UPDATE: Dynamics GP is now in End of Life (EOL) status and will not receive core and security updates from Microsoft. We highly recommend a Dynamics GP to Business Central migration to ensure compliance, security, performance, and day-to-day functionality. Click here to learn how 360 Visibility can assist you in migrating Dynamics GP to Dynamics 365 Business Central.
Reporting from Dynamics GP can be a hassle, especially if you don’t thoroughly know the complex underlying data structure of over 1,300+ tables, and 22,500+ fields. Of course, these obstacles aren’t unique to Dynamics GP itself. All enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions are made up of back-ends that are difficult to navigate for anyone who isn’t a technical specialist or administrator.
What most ERP solutions, like Dynamics GP, do well is what it’s made for: optimizing business processes and record keeping. In other words, its focus is on getting the data in, not necessarily getting it out.
Dynamics GP Management Reporter
With that said, Microsoft is quite advanced and forward thinking in what Dynamics GP provides to users to get reports. Management Reporter, the all-known defacto for financial reporting, has evolved to the new default offering of an Excel-integrated tool called Jet Reports; Smart List has long provided the coveted export-to-spreadsheet capability; and Power BI is emerging for robust data visualization. In fact, GP, like many Microsoft Dynamics solutions, is quite ahead of the curve in terms of integrated and out-of-the-box tools for users to get visibility of their data.
Yet, in working with hundreds of implementing partners and thousands of users all over the world, the feedback we are hearing about reporting and analytics in Dynamics GP is that it often doesn’t meet operational reporting needs, outside of financials. It could be because of the complexity of the underlying GP data or because of the lack of experienced GP developers you have on staff – either way, relying on those native tools can be time consuming and expensive. With no easy way to consolidate additional data sources and an inability to access one organized, accurate instance of the data, it’s no wonder why companies are struggling with the built-in reporting options in Dynamics GP.
Dynamics GP Reporting Challenges
If you have been using Dynamics GP in your day-to-day operational tasks for any amount of time, you are very familiar with the resulting delays, fees, and limitations. There are 4 reasons why these challenges in operational reporting from Dynamics GP exist:
- Programming in SSRS is slow and expensive because of the large volume of data, complex linking properties, and the programming expertise required to create a report.
- Managing ungoverned data in Excel can be unreliable and haphazard because every person in the company has their own spreadsheets and therefore, their own version of the truth.
- Creating views in Power BI is hard to use and maintain because of all the data joins and mapping it takes to create a single view, and the rewrites required to change the way something looks.
- Building OLAP data cubes is difficult and time-consuming because of it requires a highly experienced resource familiar with both SSAS data cubes and Dynamics GP.
With these obstacles in mind, Jet Global created a solution to save your Dynamics GP users valuable time, resources, and energy while delivering better reports. It all starts with Jet Analytics, your underlying data solution for Dynamics GP.
A Better Reporting Option for Dynamics GP
Jet Analytics is a complete business intelligence solution built to get fast, flexible reports and dashboards in Excel – without the need for developers and expensive consultants. Why? Because you can do it yourself. Using a pre-built data warehouse, OLAP cubes, and dashboards, Jet Analytics brings all your Dynamics GP data together and organizes it in one place. Combined with a user-based front-end reporting tool, this makes it easier for non-technical users to access, organize, and prepare your data, so you can take advantage of Power BI’s powerful visualization tools and be more efficient with operational reporting and analytics.
Jet Analytics uses the Jet Data Manager as a back-end tool to customize the turnkey data warehouses and cubes that will help you govern and manage your Dynamics GP data. With a single operating venue for your reporting across unlimited users, Jet Analytics allows you to still use Excel for all your reporting needs, but it provides a single source and data management system to manage the distribution, security, calculations for business measures and KPIs, and run-time of these reports.
Don’t let your current operational reporting challenges prevent you from getting instant, meaningful insight into your data. Improve real-time data visibility, help your Dynamics GP users become more self-sufficient, and enjoy the full power of Jet Analytics.