Foreword
As the business management solution tool of choice for over 42,000 customers, Microsoft Dynamics GP continues to drive better business processes and improve organizational performance. As a comprehensive enterprise resource planning solution, Dynamics GP offers a wide-range of functionality that can be tailored for organizations in a variety of industries. With a Dynamics GP solution in place, end users can enter and track the details of day-to-day business processes. As soon as this data is recorded in Dynamics GP, organizations possess a unique advantage over others in their industry: raw data.
But this data is useless if some level of insight cannot be gained from it. By using built-in reporting tools for Dynamics GP, as well as other familiar products, the Dynamics GP organization can turn this raw data into a more meaningful picture of trends and key performance metrics. This, in turn, allows for better decision-making, the opportunity to improve current business processes, and the opportunity to proactively lead competitors into new markets. To facilitate this process, reporting tools for Dynamics GP are designed with the end user in mind. Rather than waste time learning a clunky reporting tool, the native reporting tools for Dynamics GP are intuitive and can be put to effective use immediately. Additionally, the Dynamics GP solution offers over 200+ built-in Microsoft Excel reports that can further jump-start the end user's ability to analyze and make sense of their Dynamics GP data.
While many of these tools are intuitive enough to use, training is still a vital component to learning how to gain the most from the reporting tools employed by your organization. Resources such as the book you now hold in your hand are critical to taking the extra step in uncovering the trends locked deep within your data. Not only will this book offer insight into the many reporting tools currently available for GP, it will also offer a unique perspective on how each reporting tool can be used to meet specific challenges faced by your organization. For example, if you've ever wondered what the most effective reporting tool is for an environment that contains multiple data sources, or how to identify the GP reporting tool with the best board-room quality formatting and presentation functionality, then this book has the answer for you!
As you read through this book, remember that reporting for Dynamics GP is increasingly about taking the onus of creating and developing reports out of the traditional IT department's hands and placing it into the hands that matter most: the end user. In fact, this concept is evident with the latest Roadmap for Dynamics GP. This roadmap shows future versions of Dynamics GP adding new functionality in the area of role tailored and contextual business intelligence and reporting tools. This is seen in GP 2010 R2, the latest release for Dynamics GP 2010, which will feature new reporting tools and updates to existing reporting tools such as:
- Performance improvements to the existing Report List functionality
- The ability to generate Word Templates for any standard report in GP
- A Report Builder Integration tool that offers the ability to view SSRS reports from within Dynamics GP
- Additional out-of-the-box SSRS reports that can be deployed for instant visibility into your organization's data
- And much, much more!
Happy Reporting!
Errol Schoenfish
Errol Schoenfish has been a member of the Dynamics community for over 24 years.