If you have Microsoft Dynamics GP (formerly also known as Microsoft Great Plains, Great Plains Dynamics and eEnteprise) implemented in your organization as Corporate ERP solution and you have extensive Warehouse Management, Retail and Point Of Sale, Barcode Scanning, Barcode labels (or also known as Barcode Tags) printing directly at the point of Purchase Receipts, we are happy to offer you this small publication.
We assume that you have already reviewed Dynamics GP Barcoding add-ons,
available as off-the-shelf products, supported by Microsoft Dynamics GP ISV partners, and reading this news you are not happy with existing product and would like to consider custom programming options
1. Barcoding integration to Dynamics GP Nature. Technically Barcode Font is similar to letters and digits representation and there is very little difference between uploading Barcode sequences from the scanner (or Barcoding Server) and entering them directly from computer keyboard. However with Barcoding integration you have the following challenge - how to upload Barcode Scanner batch into Dynamics GP existing screens? In this scenario you have to introduce custom logic for Barcoding Batch upload to Dynamics GP, typically Microsoft Dexterity programmed Custom Ad-on. Good example would be merchandise receipt in your Warehouse by Barcode scanners equipped warehouse workers and then uploading Barcode Scanner batch to Microsoft Dynamics GP Purchase Receipt logic
2. Barcode Integration Points to Dynamics GP. As we already mentioned in previous paragraph, technically all the windows, where you could expect entering information directly by typing on computer keyboard - could be potentially automated with Barcode scanner upload in real time or in Batch mode. This flexibility level also introduces the problem for shelved Dynamics GP Barcode Products, as typically they work with very restricted set of Great Plains Windows
3. Barcoding Solutions for Dynamics GP approach. We offer you different paradigm. Instead of frozen Add-on functionality we offer you so-called Dynamics GP Barcoding Solutions. These are proven and tested Barcode related Dexterity scripts, eConnect codes and libraries, plus SQL Stored Procedures. We are also happy to offer you XML parsing for Barcode integration to Dynamics GP Dexterity, eConnect or SQL Stored Procedure in the form of parameters
4. Barcode Item Tags Printing. In our opinion one of the most elegant barcode labels printing solution could be realized in Crystal Reports. We can also provide Barcode Item Tags printouts in Dynamics GP Report Writer or Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services (these two options comes to you free of software licenses charge, however consulting fee might be comparable or higher in comparison to Crystal Reports)
5. Barcode transactions integration and Dynamics GP Integration Manager, There is possible work around to avoid Dexterity customization for Barcode automation. Consider the following method: you upload Barcode Scanning batch to SQL custom tables or to the text tab or coma delimited files. Then you have Dynamics GP Integration Manager Integration to pick these records (either Advanced ODBC in the case of SQL custom tables or regular text file integration in the case of text file). This method allows you to control Barcode integration in user friendly Integration Manager and avoid potentially expensive Microsoft Dexterity programming
6. Great Plains Old Version Barcode Automation Programming. Obviously it is always good idea to upgrade to the most recent version of your Corporate ERP application. However we understand and respect your situation, when you had to hold on spending and decided not to pay for Annual Microsoft Dynamics GP Enhancement Program and now you do not have access to new Great Plain version reg key. Dexterity should be able to do the job, but the concern is Database Platform, especially when you are on legacy Pervasive SQL Server, Ctree - it might be too expensive to pay for Great Plains on Pervasive SQL 2000 Dexterity custom programming and this programming investment could be obsolete in few years
7. Dynamics GP Barcoding for Multinational Company Challenge. As you might be aware - Microsoft Dexterity doesn't support Unicode characters (Chinese, Japanese, Korean hieroglyphs as the most typical example). For Chinese food distribution businesses in USA we have custom module, which allows you to print combined US English and Chinese characters on the same Dynamics GP originated documents. In international environment this objective is more complex as there are Corporate ERP localization (local language support in ERP user interface and compliance to local country tax and government reporting requirements)
8. Options for China. If you have Microsoft Dynamics GP in US, Canadian, UK, Australian, New Zealand, South African Headquarters and you would like to implement ERP application for Chinese subsidiary, compatible with Dynamics GP (FRx consolidated financial reporting), we recommend you Microsoft Dynamics AX (Axapta) or if Axapta is exceeding the budget, SAP Business One
9. Options for Russia and Central Asia. For Russian Federation we also recommend either Axapta (if budget permits) or SAP Business One. There is also known domination (at least how we see it for 2010) in Russian Corporate ERP and Small Business Accounting market - 1S Bukhgalteria (1C Accounting). SAP B1 and Axapta in our opinion are more open and friendly to US and International GAAP (for consolidated financial reporting), but if you decide on 1S - we should be able to help you in Financial Consolidated Reporting in FRx
