FRxBuzz.com

Something fishy with an account balance? It’s nice to be able to drilldown in FRx instead of going to the GL. Saves a few steps. I’m not going to show you what the finished product looks like because I’m in a demo database and the transactions look pretty tacky. But suffice to say that there’s probably a lot more to drilldown than you ever dreamed. More »

Adding a page break in FRx is laughably easy—sort of. For the most part, you should use the Format Code PI in the row format instead of the PB code. Why? Well, PB doesn’t actually stand for Page Break. It means “give me a new page for a balance sheet, and skip all those messy P&L accounts along with their column headings”.

So when you generate your report, if you’re missing accounts and activity after what you think is a Page Break, PB is probably the culprit. It looks like FRx is buggy, but it’s designed to work this way. Switch it to PI and you should be good to go. More »

If you use one of the four Microsoft Dynamics ERPs, you could be thinking about migrating from FRx to Management Reporter, the next-generation FRx replacement. And you might be wondering what pieces of FRx will get lost in the shuffle. This is a laundry list that I got a couple of years ago from a Microsoft contact. Along with a few of my own comments!

Note: If you don’t use Microsoft Dynamics (either GP, AX, SL, or NAV), you can skip this post. More »

What to do when you want to run several FRx reports? Run them one at a time? Well, most people turn to Chaining in the Output tab. That’s all well and good, but often I like to use Launcher instead. It’s fast and there’s no setup involved.

(Launcher was technically designed to allow non-designer users to run reports. Most folks don’t want the CFO in there fooling around with the designs, right? Give them Launcher and allow them to generate reports all day long without touching the FRx Designer.)

But another great use is having it run multiple reports for you. Here’s how. Open Launcher—it is a separate program that installs in the FRx program group, so go to Start>Programs>FRx 6.7 and you’ll see Report Launcher.

Open it (you don’t have to close FRx Designer), select the appropriate Company you want to view, highlight multiple reports using the Shift or Control keys, and click Generate Report. It will ask you for login credentials; enter these and the reports kick off. There are exceptions, I know, but these generate quickly. And it’s great to run them unattended so you can move on to other things while they are processing! More »

This post is for Dynamics GP users—consultant extraordinaire Mark Polino has written a Cookbook for GP2010 (and earlier versions). It’s available for pre-order at a nice discount.

I attended his 50 Tips session at Convergence last year and it was PHENOMENAL! Excellent tips, tricks and shortcuts for GP users. So if the new book is anything like his session, it’s pure gold. Per Mark: “If you have liked any of the 50 Tips Presentations this book is for you.”

This is his post on the book entitled Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 Cookbook.

And the permanent link to his GP blog can be found on the right hand side of this page under Resources.

Enjoy!

Yesterday I posted that FRx is being removed from the MBS price list and that none of its components will be available after May 1, 2010. But that is only for Dynamics GP users!

This is what I hear from MBS:
“For New or Existing Customers of Dynamics GP who do not yet have FRx, additional FRx may not be licensed, unless 1) they need a feature not offered in Management Reporter, and 2) they sign a written exception through the business desk by working through the partner’s PAM.”

For AX and SL, the integrations from Management Reporter will be available in the fall, so that’s probably when FRx will be removed from their price lists. The integrations will be for the newest versions of both AX and SL. NAV integration comes later.

Meanwhile, it would be good to put a tickler on your calendar so the deadline for AX and SL and NAV doesn’t slip past. You know how time flies. {smile}

This is a quick high level overview of Management Reporter, the next-generation FRx replacement. (Caveat: This product is not available for ERPs other than Dynamics GP, SL, AX and NAV.)

• 64 bit—native
• Back end completely rewritten—brand new .NET and C# code base replaces FRx’s VB6
• SQL Server instead of Access—way more stable
• Improved multi-user capabilities
• Report Library—centralized storage used to view reports and group reports into folders
• Report Viewer—replaces FRx’s Drill Down Viewer
• Undo/Redo—everybody is thrilled with this one
• Formatting and Images—can add logos, and formatting is done from familiar toolbars
• Column Page Breaks—everybody is thrilled with this one too
• XBRL—tag in the rows and generate the XBRL instance document

I am really excited about this product. Safe to say it’s been a long time coming.

I’m just back from Convergence (Microsoft Business Solutions’ end user conference) and I want to share the latest roadmap for Management Reporter (aka MR).

May 2010

• Management Reporter version 2 ships in May 2010
• Integrates only with GP
• All new GP 2010 customers receive MR
• Existing customers who upgrade to GP 2010 have the opportunity to stay with FRx or to migrate to MR

Feature Pack 1—planned for 2nd Half Calendar Year 2010

• Integrations to AX and SL
• Currency translation in GP (then MR will pull already translated currency)
• Integration to report on Forecaster data

Feature Pack 2—planned for 1st Half Calendar Year 2011

• Bi-directional text (right to left)
• Report scheduling
• Interactive report viewer
• Drill to Dynamics

Management Reporter 2012

• Adds light budgeting
• Further enhancements

Management Reporter 2012+

• Additional financial reporting, budgeting & forecasting
• NAV integration

This is a very quick list of circumstances in which you probably should not migrate (immediately) to Management Reporter:

• If you rely heavily on email distribution
• If you need to report on Forecaster data
• If you export to Excel and really need the ‘Format as Excel Outline’ functionality
• If you use FRx’s Currency Translation module
• If you extensively use Effective Dates (often used for Quarter To Date reporting)
• If you use lots of Row Linking
• If you rely on WebPort

But know that things are changing very quickly and functionality is being added every day. So while the above list is true today, it may not hold true in just a few months.

Another thing to know—there may be workarounds for the above list, especially for email distribution, Excel outline, quarter to date reporting, and row linking. (Even for WebPort; wouldn’t that be fun to ditch?) Anyway, there may be some creative solutions.

There may be other factors to consider too, and each situation should be considered on a case by case basis, but barring any big barriers I’d sure be tempted to go for it.

(Update on 4/29/2010: this is only for Dynamics GP users!)

I’ve already emailed clients about this but also want to post it.

Microsoft is removing FRx from its price list on May 1, 2010—this coming Saturday.

Meaning—if you want additional FRx licenses or modules you better get them now.

I can’t imagine buying and implementing Currency or Report Server or Webport with FRx’s replacement Management Reporter so close to shipping, but I definitely can imagine that somebody out there might need additional Drill Down Viewer licenses.

Who to call? I don’t sell FRx so the best place to start is your VAR.