Excel Report Builder

Microsoft have released a very powerful Microsoft office integration tool that goes by the name of Excel Report Builder for Dynamics GP. The release coincides with the release of Microsoft Dynamics GP SP2 (sometimes referred to as the V10 Feature Pack)

Excel reports follows in the tradition of SmartList Builder with a very simple to use interface, but rather than publishing report into SmartLists it generates an Excel Report with live data connections links back to Dynamics GP. What this means is that when you build a report using Excel Report Builder (ERB) - any time one of the users opens the excel workbook the data is automatically refreshed.

The impact of this for Great Plains users is far reaching. Writing a data connection within Excel is not a new feature, but the SQL syntax required was beyond the skill set of most end users, and lay squarely in the domain of the IT department. The problem with this is that the IT department knows little about the structure of the Dynamics GP, and so this type of reporting was put in the too hard basket. This new product means that the Data Connection functionality is available to mainstream users to build and publish their own reports to Excel.

Distribution of reports is always a challenge, which Excel and ERB eliminates. Placing an Excel Report on a shared network location, or publishing to MOSS (Office SharePoint Services) means that everyone in the organization can access this report, with its live data updates. There impact on the finance and distribution teams will be significant: 1. Significantly less phone and email queries. 2. Eliminates time taken to distribute reports on a daily, weekly, monthly basis as the data is always live 3. Provides information to people who do not have access to Dynamics GP.

A key area of management concern is the security of data published within tools like Excel. ERB helps to eliminate this by being linked to Active Directory security, and the user needs to have security granted to the Data Connection used in the report before the report will render any data. This ensures only the right people, be they local or remote, get access to the data published in these reports.

Excel Report Builder has been developed Microsoft under the OEM agreement with eOne Integrated Business Solutions, and will form part of the existing SmartList Builder module for Dynamics GP. To view a recorded demonstration of ERB in action please follow this Microsoft Link.

Navigation List Builder is the third product in eOne's builder series, along with SmartList Builder and Excel Report Builder. Learn all about how Navigation List Builder can help your business herehere.