Microsoft Great Plains: Dexterity vs. eConnect – FAQ : by More by Andrew Karasev
submitted Monday Aug 08th, 2005
Miscellaneous
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Microsoft Great Plains: Dexterity vs. eConnect – FAQ
More Miscellaneous Articles Microsoft Great Plains: Dexterity vs. eConnect – FAQ
Author: Andrew Karasev
Date Added: Monday Aug 08th, 2005
Category: Miscellaneous Microsoft Business
Solutions Great Plains, former Great Plains Software Dynamics/eEnterprise was
originally written in IDE and programming language – Great Plains Dexterity.
Currently Microsoft is on the way of transforming its ERP applications: Great
Plains, Navision, Solomon, Axapta and MS CRM to be better integrated and fit
into the future of its .Net platform. As a result we see new development tools:
eConnect, Extender, etc. These tools should probably succeed Dexterity in the
long run. From time to time we see complications on this way – for example on
recent MBS worldwide conference – Dexterity Source code partner program, closed
several years ago for new partner, was tentatively promised to be reopened. In
this small article we would like to answer on the typical questions we are
getting from IT strategists and lead developers.
eConnect Overview.
This SDK tool, which addresses existing and creates new Great Plains objects:
Master Records (Customer, Vendor, Employee, Account, etc) and work documents:
Sales Order, Invoice, Purchase Order, GL transaction to name a few. This is
excellent tool and is very popular among web developers – it was originally
created for eCommerce programmers who wanted to deploy Great Plains as back
office/ERP/Accounting.
eConnect
Limitations. First of all – we
saw numerous clients, who were disappointed in the fact that eConnect can not
automate posting and SOP Orders transfer to Invoices. You should understand
the rules of ERP system – first you create so-called work documents: quote,
order, invoice and then you post it – documents should be approved for posting
and this should be done through standard ERP fat client interface, not
eConnect or other standard integration tools. Second important limitation –
if you have dexterity customization – eConnect can not address custom logic –
it works with standard Great Plains objects only. We understand that this is
difficult to foresee when you ask questions to your Microsoft Business
Solutions VAR, and also that each ERP has specifics you need to know: say
Oracle Financials world has its own must-know bells-and whistles – when you
work with specific large ERP – you should invest a lot of time in analysis and
decision making.
Dexterity
Overview. Dexterity itself is a
shell/IDE/programming language written in C back in earlier 1990th. You
probably remember old-days-believe that C will secure database and graphical
platform independence, plus it will direct you to the way of computer platform
independence. But the matter of fact is – Great Plains Dexterity dictates the
rules of customization – each GP custom-logic table must be created in
Dexterity to be viewed via GP standard interface,
Dexterity
Limitations. Of course –
Dexterity is kind of legacy IDE and it was created in the days when nobody
could predict internet and thin clients future. So – you can not use
Dexterity in your web application, you have to stick to stored procedures or
eConnect.
You can always appeal
to our expertise. Give us a call: 1-630-961-5918, 1-866-528-0577, help@albaspectrum.com
Andrew Karasev is Chief
Technology Officer at Alba Spectrum Technologies (
http://www.albaspectrum.com ) -
Microsoft Business Solutions and IBM Lotus Domino Partner, serving corporate
customers in the following industries: Aerospace & Defense, Medical &
Healthcare, Distribution & Logistics, Wholesale & Retail, Chemicals, Oil & Gas,
Placement & Recruiting, Advertising & Publishing, Textile, Pharmaceutical,
Non-Profit, Beverages, Conglomerates, Apparels, Durables, Manufacturing and
having locations in multiple states and internationally.
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