Microsoft Dynamics GP 2016 R2 New Features

At the end of last year, Microsoft Dynamics GP 2016 R2 was released.

If you have not already installed/updated to this build, Microsoft has released lots of information about the new features in blogs, documentation and video forms.

#GPPT Now that GP Power Tools is available, what happens to my Support Debugging Tool installation?

If you follow this blog, I am sure you already know that GP Power Tools has been released through my distribution and support partner, Mekorma, for Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010, GP 2013 and GP 2015.

The question I am hearing now from existing Support Debugging Tool sites is:

“Now that GP Power Tools is available, what happens to my Support Debugging Tool installation?“.

#GPPT What’s New: Series summary for GP Power Tools build 20

Over the past few weeks I have been posting a number of “What’s New” articles for GP Power Tools build 20.

If you have missed any of them, this article has all the links to the articles, so you can read them at your leisure.

#GPPT What’s New: Installer and Documentation

GP Power Tools is the first product that I have released over the years to have a proper installation program. As the complexity of the products increases and there are more files involved than a single Dexterity chunk (.cnk) file, it became necessary to use an installer rather than just a zipped archive file.

GP Power Tools has a number of DLL files as well as a text file with version history, a license document and the user guide PDF.

#GPPT What’s New: Create Custom Service Based Architecture Web Services

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2015 added Service Based Architecture (SBA) and .Net Interop functionality to the application. Service Based Architecture allows the Dexterity developer to write global procedures and use meta data to expose these service enabled procedures to the outside world as REST Web Services.

GP Power Tools provides five Service Enabled Procedures which can be used to execute custom business logic created in the Runtime Execute window. These services can be called as Web Services, from Visual Studio Tools using Visual C# or Visual Basic.Net, or from any Dexterity product dictionary using sanScript.

#GPPT What’s New: Database Validation, copying databases and upgrades

The Database Validation feature was previously demonstrated but never released. GP Power Tools now releases Database Validation for general availability.

Database Validation is a tool designed to ensure that the user, company and table settings at the SQL Server level match what the Microsoft Dynamics GP application says they should be.

#GPPT What’s New: Company based color schemes enhancements

One of the most popular features of the now discontinued Support Debugging Tool was the Company based Color Schemes. This feature allowed administrators to specify a different color scheme for each Microsoft Dynamics GP company.

GP Power Tools takes this functionality and enhances it to make it more powerful and easier to use.

#GPPT What’s New: Microsoft Dynamics GP usability enhancements

GP Power Tools is now released and available via my distribution and support partner, Mekorma.

Continuing on with the What’s New series, today’s article will have a quick look at some of the usability enhancements to the Microsoft Dynamics GP application.

#GPPT What’s New: Publish scripts to users with the new Executer windows

One request that I have heard a number of times is for a method to expose scripts written using Runtime Execute or SQL Execute to normal users.

Because these windows are Advanced Mode features designed for administrators to use, they require SQL Server sysadmin or dbo privileges as well as application level security and the System password (if used) to access.

#GPPT What’s New: Administrator Password vs System Password

The Administrator level (Advanced Mode) features of GP Power Tools require application level security, SQL Server sysadmin or dbo status and the System Password (if one is configured) to access them.

So what happens if you want a user to be able access a feature and can provide the security required at the application level and SQL Server level, but you don’t really want to provide them with the Microsoft Dynamics GP System password?

#GPPT What’s New: Security Activity Tracking and Security Log

As GP Power Tools approaches release, it is time to continue the What’s New series and explain another of the new features added to the product.

You can now enable Security Activity Tracking to collect statistical data on the usage of the various resources and security objects within the system.

#GPPT What’s New: GP Power Tools is faster and easier to navigate

As mentioned in recent posts, GP Power Tools is almost ready for release. The user guide manual documentation is now completed… all 256 pages of it. If you want to get the code now, you can already install the public beta and upgrade to the final release later.

This is the first article in a series of What’s New posts for GP Power Tools. The aim of this series is to highlight some of the new features of the tool and flesh out more details than the 21 reasons to upgrade article.