subject: Great Plains Dos Accounting Faq And Technical Support [print this page] This legacy ERP system originally developed by Great Plains Software and later on succeeded by Dynamics still has cluster of customers here in the United States. We would like to mention its pluses. It doesnt use Windows bells and whistles and just does the job of documents entering and batches posting. That level of isolation from new OS features commands wonderful performance. But there are minuses as well especially related to computer platform obsolescence. In our consulting practice we are helping GPA customers since 1997 and we would like to compose this document in FAQ format:
Q. We just bought new computer in one of the Best Buy branches. We are following the procedure and created GPS.BAT shortcut where all the code supposed to be launched from the server. We are getting error messages about 64 bit Windows incompatibility. As we understand DOS is isolated and old-good-days Operating System. What is going on here?
A. There are several factors. First of all Microsoft Windows is now sold mostly in 64 bit computing versions. There are still possibilities to purchase 32 bit Windows but there are associated with scaled down processors such as Intel Atom (formerly popular in Netbook series). Originally Great Plains Accounting was coming with Btrieve DB platform. Look at GPSGPDATA folder on your server (might be Novel or Windows NT or redeployed on Windows 2003). Here you should see files with DAT extension and these are your data tables. Old Btrieve is not compatible with Windows 64 bit editions. There are articles where procedure to redeploy GPA on Pervasive SQL 2000 is described. Tested versions of Pervasive are compatible only with 32 bit Windows 7, XP and Vista. Second factor is IPX/SPX protocol as it was default in old Btrieve. Pervasive SQL gives you the option of TCP/IP
Q. We stopped our relations with Great Plains Software in late 1990th and we are still on release 8.2. Our old Windows 95 computer works and does all the jobs including General Ledger batch posting. However when we tried to give users newer computers with 98 and XP they can do data entry but cannot post the batch
A. It might be related to known issue that GPA code for 7.1 and 8.2 was optimized for Pentium processors popular those days. When you are posting the batch you are probably getting error message Runtime error 200 and on the bottom of the form Option is not available. GPS was sending recompiled diskettes back in 1998 for 7.1 and 8.2 customers. The work around is to replace Config.exe (com) file but this work should be done by professional consultant
Lets now answer several generic questions
Q. Is my Great Plains still supportable?
A. The answer is Yes with restrictions. First of all there is technology obsolescence factor. Secondly the pool of consultants is becoming smaller and smaller. The idea to find somebody locally might be too optimistic and you would need to find somebody who is serving nationwide via web sessions
Q. Is it possible to upgrade to Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010?
A. Yes upgrade path is available. There upgrade diskettes to move you to 9.5 and from there you are transported to GP 8.0 and the next step is version 10.0 and the last step is to 2010
Q. We are thinking about switching to SAP small business ERP route and it seems to be SAP Business One. Here however data conversion might be required. Is it difficult to pump out GPA tables to text files for Data Transfer Workbench Excel (CSV) templates?
A. It is doable but you need to read manuals on the topics how to produce DDF files and then connect either via ODBC (MS Access or Excel) or directly in Pervasive SQL 2000 Control Center
Q. Our old server died but we just need single user access to enter our Sales, Purchasing, Payroll and GL documents. Do we have to appeal to IT folks who can recover our old Novel server?
A. In our experience there is no need to go back to Novel. Btrieve (or Pervasive is actually similar they bought Btrieve Technologies back in 1990th). If you have budget to move GPS folder to Windows 2003 then there is the way to deploy Pervasive SQL for data access from Win 7, Vista or XP 32 bit versions
Q. With news in Payroll FICA mismatches (employer and employee portions) how do we deal with that in DOS accounting?
A. GPA historically had settings for both employee and employer FICA percentages. So just do what you did every year change payroll tax rates manually and keep processing paychecks
Q. We would like to stay with GP Accounting for another five years. Could you share your opinion about minuses?
A. Probably this is 64 bit computing. Imagine the scenario where Microsoft or such popular software vendors as Adobe will retire 32 bit computing in their applications
For additional information, please feel free to call us 1-866-528-0577 or 1-630-961-5918 (this number works for international customers) or email us help@albaspectrum.com We serve you USA/Canada nationwide via remote support (web sessions and phone/Skype conferences). Local service is available in Western Michigan, Chicagoland, Southern California (LA, Orange County and San Diego) and Houston area of the state of Texas
