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As Microsoft Great Plains consultant or programmer, you should be familiarized withGP modification, customization, reporting and data conversion migration tools. Expecting the situation, when you are new employee who was brought into GP worldwith something like Microsoft Visual Studio C#, or VB.Net expertise, plus strong MSSQL Stored procedures development skills, read this article to understand youroptions and future steps. If you are coming from Java and Oracle eBusiness Suiteworld, we recommend you to get sufficient training and certification in such toolsas Microsoft SQL Server 2005, Sharepoint, Microsoft Great Plains Business Portalsoftware development, especially Requisition Management, Order Management, and HR &Employee Self Service. GP is based on former Great Plains Software Dexterityplatform, which is in turn written as the IDE shell in C programming language1. Microsoft Dynamics GP Business Portal 10.0. Again, if you are comfortable withSharepoint, SQL Server Stored Procedures (in DYNAMICS database), integration withMicrosoft Exchange, or even feel that you are Microsoft developer or IT specialist,who has experience installing and integrating Microsoft technologies for numerousyears, go ahead and install and play with Business Portal on your own2. Microsoft Dexterity 10.0. Typically these signals you don t hear directly fromsuch companies as Microsoft. In 2001 Microsoft announced Project Green, whereseveral ERP should be unified into one project: Navision, Great Plains, Axapta,Solomon to form Microsoft Suites: Manufacturing, Financials, Distribution, HumanResources, Project Management. On the technical level this would mean GP, AX, SL tobe rewritten in .Net C#, however as time goes, this concept is still not realized. More likely Microsoft faced high cost of MRP applications to be rewritten and infact rearchtectured. This is why we believe we are entering in DexterityRenaissance era3. C# Programming Language. This language was designed somewhere around 2000 as apath for Microsoft to attract large pool of Sun Java developers to switch from Java(remember recession time in 2000-2004)4. COM objects. As XML web services came to the scenes around 2000, Dexterity facedthe dilemma to support this internet technology. COM objects support was introducedin GP version 7.0 in 20035. eConnect. This tool was initially dedicated to eCommerce software developer andweb designers, who had intentions to integrate eCommerce web site with Great Plainsback office. eConnect has certain restrictions, especially in posting area, whichis known fact and is excused by GP Dexterity architecture6. Dexterity Sanscript scripting language. Besides Dex forms, reports, tables anddata types, you as software developer have the option to program GP interface withDex scascript scripting. Sanscript was designed back in earlier 1990th, so youshould be patient, especially if you are coming from Object Oriented Programming
Andrew Karasev, Alba Spectrum Group, http://www.albaspectrum.comhe lp@albaspectrum.com 1-866-528-0577, 1-630-961-5918, serving GP customers in theirmodifications upgrade, integration, reporting USA/Canada nationwide: Los Angeles,Miami, San Francisco, Detroit, Milwaukee, Montreal, Toronto, Calgary, New York,Seattle, Provo, Las Vegas, Atlanta, Orlando, Minneapolis, Austin, San Diego. Localservice is available in Houston/Dallas: Richmond, Katy, Sugar Land, Galveston, inChicago: Naperville, Warrenville, Aurora, Plainfield, Niles, Schaumburg, Addison,Itasca, Joliet, Romeoville, Morris, Ottawa, LaSalle, De Kalb, Montgomery