Microsoft Dynamics GP and Business Analyzer: Noting benefits of simplicity, accessibility

Did you know that there are out-of-the-box SSRS (SQL Server Reporting Services) reports available from your Microsoft Dynamics GP system?

Well there are, and GP users appear to be recognizing some of the benefits of using Business Analyzer to consume those reports like expanding the reach of Dynamics GP data beyond licensed users and incorporating reporting from external data sources.

As a presenter at a recent online meeting for GPUG explained, Business Analyzer comes bundled with your Dynamics GP 2010 R2 or 2013 licensing, although there are a couple different ways it gets installed, depending on the version.

R5, the latest release, is available for Dynamics GP 2013 (as well as AX and SL) from the Windows App Store. It also supports data from SQL Server Analysis Services Cubes and Microsoft Dynamics Management Reporter and lets users connect to a single service point to return data. Microsoft reports it is also researching adding compatibility to iOS (something that would make Mark Polino happy) and other platforms for a future release of Business Analyzer, and they plan to add more features in the first half of 2014.

"Business Analyzer provides an interface to your Dynamics GP SSRS report ...