Handy v10 Hints from the UK

The Microsoft Dynamics GP UK Blog has a couple of handy hints for v10 following Convergence in Copenhagen. No peeking. Go look for yourself.

Covergence 2007 Europe News

News is starting to trickle out of Convergence 2007 Copenhagen.

• Users of Dynamics Apps get now get 5 years of mainstream support (which you knew) + 5 years of extended support + custom support beyond the 5 years. Be prepared to pull out your wallet, especially for the custom support but if you want to still be running GP 10 in 2020 you can. Please don't call me for support at that time. I'll be on GP 15.
  
• Microsoft's Premier support has been extended to the Dynamics line including 24 hr response and the possibility of on-site support.
• The release schedule for products is now 24 months with service packs on 12 month cycles. This is consistent with the message from Convergence in San Diego.
• GP 11 is due after Office 14 in 2009. Office 14! I'm still learning all the new stuff in Office 2007!
• Microsoft Financing seems to have gotten some air time. It will get some here on the podcast soon too.
• Dynamics is AX is getting integrated VOIP and Instant Messaging. Huh? [Scratch Head]
  
• The new Dynamics head, Kirill Tatarinov, got his first Convergence keynote. Congrats.
• All of this info is via the mainstream press. The Euro conference is filled with more AX and NAV folks and I don't follow enough of their blogs. Perhaps I should start.

Convergence Copenhagen

Just a reminder that Convergence 2007 Copenhagen is October 23-27 in, well, Copenhagen. That would be Denmark for those of you still figuring out that Italy looks like a boot. I won't be attending because, well, I live in Florida and none of my loyal readers have coughed up first class airfare, five star accommodations and event tickets for me. In fact, none of you have put up coach airfare and one star hostel. Slackers!

Well, if I can't go, maybe you can go in my place. I think it would be fun to be a minority in Europe. A GP user in a Navision world that is. I'm sure I could hold my own with all the Axapta and Navision groupies. I thrive on abuse.

If you think you can make it, there's more info at Microsoft. Remember, Convergence 2008 is in my backyard here in Orlando. No really, the convention center is one exit from my office. The orange juice is on me in 2008.

Convergence 2007 DVD’s Are Shipping

I got the email below today so it looks like the Convergence DVD's are shipping. This seems faster than last year so kudos on either getting them out sooner or reducing my expectations.

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Dear Convergence 2007 Attendee,

This e-mail serves as confirmation that your Convergence 2007 DVD set has been shipped and you should be receiving it within 1-2 weeks (International locations may take longer).  The DVD set has been sent via the U.S. Postal Service to the address included with your registration information.  

If you do not receive your DVD set within the specified time, please e-mail Convergence2007DVD@interactservices.com for further assistance.

For more information about the Convergence 2007 DVD set, including how you can order additional copies, please access https://www.msconvergence.com

Thanks again for your participation in Convergence 2007!

Convergence 2007 Team

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More Convergence 2007 Coverage

If you're not sick of Convergence 2007 coverage yet, Smarter Clicks has additional coverage from a GP/CRM/integration standpoint at
http://www.smarterclicks.com/2007/03/users-want-more-integration-from-ms.html

Convergence 2007 Flair

Office Space the movie is alive and well Convergence 2007. Part of Convergence 2007 is buttons. Buttons to id your product, your industry, you name it. I have more flair than Jennifer Aniston did in the movie. (Picture below).

On top of that, we saw a TPS report and header generated out of SRS. Yes, you can now use SQL Reporting Services and Dynamics GP to automate the dreaded TPS report. See we do have a little fun here!

The *#$!*&^% Dynamics Roadmap

The roadmap was effectively non-existent beyond the next release. Want to know why I'm confused?
In the last six months, I have heard all the following. All of it from folks who have been dead on in the past, some of it from people who should know what's going on. In order from oldest to newest:

• The GP/SL closed source with API's into the product model will probably win out with a united product containing both a light and a professional model.
  
• AX will be the surviving product.
  
• AX and NAV will be surviving products.
  
• None of the products are going away for at least 3 versions and the respective languages will stay in use (Dex, MorphX, etc).
  
• Steve B indicated that they are continuing all 4 products (but not for how long) and that they've gotten good at shared development of features.

Steve's comments dovetail with the last set of comments I've heard but that could just be this week's talking points.
Can you see why I'm confused?
So what do I observe? (I have an admitted and obvious GP bias)

• AX gets a lot of love from the MS folks
  
• NAV is getting significantly less attention than last year
  
• SL is getting even less, if that's possible
  
• The GP folks are just so prevalent that you can't ignore them.

So confused as ever, I went to the stats and added up all the sessions from Convergence 2007 for each ERP product based on either the track or the description (an industry track session with a focus on GP was a vote for GP for example). The  results?
GP 54 AX 45 NAV 30 SL 25
Yes I'm sure the results will be different at the European convergence and there's certainly nothing scientific about it.
You decide how that data connects with what I'm hearing.
Update: This post Convergence eweek story again leads back to AX and NAV as the surviving products. They also place emphasis on the Dynamics "platform" and Shareware.

Steve B. Pours Some Good Kool Aid at Convergence 2007

I saw Bill G at Convergence 2006 (I missed the 2005 show) and he didn't wow me. Steve Balmer's performance today was fantastic. He was pouring some serious Kool Aid and we were drinking it.
Seriously, he was a great speaker with lots of enthusiasm and he handled audience questions really well. He "got" people's frustrations.
He deftly step around the roadmap and this was the most confusing conference from that stand point. I'll give that a separate post to separate it from Steve's nice remarks.
Hey Steve, you ready to be on the GP Rocks podcast?

Convergence 2007 Picks and Pans

It's Wednesday at Convergence 2007. We know what's good and bad now so here's my list.

Compliments:

• The venue is fabulous. Much less walking than Dallas and well laid out. Everything was pretty efficient from check in to bus transportation to meals.
• Most of the sessions had large enough rooms (an Office 2007 session is the only exception I've heard about.)
• More of the concurrent sessions speakers were senior folks (program manager types) who could really understand a question and answer it.
• There were lots of MS folks around from Redmond and Fargo to answer questions. If you couldn't get an answer you weren't trying hard enough.

Criticisms:

• As with previous Convergence conference, the SQL sessions I attended were too generic. They focused on generic SQL tuning (normalize your tables) without taking into consideration that DBA's at this conference a supporting pre-built applications. (I can't normalize the GP tables guys!)
• The PowerPoint police need to enforce some best practices. Yes the screens are HUGE but that's not a license to fill them up!
• Not enough of the Fabulous Matt G. (no Matt's not paying me to say this) We saw him at the opening Keynote and I'm sure we'll see him with Balmer's keynote later but that's it.
• Give us some exciting speakers. Again, the SQL stuff I saw today I could have gotten from a book at home. One more time. Give us Kim Tripp in the the SQL track and you'll pack the sessions. I'll lead the cheerleading. There were a few and they were hits but excitement and humor were in short supply.
• The last two Convergences have focused on upcoming products (9.0 was just out in 2006 and 10.0 is due in a few months after 2007). Give us some focus on how to leverage our existing products. We'll have 9.0 barely broken in and we'll be looking at how to train for 10.0.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with Convergence 2007. The last day feels like I've been here a little too long, but ending yesterday would have made it seem short. Balmer's keynote is the last big thing and then I'm off to LA tomorrow for work. We had Bill G. last year, Balmer today, will we see Ray Ozzie next year? Does Ray know that there's a Dynamics line of products?

At Convergence 2007 It's All About the MOSS

It seems like money grows on trees for MS but at Convergence 2007 it's not about the trees, it's about the MOSS. That would Microsoft Office Sharepoint Server, not the gray stuff that grows on trees.

The bottom line going forward with GP is, learn MOSS. It's going to be the underpinnings of so much going forward that you're not going to have anything slick that you can do without Sharepoint. Yes it's more licenses, more servers, I know. But unless you're willing to give up all the collaborative features of GP in the future, you'll need MOSS. Let's face it, it's a collaborative world, so learn it sooner rather than later.

Dynamics GP: Business Ready Licensing

I spent some time with our MS rep today and I got the lowdown on Business Ready Licensing.
I'd heard the term but when MS makes licensing changes I tend to run and hide.I still don't know whether it works for me but at least I understand it now so I thought I would try to translate it into layman's terms.
In a nutshell, it's the value meal approach to licensing. They'll probably hate that which is why they don't say it that way, but I can.
First there's Business Essentials (the medium happy meal) which is the core that most businesses use, all for one, per user, price. (GL, Bank, FA, AR, AP, Multi Currency, POP, SOP, FRx, Inventory, Safe Pay, Interco, Customization site licenses and IM for conversions)
The pricing is tiered and declines with more users but you get the idea.
If that's not enough, you can get the Advanced Management option (the large happy meal). This includes more things than I can list here.
Finally if that doesn't fill you up, there's Advanced Management Enterprise (Super Size me baby). I'm going to go out on a limb and say that this includes all the modules that you want a really specialized consultant for when you implement them.
Don't forget to leave room for desert, there are a few a la carte modules (Payroll, HR, Smartlists builder, etc.) that can be added to any value meal, er ERP solution. Apple pie anyone?
All new customers are getting business ready licenses now, legacy customers like me get a choice to stick with our per module licensing or move to business ready.
The ex-consultant in me likes having modules that might improve my productivity but that we might not have the obvious ROI to buy standalone. Also, as business needs change, you could implement modules you're already licensed for, without additional product cost. Of course, your enhancement plan is based on the whole solution, not just modules you use!
The CFO in me doesn't want my consultant personality spending all his time implementing modules that may or may not help us.
I do wonder what effect this will have on ISV's. If you already have access to Forecaster, will you look at other budgeting solutions? If you have GP intercompany, will you be able to sell the CFO on paying more for the advanced functionality of MC2's Advanced Intercompany product? (Hat tip to Bill Marshall for a fine product.)
If I were a reseller, I'd be thrilled. They make their money on implementations not software sales. I predict that "Well, you already have the software license, why not let us implement feature XYZ?" will be the new hot sales line for some time to come.
Am I business ready? Who knows. I have to go home and run the ROI numbers to find out.

GP 10: Workflow

I went to the workflow session yesterday because I really want workflow and I really want it to work. I was worried that this was a half baked first step.

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.

The few gotcha's were:

• 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.

All in all I was pretty happy with what I saw. The MOSS part is going to start to complicate things but I'll come back to that in another post.

GP 10: Role Based Security

For as good as the keynotes were, there's still some confusion around roles based security. So I went to the session and I have to say that I was a little disappointed. This is a sore area and while version 10 makes some big strides, the Q&A afterwards left me with more questions than answers.

What I do know is:

It's Role Based
There are operations (lowest level, a window, report, etc.) for example an AP Window
that are grouped into tasks like processing AP

Which are grouped into a role like an AP clerk.

How is this different from classes? Well the third level makes huge difference. The task is essentially a function. So I can build security functions (enter AP, Cut AP checks, Post AP, etc) that are pretty independent of the user and then as the role changes, I can give and take away tasks without having to drill down to the operation level.

So an if an AP clerk gets promoted to an AP supervisor, I just change the role. But if an AP clerk is now going to post their own AP, I simply add a task to the role. There's no delegation per se, but it should be easy to do for things like vacations. Simply add a task to a role during the vacation period, then remove it.

Roles can be different in different companies and there is lots of copying functions to make your life easier.

It's Pessimistic Not Optimistic
GP 10 security assumes you can't do anything and requires explicit permission to an operation. This is a change from Optimistic security in previous versions that required specific removal of permission.

You will need to convert security during the upgrade (or rebuild all your users). Users get their own role during the upgrade that keeps all their existing security allowing you to migrate users to new roles in a more leisurely manner.

Reporting is Better
Reporting appears to be better in GP 10. You may actually be able to give your auditor a security report. Then again, it was fun handing them a 500 page security printout. The looks were priceless!

What's Not in There
In the Q&A we learned that currently there is no import/export for security settings. As one user mentioned, they use this to setup security in a test environment and then migrate the settings via import/export to reduce security related user calls. I'm guessing this will be back in by the final version.

I asked about speed. As much as I love the GUI for Advanced Security, it's slow. I know why it's slow. I completely understand, but it's still slow. There didn't seem to be a recognition from the GP team that speed was an issue, even though the rest of the crowd clearly thought so.

Bottom Line, it looks much better. I still worry that the team doesn't quite get it but it's closer to the right solution.

Convergence Catchup

For those of you not at Convergence it's been a busy few days here. For the folks who are here, make sure you take some Advil for that hangover headache.
To catch folks up:
GP 10 is due to be released in June with a new interface. Smartlists are now Navigation lists with a deeper/stronger connection to the interface. Instead of a feature, it's now an integral part of the app.
Navigation lists also use a ribbon like interface a la Office 2007 but for some unexplained reason, they don't use the word ribbon. In fact they studiously avoid the word ribbon. What's up with that?
Palettes are back, sort of. Customizable transaction workflow is now included, I'll have more on that later. Also, the security model has been revised from an optimistic to a pessimistic security.
MS announced a new community initiative, a "MySpace for Finance Professionals" that is getting some press coverage. I see this as long overdue upgrade to their Newsgroups. The site will have RSS to make it easy to follow. I'm not sure why it took MS a year to build this, they have tools to get this done in a lot less time, but it is what it is, or rather, it what we, the GP community, make it to be.
I'll have more to say about workflow, security and the other pieces later. They each deserve their own post.
Today is nitty gritty day so I hope to be able to cut through the keynotes to what will work in the real world and what won't.
Meanwhile, I've recorded a podcast with Davis Sooknanan of Roadtown Wholesale. They were a 2005 Pinnacle award winner. Not easy when you're business is on an island in the Caribbean! So look for that next week. Also Mary Jo Foley and I are trying to hookup for a podcast today.
To the folks who recognized me from the blog or the podcast and stopped to say hi, I have to say that I'm thrilled that you get something out of site and I hope to continue delivering GP info for a long time.

Convergence 2007 Rumors

Now I'm not one to go around spreading rumors, well maybe I am. What I've heard is that Microsoft is now bringing FRx fully into the MS fold. It appears that there will NOT be an FRx 7 but that FRx will be rolled into another new server product.
Rumors put Convergence 2008 back in Orlando. Apparently there are just too many of us. We'll find out more at the end of Convergence, but if it's true, it will be nice to have it back in my backyard.
Rumors persist about an Office interface for Dynamics, but they continue to be vague. Update: Before I could even get this posted, Satya announced it!
Finally, Steve Balmer's private party is Tuesday night at... if I tell you, they'll take my name off the list!

Updating GP Session, Convergence 2007

The GP Update session continues to be one of the best technical sessions at Convergence. This is NOT a fluffy Marketing session. Partners should push clients to attend this lest us customers think that this is simple and nothing can go wrong! I always learn something in this session that I didn't know about GP.

Convergence 2007 First Takes

After an incredibly smooth trip, I'm at Convergence. (thanks Southwest!) The expo continues to grow and there are booth babes this year. 8,000 attendees must be the threshold for that! Everything seems better organized this year and the partners seem to be trying to outdo each other. As
a customer, I encourage this behavior! I've got a few tidbits from folks but I'm not ready to share them just yet. Maybe tonight.
It you're not here yet, you'll be happy to know that you get a license for office 2007 (via download) when you register.

Convergence 2007 CPE Form is Here!

As promised, the CPE reporting form for Convergence 2007 is finally available. The CPE form is available here as a PDF. It's also available from the CPE button on the lower right of the MS Convergence website.
There are 25 CPE credits available for the whole conference. The recommended field of study is Accounting/Auditing but you may want to check your state's requirements. In Florida, computer related items are typically classified as technical business.
I want to add a big thank you to everyone on the Convergence team who made this possible. This is soooo much better than last year. Thanks for making this happen.

Convergence Map is Available

A map of the San Diego Convention center with Convergence information is now available at the Convergence website. If you're going to Convergence, wear good shoes, drink lots of water, visit a party or two but remember, you're not in college any more!
For those of you that I owe a drink to, this is the place to collect!

Convergence 2007 Hotels are Sold Out

All of the official Convergence 2007 hotels are sold out which bodes well for conference attendance. Although it stinks if you don't have a room yet.
I'm on Convergence Connect as mpolino if anyone wants to get together and say hi at the conference.
Make sure you stop by the Accolade Publications booth and tell Richard Whaley hi. I'm working on getting him on as a podcast guest.