SmartConnect could not find data

eOne SolutionsI recently created an integration using SmartConnect for a client as I have many times before; however, when I came to test the integration, my source file was totally ignored and the integration returned an error that no file was found.

The integration was using a folder data source with an Excel template; nothing special and something which I have configured many times. I copied the template file into the source folder and tried the integration again and got the same result.

I asked another consultant on the team to take a look with me and neither of us could see a problem; everything looked correct. Then it occurred to me that the extension of the file was .XLSX which I would not expect to be a problem; but, we couldn’t see anything else, so changed the extension to .xlsx and tried the integration again.

It worked correctly. I didn’t expect the case of the file extension to cause a problem, but is something to definitely bear in mind in the future and to make sure clients are aware.

Recent ISC Software Webinar: Prepayments and Accruals

ISC Software SolutionsIn our most recent webinar, we took a look at Prepayments & Accruals in Microsoft Dynamics GP and how both can be processed using standard functionality, before then taking a look at some of the ways in which accruals can be automated. If you want to catch up on this, or any other, webinar, you can do so here.

There are three main parts to the webinar (plus the references):

  1. Prepayments
  2. Accruals
  3. Automating Accruals
  4. Add-ons referenced in the webinar

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Exchange Rates inserted by eConnect integrations

Microsoft Dynamics GPI recently assisted with a support call logged by a client following the introduction of an RM integration created using SmartConnect.

The client enters exchange rates at the start of the month, but following the integration being deployed, extra exchange rates were being inserted into the exchange rate table. This caused problems as the rate from the external system varied more often than the rates entered, and required, in Microsoft Dynamics GP.

The investigation started from the integration to see if there were any settings in it which could be causing this issue, but none seemed relevant. The only currency fields being set was the Currency ID and the Exchange Rate.

After this I started taking a look into the eConnect stored procedures on top of which SmartConnect runs. After digging down a couple of levels I discovered that taMCExchangeRate has a section which inserts the exchange rate passed in if it is not in the Exchange Rate table; this is regardless of the setting in Multicurrency Setup (Financial area page » Setup » Multicurrency) which were set to allow rates to be used without being added to the exchange rate table.

The client was running Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 SP2 and my investigation was confirmed on a 2019 October Release environment so this is a long standing issue which is not yet resolved; I have confirmed with Microsoft that they are aware of this issue and it is logged with the development team for resolution in a future version.

In the meantime, I have deployed customised versions of two stored procedures to the client so that they do not have the exchange rates being inserted into the exchange rate table.

SmartConnect Error: Data source name not found…

Microsoft Dynamics GPI’ve recently been working on a SmartConnect project with a client. Integrations were created, tested and signed off as working by the members of the project team. However, when additional users starting using SmartConnect, an error was encountered by some users, not all, running the integrations:

Error running integration

Connection could not be validated

ERROR [IM002] [Microsoft][ODBC Driver Manager] Data source name not found and no default driver specified

The integrations were using an Excel file data source and, when checked, the users having problems had the 64-bit version of Microsoft Office installed and the working ones had the 32-bit version. You don’t need to replace the whole office installation, just install the 32-bit version of the Microsoft Access Database Engine 2016 Redistributable from the command line as a silent install.

Using Node Builder to Create New Node: Add SmartConnect Node

eOne SolutionsThis post is part of the series on Using Node Builder to Create New Node; in particular I m creating a node to add EFT Bank information when adding a creditor.

Once the GP Resource Cache refreshed, the new node will be available in SmartConnect.

To use the node, launch SmartConnect and on the action pane, under GP Connector, click Node Maintenance:

SmartConnect action pane

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Using Node Builder to Create New Node: Update SmartConnect GP Resource Cache

eOne SolutionsThis post is part of the series on Using Node Builder to Create New Node; in particular I m creating a node to add EFT Bank information when adding a creditor.

With the node created, we need to make it available for use in SmartConnect before we can actually use it.

This is done by refreshing the SmartConnect GP Resource Cache. Do this by launching Microsoft Dynamics GP and selecting GP Resource Cache from the (Microsoft Dynamics GP » Tools » SmartConnect » GP Resource Cache) menu:

GP Resource Cache menu

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Currency ID Missing From Batches Integrated Via eConnect

Microsoft Dynamics GPWe’ve been doing some work with a client recently creating a number of integrations in SmartConnect. One of these was creating General Journals into a consolidation company from other Microsoft Dynamics GP databases.

Everything looked fine from a SmartConnect perspective; success reported for the integration and no warnings or errors. However, when we looked at the resulting journal, there was no Currency ID:

General Transaction Entry showing blank Currency ID field

The problem here isn’t actually a SmartConnect one, but an eConnect one which has been known for a long time. There are a number of reports of this, but the one we found when researching was on the Dynamics Blogger.

The solution is to create a chequebook (checkbook) for the Functional Currency.

The company we were importing into, didn’t have one as only the GL was going to be used; once the chequebook was created, the integration worked fine.

Create SmartConnect Journal – Standard Map: Conclusion

eOne SolutionsThis post is part of a series on creating a Journal – Standard integration using SmartConnect from eOne Solutions; I recently posted a series on Implementing SmartConnect.

Over the last few posts in this series, I have shown how to create a simple General Journal integration.

The process is slightly more involved than creating a similar integration, but the huge advantage is being able to schedule the integration to automatically run and select all files from a folder.

With Integration Manager, to allow multiple people to use the same integration you had to point it at a shared drive letter which all users had in common (and often not all did, due to being in different locations).

In addition, SmartConnect can also process the Excel spreadsheet directly, without requiring the user to save the active page down as a CSV; something which Excel really doesn’t want you to do.

The other main benefit of SmartConnect is that if there is an eConnect node available, it can integrate that type of record into Microsoft Dynamics GP, whereas Integration Manager could only use the ones available via the standard or eConnect adapters.

eOne Solutions also have a product called Node Builder which allows additional eConnect nodes to easily be created without the need for a developer. I’ll be taking a look at NodeBuilder in a future series.

Create SmartConnect Journal – Standard Map: Could Not Run The Scheduled Map

eOne SolutionsThis post is part of a series on creating a Journal – Standard integration using SmartConnect from eOne Solutions; I recently posted a series on Implementing SmartConnect.

The final error I received while creating the Journal – Standard map was when I scheduled the map to run automatically:

Windows Event Viewer showing error

JOURNALSTANDARD : SmartConnect Scheduler : Could not run the scheduled map You do not have access to the connectors required for this map.

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Create SmartConnect Journal – Standard Map: Credit Amount Was Not Supplied Error

eOne SolutionsThis post is part of a series on creating a Journal – Standard integration using SmartConnect from eOne Solutions; I recently posted a series on Implementing SmartConnect.

While I was creating the Journal – Standard for this series, it was not all smooth sailing. I received an error message while testing the integration:

SmartConnect Progess window showing error

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