Microsoft Great Plains Project Accounting - overview for consultant
 by: Andrew Karasev

Microsoft Great Plains – now it is one of the four ERP solutions, owned and promoted by Microsoft subdivision – Microsoft Business Solutions: Microsoft Great Plains, Navision, Axapta and Solomon. Pretty interesting mix and of course, each product has its own realization of Project Accounting. We would like to give you short overview of Project Accounting module, coming with Microsoft Great Plains.

History.

Great Plains Software had wise strategy when it did allow high level software development – so called satteltes of third party modules for Great Plains Dynamics and eEnterprise, written in Great Plains Dexterity. Project accounting was developed by several ISV: Intellisol International (Australia based company, existed back in 1990th , then relocated to Fargo in 1998 and then sold its products), Match Data – this was very successful ISV in Philippines. Great Plains Software bought Project Accounting module from Match Data and made it Great Plains Project accounting.

Pros:

1. It is very simple and intuitive - if you are a certified accountant and know the GAAP on project accounting - you should be able to understand all the data flow and distribution in GL; Great Plains Project Accounting is following the rules.

2. Simple budgeting and project tracking - if this is your goal - consider it, especially if you already have Great Plains implemented in your company.

3. Microsoft SQL Server platform allows you to deploy all the industry tools, such as Crystal Reports, SQL Stored Procedures, and Views

4. Seamless integration into Great Plains interface - Great Plains Project Accounting is Dexterity-written module, so it is in Dexterity interface and security model.

Contras:

1. Poor customization possibilities - I would say that Dexterity is now a good option here, because Project Accounting is, itself, Dexterity third party dictionary - Dexterity is good to customize core DYNAMICS.DIC, not third parties. VBA/Modifier are available but we would not recommend them, because they are now legacy technologies.

2. Poor integration with Microsoft Office tools - as of right now Microsoft is in the process of moving all its ERP packages: Great Plains, Navision, Solomon into the .NET platform. So, this is where all the efforts are applied. Microsoft Office is now the second priority.

Good luck deciding and implementing, and if you have issues or concerns – we are here to help! If you want us to do the job - give us a call at 1-630-961-5918 or 1-866-528-0577! [email protected]

About The Author

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer at Alba Spectrum Technologies ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ) – USA nationwide Great Plains, Microsoft CRM customization company, serving clients in Chicago, California, Texas, Florida, New York, Georgia, Colorado, Europe, Australia, Canada and having locations in multiple states and internationally, he is CMA, Great Plains Certified Master, Dexterity, SQL, C#.Net, Crystal Reports and Microsoft CRM SDK developer.

[email protected]