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When you have to deal with
mid-market ERP application, such questions as modification, integration,
data massage, fixing and conversion, cross-platform reporting are not
trivial and require homework, prior to appealing to external consultants
help. Here we would like to give top level introduction, which should
give you directions on where and how to go deeper into the GP software
development layers:
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GP Programming tools. Microsoft Dexterity is very traditional and
matured EDI with Sanscript programming language: Dynamics.dic,
Dex.ini, Dynamics.set – these files are defined by Great Plains
Dexterity architecture. eConnect – this tool replicates Dex logic
in encrypted SQL stored procedures, and as such it is a bit faster
than Dexterity itself; eConnect was created for eCommerce developers
to enable GP accounting backoffice integration with e-commerce front
end. Modifier with VBA – Visual Basic for Applications scripting
language was introduced for Microsoft Windows applications, such as
Excel; in GP you can modify existing Dynamics screens – place new
fields and buttons and animate their logic with VBA scripts.
Extender – please note that this tool deploys Dex behind the scenes
and being easy to learn for GP end-users, it has some drawbacks as
you could expect – as Dex objects are generated in wizard manner –
their naming convention and structure might be not friendly for SQL
select statement and custom reporting; saying that we encourage you
to avoid large scale customizations with Extender and use Extender
where you need minor GP business logic tailoring
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Popular Customization Areas. The most popular custom programming
exercise for GP is Sales Order Processing module tailoring.
Scenarios for SOP integrations are EDI (Electronic Document
Interchange), eCommerce (where you push eCommerce invoices to GP SOP
module, often with applied credit card deposits). Second popular
module is Purchase Order Processing, where we often see third party
requisition systems integrations with GP POP module
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GP Modified Integration Scenarios. Great Plains Integration Manager
is preferred tool for GP integration routines, especially
considering the fact that latest GP IM versions (10.0 and 9.0) work
with eConnect IM connectors – eConnect boosts IM performance,
especially comparing with traditional OLE-based IM connectors. Plus
IM is flexible enough for integration logic alteration – you should
research VBA pre and post scripts and data translations
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SQL Scripting. This option may seem encouraging for SQL developer,
however GP MRP system is complex in its data flow and posting
diagram, so we strictly recommend you to use SQL scripting in select
statement only and do not update records, especially if you are
beginner and not familiar and comfortable with GP data fixing
techniques
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Future Directions. eConnect will be taking more ground and it is
advisable to invest in eConnect programming training and self
study. At this time Dexterity is ultimate development tool, however
eConnect advancing should allow Great Plains Programmer to work in
Microsoft Visual Studio exclusively without rescuing to Dex coding
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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
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More...
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