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[Ryan McBee]

If you have ever tried to use Report Writer, you know how Archaic it is.  I created a product suggestion for Microsoft to upgrade Report Writer on the next release.

I would appreciate if you could vote to upgrade it on the link below.  It would be great to get this completed.

https://connect.microsoft.com/dynamicssuggestions/Feedback/Details/3140544

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Ryan McBee
Consultant
iSolutions Partners
Indianapolis IN
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[Bruce Strom]

Report Writer was written before True Type fonts were invented in Windows 3.0, when Great Plains thought that maybe OS2 would be the dominant operating system.  So many customers have customized RW reports they cannot abandon it, and it does have some useful features, and can integrate with Dexterity if you know how to do it.

They did upgrade Report Writer, the upgrade is called SSRS.

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Bruce Strom
Programmer Analyst
Associated Grocers of Florida
sunrise FL
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[Bruce Strom]

Report Writer is best used to modify existing Dynamics reports.  It is the only report writer that can do that.

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Bruce Strom
Programmer Analyst
Associated Grocers of Florida
sunrise FL
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[Ryan McBee]

Yes, SSRS is great, but it doesn’t handle forms such as Invoices, Pack Slips, Purchase Orders, ect..

If you want to email out SOP/POP, it is too difficult for customers to learn report writer and then figure out the word templates.  

There needs to be an alternative.

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Ryan McBee
Consultant
iSolutions Partners
Indianapolis IN
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[Charles Allen]

?Ryan,

I will have to disagree about forms such as invoices. I have used SSRS to create sales-related forms. With Forms Printer, I was able to have the new forms print instead of the RW forms. Without Forms Printer, users would simply use the Reporting Services Reports navigation list or the Report Manager website to access the reports.

In fact, Forms Printer comes with both SSRS and Crystal Report templates that provide good starting points for form-style reports.

I’ve never attempted a check but I would go with Mekorma or some other tool before I tried to develop one using SSRS; although, I don’t doubt a check format could be created using SSRS.

I would be shocked if any updates were done to Report Writer. Shocked, I say!

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Charles Allen
Senior Managing Consultant
BKD Technologies
Houston, TX
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[Ryan McBee]

If I have a batch of 100 daily SOP invoices that I want to email out to customers I would have to print each one individually in SSRS, save as pdf to my computer and email out manually.  SSRS does not give you the ability to print a batch and have each document saved to its own file.  Even if it did, it does not have email functionality that connects with GP.

To do this within GP, you would have to modify report writer reports (assuming you can figure out) then go to word templates and start modifying those.  It is double the work and not very intuitive.  The templates have their own issues as well given all of the forum activity that you can see on the threads.

Third party tools are awesome, but this part of core GP that needs to be improved to be competitive with other packages.

I am simply relaying the feedback that we receive from end users.

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Ryan McBee
Consultant
iSolutions Partners
Indianapolis IN
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[Blair Christensen]

?Ryan,

SSRS can be used to create multi-part forms such as invoices and packing slips, it just takes knowledge of grouping (including levels of grouping) on the report itself.  I will agree it isn’t trivial, but it certainly can be done.  If you have an SSRS environment, I can help you out with some examples of multi-level grouping I’ve used.

Other options include Crystal Reports and other advanced reporting tools.

I have also used Report Writer, but I find the interface very difficult to navigate and the creation of custom formulas and such nearly impossible, so I understand the desire to completely overhaul this tool.

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Blair Christensen
Database Administrator
Oppenheimer Companies, Inc.
Boise ID
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[David Musgrave]

Hi Ryan

I know that the Dexterity report writer does have some limitations and would benefit from zoom ability in the editor, but I can make it do almost anything and make some of the most amazing looking forms you will ever see.

For many of the documents sent to customers, you can use Word Templates if you want. But remember Word is a word processor, not a report writer.

Was there anything specific you wanted to see. If your MS Connect suggestion listed specific changes, you would be more likely to get votes and possibly see the report writer get some development time given to it.

David

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David Musgrave MVP, GPUG All-Star

Managing Director
Winthrop Development Consultants

Perth, Western Australia

http://www.winthropdc.com
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