This post is part of the Implementing SmartView for Microsoft Dynamics GP series were I am taking a look at the SmartView product from eOne Solutions which provides another way of using SmartLists.
With SmartView downloaded we can get it installed on the first client.
Extract the installer from the zip and launch it. Click Next on the Welcome page:
Continue reading “Implementing SmartView for Microsoft Dynamics GP: Install SmartView”
This post is part of the Implementing SmartView for Microsoft Dynamics GP series were I am taking a look at the SmartView product from eOne Solutions which provides another way of using SmartLists.
SmartView can be downloaded from the eOne Solutions website. Select Downloads from the menu and then click on SmartView:
Continue reading “Implementing SmartView for Microsoft Dynamics GP: Download SmartView”
This post is part of the Implementing SmartView for Microsoft Dynamics GP series were I am taking a look at the SmartView product from eOne Solutions which provides another way of using SmartLists.
SmartView provides an alternative, yet fast and flexible, interface to the existing SmartLists in Microsoft Dynamics GP. It is available inside Dynamics GP just like SmartList is, yet it is also available from outside of Dynamics GP meaning you can give access to the same reports to all users, even those who don’t use Dynamics GP itself which can save you on both licencing and training costs.
| Feature | The SmartView advantage |
|---|---|
| Speed | SmartView provides the solution for anyone that has ever waited impatiently for a SmartList to refresh. For example, if you run the Sales Line item list in SmartList, it would take 2.5 minutes to return 4259 rows. If you use SmartView you get the exact same data returned in 7 seconds! |
| Excel | Cut and Paste selected records directly from SmartView to Excel, Word or an email. |
| Full Screen | Use every bit of your screen to view our data. No more white spaces! |
| Unlimited Filters | There is no limit at all on the number of filters you can have. You can mix and match AND’s and OR’s to get exactly what you are looking for. |
| Single Screen | Eliminate up to 7 mouse clicks, by having everything on one screen. |
| Group | Group your data by any field, by a simple drag and drop function. It’s like creating your own reports on the fly. |
| Sub Total | When you group you will receive auto subtotaling of all you data. So group by customer to see totals by customer. |
| Sort | Sort how you please, even by a number of columns simultaneously. |
| GoTo’s | All the goto’s from SmartLists and SmartList Builder are available to make navigation into Microsoft Dynamics GP a breeze. |
| Export | Export your lists to PDF, Excel or CSV. SV has been timed at being 10 times faster than a SmartList export. |
| Multiple Instances | Open multiple instances of SmartView to let you multi task and look at multiple lists simultaneously. |
| Columns | Add, remove and reorder columns by simply dragging and dropping where you’d like them to go. |
| Restrictions | Only see the data you need, when you need it. |
| Favorites | Create the view you go back to most and save it as a favorite. You can even share that with your team. |
| Searching | Searching across all your data or by column. |
SmartView is no longer available as a separate product but licenced as part of the Popdock package which, for Dynamics GP users, also includes SmartList Builder.
SmartView is an add on from eOne Solutions for Microsoft Dynamics GP which provides another way to use SmartLists; it will work with standard SmartList objects as well as those created with SmartList Designer and SmartList Builder.
I have previously done a post explaining who eOne Solutions are, so I’ll not cover that again. I’m quite a big fan of eOne Solutions’ products and have previously blogged about implementing SmartConnect and SmartList Builder.
Over the course of this short series, I will be going through the steps necessary to implement SmartView for Microsoft Dynamics GP.
The index below will update as each post goes live if you are reading directly here (if you’re reading on a syndicated version, you will need to check back to the original post).
Updated 21/7/2022 after comment from Nicole Albertson of eOne Solutions
Earlier this year I added SmartConnect from eOne Solutions to a new demo vm (I’m a bit behind with posts). I was able to create the data source and integration without any issues, but then encountered an error when running any of the integrations in SmartConnect:
The source was not found, but some or all event logs could not be searched. To create the source, you need permission to real all event logs and to make sure that the new source name is unique. Inaccessible logs: Security
On a new installation, permissions isn’t all that unusual and was confirmed when I found a post from eOne on their knowledge base with steps to resolve.
The fix is to add the service account user to the local administrators group on the machine on which SmartConnect is being run and then launch SmartConnect using right click, run as administrator. You only need to run it as admin the first time after adding the service account as a local admin.
I’ve been doing some work with a client recently implementing SmartConnect 2021, although the client has done much of the install themselves using the manual as a guide (this was their choice to help keep costs down). When we tried to enable the REST API and navigate to the endpoint to check, we were receiving an error:
HTTP Error 500.19 – Internal Server Error
The requested page cannot be accessed because the related configuration data for the page is invalid.
We did some investigation and research and found that the issue was that one of the required features had been missed during the installation. There are three elements of the WCF Services component of the .NET Framework 4.7 Features which need to be installed, but weren’t.
The screenshot below shows my demo system with the three components installed:
Once the client added these three components, the REST API worked correctly.
We’ve recently upgraded a client from SmartConnect 2018 to SmartConnect 2021 and mosstly had no problems. One issue which came up is when users tried to run an integration which had a Microsoft Excel file as the data source. Each time they tried the integration, and on several machines, they always received the same error:
Connection could not be validated
ERROR [IM002] [Microsoft][ODBC Driver Manager] Data source name not found and no default driver specified
This is an error I have seen before; the users in the previous case who were having problems had the 64-bit version of Microsoft Office installed and the working ones had the 32-bit version. this required us to install the 32-bit version of the Microsoft Access Database Engine 2016 Redistributable from the command line as a silent install.
All of the clients in this case already had a 32-bit version of Excel; a quick check and I found that for SmartConnect 2021 you actually need the 64-bit version of the Microsoft Access Database Engine 2016 Redistributable which again should be installed silently from the command line.
In our most recent webinar, we took a look at Automation in Microsoft Dynamics GP. In this webinar, we covered how automation can be used in Microsoft Dynamics GP to improve efficiencies and accuracy of data. If you want to catch up on this, or any other, webinar, you can do so here.
In this blog post, I am going to recap the webinar and cover the highlights of how automation can be used in Microsoft Dynamics GP to improve efficiencies and improve data accuracy:
Where possible in this webinar I highlighted standard, or Microsoft supplied, features or additional products where they are available. However, in many cases the standard functionality does not allow for full automation. This is an intentional design choice made when Microsoft Dynamics GP was first created back in the md-90s. The company who created Great Plains, the original name of Dynamics GP, was intended from the very beginning to be extensible with the intention that there be a thriving third-party marketplace for add-ons.
This is the current situation; the core Dynamics GP system has strong core financials and distribution modules, but wider functionality is provided by third party (Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) who have a variety of add-ons and complimentary products which provide the functionality required or automating processes. In each of the areas, there are usually a number of products available from several vendors, but I have selected one in each area. usually an add-on which I have used with several clients across a number of years and which has received positive reviews.
Before implementing one of the solutions, I’d recommend reviewing the functionality it includes, the functionality of competing products and making your own decision about which will best fit your requirements.
Continue reading “Recent ISC Software Webinar: Automation in Microsoft Dynamics GP”
I’ve worked with a number of clients on SmartConnect from eOne Solutions this year as well as discussing with a few prospects. SmartConnect is a very flexible tool which can be used to integrate many different types of data. In this respect, it competes with the Microsoft Integration Manager product, but SmartConnect has many other features over Integration Manager.
Discussions on SmartConnect usually involve the question as to what data can be integrated by it into Dynamics GP; the short answer is if eConnect can do it then so can SmartConnect, but few people (including me) remember all of the nodes available within eConnect. As would be expected, this is also a common question direct to eOne, and one which Lorren Zemke addressed on the eOne blog: Tech Tuesday : What Data Can SmartConnect Integrate in Dynamics GP (eConnect).
This is an issue which I encountered a while ago, but only recently found the screenshots when doing some tidying up. When I installed SmartConnect I had a problem whereby the service would not start.
I’d followed my usual implementation steps, but was receiving this error when trying to start the service:
Services
The eOne SmartConnect Service service on Local Computer started and then stopped. Some services stop automatically if they are not in use by other services or programs.