Microsoft Great Plains Installation ? Overview for IT Director/Controller

Microsoft Great Plains is main mid-market application from Microsoft Business Solutions. This is short article, written in question/answer/FAQ style to give IT Director/Controller balanced top level information on Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains implementation. If you have decided on Microsoft Great Plains as main accounting and ERP system you need to know some technical details on Great Plains installation and implementation and what is going on behind the scenes. As of right now the current version is Microsoft Great Plains 8.0

What is installation in the language of technology? Installation has server and client sides.

• Server side - Installation creates security environment (logins) on MS SQL Server or MSDE, creates system database - DYNAMICS and then company databases. All these tasks are performed by Microsoft Great Plains Utilities

• Workstation side - workstation installation copies the client side application, installs current version of MDAC (we need SQL ODBC driver - please check documentation on ODBC DSN setup), registers the application. If you plan to run Great Plains Utilities from the workstation to create server side (see above) - you need to check Install Client and Server Components

What is following implementation? Implementation requires combination of technological and accounting skills

• System Setup - you should refer to GP documentation. In general setup consists of Company information, General GL/AR/AP/Payroll setup, User classes, Customer/Vendor/Employee classes to name a few

• Master Records - you should either use integration tools, such as Integration Manager, SQL queries or have users to type in all your GL Accounts, Customers, Vendors, Employees .

• Beginning Balances - this is recommended approach - you place aside the old accounting application for querying the historical data and enter beginning balances in Great Plains GL, AR, AP, SOP, POP, Payroll. When you have balances in the system you are ready to use it in production

• Historical Data conversion - this is optional, in order to do historical data conversion you need to know basic Great Plains tables structure (Setup->Tools->Resource Description->Tables Structure). This is similar to surgery - so you probably need outside consultant to help you. If the volume of historical data is small - you can deploy Great Plains Integration Manager and then post the records in the modules.

• User Training - we are just listing this item - it is up to you to decide on the way to train your users

• Using Two Systems in Parallel - this is recommended. You should print the reports from both systems during this test period and compare the results

• Customization - typical areas of customizations: Invoice form, Crystal Reports, pulling info from multiple databases, including Great Plains database, Great Plains forms modification with Modifier/VBA, Great Plains Dexterity forms and logic customization, integration with CRM, RMS and other business systems, web publishing from Great Plains tables, EDI with your suppliers, SQL Data Transformation packages

Do I need consultant? We strongly recommend you to use consultant in the following cases

• You have identified the need for Great Plains Dexterity customization

• You are doing migration from Pervasive/Ctree to Microsoft SQL Server/MSDE, especially when you have third-parties without migration tools

• You are doing migration from Great Plains Accounting to Microsoft Great Plains

• You have to create a lot or ReportWriter Modified Great Plains Reports

• You have old version of Great Plains: Dynamics or eEnterprise 6.0 or prior - in this case you can not appeal to Microsoft Technical Support - it is discontinued

• Your Great Plains has more than 20 users in this case the mistake may lead to serious business problems

• You don't have support for your old Great Plains - then you have to select your Microsoft Business Solutions Partner and pay for the annual support/enhancement plan - you will get new registration key and will be ready for the upgrade

Good luck with installation, implementation, upgrade and if you have issues or concerns ? we are here to help! If you want us to do the job - give us a call 1-866-528-0577! help@albaspectrum.com

About The Author

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer in Alba Spectrum Technologies ? USA nationwide Great Plains, Microsoft CRM customization company, based in Chicago, California, Arizona, Minnesota, Texas, Florida, New York, Washington, Georgia, Canada, UK, Australia and having locations in multiple states and internationally (www.albaspectrum.com), he is CMA, Great Plains Certified Master, Dexterity, SQL, C#.Net, Crystal Reports and Microsoft CRM SDK developer. You can contact Andrew: andrewk@albaspectrum.com; akarasev@albaspectrum.com

---

25 Things Mapping Software Can Do For You

1. With mapping software you can create a report that... Read More

Run Your Own Search Engine

Our hosted solution allow you to run your own search... Read More

CRM 101: Customer Relationship Management for Beginners

Customer Relationship Management, abbreviated "CRM," is the term for a... Read More

Microsoft Great Plains Integration Manager ? Working With Text File

Microsoft Business Solutions main middle market ERP application - Microsoft... Read More

Groupware: Avoid the Ad Hoc Shuffle

GroupwareEfforts are continually made to manage the unavoidable ad hoc... Read More

OS 101: Suggestions for Choosing an Operating System

An operating system (abbreviated OS) is essentially the path through... Read More

Helping Newbies Understand Professional Software

The Windows registry is a huge database that ensures normal... Read More

Linux Secrets

The first thing that you will notice about Linux Red... Read More

Put Some Pizazz in Your Software Arsenal

The software giants don't do everything and don't always produce... Read More

A Time-Saving Programming Tactic that Doesn?t Work

Let's say that you have a software project that's under... Read More

An Easy Way to Develop JAVA Enterprise Applications

Research bears that less than 70 percent of development projects... Read More

Best Spyware Removers

Finding the best spyware removers to detect and remove spyware... Read More

Inherent Dangers Of File Sharing Via The Internet.

Cyberspace has opened up a new frontier with exciting possibilities... Read More

Groupware and Online Collaboration: Collaboration Series #4

This article is the fourth of a series of articles... Read More

Where to Find Free Fleet Maintenance Software

Costs of fleet maintenance software can vary widely. It is... Read More

The Top 5 Wrong Reasons For Not Hiring Testers

Considering whether or not your software company should hire a... Read More

Fast Car Knoppix

Small can be beautiful! Working with Knoppix for the past... Read More

HSphere Control Panel Tips and Tricks - Power At Your Fingertips: Part 1

The first topic we are going to discuss... Read More

Groupware and Version History: Collaboration Series #1

This article is the first of a series of articles... Read More

Secure File Transfer Using SSH Plus Additional Audit & Automation - FSA Reporting

In order to meet regulatory and corporate compliance requirements reporting... Read More

Can Group Collaboration Software Meet Business Needs?

According to a survey conducted by InfoTrends/CAP Ventures entitled "Content-Centric... Read More

Screenplay and Script Writing Software

When it comes to screenplay software each screenwriter needs to... Read More

Protect Your Computer...and Your Business!

We all take the computer for granted. I mean, all... Read More

Software Piracy - Global Increase

Pirated software is on the increase and now accounts for... Read More

Marketing Your WinRunner Team

It won't matter how effective your WinRunner Team is if... Read More

Removing Incoming Email in MS Exchange, C# Example

The purpose of one of our projects was MS Exchange... Read More

Microsoft Great Plains Accounting/ERP Implementation ? Finance Industry Customization Example

Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains is very generic accounting application... Read More

DVD Burning Tips

CD and DVD replication is a process that works by... Read More

Software Tools To Help Your Business Sell More

Sales are all about leverage, because there is only so... Read More

Most Dangerous Types of Spyware are on the Rise: How to Choose the Weapon

Bad News - the Threat is Bigger than it SeemedHow... Read More

Passwords Used In Microsoft Word Documents

You would like to protect your documents, wouldn't you? Reasons... Read More

Free PDF Publishing Software

In a previous article, I wrote about OpenOffice... Read More

Microsoft Great Plains Upgrade ? Things to Consider and FAQ

If you have Microsoft Great Plains and support it for... Read More