Microsoft Dynamics GP: Maintaining and Improving Performance for Great Plains

Happy New Year.  We’re seeing additional lock-down news for major cities and regions across Canada and the USA.  We shared some insights this summer via a webinar for remote access to Dynamics GP via Windows Remote Desktop Services (Recording).  In the spirit of remote access, this month I’d like to share some insights with regards to your Microsoft Dynamics GP (Great Plains) infrastructure and IT processes.   Now, maybe a good time to sanction an official review of your Dynamics GP infrastructure.

January GP Insights: Dynamics GP Maintaining and Improving Performance for Dynamics GP

Back-up & Recovery  - Similar to changing the batteries in your smoke alarm.  You should periodically test and check your database and GP back-ups - potentially even doing do a trial-run or a full restore.  Back-ups are not only important for recovering from internal user-errors, natural disasters, or software issues, but also as a means of recovering from Ransomware or other cybersecurity threats.

Security - Another action item worth reviewing at least on an annual basis, if not quarterly, is your IT security and policies that you have for Dynamics GP.  At a high level ensure that your GP server has advanced threat protection (Antivirus / Malware etc) and a strong firewall in place, especially since your systems are potentially being accessed remotely from “less secure” home-offices.

User Access -  It’s always a good practice to review your user access.  Which employees have access to Dynamics GP, Management Reporter, Power BI, SharePoint, and SQL Server Reporting (SSRS)?  Each may have different security groups and thus access to confidential information.  Of course, any users who are no longer with your organization should be marked “Inactive”.

Performance -  When talking about the performance and speed of GP, there are a number of factors that will impact your user’s experience.  Often performance can be improved with upgraded hardware including faster servers and SSD (solid-state drives).  Other times, SQL Server or Windows Server version upgrades can have a positive impact.  For some clients, performance may be impacted by company setup or how users are performing key tasks.  Often user training with tips & tricks can help speed things up.  For example, we recently had a client that greatly improved GP and reporting performance by setting a narrower date-range within their default SmartLists thus reporting on an annual dataset vs 15+ years of data.

Planning for your next GP upgrade – Keeping current on Microsoft Dynamics GP allows both for compliance with best practices, as well as, access to the latest in features and functions.  Join us on January 26th for an overview of What’s New in Dynamics GP 18.3 (Oct 2020 release)  REGISTER.  Included in the past few releases have been several enhancements.  Two of which include improved security such as Multi-Factor Authentication, and productivity Improvements such as copy/paste into Payables transactions.

GP Cloud Hosting – Our team has a highly-trusted partner that we work with for Dynamics GP Private Cloud hosting.  We have posted an intro video at https://www.gpsupportnorth.com/gp-cloud-hosting/

GP Cloud Hosting includes your own private cloud for Dynamics GP

• Anywhere, anytime access
• Daily and weekly back-ups
• Fast SSD drives and redundant Internet access
• Advanced security professionals and software
• 24x7 active monitoring and alerts for security and stability
• Includes Windows Server and SQL Server licensing
• Integrated into Active Directory and even to your internal networks
• Ability to integrate with other cloud-apps

Business Central SaaS Cloud ERP Optional – With the above cloud hosting, security, and back-ups.  The gap between GP and Business Central narrows when it comes to providing remote access.

NOTE: We’ve heard that Microsoft is launching a campaign to strongly encourage all Dynamics GP users to set a plan for migration to Dynamics 365 Business Central.  We're here to let you know that you have options.

A reminder, that the new Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is based on Dynamics NAV (Navision), a separate Microsoft ERP platform, which uses reporting dimensions rather than a detailed Chart of Accounts.  GP Support North has specialized tools and expertise to make a migration from GP to Business Central as smooth as possible, but it will take some time and effort for new processes, new CoA, new reports, and new end-user training.  Endeavour is here, if and when you are ready to plan a migration to Business Central.  We recommend that any migration plans, also include a defined business case to justify the added investment.

As a reminder, our team at GP Support North is here for those who wish to stay on Dynamics GP long term.  GP currently has a roadmap out past 2024 and beyond with additional announcements and updates coming from Microsoft in the next month.

Regards,

GP Support North

Scott Jorgens, GP Support North
ERP Software Blog profile

About GP Support North - www.gpsupportnorth.com

GP Support North is a large team of GP consultants at Endeavour Solutions, dedicated to supporting clients using Microsoft Dynamics GP (Great Plains) ERP.  We are your safe-haven for long term GP support and consulting services.  We will not force you to change platforms, but if and when you are ready, we can help migrate you to the cloud.

We love Dynamics GP (Great Plains) and have more than 550 active clients across North America predominately in the USA and Canada. Over the years, our team has been named multiple times to the Microsoft President’s Club – The top 5% of Microsoft Partners Worldwide.

Recommended:

Dynamics GP – 2020 A Year in Review for Dynamics GP Great Plains + GP in 2021