There are many new features and improvements in Microsoft Dynamics® GP (“Dynamics GP”) 2010 for sure, but a couple that stand out to me are the changes made around Workflow. Not only are there new workflow types in 2010 (which I will get in to in a later post), but they have changed the system in two significant ways.
The first significant change is that Workflow no longer requires Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007 or SharePoint Server 2010. It will work with the free versions – Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) 3.0 and SharePoint Foundation 2010. You saw that correctly… the free versions.
The second change is that now you can have non-Dynamics GP users interact with the Workflow process. Users can now interact with Workflow via Outlook 2007 and/or a SharePoint site. This can really open things up to the whole organization.
When the Workflow system is installed, a Workflow website is created. Administrators will use this site to set up the system, create workflows, and generate reports. Users will use this site to approve items that are assigned to them.
In Outlook 2007, an e-mail message can be sent to the user when a document, master record, or batch is assigned to them for approval. The e-mail message displays information about the task and has an Edit this Task link. When the user clicks this link, a window appears where the user can approve or reject that document.
Throw in the new Action Step Workflow type (which I will discuss in my next post) and you have some very useful tools here.
-Rick