Microsoft Dynamics GP Roadmap to 2028 and Beyond

Microsoft Dynamics GPTerry Heley on the Dynamics GP Support and Services Blog posted an article on Friday on the exciting future of Microsoft Dynamics GP and giving a Lifecycle Update. As part of the article she inked to the published Lifecycle (Roadmap) for Microsoft Dynamics GP which extends to 2028 and beyond for Microsoft Dynamics GP.

The published roadmap also shows the end of mainstream and extended support for versions older versions of the product which predate the Modern Lifecycle:

Microsoft Dynamics GP Roadmap through to 2028

In brief:

  • 2013 and 2013 R2 are out of mainstream support and in extended support until 11/4/2023.
  • 2015 and 2015 R2 are out of mainstream support and in extended support until 14/4/2025.
  • 2016 and 2016 R2 are out of mainstream support on 13/7/2021 and in extended support until 7/4/2026.
  • 2018 and 2018 R2 in mainstream support until 10/1/2023 and in extended support until 7/4/2026.

Microsoft Dynamics GP is now under the Modern Lifecycle and has the same commitment from Microsoft as Dynamics 365. The Modern Lifecycle means there should be more frequent updates to Microsoft Dynamics GP with at least three updates a year in January, June/July and October.

Microsoft will continue to keep adding new features and improving it based on direct feedback from users. The best way to make sure you continue to benefit from the improvements is to keep up-to-date on upgrades and use the latest version of Microsoft Dynamics GP.

The key takeaway from the published Lifecycle is that Microsoft Dynamics GP is not going anywhere and development will continue under the Modern Lifecycle policy with multiple releases each year.

Microsoft Dynamics GP Crashes/Closes When Emailing After Microsoft Office Update

Microsoft Dynamics GPEarly last week, the Dynamics GP Support and Services Blog posted about a problem whereby Microsoft Dynamics GP will crash when emailing after the latest Microsoft Office update.

This officially effects all versions from Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 RTM onward, but one comment on the above blog post says it also effects Dynamics GP 2010.

The Microsoft Office update which causes the problem is:

  • Office 365 – Version 1811 (Build 11029.20079) – Standard
  • Office 365 – Version 1811 (Build 11029.20045) – Insider Edition
  • Office 2019 – Version 1811 (Build 11029.20079)

To check your version of Office, launch Microsoft Outlook, click File then Office Account; on the right hand side of the screen is a section for About Outlook:

About Office section showing version number

There are two options to resolve the issue (you should only have to apply one of them):

  • Revert/Rollback Microsoft Office to the last build.
  • Rename Dynamics GP Code folder and run a Repair (this will remove 3rd Parties).

Instructions for both options are available on the Dynamics GP Support and Services Blog.

We’ve found that for clients with the problem, rolling back the version of Microsoft Office fixes the issue.

MDGP 2018 R2 Feature of the Day: Print and E-mail Sales Order Processing Documents

Microsoft Dynamics GPThe Inside Microsoft Dynamics GP blog has started a series Feature of the Day posts for Microsoft Dynamics GP 2018 R2 on which I am following and adding commentary. The series index for this series of posts is here.

The fifth Feature of the Day is print and e-mail Sales Order Processing documents.

This new feature add a new option to print and e-mail Sales Order Processing documents at the same time. In the Sales Document Print Options window, you can now select Print Document and Send Document in E-mail at the same time:

Previously, you had to e-mail the documents and then print the remaining but now you can do both at the same time.

On the surface, this sounds like it should be a nice little time saving new feature, but I’m wondering how this ties in with print remaining documents, introduced in Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 R2. I’ll have to wait until I can get hads on to find out.

Click to show/hide the MDGP 2018 R2 Feature of the Day Series Index

Hands On With MDGP 2018 RTM: Install Web Services Runtime

Microsoft Dynamics GPMicrosoft Dynamics GP 2018 RTM has now been released. In this series of posts, I will be stepping through the installation of Microsoft Dynamics GP and additional products and then will move on to taking a look at the new functionality which has been introduced.

The series index for this series of posts is here and will automatically update as posts go live.

The next of the Microsoft Dynamics GP 2018 RTM additional products I am going to install, is the Web Services for Microsoft Dynamics GP; a few years ago I rarely bothered installing the web services as they were not used by many of my clients. However, the introduction of Workflow 2.0 in Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 R2 changed this; now almost every client requires the installation of web services when they upgrade, as this allows them to use email actions for approving submitted documents.

To install the Web Services for Microsoft Dynamics GP, launch the Microsoft Dynamics GP 2018 setup utility from the downloaded media. Depending on server settings, you might receive multiple security warnings during the installation; click Run on each one as it appears:

Under Additional Products, select Web Services Runtime and then click Install on the popup menu:

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2018 setup utility

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Microsoft Dynamics GP July Hotfix – 2017 Mid Year Tax Update Now Available

Microsoft Dynamics GPThe Dynamics GP Support and Services Blog blog announced the availability of the Microsoft Dynamics GP July Hotfix – 2017 Mid Year Tax Update towards the end of June.

This hotfix is available for Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 R2, 2015 r2 and 2016 R2.

While all of them have updates for the US and Canadian Payroll systems, there were three changes in the 2016 version which caught my eye:

  • Financials

    • You may not be able to view any document attachment for any OPEN Payables Document.
    • Invoice Receipt Date field added for UK installs, click here for details.
  • System

    • Scan functionality may not function with document attach

The fixes to Document Attachment are good to see, but the Invoice Receipt Date was especially interesting as it results from new legislation which came into effect on April 1st for businesses of a certain size in the UK with a duty to report on their payment practices, policies and performance. This new requirement was introduced to protect smaller businesses that suffer from late payments, which can adversely affect their cash flow and jeopardize their ability to trade.

The new Invoice Receipt Date field is available on Payables Transaction Entry (Purchasing >> Transactions >> Transaction Entry), Receivings Transaction Entry (Purchasing >> Transactions >> Receivings Transaction Entry) and Purchasing Invoice Entry (Purchasing >> Transactions >> Enter/Match Invoice).

The Doc Attach changes only effect 2016, but the new field is available in 2013, 2015 and 2016.

When exec wfDeployCLRAssemblies Just Isn’t Enough

Microsoft Dynamics GPI’ve posted a few times about errors in Workflow requiring the wfDeployCLRAssemblies stored procedure to be run again (1 2 3), but the Dynamics GP Support and Services Blog has posted an article about how this is sometimes not sufficient to resolve the problem and the procedures, functions and assemblies deployed by the wfDeployCLRAssemblies stored procedure need to be deleted.

To this end, the blog post contains a series of scripts which need to be run before thew wfDeployCLRAssemblies stored procedure is executed. There are versions of the script for Microsoft Dynamics 2013 R2, 2015 (including 2015 R2) and 2016 (including 2016 R2).

If your problem still isn’t fixed, then a support case would need to be raised.

Microsoft Dynamics GP January Hotfix Released

Microsoft Dynamics GPI don’t usually post about releases, except for major version releases. However, the January Hotfix release caught my eye with a few of the included features in the 2016 R2 one.

As well as having the US Payroll updates there are updates to the following which would be of benefit to clients in the UK:

  • VAT Daybook

    • VAT Daybook Summary reports may not show correct data in boxes 1, 6 and 7 if you voided a transaction.
    • VAT detail report may show incorrect figures if you have 2 or more tax codes on a transaction.
  • General Ledger

    • The Excel copy and paste function may not calculate the credit/debit column correctly when using an allocation account.
  • Fixed Asset Management

    • Tax values may not update properly if a user marks to create multiple fixed assets in the Fixed Asset Purchase Order additional information window.
  • Bank Reconciliation

    • You may experience performance issues with the Checkbook Register Inquiry window after you install GP 2016 R2.
  • Project Accounting

    • Ability to change line distributions for time and material projects in revenue recognition.
    • Fee Accounts not available in line distributions button.
    • Purchase Receiving’s not reflecting WIP account edits from Purchase Order for non-inventory items.
  • System Manager

    • Fixed issues with Uncollated printing.

The hotfixes for Dynamics GP 2013 R2 and 2015 R2 only contain US Payroll fixes.

The post from the Dynamics GP Support and Services blog contains the download links.

Upgrading Microsoft Dynamics GP: Missing Security Roles

Microsoft Dynamics GPWhen you do a fresh install of Microsoft Dynamics GP, all of the required security roles and tasks are created. However, when Dynamics GP is upgraded, the new security roles and tasks are not automatically added. Microsoft do supply a set of scripts each time which can be run to add the roles and tasks.

This comes up every time we upgrade a client and I am tired of having to hunt out the posts from Microsoft, so I’m bringing together a list of the last few scripts and will add new ones here as each version is released.

The versions I could find again are listed below

Updated 19/1/2017 to add link for Microsoft Dynamics GP 2016 R2
Updated 14/11/2017 to add link for Microsoft Dynamics GP 2018 RTM

MDGP 2016 R1 Feature of the Day: HTML 5 Web Client

One of the major new features in Microsoft Dynamics GP 2016 R1 is the HTML5 web client; this replaces the Silverlight web client released in Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 R2.

HTML5 Web Client

The new features of the web client are:

  • Support for Multi-browser (IE, Chrome, Safari, Edge)
  • Support for Multi-device (Windows, iOS, Android)
  • New controls created for HTML client
  • UI changes
  • Window Search
  • Office “banner”
  • Navigation, color, etc.

While the Silverlight web client was quite good, it was hobbled by dint of being Silverlight. There are quite a lot of iOS and Android devices out there which were unable to be used with the web client. Making the web client HTML5 not only makes it available cross browser, but it should also make it more flexible in terms of the size of device on which it can be used (Steve Endow at Dynamics GP Land posted his views on the “hamburger” menu used as a space saver back in September).

I’m fairly relaxed about this type of menu as I have seen them used on quite a few sites now and have largely adapted to their use. If that is the trade off for HTML5 then I’ll be happy.

Click to show/hide the MDGP 2016 R1 Feature of the Day Series Index

eConnect Incoming Queue In Microsoft Dynamics GP 2015 Does Not Work

Microsoft Dynamics GPI did an upgrade of a client from Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 R2 to Dynamics GP2015 recently and encountered a problem with eConnect.

This particular client uses the eConnect incoming queue to integrate journals and payables invoices into Dynamics GP from a housing management system.

After installing eConnect and configuring the incoming queue I set about doing a test to ensure it was working.

Unfortunately, it didn’t.

Continue reading “eConnect Incoming Queue In Microsoft Dynamics GP 2015 Does Not Work”