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Microsoft Great
Plains, currently new name in Microsoft Dynamics family is Microsoft
Dynamics GP, originally this ERP package was created by Great Plains
Software as Great Plains Dynamics in earlier 1990th as Great
Plains Dexterity application. Microsoft Great Plains tailored business
logic or professional modifications were initially made back in late
1990th in Great Plains Dex, this IDE has it own C-shell based
scripting language sanscript. MRP package at that time had similar
customization capabilities: SAP had ABAP, Axapta Morph X, X++,
Navision C/Side. When Microsoft purchased Great Plains Software and
formed Microsoft Business Solutions, Dexterity core of GP was
deemphasized (however it stays and not going anywhere), instead
Microsoft BS opened GP objects for Microsoft Visual Studio C# and VB.Net
developers via new tool eConnect. eConnect obviously is not a miracle
and it replicates Dex logic in SQL stored procedures meaning that
eConnect is definitely step forward to make Microsoft Great Plains more
open MRP platform, but this step is rather evolutional, not a major
revolution. Lets review typical GP modification scenarios
- eCommerce. GP is now open ERP or
accounting backoffice, thanks to eConnect. Good approach in
eConnect software development is calling XML web services
scenarios. If you have already practiced eConnect e-commerce
development, you should come to the dilemma of eCommerce invoices
automatic posting. eConnect doesnt do posting job and it is
understandable, as eConnect is build upon Great Plains Dexterity
architecture, where posting is left to GP operators
- EDI or Electronic Document
Interchange. Traditionally EDI is considered as fixed length fields
standard, new approach is XML data interchange, including XML web
services. In the case of Microsoft Great Plains both approaches
could be relatively easy realized on MS SQL Server scripting level,
where you deploy such statements and constructions as convert and
cast to program fixed field length
- Sales Order Processing module
modifications. SOP is one of the most popular custom logic
scenarios. If you think about deploying custom logic in GP user
workstation, then more likely modification should be programmed in
Dexterity. If Dex is too complex, especially if you plan to
customize GP in-house, then consider GP Modifier with VBA
- Modifier with VBA (Visual Basic
for Applications). This tools is related to older Microsoft OLE
technologies customization of Microsoft Office Excel, Word,
PowerPoint, etc
And below you see
additional Microsoft Dexterity highlights:
Microsoft
Business Solutions Great Plains is Dexterity-written application and
currently we see increased interest for Great Plains customers to do
in-house Dexterity development and customization. Dexterity itself is
written on C programming language and its initial architecture was based
on the Graphical and Database platform independence, which C programming
language was believed to provide. Initially back in 1994 Great Plains
Software Dynamics and Dynamics C/S+ were realized for Macintosh and
Windows and pretty similar Dexterity DYNAMICS.DIC dictionary worked for
Ctree/Faircomm and Microsoft SQL Server 6.5. In our days Microsoft Great
Plains is available for Windows and MS SQL Server only (since version
8.0). In this small article we would like to give you highlights on the
most typical entry level Dexterity development questions
How do I install Dexterity. If you have Microsoft Great Plains
Standard or Professional license, you Great Plains CD #2 has Dexterity
installation files. However you need license from Microsoft Business
Solutions if you plan to do in-house software development. If you have
Small Business Manager / Small Business Financials your distributive
doesnt have Dexterity you need to call your MBS partner and have them
to do the job.
DYNAMICS.DIC. This is your core dictionary which should be used for
your customization.
New Custom forms vs. Alternate Forms. If you are beginner, please try
to stick to new Great Plains Forms. Do not customize existing forms. If
you open existing form in Dexterity you should be aware that field
scripts are stripped off and if you place your own script over the
original one you will destroy the field logic
Dexterity Triggers. You register them in Startup script look
Dexterity manual. If you have to deal with existing fields logic
alteration you register before or after original script trigger. Please
see the examples.
SQL Stored Procs. Latest version of Microsoft Great Plains is
available for MS SQL Sevrer/MSDE only and you should consider
combination of Dexterity and Stored procs. Try to avoid using old
Dexterity cursors, statements, like: start range. Hint ranges were the
instrument of database platform independence and it seems to be not the
case anymore.
Dexterity Chunk. You should be aware that Dexterity reserves certain
range of the resources for MBS internal developers, you can not modify
and use these resources, all the custom resources you create in your
customization will use the numbers outside of the proprietary range.
Your new resources will be packed into so called chunk. Please refer to
the manual on how to create the chunk.
Customization Upgrade. The most challenging portion of upgrade is
Alternate Great Plains forms. If you place custom fields and logic on
the existing forms then, you should know that Great Plains can change
the form for the new version and you will have to review and redo the
custom logic.
Localization. Dexterity has string resources this is where you can
translate the strings and have Great Plains work with your native
language. However your native language code should be single byte, not
Unicode. If you need Dex to work with Chinese, Japanese or Korean
there is special utility to enable this feature.
Happy customizing! You can always appeal to us to help you with your
system. Give as a call 1-630-961-5918 or 1-866-528-0577,
help@albaspectrum.com
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ALBA Partners:
GP Business Portal
Great Plains Accounting
for DOS & Windows
Microsoft CRM
SAP Business One
ALBA Products:
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Posting Server
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RMS-GP Integration
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SOP Connector
-
More...
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