Microsoft Great Plains in Construction & Building ? Implementation & Customization Highlights

Microsoft Great Plains could be tuned and setup to fit most of horizontal markets. You can deploy third party modules or build your own custom logic in Great Plains Dexterity. Today we'll look at the options to automate building & construction business. We'll try to use technical language to be understood by programmer, technical consultant, IT system/database administrator, web developer.

? Project-Oriented business. Construction company is project oriented. You incur expenses, labor, inventory against the building and stick to the budget in order to meet the expected profit. Microsoft Great Plains has Project Accounting module with budgeting, expenses, inventory, labor. If you need phases with their budgets ? you should probably look for one of the third party project modules, such as WennSoft JobCost. If you are established business with decades of history ? you might still be using such legacy (and very efficient in Phasing functionality) Project module as Intellisol Project Accounting ? in this case you are looking to convert it to either Great Plains Project Accounting or other current third party module.

? Financing. Builders usually finance the projects. When you do construction project budgeting ? you need automatic financing cost estimation. This is MS SQL Server stored procedure, incorporated into Great Plains Dexterity customization for project accounting module.

? Sales. It is natural way to discount the property if potential customer is willing to finance it or pay upfront for the future property. In Great Plains Receivables Management (RM) or Sales Order Processing (SOP) modules ? you should have discounting quote/invoice. The discount amount is based on the phase of the construction

? Warranty. Certain percentage should be placed aside for warranty and payment to repair crews or subcontractors. Microsoft Great Plains has Field Service Suite of modules with repair automation logic/functionality. Expect the needs to customize it via Great Plains Dexterity or Great Plains Modifier with VBA

? Customization Technologies. Microsoft Great Plains is build with Great Plains Dexterity ? this is former Great Plains Software programming language and IDE, it was designed in the earlier 1990th. Dexterity allows your customization work it Great Plains graphical environment and security realm. VBA/Modifier ? it is for light customization of existing Great Plains screens ? you can place your custom button through Modifier and then attach VBA script to this button ? feel free to use ADO to connect to the database. Web applications ? your can deploy eConnect to incorporate Great Plains objects into your web application ? eConnect was initially designed for eCommerce developers. Crystal Reports ? is reporting tool of choice.

Good luck and you can always seek our help in customization, implementation, integration and support. Call us: 1-866-528-0577 or 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 Chicago, California, Arizona, Texas, Florida, Georgia, New York, Australia, UK, Canada, Continental Europe, Russia and having locations in multiple states and internationally ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ), he is Dexterity, SQL, C#.Net, Crystal Reports and Microsoft CRM SDK

In The News:

pen paper and inkwell


cat break through


What You Must Know About Spyware Right Now

Spyware is like the new technological nuclear weapon on the... Read More

S is for Spying, Surveillance -- and for Software as Well

Words we choose to describe things and phenomena often show... Read More

How to Backup Windows XP Home Edition

Your computer cost you from hundreds to thousands of dollars,... Read More

SQL Administrator Skills Required to Support Microsoft Great Plains

Microsoft Great Plains is becoming more and more popular and... Read More

Builders Beware

Which Type of Shop Can Rely On A Home Built... Read More

10 Steps To Secure And Manage Your Passwords

Passwords protect your most sensitive personal, financial and business information.... 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

Are You Waiting for Microsoft Longhorn Operating System

I love new technology. I am still ready to wait... Read More

An Easy Way to Develop JAVA Enterprise Applications

Research bears that less than 70 percent of development projects... Read More

MicroWorld Releases New Version of MailScan Ver. 4.5 - Antivirus and Content Security Software

MicroWorld Technologies, Inc. the leading solutions provider in the area... Read More

Implementing ERP for Large Publicly Traded Corporation ? Microsoft Great Plains

We would like first emphasize the change in the paradigm.... Read More

Dig Out That Worm

Internet worms. Is your PC infected?If your computer has become... Read More

Preventive Maintenance Software Companies

Several software companies design programs for preventive maintenance. Most of... Read More

Tools for Customizing Great Plains

Microsoft Business Solutions ? Great Plains has captured the US... Read More

Microsoft Update - 5 Reasons to Update Service Pack 2

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

You Can Write Microsoft Office Program in About 60 Minutes

Microsoft Office program is a programming tool called Visual Basic... Read More

Cisco Certification: Introduction To ISDN, Part III

Configuring PPP PAP AuthenticationNow we know how the ISDN link... Read More

C++ Tutorial 2, Input and Variables

This is the tutorial where we really get into programming.... Read More

Anti-Spyware Protection ? Holes in the Shining Armor

Looking at all the ads which promise to get rid... Read More

Microsoft Blues

With the advent of 'Service Pack 2' for Windows XP... Read More

Running a Program on a Remote Server Using SSH

How do you run a program on a remote server... Read More

Programming Language Migration Path

While I was preparing some personal background information for a... Read More

Protect Your Computer...and Your Business!

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

Backing Up And Restoring Your MySQL Database

If you've been using MySQL database to store your important... Read More

Is Software Tester a Most Infamous Person in a Software Project Team?

The fact that a software tester is a most infamous... Read More

Imagine if Everyone Working In Your Office Was In Synch?

Microsoft-Outlook is a pretty amazing program. So much more than... Read More

Linux vs Windows Operating Systems

With so many Microsoft Windows related viruses, errors, and other... Read More

Microsoft CRM Programming Secrets ? Tips For Developers

This article is for advanced Microsoft CRM SDK C# developers.... Read More

Top Questions to Ask Before Buying a Help Desk & Asset Management Software

#5 All your hardware components like Printers, PCs etc come... Read More

Microsoft CRM and Great Plains Implementation: Freight Forwarding Business Automation Example

Microsoft Business Solutions offers several ERP applications: Great Plains, Navision,... Read More

Microsoft Great Plains: Service Business Customization & Integration Example

Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains might be considered as ERP... Read More

SQL scripts for Project Accounting: Microsoft Great Plains series ? overview for developer

Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains has Project Accounting module where... Read More

Microsoft Great Plains: Annual Enhancement Program ? How To Be Re-Enrolled

Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains is mid and even corporate... Read More