You, Me and Dynamics GP
With everything I saw, it looks like a really good feature. There are a few limitations that will cause problems for some people but unlike some earlier workflow attempts from GP (anyone remember the original eRequisition?) it looks really well fleshed out.
I found that I was so intrigued that I hardly took any notes so here's what I remember.
- The flow was extremely flexible with lots of options for approvals. Especially prevelant were email notifications and approvals including rolling up emails over a period (say once a day) instead of having to get an email for every transaction.
- Lot of 2nd gen features like delegation, expiration and notifcation up the chain if an item is not approved or rejected in a timely manner.
- Lots of approval options including email, web page (Sharepoint) and inside the app.
- Tight ties to sharepoint including being able to review the transaction from a web page. It's entirely possible to have approval users who never touch the GP app. They simply get an email, review the transaction online via a link in the email and approve online.
- You have to be running MOSS. No not the furry tree stuff, Microsoft Office Sharepoint Server (System? who can remember). In fact, for so much of this new stuff, Sharepoint is the glue, the underpinnings, the framework, the engine. Pick your metaphone but while you're doing that. Learn Sharepoint.
- MOSS requires a license per user and a server license but with GP the server license is being waived so save a couple grand.
- Because of the MOSS tie in, you need a separate server for MOSS. They say you can't stick it on your SQL box.
- Finally, we learned in Q&A that you can turn delegation (letting someone else approve for me for a period of time) on or off but you can't set rules about downstream delegation. So a CFO could delegate approval to a Jr. A/P Clerk which is a Sarbanes-Oxley no-no.
