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Dynamics 365 Community / Forums / Microsoft Dynamics GP (Archived) / Online Product Configu...
Microsoft Dynamics GP (Archived)

Online Product Configurator for Dynamics GP

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Posted on by agleites 130
Hi all, My name is Alex and I am a new member to this community. I work for a small business that manufacturers servers and we recently switched to Microsoft Dynamics GP for our internal processes. We have an online store (http://www.icc-usa.com) but it is not linked up to our inventory in Dynamics GP. It runs on a separate (less extensive than GP) eCommerce package known as ProductCart, which allows us to display products and configurators on our website. We want our offline (Dynamics GP) software to be integrated with our online store. My question is, what options (i.e. software add-ons to GP) are available for allowing us to use our product data stored in Dynamics GP to create an eCommerce store and online shopping cart? Since we are selling computers on our site, we would need this eCommerce package to have a good product configurator, too. Thank you in advance for your help! -Alex L.

*This post is locked for comments

  • Steve Tomkins Profile Picture
    Steve Tomkins 5 on at
    Re: Online Product Configurator for Dynamics GP

    Hi Alex you have an interesting situation which is not uncommon and i would be very happy to discuss with you further. We have created a web based product configurator that i think will address you requirements. The concept was to create a solution that can be used in many environments, e-commerce for one, its rule based, has a graphical representation, its powerful yet easy to program and use. I have been talking to a partner to help us work on the integration with GP and feel its not a big job. It will pull data from GP to our item master and then push data back on a regular time, previously decided. Please check our web site out and www.completeconfigurator.com/configurator.html  to get a better understanding and please do not hesitate to contact me, Steve

  • Greg Dinger Profile Picture
    Greg Dinger 5 on at
    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Online Product Configurator for Dynamics GP

    Alex - the mod you describe concerning the ability to limit the number of HD choices added to BTO sounds similar to something we did to another BTO store.  Please contact me at www.greybearddesign.com if you need help in that regard. 

    Additionally, I have a client who has integrated to Great Plains from PC.  I could connect you with them.  If their solution is insufficient for your needs, we could potentially assist you in altering that one or creating an alternate solution.

  • agleites Profile Picture
    agleites 130 on at
    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Online Product Configurator for Dynamics GP

    Hey Massimo,

    Many thanks for commenting on this post. The more I observe the full functionality of ProductCart (looking at the other stores that use the shopping cart on greatonlinestores.com) the more I like it. We are planning to upgrade to v4.1 next week and I'm excited to see the changes in the CMS, especially if it allows you to create HTML templates for the content pages and product descriptions.

    I have a couple of other reservations about staying with ProductCart in the long-term. One is that it runs on original ASP, not the current web standard (as I understand) of ASP .NET or PHP. The other is that a GP integration into ProductCart would be more expensive since it would have to be built from scratch. Some of the companies that I talked to (Alba Spectrum, for one, and it seems that Mr. Frazier's as well) can do this, but they charge thousands of dollars more if you're not switching to their shopping cart (usually Magento, ASPDotNetStorefront, osCommerce, or nopCommerce).

    Thanks again for the post!

    Best Regards,
    Alex Leites

  • Massimo Arrigoni Profile Picture
    Massimo Arrigoni 20 on at
    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Online Product Configurator for Dynamics GP

     Hi Alex,

    • Limiting a component part within a Build To Order configuration can certainly be done. Remember that ProductCart is fully customizable. Probably not a big modification to the BTO system. 
    • The CMS feaures have been improved in v4.1.

    Other forum members:

    • an integration between ProductCart and Microsoft Dynamics could certainly be used by other ProductCart users.
    • If you decide to embark on this project, certainly let us know and we can help you market the integration once it has been completed.
    • The backend for ProductCart is typically MS SQL (MS Access in rare cases).
    Hope this helps.

    Best Regards,

    Massimo Arrigoni
    Early Impact, Inc.

  • agleites Profile Picture
    agleites 130 on at
    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Online Product Configurator for Dynamics GP
    Thanks, Greg for presenting that option. The ProductCart configurator is actually decent for its cost, but it lacks a lot of functionality. For one, you can not limit the quantity of a component part within a configurator product (for instance, we can't restrict a customer from selecting 999 hard drives to be put in one server). Another problem is a very primitive content management system. So, naturally, if we were to dish out $10,000, we would want a better configurator and CMS. I'm definitely open to ideas, though.
  • Greg Frazier Profile Picture
    Greg Frazier 685 on at
    Re: Re: Re: Re: Online Product Configurator for Dynamics GP

    Hey Alex, you seem to be satisfied with ProductCart’s ecommerce and product configurator functionality.  So why remake the wheel?  I strongly suggest that you get a solution that tightly integrates the sales transactions in ProductCart with the SOP Module in Dynamics GP, and inventory query requests in ProductCart with the Inventory Management Module in Dynamics GP.  Earlier this year, I recently completed a solution for a Dynamics GP customer that provides a tight real-time integration between their data in Dynamics GP and their website hosted on a Linux server.  This solution consists of a small Dexterity application and a c# .NET module making HTTPrequests calls to a webservice coded in PERL with MYSQL.  This was completed in less than three weeks and cost less than $10,000.

    A Dynamics GP-to- ProductCart  integration would be easier because ProductCart runs on a Windows Server.  I’d work with one of ProductCart’s Certified Developers to identify target transactions and tables as data sources.

    This might be a more surgical and streamlined approach.  Please send me an email if you wish to discuss this option more, or feel free to post your response here so that I might share this approach in more detail.  What I love about these forums is that we can share different solutions to technical business problems.

  • agleites Profile Picture
    agleites 130 on at
    Re: Re: Re: Online Product Configurator for Dynamics GP
    Let me make a small correction: $10,000-$15,000 would actually be within our budget for this project.
  • agleites Profile Picture
    agleites 130 on at
    Re: Re: Online Product Configurator for Dynamics GP

    Thank you, gentlemen, for replying to my post.

    Since we are a small business, we can not yet afford to purchase the higher-end GP-eCommerce integration solutions such as Azox (most likely, our budget for this project would be well under $10,000). Nevertheless, I would also not want to go with a poor product with little functionality.

    Since we want a packaged solution, I think Option C as Richard describes them would be the way to go for us. It seems, like Jeganeedhi suggested, that there are three different types of solutions out there:

    • eConnect - simple development tool that pushes/pulls data to/from GP
    • Web Services - read/write directly onto SQL
    • Hybrids/Middleware/eBridge - something in between the above two solutions

    If I'm not mistaken, most packages that communicate through Web Services directly are way out of our price range because they require more customization on the developers' part. So, I guess my best bet is with the eConnect or middleware option.

    I've contacted Alba Spectrum and DynaStore, both of which I like, and am in the process of negotiating pricing. I'm waiting to hear back from Integrated Systems Solutions and eOrder. I will also contact k-ecommerce.com, Mibar.net, Ignify, Seradex and Zinc Solutions to find out more about their products and prices. Azox, as I've mentioned, and especially Big Machines are out of our price range.

    Are there any other companies at which I should look (Richard, we don't have a GP partner so I would appreciate your recommendations)? We basically need a GP-integrated shopping cart with preferably a great content management system (CMS) built into it, product configuration capabilities, and a reasonable price. Thanks in advance!

  • Jeganeedhi Krishnan Profile Picture
    Jeganeedhi Krishnan 2,500 on at
    Re: Online Product Configurator for Dynamics GP

     In addtion to Richard post..

    Better solution you can modify the existing yeCommerce site using GP webservice or econnect.  Other wise you can develop some SQL Job or Windows service to you can replicate GP data into ProductCart and productcart information to GP.

    Regards

    jeganeedhi

    agej.2020@gmail.com

  • Richard Whaley Profile Picture
    Richard Whaley 25,195 on at
    Re: Online Product Configurator for Dynamics GP

    Option A:  Import each selected option as a line item (not really great)

    Option B:  Create in GP a computer KIT and use that in the Sales Order in GP, then import the selected line items as options on the kit (yes, they can be any item, not just what is listed in the kit definition).  Make sure to get the flags correct in the SOP10200 table for the components of the KIT.

    Option C:  Spend the money for a new web site that includes product configurations and a pre-defined inteface to GP with product configurations.  There are about 6 vendors of ecomerce stores for GP.  Get contact information from your Partner.  If you don't have a Partner, post that and I will look up the vendors for you.

     

    And if you are new to GP support, you might want to check out the materials on our web site.

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