Mid-market Corporate ERP applications cannot be implemented in an isolated environment – they must often be interconnected with other systems. Microsoft Dynamics GP (formerly known as Great Plains Dynamics) is no exception.
It provides several development and integrations tools for extensibility. Some of them could be recommended for end users, such as Integration Manager. Other technologies like Dexterity programming language is proprietary and requires Great Plains programmer involvement. There are also interfacing tools and software development kits (SDKs) like Microsoft eConnect that are meant to be used by Microsoft .NET programmers experienced in Microsoft Visual Studio .NET, C# or VB.NET.
If you are relatively new to Dynamics GP customization & integration, we recommend that you first review a few whitepapers on GP technology, its architecture, table structure and objects. This is a two-part series intended as an introduction to this topic. If you have specific questions, we recommend that you review programmer guides as well as technology articles available at the Microsoft Dynamics Customer Source web portal.
In the first part we will cover Integration Manager, eConnect & Web Services. Whereas, the second part of this series will deal with Dexterity, UI Customizations and Direct SQL options.
Integration Manager:
The Integration Manager is a separate application used to import data into Microsoft Dynamics GP. It is a graphical application designed to be easy to use. No programming skills are required to perform data integrations with Integration Manager.
You can effectively use Integration Manager if you have an external system (CRM, simple ecommerce shopping cart, Payroll, primitive EDI), which exports transaction logs in the form of comma delimited text files. Integration Manager will let you setup simple integration mapping to import these text files into Dynamics GP as General Ledger entries and Sales Order Processing documents.
Integration Manager can also be used to pull transactions via ODBC from Microsoft SQL Server, MS Access or even a non-Microsoft database, such as Oracle, Pervasive SQL, Ctree, or MySQL. Additionally Integration Manager provides hooks to add custom VBA scripts. Integration Manager is also the tool of choice for initial data conversion into Dynamics GP during new implementations.
eConnect & Web Services:
eConnect is the Microsoft recommended data access platform. Other data integration options, such as Web Services for Microsoft Dynamics GP, use eConnect to provide their core capabilities. eConnect uses XML documents to import or export data. eConnect is also the preferred method for database-level integrations.
Web Services for Microsoft Dynamics GP provides an ideal way to access Dynamics GP data over an intranet. ASP .NET is used as the foundation to implement the Web Services for Microsoft Dynamics GP. Internally they utilize eConnect to provide access to the data managed by the ERP system.
Both eConnect core SDK and Web Services are perfect for Microsoft Visual Studio programmers, who are familiar with .NET, SOAP, XML and SQL Stored Procedures. The eConnect SDK includes code samples in C# and VB.NET and it is part of Dynamics GP Developer Toolkit available from Microsoft Download Center.
If you have specific questions about eConnect or Integration Manager, or need assistance in integrating and customizing Dynamics GP feel free to contact us at Alba Spectrum Corporation (www.albaspectrum.com |1-866-528-0577 | sales@albaspectrum.com).
About Alba Spectrum: Alba Spectrum Corporation (www.albaspectrum.com |1-866-528-0577 | sales@albaspectrum.com) is a Chicago, Illinois based Gold-Certified Microsoft Dynamics Partner. We specialize in developing solutions and extensions for Microsoft Dynamics GP (Great Plains Dynamics) in the areas of System Integration, Financial applications, E-Commerce and Warehouse Management (WMS). We also provide strategic consulting on the use and adaptation of Dynamics GP within variety of industries. We serve Microsoft Dynamics Clients and Partners worldwide including United States, Canada, Latin America, Europe, Middle East, Asia & Australia. Local services are available in Chicago, Naperville, Los Angeles, Irvine, San Diego and Houston.
About the Author: Hussain Zaidi is the CTO at Alba Spectrum Corporation. Hussain is a Microsoft Dynamics Certified Professional with in-depth experience in software development and business applications. Before joining Alba Spectrum, Hussain co-founded Nodus Technologies, a Microsoft Dynamics Partner specializing in Electronic Payment Processing. Hussain also teaches Software Engineering at CSU (CalPoly) Pomona. You can contact Hussain directly at hzaidi@albaspectrum.com or via LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/in/hzaidi.
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