Dynamics GP Technical Support Overview and FAQ

The first thing to is probably to discuss technical support plans and hourly rates with your Microsoft Dynamics GP Partner, implementation consultant or Reseller.  Sometimes these folks, however want to provide complete support on their own, so they do not emphasize other options in your disposition.  Let’s review all the options and try to give you the most popular support issues and how they could be resolved:
1. Microsoft Business Solutions technical support.  If you just acquired Great Plains licenses, you should have annual enhancement plan with MBS.  There might be some confusion on the role of MBS and your Dynamics GP VAR.  Microsoft doesn’t sell licenses directly to the customer, it works through Dynamics GP reseller channel and your GP reseller is responsible for Sales cycle, modules selection and following implementation, data conversion, user training.  Dynamics GP consultants are definitely great people and have a lot of knowledge and experience, however MBS Dynamics GP software is sold with required annual enhancement plan.  This plan gives you, as end customer access to CustomerSource (below we will give you self-support scenario, available through CustomerSource), free registration key to the future versions, discounted technical support cases via MSB GP technical support and other benefits.  When you are selecting the level of the direct MBS support plan, we recommend you to discuss with your Dynamics GP Partner what is expected number of support cases – if you expect technology challenging implementation (where you may have several external legacy systems to be integrated, Integration Manager data migration, or simply when you are large organization and you expect more than twenty Great Plains user licenses) – we recommend you to consider the plan with unlimited number of technical support cases included.  This plan should save you a lot of money and consulting hours (paradoxically from your Dynamics GP Partner, who might be interested to help you directly and do not outsource support completely to Microsoft technical support team)
2. What is typical scope of MBS technical support case?  Please, note that the case is something small in its scope and it is not covering the whole Implementation or Version upgrade, or complete data massage and migration.  When you are coming through implementation phase, it is typically your Dynamics GP consultant, who calls or contacts MBS support via PartnerSource website.  Support case is typically one specific issue, which is expected to be resolved the same day or being reopened and resolved within few business days.  When implementation is over, and you would like to reduce Dynamics GP maintenance cost, we recommend you to get a tour on your CustomerSource and learn how to do self-support and if it doesn’t work, how to place support cases directly with MBS (without the help of your Dynamics GP consultant)
3. Dynamics GP Self-support on the Customer Source.  You are entitled to have access to the Customer Source, please request your Dynamics GP VAR to assist you in getting required credentials.  On the CS, please find Knowledge Base, where you can use keywords (for example, if you got error popup message, try to key in its number or several words of the message in the search edit field).  If you are pretty comfortable with web search queries (google, yahoo, msn/bing), you should expect success rate in finding relevant fix (knowledge base article) to be 50% and even much higher.  In some cases, the fix might require Microsoft SQL DBA skills (fix is done via SQL update queries), and if this is your fix situation, MBS might restrict the article to Dynamics GP Partners only, as you may have high risk to damage your SQL database (or other Great Plains resource).  If you do not see the matching fix via Customer Source knowledge base query, go ahead and place technical support case directly via customer source (typically faster and preferred by Microsoft) or via phone call.  Dynamics GP Technician from Microsoft will reply or walk you through via phone conference
4. What if you are on older Dynamics GP or Great Plains Dynamics/eEnterprise version and do not have support plan with Microsoft?  Well, in this scenario, you should call your Dynamics GP Reseller, who can see your records via Microsoft Business Solutions Partner Source and try to find the fix for you (chances are also high that your Great Plains Consultant knows the answer from his or her head).  In this situation you should be ready to pay hourly consulting rates for the consulting time spent.  If you are on archaic Great Plains version, such as Great Plains Accounting for DOS, Windows or Mac (9.5, 9.2 and earlier), Great Plains on Pervasive SQL 2000/Btrieve or Ctree: 7.5, 7.0, 6.0, 5.5, 5.0, or earlier – these versions are no longer supported by MBS directly and you have to find Dynamics GP Consultant who is familiar and could support these versions
5. Dynamics GP Typical Technical Support issues.  Here we are trying to apply statistics from our Great Plains consulting practice.  In our opinion, the most typical tech support call is the Batch failed to post all the way through.  And looking into the possible causes, these are either unexpected computer crushes (or when user initiates Batch posting process and switches the activity to surfing the Internet, where malware stalls the computer).  Second in its popularity is the user, already logged and went in limbo in killed Dynamics GP session (especially when you are Great Plains Dynamics 7.5 and earlier version).  If this is related to what you got, have all the users to log off and delete Activity in SQL Query Analyzer (SQL 2000), or delete Activity.BTR file in Dynamics/System folder on the server if you are on Btrieve/Pervasive SQL (similar fix is applicable to Ctree, but the file name is Activity.DAT)
6. If your Dynamics GP implementation failed – what to do?  Here you need second opinion.  We are really sorry if this is what happened with you, and we are ready to apologize, as you might be walked through Dynamics GP Sales Cycle by Dynamics GP Reseller, who is really new to the Great Plains implementation practice (who just got its certification requirements via external Dynamics GP consultants or even Contractors).  Please, try to find local Dynamics GP consultants, who have proven record of having successful implementation in your area and industry, or appeal to USA, Canada nationwide Dynamics GP Resellers.  Feel free to call our office for Second Opinion of Microsoft Dynamics GP recovery
7. Local Service.  We provide local Dynamics GP support in Michigan (area code 269 – St. Joseph, Benton harbor, South Haven, Kalamazoo), Chicago (downtown, 773 northern sub-down town, with western and southern suburbs reinforcement from Naperville location area code 630).  Next areas for local support are Houston, San Diego, Los Angeles, Orange County California.  For local service please feel free to call us 1-866-528-0577, email us help@albaspectrum.com  

8. Worldwide and International Dynamics GP support.  Please, feel free to share your Dynamics GP implementation or support case with us.  We are especially geared to help you with Dynamics GP implementation in such countries, as Honduras, Mexico, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, Columbia, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia, Venezuela, Canada (including French speaking Quebec), Turks and Caicos, Bahamas, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland