We’ll give you non
formal view, based on our
consulting practice.
Common Features. SOP and
Invoicing have these features
• Sales Automation
– this is obvious statement.
• Posting to GL and
Bank Reconciliation –
this means that automated
posting across Microsoft Great
Plains is applicable to both
modules as well as to the
whole Microsoft Great Plains
design.
• Integration with
Accounts Receivable (AR) module
- Great Plains has very clear
structure of base modules:
GL (core), AR, AP, IV (inventory
control). When you post document
from SOP or Invoicing –
system creates posted RM Sales
transaction (Invoice) in Accounts
Receivable module
• Integration with
Inventory Control Module –
both modules are integrated
with Inventory Control –
this means that you can select
items from the inventory as
well as non inventoried items
and have them as Invoice lines.
• Modification &
Customization – you
can modify and customize the
screens, using VBA/Modifier
(customization site enabler
is required), Great Plains
Dexterity (core Great Plains
design technology) –
in this case your Great Plains
Dexterity programmer creates
so-called Dexterity chunk
and integrates it with your
GP client application. Also
you can use database side
MS Transact SQL scripting
to alter Great Plains logic
Sales Order Processing Additional
Features. These are what you
don’t have in Invoicing
• Quote/Sales Order/Back
Order/Return – you have
workflow. You can start with
quotation, then you can transfer
quote to sales order (with
Items allocation or without
it in Inventory control).
Then sales order can be transferred
to Invoice or Backorder (in
the case of shortage)
• Process Holds –
you can have holds with password
protection placed on the way
of transferring quote to invoice
or order. Other holds functions
are: printing, fulfilling
and posting. However we would
like to tell you about our
experience. In 10+ years of
our consulting practice we
had only couple of clients
who used this holds feature
• Quote/Order/Invoice
types – you can define
these types and have different
workflows associated with
each of them. Imagine –
Internet Orders you transfer
to internet invoices, government
quotes you either void or
transfer to government orders,
etc.
Do I need consultant? It
is probably good idea to have
consultant to do the upgrade.
We strongly recommend you
to use consultant in the following
cases
• You have Dexterity
customization
• You are doing migration
from Pervasive/Ctree to Microsoft
SQL Server/MSDE, especially
when you have third-parties
without migration tools
• You have 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 and
you have to have upgrade done
over the weekend - if it fails
- you have business problems
• You don't have support
- in this case 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 modules selection
and if you have issues or
concerns – we are here
to help! If you want us to
do the job - give us a call
1-630-961-5918 or 1-866-528-0577!
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, Houston, Atlanta,
Phoenix, New York, Los Angeles,
San Francisco, San Diego,
Miami, Denver, UK, Australia,
Russia, Europe 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: akarasev@albaspectrum.com
