Microsoft Dynamics GP Technical Airlift 2013 - More on Day 1

How does one manage to talk about a Conference when not in attendance? Well, you get reporters on the ground to tell you what's going on.

Sivakumar Venkataraman with Microsoft reminds everyone of the different tracks and sessions features in each:

My good friend Thomas Franz over at Integrity Data had a few things to relay, starting from a shout out to Microsoft and GPCC for the great content. His appreciation however goes to the one-off conversations with the Microsoft team and members of the GP community. While Thomas was entertained, elsewhere his coworker, Bobby, managed to pin down my good friend Brian Roney for a possible solution to a big customer request. Kudos to Brian and Michael Hammond who were kind enough to pickup the session I was going to deliver, Developing for the Web Client: a Microsoft Dexterity perspective. Thomas also attended the opening session with Chad an Errol and enjoyed all the roadmap talks. You can read more about the roadmap in my Day 1 coverage. Thomas also attended the Web Client Customization with VST session and noted the flexibility it provided for some of the work they are doing over at Integrity Data. I covered a great deal of this in my article VST: Rendering WinForms in Microsoft Dynamics GP web client

Thomas also attended the Deploying Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 on Windows on Azure session presented by my good friend Daryl Anderson. He was looking at this for a possible SharePoint hosting solution for their U-LINC customers. 

After the day of sessions, they headed outside for the welcome reception were discussions revolved around current project issues.  Somehow, the Integrity folks managed to muster some energy to host a coding party in Bobby’s room at the hotel. Bobby and Nick started proving out Brian Roney’s suggestion and I provisioned a new SharePoint server on Azure.  Where else do you get to do this stuff?

I am sure there was a lot of serious conversations going on at the Welcome Reception, but I find that some people just prefer to enjoy life for what it is... you go ladies!

Windi Epperson (The Knaster Group)	Linda Brock (The Knaster Group)

More on Day 1:

GP Airlift 2013 - Day 1 (Kuntz Consulting Blog)

Thanks to my reporters Thomas Franz with Integrity Data and Tanya Henderson with S2 Technology.

Day 2 updates to follow.

Until next post!

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

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Microsoft Dynamics GP Technical Airlift 2013 - Day 1

The Microsoft Dynamics GP Technical Airlift 2013, hosted by GP Partner Connections is now in full session.

Unfortunately, last minute circumstances prevented my participation as a presenter this year, but in retrospect, it was probably a good thing as I really don't want to become like those actors that show up in just about every movie.

The sessions list for this year is off the chain and if you are a propeller head like me, you can certainly attend some really cool sessions:

• Developing for the Web Client: a Microsoft Dexterity Perspective (Sept 18, 1:15 PM CST)
• Dynamics GP Multitenant for Developers (Sept 18, 2:30 PM CST)
• Dynamics GP Development Team Unplug (Sept 18, 3:45 PM CST)
• Dexterity and Services: Can they be friends? (Sept 19, 11:15 AM CST)
• Web Client Customization with VST Deep Dive (Sept 19, 4:00 PM CST)

In addition to these development sessions, there are tons of other development related sessions around Window 8 and Windows Phone, and BI for GP.

You will not want to miss the closing session on Friday either. That promises to be a complete surprise, according to my friend Jay Manley. Find detailed information on sessions here.

Being away, however, doesn't give me the right to not know what's going on and I can tell you that the first major update coming out of Fargo is a roadmap refresh.

Roadmap Update

The next big thing in the horizon, of course, is all the buzz surrounding GP Next, Microsoft's next generation of the award winning Microsoft Dynamics GP -- okay, I sounded a bit like a salesman there, but hey, ain't we all? To deliver the "next generation" of products you have to imagine there will be a "next generation" of tools. What will happen with Dexterity? What will happen with Visual Studio Tools and, of course, Silverlight development? As GP expands more into a service model, and away (in some sense) from its Client/Server roots how will the development tools be enhanced?

Microsoft delivered ahead of expectations on the SP2 updates for GP 2013 in the second half of this year, which included close to 20 new enhancements, drifting away from the traditional Feature Pack concept. Pam Misialek explains this as a way to deliver functionality out the door much, much quicker to customers. You can read more here.

The next major wave will be coming in the first half of 2014 and will see significant enhancements to Workflow, a move to add Requisitions into Microsoft Dynamics GP, a Windows 8 Procurement app, and some Identity Management concepts.

I also have my spy reporter at the conference and this is the first picture coming out from Fargo with MVP Leslie Vail presenting the Support Debugging Tool session (with MVP Belinda Allen).

Leslie in the Support Debugging Tool session

The credit for the above goes to Tanya Henderson at S2 Technology.

I challenge you to be my reporter by taking pictures and relaying your experience. Email  your pictures and updates and I will make sure you get credit for your work in my article. All pictures will be uploaded to The Dynamics GP Blogster on Facebook for everyone to see. If you attend an interesting session and/or hear of the latest buzz around the corridors, please feel free to email me too.

I wish everyone in attendance a great conference and hope you enjoy every bit of it.

Until next post!

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

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Microsoft Dynamics GP Technical Airlift 2013

The Microsoft Dynamics GP Technical Airlift 2013 hosted by GP Partner Connections is a little less than 3 months away, so if you are a Microsoft Dynamics GP partner please register now.

As is customary, I will be attending the Technical Airlift as a presenter this year and will really be rocking a cool new session:


Developing for the Web Client: a Microsoft Dexterity perspective
September 18 • 1:15pm - 2:15pm

In this session, I will be presenting some new (and not so new) techniques used by Microsoft Dexterity developers to render integrating applications on the Web Client. Come learn about user interface standards, ribbons, command forms, selective programming (Web Client vs Rich Client), techniques for converting your VBA customization to Web Client compatible customizations, and performance killers.

Lot's to cover in one hour, but trust me, you will walk out of this session with some good tips for your bag of tricks.

See you in beautiful Fargo, North Dakota.

Until next post!

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

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The Dynamics GP Blogster's best articles of 2012

It's that time of the year again! Time to say goodbye to the outgoing year, 2012, and receive the new one, 2013, making all sort of resolutions that we never seem to be able to achieve and with good measure, since most of us are simply consumed with the daily grind that lifting our heads up to take a breather and see the forest from the trees seems difficult and sometimes downright impossible.

2012 however was a very good year and gave me tons of stuff to write about. In retrospect, 3 conferences, 2 virtual conferences, the release of Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 and the Web Client are simply a subset of the activities that allowed me to write some really cool stuff that you expressed through your comments to enjoy. Without further due, here is a list of the "best articles of 2012" written on this site (in no particular order):

1. Microsoft Dynamics Convergence 2012 Houston. Convergence Houston in March of 2012 was a very cool experience and probably one that I will never forget as I was able to meet up with my good friend David Musgrave and his wife, Jennifer. I also had the opportunity to share some time with some of my customers in attendance. As always, the good part is meeting tons of people and the thrill of presenting.

2. Microsoft Dynamics GP Technical Airlift 2012. In the realm of cool, the Technical Airlift in Fargo, North Dakota was a very awesome conference, but also marked the first time I presented without my compadre, David Musgrave. The Tech Airlift also demanded tons of prep work and was built upon cooperation between Microsoft and GPUG's GPPC and featured a record number of partners in attendance. I also liked the fact that I met up with some of my fellow MVPs.

3. GPUG Summit 2012 Seattle. Seattle has this aroma of coffee mixed with sea all over the city and I have to say the GPUG summit was a very charming conference, with lots of topics for the attending crowd. Seattle, Seattle...

4. Windows 8 and the Microsoft Dynamics GP Web Client Series. Okay, so I confess. I was a nuisance to the Escalation Engineering team testing the Web Client. You see, the Web Client was not supposed to even be working on Windows 8 as a compatible installation platform, but after months of annoying I had my way with this. The best part though was working with the team of Aaron Donat and Jason Lech and understanding the nuances of the deployment process of GP Web Client. Thanks guys for putting up with me and for making this happen.

5. Adding Customer Item User Defined fields to SOP Invoice. I love the Support Debugging Tool and how it can make live easier for things that seem unconceivable. How about this cool article on getting customer item user defined fields onto the SOP invoice? Well, I have to say I had tons of fun getting this to work.

6. How to add a "Cover Letter" page to a Microsoft Dynamics GP Word Template document. Life is not complete without a Word Template article. I hope to keep these coming in 2013 since Word Templates are essential to Web Client.

7. Resizing SmartList panes with the Support Debugging Tool. Now, did I say I love the Support Debugging Tool? David Musgrave leverages some obscure Dex functions to make SmartList a dream tool to use.

8. Leveraging Custom Links to track carrier shipments in Sales Order Processing. You know, I am always amazed at how underutilized GP seems to be sometimes, but my duty as a blogger and consultant is to expose these underutilized features to the community.

9. Microsoft Dynamics GP Add-In for Microsoft Word not enabling despite several attempts to install. I had a number of clients come to me with this issue. Upon doing more research, I realized it was a community wide problem and I had to do something about it.

10. Adding more comment lines to POP Purchase Orders. Building on a previous article written by David Musgrave for SOP, I thought I would show how to accomplish the same in POP - it was all worth it as the community gave praises for the solution.

101 articles throughout the year are simple quite a bit of stuff written. I just hope I can keep the good stuff coming. Happy New Year!

Until next post!

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

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Microsoft Dynamics GP Technical Airlift 2012: Wrap Up

Well, I have to say that the Microsoft Dynamics GP Technical Airlift 2012 was a personal success in many ways:

• First and foremost, I was able to reconnect with a number of friends in the channel, for whom I have tremendous personal and professional respect. As usual, I thank all of you for your kind words of encouragement and continuous support for the work I have been doing over the years in the Microsoft Dynamics GP community.

• While strange, this was the first time in almost 4 years on the conference circuit I was presenting without my good friend and mentor, David Musgrave. To him and to all the Microsoft, GPUG, and GPPC staff, a big THANK YOU! for believing and trusting me with such enormous responsibility. I hope I made you all proud.

• I had a unique opportunity to view, firsthand, all the exciting technologies and enhancements to the Microsoft Dynamics GP product. In GP 2013 and the Web Client we certainly have a winner - the immediate future, certainly seems very promising: long live Microsoft Dynamics GP and long live Microsoft Dexterity!

Now to the stuff that you've been waiting for...

Over the past week, I have created a number of post following the Microsoft Dynamics GP Technical Airlift 2012 event. Here is a compilation of those posts:

• Microsoft Dynamics GP Technical Airlift 2012: Getting here
• Microsoft Dynamics GP Technical Airlift 2012: Partner Training
• Microsoft Dynamics GP Technical Airlift 2012: Day 1
• Microsoft Dynamics GP Technical Airlift 2012: Day 2
• Microsoft Dynamics GP Technical Airlift 2012: Day 3
• Microsoft Dynamics GP Technical Airlift 2012: Getting Home

You can also recap some of the minute-by-minute events by checking my Twitter updates on the conference at:

• @dgpblogster on #GPPC #Airlift12

Visit The Dynamics GP Blogster on Facebook to check out some cool pictures from the conference. I will attempt to tag all pictures, but not an immediate promise ;)

Other posts from around the web on the Microsoft Dynamics GP Technical Airlift 2012.

Jennifer Kuntz (Kuntz Consulting Blog)

• Dynamics GP Technical Airlift 2012 - Pre-Conference
• Dynamics GP Technical Airlift 2012 - Web Client part 1
• Dynamics GP Technical Airlift 2012 - Web Client part 2

MVP Leslie Vail (Dynamics Confessor Blog)

• Installing the GP 2013 Web Client–roll up your sleeves!
• Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Beta release available for download
• The Resurgence of Dexterity - - Dexterity Lives!!

Finally, please find all presentation materials for the sessions I presented at the Microsoft Dynamics GP Technical Airlift 2012, on the Learning Resources page of this blog (soon to be uploaded). I will make sure that all the code I introduced is GP 2013 and Visual Studio 2012 compatible (I presented with Visual Studio 2010 at the Airlift).


Until next post!

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

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Microsoft Dynamics GP Technical Airlift 2012: Getting Home

Following the closing session, I went around giving my goodbyes to all the folks I have come to call friends over the years. One of those folks is my good friend Robert Wagner, who along with his team are responsible for the Word Templates feature in Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 and GP 2013 Web Client.

Rob was kind enough to offer me a ride to the airport as he was on his way out to a fishing weekend. We stopped at the Ramada Plaza to pick up my luggage and on the way to the airport I was able to pick up some nitty gritty details that went into making some of the Web Client features possible. Particularly, the work that was done around performance optimization called my attention. We also catch up on some of our personal life experiences and family, of course.

Upon arrival at the Hector International Airport, I quickly checked in at the Delta Airlines counter and went through the TSA security checkpoint. With all Technical Airlift travelers heading out of town, the security lines were a bit busy, as expected. Patience was clearly a must while clearing security with a number of people carrying everything from new Microsoft keyboards to laptops and other paraphernalia acquired at the campus store.

"Composure Area" sign after TSA security checkpoint at Hector International Airport in Fargo

Thank goodness for the "Composure Area" after the TSA checkpoint. After all, I clearly had lost a bit of my own composure and needed to chill for a bit - joke intented here!

I had arrived 2 hours prior to my departure to decompress from the long week and it sure paid off as I had a chance to catch up with recently minted MVP Belinda Allen. An interesting fact about Belinda is that she is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) organization as a direct result of her lineal descent from 3 patriots of the American Revolution. Belinda has done extensive research on her family and has quite the stories to tell.

It was time to board.

Hector International Airport - Gate 2 departure tarmac

On the runway, I had a chance to take a picture of the Fargo Jet Center, home of a large number of private airplanes. As stories have it, Fargo is rapidly becoming home to the new crop of millionaires in this country as a result of the Midwest oil boom. So it's not uncommon to see these jets flying in and out all day.

Fargo Executive Jet Center

Mid air, I took this beautiful shot of the Fargo-Moorhead overpass (above the Red River) on I-94, close to State Road 75. Fargo and Moorhead are considered "twin cities" of sorts given their proximity and intertwined history.

Fargo (right of Red River) - Moorhead (left of Red River) bridge

The flight continued very smoothly, with little haze below. As we stabilize in altitude, I was reminded of the beauty of Minnesota, nicknamed "The land of the 10,000 lakes". The lakes were all in full display as we moved along the route - the scenery a stark contrast from that of the frigid, snowy, winters.

Minnesota: Land of the 10,000 Lakes

Our flight plan took us over the great Mississippi National River and Recreation Area park, located in the middle of a bustling urban setting, this 72 mile river park offers quiet stretches for fishing, boating and canoeing.  Other spots are excellent for birdwatching, bicycling and hiking.  And there are plenty of visitor centers that highlight the history and science of the Mississippi River. The park is part of the National Park Service system.

Mississippi National River and Recreation Area

After a short 45-minute ride, we landed at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP). I have always had appreciation for this airport as it is quite the melting pot once inside. It is also fairly well designed, which makes for a pleasant experience while walking from one gate to another.

Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport

I had one last chance to say goodbye to MVP Belinda Allen, who was en route to New York City, where she resides.



Microsoft Dynamics GP MVPs Mariano Gomez and Belinda Allen

One more flight took me to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, with the added luck of being upgraded to Business Class, which allowed for further R&R before dealing with the Atlanta traffic on the way home.

Well, this concludes my Microsoft Dynamics GP Technical Airlift 2012 experience. As usual, please wait for my wrap up post with links to presentation material, code, and other community posts on the event.

Until next post!

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

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Microsoft Dynamics GP Technical Airlift 2012: Day 3

Day 3 was really a short day, but still one packed with lots of excitement.

I arrived on campus fairly early, having not attended any sessions so far, so I decided I would go to the Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 and Microsoft Azure session being led by Daryl Anderson.

Daryl Anderson

Daryl dove into setting up a Windows Azure account and how to potentially provision servers to support a Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Web Client deployment in the cloud. I found this session to be extremely informative, since it provided in depth looks at configuring web servers, session central and service servers, and the management console components, all key elements of the Web Client.

Following Daryl's session, it was show time!

While I was setting up my machine for my session, in the same room, Kim Peterson and Jay Manly were kind enough to assist me with some setup issues I was having.

Kim Peterson and Jay Manley

Be this the time to express my congratulations to Kim and Jay for putting together all the logistics that went into making this conference one of the best Technical Airlifts I have attended in recent years. They both went above and beyond, with what I know were extremely long hours in the day (and wee hours of the night) to make this all happen.

My session, D110 Troubleshooting your Developed Solution, went on with good attendance (close to 200 people), walking through different methods and options for troubleshooting customizations developed in Microsoft Dexterity, Modifier with Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), and Visual Studio Tools for Microsoft Dynamics GP. In addition, we covered tools such as Support Debugging Tool, Microsoft SQL Server Profiler, and Process Monitor by the Microsoft Windows Sysinternals team.

---

Following my session, it was time for the Town Hall Metting and closing session.

Andy Hafer got on stage and congratulated patners and ISVs for a fabulous Technical Airlift, asking for a round of applause for the attendees. He then made sure Kim and Jay (shown above) got a well deserved round of applause for their efforts in putting the conference together.

Andy Hafer (DynamicCommunities.com)

A heart felt moment came when Andy introduced the Microsoft Dynamics GP development team members, who walked in the Dakota room one by one to the claps of partners and ISVs. It was awesome to see how many individuals contributed to the success of Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 and the Web Client.

Microsoft Dynamics GP Development Team

Microsoft Dynamics GP Development Team

Following a moment of recognition, it was now time for the Town Hall Meeting panel to take the stand. It was also time for Andy to pass the baton to Bob McAdam (twitter: @4mcadam) to moderate the meeting. Bob quickly proceeded to outline some rules of engagements for all who chose to ask questions.

The panel was mainly composed of Microsoft Program and Product managers.

Kevin Racer, Brian Rooney, Theresa Nistler, Daryl Anderson, Gary Tronson, Pam Misialek and Bob McAdam

Note: the panelist with the least tenure at Microsoft has been there for 10 years - way to go Gary! The one with the most tenure, has been at Microsoft for 25 years - way to go Theresa!

Self-note: surprisingly, Mark Rockwell (Rockton Software) waited to be the second person to ask a question :-) Mark was very praiseful of the work performed by the entire Microsoft Dynamics GP development team and congratulated widely for him not having to draw one single line of code for his products to work with the Web Client. Also noteworthy: there was no Bill Marshall (MC2 Software) asking questions :-(

Closing remarks were conducted by Don Morton, who is a member of the Microsoft Business Solutions (MBS) leadership team and the Site Leader for the Microsoft Fargo campus.

Prior to joining Microsoft, Don was the assistant to the president and director of University Relations at North Dakota State University. He has a coaching background, serving as the head football coach at the University of Wisconsin, at the University of Tulsa and at North Dakota State University where he won four conference championships and one national championship.

It only seemed fitting that Don would explain how partners and ISVs must evolve to tackle the new challenges lying ahead and how as part of that evolution, partners should invest in their own education. His speech had many references to his personal experience as a coach which made for some interesting stories.

Don finalized his speech with a number of reminders on upcoming events (see slide in picture above).

It was time to say goodbye as sadly, the conference had come to an end.

Until next post!

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

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Microsoft Dynamics GP Technical Airlift 2012: Day 2

Welcome to Day 2 of the Microsoft Dynamics GP Technical Airlift!

Personally, today marks a transition day for me... getting some additional rest from the previous day, focusing on my presentation for tomorrow, and catching up with old friends.

I had a chance to catch up with fellow MVP Leslie Vail (twitter: @Leslie_Vail), who as usual, was quite distinguishable from the rest of attendees, by wearing her pink GPUG cape and her 5 MVP pins, each representing  - I much prefer to call them stripes, ehem!



MVP Leslie Vail showing off her 5 MVP pins

Breakfast was a quick swipe and it was now time for the Keynote speach by Mark Hindsbo (twitter: @mhindsbo), Vice President of Developer and Platform Evangelism for Microsoft in the United States. Mark's presentation was key to demistify the concept that Windows 8 is a handheld or tablet device only solution and showed the capabilities of Windows 8 to address various form factors.

Mark showed some really cool Windows 8 features, incredibly enough, by adding a personal touch throughout the demo.

It was time to go meet up with old friends. First up was the duo of Pam Misialek (twitter: @PamMisialek), Product Manager Microsoft and Gary Tronson, Principal Development Manager, both with Microsoft. I always enjoy catching up with Pam and Gary since they always have a huge smile on their faces.

Pam Misialek and Gary Tronson

Earlier, during the Keynote introduction, Jay Manley, Microsoft Dynamics GP Senior Product Manager, was sporting a cool polo shirt from the early days of the Technical Conference. The way-back machine kicked in and I knew I had to get a couple shots of what really matter - sorry Jay, that wasn't you. Back then, the conference was known as the Great Plains Software World Wide Developer Conference.

Down the memory lanes: Jay Manley sports the 1,997 Great Plains Software World Wide Developer Conference polo 

Trivia: what did the acronym CIS stand for? Add your comment below.

The Taylor Group was the original ISV developer of Integration Manager. They later became ManagedOps.com, the first Great Plains Dynamics GP ASP

Not only did the polo have the theme logo for the conference, but it also featured the logos of the sponsors: Digital, The Taylor Group. The Taylor Group was the original developer of Integration Manager and became the first ASP hosting company after it became ManagedOps.com

The polo also featured the traditional Great Plains Software logo. For a walk through memory lane, take a look at David Musgrave's article, GP logos through the years.

At lunch time, I met up with my friends Paramesh and Nilesh who seemed to be deep in thoughts on a few subjects prior to me interrupting for a picture. However, they were kind enough to allow me a quick snap. Nilesh works with Microsoft in UK and is in charge of the team responsible for developing most of the LATAM localizations.

Paramesh Rajan (System Advisers Software Serv) and Nilesh Thakkar (Senior Program Manager Microsoft UK)

I spent most of the afternoon walking through my presentation and working through the examples for tomorrow. My session, D110 Troubleshooting your developed solution, runs from 9:45 AM to 10:45, just before the closing session.

Across from me was Jen Kuntz (twitter: @kuntzconsulting), who I had traveled with on the flight from Minneapolis to Fargo on Monday. Jen is a tremendous resource to the community in both Canda and the United States. Please be sure to visit her blog.

Jen Kuntz (Kuntz Consulting)

Next up was the legend himself, Mr. Tom Irsfeld., a.k.a, the International Man of Mystery. Tom was my Dexterity mentor (along with Dave Gaboury who is now hiding in retirement) and worked with me on developing the initial localizations for the Andean area, back in the days. Tom now works on the Microsoft Dynamics AX team as a Program Manager.

Mariano Gomez and Tom Irsfield

At my quiet table, I had a chance to catch up with a number of partners and ISVs who had some questions on maintaining their current applications and working through hurdles to make them compatible with the Web Client. As mentioned in my post yesterday, I will be launching a Web Client series next week. At the tail end of that series, I will address some development considerations to make your product compatible with the Web Client. They are effectively things that you can be doing today to make a successful transition - these things by the way have always been considered best practices.

However, all good things must come to an end and the dismantling of the tent was just a reminder of it. Tomorrow marks the last day of the Technical Airlift, certainly one of the best tech events in recent memories.

Workers dismantling the tent

Stay tuned for the events of Day 3 tomorrow.

Until next post!

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

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Microsoft Dynamics GP Technical Airlift 2012: Day 1

Here we are starting Day 1 of the Microsoft Dynamics GP Technical Airlift 2012. After some prep work the day before, I was now ready to get with the program.

The morning started out with a hearty breakfast at the Microsoft Commons building dining area, where I also had a chance to catch up with old time friends David Eichner and Sheila Jefferson-Ross. We also had the fortune of sharing the table with Windi Epperson from The Knaster Group and Dawn Prigmore from Software Consulting by Dawn.




From left to right: David Eichner, Mariano Gomez, Sheila Jefferson-Ross

After breakfast, it was time for the Technical Airlift Opening Session. Upon arriving to the Dakota conference room, I had a chance to catch up with the Product Development and Management team prior to their presentations.



Gary Tronson, Kevin Racer, Errol Schoenfish, Jay Manley

The first few minutes of the Opening Session revolved around a very amenable introduction of GP PartnerConnections (GPPC) by Bob McAdam (twitter: @4mcadam) and how to become involved with the program, which is mainly directed at Microsoft Dynamics GP partners and ISVs. It's worth noting the GPPC is hosting this year's Microsoft Dynamics GP Technical Airlift.

The Opening Session progressed with demonstrations on the Quote to Cash process which showcased enhancements in the Web Client navigation with extensive use of window ribbons, enhancements in Sales Order Processing like the ability to produce consolidated invoices from fulfillment orders, and the solid integration with Microsoft Exchange and Office 365 for emailing documents.

Next up was the Procure to Pay process, covering some of the new features like prepayments in Purchase Order Processing, with the ability to process checks on the fly for these, and the ability to produce Word Template reports for every report that is generated by the Microsoft Dynamics GP application within the Web Client.

Some other cool demos included tight integration with Business Analyzer and SQL Server Reporting Services on the Web Client, the fantastic use of Microsoft Office Excel for report delivery, the new Management Reporter web viewer. The highlight of the morning was the announcement by Errol Schoenfish of the availability of Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Beta on PartnerSource. The Beta release can be downloaded from:

 Beta Release Download for Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013

I have to say I was most impressed by the Web Client's performance - more on how this was achieved in a future Web Client series starting next week.


It was time for lunch break. I took the opportunity to meet with my long time friend Beth Gardner, who used to work on the Escalation team and later became a part of the Community and Support teams, now maintaining Knowledgebase and interfacing with the Microsoft Online Support team to make sure your KB articles are up to date and retiring those that are obsolete.

Beth escorted me to the Developer Support and Escalation teams, where I had a chance to say hi to my friends Patrick Roth, Dave Duzek, Aaron Donat, and Jason Lech.



Lunch time under the big tent

After making the line to grab some food, I joined my assigned Table Topic: Developer's Unite: Tools & Integration. Our table counted with some familiar faces in Rob Anderson (Microsoft), Dave Duzek (Microsoft), Steve Endow (Precipio), and Jon Rivers (Data Masons) among others.

Table Topic: Developer's Unite - Tools & Integration

Following lunch, it was time to find a quiet place to decompress prior to my session at 3:45 PM CST. I had a chance to review the material, walk through the demos, and make sure everything was properly set for the session. D103 Introduction to Microsoft Dynamics GP Customization Tools started sharp with a full room of developers of all walks and degrees of experience.

Attendees to D103 Introduction to Microsoft Dynamics GP Customization Tools session

Presenting the Hybrid Visual Studio Tools customization

The session was fast paced and fill of samples. However, I blew the allotted time by 10 minutes. Despite this, I was able to keep attendance until the last minute, considering my session ran right into the Welcome Reception. Be this the time to thank all attendees of my session.

The Welcome Reception was hosted under the tent outside of the Commons' dining area, featuring the local band, Dfrag. The group is mostly made up of Microsoft employees.

Dfrag: Rob Wagner (Guitar), Russ Brown (Drums), Matt Carlson (Bass), LaDonna Carpenter (Vocals),
Kevin Racer (Guitar and Vocals),  Bill Thompson (Bass and Vocals)

 

Rob Wagner and Kevin Racer

It was now time to board the buses back to the hotel and to rest my vocal cords for my next presentation on Friday. Tomorrow, I will get to enjoy some sessions and perhaps, be the one asking some questions. Until next post!

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

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