I Repeat . . . For Financial Reporting, The Client Is Excel

Based on a little announcement from Microsoft recently, Dynamics GP may finally be getting a better option for financial reporting. Four years ago I wrote that Management Report had taken the wrong path by not using Excel as the client. Every other major financial reporting tool using Microsoft Excel at its core. As I said then:

"...highly respected technology speaker Richard Campbell was discussing SQL Server 2012 data analytics when he commented, ‘We've given up on building 3rd party clients. The client is Excel.'"

That's still true.

Since then many of Management Reporter's promised features haven't materialized and the product has continued to struggle. Earlier this year I added some context to that by arguing that it was time to rethink Management Reporter and I offered some options for companies feeling stuck. Meanwhile, Excel continued its dominance. Even Microsoft products like Power BI, a product arguable born out of Excel, work to ensure that they maintain their connections with the spreadsheet powerhouse.

Now Microsoft has announced a partnership with Jet Reports to provide another financial reporting option at no additional cost for Dynamics GP users. This new product, Jet Express for Excel uses Microsoft Excel as the core from which to connect to Dynamics GP and report on data using all of the power ...