Are you still using FRx ?

I know you’ve probably had a long relationship. You have had your share of troubles, and joys. I am pretty sure it has been an emotional ride – and its difficult to let go. However, it is time.

FRx is not supported on 64 bit, and as far as I know it will not be supported in GP 2013. There are viable alternatives out – Management Reporter from Microsoft has a new version, MR 2012 is looking good, and there is a nice migration path to upgrade your FRx reports.

Check out this post by David Musgrave which is a nice summary of resources The Management Reporter 2012 Lowdown - Developing for Dynamics GP

Another very nice alternative pointed out by my friend Michael Zurzolo is BI 360, which is an excellent excel based Financial Reporting tool -  http://www.solverusa.com/products/frx

So please, start planning to move away from FRx. 

Management Reporter for Dynamics GP - Resources

When Management Reporter with its shiny SQL backend came out, some of us with the odd nightmarish FRx experiences were overjoyed! However, as is always with change, there were complaints, and adoption has been gradual in the community.

However, things are picking up, and now there is new and valuable information out every week. A few articles from the past month, which you should definitely check out are -

Creating Consolidated Financial Statements using Management Reporter series at the Dynamics Corporate Performance Management blog by April Olson

• Creating Consolidated Financial Statements using Management Reporter – Consolidating data across one or multiple Dynamics ERPs with the same chart of accounts and same fiscal periods (Part 1 of 7)
• Creating Consolidated Financial Statements using Management Reporter – Consolidating data across one or multiple Dynamics ERPs with different chart of accounts (Part 2 of 7)
• Creating Consolidated Financial Statements using Management Reporter – Consolidating data across one or multiple Dynamics ERPs with different fiscal periods (Part 3 of 7)
• Creating Consolidated Financial Statements using Management Reporter – Consolidating with multiple Dynamics AX 2009 instances (AOS) and/or if currency translation and eliminations are required (Part 4 of 7)Creating Consolidated Financial Statements using Management Reporter – Consolidating with data in a non-Dynamics ERP (Part 5 of 7)
• Creating Consolidated Financial Statements using Management Reporter – using Management Reporter for eliminations (Part 6 of 7)

Installation and Configuration of Management Reporter by Ian Grieve

• How To Install Management Reporter – Server Prerequisites
• How To Create A Domain Controller
• How To Rewrite A Sub Domain To A Directory In IIS
• How To Install Management Reporter – Server
• How To Install Management Reporter – Client
• How To Configure Management Reporter For Use

Other Posts

• How to Calculate an Average in Management Reporter (JAN HARRIGAN )
• Management Reporter - The operation could not be completed due to failure on the server (Mariano Gomez)

For more Management Reporter Resources check out - GPWindow.com - Dynamics GP- REPORTING > MANAGEMENT REPORTER

Updating Management Reporter to SP1

Summary of steps to upgrade to Management Report SP1

· Remove previous version: Remove all components named “Microsoft Dynamics ERP Management Reporter <component>”

· Install .NET Framework 4.0, if already not installed

· Backup the ManagementReporter database

· Run the Database Updater tool (DatabaseUpdater.exe)

· Install Management Reporter Server

· Install Data Provider for Management Reporter

· Install the Management Reporter Client

· Test logging in Management Reporter

Details installation steps are:

Remove previous version

To remove all components named “Microsoft Dynamics ERP Management Reporter <component>.”

Note: When you uninstall the Management Reporter components, the existing Management Reporter database remains intact. When you install Service Pack 1, you will connect to the existing database.

Install .NET Framework 4.0

Back up the ManagementReporter database

Run the Database Updater tool(DatabaseUpdater.exe)

Connect to server

 

Upgrade complete

Install management report Server

Open the Management Reporter folder and double-click the Setup.exe file

Click Management Reporter Server in the Install section

Specify the installation path

Log with domain user

Connect to database

Important: If the firewall port is not opened, clients on other computers will not be able to connect to the Management Reporter services

Management reporter setup completed

Install data provider for Management Reporter

Run setup.exe for Data Provider

Accept License agreement and click Install

Install the Management Reporter client

Open the Management Reporter folder and double-click the Setup.exe file

Click Management Reporter Client in the Install section

Specify server connection based on port specified during server install

Management reporter installed

Tested generating report

Management Reporter SP 1 is out !

This is great news - Service Pack 1 for Microsoft Dynamics Management Reporter Available.

I am really happy to see that - Migration from FRx – Service Pack 1 better handles the conversion of wildcards in account segments. Issues with migration validation in the Report Designer have been resolved. This was a pain !

Download it from - https://mbs.microsoft.com/customersource/downloads/servicepacks/MROverview.htm

See the complete update by April here - http://blogs.msdn.com/b/dynamicscpm/archive/2010/09/09/service-pack-1-for-microsoft-dynamics-management-reporter-available.aspx

Management Reporter – Troubleshooting and Errors

Management Reporter Troubleshooting

1. Check out the Event Viewer (Application), and review the Management Reporter Events. This is pretty important, as Doug mentioned here
2. Search in the forums from GPWindow, and from the Management Reporter Forum here (this is not yet indexed by GPWindow) http://social.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/managementreporterBeta/
3. Refresh the cached Financial Data - On the Tools menu, click Refresh Cached Financial Data.
4. Confirm whether or not the Application Service is running correctly is to type in the following in IE:
   http://MRservername:MRport/SecurityService.svc
5. Stop and Start the Management Reporter application pool (From IIS). Check the Event Viewer for errors.
6. Stop and Start the Management Reporter Process Service. Check the Event Viewer for errors. This is found under Control Panel | Administrative Tools | Services | Management Reporter Process Service.
7. Restart the Web Service in IIS

#6 Restarting the Process Service

Errors

If you get the following error when you launch Management Reporter -"Connection attempt failed.  User does not have appropriate permissions to connect to the server." -

You need to add their users - Add user- enter domain\username.  They can only launch if they are login to windows using their own domain account.

Check out this post from Cecile for details.

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If you get the “Unable to connect to the specified server. Verify that the Management Reporter application service has been installed on the server and that the specified address is correct” error -

There is a great checklist by Ryan from Microsoft here.

1. Management Reporter will only function while connected to the domain it was installed on. Even if all MR server components are on one machine, that machine still needs to be connected to the domain you were on when you installed MR.

2. Confirm the Application Service application pool is running. This is found in Internet Information Services Manager and is the Management Reporter app pool.

3. Confirm the Management Reporter Process Service is running. This is found under Control Panel | Administrative Tools | Services | Management Reporter Process Service.

4. Confirm the Identity of the Application Service app pool has GeneralUser and public SQL roles to the Management Reporter SQL database.

5. Confirm the user running the Management Reporter Process Service has GeneralUser and public SQL roles to the Management Reporter SQL database.

6. Confirm the IIS machine has the port used in the MR installation set up as an exclusion on any Firewalls (Windows Firewall included).

7. Another way to test to confirm whether or not the Application Service is running correctly is to type in the following in IE:

http://MRservername:MRport/SecurityService.svc

This should return a page with code samples. If you get an HTTP error then ASP.NET 2.0 may not be enabled or the Application Service may not be running.

8. Check the Event Viewer for more information

9. Stop and Start the Management Reporter application pool. Check the Event Viewer for errors.

10. Stop and Start the Management Reporter Process Service. Check the Event Viewer for errors.

11. Windows Server 2003 – Web Service Extensions in IIS, Active Server Pages can’t be set to Prohibited.

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Reports being stuck in Queue

Check out the Event Viewer (Application), and review the Management Reporter Events.  The error details will guide you to fixing the problem

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Data not shown in reports

This could be due to a number of reasons. One crazy reason we found (again via the Event Viewer), was that no functional currency was set in GP.

Solution:  Set functional currency in Multicurrency Setup window (Microsoft Dynamics GP menu >> Tools >> Setup >> Financial >> Multicurrency)

Dynamics GP : Reporting (FRx, Management Reporter, Business Alerts, Crystal, Report Writer, Smartlist, Builder and SSRS)

Microsoft Dynamics GP offers a wide range of reporting and analysis tools. The Dynamics GP Community has covered different types of Reporting options available for Dynamics GP extensively - FRx, Management Reporter, Crystal Reports, Smartlist, Smartlist Builder and Reporting services.

Getting Started with GP Reporting ?

If you are getting started with Reporting in Dynamics GP, check out MVP Mark Polino’s excellent Powerpoint presentation on Reporting in Dynamics GP. Its a couple of years old but still very relevant. Mark covers information about finding table information, and various tools.

Another fantastic article on getting started with Dynamics GP Reporting is by MVP Mariano Gomez – “Navigating the Sea of Emerging Reporting Tools for Microsoft Dynamics GP”. Mariano gives an overview of all the reporting options available in GP.

Business Alerts

In the Business Alerts sub section, you will see posts about configuring Business Alerts in GP. You can see posts about setting up Custom Business Alerts by Michael D. Johnson II. There is a nice article by Mariano on Configuring Business Alerts to report posting errors and one by Mark - “Alert! Alert! Four Ways to Use Microsoft Dynamics GP to Generate Early Warning Notices”

Crystal Reports

In the Crystal Reports sub section, you will see posts about designing, printing, deploying and running Crystal Reports. There are some great posts by Victoria Yudin here - Displaying Checkboxes in Crystal Reports, Renaming tables in Crystal Reports, How to get next Monday’s date in Crystal Reports, Dynamically change decimal places in Crystal Reports, Adding watermarks to Crystal Reports, Alternating shading for lines in Crystal Reports , Running Totals in Crystal Reports, Suppressing blank lines in Crystal Reports and more. There are also posts by Mohammad Daoud on “Run Crystal Report in Dynamics GP Using VBA”, and Print Crystal Report Directly to the printer using VBA. Check out the other posts by visiting this category on GPWindow. Reviewing the articles in this category will make you a Crystal Reports expert!

FRx

In the FRx sub section, you will see posts about installing, configuring, creating and modifying FRx reports. You can check out posts about FRx Currency Translation (Setting up and more by Jan Harrigan), FRx Report Launcher, FRx DrillDown Viewer, FRx WebPort. You can see posts about Dynamics GP Trial Balance in Excel using FRx from Victoria Yudin. Linking External Worksheets In FRx by Waqas, FRx Transaction Detail codes for Dynamics GP by Janakiram and post on FRx Future by Jan. For some people who have nightmares about FRx Installation and upgrades – there are useful posts like FRx Installation Error - Windows Updates by Vaidy and information about the latest FRx service packs and FRx versions. There are nice FRx tips by Belinda Allen like - FRx Report Book, too powerful to miss using and Email FRx Reports Easily

Under FRx Forecaster you can see some awesome posts by Christina - Forecaster.ini...or maybe outie?, Forecaster Users and Dynamics GP Users, Forecaster Input Options and FRx Forecaster Import is Easy by Steve Chapman. Although FRx Forecaster is primarily a budgeting tool, its put in under the FRx category. If you have any suggestions about where it would be more easier for people to find, let me know.

MANAGEMENT REPORTER

In the MANAGEMENT REPORTER sub section, you will see posts about installing, configuring and migration to Management Reporter from FRx. You can see posts about the The Future of FRx and Management Reporter by Jan Harrigan. There are posts on when NOT to Migrate to Management Reporter, and on how to Migrate to Management Reporter from FRx. If you are getting started with Management Reporter do go through the top articles in this category.

Navigation Lists

In the Navigation Lists sub section, you will see posts about the benefits of using the navigation lists in GP, which are relatively a new feature compared to the other options. You can see posts about Leveraging Navigation Lists in GP v10. 0and Exporting Navigation Lists to Excel by Mark Polino. There are posts about Navigation List builder as well.

Report Writer

In the Report Writer sub section, you will see posts about using GP's built in Reports Writer to modify GP reports as per your requirements. You can see loads of excellent posts by David Musgrave and team – Using the built-in Report Writer Functions , Using ADO with VBA with Report Writer, How to get large amounts of text to look good on a report, Accessing any SQL data from a Report Example, RW - Conditional Logos Example. There are over 70 articles here, all worth checking out. If you have a report writer problem, there is a chance David and his team have written about it.

SmartList

There are some very useful posts by Frank Hamelly - Using SQL Wildcards to search & filter in SmartList, Changing the Default GoTo in a SmartList, Take the Pain out of SmartLists with the Navigation Pane. There’s also the extremely popular Smartlist: Exports slowly to Excel - Part 1 which will help you improve the performance of your Smartlist exports to excel significantly.

SmartList Builder

In this sub-section, you will see posts about Drilldown Builder, building Smartlists using SQL views and Security related to Smartlists. You can see posts like Drill Down Builder from Microsoft's official GP blog - Inside Microsoft Dynamics GP. How to use a SQL view in Smartlist Builder by Victoria and posts on Smartlist Builder Security by Mariano - Smartlist Builder Security for SQL Server Views and Vaidy - View Smartlists with SQL Tables. There are also Smartlist Builder troubleshooting articles like - SmartList Builder based on SQL View not returning data. Devon Southall has some nice articles in this section like - Summary SmartLists in Builder (Sales by Item for a date range, etc), Making a copy of a Builder SmartList, Distribution Tables – adding the GL accounts to Builder Lists. There are over 50 great articles so check this category out if you use Smartlist Builder or intend to use it.

SQL Analysis Cubes

In the SQL Analysis Cubes sub section, you will find posts about GP Analysis cubes and how to modify the existing cubes. Under this sub section you will find a video that shows you an example of how to use the Analysis Cubes with Dynamics GP by Steve Chapman. Another great post shows Receivable Aging in Analysis Cubes for Excel by David Duncan.

SSRS

Under the SQL Reporting Services sub section, you will find techniques to use SQL Server Reporting Services (also called SSRS) with GP. Under this section you will find posts about Things I love about SQL Reporting Services by Christina Phillips and Using SSRS with Dynamics GP from Waqas Butt. There is also a post on the SSRS Reports Available in Dynamics GP 10.0 by Steve.

More Information

Check out over 500 articles on Dynamics GP Reporting at GPWindow organized into various categories - http://www.gpwindow.com/REPORTING/

Feedback

Are there any other important articles about GP reporting that I missed ? If yes, add your comments*.

* - Only after reading all the articles above. Just Kidding :).

Management Reporter Installation Guides, and a Gift

I am going to gift you something today – “Time”.

Before you get started with the Management Report Install make sure you have the following installed on IIS -  

1. IIS 6 Metabase Compatibility Feature for IIS 7
2. ASP.Net
3. WCF HTTP Activation

Two other things to keep in mind before you get started

1. Management Reporter requires a domain (thanks to Tina for the link)
2. Management Reporter would not work with GP 10, it only works with GP 2010

Here’s the gift – Read the Management Reporter for Microsoft Dynamics ERP: Installation, Migration, and Configuration Guides, and read them carefully. Its a little overwhelming with about 34 files, but you just need about 5  –

These are the files you should be getting, if you have a US Install (Otherwise take the other files on the same page)-

1. System Requirements for Management Reporter - MRSystemRequirements_ENUS.pdf
2. Installation Guide for Management Reporter  - MRforDynERPInstGuide_ENUS.pdf
3. Migrating from FRx 6.7 to Management Reporter - MRforDynERPMigrfromFRxGuide_ENUS.pdf
4. Management Reporter for Microsoft Dynamics ERP Data Provider Configuration Guide - MRforDynERPDataProvInstGuide_ENUS.pdf
5. Management Reporter for Microsoft Dynamics ERP Readme - MRv2Readme_ENUS.pdf

Recently there was a question in the newsgroups about a Management Reporter feature, so I thought it would be good if I had the latest version running on my PC. It would only take a few minutes I thought, and I quickly glanced through the System requirements, Readme and the installation guide and launched the setup.

I knew I needed IIS, I set that up and then proceeded with the install – getting quite a few errors because I missed the parts above in the System Requirements - 

IIS 6 Metabase compatibility role must be installed with IIS 7.0. I missed this and got the following error.

 

Easy enough, I set that up - Under Program and Features opened up “Turn Windows Features on or off”

Ran the installed again and got the – Management Report application service requires that ASP.NET be enabled

 

 

Set that up

Then I got the following error – WCF HTTP Activation be enabled in the Microsoft .Net Framework features. At this point, I was ready to kick myself. I was reading the installation guide again and again, but these 3 items were in the system requirements document.

 

 

 

After that I got this error – and understood that this was not going to happen on my PC. Shifting over to a VPC.

 

 

Another error that my colleague Tina mailed me about was the “Invalid version of GP or invalid database”'

Management Reporter only works with GP 2010, it doesn’t work with GP 10.

 

 

 

I’ve added the Install Guides and other Management Reporter Installation posts under the Management Report Installation Category on GPWindow http://www.gpwindow.com/REPORTING/MANAGEMENT_REPORTER/Installation/

Here’s a nice Management Reporter Server Install Guide - http://blogs.msdn.com/b/dynamicscpm/archive/2010/01/15/installing-the-management-reporter-server.aspx

Management Reporter and Forecaster - Update

Just up on the MSDN - Dynamics Corporate Performance Management blog – information about Management Reporter Roadmap -

Microsoft Forecaster Integration

Instead of releasing a separate integration for Microsoft Forecaster, we are going to deliver a tool that pushes Microsoft Forecaster data back into the general ledger. Once data is in the general ledger, Management Reporter can pull this data to create budget to actual reports.

Along with these enhancements, bug fixes will also be included in Feature Pack 1.

More FAQs about MR and Forecaster covered earlier here.

FRx and Forecaster Replacement– Management Reporter

There has been a lot of coverage about this recently, but I still do get asked these questions quite often, so here’s the summary -

1. What product is replacing FRx ?

Management Reporter. You get Management Reporter and not FRx when you buy GP 2010(unless you point out a missing functionality, which is probably going to be very rare)

See Mark Polino’s Posts about Management Reporter here, he has been covering it for quite some time.

2. When is FRx support ending

Support for FRx 6.7 will end around 2012

3. What about FRx Forecaster?

For now continue using Forecaster, its support would end around 2014, when Version 4 of Management Reporter is launched. By then the budgeting aspects would be integrated into Management Reporter and an upgrade path be available.

4. How difficult would it be to upgrade from FRx to Management reporter? How different is MR from FRx ?

There is a step by step wizard for Migrating the data.

FRx and Management Reporter are very similar. Management reporter is just more robust with a SQL Backend. I guess anything and everything would be more robust than FRx. I have seen strange FRx errors make grown-ups cry. I am definitely going to miss the Sysdata folder and the TDB files though.

See more great posts below

http://www.frxbuzz.com/shootout-an-frx-and-management-reporter-comparison/

If you like FRx, you'll love Management Reporter

5. Where can I find out more about Management reporter

Check out the Dynamics CPM Blog http://blogs.msdn.com/dynamicscpm/

They have lots of great posts coming out very frequently

Bonus feature! Using the new GP 2010 General Ledger Reporting Ledgers in Management Reporter

Management Reporter Feature of the week: Report Library

Management Reporter Features of the Week: Formatting, Organization and Report Groups

 

Information at Partnersource https://mbs.microsoft.com/partnersource/solutions/mgmtreporter