What to do if you call customer service and get an answer that your version of accounting software is obsolete and no longer supported? The answer might be disappointing especially when you have something like urgent data repair needs. My name is Andrew Karasev and I am Great Plains consultant since 1995 and today I'll be hosting Questions and Answers session dedicated to historical GP versions, their support, recovery, move, upgrade and related topics.
Q. Why Microsoft who is GP accounting software vendor doesn't support directly old releases of its own product?
A. Well, customer service technicians should be trained to support specific versions and it is feasible to train them in few the most recent releases where you could expect maximum number of support requests. Plus if you are on old one then it is unlikely that you have support plan meaning annual software enhancement contract with Microsoft. The good news is -- support is available through VAR channel. For example I personally help my customers on all versions of Great Plains ever released including 7.5, 6.0, 5.5, 5.0 on Pervasive SQL 2000/Btrieve as well as Great Plains Accounting DOS 9.5, 9.2 and earlier
Q. We are trying to move old GP to new Windows Server and getting error message about Location Translation. At this point nobody can login application and our case is pretty urgent for us
A. Likely that you are on GP 7.5 or earlier on Pervasive SQL 2000 formerly known as Btrieve database. Location translation is part of the moving procedure and it is not an 'error'. You should translate original path to your Dynamics folder to the new one, for example from \\OLDSERVER\Dynamics to \\NEWSERVER\Dynamics. You can read manuals or feel free to contact me directly
Q. It looks like one of the batches in Accounts Payable was messed up in posting and now we cannot delete it and reenter documents. Our problem is complicated because we are on Btrieve database and our current consultant doesn't know how to connect to its database to perform data fix. What are our options?
A. I usually do data repair in Pervasive Control Center. Table structure is similar to current versions and Pervasive SQL syntax is close to what you see in Microsoft Transact SQL. In order to connect via Control Center you need DDF files. These files could be produced in GenDDF utility
Q. We are on very old Great Plains and found consultant who recommends migration to PeachTree and we like the idea however would like to listen second opinion
A. There are several factors to consider. If you would like to start from scratches and are sensitive to the budget then PeachTree or QuickBooks might be excellent to move on. However if you like to preserve historical documents such as Sales and Purchase invoices then data conversion from GP to PT might be complex and costly. There is upgrade path from old GP to current version 2013 (answering this question in August of 2013, but I am thinking that even in the future migration path will be available)
Andrew Karasev, 1-866-304-3265, 1-269-605-4904, help@efaru.com Faru Project at Alba Spectrum www.efaru.com
