Microsoft Great Plains Integration Manager Advanced Techniques

Microsoft Business Solutions main middle market ERP application – Microsoft Great Plains has multiple integration options: MS SQL Scripting (stored procedures and views), ADO.Net programming, Microsoft SQL Server DTS packages.

You certainly can deploy such SDK tools as eConnect. However here we would like to show you how to program the simplest user friendly tool: Microsoft Great Plains Integration Manager.

We assume that you are familiar with Microsoft scripting technologies: Visual Basic for Application (VBA). You should be aware, however, about poor performance of Integration Manager. We recommend it for low volume of complex transactions. It is good tool, if you are importing about 100 transactions per day from text file (when you need to come through empty lines or something not matching the template to filter integration lines). If you have thousand transactions and performance is critical – switch to SQL Stored procs or Dexterity custom process server.

1. VBA Scripting – Launch Great Plains Integration Manager, open your integration, right click->Properties, switch tab to scripts, open Before Document script. Now place this code in it:

If Left(SourceFields("F4"), 4)="THRU" Then
SetVariable "DocDate", Right(SourceFields("F4"), 8)
End If

If IsNull(SourceFields("F1")) Or IsNull(SourceFields("F7")) Then
CancelDocument
End If

It should mean that you can create DocDate variable and assign it the value from your query field. The second statement cancels document integration if certain condition met (when line is empty or is not actually integration line – something like comment record, etc.)

Now open Before Document Commit script and place this code there:

Dim MyTime, MyHour
MyTime = Now
MyHour = Hour(MyTime)

If Not IsNull(SourceFields("F8")) Then
DestinationFields("Check.Check Number")=SourceFields("F8")
Else
SetVariable "DocNumber", GetVariable("DocNumber")+1
DestinationFields("Check.Check Number")=GetVariable("DocDate")& MyHour&GetVariable("DocNumber")
End If
DestinationFields("Check.Date")=GetVariable("DocDate")
If Month(DestinationFields("Check.Date")+1)= Month(DestinationFields("Check.Date")) Then
DestinationFields("Check.Date")=DestinationFields("Check.Date")+1
End If
End If

Here you do two things. First you construct check number, using Date and time plus Document number. And the second is even more interesting – you alter check date.

In After Integration script place this code:

ClearVariables

It is good idea to nullify your variables.

2. Translation. Imagine that your are something like collection agency and you need to translate your vendors (from whom you purchase AR) into real vendors (banks). In AP integration open Destination Mapping, select Vendor ID, in the Rule Properties, click on the button next to Translation field, answer No, click on Translation tab and paste from Excel your translation list, something like this:

JOHNB BANKOFAMERICA
PETERP BANKOFAMERICA
MARTHAM CITIBANK

Now your vendors from integration file will be replaced with real vendors from Great Plains.

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer in Alba Spectrum Technologies USA nationwide Microsoft CRM, Microsoft Great Plains customization company, based in Chicago, California, Texas, New York, Georgia and Florida and having locations in multiple states and internationally (www.albaspectrum.com), he is Dexterity, SQL, C#.Net, Crystal Reports and Microsoft CRM SDK developer.