If you are small of mid-size business, and you are in the corporate ERP and MRP selection process, please read this small publication.
We would like you to concentrate on your Business Processes automation requirements in trying to understand which small business accounting package will fit the best for your enterprise
1. Database Platform. There are several reliable and relatively inexpensive SQL oriented DB platforms on the ERP market: MySQL (good option if you are making custom programming in PHP platform), Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Select (also consider Microsoft SQL Server 2008 for Small Business Server 2008) – also you can get scaled down version from Oracle, which is outside of the scope for this paper. SQL compliance is in our opinion critical, and it is not recommended to choose proprietary DB, typically coming together with such accounting applications as MYOB, Peach Tree, Quick Books
2. Words of respect to Linux and other free Operating Systems. We recommend you to review such Linux platforms as Suse, for example, where you can get software free of charge, and where you pay per customer support case only as you go. We would like to keep reservations at this time to recommend ERP selection on Linux, however we encourage you to make your own ERP market discovery
3. SAP Business One. This ERP and MRP application for Small Business comes from SAP and we trust this ERP brand. SB1 is available on Microsoft SQL Server 2005 and with version SAP Business One 2007A it is now pretty reliable and localized for United States: 1099, Sales Tax, Barcode, Warehouse management, Credit Cards Processing, eCommerce module, CRM. SAP Business One SDK allows you to customize user interface as well as Database transactions: EDI, Integrations with legacy systems: Microsoft CRM, Lotus Notes Domino, Oracle
4. Great Plains Dynamics GP. This solution is coming directly from Microsoft Dynamics subdivision. If you are one-person-operations, we would like you to review Microsoft Small Business Accounting – both SAP BO and Dynamics GP would be probably too expensive for you. Current Dynamics GP, belonging and supported by Microsoft Business Solutions had long small business accounting trace: Great Plains Accounting for DOS: 9.2 and 9.5 were the most popular versions, Great Plains Small Business Financials 7.5, 8.0 and 9.0 were dedicated to small business scaled down versions of Microsoft Great Plains. Current trend in SBF is upgrade and migration to Dynamics GP Business Ready
5. MRP. Both SAP Business One and Great Plains Dynamics GP offer discrete Manufacturing and MRP modules. SAP Business One is closer to small business in our opinion, where you can do intuitive Production Module self discovery. Great Plains, however has Bill of Materials module, which could cover small business manufacturing and assembly
6. Great Plains eConnect versus SAP Business One SDK programming. Both SDK packages are targeted to custom ecommerce applications and software developers. We would like to treat them with the same respect and recommend for deployment
7. Corporate ERP reporting. In both cases we recommend you to consider Crystal Reports. In the case when you are tight with the budget, try to consider Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services or SSRS, as this extension is coming free with Microsoft SQL Server 2005 or 2000 Standard or Enterprise
8. Legacy accounting data conversion and migration. If you company deployed such proprietary accounting packages as PeachTree, MYOB, QuickBooks, we recommend you to consider printing modules reports and saving them in Text tab or comma delimited files, Excel also is good option
9. ERP for International Business. Even Small Business could be involved in international operations, such as purchasing your merchandise from China, India, Philippines, Brazil, Mexico, Russia. If this is your scenario, please try to make the research of Microsoft Business Solutions ERP products support internationally. At this time Dynamics GP is supported in English Speaking countries, and SAP Business One is localized for major nations: Latin America, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Brazil, Israel to name a few
Dexterity Customization for Dynamics GP Evaluation Level Paper
When you are developer it is always a good idea to read technical manuals. But if you was just assigned to the IT team to decide if Dexterity is the right tool to customize your ERP application then first you need something which is in style of ‘easy reading papers’ or FAQ
Planning Dynamics GP Customization in Large Corporation
If you are reading this page then chances are high that you were not able to find ISV add-on and need customization project. Let’s talk about planning, quality assurance and future event such as version updates.
Dynamics GP Invoice Logo Attributed to Specific Company or Crossing the Borders of Three SOP Forms
Initial Great Plains Dynamics architecture had three SOP Invoice forms: Long, Short and Blank. Modern GP is popular in scenarios where you have more than three companies under one business entity umbrella
