Supporting Old Great Plains Dynamics GP Versions Notes

Great Plains Dynamics for Windows was introduced as pioneering Corporate ERP and Accounting application back in earlier 1990th as reasonable way out from old DOS accounting and Corporate ERP applications.  Competition those old good days was pretty tough: Maconomy (Great Plains was also balancing Macintosh graphical platform to see who will be the winner in the long run), Scala (where most of the coding was in time performed in Hungary, it was one of the leading DOS Accounting packages in Europe), SUN Accounting, etc.  Most of the competitors names are now forgotten, as we could conclude, but what the future will be nobody could predict with assurance.  We remember ourselves to be visitors in Mac World conference in San Francisco in 1995, where we decided to stake on Great Plains Dynamics (however I personally recommended to try Maconomy - Denmark developed Accounting package for Macintosh OS).  Plus consider additional complexities, as nobody knew about Java those days (however we took into consideration SUN Solaris Operating System, which was close to UNIX platform)  But this was historical excurse.  Let's move on to modern day events and Dynamics GP support:
1. Microsoft Dynamics GP support for versions 10.0 and 9.0.  Assuming that you got so far, support depends on the fact if you are current in Microsoft Business Solutions Dynamics GP annual enhancement program.  If the answer is Yes, we are currently enrolled in Microsoft Dynamics GP enhancement program for 2009 (or whatever is the year when you read this article), then your organization has access to newest Dynamics GP version (at this time, October 2009 it is Microsoft Dynamics GP version 10.0)
2. If you do not have support plan from Microsoft Business Solutions, please check with your official Dynamics GP Reseller on reenrollment options (or call our office for having help in reenrollment).  Chances are high that your decision to abandon support plan was reasonable and the budget to reenroll is too high or even unrealistic.  In that case you should probably stick to the option to run your Dynamics GP Great Plains on the old version.  Just to give you our reasoning.  MBS encourages Dynamics GP VARs to encourage their customers to be on current GP version and in Annual Enhancement Program, but we understand your situation and we are willing to help you with old Great Plains version support
3. Support FAQ for Great Plains on Pervasive SQL 2000 or Ctree,  In our experience the issues are typically related to GP System moving to new server and Location Translation dilemma.  Ctree or Btrieve/Pervasive SQL 2000 date repair - we recommend these to be done via ODBC drivers from Microsoft Access (via Linked tables) or in MS SQL Server Linked Server object
4. Great Plains Accounting Migration to Dynamics GP.  If your organization is in decent shape budget wise, please consider GPA to Dynamics GP migration scenario.  GPA for Windows NT, DOS or Macintosh might be considered as Solid Rock Corporate ERP platform, however it is no longer supported directly by Software Publisher (Great Plains Software was acquired by Microsoft and Microsoft Business Solutions terminated GPA support in around 2001)
5. GPA redeployment on Windows 2003 Server.  This is possible way to try, if you plan to stick to Great Plains Accounting for DOS or Windows for another ten years.  There is the technology to move your GPA from Novell or Windows NT Servers to MS Windows 2003 Server (we could not guarantee the same results for Windows2008 Server, including Small Business Server 2008 version, as we need to provide addition testing and QA)
6. GPA for DOS, Windows and Mac Support.  We are committed to this market segment, and we have trained Great Plains Accounting consultants in staff.  We have access as well to GPA knowledge base, where all the known issues for Great Plains Accounting were documented as of the end of 2001
7. Intellisol Tragedy.  If your company is on Great Plains 7.5 or earlier and you are deploying Intellisol Project Accounting, please contact Work Forth on upgrade path.   I you have Intellisol Advance Purchase Processing add-on module, please consider migration to Great Plains 7.5 Purchase Order module.  Somewhere around year 2000, Great Plains Software preferred to purchase Match Data Systems Project Accounting add-on (Great Plains ISV partner from Philippines), versus purchasing Intellisol International (Australia based GP ISV partners with newly opened office in Fargo, ND) Project Accounting (we don't know the details of the negotiation - we just stating the facts.  Our Consultant Andrew Karasev was certified with Intellisol both Project Accounting and Advanced Purchase Order Processing, this is why we feel that we are in good position to help you with Intellisol walking away or migration)
8. Migration Path to Dynamics GP or SAP Business One.  Microsoft Dynamics GP is in our opinion preferred as you can rely on GPA to Great Plains 7.5 migration tool.  However if your business is downsizing, please consider migrating to such Small Business ERP and accounting packages as SAP Business One, Microsoft Small Business Accounting, QuickBooks, PeachTree, MYOB.  Just as our two cents advise only, as we do not directly sell, implement or support QuickBooks, Peach Tree, MYOB, Accpac
9. Some good words about SAP Business One.  We would like the opportunity to offer SB1 as an alternative to Microsoft Dynamics GP in the case when you are downgrading in Corporate ERP application.  SB1 is dedicate to Small Business clients, however in our opinion this application has Production (discrete manufacturing), CRM, Service and Contract Management features
10. How to get help?  Please, feel free to call us: 1-866-528-0577, outside of USA: 1-630-961-5918 or email us help@albaspectrum.com  We are very technical and real Dynamics GP Dexterity, SAP Business One SDK and Microsoft CRM programming gurus.  We have Great Plains Software Development Factory and could support unlimited Dynamics GP Customization and Programming needs.  Plus we speak English, Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, and not only as native speaking sales folks, but as real technical consultants.  If you prefer skype: albaspectrum