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What Makes Microsoft
Great Plains Different?
When reviewing any
accounting software solution, we think that it is important to understand how the
product is different from its competitors. All products are developed with
different tools, different philosophies, and with different objectives in mind.
All products are targeted towards different sized customers, and different
industries. When evaluating products, it is easy to get bogged down in the
overwhelming complexity of the systems. The reality is that all accounting
systems have a general ledger with account numbers and financial reports; they
all have an average accounts payable module that works fine; they all have a
bevy of standard features. Studying these common elements of an accounting
system will get you nowhere. It is the key differences that provide keen
insights that will allow you to effectively identify and select the right
product for your needs. With this spirit in mind, presented below are the key
characteristics that set Great Plains apart from its competitors:
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Respected
Organization - Great Plains is one of the most highly respected
organizations in the industry. They have consistently been
recognized for
their excellent customer support which many say is the best in the
industry.
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Backed by Large Software Company -
Great Plains
is backed by one of the largest software publishers in
the world - Microsoft Corporation. It is hard to argue with the
success of this industry giant.
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Wide Breadth of
Modules - You can view a complete
listing of the Great Plains modules by clicking here.
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Ease of Data
Entry - No
accounting software package is worth a dime without good data.
Microsoft Great Plains is therefore wise to provide ample tools for
simplifying the process of getting data into their software:
Macros - Great
Plains was one of the first products to support
macros. Macros can be created to store common keystrokes for routine operations
and help to speed up data entry.
Let's say an AR
clerk has to start every day running a receivables aging report.
Without even looking at the report, the clerk knows that Cheathem and
Levim, one of their biggest customers, is always past due, requiring a
daily analysis of their account. The clerk can set up a macro to store
the keystrokes for running the report and opening that customer's
account inquiry. I would be willing to bet that if we examined
the daily tasks of most company employees, we would find that at least
70% of their tasks are repetitive and could be stored in a
macro. Think of the time savings and productivity gains that
could be realized across the company.
Shortcuts -
Great Plains
offers a unique feature that helps a user organize common tasks - it is
called shortcuts. Based on the "work button" in earlier
versions of Great Plains and designed to resemble "favorites" shown
in browser views, this handy tool allows a user to quickly access common
tasks. A user chooses from a list of common processes that he
performs and then builds his own list of shortcuts that can be displayed
on his desktop. The shortcut menu can also include tasks performed
in other applications like Microsoft Internet Explorer, Microsoft Word,
Microsoft PowerPoint... Hmmm,
starting to see a pattern here?
Design your own
desktop- Being an office supply junky myself, I love icons that
remind me of a trip to Office Depot (gw) . Great Plains has a
push pin icon that allows you to pin different "palettes" to
your desktop. A palette is basically a small menu containing a
list of tasks and each user can have multiple palettes pinned to
his desktop. The only danger here is that I will get distracted playing with those push pins...
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Customization -
Great Plains offers excellent customization capabilities through a wide
variety of tools. One such tool is called the Modifier and it is included
with Great Plains. To access the Modifier, choose Tools, Customize, Modifier.
From here you will have access to every screen in Great Plains – all 6,000
of them. Selecting one of these screens automatically makes a copy of that
screen and provides you with tools that allow you to move objects, insert
new fields, drop in radio buttons and check boxes, and add other changes
such as data validation. Users may also use this screen to modify the
Great Plains menus by changing or adding items. For more elaborate
customizations, users can launch any window directly into Microsoft Visual
Basic from the same Tools menu discussed above.
In addition, the Continuum series allows users to
build seamless integrations with Visual Basic applications.
FRx is one of the best report writers in the
industry.
Weaknesses -
Great Plains is certainly not without problems – as with any top product,
Great Plains contains weaknesses, missing features, missing modules and shortcomings.
Great Plains is
not targeted towards businesses of every size, nor is it ideally suited for
every industry. We have weakness reports that detail the features of Great
Plains here.
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