ECommerce Integration Add-Ons for Microsoft Dynamics GP

Instead of promising so-called "turn-key" ecommerce to Corporate ERP tandem, we recommend you so-called "solutions" approach, where your ecommerce programmers deploy and tune connectors, libraries or code samples, proven and tested in multiple ecommerce integration to Dynamics GP environments:
1. Ecommerce master-slave concept.  Before you jump into the technology details, let's speculate about strategy.  If your current ecommerce website application has rich functionality (inventory item adding, counting, pricing, including sales promotion campaigns, potentially logistic automation by initiating product allocation to Sales Order and delivery, new and existing customers maintenance, etc) then you may decide to make your current ecommerce application to be a master and push its records to Dynamics GP (which should be in this case Slave application).  Often we see opposite situation, where ecommerce application is pretty simple and all the logic is done in Microsoft Dynamics GP and records should be pushed to ecommerce (here we have GP as master and ecommerce as slave)
2. Ecommerce integration target in Dynamics GP.  In most of the scenarios you are targeting Dynamics GP Sales Order Processing  (ecommerce invoices or sales orders), Inventory Control (new and existing items, price lists, items availability in warehouses), Receivable Management (new and existing ecommerce customers), Purchase Order (Purchase Receipts - typically when you are receiving merchandise in GP and pushing new items into ecommerce database)
3. Ecommerce integration programming tools.  Microsoft Dynamics GP is available on Microsoft SQL Server DB platform (2008, 2005, 2000 and earlier) and Microsoft Windows Servers (2008, 2003, 2000 and earlier), and these facts make Microsoft Visual Studio and Dynamics GP eConnect SDK.  If fact, you can review Dynamics GP table structure in GP SDK (could be installed from GP 10 CD #2), or directly in Dynamics GP user interface (Dynamics GP -> Tools -> Resource Description -> Tables), however you should be cautious and we recommend you to use direct SQL Select statements only to pull data from Great Plains and avoid feeding data via SQL Insert statements (as you could violate business logic and compromise data integrity, instead consider pushing data to Dynamics GP via eConnect methods)
4. ECommerce Order Connector.  This product is the set of SQL Stored Procedures, dedicated to ecommerce developer to move ecommerce orders to Dynamics GP Sales Order Processing module.  It is "Solution" in the sense of being tunable and customizable, it is also compatible with historical versions of Microsoft Great Plains and Great Plains Dynamics  (on Microsoft SQL Server, not available for Pervasive SQL Server 2000 or Ctree).  Currently we are in progress to extend Order Connector to cover major ecommerce generic platforms integration to Microsoft Dynamics GP with intuitive user interface setup
5. Alba Spectrum Posting Server.  Often in ecommerce you require complete automation, where you expect ecommerce walk-in or on account customer to pick the products into ecommerce shopping cart, go to check out, pay with credit card or on account and then your ecommerce application automatically creates Microsoft Dynamics GP Invoice (including posting it - or in ERP terminology transfer it from work to open phase).  If you already reviewed eConnect libraries and methods - you should of realize, that eConnect doesn't have Dynamics GP Batch Posting logic.  If you want to do automatic batch posting directly from your ecommerce application, please review Alba Spectrum Posting Server
6. Cross Platform eCommerce integration to Microsoft Dynamics GP.  Web hosting is very popular on Linux and Sun/Solaris platform.  eCommerce DB could be high end Oracle, DBII, Sybase, Progress.  If this is your case, you can still use eConnect, Order Connector or Posting Server, assuming that you are familiar with such technologies as JDBC-ODBC Bridge, ODBC connection from Oracle development environment
7. ECommerce for legacy Great Plains Dynamics versions.  As general recommendation (we are ready to do the job, if you decide that you would like it anyway), we recommend you to update to current Dynamics GP version 10.0 (or if you are reading this lines in second half of 2010 - then to Microsoft Dynamics GP 11.0).  Current version has the following advantages: it is supportable by Microsoft Business Solutions directly in case when you are disappointed in your Dynamics GOP Partner; it si compatible with current MS SQL Server and Windows Server versions to name a few
8. Dynamics GP Software Development Factory.  If you would like to outsource Great Plains Ecommerce development project, we are happy to offer you our Great Plains Dexterity and eConnect Software Development Factory services.  We serve you USA, Canada nationwide, plus in Spanish speaking Central and South America (in Brazil we offer you SAP Business One to Dynamics GP integration services)
9. Local Dynamics GP eCommerce Integration Programming Service in USA.  We serve you from our offices in Chicago, San Diego, Los Angeles, Houston, Atlanta (in GA we only support SAP Business One customers locally)
10. Service in Europe and Central Asia.  As Microsoft Dynamics GP is no longer supported in continental Europe (including eastern Europe: Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Belarus, Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland) - Alba Spectrum is supporting old versions of Dynamics GP and Great Plains Dynamics in Russian, German, Polish, French: 9.0, 8.0, 7.5, 7.0, 6.0, 5.5, 5.0, 4.0 and earlier
11. Please, call us in USA or Canada: 1-866-528-0577, or internationally 1-630-961-5918, or email us help@albaspectrum.com  Our Dynamics GP, SAP Business One and Microsoft CRM consultants and programmers speak English, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Russian, Filipino