How to “Escape” Dynamics GP Implementation Baggage

By now the story is legend:  A JetBlue flight attendant gets into an argument with a passenger who was trying to remove a bag from the overhead bin while the plane was still taxing after landing. The bag strikes the flight attendant in the head, he then publicly (and profanely) announces to all passengers that he’d “had enough”, grabs a few beers (I would have chosen a nice cabernet but whatever) and exits the plane through the escape chute.  Wow – I am certain the movie rights to this are worth a fortune! (Tom Cruise or Adam Sandler maybe?)

Dealing with unruly or (more likely for a service provider) disgruntled clients  is never easy. Just a few days after the above incident a client called me up to (in their words) “beat me over the head” about some issues with their Dynamics GP implementation.  This client expressed concern that upper level executives were complaining about the (apparent) lack of meaningful reports.

In response, I did not curse them out nor jump out of my office window (although being at ground level this would have been a somewhat anticlimactic gesture). Instead I asked for specific examples of what they considered deficient.  Turns out that the problem was management’s minimal usage of the various business reporting and dashboard tools available within Dynamics GP.  Initial implementation efforts had been focused primarily on the conversion from their old ERP system and the go-live process so little time and energy had been spent  on exploring and creating new reports and views. Their complaint gave us the perfect opportunity to remind them about SmartLists,  Executive Dashboards, Analysis Cubes, Microsoft Excel Reports, SQL Server reporting services – all tools they owned (refer to Eleven Business Intelligence and Reporting Tools in Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 for an excellent summary of these tools).

So the lesson learned is the extreme importance for both the client contact and service provider to constantly remind all users throughout the implementation process of the variety and flexibility of reporting tools available within Dynamics GP. In most cases these business intelligence and reporting tools are the reason Dynamics GP was selected as the ERP solution of choice in the first place.  Keeping their relevance and benefit in the forefront is certain to minimize the likelihood of any implementation angst.

By the The Knaster Technology Group, Colorado Microsoft Dynamics GP partner since 1989

Related Posts

1. Planning For A Successful ERP System Implementation
2. Documenting your Dynamics GP ERP Implementation – Striving for the “Goldilocks” Approach.
3. Choosing the RIGHT Microsoft Dynamics Partner Can Mean the Difference Between a Good or Bad Implementation and Long-term Success.