Retail EDI

Microsoft develops tool which for the most part can be customized and integrated more easily than a few others.  In this particular instance: Dynamics GP, Microsoft has given us three primary means of integration (See drawing below), including:

1. eConnect
2. ODBC
3. Integration Manager

By far the most common integration method is using eConnect (via eConnect Application or Integration Manager).  This is followed by SQL (via ODBC) and finally Web Services.

Note: I redid the architecture drawing.  You can find the Microsoft GP Architecture overview here:

Note: I redid the architecture drawing to simplify a little.  You can find the Microsoft GP Architecture overview here (MSFT Dynamics GP Arch.) 

Some people will notice that Dexterity is not shown in our (And Microsoft's drawing), that was intentional.  If you chose to involve Dexterity development in your integration, you will still have to contend with a data integration method - UNLESS you are integating with a Dexterity based application.  So while your project may include both adding/customizing forms in addition integration to GP - they are really two bundled projects.  It (Dexterity) ships with the GP package to provide users the ability to customize their application e.g. add or modify forms.  Costly, due to long learning curve is what I gathered from a few people.  Microsoft puts a lot of time into talking about Dexterity - and it may be a big deal.  They also provide tools like .Net and Com interfaces in addition to VBA.        
 
Everyone wants the simplest integration scenario possible.  It makes implementation and maintenance both less costly.  From what I can see GP and Solomon differ greatly in their integration methods.  Solomon offers a direct transaction import (Delimited files) where Great Plains does not.  A little surprising when you consider how long MSFT has owned both.  A Transaction Import makes it possible for the end user to import a file directly – which is great for one offs as well as being able to set up an automatic directory import.  If you can picture the scenario above you can see that Great Plains needs that last step to hopefully be included in it.  Till then, the recommended course is to use Integration Manager as the middle man.

Most EDI companies have either built a ‘solution’ for integration or will outsource the project.  In my experience there is nothing wrong with either as long as (As with any project) requirements are established up front and the communication is helpful, articulate and quick.

What strategy did you use to integrate GP?

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