For our December 2020 post, we would like to share a subset of our monthly GP INSIGHTS newsletter sent to our 550+ Dynamics GP clients across North America. As we get closer to the New Year, let's reflect on many of the key Dynamics GP (Great Plains) events of 2020 along with a quick look ahead at Dynamics GP in 2021.
Dynamics GP (Great Plains): 2020 a year in review
January 2020– Back in January, our GP upgrade team started implementing GP 18.2 for clients based on the Microsoft Dynamics GP October 2019 release. It’s a common practice for our team to wait till the New Year to allow ISV’s to catch up. Thus, why some refer to Microsoft Dynamics GP 18.2 as 'GP 2020'.
- A reminder that VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) is no longer supported for Windows Server 2019. VBA has been used by some clients to modify or customize GP functions. These modifications will need to be re-written in a more modern language if upgrading to Windows Server 2019 as part of your GP upgrade.
March 2020 - Covid-19 Pandemic hits Canada and USA – business slowdown/lockdown. Many GP support calls for assistance with remote access, Remote Desktop, custom reports, and other support issues. Some clients were hit hard, others have done well to weather the storm, while some clients have pivoted and have seen significant growth.
April 2020– Business Central Wave 1 2020 – Added features/functions as this Cloud ERP continues to mature, confirmation of on-premise version of BC for NAV users, and an improved and slightly smoother GP migration path, which may be somewhat of a moot point for users planning to stay on Dynamics GP.
May/June/July /August 2020– Our client-facing Training Tuesdays – Where our team offered 13 free sessions predominately for GP Users. We had over 500+ registrants over a 12 week period. See the image below for a list of recorded sessions.
June 2020– Dynamics GP 18.2 mid-year update (service pack) GP 18.2.xx - see release schedule
September 2020– An Office 365 / Microsoft Office security update inadvertently broke Microsoft Word forms and other connected tools with Dynamics GP. Microsoft released some temporary guidance (mixed success) until the 18.3 was released. They also announced plans for GP 2016 and GP 2018 fixes in early 2021.
September 2020– Our team's (Endeavour Solutions Inc. team of GP consultants) official launch of GP Support Northwww.gpsupportnorth.com - a new dedicated website and branding to support our GP clients and all things Microsoft Dynamics GP
October 5, 2020– Dynamics GP 18.3 is released by Microsoft – This serves as a continued validation of a strong and fruitful future for GP – 18.3 included a release of updated documentation and a GP 18.3 features overview (PDF) from Microsoft – see www.gpsupportnorth.com/gp/the-new-gp/
November 2020– Endeavour awarded ‘50 Most Promising Microsoft Partners’ for the 3rd year in a row. Included was an interview in the summer and an article on CIO Review “A Safe Haven for Dynamics GP Users Seeking Options” which alludes to our vision for GP Support North. Read the CIO Review magazine article.
Dynamics GP Training Tuesdays– a GIFT for our readers. Here is a list of past sessions and Endeavour/GP Support North recordings: www.gpsupportnorth.com/tuesdays/
Looking ahead to 2021 - Microsoft Dynamics GP
January 26, 2021 Endeavour & GP Support North webinar – Dynamics GP 18.3 What’s New – on Jan 26, 2021 10am Eastern (pre-register), additional invite and details at: https://www.endeavoursolutions.ca/events/ New clients welcome.
January 2021 - Our team will be beginning a number of client upgrades for GP 18.3.xx based on ISV’s time to test/catch up - as mentioned above this is a common practice to wait till the New Year. You may periodically see Dynamics GP 18.3, dubbed 'GP 2021' for ease of understanding in 2021.
- Note, our team has already started upgrading some clients to 18.3.xx to gain access to the Office 365 fix for those with add-on applications that have been validated to be compliant with the latest GP 18.3 release.
June 2021 - Planned release date for the mid-year update of Microsoft Dynamics GP 18.3
July 2021 - Dynamics GP 2016 reaches the end of Mainstream support from Microsoft. GP 2016 to GP 18.3 Upgrade
October 2021 - Planned release date for the new Microsoft Dynamics GP. (TBD naming of GP 18.4.xx or GP 19.1.xx)
Happy Holidays,
GP Support North
Scott Jorgens, GP Support North
ERP Software Blog profile
About GP Support North - www.gpsupportnorth.com
GP Support Northis a large team of GP consultants at Endeavour Solutions, dedicated to supporting clients using Microsoft Dynamics GP (Great Plains) ERP. We are your safe-haven for long term GP support and consulting services. We will not force you to change platforms, but if and when you are ready, we can help migrate you to the cloud.
We love Dynamics GP (Great Plains) and have more than 550 active clients across North America predominately in the USA and Canada. Over the years, our team has been named multiple times to the Microsoft President’s Club – The top 5% of Microsoft Partners Worldwide.