Microsoft Dexterity or former name is Great Plains Dexterity is Integrated Development Environment and programming language (Sanscript). Current version of Microsoft Dynamics GP is 10.0 and software programmers have broader number of customization tools: eConnect, SQL scripting, Visual Studio SDK, Modifier with VBA.
However if you look at earlier versions: 5.0, 6.0, 7.5 then you will discover that large number of existing Great Plains ERP installations have modifications programmed in GP Dexterity. Dex is still all-mighty and extremely powerful tool – you will see Dexterity foundation in GP tables, forms, atomic stored procedures (deployed by Dex table indexes). Let’s review the bullets of Dex customization maintenance:
1. Dexterity source dictionary. Yes, this is typically first question – do you have DYNAMICS.DIC file with your source code? This file should be given to you by your former GP ISV, Dexterity programmer or consultant. If you are not sure, you should review your software archive, communication with former GPS partner. If you can not get source dictionary, then Dex developer could try to recreate the code based on still available tables and forms, but of course you are not really happy to face this recreation and reprogramming
2. Dex customization upgrade. You should invite professional Dexterity programmer to do this job as Dex is pretty proprietary and complex and it is not feasible to train your in-house programmer to do the upgrade. Code update itself is reviewing and comparing old and new forms and tables and making adjustments to existing sunscript code. If you customization was created really long time ago, something like in 1999 and earlier, then Dexterity developer should recommend you to switch several Dex cursors to SQL Server Stored Procedures to boost performance
3. GP modification recovery. If you are trying to move GP from one server to another, if you are changing your server IP address or computer name, if you are reshuffling your network – then you may encounter the situation when GP or its custom feature stop working. In the case when you are on MS SQL Server DB platform – all you need to do is to review your ODBC connection settings, however when you are on Pervasive SQL or Ctree – you will need to perform so-called location translation procedure, which requires professional Great Plains consultant, who has experience working with legacy versions of Great Plains Dynamics or eEnterprise
Dexterity Customization for Dynamics GP Evaluation Level Paper
When you are developer it is always a good idea to read technical manuals. But if you was just assigned to the IT team to decide if Dexterity is the right tool to customize your ERP application then first you need something which is in style of ‘easy reading papers’ or FAQ
Planning Dynamics GP Customization in Large Corporation
If you are reading this page then chances are high that you were not able to find ISV add-on and need customization project. Let’s talk about planning, quality assurance and future event such as version updates.
Dynamics GP Invoice Logo Attributed to Specific Company or Crossing the Borders of Three SOP Forms
Initial Great Plains Dynamics architecture had three SOP Invoice forms: Long, Short and Blank. Modern GP is popular in scenarios where you have more than three companies under one business entity umbrella
