dayOne Event Notes

In a talk to the GPUG dayOne general session, 1100 Dynamics GP customers are attending Convergence 2009 inNew Orleans according to Rich Miller, from US Product Marketing for Dynamics GP.   At least 50 percent of those visitors describe themselves as business decision makers which, Microsoft hopes, add value to the conference.

Miller discussed Dynamics GP 11 with a focus on usability,accelerated implementations, and saving money. This release includes a deeper integration into other parts of the Microsoft stack including Word Forms and common UI enhancements.  Throughout the conference sessions are  planned to focus on how GP saves customer money in areas such as distribution, field services, financials, and integration to MOSS. 

Dave Coulombe, General Manager for GP at the Microsoft Fargo Development Center, took questions from the assembled GPUG members.  Among the discussion points were the use of the .NET platform, where "the evolution continues".  While Coulombe confirmed the known Microsoft position that the core of each Dynamics ERP solution will remain independent, there is an effort to re-use technology across the products where possible.  For newer, re-usable code, .NET-based software is becoming the norm in R&D for things like web services and other features that are not part of the product engine.

An informal poll of the GPUG general session indicated that most attendees were on GP 10, while others are still using older 8.0 and 9.0 releases.  GPUG offers user communities for each of these versions and stressed its desire to continue enabling users with similar needs to easily reach each other.

NAVUG's dayOne sessions broke out to discuss NAVUG interests for sessions in the coming months.  User interests ranged from EDI to NAV ...