Integrating Microsoft Great Plains Accounting/ERP: RMS, CRM, eCommerce, Lotus Domino ? overview

Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains has substantial market share among horizontal and vertical clientele in the USA, Canada (including French version for Quebec/Montreal), UK, Australia, New Zealand, Spanish speaking Latin and Central America, South Africa and Middle East. Nowadays ERP can not stay as it is off-the-shelf product ? it requires integration with Legacy or newly implemented systems, such as CRM, Retail Management applications, custom in-house made business systems (transportation/cargo tracking, etc). The tendency is that if company uses Microsoft-driven computer park (Windows domain, SQL Servers, MS Exchange) the rest of the ERP/CRM applications are Windows-oriented. However you can have successful bridge between non-Microsoft ERP and Great Plains: Oracle, IBM Lotus Notes/Domino, DB2 or others), usually it involves Java/CORBA/EJB/JSP type of expertise.

? Microsoft RMS-Great Plains integration. There are few options ? first one is to use standard integration, coming with MS RMS. It has Dexterity interface in Great Plains, does integration to single company at the time. Doesn't integration on SOP/AR level, however. Second option is to use integration, maintained by Alba Spectrum Technologies ? it integrates unlimited number of stores, SOP/AR/POP, posts through Bank Reconciliation module and so allows to track Check Books/Credit Card balances. This integration also has Dexterity interface for Stores-GP Companies mapping and could work as nightly or real time SQL Server routine

? Microsoft CRM-Great Plains integration. This integration is maintained by Microsoft Business Solutions and allows you to synchronize SOP and Customers in Great Plains with Microsoft CRM Quotes and Orders. Microsoft CRM has open Microsoft CRM SDK and so you can customize and integrate Microsoft CRM at will, having C# or VB.Net in-house expertise. The above mentioned integration could be altered and tuned by programming MS BizTalk server (it can use either BizTalk runtime or regular license)

? Microsoft Great Plains as Back office for eCommerce web-site. Here we need to mention interesting thing, The product, created and dedicated to eCommerce developers ? Great Plains eConnect is often considered as a bit expensive and licensing-restricting solution. If your company is ISV and implements eCommerce product, integrating to Great Plains ? you would rather prefer set of open and simple stored procedures, moving data to and retrieving from Microsoft Great Plains Sales Order Processing (SOP) module

? Microsoft Great Plains integration with Oracle. Well ? you can do it either from Oracle or from MS SQL Server side ? in both cases you have linking tools and heterogeneous queries mechanisms

? Microsoft Great Plains integration with Lotus Notes/Domino. ? If you want Great Plains documents lookup from Lotus ? you typically use ODBC connection to MS SQL Server. You need to know Great Plains tables structure (Tools->Resource Description->Tables in Great Plains) Good luck in upgrading 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, 1-630-961-5918! help@albaspectrum.com

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer in Alba Spectrum Technologies ? USA nationwide Great Plains, Microsoft CRM customization company, serving clients in Chicago, California, Texas, Florida, New York, Georgia, Arizona, Minnesota, UK, Australia and having locations in multiple states and internationally ( http://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

In The News:


pen paper and inkwell


cat break through


Microsoft Great Plains implementation: Restaurants Supply Chain Management Example

Microsoft Great Plains serves majority of US based horizontal and... Read More

Microsoft Navision Database Selection: C/SIDE or MS SQL Server - Overview For IT Specialist

There are certain pluses and minuses in both cases and... Read More

The Tools and Features of Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop is one of the world's leading graphics editing... Read More

Groupware: Avoid the Ad Hoc Shuffle

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

Microsoft CRM Integration With Microsoft Office Documents ? Overview For System Integrator

Microsoft CRM is CRM application, maintained and supported by Microsoft... Read More

Microsoft Great Plains international implementation ? USA / Mexico ? overview for consultant

Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains was purchased from Great Plains... Read More

MCP Market News: Microsoft SQL Server & SQL Reporting Services

Are you ready? SQL Server 2005, the next-generation data management... Read More

Five Reasons for Using an O/R Mapping Tool

So, why should you use any O/R mapping tool? I... Read More

Freight Forwarding ERP: Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains customization & setup ? overview

Microsoft Great Plains may be recommended for international freight forwarding... Read More

MicroWorld Releases New Version of MailScan Ver. 4.5 - Antivirus and Content Security Software

MicroWorld Technologies, Inc. the leading solutions provider in the area... Read More

Microsoft Great Plains SOP: Sales Order Processing

Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains is marketed for mid-size companies... Read More

Microsoft Great Plains: Dexterity vs. eConnect ? FAQ

Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains, former Great Plains Software Dynamics/eEnterprise... Read More

How to Upgrade Dexterity Customization ? Tips for IT Manager

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

Pros and Cons of Using FREE Software in Your Business

Itâ??s easy to understand why you might be drawn to... Read More

Five Tips For A Great Software Demo

Whether you need to close a sale, gather end-user feedback,... Read More

Enterprise Resource Planning Overview

ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) Overview covers What is ERP, Brief... Read More

Microsoft Great Plains in Metal Distribution: Implementation & Customization ? Consultant Overview

Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains serves to the wide spectrum... Read More

Business Plan Software Review: Ultimate Business Planner?

One of the main reasons business owners and entrepreneurs use... Read More

Keeping Track

One of the things we can be as certain of... Read More

OSI Layers Model

IntroductionDuring the early years of our modern computer era, very... Read More

Microsoft Great Plains Implementation & Customization: Computer Parts Retailer Example

Microsoft Great Plains fits to majority of horizontals and retail... Read More

Review on QuarkXpress 6.0

After almost two decades of existence, Quark has become the... Read More

How to Get The Best Accounting Software For Your Small Business

Buying accounting software is a major investment. It's an important... Read More

Microsoft Great Plains Customization Recovery & Upgrade for Large Corporation

At the end of XX century, in the late 1990th... Read More

Destination: Desktop for Google

First we had the original Google search that evolved into... Read More

Software Automation Helps Increase your Bottom Line

When you own a small business, time is money. And... Read More

Unofficial Windows 98 SE Service Pack 2.0 RC2

Microsoft has never released a service pack for Windows98 SE,... Read More

Vlans

In order to implement VLANs in a network environment, you'll... Read More

Examining the Substance of Studio MX

To all web designers out there, this article is for... Read More

Make 2005 the Year You Save Time!

Today's business world is fast-paced. No matter what it is... Read More

Daffodil DB: Web Database

What is a Web Database?A web database is a database... Read More

Open Source Concepts: Dual Licensing Explained

We were recently faced with a decision: either to let... Read More

Defining OLAP Solutions and Data Warehouse design

This tutorial covers OLAP solutions used by Data warehouses and... Read More