Author: Ian Grieve

Ian is a Microsoft Dynamics GP certified consultant specialising in the delivery of Microsoft Dynamics GP projects and currently the Lead ERP Consultant for ISC Software Ltd., a Microsoft Partner, VAR and ISV in England. Ian has worked with Microsoft Dynamics GP since 2003 and, over the nine years since, has dealt with all aspects of the product life-cycle from presales, to implementation, to technical and functional training, to post go-live support and subsequent upgrades and process reviews. In his spare time, Ian runs the azurecurve | Ramblings of a Dynamics GP Consultant blog dedicated to Microsoft Dynamics GP and related products.

Developing Microsoft Dynamics GP Business Applications by Leslie Vail

Ian Grieve1 minute read1 Comment

Microsoft Dynamics GPA new Microsoft Dynamics GP book, by Leslie Vail is now available from Packt Publishing.

This book will teach you how to create and customize Dynamics GP Applications by taking you through the initial steps of setting up a development environment through to customising and developing an example application using tools such as Dexterity, Visual Studio Tools and sanScript starting with an overview of Microsoft Dynamics GP architecture.

Developing Microsoft Dynamics GP Business Applications by Leslie Vail

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Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Now Available

Ian Grieve2 minute read3 Comments

Microsoft Dynamics GPAfter what felt like a really long wait, but in reality was to the announced timeline, 19th December 2012 saw Microsoft announce the general availability of Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 on the Inside Microsoft Dynamics GP blog.

As Errol Schoenfish, Director Product Management at Microsoft, said in the announcement, this version of Microsoft Dynamics GP allows customers to access it either via the traditional desktop client or, at no extra license cost, through an innovative new Web Client presented via Silverlight in Microsoft Internet Explorer. I think the web client is a really good addition to GP with the interface looking very clean and modern and means whether the user is in the office, at home or on the road, they can access information when they need it and in a web client which has the same structure as the familiar desktop client.

In addition to the Web Client, Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 has seen the addition of more than 120 new features and capability enhancements to the already rich and comprehensive business management functionality; a sample of the new features can be seen in the Microsoft announced Feature of the Day.

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Prevent Change Of User Date

Ian Grieve3 minute read7 Comments

Microsoft Dynamics GPFred Webb posted a question on the Dynamics GP Community Forum asking if it was possible to prevent the User Date being changed in Dynamics GP 2010.

One response was to use Field Level Security which would work but seems a little excessive. I had a think on alternatives and, because we’re dealing with GP 2010, the one I came up with was to prevent the User Date window being opened by using a little VBA.

The package for Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010, which also works for Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013, can be downloaded at the bottom of the post.

The VBA I used was:


Private Sub Window_BeforeActivate()
   Me.Close
End Sub

Private Sub Window_BeforeOpen(OpenVisible As Boolean)
   Me.Hide
End Sub

Me.Hide causes the UserDate window to be hidden from the user as it starts to open, and Me.Close forces it to close.

I could have put both the Me.Close and Me.Hide in the sub Window_BeforeOpen, but I found the main GP window didn’t get focus back. By splitting the Me.Close into Window_BeforeActivate focus was returned to GP when the UserDate window was closed.

The downside of using VBA asa solution is that it will not work with the Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Web Client, although it will work with the standard 2013 client.

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Hands On With The Management Reporter 2012 Web Client

Ian Grieve3 minute read2 Comments

Microsoft Dynamics GPThese days I find that time passes far too quickly. Turns out it was on the 14th November that RU3 of Management Reporter was released and I said I’d do some posts on the web client part of it. Well, time flies but I’ve finally found the time to do the post I promised.

When I downloaded Management Reporter 2012 Rollup 3 I did what quite a few people seem to have done and looked for the web client installer within the setup utility. Well, it turns out there isn’t one as it is all handled by the server install. To view a report in the MR 2012 web client all you need to do is output the file to a network location or SharePoint. I’ve gone the easiest route and output the file to a network share.

In the Report Designer, open a Report Definition and switch to the Output and Distribution tab and change the radio button to Generate to multiple report library locations. In this case my report is being output to Library/P&L and if I click on it I can then choose to set a Related Report Link Location which I have set to the shared Dynamics Central location on my server;

Report Definition - PL Dtl CurYtd

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MDGP 2013 Feature of the Day: Web Management Console

Ian Grieve2 minute read1 Comment

Microsoft Dynamics GPMicrosoft are posting the Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Feature of the Day series on the Inside Microsoft Dynamics GP Blog.

The ninety first feature they’ve announced is Web Management Console.

The management console is a web application that gives you the control you need to manage your web client environment; you can manage users, sessions, initiate session logging and manage application tenant configuration through the two included snap in modules, Session Manager and Tenant Manager.

Web Management Console

The extensible snap in model of the console also gives ISVs and application developers the opportunity to create custom snap ins to give you even more control of your web client environment.

This new feature is targeted at the following roles:

  • IT Manager
  • Hosting Partner

MDGP 2013 Feature of the Day: Web Client Interface

Ian Grieve2 minute read1 Comment

Microsoft Dynamics GPMicrosoft are posting the Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Feature of the Day series on the Inside Microsoft Dynamics GP Blog.

The eighty ninth feature they’ve announced is Web Client Interface.

The Microsoft Dynamics GP2 013 Web Client is browser based; it uses Silverlight and runs in Internet Explorer. While most of the user interface will be familiar to existing users of the application, Microsoft did enhance it to take advantage of capabilities in the browser.

The two biggest changes you will notice is the addition of Ribbons to most of the forms in the application and the consolidation of some child windows into a Window Group or tab on its parent window.

Web Client Interface

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MDGP 2013 Feature of the Day: Web Client

Ian Grieve2 minute read2 Comments

Microsoft Dynamics GPMicrosoft are posting the Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Feature of the Day series on the Inside Microsoft Dynamics GP Blog.

The eighty eighth feature they’ve announced is Web Client.

The Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Web Client gives you the freedom to work from anywhere you have a PC with Internet access. You can get your work done while maintaining your busy lifestyle, do sales orders on the road, purchase orders in your hotel or general ledger adjustments over the weekend at home.

The web client also gives customers the ability to extend access to remote offices without the expense and setup of terminal services and, best of all, it does it by using the same familiar user interface so there’s no extra training required to use it.

All it requires is Internet Explorer with the Silverlight plugin. You simply point to the URL for your web client service that is provided to you by your IT staff or hosting partner and login to the system.

From that point on your using the Microsoft Dynamics GP application you already know with the same familiar windows and fields:

Web Client

This new feature is targeted at the following roles:

  • All Roles

MDGP 2013 Feature of the Day: Manual Prepayments

Ian Grieve2 minute read1 Comment

Microsoft Dynamics GPMicrosoft are posting the Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Feature of the Day series on the Inside Microsoft Dynamics GP Blog.

The eighty seventh feature they’ve announced is Manual Prepayments.

This feature allows the management of the prepayment amount from Purchase Order creation through the creditor invoice by using the Manual Payment process in Payables Management while allowing the purchaser to control the prepayment amount.

The user has the ability to pay the prepayment at the time of creating the Purchase Order by using a check or credit card. GP tracks prepayment amounts separately from the vendors account balance which means creditor aging is not affected by prepayment transactions;

Purchasing Prepayment Entry

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