TrustRadius Insights for Microsoft Dynamics GP are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, third party data sources.
Pros
Native Integration with Microsoft Office: Users have expressed appreciation for the seamless integration of Microsoft Dynamics GP with Microsoft Office, SharePoint, and Outlook. This integration allows for centralized task management and smooth operation with other commonly used business tools, enhancing overall efficiency in daily operations.
Flexibility in Deployment Options: The flexibility provided by Microsoft Dynamics GP in storing data and accessing the system according to businesses' preferences has been highly valued by users. This adaptability caters to varying organizational needs, empowering users to tailor their experience based on specific requirements.
Convenient Financial Management Features: Users find the W2 printing and health insurance tax form generation within Microsoft Dynamics GP to be convenient features that simplify financial and compliance-related tasks. These functionalities streamline year-end processes and ensure accuracy in handling essential financial documents.
We used Microsoft Dynamics GP as a primary accounting/bookkeeping platform. This included producing financial statements and maintaining all of our financial records. Microsoft Dynamics GP was integrated with an industry specific management software used by ops and sales team members to allow for (theoretically) seamless AP and AR flows between the softwares.
Our use case was a mid-size company and we managed around 70,000 movements which would require full AR and AP entries for each.
Pros
Month-End and Year-End Closing
Cons
General user interface—nothing is intuitive or easy to navigate
Generating reports of any kind
Ability to track individual transactions end-to-end. If needing to trace a discrepancy relative to a particular transaction, many different reports would need to be generated.
Account reconciliation
Likelihood to Recommend
Microsoft Dynamics GP would not immediately be a recommendation for me. Ultimately it gets low marks on usability as well as ability to trace transactions. It would be difficult for me to think of an area where Microsoft Dynamics GP stands out as superior to competitors. In general, I’d avoid Microsoft Dynamics GP if possible.
VU
Verified User
Former Employee in Finance and Accounting (51-200 employees)
Dynamics GP was great when it was implemented, but the base works, but the chart of accounts vs. the dimensional chart of accounts. The user interface is dated. The new ones in Business Central and other modern ERP systems are much more modern and easier to use, with a streamlined user interface. The end of life for Dynamics GP is a major issue due to updates and security patches.
Pros
Management Reporter.
Accounts Payable.
Accounts Receivable.
Fixed Assets.
Purchase Order.
Sales Order.
Inventory
Cons
Chart of accounts.
Manufacturing.
User Interface.
No AI analysis.
Likelihood to Recommend
The chart of accounts structure is outdated. It's using a flat, perpetual structure. Log in is using SQL logins, not Windows authentication. There's a lot of GL to subledgers, eg, accounts payable, accounts receivable, fixed assets, and inventory that go out of balance easily. There are data issues because it uses batch-level posting, which can be interrupted. It doesn't work well over a VPN network.
We use Microsoft Dynamics GP in a transportation company to pay hundreds of employees. It integrates with our Transportation Management System. Trying to ensure we pay our drivers the correct amount based on the miles they accrue each week is paramount to getting them paid correctly. Microsoft Dynamics GP and its integration with our third-party system are crucial to us.
Pros
Payroll
Reporting
Printing checks.
Cons
Reporting can be tedious or misunderstood.
Likelihood to Recommend
Microsoft Dynamics GP is well-suited for our environment, as we pay a diverse group of employees, including on-the-road drivers, shop employees (some in other locations), and office employees. It easily tracks time off, taxes, pay, etc. The reporting allows us to verify with our drivers how they are paid each week, whether it be through mileage or stop-offs.
We use an older version of Microsoft Dynamics GP in our org for the bookkeeping and accounting aspect by our accounting team. One of the problems is that our maintenance is out of date, and the renewal fees are outrageously expensive for the small companies like ours. Since we are a smaller company we are able to make the software work for us, but there are many manual processes that would make things like updating our product prices easier and reporting automated if we were able to update our back maintenance.
Pros
Accounting Reports
Tracking of product sales and orders
Shipping packages and invoicing
tax reporting
Cons
Microsoft Dynamics GP could use some improvement on the fees it charges for maintenance or purchasing new licenses
Providing updates to older versions to allow for integrations and importing updates
The outdated maintenance does not allow us to easily bulk import price increases without using specialty coding provided by our engineers to complete these increases on the back end
Likelihood to Recommend
For our company specifically we are able to workaround the imports using trained coding technicians, but if you are not a larger corporation the maintenance fees year over year can be quite expensive
The business intelligence capabilities of Dynamics GP help users become proactive when it comes to their financials, allowing businesses to not only fix problems, but also prevent them from occurring in the first place.
Pros
GP’s native integration with Microsoft Office, and other commonly used business tools like SharePoint and Outlook, makes it easy for businesses to further centralize their tasks
The platform can also be deployed in a number of ways, giving businesses flexibility when it comes to how they choose to store their Dynamics data and how they access the system.
it’s a proven product, having been in use since the early 2000s. It also has the benefit of Microsoft’s trusted name, and the familiar look and feel of other Microsoft products.
Cons
Server maintenance costs and hardware costs of Dynamics GP are very high.
We do not get advanced features such as data analysis and mobile accessibility
We do not get warehousing and budgeting functionalities
Likelihood to Recommend
Dynamics GP is most suitable in budgeting, reporting, ways to segment the general ledger account structure, and support for fixed asset management and eBanking.
VU
Verified User
Manager in Information Technology (10,001+ employees)
We are a local restaurant chain. We used GP for everything except food cost. It was just too big a program for what we needed. It covered billing, payroll, and end of year processes. We had to buy the extra package for W2s every year.
Pros
Account capacity
Reports and Smart Lists
Lots of add-ons products
Cons
Licenses are strict
Can't just delete transactions, must reverse journals too (not automated)
Updates are not coming, becoming stagnant
Some features require in depth training or outside contractors
Likelihood to Recommend
Probably best for a large business where each department deals with each account. Too big for a small office where one person bills everything.
We use Microsoft Dynamics GP for accounts payable/receivable, accounting. Reporting is difficult.
Cons
Reporting
Likelihood to Recommend
Microsoft Dynamics GP works well if you have been using it for a long time; however, even though I have been using it for nearly four years, I still find it difficult to create reports.
It is being used by the Finance Department. It is especially integral with having P&L's ready for the district managers of our company every period. We also tie in payroll with GP.
Pros
It accurately shows all business transactions for a store.
It is easy to search through journal entries.
Cons
Maybe they could have job aids that are easily accessible.
Likelihood to Recommend
Once you get the hang of it, it is pretty user-friendly. I do like how it keeps an accurate record of your accounts all in one place. Reporting is very detailed but easily accessible.
Dynamics GP is the ERP/MRP solution for a client with over 100 employees and 25 GP users. We use the Manufacturing module in addition to the Sales, Inventory, and back office functions. It is the accounting program for the whole company, and as a manufacturer it is responsible for bills of materials, logistics, planning, ordering, and general ledger.
Pros
Great Plains started as back office/accounting, and that is still it's strong suit.
SQL and the GP programming language, Dexterity, provide a robust, scalable, and stable platform with well documented maintenance and repair procedures. Relatively easy to manage, tune, and support.
Microsoft support for GP verges on "particularly well". Doesn't quite get there but good enough once you know what you're doing
Strong partner network, including the GP User Group (GPUG)
Cons
Number of windows required for some functions- lots of clicking
Complex interface for users who work in different modules
Communication from Microsoft about future of GP as they continue to promote Business Central and Dynamics 365- confusion and concern among users and partners about how long GP will get first-level support and development.
The web client flat-out sucks, you will need RDS or Citrix to support remote users. If you stick with desktop clients it enormously increases your workload as every update requires you update every client. RDS is the way to go just to simplify the update procedure, but RDS is an additional licensing and support cost. Still more cost effective to not use the desktop client.
Reporting- you will almost certainly have to get a third-party reporting program- Management Reporter is complex and squirrely, the built-in Report Writer is a nightmare to work with. Word Templates work well but aren't user-friendly and because they get all their data from Report Writer sometimes just doing a simple change requires a lot of skill and time.
Likelihood to Recommend
A large company where users have one function- for instance, where someone only receives or works in payables. That minimizes the number of windows they need. A smaller company where one user does multiple functions will require a lot more training and user knowledge to navigate, and it makes it harder to secure users. You also have to understand that GP started life as Great Plains, designed for accountants. The other modules were added on after Microsoft bought Great Plains, which means that modules like Manufacturing are red-headed step children with much smaller support ecosystems. So, if you're starting fresh, you may want to look at something built for the mobile world. D365 and Business Central are a lot more money, buggy, and hard to customize and essentially still vaporware. Microsoft is heavily investing there, leading to the previously mentioned question about the future of GP. If I was starting today I would be hard pressed to justify jumping into GP in a world where Salesforce ties in with so many programs. GP has MRP but it is limited so it's hard to justify a manufacturer starting with GP today.
We use Dynamics GP in our accounting/finance department. It is used for processing payroll, payables, invoicing/receivables, and reconciling our bank statements. It is convenient to have the software all in one application, and to not have recurring subscription charges.
Pros
The W2 printing at the end of the year is very easy. I love that it also prints out all those pesky health insurance tax forms!
Employee management is made very simple with all the information you can store in GP.
Processing payables is very easy with GP. It's perfect for multi-person processes, too. The AP clerk can input the invoices into the systems, and then the comptroller can approve & print the checks.
Cons
There's so many options and buttons that sometimes a simple task can seem very complicated.
It is not very intuitive at first. It takes some digging and messing around with before you know what you're doing.
You can have so many modules (HR, payroll, etc), and while they should talk to each other, sometimes the data gets out of sync.
Likelihood to Recommend
Very well suited for a small company that needs all in one software -- we're able to use it for payroll, HR, benefits tracking, payables, receivables, etc. Once you figure it out it is a very powerful tool.
