Recently, I have been doing quite a bit of thinking about Business Intelligence options for Dynamics GP. The biggest challenge here is that we have so many options. Excel Reports, SmartLists, SQL Reporting Services Reports, Anaysis Services Cubes, Management Reporter…and that is just the options available from Microsoft. When you include third party options, the list seems almost endless.
The third party options are nice, but I keep coming back to this question: With so many tools available from Microsoft, is it possible to meet all of the BI needs of our customers without introducing new technology?
I am very impressed with the Analysis Cubes option available out of the box with Dynamics GP. I worked extensively with this product several years ago when it was WebHouse by Professional Advantage. This was a great solution then…it is even better now. I have been working with it on our internal systems, and I love how easy it is to put Excel Pivot Tables on top of the Analysis Services Cubes, and I really like how easy it all is to use.
I think it is very possible that this may be the beginning of the BI solution for Dynamics GP that I have been looking for.