News

Microsoft Unveils Dynamic GP 2010

• By Kurt Mackie
• April 20, 2010

Microsoft on Tuesday announced that it had completed development operations and plans to release Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 next month.

The product will be released to new customers on May 1, according to a Microsoft blog. However, Dynamics GP 2010 will get showcased first at Microsoft's Convergence 2010 event, which will be held in Atlanta in late April.

Microsoft also will have a series of U.S. launch events scheduled to take place in various cities from early to mid-May.

Dynamics GP 2010 is one of four enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions offered by Microsoft's partners. This "Great Plains" ERP solution is specialized more toward serving the accounting operations of midsize organizations, according to Microsoft's description.

The theme of this release -- integration with Microsoft Word and other products in the Microsoft software stack -- was suggested earlier by Microsoft officials in January when the beta of Dynamics GP 2010 was released. A Microsoft-produced video (Windows Media file) shows such integration in process, with the ability to tie Dynamics GP 2010 to Microsoft Dynamics CRM and leverage PowerPivot graphics in Excel to communicate about supply-chain issues across organizations.

Microsoft is saying that Dynamics GP 2010 users will be able to create professional forms in Microsoft Word and send them via e-mail as a consequence of this product integration. Dynamics GP 2010 also works with SharePoint to leverage information within an organization and integrates with Microsoft Office Unified Communications.

Other features highlighted in this release include "personalized Role Centers" and "more than 400 built-in Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services," according to a Microsoft announcement.

"This allows for full drill-down capability -- a level of insight that should be new and welcome for former QuickBooks users," said Todd M. Bowlsby, senior Dynamics consultant for InterDyn - Remington Consulting, in a prepared statement released by Microsoft.

Microsoft is also touting the addition of "more than 350 integrated Web services out of the box" in Dynamics GP 2010.

The product will be available on May 1 in "Australia, Canada, the Caribbean, the Middle East, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States." Microsoft is planning product releases in the second half of 2010 for the "French Canadian and Latin American Spanish" versions.

There's also a U.S. promo that eases some licensing costs for Dynamics GP buyers. This "Three Users for $1" offer requires a three-year licensing commitment, among other details.