Dynamics Blogger

In my earlier post SCM Metrics I – back orders , I covered on how we can track back orders in Dynamics GP for efficient SCM. In this post, I’ll cover yet another powerful Analysis functionality, ABC Analysis available in Dynamics GP. ABC Analysis in Dynamics GP is easier to implement with several options available for us to choose from. Common categorization is A – 80%; B – 15%; C – 5%. ABC Analysis is in its simple form, a way to categorize or group the products. Most common method is to categorize items based on Annual Quantity usage. Dynamics GP ABC Analysis functionality not only provides to categorize items based on Annual Quantity Usage, it also gives other other methods to choose from. Usage quantity (the number of units consumed over a period of time) Usage value (usage quantity times unit cost) On-hand inventory value (on-hand quantity in the Items Quantity Maintenance window times unit cost) Unit cost (the current cost or s...

This morning I was looking at my Twitter followers list and marked some followers on my following list who share common interest, Dynamics GP. Among the Followers that I  follow include Mark Polino , Mohammed Daoud , Rose Business Solutions , Avende , erpsoftwareblog , dynamicsworld . Good news is the followers list for DynamicsBlogger is ever expanding. While looking at some of the tweets from my followers list, I have this blog article from dynamicsworld that caught my attention. The Author Stephen Cantor shares his latest experience with Dynamics GP forums. He talks about how he posted a question in one of the several Dynamics GP Forums and how he got perfect answers within 20 minutes of his posting. Isn’t it amazing? This is something that everyone agrees with him. Dynamics GP Forums have always been helpful and continue to be so. Several of the community members dedicate their precious time in answering questions. Dynamics GP has several communities to help people. Most of...

"All Call stacks are in Use. Cannot Start script" I've covered the basic resolution for this issue in my earlier post GP Troubleshooting-I . Recently, In a client place, I got to see this error back again in General Entry. I followed whatever troubleshooting steps required to rectify this that turned out to be futile. Finally, I figured out. It is the same issue as to Regional Settings. We must agree on a common ground that this error surfaces mostly due to SQL collation settings conflicting with Windows regional settings on Clients or ODBC settings for Dynamics GP. In my case, The collation being followed on SQL was ARABIC_CI_AS. It works fine on Server and some other clients. However, For some machines that are brand new, it gives the call stacks error whenever I open the General Entry screen. The resolution I adopted was the following 1. In the Regional Settings, I changed it to United States in the first place from Arabic(Bahrain) as you cans ee in the following ima...

In my earlier post on Fixes in Dynamics GP10 SP4 , I’ve covered couple of fixes that I found during the testing. Now, In this post,I’m covering couple of issues that are already identified by Microsoft Dynamics GP Technical support and being looked into that might be resolved at the earliest. 1.  You cannot export package files (xml) for Smartlists. 2.  You cannot edit a calculated field in a Smartlist.  Existing calculated fields seem to work, but if you edit one or create a new one, you will get the same error that you get when you try to export a package file. Remember that these issues have already been logged into and will be addressed soon by the Development Team, per an update posted in Dynamics GP partner Forum . Update : For a Fix on these issues, Please click here . ( Added on 09/01/2009 ) 

Two issues that I’ve seen in Dynamics GP V10 SP3 appear to have been fixed in Dynamics GP V10 SP4. 1.This is something I’ve posted in my earlier post. “Error : Posting to table POP30310. Restore from a backup if possible” message that appears while posting a shipment for Serial tracked item. Link for this post is here . This appears to be resolved in Dynamics GP10 SP4 as I can see during my testing. 2. Stored Procedure error while trying to post the Cash Book Bank Management entry in Payables Management. This appears in Dynamics GP10 SP3 "Cannot insert the value NULL into column 'TRXDATE' , table GL20000, column does not allow nulls. UPDATE fails and then The stored procedure Update_BM_PM_Date returned the following results DBMS: 515 and Dynamics: 0” This bug also seem to be resolved with Dynamics GP V10 SP4 as I can see it again during my testing. I’ll update any other findings subsequently as and when I find the same.

“ You cannot change the PURCH account at the summary level.Change the Inventory A/c for the line item instead ” Effective Dynamics GP V10 SP2, we get to see this message frequently. We are just used with the old versions that we tend to forget this new control added effective V10 SP2. For those who aren’t aware of this message, this message appears whenever we try to modify the inventory account with PURCH distribution type in either receivings Transaction entry or Purchasing Invoice entry distribution windows. Ok. What is the background of this message? The reason why the end user cannot change the PURCH type distribution account at the summary level is because Inventory is updated with the detail (the account per line Item) and General Ledger is updated with summary (the account at the summary level for the receipt). If the end user could change the account at the summary level, General Ledger would be updated with the account that was changed at the summary level and Inventory...

Hello Guys. Dynamics GP V10 SP4 released just now. You can download the same following this link below Download Dynamics GP 10 SP4 Update:  KB 971808 should be published within a week to list most of the critical bugs included in this Service Pack. (Added 08/25/2009) For more information on this service pack, do have a look at victoria yudin's post Service pack 4 for Dynamics GP10 . (Added 08/25/2009) Other Blogs blogging on Service Pack4 : (Added 08/25/2009) 1. DynamicsGPBlogster Blog :  http://dynamicsgpblogster.blogspot.com/2009/08/microsoft-dynamics-gp-v10-service-pack.html 2. Inside Microsoft Dynamics GP Blog:  http://blogs.msdn.com/gp/archive/2009/08/24/microsoft-dynamics-gp-service-pack-4-now-available.aspx 3. Developing for Dynamics GP Blog:  http://blogs.msdn.com/developingfordynamicsgp/archive/2009/08/25/microsoft-dynamics-gp-10-0-service-pack-4.aspx 4. Vaidy-DynGP Blog:  http://www.vaidy-dyngp.com/2009/08/gp-100-sp4-available-now.ht...

Microsoft is celebrating its Windows Live Messenger 10th Anniversary and this video below is a perfect show of their celebration.

We get to see this message when Dynamics GP is installed and launched for the first time on a machine. “ To us the Smartlist capability in this product, the Smartlist table must be built. This is a one-time initialization process and may take a few minutes. Do you want to proceed with the initialization now? ”   Mostly during upgrades from previous versions, sometimes this initialization would result into errors that result in display of empty data in smartlists while returning different types of errors pertaining to smartlist tables. Not necessarily during upgrades, sometimes for various other reasons as well, we get to see the following errors. “A get/change first operation on table ‘ASI_MSTR_Explorer_Favorites_OrderBy” cannot find table” “A get/change first operation on table ‘ASI_Explorer_Export_Favorites’ cannot find the table”   Whenever I get to see these types of errors either during the upgrades where the initialization doesn’t happen properly...

For most of us who would like to understand the prime differences between PO Commitments and Encumbrance Management functionality, Here comes a great information from Dynamics GP partner Forums as was provided by C J Joven of Microsoft.  Differences 1. Encumbrance tracks history in Great Plains while PO Commitments does not. 2. Encumbrance doesn’t integrate with Requisition Management only PO Commitments. You can still use Encumbrance instead of Commitments, but you can’t track against a budget within Business Portal Requisition Management until you create a PO in Great Plains. 3. Encumbrance requires all budgets to be entered for all open fiscal years but PO Commitment's budgets can be entered for any years you want to. Similarities 1.They are initiated in the Purchase Order Entry window. 2. Budgets are for Purchase Orders only. 3. Can do multiple purchases simultaneously (mass). 4. Inquiries on current view. 5. No MC functionality. ...

This is again an issue I get to see in many client places where the users complain they see the Send to Mail Recipient(PDF) grayed out. If Adobe Acrobat writer is installed and the same is still grayed out on all workstations, the resolution is already outlined in KB Article 852539 . However, If the Adobe Acrobat writer is not installed and a different PDF writer like BCL EasyPDF , the Send To: Mail Recipient (PDF) grays out because this option works only when Adobe Acrobat writer is installed and Dexterity won’t entertain any other PDF writer except Adobe. One thing that is noteworthy is Printing to PDF still works with any PDF writer be it Adobe, BCL EasyPDF and so on. Most users complain why this is the case and even blame Microsoft for this. However, end of the day, it is the fact that remains. In one of the Newsgroups threads, I’ve seen interesting discussion that went on with regard to this and Patrick from Microsoft Developer Support has provided a genuine and hig...

In Excel Report Builder for Dynamics GP V10, we get to see this message when a User other than “sa” tries to publish the Report. "Excel Report Builder: You do not have security privileges to publish this report." This happens despite the necessary permissions are assigned to the respective user to do the same. The answer is that the current functionality limits the publishing reports in Excel Report Builder to sa user only and no other user can actually publish the same. So, Anyone trying their hard luck to get this done through a User other than sa, do not waste your time on setting this up and instead use the sa user for this function.

Most of us are anxiously waiting when we would see the Dynamics GP V10 SP4. We might be seeing anytime during Next week, possible release date is August 24th. Refer to this link for more details UPDATE:  http://janakirammp.blogspot.com/2009/08/dynamics-gp-10-sp4-relased.html (Added on 08/25/2009)

This is something we get to hear frequently in various forums whether Dynamics GP supports a cluster environment. The answer is Yes. This is what the KB926490 suggests. Few tips to install Dynamics GP in Clustered environment based on my earlier experience of doing the same for an implementation. We can run Dynamics GP in a single-instance clustering environment and in multiple instance clustering provided there is one to one relationship in a SQL Server instance We can install Dynamics GP in an Active-passive cluster mode. Assume, we have two servers A and B. On Server A(Active node), Dynamics GP and SQL Server databases reside. Server B acts as passive node. SQL Server databases need to be kept in a common drive for both servers A and B On the Server B, there is no need to install Dynamics GP. While installing Dynamics GP 10 Server on Server A, the installation detects the common drive for both servers and automat...

Sometime back I received a call from one of my clients. Client was having some system setup related issue that required a SQL Maintenance to be done. I quickly guided him over phone to go to MS Dynamics GP | Maintenance | SQL and select the required tables. Prior to this, I asked him if he kept a backup of DYNAMICS database and the answer was Yes. However, the system administrator of the client being new to the Dynamics GP environment (which I came to know only later) selected all tables by mistake and hit Drop Tables. Worst part was that there were users working online at this time. More worst was that after this happened, the new system administrator realized he doesn’t have a proper backup. Needless to say, the damage was real quick. All the users working online have been kicked out. There are several companies linked to the DYNAMICS database that got totally messed up. What would I do in this scenario? I realized there must be some way out. Then, came a flashing idea. Why can’t we ...

Today’s word is Twitter. Be it an individual or a business, would love to follow or get followed on Twitter. I thought why can’t we extend Dynamics GP reach via Twitter in the form of syndicating various Dynamics GP Blogs content in Dynamics GP Community. This Idea now became a reality. Almost every Dynamics GP blog that I’m following is now on Twitter. Content would be updated dynamically on Twitter every half-hour from various Dynamics GP blogs that includes Dynamics Blogger as well. You can now follow all Dynamics GP Blogs recent content by going to Twitter:@dynamicsblogger . Almost all Dynamics GP Blogs on my Google Following List is included in this Dynamic Update on Twitter. Please let me know if any of your blogs are not included in this update, based on which I could review the same. On the other hand, Please let me know if any of the bloggers doesn’t want to see their content on this feed. Each article’s link and short summary would only be visible that leads to use...

Whenever Post through GL in Posting Settings for subsidiary modules, General posting Journal will be printed when an entry is posted in subsidiary modules. What if, we want to skip this General Posting Journal in subsidiary modules while retaining the ability to print the same for direct GL entries. Mariano Gomez provides a smart solution (as always ) for the same using Report Writer in response to a question raised in Dynamics GP partner Forum . 1) Open Report Writer . 2) Select the General Posting Journal report from the list of Original Reports. Click on Insert . 3) Click on Open to go to open the Report Definition window 4) Click on the Restrictions button to open the Report Restrictions window 5) Click the New button to open the Report Restriction Definition window and add a new restriction 6) In the Restriction Name field type Source Document 7) From the Fields section, select Transaction Work from the Report Table DDL, and Source Document...

A Forum member posted a query in Dynamics GP partner Forums today that when she is trying to use Field Comparison in Search Criteria for a smartlist built using Smartlist Builder throws an invalid value in the value field. I was quick to test the scenario on my system. I’m able to exactly recreate her scenario. Here in the below image, the value field is shown as “Are you sure you want to delete this order ID?”. However this was not the value that I gave in the field. My criteria was to search for records where Current Transaction amount is not equal to Original Transaction Amount. Once I save the search as a favorite, then go back to this favorite, it replaced this Original Transaction amount with the above field. Then I extended my testing on other smartlists that were built using Smartlist Builder. Strange that this is happening across all smartlists built using Smartlist Builder. Interesting thing is that the results are absolutely correct and no issues on that front except th...

For those who are following my blog from day one, they’d have already noticed several additions to my blog. I thought to share the recent value-add that I did to the blog in order to achieve my utmost objective of making it more clean and presentable format (apart from the subject-matter of the blog).  Blogger Classic Template changed to the current community Template Added Lijit Search (I’ve a very special note on this one in specific below) Added Microsoft Translator widget that helps readers looking for multi      languages             Cute Share This widget at the end of every post that gives the readers ability to share the post to multiple social networking sites OutBrain Widget at the end of every post that provides recommendations to readers on other posts DisQus Widget at the end of every post that provides more fle...

I must share with each one of my blog readers on how dynamicsgptestdrive.com site saved my day for one demo as a last minute resort. I have a scheduled demonstration for a client where I have to demonstrate Dynamics GP Business Portal Requisition Management and Purchasing Flow in Dynamics GP. We use a system dedicated for demo purposes loaded with all features and products belonging to Dynamics GP. I was thinking everything is all set for demo until I realized in the last minute that the demo system is crashed for reasons unknown. What shall I do? I was thinking my only option left is to request the client to reschedule the same for some other day. However, I was quick in realizing I have an alternate solution before me, Dynamicsgptestdrive.com .  Dynamicsgptestdrive is loaded with the Dynamics GP VPC that has almost all modules installed including Business Portal. It is designed in a most intelligent fashion, I must say. Those who haven’t seen the same before can view it by clicki...

Either call it my ignorance or lack of opportunity to realize it much before. I came to know of one downside we currently have on the display of maximum account segments and the account length. While doing a migration for one client from their legacy system, I have had to configure the same Chart of Accounts in Dynamics GP, they have on the legacy system. I was pretty fast as usual, doing my stuff of adding the account categories, preparing the file for import using Integration Manager, all went fine until I came to the accounts Cards window where this little thing took me to surprise. The actual segments were like this (All are numeric) SEGMENT ACCOUNT LENGTH 1 6 2 3 3 5 4 2 5 6 6 2 I thought I might just need to go and adjust the expansion in Account Format setup. No, I was wrong in my calculation...

Dan Sionov has an interesting post on Controlling Dynamics GP with C#. Follow the link below accountingBot Blog » Controlling Dynamics GP with C#

Vaidy posted an interesting post on an error message “Data Dictionary Memory Allocation Error” . Dynamics GP - Learn & Discuss: DYNAMICS.SET & Common Errors

Mariano came up with his popular Getting Started with VST series - Part2 article . You can reach the article through this link below. The Dynamics GP Blogster: Getting Started with VST: WinForms and Controls - Part 2

When a Shipment is posted in Receivings Transaction entry screen, we get to see an error in the Posting journal that get printed after posting. Error: Posting to table POP30310. Restore from a backup if possible This happens if the line items on the Shipment include items with serial numbers. This issue can be recreated as follows. 1. Create two new items. One that is serialized and the other that is not. 2. Create a PO with both line items (Transactions | Purchasing | Purchase Order Entry) 3. Create a Shipment/Invoice for the PO using both items(Click Actions on Purchase Order Entry window | click receive and invoice the PO) i. Enter any value for the serial number when prompted ii. Post document 4. Look up receipt (Inquiry | Purchasing | Purchase Order Documents) a. Once you find the document on the list, click the drill back for the document to be taken to the Inquiry Zoom window EXPECTED RESULTS You should see the line item fo...

I. FRx reports headers are not coming over when trying to export it to MS-Excel? Make sure you’re using Formatted Excel while trying to export the report Headers are set up correctly Possible that a column layout is damaged. To test it out, create as many columns to rule out any building block being corrupted. If most columns are set to NP , in Excel they would remain hidden in which case, we have to un hide the same in excel. II.  We have lost the FRx password. How can we recover the same?     1. If you’re not using FRx security, then the GP login can be reset    2. If you’re using FRx security, then the Administrator can reset the password for them     3. If the Administrator password is lost, then a support incident need to be opened with Microsoft Support. A password would be provided by the support III. While installing FRx AA Add-in, Setup was unable to find FRx 6.7 for Great...

I. While trying to post a batch, the user receives an error saying the batch is being posted even though no other user is posting the same? Make sure you have a valid backup of dynamics GP data. Run the following script to verify the status in your company database (Login to SQL Server Management Studio). While being posted, the batch status would be set to 5 and now it has to be changed back to 0. UPDATE SY00500 SET BCHSTTUS =0 where BACHNUMB = ‘XXX’ ---Replace XXX with your batch number II. Sometimes a user by mistake prints a SOP transaction and then try to delete it, he doesn’t find an option to delete the same and instead, it has to be voided? For control purposes, it is always advisable to void the document and not delete the same. However, If it specifically has to be deleted, we can use the following script UPDATE SOP10100 SET TIMESPRT = 0 WHERE SOPNUMBE = ‘XXX’ ---Replace XXX with your Sop Number III. While doing a Dynamics GP Upgrade, Utili...

  Steve comes with a great post detailing his recent experience on econnect integration in Dynamics GP V9.0. Read the article, clicking the below link Dynamics GP Land: Sending XML Files to eConnect

If you are looking for a custom RM statement along with so many logos, VSTools has a solution written for RM Statement. Check this out http://vstoolsforum.com/blogs/dynamicsgp/archive/2009/08/05/dynamics-rm-statement.aspx

Windows 7 is compatible with Microsoft Dynamics GP10. We can run Dynamics GP 10 on Windows7 as well as Windows Server 2008 R2 once they are RTM'd, expecting in October. Product teams for Dynamics GP have already completed the testing of the Windows 7 bits, according to Inside Microsoft Dynamics GP Blog . The System requirements for Dynamics GP 10 is also updated with this information in the Additional information page.   Interesting news to know is that there are no plans to make it compatible with Dynamics GP 9.0 or before. So, Watch out, It's time for Upgrade to Dynamics GP10. For more information, Refer to this article from Inside Microsoft Dynamics GP Blog.

David wrote a detail FAQ on Support Debugging Tool. For everyone looking forward to know more about this tool, Here is the link SDT FAQ Also Check out his other posts on Support Debugging Tool

We get to see an Exchange Rate Entry window every time we try to post a transaction entry in Multicurrency, be it a General Entry or a Transaction in Sales or Purchasing series. This happens whenever a valid exchange rate could not be found in the Multicurrency Exchange Rate Maintenance for the selected currency Rate Type. In some cases, the Exchange rate for certain currencies doesn’t change frequently. In these cases, we can choose to avoid this Exchange Rate Entry window by inserting an exchange rate that stays unexpired as shown below. Adding to this we need to set the Exchange Table ID to search for Unlimited Unexpired Rates as well as assigning a Transaction rate Default to either “ previous Date ” or “ Next Date ”. Now, when we enter a transaction in Multicurrency, the system automatically assigns the recently available rate to the transaction by default until and unless we insert another new rate that would then become the new default. Remember that this setup ...

Steve Endow , shares a small quirk issue that he faced recently with the Dynamics GP windows and on how he was able to get them back working in his recent post in Dynamics GP Land Blog Here’s the link to the post http://dynamicsgpland.blogspot.com/2009/08/dynamics-gp-window-is-not-visible-or-is.html

I’m hosting a new Microsoft Dynamics GP Blog Carnival that is scheduled to be published on September 3rd 2009. Interested Authors blogging on MS Dynamics GP can submit their articles that would be published as part of this Blog Carnival. Being the first carnival, the carnival would be of general subject on MS Dynamics GP. Based on the feedback of this carnival, future carnivals would be hosted. Those who are interested to submit their articles can submit the same using this submit Form . Alternatively, Articles submission can also be sent to my E-mail address below .The end date for submission of articles is August 31st 2009. As part of the carnival, the links of each article will only be published pointing to the original blog added with a brief summary on each article. Hope everyone enjoys participating in this event Happy Blogging For those who are quite new to the term ‘Blog Carnival’, Here is a link to know about it.

Two webinars exclusively for Microsoft Partners are coming up during this month. These two webinars are focused on how Partners can present more value to their existing customers leading to an increase in sales. Here are the links for registration of the two events Drive Sales in a New Economy:  Expand Your Customers Ability to Collaborate with the Microsoft Dynamics GP and Microsoft Office SharePoint Partner Sales Training When: August 12th, 12:00PM CST Drive Sales in a New Economy:  Microsoft Dynamics GP Human Resources and Payroll Partner Sales Training When: August 26th, 12:00PM CST