Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 R2: Think Different

My wife's grandmother has a pattern when she tries something new. If she doesn't like it, she'll politely say "it's different." This has become a joke in our house with questions like "How do you like my outfit?" being answered with "It's different." In the past Apple encouraged us to "Think Different." I don't think Apple and my wife's grandmother used this the same way. Different can be good, bad, or just different.

For Microsoft Dynamics GP partners and users, GP 2013 R2 is different. It represents a significant change in the way we are going to use and think about Dynamics GP. Some of the new features aren't as fully baked as I would like, but they represent a great first start. More importantly, partners can't afford to ignore the new features because they offer significant value for users.

The first obvious change is the introduction of a ribbon like interface, dubbed the Action Pane. Buttons that were once on the face of windows have moved up into the action pane. This brings the desktop client much closer to the web client in terms of look and feel, but since most users and partners haven't delved deeply into the web client, this will be a significant change.

The Action Pane is still a work in progress. The sales order distribution button is awkwardly hidden behind a GoTo menu. And there are two print icons on the pane for printing checks. The left one with the document behind the printer prints checks. The plain printer icon prints edit lists. Not exactly intuitive and definitely different, but easy to fix.

A second change is the ability to import journal entries from Microsoft Excel. For partners, this means that they don't need an integration ...