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Dynamics GP installations usually have many different client installs of GP all accessing data on a centralized server.  GP allows customizations to reports and forms (windows) and it’s very beneficial if everyone that logs into GP accesses the same version of these customizations.  Following are some steps that can be taken to centralize these customizations.

Pre-Requisites

1. GP installations should exist with a client server relation and all client systems accessing the same set of databases.

2. Shared folder should be available either on server/network with read/write access to all users.

3. Depending on 3rd party modifications VBA and Visual Studio Add-ins may still need to be updated manually as they must reside with the runtime components.

Steps to follow in order listed below:

1. Identify the list of products which have Forms/Report customizations.
   1. To identify these, navigate to the Customization Maintenance window in GP (Microsoft Dynamics GP >> Tools >> Customize >> Customization Maintenance).

Note: The list of customizations may also vary per user. Ensure to verify and check each client machine to ensure all customizations are placed in the shared location.

2. In Customization Maintenance window verify ‘Product’ column to get name of products (EX: In Picture 1  below you would notice that there are two products with customizations i.e. ‘Microsoft Dynamics GP ’ and ‘Ignify’)



3. Next obtain the Forms and Report dictionaries for the products as in step 2.

   1. To get Forms and Report dictionary name & location navigate to Edit Launch File window
      (Microsoft Dynamics GP >> Tools  >> Setup >> System >> Edit Launch file)

   2. Select Product from Edit Launch file window and obtain the path of Forms and Report DIC name from the location provided
      (EX: In Picture 2 below Product is ‘Microsoft Dynamics GP’ and Forms dictionary name is ‘FORMS.DIC’)

   

   3. Create a shared folder on the server and copy the dictionaries and reports.

   4. Ensure shared folder has access to all users as mentioned in prerequisites.

   

   5. Ensure to copy all products that have customizations.

4. Launch GP on client’s system and go to Edit Launch file window (Microsoft Dynamics GP >> Tools  >> Setup >> System >> Edit Launch file)

5. Select the products which have Customizations  and change Forms and Dictionary path to map to shared folder path on server (Note : Use UNC path)



6. Repeat this on all clients and you would be ready with Centralized sharing of reports and dictionaries.

This post is written by Devesh Kasat. Devesh is a Technical Analyst in the Microsoft Dynamics GP Practice at Ignify. Ignify is a Global Microsoft Dynamics Inner Circle Partner specializing in Microsoft Dynamics ERP for RetailDistribution, Manufacturing and Chemicals verticals. For help on Microsoft Dynamics ERP email us at dynamics@ignify.com