Microsoft Dynamics GP ReportWriter Reports Upgrade – overview for consultant

It is common to hear questions from GP customers, technical consultants and developers on how to upgrade GP Report Writer report: SOP Long Invoice form is good example.  Let take a look at ReportWriter technical base:

• Table Links.  Typically you see tables from the same module (such as SOP, PM, RM) only bundled in one specific report.  The reason for this – Dexterity assumed differences between various DB platforms, such as MS SQL Server, Ctree, Btrieve (now Pervasive SQL) – and being under such circumstances, it took the route to trust its own indexes only (internal Dexterity DB indexes, you can research them in GP->Tools->Resource Description->Tables).  This is why RW has such limitations, in comparison to external reporting tools: Crystal Reports, SRS, etc.  Table links change was practiced for earlier GP versions back in 20th century, now if you are current – you are probably on the safe page.
• RW formula fields.  These are the most typical sources of upgrade problems.  The recipe is pretty conservative and simple (but requires individual approach to each report and each formula field) – you should open old version of GP workstation and new version on the same screen or on two adjacent computers and compare formula fields one by one.  If on new report you see different calculations, you should try to replicate rather old logic (this should allow you avoid redesigning report from scratch)
• RW custom reports.  These reports typically never have upgrade issues, due to the fact that they usually don’t have formula fields – these reports typically used for custom data extractions
• RW Writer Modified Reports in Third Party modules.  First of all – you should accept the fact, that these reports (when we are talking about GP ReportWriter) can not cross the boundaries of their respective third party module.  Further more, Dexterity architecture treats the products in DYNAMICS.SET file as separate modules, so the statement is true on the level of one module
• Crystal/SRS alternative.  We heard battles between the supporters of one and the other reporting tool, for instance – Crystal Reports and Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services, something like “in the past Crystal was OK, now you have to use SRS only, period”.  In our opinion, both Crystal and SRS are too far away from GP internal DB structure, and in order to make one or another work with GP database, you as developer have to first test generic report login in SQL stored procedure or view