Microsoft Great Plains on Ctree or Pervasive SQL – what to do – tips for IT manager
By : Andrew Karasev
Find People, Friends & Old Lovers Free! Who is looking for you?
As you probably know, when Microsoft purchased Great Plains Software – the whole strategy for Great Plains Dynamics/eEnterprise line was changed. Initial GPS strategy was to maintain DB platform independence – via it’s C-written engine Dexterity, based on the believe that C programming language is platform independent. So – Great Plains was running on MS SQL Server, Ctree (Faircom – if you remember 1995-96 Macintosh era), Pervasive SQL (Btrieve). Microsoft obviously had no plan to keep this multiplatform capability and Great Plains was optimized to MS SQL Server and with the introduction of MSDE – the need to keep entry level Dynamics on Ctree/Btrieve disappeared.
Microsoft Great Plains Business Solutions, later renamed to Microsoft Business Solutions was sending multiple signals to Dynamics customers to migrate to SQL Server, later on to upgrade to Great Plains Standard on MSDE. Recently it promoted all the clients who own Great Plains on Ctree/Pervasive – so now they technically own so called Great Plains Standard. All they need to do is pay for Migration (around k$3 + consulting fee to whoever your MBS VAR is).
Unfortunately MBS did several rough turns in the process of this migration from ctree/Pervasive to SQL/MSDE.
Until early 2004 you could see support expiration date for Great Plains 7.5 on Ctree/Pervasive was July, 31, 2005. In about April, 2004 – Microsoft roughly changed it to December 31, 2004. This actually exposed all the clients with regulation-related modules (such as US Payroll – where you rather do not risk with printing W2s without support) to serious problems
Clients who migrated to Great Plains standard are now in the feeling that they paid for something that is free now. See above – all the low price GP clientele now technically owns GP Standard
Ctree/Pervasive clients with high volume of employees count in GP Payroll/HR now have to cut it to 500 employees due to the cap for GP Standard. You can imagine frustration, especially due to the fact that a lot of mid-size and big companies were running very cheap Dynamics on Ctree for just Payroll/W2 filing. This was a very nice alternative to products like Abra HR – not any more.
What to do. Well, if you plan to stay with GP – the only alternative is to migrate to MSDE. Contact your MBS VAR (or call us directly: 1-866-528-0577). You will be given Migration Tool quote – then install MSDE and Great Plains with exactly the same accounts structure that you have on Pervasive/Ctree. Tune Migration Tool, select all the tables in all the modules, click the button and wait a few hour – and you are in the SQL World!
If you want us to do the job - give us a call 1-866-528-0577! http://help@albaspectrum.com
Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer in Alba Spectrum Technologies – USA nationwide Great Plains, Microsoft CRM customization company, based in Chicago, Illinois, California, Texas, Florida, New York, Georgia, Colorado, Minnesota, Washington and having locations in multiple states and internationally (www.albaspectrum.com), he is CMA, Great Plains Certified Master, Dexterity, SQL, C#.Net, Crystal Reports and Microsoft CRM SDK developer. You can contact Andrew: andrewk@albaspectrum.com akarasev@albaspectrum.com
RELATED ARTICLES BELOW
Reunite With Loved Ones!
6 Things To Consider Before When Getting A Photo Lab
By : George Williams
Cisco CCNP Certification Exam Tutorial: Making The Most Of Cisco's CCNP Program Changes
By : Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933
All the Spyware Security you Need: For Free
By : Mitch Johnson
Online Classifieds
By : Michael Medeiros
Printer Buying Guide
By : Microtek Lab Inc
All The Tips You'll Need For Buying The Mp3 Player Of Your Dreams
By : Tatiana Velitchkov
Microsoft Great Plains on Ctree or Pervasive SQL – what to do – tips for IT manager
By : Andrew Karasev
Is Your Web Browser Putting You At Risk?
By : Doug Partridge
The Difference Between Satellite Internet And DSL
By : Paul Cris
Recovery For Your Hard Drive
By : John Ugoshowa