Month: October 2014

FRx Migration Wizard Failure

Ian Grieve2 minute read1 Comment

Microsoft Dynamics GPI have a number of clients who have been using Microsoft Dynamics GP for a number of years and who we are now upgrading again. A few of them continued using FRx when they upgraded to Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010, but now they are upgrading to Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 they also need to switch to Management Reporter 2012 as FRx is not supported with the latest versions of Microsoft Dynamics GP.

Most of these migrations proceed without a problem, but I did have one client where the Migration Wizard ran through and returned a successfully completed message. However, when I logged into the Report Designer to check the migrated building blocks, I found that there was nothing there.

As a double-check, I re-ran the Migration Wizard to the same effects so I started to do some investigation. I eventually took a look in the FRx database and found a number of corrupt rows in the Catalog table like the one below:

FRx Database - Catalog Table

Continue reading “FRx Migration Wizard Failure”

Integration Manager Error: ‘Input string was not in a correct format’

Ian Grieve3 minute read1 Comment

Microsoft Dynamics GPI was working on a new integration template for a client recently and after accidentally closed Integration Manager instead of just the Destination Mappings window I started getting the below error message when I reopened and tried running the integration:

Integration Manager - The destination could not be initialized due to the following problem: - Input string was not in a correct formatIntegration Manager – The destination could not be initialized due to the following problem: – Input string was not in a correct format

It took me a few minutes of fiddling around to work out the problem, but when I did it was a bit of a face/palm moment.

The project I was working on had some customisations in Microsoft Dynamics GP as well as a new integration template. When I logged in first thing I had started GP using Run as Administrator and then launched Integration Manager from the Tools menu (Microsoft Dynamics GP menu » Tools » Integrate » Integration Manager); but, when reopening it, I had launched it from the Windows Start screen.

This meant that GP itself was running under the administrator account, but Integration Manager was running under my user account. I closed Integration Manager again and then launched it from the GP menu, so that it was running under the same user account as GP itself, and was able to run the integration without further problems.

Windows 10 Technical Preview: The Start Menu

Ian Grieve2 minute read4 Comments

WindowsWindows 10 is to see the re-introduction of the Start menu. The Start menu was initially introduced in Windows 95 and continued unchanged until it was given a makeover in the 2007 released Windows Vista.

This makeover saw the ability to conduct a search by simply starting to type after pressing the Windows button.

Windows 8 saw the removal of the Start menu and introduction of the Start screen; the start menu had occupied a small cramped area in the bottom left of the screen next to the Windows button, whereas the Start screen occupies the whole screen. The Start button was also removed and replaced with a hot corner in the bottom left from which to launch the Start screen.

Both of these choices proved to be very controversial and led for calls to reintroduce the Start button, which Microsoft did in Windows 8.1 although the Start screen remained.

Well, Windows 10 has had the Start menu reintroduced:

Start menu

Continue reading “Windows 10 Technical Preview: The Start Menu”

Windows 10 Technical Preview: Installation

Ian Grieve1 minute read1 Comment

WindowsBefore taking a look at the new features in the Windows 10 Technical Preview, we need to first install it.

To do the install I created a new virtual machine in Hyper-V and added the downloaded iso image to the virtual optical drive.

When I started the VM, the installer automatically started and progressed to the language selection window.

As I downloaded the UK version, the language has defaulted to English (United Kingdom); if you need to change the language, do so now and then click Next:

Windows Setup

Continue reading “Windows 10 Technical Preview: Installation”

Windows 10 Technical Preview: Series Index

Ian Grieve1 minute read0 comment

WindowsWith the release of the Windows 10 Technical Preview, it is time for a divergence from posting about Microsoft Dynamics GP. It doesn’t seem all that long ago that I was posting about the Windows 8 Developer Preview, but looking back it was actually just over three years ago.

In this series, I’m going to start with the installation process and then take a look at some of the new features and differences between Windows 8.1 and Windows 10.

Continue reading “Windows 10 Technical Preview: Series Index”

SmartList To Show Transactions Included On VAT 100 Return

Ian Grieve3 minute read1 Comment

Microsoft Dynamics GPOne of the problems with the standard Tax Reports (Administration area page » Reports » Company » Taxes) in Microsoft Dynamics GP is that they will include only items requested for the date range, but the VAT 100 Return itself will select everything in the specified date range and also anything dated before this period which has not been included in previous VAT Returns.

This is a problem as it means you can not run a report before generating the VAT Return to see what would be picked up. However, a little thought and consideration of how the SmartList wildcards work and a workable solution presented itself.

In SmartList select the Tax Detail Transactions SmartList Favourite under Company and click on the Search button:

Search Tax Detail Transactions

Under Search Definition 1 enter Tax Return ID in the Column Name. Set the Filter to begins with and enter [^2] in the Value.

This search definition will return all transactions which do not have a Tax Return ID beginning with a 2; this assumes you name your VAT Returns along the lines of 2014-08 to have them sorted by date. If, as some clients I have seen, you create your VAT Returns with the month’s long, or short, name first then replace the 2 with JFMASOND and all items not starting with one of those letters will be returned.

MDGP 2015 Feature of the Day: Organizational Accounts User Authentication

Ian Grieve2 minute read0 comment

Microsoft Dynamics GPThe Inside Microsoft Dynamics GP blog has started a series of posts on the new features of, the soon to be released, Microsoft Dynamics GP 2015. As I have done for the last two releases, I intend to shadow these posts and add my own opinions on these new feature; the series index is here.

The sixth Feature of the Day is Organizational Accounts User Authentication.

This feature allows users to be authenticated for Microsoft Dynamics GP using organizational account credentials, also known as Azure AD accounts. This allows the user to log into the Microsoft Dynamics GP Web Client using the same credentials that are used for Office 365, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, or many other cloud applications:

User Setup

Continue reading “MDGP 2015 Feature of the Day: Organizational Accounts User Authentication”

MDGP 2015 Feature of the Day: Project Employee Expense Report

Ian Grieve2 minute read0 comment

Microsoft Dynamics GPThe Inside Microsoft Dynamics GP blog has started a series of posts on the new features of, the soon to be released, Microsoft Dynamics GP 2015. As I have done for the last two releases, I intend to shadow these posts and add my own opinions on these new feature; the series index is here.

The fifth Feature of the Day is Project Employee Expense Report.

Project Accounting employees can create expense reports for any projects to which they are assigned and employees can also be set up to allow delegates to enter expense reports on their behalf.

Workflow approvals and task assignments are defined for expense reports; workflow actions are executed on the documents from the Expense Entry window or from the Navigation lists.

PTE Expenses navigation list

Continue reading “MDGP 2015 Feature of the Day: Project Employee Expense Report”

My MVP Has Been Renewed

Ian Grieve2 minute read3 Comments

Microsoft MVPI received my notification today that I have been awarded the Microsoft® Most Valuable Professional award a second time.

Congratulations! We are pleased to present you with the 2014 Microsoft® MVP Award! This award is given to exceptional technical community leaders who actively share their high quality, real world expertise with others. We appreciate your outstanding contributions in Dynamics GP technical communities during the past year.

I feel slightly like a fraud as my contributions to the Dynamics Community forums have been almost non-existant recently and blog posts have slowed. However, in large part that was because I was working on my third book which is out and has been published (see links below). So now I plan to get back to new blog posts and contributing to the Community Forum on a more regular basis.

Continue reading “My MVP Has Been Renewed”