BEYOND
INTEGRATIONS
Presented by Barry Crowell and Frank Reese
Overview
What we will cover in this session
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Why would you implement an integration
Types of integrations
IntegrationTools
Demonstration of integration tools
Why Integrate?
Integration is a function of exchanging data with external systems and
your financial system.
Your business utilizes an industry specific package and you need to
integrate into your ERP system:
• Membership management
• Customer Relationship Management System
• Ecommerce System
• Other external systems
• Inventory Management
Types of Integration
Some of the most common integrations include:
• Integrate accounts payable transactions from an membership
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management system
Integrate an inventory management application
GL Integration
Integrate external CRM systems
Integrate other critical systems such as membership management,
scanning, etc.
What type of Integration
Selecting the right integration tool requires a well thought
out process. When evaluating tools you need to consider
the following:
• Who will be running the integration
• What technology will the integration interface with
• What are the business requirements for the integration
• Build a flow diagram of the integration to define how it will work
• How much data will be integrated
• Does the integration need to be synchronous or asynchronous
Integration Tools
Some of the integration tools available on the market
Today includes:
• Integration Manager from Microsoft
• eConnect from Microsoft
• Smart Connect from eOne
• Scribe from Scribe Software
• MC2
Integration Manager
Integration manager was first introduced from the Taylor Group in 1995
to solve an Integration problem that resellers had with Dynamics GP. It
was later purchased by Great Plains and integrated with it’s suite of
product offerings.
Pros of using Integration Manager
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Simple to use
Provides validation
VBA can be used
Schedule with 3rd party products
Cons of using Integration Manager
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Must be logged into Dynamics
Limited Error reporting
Speed
Limited to what you can integrate
Cannot use third party forms
One way integration
Integration Manager Demo
Barry will demonstrate a simple Integration using
integration manager
• Input file
• Integration setup
• Integration Execution
• Results
eConnect
eConnect was introduced by Microsoft with version 7.5 of
Microsoft Dynamics-GP. eConnect is a powerful
integration tool that is designed for developers to
integrate systems.
Pros of eConnect
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Can integrate with any application
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Many built in integration points
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Can be used to integrate to third party products
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Fast data integration
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Is a two way integration
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Built in web services for easy integration for developers
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Provides the ability to create pre and post changes
Cons of eConnect
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Developer centric and requires Visual Studio
eConnect Implementations
• Projects
• eCommerce to ERP for inventory and sales orders
• Inventory management
• Shipping automation
• Order Processing automation
• Budget integration from Sharepoint
• CRM integration to GP
• POS real-time integration
Smart Connect
Smart Connect was introduced by eOne in 2008 as an integration tool
that provides more advanced capabilities than Integration manager.
eOne develops other solutions and is located in Australia with offices in
Fargo, ND.
Pros of Smart Connect
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Very Flexible
Data imports are very fast
Can be used by non developers
Scripting can be done in VB.Net or C#
Can integrate to Extender or other third party products
Is a two way integration
Can be used with programs such as Excel, InfoPath, etc.
Cons of Smart Connect
• Currently GP Centric
• Only has built in Adapters for GP and CRM
Smart Connect Integrations
• Projects
• Generated drop ship XML delivered to vendors
• Developed custom nodes to integrate 3rd party GP products
• Integrate Employee project time
• Import GL transactions
• Schedule POS bulk integrations
• Inventory updates
• Stock refresh orders
Scribe
Scribe was introduced by Scribe Software shortly after
Microsoft CRM was released. Since then Scribe has
developed other adapters that can provide integrations
between business applications and ERP systems
Pros of Scribe
• Very Powerful configuration
• Data imports are very fast
• Can be used by non developers
• Debugging tools are advanced
• Can run as a stand alone integration tool
• Is a two way integration
• Built in adapters for GP, NAV, Exchange, ACT, Pivotal, Salesforce, Saleslogix
Cons of Scribe
• Greater learning curve over the other tools
• Some limitations on the adapters
MC2
MC2 Software has been serving the Great Plans
community for 25 years and has developed the process
scheduler for Great Plains. A fully integrated application
designed to schedule Accounting transaction processing
and other accounting routines.
Pros of MC2 Scheduling
• Batch Posting
• Routine Maintenance
• Reports
Cons of MC2
• Requires Dynamics GP Process Server
Demo
• Smart Connect
• MC2