisition, which potentially will be send to vendors for bidscollection. When you decide on the Vendor, Requisition lines will be transformedinto Purchase Order to this vendor  at this step we are already leaving BusinessPortal Requisition Management and arriving to Microsoft Dynamics GP Purchase OrderProcessing module, where we have good-old-days known business logic Installation and Microsoft Technologies. As you can see  BP deploys variousMicrosoft technologies: Sharepoint, eConnect, MS Exchange (notifications), MicrosoftDynamics GP as back office, Terminal Server (in BP you can open GP backofficescreens and do ERP routines if needed). This deployment process may mean thatstrong IT department is required, especially considering some customization,integration, modified reporting, and BP version upgradeAndrew Karasev, Alba Spectrum Group, http://www.albaspectrum.comhe lp@albaspectrum.com 1-866-528-0577, 1-630-961-5918, serving Microsoft Dynamics GPUSA and Canada nationwide: Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary, Windsor, New York,San Francisco, Los Angeles, Miami, Orlando, Pittsburg, Toledo, Indianapolis,Detroit, Philadelphia, Boston, Washington, Seattle, San Diego, Phoenix, Austin. Local service is available in Chicago and Houston metros: Rosenberg, Katy, Richmond,Dallas, Galveston, Sugar Land, Naperville, Wheaton, Plainfield, Aurora, Wheaton,Downers Grove, Lisle, Oakbrook, Morris, Marseilles, Joliet, Montgomery, Oswego,DeKalb. With reasonable travel we serve Springfield, Bloomington, Normal, Peoria,LaSalle, Ottawa, Dixon
