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Microsoft Business Solution * Great Plains is an integrated business solution package targeted for small to medium-sized businesses in the US market. Its many features combined with customization capabilities make it one of the best ERP software packages available today.

Great Plains uses the ODBC drivers installed by Microsoft SQL Server, making data accessible from each of its modules to be used for other applications such as Crystal Reports. In addition, Great Plains was developed in a proprietary programming language called Dexterity, which allows access to all of Great Plains resources such as tables, reports and scripts.

In addition to Crystal Reports, Great Plains also integrates with FRx, a financial reporting software. FRx pulls information from your General Ledger (or from any general ledger for that matter) then understands your fiscal periods, chart of account and other balances to tie it all into an easy and accurate financial report. FRx also eliminates the need to print and copy because of output options such as Excel (spreadsheet), ASCII, OLAP, or FRx DrillDown to be emailed or posted to the Web for easy access both internally and externally.

FRx reporting enables users to become more productive and effective. However, consultants reported that some problems exist with FRx upgrading. Issues were also raised with remapping FRx when migration of Great Plains from a legacy platform (Pervasive SQL or Ctree) to MS SQL Server took place. The following are some pointers with regards to FRx:

• SYSDATA * When upgrading FRx, make sure that it points to the proper SYSDATA directory. This is where FRx stores all of its reports.

• Directories Structure * FRx stores its report to the SYSDATA directory on your server. When moving FRx to a different server or changing its directories structure on your workstation, make sure that workstations are unified in structure with your server. Otherwise, you will have an output path mismatch.

• Service Pack * It is imperative that you apply the latest service packs with your FRx software. There were some issues reported with FRx being unstable out of the box. The latest service packs can be downloaded from Microsoft Business Solutions website (Partner Source or Customer Source).

• Back Arrow * When installing FRx, we suggest that you never hit the *Back Arrow* key. There have been reports of the FRx being corrupted when this rule was not followed.

• Corrupt Catalogue * An error message may appear on your FRx application. If this happens try exporting and re-importing data. This is also applicable to Great Plains Report Writer.

• DrillDown Viewer * FRx is capable of drilling down information from a single summary report all the way to the transaction detail level. The problem happens after an upgrade. Make sure that when you do a drill down command that you are selecting XML DrillDown viewer. Otherwise, if you hit the old viewer version, an error message would appear.

With FRx, you can make proactive decisions and know where your company stands financially. You may have other tools to imitate the financial reporting of FRx, but we recommend sticking to this application because it improves efficiency in your operations and empowers each user with its customizable and accurate reporting capabilities.

Need more information?
Contact us: 1-866-528-0577
help@albaspectrum.com

For customization work and advice, please contact Andrew Karasev, Alba Spectrum Chief Technology Officer. His works include development of applications with the use of Dexterity, SQL, C# .NET, Crystal Reports and Microsoft CRM SDK.