Upgrade Planning for Dynamics GP 2015: Let's Get Started!

Hello everyone!

With GP 2015 having released recently, you are undoubtedly eager to get the new features and functionality going with your environment. With the cadence of releases increasing for GP moving forward, now may be the best time to upgrade your environment to stay ahead of the curve and to get the new features rolling in your environment. The planning of an upgrade is the most important part, and I'd like to share a few pointers on planning your upgrade.

First, be aware of upcoming features. The PDF I've linked to below contains an overview of what's new with GP 2015. Changes and additions to the product may affect your business practices, so be aware of what's changing, and how that meshes with your practices. 

Second, do not underestimate the importance of a test upgrade. With new features, comes new tables, new procedures, and new assemblies. Knowing how the changes will affect your system, especially if you have customization, will be near impossible without running a test upgrade. A test upgrade let's you see what will change with your day-to-day work. After upgrading, set up a testing plan to have your users log into the newly upgraded system and perform some functions like transaction entering, integrations, reports, etc.. If you are planning on utilizing new features, set them up and test them to make sure they're going to work as expected with your environment and your data.

Third, make sure that your environment meets the requirements for GP 2015. The System Requirements Page is linked below. It may be time to upgrade hardware as well, depending on how long it has been since your last upgrade. 

Finally, and this may sound like a broken record, but make sure you're not underestimating the importance of setting up a test of your user's daily functions. Full-on regression testing may not be necessary, but that last thing you want is a problem report two weeks after go-live of a business-critical function that wasn't tested before the upgrade, but it's too late to revert to avoid it. 

System Requirements for Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013

https://mbs.microsoft.com/partnersource/northamerica/deployment/documentation/system-requirements/MDGP2013_System_Requirements 

System Requirements for Microsoft Dynamics GP 2015 Web Components

https://mbs.microsoft.com/customersource/northamerica/GP/learning/documentation/system-requirements/MDGP2015_system_requirements_web_apps

Documentation and resources for Microsoft Dynamics GP 2015

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj673201%28v=gp.20%29.aspx 

What's New For Dynamics GP 2015

https://mbs.microsoft.com/Files/customer/GP/Downloads/ProductReleases/WhatsNew.pdf 

Good luck!

Dan Peltier

Dynamics GP Systems Support Engineer