Back in August 2006, while at Microsoft, I started development on a Dexterity based tool designed to use programmatic control Dexterity logging and table based triggers to capture three logs leading up to a non reproducible data error occurring in the tables. This was build 1 of the MBS Support Debugging Tool.
In September 2008, the renamed Support Debugging Tool (SDT) build 9 was released to the GP partner and customer community for them to use and help support their Microsoft Dynamics GP systems. For the next 6 years, I continued to work on the SDT pet project (builds 10 to 19) in my own time as it was not officially part of my role at Microsoft.
When my team was shut down and my role discontinued in October 2014, I left Microsoft and lobbied to get access to my code. Thanks to the support and efforts of Pam Misialek, I was able to get the license the code, which was rebranded, renamed and re-released as GP Power Tools build 20 in August 2015.
Ever since the start of this project in 2006, the functionality and features of the tool (regardless of name) has been based on feedback and requests from the community. Understanding the issues and pain points faced by users and administrators has shaped the development of the tool.
While I get to hear when there are issues or when additional functionality or features are wanted, I rarely get to hear how GP Power Tools has solved your pain points and made your lives better. So I was delighted to see a thread on the GPUG Open Forum discussing the experience of users of the product:
Please feel free to share your experiences with GP Power Tools on this thread and spread the word about the benefits it provides at a very reasonable cost.
Thanks for sharing.
David
PS: Adding the forum feedback as comments on this post.
This article was originally posted on http://www.winthropdc.com/blog.
Winthrop Development Consultants Blog 
GP Power Tool is excellent product I ever used on Dynamics GP and I love this product. Using this product we were able to resolve the problem of users not logging out and licensing issue and much more. Thanks David for the best product
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Thought I’d share my recent experiences with GP Power Tools in case anybody is on the fence about using the product.
Over the last 20 years, I’ve done many upgrades. Well, this was the first time the client had purchase GP Power Tools prior to an upgrade.
There were 2 features that stood out.
1) Screen size adjustment. The client migrated to a new Windows server and when I logged in, the screen started out fine, but shrunk once I logged into a company. I’ve run into this one many times and each time, I keep telling myself I’ll save the link that shows me how to fix that. Well, in this case I was able to use GPPT to fix this very easily by using one of the settings it has available. It was quick and very easy.
2) User ID’s after migrating to a new server. I have tons of scripts and can recreate users, but I’ve had to manually recreate the passwords in GP due to the encryption GP uses. However, this tool made that process WAY easier – especially when it came to assigning the passwords to the users. If you’ve seen David Musgrave do a presentation on this item – it works as advertised and saved a lot of time.
Unfortunately, I didn’t think to try out the database validation tool to check the structure of the databases prior to the upgrade, so I can’t give an opinion on that one yet. Maybe next round.
Just wanted to share the experience.
Steve
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Steve Fryman
Senior Consultant
Leaf Software Solutions
indianapolis IN
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Hi Steve,
Thanks for sharing your experience. We have several clients who have GP Power Tools. We are trying to get all of our customers to buy the product. I just sold another client on it today.
There are so many times I have been asked for something that the only answer was modifications or third-party tools that cost thousands of dollars. In many cases, using GPPT, I have been able to add the feature in a short amount of time. And make GP do what the client wants it to do.
Clients with multiple companies or TEST companies can use the company color feature to prevent a user working in the wrong company.
Auto-logoff of idle sessions is another great feature. If you haven’t used it, you should look at what it can do.
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Mark Wiley
Dynamics Credentialed Professional
Senior Solutions Architect
GraVoc
Ohio Office
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Hi,
I have been using GP Power Tools for a number of years now and find myself staying away from .net \ Dex for the majority of modifications since GP Power Tools is easier and can be controlled at the user\class level and much more.
1. It has functionality that Dexterity doesn’t such as referencing modified windows and modal dialogs, I replaced all VBA mods with it and you don’t have the lag you have with .net based mods.
2. During my recent upgrade from GP2015 to GP18.3 I had to do zero work updating the code, it just worked.
3. Source code is completely in my control. I have been burned in the past by both a developer and Partner, developer disappeared with source and Partner said they owned the source.
4. I can edit code without needing external tools or developers and I can do without getting anyone off the system. Imagine you have an emergency fix to an issue, you can publish it in seconds and it will be available on the next login.
5. You can schedule daily tasks such as reconciling items to run overnight so I don’t have to wait every night to run it manually.
6. You can replace clunky macros with GPPT.
7. I have created an SQL library for my support team to use without them needing SQL knowledge or direct access to the database for them to run the scripts.
8. You get the best user timeout tool for GP that you can get. This saves you thousands in licences for inactive users.
9. Users can log scripts and screenshots and automatically email them to me when they have an issue.
10. There are more admin tools than you can ever think of, It checks dictionary versions, has database validation, can use Security to deny 1 user access to one window etc.
Finally GP Power Tools is very cheap for what you get and David is extremely responsive to both suggestions and help. He is constantly updating and adding more free features to GPPT in almost every single release. Most partners take months to release updates or fixes to their product, this is not the case with the Power Tools.
thanks
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Arthur Achilleos
Aidacare Pty Ltd
Moorebank NS
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Agree with previous posted replies here..
I’ve been using GPPT for many years and recommend it to most of the GP users / customers I come across every day. GPPT has come a long way since the days it was called SDT (Support Debugging Tool) and added so much more to the daily Admins toolboxes.
I haven’t seen in the GP world a tool that developed so many functionalities based on the feedback provided by GP users and other GP consultants out there, and if I’d have to provide a top 5 preferred features, it would be hard as there are so many more and the list could easily extend to a top 25 or top 50 functions 😉
Colour schemas is one of the main use case features soon as you have more than a few GP companies (plus TEST !!). I’ve seen other tools trying to provide color schemas to GP, but they look dull and fail by a big margin
User session timeouts is vital if you have way more GP users than own concurrent licenses and don’t want spend a fortune to keep buying more licenses.
Security Profiler combined with the screen capture tool that sends a complete log by e-mail to the sysadmin when a user runs into any issues in GP
Roll-out changes to all GP clients at the DEX.ini level to get unified configurations and the ability to control company access based on the launch file is a big winner when operating GP in international environment with companies using different modules for various countries
And I’m not talking about all the power behind the Developer tools and the database tools that provide lifesaving features to any GP admin when it comes time to add some automation or customization in no time to GP, or migrate GP to a new environment.
I could go on and on, but that’s only scratching the surface of one of the best add-on for GP by far in the ISV collection out there.
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Beat Bucher
Business Analyst, Dynamics GP SME
Montreal QC/Canada
@GP_Beat http://www.gp-geek.com
Montreal QC GPUG Chapter Leader
MBS MVP (2015-2018)
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