Microsoft Dynamics GP

An Overview

An ERP system is integral to efficient business activity and constitutes the most reliable source of information on customers, suppliers, products and employees. It captures an organisation’s primary transaction records from which management accounts are generated, statutory financial statements are produced and taxation liabilities are settled. An ERP system "touches" just about every functional aspect of a business. Choosing the right system in terms of fit for purpose, total cost of ownership as well as user adoption is therefore critical.

Overcoming the Pain Barriers

Most businesses know that modern IT systems, if properly planned and deployed, generate greater process efficiencies, create real competitive advantage and fuel business growth. However, there are many organisations that haven’t taken this leap of faith for a number of reasons. The biggest obstacles and considerations to moving to a new ERP system generally are:

System capability – can it really do more for me than my existing system but at a cost I can afford?

Time – can I really afford the time it will take to deploy a new system, to streamline the new technology with what I already have and to invest in the requisite training of our staff?

Cost and longevity – will I end up paying too much for a system that will begin to show cracks after 5 years of growth and possibly will not be supported 10 years down the line?

With Microsoft Dynamics GP all these pain points are quickly dissipated.

Dynamics GP is a functionally rich ERP software suite with most capability straight ‘out-of-the-box’. It traditionally had a pricing point that was aimed at the mid-market but which is now far more accessible to the smaller business following the introduction of Business Ready Licensing in August 2006 (more on this later under section Dynamics GP Licensing). Dynamics GP provides you with comprehensive capability across financial management, supply chain (distribution), business intelligence and reporting, project management, human resource management and manufacturing. It is the vanguard of Microsoft’s range of Dynamics ERP products in terms of adopting a roles-based user interface, embedded windows workflow engine and seamless CRM integration.

Dynamics GP helps you increase the productivity of your employees in a very short period of time by working through the widely familiar Microsoft Outlook and with dashboards or homepage views that can be customised to individual roles and work style preferences. User training is minimised and adoption and maximisation of efficiency benefits are immediate.

However, can Microsoft Dynamics GP really tick the box as far as system integration is concerned? Dynamics GP is a business management solution which has been designed by Microsoft to work the way your existing systems do. It seamlessly integrates with productivity tools, such as Microsoft Excel and Word, and with communication and collaborative tools, such as Outlook and SharePoint. Having a high ‘fit factor" means that you can maximise on your Microsoft technology investment. Microsoft Dynamics GP also brings with it a set of industry-standard configuration and development tools so that your administrators and programmers can modify existing functionality as well as add any additional capabilities. Easy, quick and effective configuration and system integration will limit your requirement for highly qualified IT professionals.

Microsoft Dynamics GP as part of the Dynamics range has benefited from billions of dollars of R&D investment and will continue to play a pivotal role in Microsoft’s R&D strategy (further expounded in the section Why Dynamics?, see R&D & Product Roadmap). Dynamics GP is not technology which is here today and gone tomorrow. It is software designed to get you up and running today and to see you through to tomorrow’s business challenges: meeting current and future needs. It is a scalable system, offering you pre-packaged functionality which is charged on a user basis as delivered through a simplified licensing model. Microsoft Dynamics GP is backed by exceptional customer service through a team comprising of Microsoft Corporation and a Microsoft certified partner, such as ourselves. You get the best of both worlds in terms of high quality implementation, comprehensive product training and reliable technical support.

What our customers say about Dynamics GP

However, rather than let us convince you, how about reading what some of our customers have to say about their use of Dynamics GP:

"I find Great Plains to be both versatile and sufficient for my everyday needs. It is particularly useful when I am doing my daily entries."

"It’s very user friendly, and I am able to find my way around it easily."

"I would certainly recommend the system to others."

"I find Dynamics very user friendly, particularly the front end."

"The quick links are very useful as they save me lots of time"

"The interface with SharePoint/Business Portal makes the system very versatile."

"GP enables effective budget planning and with the use of Vision, an ease of reporting seldom delivered."

The Technology Stack

Dynamics GP works from the inside out with functionality being accessed through a familiar Microsoft Outlook interface. Seamless integration with other Windows applications, such as Word and Excel, and leveraging other Microsoft technology business applications, such as SQL Reporting Services, Web Services, SharePoint and BizTalk, allow the effortless generation of reports, scorecarding, business intelligence and instant publication and dissemination of such reports via portals, such as Microsoft SharePoint and Dynamics GP Business Portal. This is the seamless environment of the underlying Technology Stack upon which Dynamics GP is built. Spanning the breadth of the Microsoft IT estate Dynamics GP provides a world-class client, server and development product and platform, offering an incredible combination of features, performance and low cost.

Key Benefits of Dynamics GP

• Low integration costs and rapid system deployment minimising business process interruptions with easily configurable .NET development platform and a suite of industry standard customisation tools (eg Modifier with VBA - p38 of Dynamics GP Developer Toolkit Whitepaper, Integration Manager, eConnect)
• Instant user adoption via a familiar and unified Microsoft environment and customisable roles-based ‘dashboards’ – see example below
• Speedier and more effective electronic communication and collaboration across the organisation, including employees, suppliers, customers and other stakeholders
• Greater system data accuracy and significant time-savings generated from automating business processes and obviating need to re-input data
• Makes an immense contribution to an environmentally–friendly, paperless office
• Quicker, more precise and incisive decision-making resulting from rapid access to easy to view, timely and accurate data
• Impressive return on investment over a short period of time as a result of significant gains in efficiencies, productivity and profitability in relation to initial software disbursement.

Example of dashboard for Credit Manager

Key Features and Highlights of Dynamics GP

• Fast to deploy
• Easy to use
• Highly configurable
• Fully scalable – add functionality and/or users as required (powered by Microsoft SQL Server)
• Impressive capacity – up to 6 million transaction lines a day
• Comprehensive ‘out-of-the-box’ functionality, spanning:
• Foundation and Web Portal (Business Portal)
• Financial Management
• Project Accounting
• HR/Payroll Management
• Supply Chain Management (Distribution)
• Manufacturing
• Field Service
• Business Intelligence / Management Reporting
• Customisation Tools
• Extensible Web Services throughout
• Roles-based, contextual environment
• Office 2007 Ribbon Interface (new with Version 10)
• Windows Workflow Engine (new with Version 10)
• CRM integration
• Visual Studio .NET Toolkit plug-in
• SQL 2000 / 2005 optimised
• SQL 2005 Reporting Services (new with Version 10)
• Secure, stable and dependable
• SharePoint Portal ‘out-of-the-box’
• eCommerce ‘out-of-the-box’/li>
• eProcurement ‘out-of-the-box’
• Enterprise Capability - SARBOX, etc

Dynamics GP Proven Track Record

The success of the Dynamics GP product is proven by market statistics: there are currently over 38,000 Dynamics GP customers worldwide in 910 industries/verticals and in over 100 countries. There are about 1,400 Dynamics GP customers in the UK. Microsoft’s credibility in this marketplace is growing with its ever-expanding share of the ERP market and with its dominance of the mid-market comprising organisations with 50-5000 employees. A new licensing scheme now means that this solution is even more affordable and is being pitched at the lower end of the market as well.

Dynamics GP Licensing

The pre-August 2006 unwieldy modular-based pricing structure of Dynamics GP has now given way to a greatly simplified, user-based pricing model with two price / functionality options: Business Essentials and Advanced Management (bearing the Microsoft term "Business Ready Licensing" or "BRL").

With the introduction of Ready Licensing (BRL) in August 2006 Dynamics GP provides superb value for money – functionality at a price our customers can afford. The new and simplified pricing model is based on concurrent users and supersedes the previous complicated modules-based pricing regime.

There are three editions to the new BRL scheme: Business Essentials, Advanced Management and Advanced Management Enterprise, whereby M4 Systems focuses solely, in line with its SME target market, on the first two.

The Business Essentials Edition is an integrated financial and supply chain management solution which is designed for businesses that need a core financial management and trade solution that can be scaled as their business grows.

The Advanced Management Edition is the preferred solution for customers who need complex, highly functional financial and accounting programs and who are looking for an adaptive solution to manage advanced processes for their financials, supply chain management, manufacturing and project accounting needs. It also helps them obtain the key business intelligence and reporting functionality required to manage their organisation.

Business Essentials costs from £1,110 per concurrent user and Advanced Management from £1,960 per concurrent user. Unlike Business Essentials, Advanced Management has an option for Business Portal users so that you can offer your elected suppliers/customers privilege-defined access to the system. Business Portal users cost just under £25 each.

Components of Dynamics GP Editions

Dynamics GP Business Essentials has very powerful core financial management capability: a flexible General Ledger with up to 10 reporting dimensions plus Analytical Accounting with unlimited user defined dimensions, enabling rapid and accurate management reporting by Company, Division, Department, Region, Product Group, etc. Comprehensive multi-company, multi-currency and multi-language capability copes with any organisation's accounting requirements. The Advanced Management Edition adds functionality to the minimum entry Business Essentials Licensing Edition by including account level security, cash flow management, collections management, electronic reconciliations, grant management, revenue expense deferrals and customer/supplier consolidations. It is the preferred solution for growing customers who need complex, highly effective financial and accounting programs.

Get more information on Microsoft Dynamics GP 10.0

You can find out more about the details of the components of the Dynamics GP system by navigating to the relevant ERP functionality sections, eg Foundation, Financial Management, Supply Chain Management and so on. Alternatively, if you are keen to get in touch with us to request a demonstration, quotation or just simply a pre-qualification system consultation, please complete the boxes below.

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