Microsoft reaches ERP milestone
CONVERGENCE EFFORT HITS THE MIDPOINT; NEXT STEP IS TO INTEGRATE
4 SUITES
By Renee Boucher role in the company, a plan
Ferguson that’s music to Microsoft’s
Microsoft has ears.
reached the half- As part of Wave 1, Micro-
way point in its long soft has been working for
march to converge Waves of convergence several years to enable users
its four enterprise to customize Dynamics
resource planning suites Microsoft is taking a two-step, multiyear approach in bring- applications by role.
into a common technology ing together its four ERP suites: Brooke Davis, controller
platform. But it’s still an Wave 1 Completed June 18 with the release of the latest at Moeller Design & Devel-
open question whether the versions of GP and SL, which offer new Office-like UIs, Web opment, is pleased with SL
three-year-long campaign services capabilities, integration with Office 2007 and use of
7’s roles customization and
will deliver a fully converged SharePoint Server code Office UI. “A lot of our users
suite that will hold its own in Wave 2 Calls for converging the ERP suites—GP, NAV, SL and haven’t used anything more
the midmarket that SAP and AX—through a common technology platform robust than QuickBooks, so,
Oracle also covet. for them, modular systems
The Redmond, Wash., Source: e WEEK reporting are overwhelming,” said
company’s Business Solu- Davis in Seattle. “For them,
tions unit achieved a major Lux in Belleview, Wash. “I Lux said he is happy the Office UI and roles cus-
milestone June 18 when it don’t have to look at a day to see that Microsoft has tomization are huge. It really
released the next iterations where I am told I have to wavered on its plans with takes away the anxiety.”
of two of the company’s four jump the gorge to get to the Wave 2. “What I am seeing Another big hit in SL 7
business application suites: other side; what [Microsoft] happen is the brilliance of is that it’s the first suite in
Dynamics GP 10 and SL 7. is going to do is support the how one could achieve the the Dynamics pantheon to
Both suites feature a new other side. [Project Green] convergence of four ERP be rewritten in .Net. “We
Office-like user interface, would have been, ‘On this solutions into a single solu- cheated a little bit. It was
integration with Office 2007, date we turn the lights out— tion without disorienting in Visual Basic, so, using
Web services enablement either joinus or you’re done.’ the customer or causing Microsoft tools, we moved
and a common business por- Microsoft realizes that’s not strife within the customer from Visual Basic to Visual
tal architecture with a move going to work.” base,” Lux said. “What Basic .Net,” said Jon Pratt,
over to SharePoint Server Project Green, the early we’re seeing is the concept seniordirectorof Microsoft’s
code. The upgrades com- code name for the suite’s of role-based dashboards. Dynamics GP, Dynamics SL
plete Wave 1 of the two-wave convergence, was a two-step It doesn’t matter what suite and Dynamics Retail Man-
process of converging Micro- plan to rewrite Microsoft’s you’re using; in the end, agement System.
soft’s four ERP suites. four ERP suites—GP, NAV, they all start looking about The .Net rationale is that
The question is, now that SL and AX—into a single the same.” it “improves the enhance-
Microsoft is ready to move to code base. At their Conver- Lux, a beta tester of GP ment of the developer
Wave 2 in its convoluted ERP gence user conference in 10, said the feature he most environment,” said Pratt.
roadmap—firstitplannedto March, Microsoft officials likes is the software’s role- It also paves the way for
converge the four code bases; confirmed that the company based capabilities. He will much easier on-demand
now it will converge the will likely not move to a sin- use the features to custom- development by providing a
suites through a common gle code base but, rather, ize the suite for various multitier architecture that’s
platform—are customers converge the suites through roles, including accounts native, he said.
looking forward to the evo- a common underlying tech- payable, accounts receiv- Wave 2 will bring more
lution? Edward Lux, director nology stack, including SQL able, order entry, credit and of the same, providing
of operations and technology Server, Visual Studio .Net, purchase order inventory. .Net wrappers for NAV and
at ChemPoint.com, is. Biz Talk Server and Work- Eventually, he said, he will potentiallytheother Dynam-
