Hands On with Microsoft Dynamics GP 2018 R2: Desktop Client First Run

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2018 R2 was released on the 2^nd October. In this series of posts, I’ll be going hands on and installing the majority of the components; some of them, such as Analysis Cubes for Excel, which are little used, I won’t be covering.

The series index will automatically update as posts go-live in this series.

With the Fabrikam sample company deployed, we can now log into Microsoft Dynamics GP.

Launch Microsoft Dynamics GP from the start menu and log in; you can usually use either the sa or DYNSA logins. However, if you have the VAT Daybook feature installed, you will need to log in as sa:

Select Fabrikam, Inc in the Company login and click OK:

On the sample company warning message, click OK:

As this is the first login, you will need to select your home page and then click OK:

I’d like to say you’ll be presented with your home page, but, unfortunately, instead you’ll get the useless Intelligent Cloud Insights page:

To toggle to the home page, you an click on the small {username}’s Home link to the side of the Intelligent Cloud Insights title:

It seems this choice is remembered next time you log in.

We discussed the Intelligent Cloud Insights in the office and can’t think of any user at any of our clients who will have a single use for this. It seems to be a marketing choice without their having been any thought as to how useful it is going to be for actual users of the system.

Users of Dynamics GP are people like Payables or Receivables Clerks, Bookkeepers, Management Accountants, Fixed Asset Managers, Inventory Controllers and the like. They’re going to have no interest. Unfortunately, I’ve so far not been able to find a way of switching it off; every single new user created is going to be presented with it and it is just going to be another potential source of errors (like the Connect section on the home page).

Hopefully, there is a Dex.ini switch someone is going to soon find which will allow it to be disabled or changed to a useful page (such as an Intranet site).