No More Great Plains

[celeron895]

http://www.microsoft-watch.com/article2/0,1995,1372691,00.asp

"MBS is not planning to use the current Great Plains, Solomon, Axapta and Navision applications at all."

"but that MBS would continue to support the existing Great Plains, Solomon, Axapta and Navision apps through 2013, to give customers time to migrate."

to migrate and pay more money

 

[winthropdc]

This is correct and has been well publicised. All of the current generation programs will be supported until at least 2013 and a migration path to the next generation product, codenamed Project Green is assured.

Project Green is a completely new product built from the ground up. It will be based on the latest technologies such as .Net Development tools and the Microsoft Business Framework. The requirements teams for Project Green are looking at all the current generation products, all the suggestions, wish lists, regional requirements, and as much as possible future requirements to create something which should be truely awesome.

The only issue is that it takes time to do this. So for now the current generation products are what we have and where we should concentrate our efforts.

If we get too concerned about staying with current generation products we would have never moved on from CP/M or DOS. When the time comes, we will migrate our systems and then we will have a better, more flexible product and a combined code base for all 4 MBS current Generation products.

My understanding is that sites who pay their Annual Enhancement will be able to migrate to the next generation product at no additional cost. Consulting time for your partners, customisations and ISV products may incur costs.

David Musgrave
Senior Development Consultant
MBS Services - Asia Pacific

Microsoft Business Solutions

http://www.microsoft.com/BusinessSolutions

Any views contained within are my personal views and
not necessarily Microsoft Business Solutions policy.
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties,
and confers no rights.

 

[celeron895]

How are certifications going to work though? We just spent considerable resources becoming certified in the Great Plains competency. Is this going to roll over to the new 'Project Green' certifications? 2006 is not that far off, and though I understand the need to keep learning and remain current, it would be a shame for all of our hard work on our current certification to go to waste.

 

[Dukester0122]

From what I understand during Convergence, the support for Great Plains, Solomon, Navision and Axapta would run through 'til 2013 but Project Green will start in the market some time 2006.

Correct me if I'm wrong but this would be a totally separate product from the ones mentioned above. This would inheret the 'best of approach' from the 4 products. If this is a new product then all certifications would still be valid and Project Green would be a separate certification.

 

[winthropdc]

I would say that Dukester is correct. Project Green is a totally new product and none of the current generation product certifications are applicable.

Please note that even though Project Green will become available after Longhorn (next gen windows) is released, it may not have all the functionality needed for you to move across straight away. Once the core product is released additional functionality from MBS and from ISVs will be developed. You might need to wait a year or two before you have a next generation system which handles everything you need. It depends on what your individual requirements are.

David Musgrave
Senior Development Consultant
MBS Services - Asia Pacific

Microsoft Business Solutions

http://www.microsoft.com/BusinessSolutions

Any views contained within are my personal views and
not necessarily Microsoft Business Solutions policy.
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties,
and confers no rights.

 

[stef315]

As far as Great Plains certifications, you need to pass new ones for each version anyway. The old version ones do not expire but they are good for that version. When you pass Windows 98 exam you don't expect it to be very valuable 5 years later. You continue to upgrade your certifications.

For the most part, if you are consulting on the product you should be able to pass the relative exams without much cost or effort. If you are selling only, they will be tougher. If you are a customer, they would take effort because they test areas you don't necessarily use.

Just my 2 cents. The only exam I had real difficulty passing was the Distribution Series. I don't use those modules as much and to the extent they are capable so that was understandable.