I restarted the virtual machine running the Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Web Client and tried to login but got the beow error message;

An unexpected error has occurred. Press the Sign-in button to reconnect to the application. Correlation ID: 99259225-b352-b163-b7c1a166e06c

I did a little investigation and found that when the virtual machine had started the GP Session Central Service had not;

I clicked Start and the service started without problem and I was able to log into the Web Client.

I’ve restarted the server a couple of times since then and not had a repeat of the problem so it looks like a one off. But if I do see Unxpected Error I know where to start looking.

On the 18^th April the release of Management Reporter 2012 RU5 was announced on the Dynamics Corporate Performance Management blog.

The following are key features of Management Reporter 2012 RU5 when used with Microsoft Dynamics GP;

• The Web Viewer is now the default report viewer although any report can be opened in the Desktop Viewer
• Any report displayed in the Web Viewer can be collapsed into a summary view
• A Default Report Link Location can now be specified to easily indicate where reports should be stored in SharePoint or network location
• Drill Down has been added to the Dynamics Data Mart which allows for drill down to at least the account level and can drill back from the Desktop Viewer to the Microsoft Dynamics GP Detail Enqiry, Historical Detail Enquiry or Budget Transaction Inquiry windows

Rollup 5 for Management Reporter 2012 can be downloaded here (CustomerSource or PartnerSource login required).

As well as a strong interest in Dynamics GP, I tend to have an interest in most things computer related. As such I have a few years experience with HTML+CSS and have created a few sites in the past, in addition to this blog on which I have done some customisations and enhancements of the code and theme.

I do find some of CSS a bit of a hassle when it comes to changing common elements such as colour so I was interested when I heard about the concept of SASS or Syntactically Awesome Style Sheets (I’ll admit to being happier with the acronym than the full name).

Packt Publishing, who are publishing my Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Cookbook, have published a SASS CSS How-to book by Alex Libby. This book takes a look at how to write more efficient CSS using the SASS CSS library through practical hands-on recipes;

The early chapters of the book run through the installation of the tools required to use SASS which include Ruby and a text editor with a SASS plugin. The steps are nice and easy to follow and, fortunately from my point of view, are Windows based which makes them accessible and easy to use. My one quibble is the download link to the SASS plugin for Sublime Text 2 is not valid; a little prodding around on the github project did get me the download.

The following chapters run through the process of using SASS with each recipe defined as a “Must know”, “Should know” or “Become an expert” which is a nice way of knowing which recipes are critical and which aren’t quite as important.

Despite being part of Packt Publishing’s “mini-book” range this book is a comprehensive coverage of SASS; both explaining what it is and how to use it to best effect.

I have two minor criticisms.

First, the last two recipes (The different versions of SASS – an explanation and A template for the book recipes) should be at the start of the book and, in fact, the latter one is referred to during the book as being at the start.

Secondly, one of the chapters, Using SASS with WordPress (Become an expert) doesn’t do what the title suggests. The chapter covers the use of SASS within WordPress by using a pre-existing WordPress theme called Bones which already includes SASS and is about using this theme rather than using SASS with WordPress. I know the mini-books are going to be slightly limited in scope by their nature but it would have been nice if the WordPress section had been more about adding SASS to any theme rather than using a very basic WordPress theme which already included it. I’ll admit this second point shows my bias as quite a heavy WordPress user (I run four sites using WordPress and am about to create a fifth) but the book synopsis I read before getting a copy to review did mention WordPress without mentioning this restriction.

Overall, I think the book is very good and I do look forward to utilising the lessons learned from it. I have a custom PHP MVC framework I use for a couple of sites which could do with some retheming which I now plan to do using SASS, although this may be some time away due to the other projects ongoing such as getting to grips with SASS in a WordPress theme.

If you’re looking to get into SASS then this book is a good, practical, introduction which is well worth purchasing.

Originally posted on coralcurve | A Consultant’s Dabblings in Dynamics CRM.

While working with Packt Publishing on the Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Cookbook (which can be pre-ordered direct from Packt Publishing) I was approached to do some technical reviewing of a Microsoft Dynamics CRM book; the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Applications (MB2-868) Certification Guide by Danny Varghese which has now been published;

This book covers:

• Introduce yourself to the certification exam and helpful exam taking tips
• Learn about marketing automation and its application to your organization
• How to enable an efficient and accurate sales process
• Service your customers and get metrics to make sure your customers are truly happy
• Schedule and plan for resource allocation if needed while servicing your customers
• Prepare for the MB2-868 certification exam with a mock 75 question exam

If you’re intending to get certified on Microsoft Dynamics CRM then this certification guide will be a great tool for preparing.

Last Friday the Dynamics GP Service and Support blog announced that the first Service Pack for Microsoft Dynamics GP was available for download.

Service Pack 1 can be downloaded from the following pages;

• Customers
• Partners

As well as the service pack itself there is a new DVD containing the service pack which can be downloaded from the Product Release pages;

• Customers
• Partners

Unfortunately (well, fortunately if truth be told), the time has come for another enforced posting hiatus for me. Following my illness and emergency surgery in October last year, I am going back into hospital for follow up surgery tomorrow and will not be working or blogging for a time after while I recover.

Knowing myself pretty well, I’m sure I’ll get bored fairly quick, but Mark Polino has the antidote to any boredom with the release of his new book, Building Dashboards with Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 and Excel 2013;

I requested a copy of this book from Packt Publishing which I now have so I’ll probably make a start reading it next week, although I don’t think I’ll be able to get as hands on as I did with Leslie Vail’s recent book.

If you want to read Mark’s book yourself you can purchase it either direct from Packt Publishing or via Amazon:

Amazon UK	Amazon US

Hopefully, I’ll be back soon and be able to resume normal service.

If you’re a regular visitor to my blog, you’ll be aware that I have been doing a detailed review of Leslie Vail’s book Developing Microsoft Dynamics GP Business Applications;

I sometimes feel that in my reviews I may be coming across too critical. If so, I apologise because I actually think the book is really good and I have a lot of respect for Leslie and her contributions to the Dynamics community.

To show my support in a more meaningful way, I have purchased, or rather I have got my employer to purchased me, a copy of the book;

You too can purchase Leslie’s book either direct from Packt Publishing or via Amazon:

Amazon UK	Amazon US

There are many people who contribute to the Microsoft Dynamics community during the year. As this blog is focussed on Microsoft Dynamics GP there are a number of outstanding people as contenders for entry on the Top 100 Most Influential People in Microsoft Dynamics 2013 list which is at the voting stage.

I’ve taken a look at the list and read the clarion calls from Mark Polino, Leslie Vail and Jivtesh Singh to vote for David Musgrave (the man behind Developing for Dynamics GP and the incredibly useful Support Debugging Tool). I have done so and would encourage other people to consider casting your vote for him as well; he can be found on page 4.

I have many other outside work items competing for my time at the moment which, combined with being busy at work is leaving me little time for reviewing. To that end I’m snatching an hour while sat at a hotel in the Midlands (South Yorkshire to be exact) to add another part to my review of Leslie Vail’s book Developing Microsoft Dynamics GP Business Applications published in October by Packt Publishing;

As I am away from my test environment I am needing to skip over the Modifier chapters for now and will instead take a look through Chapter 9: Code Free Customisation which covers SmartList Builder (a tool I have used extensively in recent weeks), Excel Report Builder, Drill Down Builder and Extender. The latter product as of Dynamcis GP 2013 is no longer a component sold by Microsoft but has been returned to eOne.

Leslie startsthe chapter by giving a brief and, to me anyway, brief potted history of the extensibility of Dynamics GP before moving on to short overviews of the different code free customisation tools.

The overviews Leslie gives are easy to read and the installation steps for SmartList Builder easy to follow and she also goes to the extent of showing how to get the SmartList templates from the PartnerSource/CustomerSource website which reproduce the standard SmartList Objects in SmartList Builder for extending.

Leslie covers importing the templates and setting the Product/Series so the SmartList Objects display in the correct palce in SmartList before moving onto a practical example of creating a new SmartList Builder.

The explanation of adding tables is good but the screenshots don’t always match up with the text description (for example page 299 shows an AGED_RM_DETAIL report but the text is referring to fields from Item Master which is not part of the screenshot).

Field Options are well covered with each of the field types being covered in sufficient detail before moving onto Calculated Fields where she uses my favourite calculated field of Qty Available as the practical example (much as I do when training people). Restrictions gets covered briefly but well before Leslie moves onto what I always find is a thornier area; Go Tos.

I have to be honest; I always struggle with Go Tos. The coverage here didn;t expand on y current knowledge or make me feel that I’d be better at creating them. I’d like to have seen more depth on the subject and an explanation of what the settings should be for some of the more common forms. For example, I was training someone the other day and trying to get an RM Invoice zoom to work before giving up as I just couldn’t get it to work. When do I pick the (L) prefixed items and what do I set when they are available? I didn’t know before and unfortunately still don’t.

Leslie wraps up SmartList Builder with coverage of configuring security to allow users to use the new SmartList objects. Succinct but more than enough.

One item I’d like to have seen in SmartList Builder was the ue of SQL views; how to make them available, how to use them and how to link them to Dynamcis GP tables in SmartList Builder. MVP Victoria Yudin has many examples of SQL View on her site which can be added to SmartList Builder quite simply and it would have been nice to see details of how to do this.

Leslie then moves onto Excel Report Builder and shows hopw to create an Excel Report by duplicating the SmartList Builder created in the first section of the chapter. The coverage of Excel Report Builder seems brief but much of it is exactly the same as SmartList Builder so there is actually little point in this part being any longer. The key differences are covered.

And so, onto Drill Down Builder, the final part of the SmartList Builder pack. Drill Downs can be added to Excel Reports to allow drill down into GP windows. These are a bit like the Go Tos on SmartList Builder both in function but also in setup. Leslie’s coverage is thorough and makes one point I have never really thought about with regards the use and location of the Drill Downs (I’ll not post a spoiler; you’ll needto buy the book to find out what this is).

As mentioned at the start of this post, I don;t have access to my test system so I will need to stop the post here as the next part of the chapter deals with Extender which I don’t have installed on my laptop.

So far, despite my criticisms, I do like the chapter. As introductions the coverage is good; I think that because I have very recent familiarity with SmartList Builder that I am aware of some of the more advanced features that I’d have like to have seen greater depth and coverage of them as something like the use of SQL Views are great additions to the functionality.

Also, it would have been nice to see some links to resources where users can find out what the name of tables are as this is the one big thing that gets raised by clients when we show them SmartList Builder. To someone like myself who has dabbled in the back-end of Dynamics GP for years, I can find my way through tables fairly well but for new users it is rather arcane.

Even showing how to use Resource Descriptions Microsoft Dynamics GP menu >> Tools >> Resource Descriptions >> Tables would have been nice.

I may not be able to do a follow on post for a couple of weeks but when I do I’ll be back to cover Modifier with VBA.

Quick recap; this book is a definite “buy”; in fact I requested a copy for work the other day as it will save effort on basic training in some areas when new people start. Hopefully it will arrive soon as I much prefer reading a physical book to a PDF.

You can purchase Leslie’s book either direct from Packt Publishing or via Amazon:

Amazon UK	Amazon US

With an expected release date of June 2013, the Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Cookbook is to be released.

This is an update to the Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 by Mark Polino, which was released three years ago. With the new version of Dynamics GP 2013 being released in December last year, it was time for a new version of the book to be written and with Mark was otherwise engaged writing the Building Dashboards with Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 and Excel 2013 so Packt Publishing approached me and asked if I would write the update.

So, in June this year the Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Cookbook by Ian Grieve and Mark Polino will be released;

With this book you will:

• Understand the various tips and tricks to master Dynamics GP, and improve your system’s stability in order to enable you to get work done faster
• Discover how to solve real world problems in Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 with easy-to-understand and practical recipes
• Access proven and effective Dynamics GP techniques from authors with vast and rich experience in Dynamics GP

You can pre-order the Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Cookbook direct from Packt Publishing.