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If you are ecommerce developer, who is integrating ecommerce web front application with Dynamics GP (evenly referred historically as Fantastic Plains Dynamics or eEnteprise), you probably target SOP or Sales Order Processing Invoice as target in GP for ecommerce customer shopping cart.  Customer Credit Card payment becomes customer deposit to invoice and each item bought becomes Invoice Line item.  If you are using Microsoft Visual Studio C# or VB.Net web project for ecommerce application, then natural way for you to deploy Dynamics GP sConnect libraries and SDK (help info, available in eConnect) to review and imitate code samples.  This technology should work in both B2B (where you make real customer, or work only in restricted partner channel) and B2C (where you send all the invoices to so-called Walk In customer, and if required add just new Walk In folk address).  In this small publication we want to review other options and Automatic Batch posting technology frankly from ecommerce eConnect application:

1. Microsoft Dynamics GP Integration Manager in ecommerce scenarios.  This tool could be either called on demand or scheduled with the scheduling application available for buy from Microsoft Business Solutions, or you can deploy third party (evenly free) Windows macro type of small shareware applications available in open software market for download and tryout.  If you schedule IM to do ecommerce to GP integration say every twenty minutes – this method might be a way more powerful (assuming that GP plays master role for Inventory Bits and pieces maintenance and update and Pricelists).  If this is the case – IM can make or update such objects as Customer, Address, Inventory Item, Comments to Customer, Invoice, Invoice Line, Shipping Instructions.  With Dynamics GP 10.0 Integration Manager deploys eConnect connectors, which are very well-organized from performance standpoint (but eConnect SOP connector doesn’t have SOP Return, but you can realize return via IM OLE technology based SOP connector and for future versions of Dynamics GP IM we hope that that gap will be patched).  Integration Manager also does the job, even if your ecommerce is hosted in Linux/PHP/MySQL.  In this case you can either use thwart platform ODBC bridge, or have Integration Manager integrate text or XML ecommerce shopping cart exports.  And as the a further excellent note about IM – if you deploy Advanced ODBC Data Sources in IM, you can base them on Microsoft SQL Server Linked Server to Oracle, Lotus or a further non-Microsoft DB platform, which is ODBC compliant and which could be joined in SQL Server View

2. eConnect.  This tool opens the door to real time ecommerce integration to GP, if this is a touch, that is unquestionably required.  eConnect might be more flexible comparing to Integration Manager, but it might require more programming time to cover all expected (and unexpected) ecommerce customer events.  If real time aspect is not critical, eConnect advantage could be bonus flexibility, when eCommerce application is playing master role (new bits and pieces, price lists, discounts, internet promotions are initiated in your ecommerce application and then propagated to Dynamics GP, as you post new ecommerce shopping carts and download them to Fantastic Plains)

3. Dynamics GP Automatic batch posting frankly from ecommerce eConnect or Linux based application.  eConnect by its architecture works with GP master records and so-called Work Transactions, where you place work SOP invoice (ecommerce shopping cart image) to the bath for GP user (choice maker or approver) review, approval and posting frankly in GP user interface.  Dynamics GP is mid-market Corporate ERP and it has layers of security and approval cycles, and eConnect doesn’t allow shortcuts in batch auto posting on eConnect amount.  We recommend you to deploy Alba Spectrum Posting Server which imitates batch approval and posting initiation through Dynamics GP User Workstation.  Even if you are sending shopping carts from Unix, Linux/PHP platforms, you can still delight in Posting Server functionality, as all you need to do is to populate SOP10100, SOP10200 and other SOP work tables (we have Alba Spectrum Order Connector product, which allows you to do this work on SQL Stored Procedures amount) and mark the batch as ready for being posted in custom Batch Prepared for Posting table.  Posting Server deploys native Microsoft Dexterity (formerly known as Fantastic Plains Dexterity) batch posting initiation internal procedures

4. How to get bonus help?  We encourage you to search in google for Dynamics GP video demos and presentations.  Our web engineers are deploying web casting technologies, similar to the ones used in Youtube and Google Video to provide free Dynamics GP internet video presentations.  Feel free to call or email our office.  Service is available virtually Worldwide via remote relations, web sessions and phone conferences.  We will be pleased to travel to your USA, Canada, Brazil or international based office or facility, if required.  Our consultants speak English, Chinese, Portuguese, Spanish, Russian, Filipino and other languages