Technical Support for Dynamics GP and Older Versions of Great Plains Dynamics

However there might be the situations, when you are not sure who is your original or even current Great Plains VAR, and your version of GP is too old and direct support from MBS is no longer available.  And typically when you need the support in the situations, described above – you need help immediately, as something broke and your Accounting system is not functioning.  It is still a good idea to call Microsoft to check with them on what to do – they might offer you GP Reseller, who is comfortable to support your old version or even recommend you somebody from Dynamics GP consulting community, who has reasonable expertise in your industry, is in your local area (if this is critical selection factor), is experienced in data repair techniques, etc.  You may also decide to do your expedited research, starting with Google, Yahoo, Microsoft Bing searches to locate whoever is out there.  In this small paper we will try to give you typical support cases and how they might be resolved, including expected budget:

1. Data Repair.  Great Plains Dynamics was designed without the limits on accessing and altering database directly through such tools, as SQL Server Query Analyzer.  Due to Dexterity architecture universality (technical possibility to roll out GP on targeted DB platform in reasonable period of time) and probably some other factors, the application doesn’t use such features of MS SQL Server as Transactions with their Commit and Rollback methods.  Instead the integrity of the data flow is forced in Great Plains Dexterity logic (with some exceptions, where chunks of Dexterity codes were recoded directly in SQL Stored Procedures, typically for newer versions: 2010, 10.0, 9.0, 8.0, 7.5).  Dexterity, however governs the logic directly from your user workstation and you got some issues with your computer (blue screen with Windows restarting, or catching virus or Trojan while surfing the internet, or simple power outage) – there might be the situations where your GP data flow (especially vulnerable is batch posting process) becomes corrupt and you need data repair on the SQL scripting level.  Of course you may decide to do the work around, something like trashing the failed batch and reentering all the transactions one more time and posting the new batch in more careful environment, but still, there are chances that data fixing might be required.  If you are still on MBS active Dynamics GP annual enhancement plan, you may simply login Customer Source and search knowledge base – you case might be described there and all you need to do – is following the instructions.  If you do not have active support plant, but have active Dynamics GP Partner, you may call them and they will login Partner Source and try to find matching tech support article.  But in the best case scenario, the situation should be trusted into the hands of experienced Great Plains technical consultant, as data repair can lead to the new issues and serious problems (compare it to surgical operation, where you have to entrust your health and often the whole life to medical doctor).  Let’s now move on to expansions case

2. Let’s assume that you had economy hardship several years ago, but by now your company is back in the saddle and ready to grow.  And you realized that you need several new modules and several additional user licenses.  In this scenario, we are really happy for you, but you have to settle your situation with Microsoft Business Solutions, where they were expecting you to pay Dynamics GP annual enhancement plan every year (and you probably lapsed with payments while your company was in crisis and related cash shortage).  The situation is a bit more complicated, especially comparing to what you might expect it to be (you cannot count on the single call to MBS with something like that message – hey, I am back here, let’s write off whatever I didn’t pay during these several years, but, I am your customer and I am happy to pay for new modules!!!).  You should expect reenrollment fee, sometimes, when we were broking for our customers, who lapsed, the best option was software repurchase

3. Expected Budget.  It might be compared in its dynamic with something like new versus old car maintenance and repair rates.  The older is your car, the higher is the price for the spare parts and labor (antiquity car is probably the most expensive in its repair, of course if you are not doing it yourself).  We would also say, that direct technical support from MBS is below the typical expectation of car repair per visit.  If you have to fix something in really obsolete versions of Great Plains, such as Great Plains Dynamics on Pervasive SQL 2000 (7.5, 7.0, 6.0, 5.5, 5.0, 4.0) or Great Plains Accounting for DOS, Windows: 9.5, 9.2 and earlier, then you should expect case repair cost to cross five hundred dollars line

4. To request further support, please call us 1-866-528-0577, help@albaspectrum.com We need to discuss your cards in order to recommend you the best solutions, which is not contingent to our preferences.  We serve you USA/Canada nationwide via remote support (web sessions and phone/Skype conferences).  Local service is available in Western Michigan, Chicagoland, Southern California (LA, Orange County, San Diego), Houston area of the state of Texas