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Looks like Microsoft Great Plains becomes more and more popular, partly because of Microsoft muscles behind it. Now it is targeted to the whole spectrum of horizontal and vertical market clientele. Small companies use Small Business Manager (which is based on the same technology – Great Plains Dexterity dictionary and runtime), Great Plains Standard on MSDE is for small to midsize clients, and then Great Plains serves the rest of the market up to big corporations. There are several reporting tools available and you definitely need to know which one to use for different types of reports. If you are developer who is asked: how do we create report for Microsoft Great Plains – read this and you will have the clues on where to look further. Great Plains Report Writer (ReportWriter) – this is built-in reporting tool. All the original report in Great Plains are written in ReportWriter. ReportWriter itself is Dexterity module. You should use this tool if you would like ...

Technical support offered by MBS depends on the region. For North America (NA), support is available to both partners and customers who availed of the support plan. In Asia Pacific (AP), Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) though, support is only available to partners. Unfortunately, not every customer in North America can avail of support from their vendor. Some who opted not to renew their annual enhancement plans are orphaned from their vendors and do not receive free upgrades. If they need immediate support, they can contact the MBS Support Team directly but they are charged a higher premium. In this case, it is best to get support from partners such as Alba Spectrum Technologies or the like instead of directly from MBS. Below are some questions and answers that the MBS Support Team (Asia and EMEA) receive: Q1. Will Microsoft Great Plains run on operating systems other than Microsoft Windows? A1. Microsoft Great Plains was first developed to support both Microsoft and Mac operat...

Working with Microsoft Access designing a new database, the question here is what is the core process of the database that you are trying to define? Access Database design is more of an art than a science and common sense will prevail. By taking the time to identify the core process correctly, you will find that additional processes will plug in easily keeping the structure of the system stable and solid enough as time goes by and data volume increases. If you apply some of Microsoft Access techniques including ‘Database Normalisation’ rules (up to the third norm) and deal with relationships (tables joins) and setting their keys & indexes, this too will determine the solid foundation to build on. Scenario: Let’s take an example process like a ‘Sales Order Processing’ database system which has a list of international customers based in the UK, USA and/or Canada who place orders (eventually invoiced) for one or more food products (items) periodically (fo...

Microsoft SQL training is important to learn all about the different versions of this program. And, once the class is taken it is important for technicians to continue their education when new versions of SQL are available. For example, SQL 2005 training is necessary for techs to understand all the ins and outs of the Microsoft SQL Server 2005. It is worthwhile to take SQL 2005 training classes because it keeps you up to date and improves your income. When you take a class of this nature you will learn about some of the key features of Microsoft SQL 2005. T SQL, also known as Transact-SQL is a variant of SQL and is used in the Microsoft SQL Server. This additional syntax helps in stored procedures. TDS, Tabular Data Stream, is what both Microsoft SQL Server and Sybase/ASE use to communicate. This was also incorporated into the FreeTDS project so that more Microsoft SQL Server and Sybase databases could communicate. The most recent version is SQL Server 2005. This supports the connectiv...

The Field Design & Validations This is the last step which completes the ‘back-end’ database design process and steps 6 and 7 (later articles to follow) focuses on the ‘front-end’ database design process and is deemed optional to this final step of the ‘back-end’ database design process. In this section, I’m going to discuss the process which talks about the field’s properties and the business rules of how fields control data input. If you are not designing input screens (Access Forms), then the process could effectively stop here. If however, you intend to handle ‘front-end’ processes for your database, this is the preliminary step of setting the best fit attributes (ideally in table design view mode). You will therefore need to know about what properties are and how and where you apply them. Properties is a general term to describe an attribute of an object. For an example, a field (the object) has many attributes to it ...

Microsoft SQL Server is the leader for inexpensive and middle size SQL solutions. Plus it is now capable to serve large enterprise on Microsoft Windows platform. Crystal Reports is the most flexible tool on the market and it has market recognition. Multiple software vendors offer Crystal Reports as the main reporting tool: Microsoft, Best Software, Oracle to name a few. Sometimes developers try to use Crystal directly to pull data from multiple database platforms – we understand the need to give you additional tips to increase Crystal report flexibility. Also common case when Crystal report should pull data from multiple database platforms. Assuming that you are creating Crystal Reports on Windows platform – we recommend you to use Microsoft SQL Server as a database access tool. 1. Use Crystal when you have your query tuned – regardless how good Crystal Reports is – it is reporting tool – not querying environment. Tune your query first and be sure tha...

I’m often hired to carry out and audit an Access database application that has been built and re-developed over the years due to: The developer (perhaps a former employee) has since left the organisation and left no documentation. An individual has accidentally locked a database and can not gain access which requires an official ‘hack’. Some of the components to the Access database has been lost and users need some new functions added. New administrators have been given a database and do not have enough knowledge to extend the system reports. The client wants an honest opinion on how well (or poorly) designed an Access database has been built and implemented. But with a little bit of training and know how, there are some basic but simple tasks that users can carry out for themselves to breakdown and understand an Access database before calling in the repairman/woman. I have 5 common tips to help you on your way: With most well designed Access database systems, you norm...

Oracle Warehouse Builder (OWB) Release 11g is included in all Oracle Database 11g installations. OWB is Oracle’s tool for metadata and data management. OWB also provides data quality, ETL, dimensional modeling, and data auditing. I recently installed the Oracle Database 11g on my computer which runs Microsoft Vista. I was in the process of running the Repository Assistant of OWB and at the installation stage of 76% completion; I received the following error message: The Warehouse Builder workspace owner installation failed on user OWBSYS. Exception occurred in ‘processSPAWN’.java’lang.Exception: Error: java.sql.SQLException: ORA-29532 : Java call terminated by uncaught Java exception: java.sqlSQLException: OWBSYS is not granted access to c:\oracle\product\11.1.0\db_1\/owb/bin/admin/rtrepos.propterties: Please run UnifiedRepos/reset_owbcc_home.sql specifying the path of the Oracle Home from which the Control Center Service is being run. At times while installing a...

Microsoft Access 2013 is the software that has progressed over the ages from Access 1.1 in 1992 until now. Office Professional 2013 Software (which includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Access) will allow you to install and run Access 2013 as usual. The Office 365 version is paid by monthly subscription and provides Web services to Office 2013. It includes the Office Professional 2013 software as well as Access 365 and Access 2013. Access 365, besides the name “Access”, has little to nothing in common with Access 2013 or previous versions of Access. What is Access 365 all about? Access 365 is a tool for creating web apps that run within SharePoint 2013. The old .ACCDB format has been abandoned. New applications should use the Access 365 model, or stick with Access 2010. Access 365 allows the rapid creation of small applications using the standard web technologies of HTML5, CSS and JavaScript in a simplified web development environment. One big feature is that Access ...

Databases and Licensing. Databases are the backbone of even basic Internet applications these days. Generally hidden away as the final layer in all software architecture, the database is the heart of any web application that needs to store and access information. Microsoft’s SQL Server is one of the top of the line databases that can be used for Enterprise or web related applications. It’s fast , powerful, and has excellent integration with all Microsoft products. Unfortunately, it’s adoption as a database for small web applications has been restricted till now due to a tiny stumbling block known as Licensing. For normal SQL databases, Microsoft imposes a fee for each entity connected with the database. This was called a Client Access License (CAL) and could be processor based, user based, or device based. Essentially, it means that, if you purchased a user based CAL, you would have to pay a fee for each user accessing the database and for device based CAL’s, a l...

Microsoft Great Plains is becoming more and more popular and we see new purchases among midsize and large corporations, where, in our opinion, Microsoft SQL Server DB administrator position is a must. If you are database administrator and you are part of the decision making team, purchasing Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains for your corporation, we would like to set your expectation on the level of SQL knowledge, skills and experience needed to support Microsoft Great Plains in-house o Data querying. Microsoft Great Plains has decent ReportWriter, which allows users to create and modify existing reports, however the recommended tool, and you will soon understand that if you need really challenging reports (Sales Commissions, Bill of Lading, Sales Order Status with Purchasing info, Regional Sales, etc.) – you need to deploy Crystal Reports or Crystal Enterprise. Crystal Report itself is usually based on the view or stored procedure. So – you should expect to be fa...

Dot NET and PHP are two different web development platforms used for the design of dynamic web pages with database support. As an integrated development environment (IDE), PHP currently leads the market, but the choice between PHP and Microsoft’s .NET comes down to the user’s needs, budget, existing software infrastructure, and expertise. A significant part of PHP’s dominance comes from its open-source (free) availability. .NET requires a license, though Microsoft has made free – albeit limited – versions available for download. As with any open-source product, users must seek support through third parties. The higher cost of .NET also brings full support and documentation, perhaps making it more attractive to neophyte web designers who prefer having a phone number to call when encountering a problem. .NET also possesses the built-in reporting tools most users have come to expect from Microsoft products. Generally speaking, PHP enjoys more flexibility and ...

How many times do you get pulled into a lengthy email thread with a group of co-workers? Are your team communications hard to document and scattered among multiple programs? How can your work group more easily collaborate, chat, and share important files and resources? Your solution is Microsoft Teams. Teams is a cloud-based collaboration tool that is part of the Microsoft Office 365 suite of applications. The core capabilities of Microsoft Teams include: Creating and managing work groups Communicating through chat/instant messaging Connecting with audio calling Launching impromptu or scheduled video meetings Sharing files and links Documenting work and resources Simplifying access to other Office apps With Teams, work groups within an organization can collaborate on content across different devices (laptops, tablets, and smartphones), and across multiple platforms including Windows and Mac. In addition, with Microsoft Teams, a team can also invite outside partners such as vend...

Why Should we care if we can use Dynamics Business Central for Manufacturing? Given the disruption of the past year, a lot of businesses are investigating ways to work remotely and in a hybrid work environment. There are a few technologies that manufacturing companies need to use that don’t work well remotely. One of them is ERP systems. That’s why we should care about Dynamics Business Central for Manufacturing. If you are looking to replace an ERP system because you want to ensure it facilitates remote work, cloud ERP is where you need to look. My experience is almost entirely with what is often called “SMB” or Small and Medium Business manufacturers. There are not a lot of good, modern cloud based ERP systems in the mid-market / SMB space. There are even less that really support manufacturing. That means that the best cloud systems are priced out of most manufacturers budget. Oh, In case you are wondering, Microsoft defines SMB as businesses with less than 250...

2011 was a good year for web-based “software as a service” suites. Although these aren’t new technologies, now more than ever people seem interested in using and taking advantage of the cloud and of the cloud computing document-sharing services. If in January 2011, Google has announced that it will offers its users free data storage of files up to 1GB for Google Docs, on June the same year, Microsoft released to the public its “commercial software plus services” called Microsoft Office 3665. Both services include a suite of desktop apps which can be accessed and delivered over the Internet, and provide users with mobility and immediate access to their documents no matter where they, as long as they have a compatible device and an Internet connection. Such tools address mainly businesses, but also users who work in a team and for whom collaboration tools are an essential part of their work. In order to have an optimal communication between users, such a comm...

Microsoft Dynamics project – or formerly referred as Project Green should unify and modulate all Microsoft Business Solutions ERP applications: Microsoft Great Plains/Microsoft Dynamics GP, Microsoft Navision (former Attain) Microsoft Dynamics NAV, Microsoft (Navision) Axapta/Microsoft Dynamics AX. The challenge of unification probably will result in quality change for the unified interface, such as Web/Business portal/Microsoft Outlook & MS Office integration, Deployment of new technologies, such as Microsoft Sharepoint with workflow automation. Plus the development platform for Microsoft Dynamics products should shift from proprietary tools, such as Microsoft Dexterity, C/SIDE, MorphX (no confirmation for Axapta yet – but we guess it should follow) to C# and VB.Net with VisualStudio. In this small article we will try to orient IT managers in Microsoft Business Solutions MRP products selection for international and regional markets. o Microsoft Dynamics GP. The regi...

Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains could be considered as generic ERP platform to be tailored to fit specific industry and market niche. Being mature MRP system and so having a lot of third party modules, Great Plains could fit the unique industry requirements combining these third parties and custom coding. New version: Microsoft Dynamics Great Plains 9.0 will have more options for C#/VB.Net developer, including more exposure to .Net XML web services and Visual Studio. However the GP workstation client code is Microsoft Dexterity written application and we will be focusing on Great Plains Dexterity customization. o Industry Specifics. Recycling containers are rented to customers and based on the balance customers might become vendors – we send customer or vendor invoice and receive or send payments. Clients typically pay for container rent and at the same time – we pay to the client for the recycled materials collected o Service Module. We can use GP Service Ad...

Axapta or now Microsoft Dynamics AX (with the new name for Microsoft Project Green – Microsoft Dynamics) is in the initial phase of requirements mapping for first implementation in Brazil. It is localized to support Brazilian taxation, federal & state reporting and translated to Portuguese. In this small publication we would like to focus on Axapta strong points and how they should fit to Brazilian business requirements o Supply Chain Management. Axapta supports intra-company orders to fulfill external customer sales order, which allows you to design and implement flexible internal cost and profit allocation within your business group or enterprise. Also Axapta supports the seamless link between Service module (repair, preventive maintenance, damage estimation, etc) and on-demand manufacturing order (manufacturing module). Plus nice Axapta flexibility feature is Axapta business logics exposure via web services, which in turn allows repair crew technician to enter replacement p...

Microsoft recently (in September 2005) renamed its ERP product: Great Plains – Microsoft Dynamics GP, Navision – Microsoft Dynamics NAV, Axapta – Microsoft Dynamics AX, Solomon – Microsoft Dynamics SL, Microsoft CRM – Microsoft Dynamics CRM. The idea is probably nice – to unify future concordance product under Microsoft Dynamics name. There are multiple possibilities, however in getting all MRP systems merged into one Microsoft Dynamics and what should be taken as base and what should be phased out. We can not be judges – we will give you some facts for you to take into consideration. This article is planned as a first entry point to look “under the hood” of Microsoft ERP applications and probably compare the facts with the competition: SAP (especially SAP Business One if you are small or mid-size company or international branch of multinational corporation), Oracle E-Business Suite/Oracle Financials, also referred as Oracle Appl...

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 should be considered as very flexible, programmable and customizable CRM application, really it is a heaven for Microsoft .Net and SQL developers. In this small article we will give you highlights on the integration techniques. Special credits should be given Microsoft SQL Server cross-platform integration options, such as Linked Server. o Scenario. Your company has good-old-days Oracle-based business management system, such as cargo tracking in transportation industry. Now you want your sales people to be moved to MS CRM and from MS CRM you need the lookup screen to shipment tracking o Technique. You create linked server to Oracle database from your MS SQL Server, hosting Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Then you create distributed SQL query and insert it in your MS CRM SDK custom form. You integrate this custom form as MS CRM tab or menu for one of your MS CRM objects: Order, Quote, Invoice o Working Off-line. When your sales people are traveling, they can n...