You, Me and Dynamics GP
With the release of Victoria Yudin’s new book, Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 Implementation, books about Dynamics GP are starting to see some real momentum. I thought it would be fun to interview Victoria about her book so we did a little email interview so that you can get to know Victoria and learn more about her book. (I know that you all know who she is but maybe there’s a jealous Dynamics AX person in the back wanting to know more about GP)
1) First, congratulations on your new book, Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 Implementation. I’ve read it and it’s a great resource on Microsoft Dynamics GP. Can you tell me how the book came about?
Thank you very much! The publisher of the book, Packt Publishing, approached me about writing a book on a Dynamics GP topic. They had a few different topics in mind and a few people they were talking to, and wanted to know if I was interested. We decided that the best topic for my particular skill set and experience would be implementation of Dynamics GP, specifically geared towards the small to mid-size company.
I was a little reluctant about taking on this project at first. While I had written several articles and blog posts in the past, I had never written a book before. I suspected it would be a pretty serious time commitment and I wasn’t sure how this would work while at the same time running Flexible Solutions. In addition to our regular Dynamics GP work, we recently released our first ISV product, GP Reports Viewer, and I wanted to make sure that I would be able to give enough time and attention to everything. In the long run, after discussing this with my family and colleagues, I decided that writing this book was something I really wanted to do. The more I thought about the prospect of writing a book and talked about it with others, the more excited I got about it.
Now that it’s done and the book is out there, I can tell you that I certainly did not overestimate the time commitment, but it was an extremely interesting and educational experience and I am very grateful to have been given this opportunity. The feedback I have received has been amazing and very rewarding.
2) Who is the target audience for this book?
The target audience for this book is pretty broad. While keeping in mind that the goal was to provide a GP implementation guide for small to mid-size businesses, I really tried to provide a lot of value to just about any Dynamics GP consultant and technical user. I think even longtime Dynamics GP consultants can benefit from the sections that go over every single field on all the setup windows. Anyone that has not used Integration Manager, or needs some help getting started with it, can benefit from my chapter with examples on setting up a few of the typical imports.
I personally find that I am using my installation chapter for every new install I do. I also find myself referring to the book quite often for finding various pieces of information. Yesterday I used it to find the link to the Microsoft support wizard and the location of the file to create a 32-bit ODBC on a 64-bit computer. The eBook version is great for being able to do searches like this.
3) What makes this book special versus just using the Dynamics GP Manuals?
Let me start off by saying that I think Dynamics GP manuals are some of the better written software manuals I have seen throughout my career. My book is not meant to replace them so much as to augment them. There is not one manual out there that will take you through a complete implementation process, which is the goal of my book. In some cases, I tried to condense the information readers would need to check for in 5 different manuals into one place. In other cases, I added information and links from PartnerSource and CustomerSource, Dynamics GP blogs and Microsoft’s website to provide my readers with a much more complete set of resources than they can get from the manuals. I also tried to provide some real-life examples of when to choose certain options as well as some recommendations based upon successful implementations we have worked on.
Victoria Yudin is the longest running MVP for Microsoft Dynamics GP. She is the owner of Flexible Solutions and you get her book, Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 Implementation at:
Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 Implement...
Victoria Yudin
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