Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 "Feature of the Day" - Week 18 Digest

As we approach the release date of Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013, the Feature of the Day series will inevitably begin to die out. However, the features are here to stay, so hopefully this series remains a place for you to continue learning about the new features long after the RTM version of Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 hits the market.

Let's see what goodies we had in the basket for last week.

Feature of the Day: Custom Fields in Advanced HR

User Defined Field Setup window

Original article: Feature of the Day: Custom Fields in Advanced HR
Link to presentation: GP2013 FOD Advanced HR Custom Fields.ppsx

Feature of the Day: Use Multiple Budgets with Encumbrance Management

Encumbrance Budget Setup window

Original article: Feature of the Day: Use Multiple Budgets with Encumbrance Management
Link to presentation: GP2013 13929_Enc Budget Combine FOD.ppsx

Feature of the Day: PTO Manager Enhancements

PTO Options window

Original article: Feature of the Day: PTO Manager Enhancements
Link to presentation: GP2013 FOD PTO Manager Enhancements.ppsx

Until next post!

MG.-
Mariano Gomez, MVP
IntellPartners, LLC
http://www.IntellPartners.com/

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Microsoft Dynamics GP Excel Dashboards

Over the past two weeks, I have downloaded, installed, and been playing with my latest demo toy: Excel Dashboards for Microsoft Dynamics GP! In all fairness, this is not a new product, but rather a research being conducted by the Microsoft Dynamics GP Product Management team on the subject of Business Intelligence. However and to drive the topic, they have created a really cool dashboard using Microsoft Excel 2013, which I also happen to be running on my machine.

Excel Dashboard

Installation

The first thing to do is to download the dashboard which you can find here. Of course, most of the settings are tailored for my friend and Microsoft Program Manager, Jared Hall's computer, who kindly put this dashboard together for your delight, so some work is needed to make things work.

Once you have downloaded the spreadsheet, you will need to follow each of the steps provided on the Instructions sheet in the workbook, including running an embedded stored procedure against your company databases. This stored procedure compiles some GL ratios and piggy back on a few already pre-written table valued functions created for the SRS KPI reports.

Dashboard Instructions sheet

The additional steps (3 thru 6) explain how to change the data connections to look at the company database in your environment. Very key is, if you ARE NOT running Microsoft Dynamics CRM, you should follow step 6 to disable the data connections. In particular, I did not have CRM on my laptop, so I removed the data connections and remove the rows where data was supposed to be pulled from CRM to have a clean looking spreadsheet.

I have now showed this dashboard to two prospective clients and needless to say they have all drooled over it, since it works with the financial data in real time. This dashboard plus the Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Web Client, and Microsoft Excel 2013 have all been a total hit!

NOTE: Microsoft Office 2013 is available via MSDN or you can download the preview from the Microsoft Office site.

Of course, a research won't be complete without feedback, so here's where you come in. The Microsoft Dynamics GP Product Management team is asking you to answer 3 simple questions:

1. What changes would you make to the current dashboard? Of course, to answer this one you effectively need to have downloaded and play with it for a bit.

2. What other dashboards and what information would you incorporate according to your role in your organization?

3. Of course, what do you do? What's your role in the organization and what challenges do you face?

Please feel free to direct your answers to the Inside Microsoft Dynamics GP blog as comments to the original article:

Business Intelligence Investigation

Now, to my esteemed colleagues in the Product Management team, it would be cool if these questions could be added to a short survey on your site (or elsewhere) as it would make people want to actually provide some feedback... just saying!

Until next post!

MG.-
Mariano Gomez, MVP
IntellPartners, LLC
http://www.IntellPartners.com/

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What are you doing to prepare for the Web Client?

My latest article is out over at MSDynamicsWorld. In it I take a swipe at 5 things I believe you should be doing today to get up to speed with the Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Web Client. Of course, these are only my observations. If after reading you feel there's something else to add, please feel free to drop a comment.

5 Ways to Prepare for the Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Web Client

Until next post!

MG.-
Mariano Gomez, MVP
IntellPartners, LLC
http://www.IntellPartners.com/

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Another reason to attend Microsoft Dynamics Convergence 2013: Matchbox Twenty

Microsoft is pulling out all the stops in New Orleans for its Convergence 2013 event. On March 21, 2013, Matchbox Twenty will be closing out the event, live from the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.

Matchbox Twenty
From left to right: Paul Doucette (Drums), Kyle Cook (Banjo),
Rob Thomas (Piano/Lead Vocal), and Brian Yale (Bass Guitar)

Matchbox Twenty is an American pop rock band, formed in Orlando, Florida, in 1995. The group currently comprises Rob Thomas (lead vocals, piano), Paul Doucette (drums, rhythm guitar, backing vocals), Kyle Cook (lead guitar, backing vocals), Brian Yale (bass guitar), and touring drummer Stacy Jones (drums).

Matchbox Twenty rose to international fame with their debut album, Yourself or Someone Like You (1996), which was certified diamond in the United States and multi-platinum in Australia, Canada and New Zealand. Their second album, Mad Season, released in 2000, charted in the top three on the Billboard 200 and was certified 4x platinum in the United States. Their third album, More Than You Think You Are, released in 2002, was certified double platinum in the United States.

The band then went on hiatus in 2004, and rhythm guitarist Adam Gaynor left the band in 2005, after performing on the first three studio albums. As a result, Paul Doucette took over rhythm guitar, and the band reunited and released a compilation album, Exile on Mainstream, in 2007, which was certified gold in the United States. After the release, former Push Stars drummer Ryan MacMillan filled Doucette's vacated drum spot. Matchbox Twenty then took another hiatus, but reunited again in 2010. The band released North, their fourth album, on September 4, 2012 which made it its debut at number one on the Billboard 200.

What are you waiting for? Register for Convergence 2013 now and don't miss the fun! Also, make sure you brush up on your Matchbox Twenty lyrics.

And now I leave you with one of my favorite Matchbox Twenty songs:

Until next post!

MG.-
Mariano Gomez, MVP
IntellPartners, LLC
http://www.IntellPartners.com/

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Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 "Feature of the Day" - Week 16 & 17 Digest

Since Week 16 brought little movement in the Features department - Pam was out of town and Jay, well I really don't know - I saw it fit to combine it with week 17 features into one Digest article for your reading pleasure. On we go with the Futures of the Day.


Feature of the Day: Payroll integration to Payables

Payroll Vendor Setup window

 Original article: Feature of the Day: Payroll integration to Payables
Link to presentation: GP2013 FOD PIP Voucher Integration FOD.ppsx

Feature of the Day: Inactivate Item/Site

Site Maintenance window

Item Quantities Maintenance window

Original article: Feature of the Day: Inactivate Item/Site
Link to presentation: GP2013 FOD Inactivate a Site and Item Site.ppsx

Feature of the Day: Create Equipment from Manufacturing

Service Setup window: these options will only display with Manufacturing module installed

Original article: Feature of the Day: Create Equipment from Manufacturing
Link to presentation: GP2013 FOD Create Equipment from Manufacturing.ppsx

Feature of the Day: Honor Discontinued Item Status in Field Service

Discounted Item Quantity Available window

Original article: Feature of the Day: Honor Discontinued Item Status in Field Service
Link to presentation: GP2013 FOD Honor Discontinued Items in Field Service.ppsx

Feature of the Day: Return Quantity Types

RMA Type Maintenance window

Original article: Feature of the Day: Return Quantity Types
Link to presentation: GP2013 FOD Return Quantities to Any Quantity Type.ppsx

Feature of the Day: Document Attach

Sales Transaction Entry window: document attach buttons

Document Attach Management window

Original article: Feature of the Day: Document Attach
Link to presentation: GP2013 FOD Document Attach.ppsx

Feature of the Day: Prevent Purchase Order Closing

Edit Purchase Order Status window

Original article: Feature of the Day: Prevent Purchase Order Closing
Link to presentation: GP2013 13928 Prevent PO Close FOD.ppsx

Until next post!

MG.-
Mariano Gomez, MVP
IntellPartners, LLC
http://www.IntellPartners.com/

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Windows 8 and the Microsoft Dynamics GP Web Client Series - Update

Since the last time I blogged about Web Client and Windows 8, a lot has transpired since - and I mean a lot! You can read the complete series of previous articles here:

Windows 8 and the Microsoft Dynamics GP Web Client Series - Wrap Up

The first major development is, since the Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Beta code was released on PartnerSource, around the time of the Microsoft Dynamics GP Technical Airlift 2012 event in Fargo, the Microsoft Dynamics GP development team has put out two major build updates - internally, they continue to create builds almost on a daily basis to keep up with testing demands.

The two builds I have received so far (12.00.1118 and 12.00.1204) have been pretty darn stable on Windows 8 Professional and Windows Server 2012 Standard editions, with the latter build featuring a blazing fast - and I mean super fast - web client. Much faster than the Beta release and certainly much faster than build 12.00.1118.

The second major development is the web client installation process now adds a few more setup screens (I will follow up in a new article), creates one more database for the Session Central service (GPWEBCLIENTSESSIONCENTRAL), and automatically install the certificates for Silverlight access to the local resources on your computer - the Silverlight certificate installer works well on Windows Server 2008 R2, but had issues with Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012, since the certificate stores are slightly different on these releases of Windows. We (with the help of Aaron Donat) completed the certificate installation manually, which wasn't much of a big deal.

If installing Multi-Tenant Services, the main item to keep in mind is that the user account that is running the Application Pools MUST NOT BE an administrator account - I ran into this issue and this is probably what was causing the following error when attempting to access the Web Management Console.

The only solution to this problem (at the moment) is to uninstall web client and reinstall using a non-admin user for the Application Pool. The installer takes care of setting the proper SQL Server permissions for the account to be used on the application pool.

In summary, if you are going to use the same user account for ALL of the services, then you won’t be able to get into the Web Management Console. Please use a different account for the Application Pools. All other services could use the same account if desired - even on a Single Machine deployment.

Some of the logging options have also changed with build 12.00.1204 (and presumably any new build after that).  In order to get the exceptions to appear in the Dynamics Event Log or back to the Errors.aspx page, the web.config file must be edited to include additional information right after the closing system.servicemodel tag and between the system.diagnostics tags. This will start dumping the exceptions to the Dynamics event log. This should be incorporated as part of the web.config by the time Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 is ready to be shipped.


Web.config

If you also want to have the stack trace dumped out to the Errors.aspx page as well, add the following KEY to the appSettings section and set the value to true.

Stay tuned for my next article which will walk through the new installation procedures for web client and keep an eye over at Developing for Dynamics GP for new articles further detailing some of these changes.

Until next post!

MG.-
Mariano Gomez, MVP
IntellPartners, LLC
http://www.IntellPartners.com/

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