2018 Survey: Challenges in Integrating Small or Big Data into GP

??Hello my fellow GPUG members,

I would like to get a quick pulse/survey for my future article & group discussion regarding…

1. Your challenges, pain points in integrating small or big data into Dynamics GP.
2. What solution you take to resolve it? 

Any input is very much appreciated!

Thank you!

——————————
Cecile Dinh
Microsoft Dynamics GP Administrator
ARC (Airlines Reporting Corporation)
Arlington VA
——————————
?

For smaller integrations, I would suggest Infinia.  It utilizes Excel and copy/paste functionality,
so it is very easy for end-users.  For larger, more complex integrations, I would suggest SmartConnect.

——————————
Jim
Chicago IL
——————————
——————————————-

XML, eConnect MS Visual Studio. 

Envisage PostMaster for scheduled batch posting/alerts

GP Lockbox for 200,000 cash receipts applications 

10,000-15,000 SOP Invoices per day.
300,000 SOP Invoices per month.
1000 Project Timesheets per week

——————————
Thaddeus Suter
Retus, Inc
HELOTES TX
——————————
——————————————-

We just went live at beginning of July. We’ve used SmartConnect for most of our data conversion, although sometimes good old-fashioned SQL procedures have been the most efficient way to go.

——————————
Mark LeRette
Application System Analyst II
Muscatine Power & Water
Muscatine IA
——————————
——————————————-

?We have been using Scribe for years to integrate our WMS with Dynamics GP.  It is flexible enough for us even though we have had loads of custom.  It uses standard eConnect but you can also write your own stored procedures.  We did a combination of both.

——————————
Jerry Tournoux
Applications Engineer
Restaurant Equippers
Columbus OH
——————————
——————————————-

?Jim, Thaddeus, Mark, and Jerry – Thank you for the response!

——————————
Cecile Dinh
Microsoft Dynamics GP Administrator
ARC (Airlines Reporting Corporation)
Arlington VA
——————————
——————————————-

Hi Cecile-

Everything we integrate into GP uses SmartConnect. It’s been flexible to handle daily/weekly/monthly data imports into GP and also the one-offs we always seem to have.

I even wrote an article about it on LinkedIn: 8.5 Reasons Why I Love SmartConnect

Linkedin		remove preview
8.5 Reasons Why I Love SmartConnect We’ve been using SmartConnect from eOne for a long time now (eight years? ten years?) — and it has become an indispensable tool for the operations of View this on Linkedin >

Thanks.
Joe

——————————
Joseph Markovich
IT Manager
Okaya Electric America
Valparaiso IN
——————————
——————————————-

1. Your challenges, pain points in integrating small or big data into Dynamics GP. – Buggy or feature lacking eConnect procedures, time to integrate, data conversion issues

2. What solution you take to resolve it? – Trial & error, patience, custom SQL imports, Microsoft Collaborate Feedback

Buggy
We import everything via the “roads” that Microsoft has provided, mainly eConnect.  For 85% of the integrations, these work great out of the box.  However, there are more and more times where we uncover bugs or poor eConnect procedures that typically result in us spending a large amount of time troubleshooting and via trial and error and we ultimately end up adjusting integration setups or writing pre/post integration direct SQL imports/updates.  We also submit these issues to Microsoft via Collaborate in hopes that the issues will be addressed in the future and will spare others pain.

Example.) Just about ANY fixed asset book integration.

Features
Again, specifically focusing on eConnect, there are more and more things that businesses need that eConnect can flat out not provide.  The result is to write custom integrations to handle those pieces that eConnect cannot (or use a node builder app).  We also submit these recommendations to MS.

Example.) Vendor banking information

Time to Integrate
eConnect and some of the more common integrations tools are just slower than what they’re actually doing warrants.  As data grows, our time to import grows.  Our current solution is to just bite the bullet and tell our end-users that that’s the way it is.  If there were a larger impact, we’d discuss writing direct SQL imports.

Data Conversion
Regardless of the tools used, we always run into data-conversion issues.  It’s obviously very important but in a perfect world, there would be better error logs than “Error converting string to datetime”.  Our solution is to build as many data checks and conversions into our integrations as possible to account for system or human error.

——————————
Kyle Malone, CPA
Dynamics GP Administrator
CGB Enterprises, Inc.
Covington, LA
Kyle.Malone@cgb.com
985-867-3591
——————————
——————————————-

?Thanks Joseph and Kyle!

——————————
Cecile Dinh
Microsoft Dynamics GP Administrator
ARC (Airlines Reporting Corporation)
Arlington VA
——————————
——————————————-