Microsoft Dynamics GP Nationwide Remote Support

This small publication should give you introduction about Dynamics GP web session based nationwide and international support: what is web session with phone conference number or skype phone, what is supportable remotely and what isn't, etc.  In this article we tried to balance technical and functional information, so it should understandable for both IT people and Accountants:
1. Why remote support?  Very good question.  And the answer is different for different customers.  For example, if you need quite complex customization programming and locally you have only Microsoft Dynamics GP functional consultants - natural way is to outsource custom add-on to Great Plains Dexterity developers, or Nationwide Dynamics GP Partner with Dexterity Software Development factory.  Second typical reason is obsolete version and lacks of local Great Plains consulting expertise for that specific old version of GP.  We can continue the list, another shot would be when you are trying to upgrade GP over several steps (migration from Pervasive SQL 2000 to Microsoft SQL Server, from Intellisol Purchase Order Processing to GP Purchase Order module and then upgrade to current version GP 10.0 or 11.0 which will be released in May 2010).  Often your local Dynamics GP reseller finds supporting partner, who has solid expertise in specific product, customization, integration or reporting
2. What is supportable and what isn't?  Dynamics GP remote technician cannot touch your hardware (replace motherboard, add new memory stick, install Windows Operating System) - these routines should be performed by your IT department or walk-in Networking engineer contractor.  Also, you should not expect Barcode scanners to be seen remotely.  All the rest could be done via remote support: Dynamics GP Installation, Data Migration and Conversion, Data Repair, User Training, Custom Programming (we recommend you to dedicate testing server for better results and effective Quality Assurance, as customization might be data driven), Version Upgrade, Moving GP to new Windows Server, Opening required ports on Windows 2008, Report Design, ecommerce and EDI integrations, old versions support, including GPA for DOS or Great Plains on Pervasive SQL/Btrieve or Ctree/Faircom, Payroll Tax update (including old versions, where update is done directly in SQL Tables, as Update utilities are not available directly from Microsoft Business Solutions Customer or Partner Source web sites)
3. Web Sessions and Phone or Skype conferences.  Via web conference your supporting Dynamics GP consultant sees your computer screen and shares mouse and keyboard resources as if she or he would be sitting on the chair next to you.  If you are located internationally and phone conference connection is expensive, consider skype phone conference, which is free, assuming that you register and get skype user ID and decent internet bandwidth.  Web Session requires user interaction from your side, however if you would like remote Dynamics GP developer to work autonomously with your Great Plains application, this is also possible, go to the next paragraph
4. VPN, Remote Desktop, Citrix, Terminal Server, PCAnywhere, GotoMyPc and other remote connection tools.  You should check with your IT department which connection they prefer for remote Dynamics GP programmer.  Technologies mentioned above allows consultant to connect when required and do programming or support without your assistance
5. Remote Support for your international subsidiary or branch.  If you have Microsoft Dynamics GP as your Corporate ERP application in your Headquarters and you are expanding internationally as multinational corporation, you should first check if GP is localized for your international office hosting country (it is localized for most of the English speaking countries, plus French Canadian, most of Spanish speaking Latin America and Caribbean).  If this is not the case, we recommend you to consider such Small and Midsize Business ERP as SAP Business One, which is localized in such countries (where GP is not available) as Brazil, Russia, China, Germany, Japan, Korea, France, Italy, Israel, etc.  With the release of SAP Business One version 8.8, you can host all your SB1 based international companies on the same server (this was not possible for SB1 2007 and 2005 as 2007A and B and 2005A and B blends required different SQL Servers)