azurecurve

Add Persistent Mapped Drive For Shared Files

Monday 29th Sep 2014Saturday 27th Sep 2014 Ian Grieve3 minute read2 Comments

Microsoft Dynamics GP and related products, such as Integration Manager, have a few files which need to be shared between client machines. This can, and in a lot of cases should, be done using a shared folder accessed via the UNC path (e.g. \\file\Dynamics Central to access the Dynamics Central folder on the server called file).

However, if any of these files need to be accessed by users then using the UNC path isn’t the friendliest of ways. Instead a mapped drive can be used which shows up in Windows Explorer and allows the user to easily access it and each user needs the drive mapped under the same folder.

While mapped drives can be created manually on each client machine this would take while. Instead we can create a batch file which can be run on each machine which will add the mapped drive for us:

net use M: /delete
net use M: "\\file\Dynamics Central" /persistent:YES

The first line deletes any existing M: and the second then creates a persistent (one which will be retained when the PC is rebooted) mapped drive on the drive letter M using the Dynamics Central folder on the server called file.

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MDGP 2015 Feature of the Day: Payables Management Batch Approval

Wednesday 24th Sep 2014 Ian Grieve3 minute read1 Comment

The Inside Microsoft Dynamics GP blog has started a series of posts on the new features of, the soon to be released, Microsoft Dynamics GP 2015. As I have done for the last two releases, I intend to shadow these posts and add my own opinions on these new feature; the series index is here.

The second Feature of the Day is Payables Management Batch Approval. This feature is an enhancement to the new Workflow 2.0 module introduced in Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 R2 which allows users to control the processing of Payables Management batches in a more streamlined fashion.

Payables Management Batch Approval allows users to create mandatory workflow processes around all payables batches. These mandatory processes need to be completed before transactions can be posted. The workflow processes are defined in Workflow Maintenance (Administration area page » Setup » Company » Workflow » Workflow Maintenance):

The workflow status appears on the window and actions can be taken directly from those windows, from an email or from a Navigation List.

I haven’t worked with the old workflow module to configure batch approvals in Payables Management; the old workflow always seemed too complex and flakey to use much, although we do have one client using it for General Ledger batches although the sooner we get them upgraded and off it the better.

The roles targeted by this feature are:

Click to show/hide the MDGP 2015 Feature of the Day Series Index

MDGP 2015 Feature of the Day
General Ledger Batch Approval
Payables Management Batch Approval
Receivables Management Batch Approval
Vendor Approval
Project Employee Expense Report
Organizational Accounts User Authentication
Invoicing in the Web Client
Service Based Architecture
Service Based Architecture Deployment
Service Based Architecture Deployment
.NET Interop
Employee Benefits
Employee Self Service Functionality
Employee Profile, Skills & Training
HRP Workflow Pending Approval Navigation List
Employee W4 and Workflow
Direct Deposit and Workflow
Employee Paystubs
Fixed Assets Year-End Closing Report
Canadian Payroll Web Client
Create Refreshable Excel Reports In SmartList Designer
Payment Terms – Transaction Calculation
Payment Terms – Discount Date Calculation
Copy Home Page and Area Page
Management Reporter Integration
Management Reporter Integration Setup
Management Reporter in Business Analyzer
Business Analyzer Cross Platform
Void Intercompany Journal Entries
Edit Email on Historical Transactions
Intercompany Journal Entry Inquiry
Project Employee Expense Report Entry
Management Reporter Data Integration
Employee Self Service Purchase Requisitions
Existing Purchase Order Warning

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MDGP 2015 Feature of the Day: General Ledger Batch Approval

Wednesday 24th Sep 2014 Ian Grieve3 minute read1 Comment

The first Feature of the Day is General Ledger Batch Approval. This feature is an enhancement to the new Workflow 2.0 module introduced in Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 R2 which allows users to control the processing of General Ledger batches in a more streamlined fashion.

General Ledger Batch Approval allows users to create mandatory workflow processes around General, Clearing and Budget transaction batches. These mandatory processes need to be completed before transactions can be posted. The workflow processes are defined in Workflow Maintenance (Administration area page » Setup » Company » Workflow » Workflow Maintenance):

The workflow status appears on the window and actions can be taken directly from those windows, from an email or from a Navigation List.

I am delighted that this functionality has been introduced. I’ve done extensive work with a client using the old SharePoint based workflow recently and I am very much looking forward to being able to replace it with the new workflow. The old was so complex; Workflow based on top of SharePoint talking to the Web Services. There were so amny points of failure and skills needed to install and configure that it made it very complex, costly and unstable.

The new Workflow 2.0 is far, far simpler and easier to implement and use.

The roles targeted by this feature are:

Click to show/hide the MDGP 2015 Feature of the Day Series Index

MDGP 2015 Feature of the Day
General Ledger Batch Approval
Payables Management Batch Approval
Receivables Management Batch Approval
Vendor Approval
Project Employee Expense Report
Organizational Accounts User Authentication
Invoicing in the Web Client
Service Based Architecture
Service Based Architecture Deployment
Service Based Architecture Deployment
.NET Interop
Employee Benefits
Employee Self Service Functionality
Employee Profile, Skills & Training
HRP Workflow Pending Approval Navigation List
Employee W4 and Workflow
Direct Deposit and Workflow
Employee Paystubs
Fixed Assets Year-End Closing Report
Canadian Payroll Web Client
Create Refreshable Excel Reports In SmartList Designer
Payment Terms – Transaction Calculation
Payment Terms – Discount Date Calculation
Copy Home Page and Area Page
Management Reporter Integration
Management Reporter Integration Setup
Management Reporter in Business Analyzer
Business Analyzer Cross Platform
Void Intercompany Journal Entries
Edit Email on Historical Transactions
Intercompany Journal Entry Inquiry
Project Employee Expense Report Entry
Management Reporter Data Integration
Employee Self Service Purchase Requisitions
Existing Purchase Order Warning

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MDGP 2015 Feature of the Day: Series Index

Wednesday 24th Sep 2014Wednesday 24th Sep 2014 Ian Grieve2 minute read8 Comments

The Inside Microsoft Dynamics GP blog has started a series of posts on the new features of, the soon to be released, Microsoft Dynamics GP 2015.

As Pam Misialek says, this release will focus on four big rocks with lots of little pebbles thrown in. The four big rocks are:

Service Based Architecture
Identity Management
Azure Procurement
Apps on multiple platforms

As I have done for the last two releases I intend to shadow these Feature of the Day posts and add my own opinions on these new features. This post is to serve as the series index.

Click to show/hide the MDGP 2015 Feature of the Day Series Index

MDGP 2015 Feature of the Day
General Ledger Batch Approval
Payables Management Batch Approval
Receivables Management Batch Approval
Vendor Approval
Project Employee Expense Report
Organizational Accounts User Authentication
Invoicing in the Web Client
Service Based Architecture
Service Based Architecture Deployment
Service Based Architecture Deployment
.NET Interop
Employee Benefits
Employee Self Service Functionality
Employee Profile, Skills & Training
HRP Workflow Pending Approval Navigation List
Employee W4 and Workflow
Direct Deposit and Workflow
Employee Paystubs
Fixed Assets Year-End Closing Report
Canadian Payroll Web Client
Create Refreshable Excel Reports In SmartList Designer
Payment Terms – Transaction Calculation
Payment Terms – Discount Date Calculation
Copy Home Page and Area Page
Management Reporter Integration
Management Reporter Integration Setup
Management Reporter in Business Analyzer
Business Analyzer Cross Platform
Void Intercompany Journal Entries
Edit Email on Historical Transactions
Intercompany Journal Entry Inquiry
Project Employee Expense Report Entry
Management Reporter Data Integration
Employee Self Service Purchase Requisitions
Existing Purchase Order Warning

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New Book Available: Implementing the Microsoft Dynamics GP Web Client

Monday 22nd Sep 2014Monday 22nd Sep 2014 Ian Grieve5 minute read3 Comments

Last year I had two books published via Packt Publishing, the Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Cookbook and Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Financial Management. Well, in the next few days I will have a new book available for purchase; Implementing the Microsoft Dynamics GP Web Client:

Implementing the Microsoft Dynamics GP Web Client

The book will initially be available from Amazon in the USA and various countries in Europe as a paperback and can also be purchased in PDF eBook form (the eBook is actually available now; the hard copy from Amazon and other retailers will follow soon).

This book provides guidance for the implementation of the Microsoft Dynamics GP web client with step-by-step guides, illustrations and links to useful resources.

Who This Book Is For

This book is aimed at Dynamics GP users and partners who intend to implement the web client for Microsoft Dynamics GP for individual clients; much of the process for installing a multi-tenant deployment is the same as the scale-out one, but this book is specifically focusing on the scale-out deployment. This book assumes you have a knowledge of Windows Server, Active Directory for creating users and groups, IIS and application deployments. A basic knowledge of Microsoft Dynamics GP is also required.

What This Book Covers

This book covers the scale-out deployment of the Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 R2 web client, from prerequisites through installation to logging in, using and managing. An upgrade of the Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 SP2 web client to Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 R2 is covered, before closing with a look at troubleshooting problems.

How This Book Is Structured

Chapter 1, Introduction to the Microsoft Dynamics GP Web Client, covers the basics of the web client including a look at the pros and cons of the web client versus the classic desktop client and the deployment methods available.

Chapter 2, Prerequisites of the Microsoft Dynamics GP Web Client, covers the prerequisites for installing or upgrading the Microsoft Dynamics GP web client.

Chapter 3, Microsoft Dynamics GP Web Client Scale-Out Deployment, covers the scale-out deployment method of installing the Microsoft Dynamics GP web client.

Chapter 4, Logging In, Using and Managing the Microsoft Dynamics GP Web Client, covers the process of logging into the web client, the navigation differences between the desktop and web client versions of Microsoft Dynamics GP and then how the web client can be managed.

Chapter 5, Upgrading a Microsoft Dynamics GP Web Client Scale Out Deployment, covers the upgrade of the Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 SP2 web client to the R2 version.

Chapter 6, Troubleshooting the Microsoft Dynamics GP Web Client, includes tips for troubleshooting and some of more common issues during the implementation.

I will be adding additional sales channels in the near future, but for now you can buy a PDF eBook, or go to CreateSpace, Amazon.com or Amazon UK for a paperback copy.

NB. The book can currently be bought on CreateSpace and Amazon UK, but not all of the Amazon sites have it listed as available; this should happen in the next few days.

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Management Reporter Error Opening Column Definition

Tuesday 16th Sep 2014Tuesday 16th Sep 2014 Ian Grieve2 minute read1 Comment

During a recent upgrade of a client from Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 to Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 we also did a migration of FRx to Management Reporter.

After doing the test upgrade and migration I tested Management Reporter and everything was working fine. However, a month later when I was back on site for the live upgrade and some additional training, I found that Management Reporter was no longer working correctly.

When I tried to open a column definition I received an error:

Management Reporter: The operation could not be completed due to a problem in the data provider framework.

Continue reading “Management Reporter Error Opening Column Definition”

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Integration Manager Log Report Failure

Thursday 11th Sep 2014 Ian Grieve2 minute read3 Comments

After recently upgrading a client to Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 they have been doing some testing. As well as GP itself they also use Integration Manager to integrate data from other systems.

Part of their testing plan involved testing the integrations; good thing they did as one problem, not a large one though, was found.

When trying to view the error logs the following error was produced:

Log Report Failure: Could not load file or assembly ‘Microsoft.ReportViewer.WinForms, Version=9.0.0.0, Culture=Neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a’ or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified

The solution is to install the Microsoft Report Viewer Redistributable which can be found here.

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Management Reporter ‘Bad or missing data…’ error

Monday 8th Sep 2014Saturday 13th Dec 2014 Ian Grieve1 minute read2 Comments

I’ve had this post in my queue for a while after it got overlooked, but I figure it is still worth posting.

We received a call on the service desk from a client who was having problems with Management Reporter; whenever they tried to generate a report they received the following error:

Bad or missing data was encountered while loading the report and its building blocks. Report generation has been cancelled.

Continue reading “Management Reporter ‘Bad or missing data…’ error”

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azurecurve Included in Dynamics101 Top 25 Dynamics GP Blogs

Monday 1st Sep 2014Friday 27th Jul 2018 Ian Grieve1 minute read2 Comments

The recently launched Dynamics 101 training site has announced their first annual list of Top 25 Dynamics GP Sites.

The list includes the usual suspects of Victoria Yudin, Leslie Vail, Mark Polino, Mariano Gomez, David Musgrave and more.

Click the image below to see the rest of the list:

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Recent Lack Of Posts Down To New Project

Sunday 31st Aug 2014 Ian Grieve1 minute read1 Comment

If you’re a regular visitor then you’ll have noticed a distinct lack of posts in August. The reason is that I have been working on a side project which should come to fruition in the middle of September. I’ll be trying to restore normal service before then, but if not it will be back to normal posting from mid-September.

The side project is Microsoft Dynamics GP related and I hope it will be of use to the community; details will be supplied nearer to the release date.

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