Microsoft Officials Preview Dynamics GP 11.0 at GPUG Summit

In the keynote kickoff session to the GPUG Summit 2008 Monday in Las Vegas, Microsoft executives stressed their commitment to helping customers utilize Microsoft Dynamics GP to help move their businesses forward, while providing a sneak peak at what Dynamics GP 11.0 will offer.

Jeff Young, the product unit manager for Microsoft Business Solutions, spoke about how Dynamics GP can help drive business forward. What's important to consider, he said, when looking at your GP capabilities, is how you can "marry technology opportunities into business opportunities." Especially in today's economic environment, he stressed the need to maximize existing software investments.

Young's introduction on Microsoft's commitment to helping customers move their businesses forward led to a preview of what 2009's release of GP 11.0 will hold.

While the preview of GP 11.0 was limited -Young, promised a more complete preview at Convergence 2009- a PowerPoint presentation highlighted key expected new features.

"11.0 is a big release [for us]," Young said. It has the longest GP beta period ever, which should mean less testing needed by users, and fewer bugs once it's released. Plus, Young added, "We want to give partners as much time as possible to get up to speed." Part of this testing period includes over 3,000 total tests on Microsoft SQL servers.

Among the features being added to GP 11.0 are optimization for Office 14, extended workflow"--the same workflow that is in Office is in Dynamics," Young added--and reduced complexity of deployment.

The Office optimization allows simplified work across platforms.  Microsoft's Brian Meyer, who stepped in to speak about the new functionality, demonstrated how GP 11.0 allows users to easily communicate across multiple Microsoft platforms. In his example, he pulled an invoice from GP, was able ...