The Dynamics GP Blogster

SmartList Builder: Sales Summary By Quarter

2013-05-07T10:24:00.000-04:00

Just recently I was approached by a partner wanting to leverage the info in the Receivables Summary table (RM00104) to build a smart list showing sales summary by quarter. The smart list needed to display the following information:

Customer Number	Year	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4
AARONFIT0001	2013	0.00	4224.67	0.00	10277.37
AARONFIT0001	2014	21468.68	0.00	0.00	0.00
AARONFIT0001	2016	12164.15	0.00	0.00	0.00
AARONFIT0001	2017	4945.70	5809.40	0.00	0.00
AARONFIT0001	2018	0.00	0.00	877.50	0.00

As is customary with these types of request, the best bet is to create a SQL Server view that can then be leveraged from Smartlist Builder. By using a SQL Server view, we can leverage some cool T-SQL set-based data manipulation capabilities.

-- Created by Mariano Gomez, MVP
-- This code is licensed under the Creative Commons 
-- Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
-- http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/legalcode
--
SELECT custnmbr as [Customer Number], year1 as [Year], isnull([1], 0.00) as Q1, isnull([2], 0.00) as Q2, isnull([3], 0.00) as Q3, isnull([4], 0.00) as Q4
FROM (
  SELECT custnmbr, year1, datepart(qq, datefromparts(year1, periodid, 1)) as qtr, smrysals 
  FROM RM00104
  WHERE histtype = 1
) p
PIVOT 
( SUM (smrysals) FOR qtr IN ([1], [2], [3], [4])
) AS pvt
GO

The above query, produces the results required, but what makes it happen is the beauty of the PIVOT operator. In addition, if you are using SQL Server 2012, you can take advantage of the DATEFROMPARTS function to simplify the conversion of the date parts (year1 and periodid) to a full date to then calculate the quarter with the DATEPART function.

If you are using SQL Server 2008 or earlier, the following query should do:

-- Created by Mariano Gomez, MVP
-- This code is licensed under the Creative Commons 
-- Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
-- http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/legalcode
--
SELECT custnmbr as [Customer Number], year1 as [Year], isnull([1], 0.00) as Q1, isnull([2], 0.00) as Q2, isnull([3], 0.00) as Q3, isnull([4], 0.00) as Q4
FROM  (
  SELECT custnmbr, year1, datepart(qq, CAST(CAST(year1 AS varchar) + '-' + CAST(periodid AS varchar) + '-' + CAST(1 AS varchar) AS DATETIME)) as qtr, smrysals 
  FROM RM00104
  WHERE histtype = 1
) p
PIVOT 
( SUM (smrysals) 
  FOR qtr IN ([1], [2], [3], [4])
) as pvt
GO

Note that the above version of the query uses the CAST function to determine the date.

Until next post!

MG.-
Mariano Gomez, MVP
IntellPartners, LLC
http://www.IntellPartners.com/

DynamicsWorld UK Top 100 List

2013-05-07T08:38:00.001-04:00

DynamicsWorld has released its 2013 Microsoft Dynamics Top 100 Most Influential People list and I am really excited to see my name in position 42. I have to say, it's an honor to share the podium with some fellow MVPs, as follow:

20. Mark Polino
46. Frank Hamelly
74. Victoria Yudin
90. Leslie Vail

But it's also good to see that the list features tons of Dynamics GP professionals:

12. Andy Vabulas
14. Andy Snook
30. John Rivers
36. Clinton Weldon
94. Richard Whaley

Special mention to all the folks over at DynamicCommunities who have made the list as well:

15. Andy Hafer
72. Bob McAdam
92. Kim Peterson

Finally, I have to congratulate my good friend David Musgrave (89) who has made the list for the first time. This was a long time coming entry and very well deserved. David's persona is a top of the Microsoft Dynamics GP community's collective mind and I am certainly happy to see his name on the list.

To everyone, congratulations and keep up the good work.

Until next post!

MG.-
Mariano Gomez, MVP
IntellPartners, LLC
http://www.IntellPartners.com/

Microsoft Dexterity Training Roadshow - Next Stop: Chicago

2013-05-06T18:12:00.002-04:00

The Microsoft Dexterity Training Roadshow rolls around the United States with its next stop in Chicago, Illinois from May 13 - May 17, 2013. Our training will be hosted at the beautiful John Hancock Center building, from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM.

John Hancock Center in Chi-town

John Hancock Center
875 N. Michigan Avenue
31st Floor
Chicago, IL 60611

We still have some seats left, so if you want to learn some of the development techniques used by Microsoft Dynamics GP developers this is your chance. For registration information, click here.

Until next post!

MG.-
Mariano Gomez, MVP
IntellPartners, LLC
http://www.IntellPartners.com/

Where in the World is Mariano?

2013-05-02T15:22:00.001-04:00

Hi all! I'm back!

Well, it's been a grueling 2 months for sure (since Convergence New Orleans) that have taken me to 2 countries (Chile and Venezuela), and 3 states (Louisiana, Nevada, Washington) and have allowed me to rack up over 23,000 new miles on my Delta SkyMiles account.

The beauty of this all is that I have gotten to share my knowledge with more than 5,000 individuals in that stretch - customers and partners - with topics ranging from Web Client, to Dexterity, to the Support Debugging Tool. As such, you have seen my blogging activity take a tumble.

However, I expect to have some time to get back to a number of interesting issues I have come across so topics will also be of a broad range -- just exactly what you are used to from this your humble servant. In the meantime, here are some snapshots from some of my voyages (in no particular order):

Santiago, Chile's skyline from my room at the Marriott Hotel in the Metro Area

Aerial view of a beachside community in Maiquetia, Venezuela at lift off from Simon Bolivar International Airport

View of Mount Rainier from Delta Sky Club at SEA-TAC - a bit grainy due to camera settings :-(

Ragged Island in the Bahamas

Have a great day everyone and continue to stay tune.

Until next post!

MG.-
Mariano Gomez, MVP
IntellPartners, LLC
http://www.IntellPartners.com/

Technical Readiness for Microsoft Dynamics GP Latin American Partners

2013-04-04T10:15:00.002-04:00

If you are Latin American partner looking to gain some insight into the deployment considerations of Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Web Client, along with the skillset you will need on your team to carryout a successful implementation, then this 2-day course is for you. Course will be conducted at the following locations and dates:

Santiago, Chile - April 17 - 18, 2013

Santiago de Chile

Caracas, Venezuela - April 29 - 30, 2013

Caracas, Venezuela

These courses are organized by Microsoft and all content will be delivered in Spanish. As an added bonus, you get to be trained by me!!

For registration information, please contact:

North America: Pam Misialek
Latin America/Caribbean: Rodolfo Gonzalez-Llanos

Until next post!

MG.-
Mariano Gomez, MVP
IntellPartners, LLC
http://www.IntellPartners.com/

Microsoft Dexterity Training Roadshow - Next Stop: Seattle

2013-04-03T12:55:00.001-04:00

The Microsoft Dexterity Training Roadshow rolls around the United States with its next stop in Seattle, Washington from April 22 - April 26, 2013.

We still have plenty of seats left, so if you want to learn some of the development techniques used by Microsoft Dynamics GP developers this is your chance. For registration information, click here.

Until next post!

MG.-
Mariano Gomez, MVP
IntellPartners, LLC
http://www.IntellPartners.com/

"Unable to access SnapIn config data Store" accessing Web Management Console

2013-03-26T10:41:00.001-04:00

For quite some time I had been running into this error when attempting to access the Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Web Management Console application from a Windows 8 machine.

SnapIn config data store error

I had ran a Fiddler trace on the issue and determined that the issue simultaneously reported and HTTP 405 error, which suggested a problem with Windows Authentication, required by the Web Management Console.

Fiddler Trace

Since I really couldn't determine what the problem was, the issue went dormant for more than 4 months. In addition, I never seemed to have the time to troubleshoot it with my friends over at Microsoft... until this past Microsoft Convergence New Orleans 2013, that is.

As it turned out, there's one "other pre-requisite" if installing the Web Management Console on a Windows 8 environment: Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) HTTP Activation. Simply put, HTTP activation allows a WCF service to relay its messaging asynchronously over HTTP - in this case HTTPS. In Windows 8, HTTP Activation is turned off by default, unlike Windows Server.

The SnapIn config data store is a table in the GPWEBMANAGEMENT database (dbo.SnapInStorage) and stores the URL to the Session Central Service WCF service. I ran a SQL Profile trace and noticed that the Web Management Console was not able to reach the GPWEBMANAGEMENT database on the SQL Server to read the Session Central Service URL. Therefore, the Console was not able to communicate to the Session Central Service to obtain user session or tenant information.

To turn on HTTP Activation on Windows 8:

1. Open Control Panel
2. Select Programs
3. Click on Turn Windows features on or off
4. Expand .NET Framework 4.5 Advanced Services
5. Expand WCF Services
6. Click on the HTTP Activation checkmark

WCF HTTP Activation

7. If you plan to support other protocols in your environment, you can turn on MSMQ Activation, Named Pipe Activation TCP Activation, or TCP Port Sharing as additional options for your WCF endpoints.

Once the services were up and running, the Web Management Console worked like a charm.

Many thanks to Daryl Anderson and Grant Swenson at Microsoft for assisting with this one.

Until next post!

MG.-
Mariano Gomez, MVP
IntellPartners, LLC
http://www.IntellPartners.com/

Microsoft Convergence New Orleans 2013: Wrap Up

2013-03-25T11:01:00.000-04:00

Convergence is over and I am now back to the daily grind. However and as is customary, this wrap up post serves as a venue to provide some insight into this past event, links to all posts, and of course, suggestions for the next.

First and foremost, a big thank you goes out to my friends at Microsoft for inviting me to this year's Convergence event as a speaker and presenter at the General Session. This is probably one of the highlights of my career in the channel. In particular, I want to send out a big shout-out to the following folks (in no particular order):

Aaron Donat, for accepting the co-presenter role with me at GPPC's PreGAME and to help me in continuing building my understanding and knowledge of the Web Client.
Pam Misialek, for all her guidance throughout the process leading up to the General Session presentation.
Kevin Racer and Daryl Anderson, for inviting me as a co-presenter in our session CSGP32 - Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Web Client For Smaller Companies. Sorry I came down ill on our first go around, but hopefully the second time was great.
Errol Schoenfish, for his great introduction of Mark and I and the duel we were about to engage in.
Chad Sogge, for his participation at the MVP Breakfast
David Musgrave, for his patience in preparing me for the Support Debugging Tool session and for dedicating a great deal of time in making the pre-build 18 release available for the session.

I can't thank the rest of you at Microsoft enough for your continued camaraderie and support: Jay Manley, Jennifer Ranz, Theresa Nistler, Brian Meier, Sivakumar Venkataraman, Jared Hall, Brian Roney, Sarah Purdy, Kelly Youells, and the list goes on and on, so please forgive me if I omitted your name here. You all contributed to making this a great Convergence for me and my wife.

Special thanks to Brian Graftaas for conceding some time on his busy Convergence calendar to talk about the Certified for Microsoft Dynamics program.

Outside of Microsoft, I would like to extend a big thank you to Kim Peterson and Andy Hefer at DynamicCommunities for inviting me to GPPC PreGAME as a presenter, MVP Mark Polino for accepting the challenge of presenting with me at General Session, though we only had a few hours to rehearse in person, MVP Jivtesh Singh for his guest appearance during my session CSGP30 - The Microsoft Dynamics GP Support Debugging Tool,

Now, the links...

On this site, you can find coverage of Convergence using the following links:

Microsoft Convergence New Orleans 2013 - Getting there

Microsoft Convergence New Orleans 2013 : GPPC PreGAME

Microsoft Convergence New Orleans 2013: Day 1

Microsoft Convergence New Orleans 2013: Day 2

Microsoft Convergence New Orleans 2013: Day 3

Microsoft Convergence New Orleans 2013: Day 4

You can always take a look at some of the pictures I took over at The Dynamics GP Blogster on Facebook:

Microsoft Dynamics Convergence 2013 Album

Over at DynamicAccounting.net, Mark Polino has some thoughts about the event after couple days of review:

Convergence 2013 Monday

Convergence Update from Tuesday

My Convergence 2013 Thoughts

MVP Leslie Vail, over at Dynamics Confessions has some cool pictures and offer some insights as well:

Convergence 2013 Day Zero

David Musgrave, we miss you!

Volunteer Day at Convergence 2013

Kofi Annan Convergence 2013 Keynote Speaker

MVP Belinda Allen, over at The GP CSI has the following entries on Convergence:

So it begins... Microsoft Dynamics GP Convergence

Microsoft Dynamics Convergence for GP begins today

Microsoft Dynamics GP Customer Story - Shock Doctor

Microsoft Convergence Keynote brief

Microsoft Dynamics GP Project Accounting Convergence Session

Microsoft Dynamics Convergence for GP update - FREE EXCEL DASHBOARD

The Learning Resources page of this blog has been updated with latest Convergence 2013 materials I presented for your consumption. Please download here:

The Dynamics GP Blogster: Learning Resources

Scroll to the end of the page and click on any of the links to download.

Finally, visit the Virtual Convergence site for links to my presentations. As of this article, they all seem to be up and available, including the General Session.

Virtual Convergence 2013

As you already know, Microsoft Convergence 2014 will be held in the beautiful city of Atlanta, my home base. I hope to see you all here next year.

Until next post!

MG.-
Mariano Gomez, MVP
IntellPartners, LLC
http://www.IntellPartners.com/

Microsoft Convergence New Orleans 2013: Day 4

2013-03-22T16:58:00.002-04:00

All good things must come to an end, but no one knows how to wrap up things better than the folks at Microsoft. The day had a few good things in store: the closing Keynote with guest speaker and former United Nations Secretary, Kofi Annan; sessions galore; and a mega concert with Matchbox 20.

As for me, I had to skip all the keynote, but very excited I will be able to catch up with it on Virtual Convergence, so I really don't feel I have missed anything.

Came the afternoon, I was up on stage to present CSGP30 - The Microsoft Dynamics GP Support Debugging Tool, my first ever session on the subject without my buddy, David Musgrave, author of the Support Debugging Tool. The session was attended by 166 strong who got a chance to look at 5 demos ranging from the Support Debugging Tool compatibility with the Web Client, to some of the most misunderstood and underutilized features within the tool, to a glimpse into the new Database Validation tool soon to be released with Build 18.

After my session, I went on to interview Brian Graftaas, Program Manager CfMD at Microsoft. I had vowed to interview Brian since Technical Airlift and am very glad I was able to. You can listen to the full interview here:

My final session of the day was CSGP32-R2 - Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Web Client For Smaller Companies. We had 62 attendees for this session and I have to say I enjoyed working with Kevin Racer and Daryl Anderson on this. Unfortunately, I could not carry out our R1 session due to illness, but a quick turnaround in my conditioned allowed me to get on the stage for this one.

Kevin Racer and Me presenting CSGP32-R2

After our session, Convergence 2013 sessions had come to an end. My wife and I met up for dinner at Mulate's, a Cajun institution in the heart of New Orleans, before we headed over to the Matchbox Twenty concert.

Dinner at Mulate's with the La Touché Band

Needless to say, we were treated to our own private concert, courtesy of the La Touché Band, and authentic Louisiana Cajun music band that has traveled the world as ambassadors of the Cajun traditions, music, and culture. It was a true joy to sit down and listen to a few tunes, watch entire families and friends dance, and enjoy some really good food.

Now, I said no one knows closing better than Microsoft and effectively this Convergence won't be any different. For "dessert" we were treated to a full hour concert to the beat of Matchbox Twenty at grounds of the Woldenberg Riverfront Park. The setting was great! Microsoft also provided access to the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas were some found refuge from the cold winds.

Things won't be cold for too long as Matchbox Twenty took the stage by storm playing some of their coolest songs, among them "She's so Mean", by far my favorite - well, maybe one of my many favorites.

Well, concert ended just around midnight and it was time to get back to the hotel to get some rest since I had an early flight at 7:15 AM and needed to be up by 4:30 AM to beat the possible traffic and security lines due to all the people heading out of town.

Until next post!

MG.-
Mariano Gomez, MVP
IntellPartners, LLC
http://www.IntellPartners.com/

Microsoft Convergence New Orleans 2013: Day 3

2013-03-22T12:05:00.000-04:00

With the General Session gone it was now time to get through some sessions for the day.

The morning started out with a breakfast for the Microsoft Dynamics (AX, GP, CRM, NAV, and SL)MVPs in attendance, hosted by our Microsoft MVP Award Program lead, Melissa Travers.

Left: Melissa Travers (Microsoft), Donna Edwards (CRM), Mariano Gomez (GP), John Lowther (GP), Julie Yack (CRM), Gus Gonzalez (CRM), Jivtesh Singh (GP), Mark Polino (GP)

Right: Per Mogensen (NAV), Chad Sogge (Microsoft), Belinda Allen (GP), Jerry Weinstock (CRM), Charles Allen (GP), Juris de Gruyter (AX), Roohi Shaikh (CRM)

After breakfast, it was time for my first session of Convergence 2013 - CSGP24 - Administering SQL Server for Microsoft Dynamics GP. My session was attended by over 255 people, with just a few seats left for a full room.

The day did not precisely continue as I expected. After my session, I came down with a severe case of conjunctivitis (commonly known as "Pink Eye") and had to quickly seek out an urgent care clinic to obtain a prescription antibiotic. As such my afternoon session, CSGP32 - Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Web Client For Smaller Companies was conducted by my co-presenters Kevin Racer and Daryl Anderson, with Daryl sitting in for me throughout the session.

Frankly, this was a first getting 'sick' at any event I have attended and have to say it was quite frustrating and disappointing. As such, I went back to the hotel to nurse my eyes for the rest of the day - yes, that meant no parties, grr!!!

Until next post!

MG.-
Mariano Gomez, MVP
IntellPartners, LLC
http://www.IntellPartners.com/

Microsoft Convergence New Orleans 2013: Day 2

2013-03-20T19:31:00.000-04:00

Today's the BIG DAY! My first presentation ever at the General Session. For Mark, this marks his second so he is somewhat of a "veteran".

As is now a tradition at Convergence, the entertainment was in the hands of funny man Rodney Sherwood and the Nick Brophy band. Tell you what... I do love this one-two punch combination and would love to see them back at every event.

Hall I almost at full capacity

The opening keynote was conducted by Wayne Morris (Twitter: @wmorrisoz), Corp VP of Microsoft Business Solutions Marketing, who welcomed the more than 11,500 attendees this year - 25% attending from outside of the United States. Wayne emphasized the upcoming advancements in the areas of marketing, social and mobile within the Dynamics product line, which brought the audience to claps.

Up next was Kirill Tatarinov, President of Microsoft Business Solutions Division. Kirill outlined Microsoft's move to become a "devices and services" organization as the company continues to evaluate its role in the market. "Today, cloud is integral to everything that we do. When we deliver our devices, the service that comes with the device is an integral part of it, and you truly cannot see the chasm, the gap, between the device and the service that comes from the cloud", said Kirill.

The World Today

Then outlined how companies with solid interaction and communication at the executive levels are 4 times more profitable than those whose executives do not communicate.

CxO Communication vs Profitability

Business leaders from Chobani Inc., Habitat for Humanity International, Revlon Inc., Shock Doctor Inc. and Weight Watchers International Inc. shared the stage with Kirill and discussed how their businesses are using Microsoft Dynamics solutions to bring products to market more efficiently, while providing executives with the right tools and information to drive business.

You can find the complete recording of the Keynote on the Virtual Convergence 2013 website, here.
With the keynote session coming to a finish, it was time to go backstage and get ready for the General Session, GENGP01: Getting Inspired with Microsoft Dynamics GP. This was quite the experience since I had to go through the make up artist at first. Everyone was quite relaxed at this point, which brought a lot of confidence to this first-timer. The production staff was quite helpful in navigating the backstage and ensuring that we were informed at all points in time of our next steps.

First up was Errol Schoenfish (Twitter: @eschoenf), Director Product Management at Microsoft, who set the tone for the presentation by dividing it into two sections: Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 and The Future of Microsoft Dynamics GP.

The theme for the first segment of the presentation revolved around how Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 can be Personal, Productive, and Perceptive and each theme would have a presenter showing off how Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 accomplishes each.

First up was Jennifer Ranz (Twitter: @jenniferranz1), Program Manager at Microsoft who demonstrated the personalization capabilities of Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 by showing some navigation capabilities and interaction with reporting and Business Analyzer.

Errol Schoenfish and Jennifer Ranz on Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Personal

It was show time! Mark Polino (Twitter: @mpolino) and I were next to present the productivity capabilities of Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 in what would prove to be a duel of MVP top features.

Mark, Errol, and Mariano on Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Productive

Our duel went well with lot's of clapping from the attendees. I personally believe that this format works well for this type of event and should be promoted by you the attendee.

Next up was Brian Meier, to demo the perceptive capabilities of Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013, by showcasing the new capabilities of the Navigation Lists and integration to Business Analyzer and email via Office 365, and CRM integration.

Errol Schoenfish and Brian Meier on stage

Upon concluding his presentation, Brian returned backstage and for an instance I had a chance to capture this picture: yes, everyone was tweeting!

Twitter-mania back stage: Mark Polino, Pam Misialek (seated), Jennifer Ranz, Brian Meier

To wrap up the General Session and as part of the second segment, Jeff Trosen, Product Unit Manager at Microsoft and Chad Sogge (Twitter: @csogge), Principal Group Program Manager at Microsoft gave attendees a look into the future of Microsoft Dynamics GP and introduced code name GP.Next.

Jeff talked about the availability of functionality for the Web Client and stressed the importance of continuing to log requests for features via Microsoft Connect.

Chad then demoed some of the new/possible companion Windows 8 apps that may be released with GP.Next.

Chad, Jeff, and Errol demoing Companion Apps

With the General Session being a success, it was time to leave the Hall J. I then went to the Expo area where I had a chance to catch up with my friends, MVP Jivtesh Singh (Twitter: @jivtesh) and former MVP and now Microsoft employee, Sivakumar Venkataraman (Twitter: @veeyeskay). We sort of discussed our current Microsoft Dexterity projects and bantered a bit about methods to achieve certain customizations.

MVP Jivtesh Singh and Siva Venkataraman

Back at the hotel, I was able to relax for a bit and off I went to the Latin American Partners reception at the New Orleans Board of Trade. It was great to see my friends from my former employer in Colombia and be able to talk some Spanish for a bit - I really don't get to do so that often.

Maria Ines Bohorquez, Leonel Estrada, Thomas Garcia (ICON)

Well, it's time to say bye for now and stay tuned for Day 3's events.

Until next post!

MG.-
Mariano Gomez, MVP
IntellPartners, LLC
http://www.IntellPartners.com/

Microsoft Convergence New Orleans 2013: Day 1

2013-03-19T16:00:00.000-04:00

It's day 1 of Microsoft Convergence New Orleans and it certainly promised to be an exciting one, since Mark Polino and I had on stage rehearsals for the first time - ever! So, it was just about fitting we meet for breakfast first thing in the morning then go find a quiet place for a couple of dry runs prior to our on stage rehearsal. We went to the ballroom area at the Hilton Hotel and found a space next to the main hallway leading to the ballrooms. Suffice to say, we had a lot of onlookers which made our practice very close to realistic. After all, we were only presenting in front of 5,000 people, so it could not hurt to have people walking by.

Once we did our dry run, we went to the Convention Center Hall E to get our wives registered for the event. The registration process was apparently going very smooth since there were no lines and attendees were picking up badges and bags at a very fast pace.

Convergence Registration

Next, it was time for our on stage rehearsal in Hall J. Once there, we had a chance to go up twice to finalize the little details of our presentation and get some final feedback from the Ovation team and Microsoft - I will remember not to dance around next time! Rehearsals were fairly quick so off we went to the speakers registration room to check in with Grace, Ace, and Trace... I know and I wasn't even trying to rhyme it either.

Registration was quick so Mark went off to deliver his GPUG sessions, Sex, Lies and Refreshable Excel Reports and What to Know Before the Auditors Ask: Risk Management and Controls in Microsoft Dynamics GP, the latter presented with Andy Snook. For me it was a rather quiet afternoon, so I returned to the hotel to clear my mind and work a bit on the General Session scripts.

I returned to the Convention Center for the Welcome reception at the Expo hall, where I had a chance to walk around the booths and say hello to some of my favorite ISVs in the channel.

Of course, you had the colorful Rockton Software booth (#1851), which resembles a really fun bar. There I caught up with Jim Pelikza, a fellow Atlanta resident.

Rockton Software

It's always fun to visit the folks over at Reporting Central, over at booth #1855, for whom it's become a tradition to hand me down a nice jersey with my name on the back.

The Reporting Central Team

My friends over at AdvTrex (booth #2352) and their now very popular TitaniumGP product are always a joy to catch up with.

AdvTrex Team

After strolling around for a while, I ran into my friends over at I.B.I.S Inc. (booth #2522), and fellow General Session presenter, Mark Polino.

IBIS Inc. Team

Needless to say, Polino is always a riot and nothing says riot more than this:

Got Mark? t-shirt

To be honest, you have to be out of your mind or deeply in-loved with Mark to wear this t-shirt and I am neither. However, I did get a kick out of it.

I also stepped over to the Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Web Client booth where I ran into fellow co-presenters Daryl Anderson and Kevin Racer, and my old time friend Brian Roney. It was good to stop by and talk to these dudes as they are fun bunch.

Daryl Anderson, Kevin Racer, Brian Roney

I also caught up with Brian Graftaas, who currently the Program Manager for the Certified for Microsoft Dynamics GP program at Microsoft. Brian and I will be sitting down for an interview which I will release as a podcast upon my return from Convergence.

Brian Graftaas & John Hannick

The Expo halls closed around 8:00 PM so it was time to go back to the hotel to catch the tail end of the Miami Heat vs Boston Celtics NBA game and get some rest for the big day ahead.

Until next post!

MG.-
Mariano Gomez, MVP
IntellPartners, LLC
http://www.IntellPartners.com/

Microsoft Convergence New Orleans 2013 : GPPC PreGAME

2013-03-18T14:47:00.000-04:00

Yesterday marked the beginning of the Dynamic Communities events. Also, it would be my first time presenting for this week.

The days started out with a relaxing breakfast with my wife. After that, it was all business. At 10:30 AM I headed over to the ballroom area to get registered for GPPC.

GP Partner Connections Banner

The registration desk was buzzing with Katie Froeber, Shanna Hensch trying to wrap-up placing the badges inside the clear holders. This process was very time consuming and they still had a bunch of badges to filled out by hand, since they were not printed.

After helping out with the badges, it was time for the GPPC Welcome Session along with the Ask the MVP. The session featured Jesse Byam as the host who did a fantastic job at keeping attendees warmed with his jokes as the ballroom was freezing!

As is customary during these welcome sessions, we had a representative from Microsoft announce some of the immediate upcoming product and partner oriented events. This time around it was Jay Manley's turn to do the honors.

Jay Manley, Microsoft

Some of the product and partner events announced are as follow:

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 SP1 will be available by mid April.

Business Portal for Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 will be available by mid April and will be SharePoint 2010 ready.

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Feature Pack (R2) is scheduled to hit the market some 18 months from now.

Web Client updates are scheduled to be released every 3 months, with service packs still within a 6 month cycle, with Payroll and HR ready to hit the block after Convergence.

Microsoft Dynamics GP Technical Airlift 2013 will be from September 18 - 21 in Fargo, North Dakota, once again hosted by GPPC. Both Microsoft and GPPC have vowed to keep this conference on a yearly basis.

After the GPPC Welcome, it was time to hit the stage with my esteemed MVP colleagues, Belinda Allen, Frank Hamelly, Jivtesh Singh, Leslie Vail, and Mark Polino.

Running a bit late, it was time to meet up with Kerri Garbis, President at Ovation Communication to do our first rehearsal for the General Session. Kerri provided Mark and I with some great tips for our General Session delivery. After our initial rehearsal, it was time to meet up with the Microsoft Product Management team over at the Keynote Session room, in Hall J for a walkthrough of the stage and what Mark and I were supposed to do when we got there on Tuesday morning.

I have to say, the shared size of the room can be a bit intimidating and to know we will be in front of 5,000 people makes for great excitement! Can't wait for the General Session to begin!

Hall J - Keynote Room

I personally had a unique opportunity to see the video and sound engineers at work, fine-tuning every little gizmo to ensure a successful Convergence opening. There are literally 100's of computers, miles of cables, milliards of connections, speakers, cranes, at any given moment back there with an army of people moving around constantly.

Pam Misialek then showed us our way to the stage for our presentation and walked us through some details including where we would be positioned, our stance, how we should address the audience, the monitors, etc. This was a really cool experience for me, since this is the first time I am delivering a presentation in such setting.

Pam Misialek and Mark Polino

The projection screens are definitely theater size and the General Session is sure to be a success. The projection on these screens is done from the back stage, which really caught my attention. At the back of the stage the image is flipped horizontally, which makes it appear in normal mode when seen from the front stage. This technique reduces the glare caused by front projection and creates a smoother, softer image.

Projection Screens in Hall J

One last look at the room from the stage reminded me of the responsibility ahead. Mark and I feel pretty well about our 5 minutes of fame and are sure ready to put on a good show - MVP style!

A look at the room from the stage

Well, it was time to return to the Hilton Hotel where Aaron Donat and I would be delivering our PreGAME session, Implementing Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Web Client. We had really good attendance to our session, which ran a good 30 minutes over its original schedule. We walked through all the Web Client elements and provided live demos of Web Client and Web Management console, explaining all the different challenges with things like certificates and ports. We strongly encouraged partners to attend one of the deep dive sessions offered during Convergence and/or to join a training class.

After our session, it was time for a little R&R at the GPPC partner reception. The reception featured a Jazz group and quite a bit of interaction between partners.

GPPC partner reception

My wife and I had quiet dinner plans for the evening and went out to the ultra famous Commander's Palace where we started out with a couple Hibiscus Martinis, "Hand-crafted Jamaican Hibiscus tea, fresh squeezed lime and Bombay Sapphire come together beautifully to make a cocktail that is as stunningly beautiful as it is delicious and refreshing". Our dinner ended with a great Creole Bread Pudding Soufflé with warm whiskey cream and a cup of New Orleans style coffee (with chicory).

Well, it was time go get some rest since a new days awaited with General Session rehearsals on stage and GPUG sessions.

Until next post!

MG.-
Mariano Gomez, MVP
IntellPartners, LLC
http://www.IntellPartners.com/

Microsoft Convergence New Orleans 2013 - Getting there

2013-03-17T09:05:00.001-04:00

Well, I am finally in New Orleans, Louisiana!

The city is named after Orléans, a city located on the River in Centre, France, and is well known for its distinct French Creole architecture, as well as its cross-cultural and multilingual heritage. New Orleans is also famous for its cuisine, music (particularly as the birthplace of jazz), and its annual celebrations and festivals, most notably Mardi Gras. The city is often referred to as the "most unique" in America.

In this occasion, I have the pleasure of traveling with my beautiful wife, Marina. We both headed to the airport around 11:00 AM Atlanta local time to catch our 1:30 PM flight to New Orleans. At the airport, we ran across Aaron Donat, Escalation Engineer at Microsoft, on his second leg (of three) from Fargo, North Dakota. Aaron and I will be presenting a session on the Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Web Client at GP Partner Connections (GPPC) PreGAME.

Aaron Donat

Aaron and I got to go over the objectives of our session and had a chance to catch up on a few projects we are both collaborating on, which made for a fun departure wait time.

The flight from Atlanta to New Orleans was an easy 50 uneventful minutes trip, so there was only time for a few pretzels on board my favorite airline, Delta Airlines. The air over the Gulf - that would be the Mexican Gulf - tends to be a bit dense, so the view is tinted by a haze, but still breathtaking.

Highway 90 view from over Lake Saint Catherine

Upon arrival at the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, we went straight to claim our luggage and find our way to the taxi line. At the main lobby down to baggage claim area, the first visual element is a great sculpture from renown artist Steve Kline.

Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport

On our way to the hotel and approaching the downtown, the first major landmark that stands out from the freeway is the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, home of the New Orleans Saints NFL football team. The Superdome was used as a "shelter of last resort" for those in New Orleans unable to evacuate from Hurricane Katrina when it struck in late August 2005.

Mercedes-Benz Superdome

Approaching the Hilton Riverside Hotel, we passed just in front of the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, home of Microsoft Dynamics Convergence 2013. They were still a number of cranes and personnel putting the final touches to the different facilities inside the Convention Center that will be hosting the approximately 11,000 attendees.

Hall D at the New Orleans Convention Center

Well, my wife and I finally made it into the hotel and checked in after leaving Aaron at the Hyatt Hotel. Our room had a great view to the New Orleans Port.

View of the New Orleans Port from my room at the Hilton Riverside Hotel

It was time to find something to eat. After all, our flight was short and therefore no on board service was provided. On our way to get some food we strolled down Poydras Street and capture a couple images of Fulton Street walkway...

Fulton Street walkway

... and plastered banners announcing Microsoft Dynamics Convergence. Definitely, a lot of hoopla to make our presence felt in New Orleans.

New Orleans is Microsoft Dynamics Convergence-ready

Well, after some strolling and quite undecided where to have some food, we hopped a cab and went to the French Quarter.

The French Quarter, also known as the Vieux Carré, is the oldest neighborhood in the city's East Bank. When New Orleans was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the city was originally centered on the French Quarter, or the Vieux Carré ("Old Square" in French) as it was known then. While the area is still referred to as the Vieux Carré by some, it is more commonly known as the French Quarter today. Although called the "French" Quarter, most of the present day buildings were built under Spanish rule and show Spanish colonial tastes. The district as a whole is a National Historic Landmark, and contains numerous individual historic buildings. It was affected relatively lightly by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, as compared to other areas of the city and the greater region.

My wife and I ended up having some late lunch at Deanie's Seafood Restaurant. Deanie's is been around for over 50 years and is considered an institution by both locals and out of towners alike. It was time to order some good oysters and gumbo with a good Amber. You have to visit this place to appreciate some good seafood.

Off we went to another institution in town: Cafe du Monde.

Cafe du Monde

Café du Monde is a coffee shop on Decatur Street in the French Quarter. It is best known for its café au lait and its French-style beignets. The coffee here is blended with chicory.

Cafe du Monde staple items: a darn good cup of coffee and beignets (French Doughnuts)

The location at the lower end of the French Market was established in 1862. For over a century it was one of two similar coffee and beignets places in the market, the other being Morning Call, which was established in 1870 and moved out of the Old French Market in 1974 to the urban area of Metairie, Louisiana.

The afternoon crowd at Cafe du Monde

It is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, except for Christmas Day and days when "the occasional hurricane passes too close to New Orleans", and is patronized by both locals and visitors. Due to Hurricane Katrina, the shop closed at midnight on August 27, 2005. Although it suffered only minor damage, it remained closed for nearly two months. Owners took advantage of the low traffic time afterwards to refurbish the eating areas and kitchens. Definitely a good place for people watching, and good luck finding somewhere to sit.

On our way back to the hotel, we passed next to Jax Brewery.

Jax Brewery, a unique New Orleans landmark, was once the brewing and bottling house of Jax Beer from 1891 until the mid 1970s. Today the converted brewery holds exclusive and distinctive New Orleans shops as well as nationally known stores. A museum devoted to the brewery is free and open to the public. Stroll through the shops of Jax Brewery, grab a bite to eat or admire the view of the Mississippi River from the Museum or the building's beautiful patio.

Famous JAX Brewery

Back at the hotel, I was bound to run into someone, right? Well, I found the team from Fastpath along with Pam Misialek, who this time managed to jammed her foot into a hole and is now hopping around.

Pam Misialek, Andy Snook

Well, it was time to go to bed as we had been walking around for about 4 hours. My wife managed to blistered her big toe and that's the story for another blog.

Until next post!

MG.-
Mariano Gomez, MVP
IntellPartners, LLC
http://www.IntellPartners.com/

Microsoft Dynamics Salary Survey 2013

2013-03-11T12:53:00.002-04:00

The folks over at Nigel Frank have published a link to their 5th annual Microsoft Dynamics Salary Survey for YOU to participate and express your views. You can find the survey here:

Microsoft Dynamics Salary Survey

This year the survey added some new interesting questions allowing for more insight into retention and recruitment as well as the general Microsoft Dynamics labor market trends. The report is due to be revealed at Convergence 2013, so you won't want to miss out.

In addition, it seems like you can enter into the draw for a Microsoft Surface Pro, so really, there's nothing to lose. Go fill out your survey now!

Until next post!

MG.-
Mariano Gomez, MVP
IntellPartners, LLC
http://www.IntellPartners.com/

Meet me at GPPC PreGAME

2013-03-05T19:20:00.000-05:00

As if 5 Convergence sessions weren't enough, I am also doing a presentation at PreGAME 2013 hosted by GP Partner Connections (GPPC) with my good friend Aaron Donat, Escalation Engineer in Fargo.

Aaron and I will be presenting Implementing Microsoft Dynamics GP Web Client which will run from 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM in Grand Salon 3 & 6 at the Hilton New Orleans River Side. This event is open to Microsoft Dynamics GP partners and ISVs, but you must register to attend.

Following this presentation is the Microsoft Partner Reception and Executive Q&A. Please be sure to attend this event as well as it will be one of the unique opportunities to question Microsoft executives in attendance directly.

Until next post!

MG.-
Mariano Gomez, MVP
IntellPartners, LLC
http://www.IntellPartners.com/

Microsoft Dynamics Convergence is around the corner!

2013-03-05T18:56:00.000-05:00

This is it! Microsoft Dynamics Convergence 2013 New Orleans is here. If you haven't registered it's never too late. All my sessions are now scheduled and I just wanted to walk through some of them and ask for your support - this is, I want to see you there!

GENGP01 - Getting Inspired with Microsoft Dynamics GP
Tuesday, March 19th from 11:00 am - 12:00 pm
Well, I finally get my 5 minutes of fame on the big stage - a chance to present at the General Session. I will be doing something pretty neat with MVP Mark Polino over at DynamicAccounting.net, together on stage. Needless to say, it involves swords and axes, but you need to come to see it.

CSGP24 - Administering SQL Server for Microsoft Dynamics GP
Wednesday, March 20th from 11:00 am - 12:00 pm
I have been asked to pickup on a topic that garnered some attention at the past Microsoft Dynamics Convergence in Houston, and for the first time I will be dedicating a full hour to SQL Server administration for Microsoft Dynamics GP. Come learn some of the tips, tricks, and considerations I used to maintain my customers' database environments running like a Swiss clock.

CSGP30 - The Microsoft Dynamics GP Support Debugging Tool
Thursday, March 21st from 2:30 pm - 3:30 pm
Someone has to carry the Support Debugging Tool flag, correct? It's too bad that my good friend David Musgrave will not be here to introduce the upcoming build 18.

Well, this time I have a dazzling array of features to show you including some exclusive ones to appear in the upcoming build 18. Also, want to see the Support Debugging Tool on the Web Client? Come and learn what will work and what won't. I have it all for you.

CSGP32 - Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Web Client For Smaller Companies
(R1) Wednesday, March 20th from 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
(R2) Thursday, March 21st from 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm
This is my second 5 minutes of fame. The good fellows over at Microsoft have invited me to present with the dynamic duo of Kevin Racer and Daryl Anderson - twice! You know you have made it in the Microsoft world if you start to hang out with these two. Nonetheless, come see us. This session promises to be very fun, while very instructive.

Well, as you see, lot's on my plate for this upcoming event, but you know what, I LOVE IT! I love seeing every single one of you in my sessions: I love to meet first time attendees just as much as I enjoy talking to my long time followers and by now friends. If you are not attending my sessions, oh well! Just make sure you attend many of the other fun and instructional ones.

Until next post!

MG.-
Mariano Gomez, MVP
IntellPartners, LLC
http://www.IntellPartners.com/

MVP Summit 2013 in Seattle

2013-02-21T12:51:00.001-05:00

This week marks the 2013 MVP Global Summit in Bellevue & Redmond, Washington. Unfortunately, I cannot be at every event (?), but it's good to know that a few fellow Microsoft Dynamics GP MVPs have made the trip.

Microsoft Dynamics GP MVPs at the MVP Global Summit
From left to right: Leslie Vail, Belinda Allen, John Lowther, and Mark Polino

My personal take... until the MVP Global Summit begins featuring Dynamics GP content, it will be hard for me to justify making the yearly trip. However, that's not to say I won't appreciate meeting other MVPs or knowing what's going on with other products such as Office, SQL Server, or SharePoint.

See you all at Microsoft Dynamics Convergence 2013 New Orleans!

Until next post!

MG.-
Mariano Gomez, MVP
IntellPartners, LLC
http://www.IntellPartners.com/

GPUG Georgia Regional Chapter Meet Up

2013-02-18T09:48:00.001-05:00

I did not want this to pass me by.

Last Tuesday, February 12, 2013, I had the opportunity to participate as a guest speaker at the GPUG Georgia Regional Chapter meeting, hosted at Prosys Information Systems, a Microsoft Dynamics GP customer.

Our chapter meeting had two topics being discussed for the day:

Advanced Analytics for Microsoft Dynamics GP. This first topic was very exciting and was conducted by Dwight Specht, COO of IBIS, Inc. Dwight demonstrated the power of Analysis Cubes for Microsoft Dynamics GP and showed how Excel can be leveraged as a client to interact with these.

Where to Go for Answers? I championed this topic and explored some of the options for finding information within the Microsoft Dynamics GP community with all attendees. We had a great deal of discussion around the use of social media from a corporate and personal perspective and how it can be leveraged as a tool for building your professional network and obtaining support.

All in all, it was an exciting afternoon and attendees had a chance to interact with the presenters and discuss how they are taking advantage of analytics and social media in their organizations. I can't wait for next quarter's meeting.

Until next post!

MG.-
Mariano Gomez, MVP
IntellPartners, LLC
http://www.IntellPartners.com/

OLE Notes and Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Web Client

2013-02-12T09:05:00.000-05:00

In the past years, I have written extensively about Microsoft Dynamics GP OLE Notes and the Dexterity OLE Container application, in the hopes of finding a way to extract the Container documents and links (unsuccessfully so far) as a result of several issues I have encountered in the past with customers attempting to migrate their notes to a different server, see:

All about the Dexterity OLE Container
All About Dexterity OLE Container - Follow Up

My good friend David Musgrave has also written a couple articles on the subject of record notes in two articles as well, see:

Understanding Notes and the Note Index field
OLE Attachments and Record Notes

Now with the release of Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Web Client, a new challenge is presented around the use of OLE Notes: the OLE Container cannot be exposed to the Silverlight application.

The Dexterity OLE Container, from past articles, is a 32-bit C++ application and as such, calls to the paperclip attachment button made from the Silverlight application will launch the Container in the Silverlight application - that is expected.

Let's take the following sequence of events, where an OLE attachment is added to an item number in the rich client environment. The attachment and all the behavior we expect occur normally and we get an indicator of an attachment being present.

Rich Client with OLE Container Note

Under the web client, you will still get an indicator of the record note being present, along with the "OLE Link present." message, but will not be able to access the OLE attachment as there's no paperclip button - and by definition, you cannot load a Win32 program from within a Silverlight application front-end - again, this expected.

Web Client displaying attachment present, but no paperclip button

Upon closing the note window, the note indicator disappears for the record being displayed, conveying the impression that there's no record note attached.

Web Client no longer shows an attachment being present

But back in the rich client, if you retrieve the record once more, the "OLE Link present." message is restored and the OLE attachment is certainly present.

Rich client still shows attachment and re-adds the "OLE Link present" text.

In summary, it seems this is just a behavior you will experience on the Web Client, but rest assured that your notes and attachments are still there, just the visual cue is not updating properly upon closing the note window under Web Client. I am sure the good folks in the Microsoft Dynamics GP Development team are already looking into this.

Now, since you are not able to use the Dexterity OLE Container in the Silverlight application, the alternative is to - perhaps - slowly but surely migrate your notes to the more robust Document Attachment feature. I will talk more about this in my next installment and will also compare it to your traditional Dexterity OLE Container notes.

Until next post!

MG.-
Mariano Gomez, MVP
IntellPartners, LLC
http://www.IntellPartners.com/

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Web Client Training in Atlanta (Continued)

2013-02-10T22:44:00.000-05:00

This is the last article in this series and I have to say with it comes the end of a fabulous 5-day training course on Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Web Client. The first 2 days of this event were solely focused on the functional aspects of the Web Client implementation - everything that happens after the GP logon window is presented to the end user.

The last 3 days of the course - USWK019 Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Web Client for the Implementation Consultant Workshop - were a full deep dive into the nitty gritty aspects of the Web Client from a technical implementation standpoint - everything leading up to the GP login window. I think I learned more about certificates, network load balances, firewalls, and a number of other underlying stack elements than I ever wanted to know about in just these 3 days. However, this is what the new brave world brings to bear.

These 3 days brought almost 25 consultants together in one room - some of the top guys in the business. Frankly, we had a great time and carried all the labs out with enthusiasm and lots of questions for Jason and Lucas. There was a moment during the labs where Lucas was shadowing every machine in the environment, troubleshooting a multi-machine Web Client installation.

Lucas Miller working his way through the implementation labs

I have to say that after 5 grueling days, it was time to get some rest from it all. Nonetheless, the content of the classes were great, the material was superb, and the instructors were fabulous. I appreciate the opportunity to meet so many cool folks in the industry and hope to see everyone soon at Convergence 2013 New Orleans.

Side note: In the Microsoft Dynamics GP development world we have a series of principles and best practices, collectively known as the "Musgravion Doctrines". Similarly, in the Microsoft Dynamics GP Web Client world, there a number of specific terms and particulars, collectively known as "Aaronisms". Any misuse of a term or incorrect reference within the context of your cursory explanation or write up can earn you a follow up email as a result - Aaron Donat, smile! Just messing with you.

Until next post!

MG.-
Mariano Gomez, MVP
IntellPartners, LLC
http://www.IntellPartners.com/

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Web Client Training in Atlanta

2013-02-06T02:03:00.003-05:00

It's been a couple of exciting days here in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. I have attended the USWK018 Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Web Client for the Functional Consultant Workshop for partners and it's been a blast learning more and more about the Web Client. The truth is, I cannot get enough. The more I learn about Web Client, the more I realize how much stuff there is still left to be learned. We had 12 individuals in attendance from various parts of the country, representing over 5 partner organizations.

Partners at the Web Client Training
From left to right (front): Jason Lech (Microsoft), Lucas Miller (Microsoft), Tonya Boyce (ACE Microtech), Lynn Hedgepeth (OmniVue), Ted Mauldin (IntellPartners)
Back: Chuck Boyles (IntellPartners), Tony Fernandez (OmniVue)

This fun 2-day class provides functional consultants the opportunity to understand what the GP Web Client is, how it functions, the necessarily security requirements and how to properly and effectively troubleshoot GP 2013 on Web Client. If your responsibility is to work daily on customer issues/problems, assist with changes in business processes or to deliver technical demonstrations during the sales cycle with new prospects, attending this course will enable you to better troubleshoot the GP Web Client as well as, explain what the GP Web Client can/can't do for your customer. This class will cover some technology components. Believe it or not, there's still plenty of technology a functional consultant must now deal with, but with the right tools and knowledge troubleshooting any Web Client issues should be a routine effort.

Not to scare you, but if you are not taking advantage of the partner training classes scheduled near you, you are missing out on a great opportunity to go it one-on-one with some of the top Microsoft Dynamics GP Escalation Engineers in the business. Partners in attendance here in Atlanta were fortunate to count with Jason Lech and Lucas Miller as instructors.

This 2-day class has come to an end, but we are immediately diving into a 3-day Technical Consultant track - USWK019 Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Web Client for the Implementation Consultant Workshop - This course will enable Implementation Consultants to understand and identify the different Web Client deployment options for Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013, the deployed components/services and how they function together, the installation options, tenant services/tenant management and troubleshooting techniques. The course will include examination of technologies such as certificates, firewall/IP port configurations, extranet/intranet deployment scenarios and load Balancing techniques. In summary, all the fun stuff!

Until next post!

MG.-
Mariano Gomez, MVP
IntellPartners, LLC
http://www.IntellPartners.com/

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 on Windows Azure: Wrap Up

2013-02-03T17:19:00.002-05:00

It's been fun trying to get Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Web Client to run on Azure. The bottom line is Windows Azure offers a very compelling deployment case for organizations running their applications (SaaS) and infrastructure (IaaS) in the cloud.

While many Azure platform features are still in Preview mode, I can say unequivocally that what's there works very well - too well, indeed. I had a few hiccups and I had to drop and recreate some VMs a few times, but I attribute that to the fact that I wasn't too aware of some of the feature settings. Also, a great deal had to do with the fact that my environment was running in free trial mode.

I also found that VMs tend to be a bit undersized on Azure. For example, a "Large" VM is 4 cores + 7GB in ram, which leads me to believe that the Azure platform is more geared towards lightweight applications than heavy, user-driven, business applications. Maybe I am making the wrong assumption here, but a decent size Dynamics GP deployment, involving 50+ users, may need up to 4 web servers and 4 session hosts to minimize any performance impact due to high user volume versus provisioned hardware capabilities.

Overall, the installation of Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Web Client wasn't without its head scratching moments. For example, certificates need to be switched to server public DNS names. While I got the Web Client up and running with the private DNS names, making the switch to public DNS for the certificates proved to be a task requiring reinstallation of the Session Service portion of the web client on the session host machine - changing the certificate for the IIS web site proved fairly simple.

Nonetheless, I had a lot of fun working on this "mini-project" so I leave you with a link to each of the articles I wrote on the subject:

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 on Windows Azure: Subscription Process
Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 on Windows Azure: Provisioning Process
Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 on Windows Azure: The Deployment Process

In closing notes, Azure provides a serious deployment option for middle market organizations looking for a serious infrastructure hosting partner. The deployment procedures for Microsoft Dynamics GP are no different than those for an on-premise or hosted network, however proper security planning goes a long way to ensure your financial data is highly secure. Still, more documentation on the Azure installation process is required, and I know it is being worked on as I type.

A big thank you goes out to Daryl Anderson, Senior Program Manager at Microsoft for all his guidance and assistance troubleshooting some of the difficulties I experienced during this effort. Daryl continues to work tirelessly to document the entire implementation process.

Until next post!

MG.-
Mariano Gomez, MVP
IntellPartners, LLC
http://www.IntellPartners.com/

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 on Windows Azure: The Deployment Process

2013-01-31T17:10:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the third installment on Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 on Windows Azure. In the previous article I showed how to provision the various VMs needed in our environment - see Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 on Windows Azure: Provisioning Process. The following is a summary of the VMs with the applications and services they will be running:

Server Name	Function
ip-ads01	AD DS server
ip-sql01	Database Server
ip-gp01	GP and Session Service
ip-gpweb	IIS, Web Client, WMC, and Session Central

The deployment started out with some prep work, as follows:

Active Directory Server (AD DS)

On the AD DS server, I setup a few domain user accounts and security groups that will be needed to run both Microsoft Dynamics GP's Session Service and Session Central Service services on the GP server (ip-gp01) and the Web Client and Web Management Console application pools on IIS (ip-gpweb). In addition, I have created two security groups, GP Web Admins to add any Dynamics GP web administrative user, and GP Web Users to add any domain account that will be accessing the Microsoft Dynamics GP via the web client interface.

Active Directory Users and Computers

Microsoft Dynamics GP Server (Session Host)

With the domain accounts and groups needed out of the way, I proceeded to install Microsoft Dynamics 2013 and the Web Client Runtime on ip-gp01. The installation is straight forward as you would expect with most GP installs. If you have configured your DNS server properly the ODBC configuration done by Dynamics GP should happen without a hitch. Upon completing the initial file installation, you will run Dynamics Utilities to setup the application system database - thanks to the new named system database feature in Dynamics GP 2013, I have called this DYNGPSYS - and setup the sample company, Fabrikam.

On this server also, I will setup a self-signed certificate pointing to my public DNS for this machine, ip-gp01.cloudapp.net, which I will export and import on my local machine. Another certificate is created for the private DNS, ip-gp01.ip-forest.local to create a secure communication between the web server and the session host.

For this, I use a tool called selfssl.exe which you can download below. Selfssl is a part of the IIS Resource Kit. From the command prompt with elevated administrative rights you can run the following command:

selfssl /N:CN=ip-gp01.clouldapp.net /V:365 /P:443 /T

Once selfssl generates the certificate, you can proceed to import the certificate into the Personal root and the Trusted Root Certification Authority folder using the Certificates mmc snap-in on the ip-gp01 VM. In addition, this same certificate must be imported on the IIS VM in the Trusted Root Certification Authority folder to provide a secure path to Session Service.

IIS Web Server

Next up was prepping the web server, ip-gpweb. The first task of order is to add the Web Server (IIS) role to this VM, carefully making sure you select ASP.NET 4.5 from the Application Development Role Services for IIS - ASP.NET 4.5 is required by the Web Client components.

ASP.NET 4.5

Following the installation of IIS, you will then proceed to create a physical folder for the web client files - I took the easy way out and setup a C:\inetpub\gpweb.

In addition, I imported both certificates created for ip-gp01 to the Trusted Root Certification Authority folder to provide a secure path to the session host machine.

Finally, I used the selfssl.exe utility to create a self-signed certificate for the public DNS name of my machine, ip-gpweb.cloudapp.net.

selfssl /N:CN=ip-web.cloudapp.net /V:365 /T /P:443

I use this certificate to setup the web site in IIS, which is also a pre-requisite to the web client installation process:

Website created with self-signed certificate

Web Client Installation

The Web Client installation happens in two phases since I have provisioned a web server and plan to use a separate session host machine.

The Web Server

On the IIS server, you will need to run a custom install to select only the Web Server components.

Since you are working on Azure, to expose the website, you will need to create a new end-point on port 443 for the web server using the Azure Management portal (https://manage.windowsazure.com).

The Session Host Server

A custom installation to install the Session Server will do here.

The only tricky aspect is the runtime service, which requires a certificate to configure the service for SSL. Here I chose the cert previously created on ip-gp01. Note I am using port 443, which differs from the standard port, as it is the port I used when creating the certificate with the selfssl.exe utility.

Now that all is in place, you should be able to launch Internet Explorer from any machine outside of the Azure network and access Dynamics GP.

What I learned from this exercise:

Due to Azure's tight security, the provisioned servers have just the necessary TCP and UDP ports opened. On the SQL Server VM, you will need to open ports 1433 and 80 if deploying SSRS. SQL Server will also need to be reconfigured to support Mixed Mode Authentication prior to beginning the installation of Dynamics GP.

On the Dynamics GP and IIS servers, you will need to install .NET Framework 3.5 prior to running the Setup.exe application - by default, Windows Server 2012 installs .NET Framework 4.5. This could prove a bit confusing under Windows Server 2012, since during the confirmation process of adding the role, you are confronted with a warning message requesting an alternate path to the .NET Framework 3.5 installation files.

Add Roles and Features Wizard

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2734782

Deployment Image Servicing and Management

Dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:NetFx3 /All /Source:(folder_name)\sources\sxs /LimitAccess

It's easier to download the Silverlight client on your local machine and move it to your IIS VM, than attempting to install it from your IIS VM directly. As it turned out, Internet Explorer security on Azure disables scripting, so accessing any Microsoft website, ironically becomes a nightmare. You can download Silverlight from http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/

The tenant configuration file, TenantConfiguration.xml, must list (not point to, i.e., no UNC path) the paths on the session host server for each of the GP application runtime files requested. The tenant configuration file is a part of the Web Client files on the IIS VM.

There may certainly be other details that I may have forgotten to point out and other issues you may encounter along. This wasn't an easy process and frankly required quite a bit of research and bugging people like Microsoft's Daryl Anderson to get this right, but the effort was well worth it.

Until next post!

MG.-
Mariano Gomez, MVP
IntellPartners, LLC
http://www.IntellPartners.com/

Why I go to Convergence

2013-01-30T08:39:00.002-05:00

The folks at Microsoft thought that it would be a good idea to ask me why I keep going back to Convergence. Take a look:

Until next post!

MG.-
Mariano Gomez, MVP
IntellPartners, LLC
http://www.IntellPartners.com/