Management Reporter CU16 Released


It’s been almost a year since I had posted anything on my blog, due to various reasons. In all honesty, breaking that hibernation was harder than what I expected. Anyways…

Management Report CU16 has been released and is now available for download. Here’s the post from Dynamics CPM Team: Management Report CU16 Now Available

CU16, like my own absence from community activities, has come after almost one year. And this release indeed seems to be substantial. Following is the fixes list:

  1. Change tracking only gets enabled on the first Microsoft Dynamics GP company database.
  2. Wildcards and ranges doesn’t return all valid dimension combinations.
  3. Dimension filter uses an OR condition instead of an AND in different scenarios when two dimensions are specified.
  4. Dynamics GP: Management Reporter is performing a count query before actual query, doubling the query cost with data mart.
  5. Dynamics GP: Management Reporter fact integration slow when posting large Analytical Accounting batches.
  6. Dynamics GP: GP data validation is not working for Microsoft Dynamics GP 2016.
  7. Dimension filter uses an OR condition instead of an AND if using a dimension value that does not exist.
  8. Dynamics GP: Unable to create GP integration with GP 2016 Dexterity Shared Components.
  9. Dynamics GP: Yes/No Analytical Accounting dimension not working or integrating correctly in the Management Reporter data mart.
  10. Report generation fails when using a dimension value setting in the reporting tree based on MainAccount.
  11. MR CU15 Known Issue – @DateLong AutoText header displays day of week in web viewer.
  12. Report generation fails when there is a duplicated name for a dimension value.

I have removed all Dynamics AX related fix references. Full list can be found here: Management Report CU16 Fix List (PartnerSource/CustomerSource Access Required)

About the new features, most important one is the support for HTTPS & SSL deployment, for more data security.

I am gonna go ahead, download CU16 and upgrade my test environment, to experience the fixes and features.

I strongly suggest to whoever still use MR to do the same.

Vaidy

Management Reporter CU15 – Printing in the Web Viewer is an Incomplete Feature


It’s been more than couple of weeks since the cumulative update 15 (CU15) for Management Reporter (MR) had been released. With MR CU15, we got some really interesting feature additions and plenty of fixes.

However, one particular feature addition was probably the most interesting. Printing in the Web Viewer.

Screen Shot 2016-05-06 at 3.16.41 PM

We did not have this feature till CU15. Users had to either use browser’s print option (which would render the report awkwardly) OR they had to download the report to Report Viewer. I had received many requests from customers to help them change the default viewing client from Web Viewer to Report Viewer.

However, sadly, this feature has solved only 1/2 the printing limitation. It does give you an option to print a report, but does not let you print it.

Let me explain. You have an option to only download the report as an XPS file using this new *printing* feature. How about that? To be honest, this has rather created more confusion. I have to download the report as an XPS file, open that XPS file using XPS Viewer and then print the report to a printer/PDF writer.

jon-stewart-saying-why-daily-show

I’ve been thinking. Even if downloading the report as a PDF file is possible (along with Excel, XPS & Report Viewer), we might not feel the absence of a direct print functionality.

With the tools that we have now and the kind of programming talent available, how difficult is it to achieve this simple yet crucial functionality?

VAIDY

Tips on FRx to Management Reporter Migration


Dynamics GP Support & Services blog has posted some tips on migrating from FRx to Management Reporter.

The steps given are simple, easy and highly important. I strongly recommend this post to all those who plan to migrate from FRx to Management Reporter for a hassle-free migration.

VAIDY

Management Reporter CU15 Available Now


We have got another cumulative update (CU), CU15, available for Management Reporter (MR). Dynamics CPM Team has posted the link to download CU15 with the list of new features.

Web Viewer Responsiveness and Data Mart Reset Through PowerShell are my favs.

Most important points to be note:

  • SQL Server 2012 or higher is mandatory now. Anyone who’s using a lesser version won’t be able to update MR anymore.
  • Installing .NET Framework 4.6.1 is mandatory and would require a reboot. We must make sure that proper downtime is added to the update schedule.

Direct Download Link (CustomerSource Access Required): Management Reporter for Microsoft Dynamics ERP Installs and Service Packs Overview

VAIDY

Time to say Good Bye to FRx…


If anyone out there still using FRx as their financial reporting tool, it’s time to migrate to Management Reporter.

Dynamics GP Support team has posted an article, Microsoft Dynamics GP 2016 is upgraded – What’s next?, on which they have announced that FRx is no longer supported with Microsoft Dynamics GP 2016.

Time to say good bye to FRx…

VAIDY

Management Reporter – Misspelled Account Categories


This would be second Management Reporter post in a row. This also is about the default reports and how to troubleshoot the issues pertaining to the default reports.

I have an Australian edition of GP installed. Most of the terminologies (such as “Fiscal/Financial”, “Realized/Realised”, etc) are localised in GP. However, default reports in Management Reporter still are in US English, if I am not wrong.

Consider the following default balance sheet row definition:

Screen Shot 2016-02-09 at 04.51.43 PM

I was wondering why balance on this account did not show up on the report. After several minutes, I realised that the account category was misspelled, compared to what’s there in GP. Notice that on the report definition it is “Amortization” with a ‘z’ and in GP it is “Amortisation” with a ‘s’.

After changing the categories with correct ones, by referring to GP, the report started showing the correct figures.

This post is relevant only if you reuse the default reports. It’s irrelevant otherwise.

Happy Reporting!

VAIDY

Management Reporter – This report view contains no data.


I have been working on a Management Reporter project, for which I wanted to install and configure MR2012 CU14 from the scratch.

Completed the server and client installation, completed the Configuration Console processes, imported data from GP2015R2 (sample company) and reached a point where I wanted to test the default reports.

Ran the report and got the following message:

Screen Shot 2016-02-10 at 09.44.58 AM

I checked everything, including the date range, data available in sample company and everything that I could remember. All were perfectly alright.

I was, however, getting some warning messages while the report was getting generated. Messages as follow:

Screen Shot 2016-02-10 at 09.47.43 AM

This one was familiar. When we install management reporter, we get default reports along with it. It’s a nice and easy way to get started with MR, learn the concepts. However, it comes with its own headaches.

To name one (also most important), each default report row definition would have link to both Dynamics AX and Dynamics GP financial dimensions. To a GP consultant’s dismay, AX dimensions link would be placed in a column before GP dimensions link, as shown below:

Screen Shot 2016-02-10 at 09.56.46 AM

Now let’s go back to the warning message. It says:

The row definition contains more than one financial dimensions link. Since the report does not use the row definition for reporting tree option, the report will use the *first* financial dimensions link to generate the report.

The first here being Microsoft Dynamics AX dimensions link. Thereby, rendering all reports with the message shown in the first screenshot on this post.

Alright, so I know the cause now. I know what I must do to get past this message. However, I had no clue HOW to do that. I mean, I know I must remove AX dimensions link column from the reports, but not sure how.

This community forum post answer from Sue tells us how to remove the link column. Too bad, this post was not marked as an answer.

I would, however, like to point to the standard & the easiest method to remove the unused link (in my case AX dimensions link).

  • Either you can go to the Edit menu and click on “Row Links” as shown below:

Screen Shot 2016-02-10 at 10.08.15 AM

  • Or you can also use the tool bar button for “Row Links” as shown below:

Screen Shot 2016-02-10 at 10.06.30 AM

Once you click on “Row Links” from either of the above steps, you should get the following window:

Screen Shot 2016-02-10 at 10.13.02 AM

Once deleted, your report definition would have only one dimensions link, i.e. to Microsoft Dynamics GP link.

Report would then show the data as expected.

Screen Shot 2016-02-10 at 10.16.26 AM

Of course, this would be the case if you want to reuse the default reports. This post would be irrelevant for those who design reports from the scratch.

Happy Reporting!

VAIDY

Management Reporter Configuration – Part Of Domain Error


I am not sure how many would have noticed this error message. Just thought of sharing this with you all.

I installed Management Reporter 2012 CU7 on my machine yesterday night for some testing. I had not done this outside a network (being physically away from a domain) before, so never expected an error. But following error message popped up:

Snip20140106_4

 

My machine is already part of a domain. So above message was a bit confusing. Later I realised that I MUST be connected to my domain when the configuration process is run.

Which means the machine on which you are installing Management Reporter Server component CANNOT be physically outside the domain (even though it is already added to one) when you configure it.

This morning I restarted the configuration process and it’s done without issues. Interesting.

VAIDY

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 – Reporting (By David Duncan & Christopher Liley)


I just added one more treasure on my kit, in the form of a new book called Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 – Reporting, written by David Duncan (I.B.I.S.) and Christopher Liley (I.B.I.S.), published by Packt Publishing.

I have started reading this book from today and hopefully in a week, I will be able to grab hold of the vast set of chapters.

To give you an overview of what is there inside this book: The book covers everything “reporting” in GP. From Report Writer reports to Smartlist to Excel Reports to SSRS to Analysis Cubes to Management Reporter. Every single thing about GP Reporting.

However, the book does not talk about two things:

1. Crystal Reports and the way you can access crystal reports from GP quite understandably because Crystal Reports is NOT supported out of the box by Dynamics GP. It can be used with the help some 3rd Party solutions, such as GP Report Viewer (from Flexible Solutions) or even a simple code piece written by any Consultant who knows GP, Crystal Reporting and .NET coding.

2. FRx, as this is already been replaced by Management Reporter. There is of course a section in this book where the difference between FRx and Management Reporter is explained.

I shall be writing a review of this book in a week’s time (hopefully). Just could not wait to tell you all that this book really going to be a great treasure for those who wants to understand how effectively GP data can be visualized and analyzed.

Until next post.

VAIDY

GP2010 with Management Reporter – VPC Available


Inside Microsoft Dynamics GP has got a post that announces the Availability of GP2010 With MR (Management Reporter) VPC.

It details the VPC and features involved in it.

VAIDY