Integrating Microsoft Great Plains Accounting/ERP: RMS, CRM, eCommerce, Lotus Domino ? overview

Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains has substantial market share among horizontal and vertical clientele in the USA, Canada (including French version for Quebec/Montreal), UK, Australia, New Zealand, Spanish speaking Latin and Central America, South Africa and Middle East. Nowadays ERP can not stay as it is off-the-shelf product ? it requires integration with Legacy or newly implemented systems, such as CRM, Retail Management applications, custom in-house made business systems (transportation/cargo tracking, etc). The tendency is that if company uses Microsoft-driven computer park (Windows domain, SQL Servers, MS Exchange) the rest of the ERP/CRM applications are Windows-oriented. However you can have successful bridge between non-Microsoft ERP and Great Plains: Oracle, IBM Lotus Notes/Domino, DB2 or others), usually it involves Java/CORBA/EJB/JSP type of expertise.

? Microsoft RMS-Great Plains integration. There are few options ? first one is to use standard integration, coming with MS RMS. It has Dexterity interface in Great Plains, does integration to single company at the time. Doesn't integration on SOP/AR level, however. Second option is to use integration, maintained by Alba Spectrum Technologies ? it integrates unlimited number of stores, SOP/AR/POP, posts through Bank Reconciliation module and so allows to track Check Books/Credit Card balances. This integration also has Dexterity interface for Stores-GP Companies mapping and could work as nightly or real time SQL Server routine

? Microsoft CRM-Great Plains integration. This integration is maintained by Microsoft Business Solutions and allows you to synchronize SOP and Customers in Great Plains with Microsoft CRM Quotes and Orders. Microsoft CRM has open Microsoft CRM SDK and so you can customize and integrate Microsoft CRM at will, having C# or VB.Net in-house expertise. The above mentioned integration could be altered and tuned by programming MS BizTalk server (it can use either BizTalk runtime or regular license)

? Microsoft Great Plains as Back office for eCommerce web-site. Here we need to mention interesting thing, The product, created and dedicated to eCommerce developers ? Great Plains eConnect is often considered as a bit expensive and licensing-restricting solution. If your company is ISV and implements eCommerce product, integrating to Great Plains ? you would rather prefer set of open and simple stored procedures, moving data to and retrieving from Microsoft Great Plains Sales Order Processing (SOP) module

? Microsoft Great Plains integration with Oracle. Well ? you can do it either from Oracle or from MS SQL Server side ? in both cases you have linking tools and heterogeneous queries mechanisms

? Microsoft Great Plains integration with Lotus Notes/Domino. ? If you want Great Plains documents lookup from Lotus ? you typically use ODBC connection to MS SQL Server. You need to know Great Plains tables structure (Tools->Resource Description->Tables in Great Plains) Good luck in upgrading and if you have issues or concerns ? we are here to help! If you want us to do the job - give us a call 1-866-528-0577, 1-630-961-5918! help@albaspectrum.com

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer in Alba Spectrum Technologies ? USA nationwide Great Plains, Microsoft CRM customization company, serving clients in Chicago, California, Texas, Florida, New York, Georgia, Arizona, Minnesota, UK, Australia and having locations in multiple states and internationally ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ), he is CMA, Great Plains Certified Master, Dexterity, SQL, C#.Net, Crystal Reports and Microsoft CRM SDK developer. You can contact Andrew: andrewk@albaspectrum.com

In The News:


pen paper and inkwell


cat break through


Interactive Mapping Brings Information to Life

What is Interactive Mapping?Interactive mapping is a visual display medium... Read More

Managing Stress in the Computer Industry - Five Steps to a Stress-free Life

It would be easy to think, like most people apparently... Read More

Can You Calculate Complex Financial Calculations?

Are you a whiz at calculating financial information? Not the... Read More

Microsoft Business Solutions VAR/Partner Selection ? Overview for IT Director/Manager/Controller

Microsoft Great Plains and Microsoft CRM become more and more... Read More

Photoshop Files and Formats

People often ask me: What image file formats will Photoshop... Read More

Data Quality Best Practices for Salesforce.com

Executive SummaryAn effective plan for entering, cleaning and updating the... Read More

Reloading Windows XP

If you have been running Windows XP for a couple... Read More

Microsoft Axapta, Navision or Great Plains: ERP Selection for Large Corporation

If you would like to pick something from Microsoft, or... Read More

Kick-Ass Performance For Your PC? Its Easy

Is your PC is slow and wimpy? Then you need... Read More

Think Of This

Think of this, first we had the HAM Radio, then... Read More

A Simple Guide To Wikis

A wiki is an editable text-based website. But you don't... Read More

Microsoft Moves to Small Business Accounting/Retail Market ? Stakes and Thoughts

In this small article we will be looking at the... Read More

Is Your Family Protected?

When you think... Read More

My Experience - Making a Vision into Reality

Disclaimer: All the thoughts expressed are my views only! Your... Read More

Microsoft Great Plains PM: Payables Management

Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains is marketed for mid-size companies... Read More

Protect Your Computer...and Your Business!

We all take the computer for granted. I mean, all... Read More

Intro to UNIX Shells

A UNIX Shell is in simplest terms, a command line... Read More

CRM and Customer Life Cycle

Customer Relationship Management or CRM is a combination of enterprise... Read More

Five Reasons for Using an O/R Mapping Tool

So, why should you use any O/R mapping tool? I... Read More

Free Software for Newbies and Web Developers

Here is some free software tools to help you build... Read More

Create A Flash Presentation For Free With Open Office

The intentions of this short tutorial are not to teach... Read More

10 Programming Tips

(1) Avoid using the same variable again and again for... Read More

Microsoft CRM Lotus Notes Domino Connector FAQ

Microsoft Business Solutions CRM and IBM Lotus Notes Domino, being... Read More

C++ Function Templates

C++ Function templates are those functions which can handle different... Read More

Will Adobe Manage to Replace Industry Work Horse Quark Express by Giving Adobe InDesign for Free?

Heard about the Quark "killer"?Adobe InDesign CS2. Will it really... Read More

Microsoft Great Plains Integration Manager ? Working With Text File

Microsoft Business Solutions main middle market ERP application - Microsoft... Read More

Microsoft Update - 5 Reasons to Update Service Pack 2

Microsoft released Service Pack 2 (SP2) for the Windows XP... Read More

Databases ? How We Love to Hate Them!

You've finally created databases that you can actually use to... Read More

Microsoft Business Solutions Customization Options - Overview for Programmer

Several years ago Microsoft purchased Great Plains Software, then Navision... Read More

Microsoft RMS Customization ? PO Items Receiving in Great Plains

Microsoft Retail Management (RMS) and Microsoft Great Plains are retail... Read More

Instant Messenger Clients

If you have been using the Internet for any amount... Read More

Open Source Concepts: Dual Licensing Explained

We were recently faced with a decision: either to let... Read More

Most Common Ways to Accumulate Spyware (where It is Downloaded to Your PC)

It is possible that if one avoided all sources of... Read More