Great Plains Tablenames

Great Plains ERP System
TABLE NAMES – THE LEGACY LINGERS
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Great Plains Table Names
1. Ugly Table Names
2. Legacy
3. Some Logic
4. Common Table Prefixes
5. Table Number - Range Logic
6. Dex_Row Id
7. Tools
8. Table Descriptions
9. Table Import
10. Entity Relationship Diagrams (ERD)
11. Smartlist Builder Views
12. Trial Balance

Copyright © 2007 Prentice-Hall. All rights reserved
3
Ugly Table Names in GP
• Other Systems
– Chart of Accounts
• Chart, COA, Accounts
– Inventory
• Inventory, Inv, Inven
• Great Big Pains (Panes) Plains
– Chart of Accounts
• GL00100, GL00105
– Inventory
• IV00101, IV00102

4
Legacy
• Great Plains -> Microsoft Dynamics GP
• GP table names go all the way back to
Btrieve
• Tables names are part of the legacy

5
Some – only some - Logic
• Plus there is some logic to the numeric ID
• Dynamics DB holds system wide settings
• Company DB holds company specific
settings and transactions
• Table names have an Alpha prefix and
numeric ID (usually 5 digits)
• Alpha prefix identifies the module
(Example: PM=Payables Management)

6
Common Table Prefixes
• GL – General Ledger
• PM – Payables Management
• RM – Receivables Management
• POP – Purchase Order Processing
• SOP – Sales Order Processing
• IV – Inventory
• CM – Cash Management (Banking)
• PA – Project Accounting

7
Table Number Range Logic
• ‘00000’ –
Master tables contain all the permanent data about your business. Accounts,
vendors, customers, items, etc.
• ‘10000’ –
Work tables contain unposted batches of transactions entered using windows that
can be opened using the Transactions button on the toolbar. = Temporary
transactions that can be changed or deleted until they are posted to an open table.
• ‘20000’ –
Open tables contain posted transactions for the current year, of which some may be
unpaid. Information in open tables is moved to history tables when the transactions
are paid.
• ‘30000’ –
History tables contain paid transactions, or transactions from a previous year.
• ‘40000’ –
Setup tables contain all the default settings and module options you’ve specified in
the setup windows for each series.
• ‘50000’ -
Temp tables used by GP to hold temporary data.

8
Tip – Dex_Row_ID
• A unique identifier within a table
• DOES NOT cross table boundaries - is of
little or no use for reporting.
• CANNOT be used to link tables

9
Tools
• There are different tools for figuring out the
tables and fields that you need
• There is no single magic tool
• Start with comprehensive but slow tools
and move to faster tools with experience
• GP is NOT highly normalized. The
application is balanced between entry and
reporting. This might make reporting
easier.

10
Table Descriptions inside GP
• Dynamics GP>>Tools>>Resource
Descriptions >> Tables
• Table Descriptions, Fields, Windows
Available
• Comprehensive but clunky and slow
• Requires a GP login
• Demo

11
Table Import
• Instructions
– Open Window
– Select Tools>>Integrate>>Table Import
• Window opens with all the tables tied to that
entry window with friendly names.
• Use Table Descriptions to get SQL Names.
• Demo

12
Entity Relationship Diagrams (ERD)
• Use SQL Server Database Diagrams
• Free – comes with SQL Server
• Have fun with the ERD’s, GP is a beast of
an app with an ERD to match
• Demo

13
Smartlist Builder Views
• Need to Install Smartlist Builder (even if not
registered)
• Smartlist Builder allows creation of new Ad Hoc
reporting templates (Smartlists)
• Install creates SQL Views suitable for reporting
• Smartlist diagrams are in Dexterity Integration
Guide
(c:program filesmicrosoft dexteritymanualsig.pdf)
Pg 272
• Demo

14
Desperation Tools
• SQL Script to search for Column name
across tables
• SQL Script/Stored Proc to search for a
piece of data across tables

15
Caveat
• Modifier
– Modify a form to see tables and fields
• Pre-built SSRS files
– Use these as building blocks
• Report Writer
– Temp tables can cause problems

16
Cliff’s Silver Bullet (one of them anyway)
SELECT sysobjects.name,
syscolumns.name
FROM syscolumns
INNER JOIN sysobjects
ON sysobjects.id = syscolumns.id
WHERE sysobjects.type = 'U'
AND sysobjects.name LIKE 'GL%'
ORDER BY sysobjects.name

17
Additional interesting point 1
• Account numbers are made up of segments
• EG 10-40-00-0150-0200
• Table GL00100 has columns for each segment
and relates (maps) these to an internal sequential
number that is called ACTINDX which is used
internally in the database.
This is how GP cuts down the complexity of the
account numbers and still use a unique number
to access GL accounts.
ACTINDX
ACT
NUMBR_1
ACT
NUMBR_2
ACT
NUMBR_3
ACT
NUMBR_4
ACT
NUMBR_5
1 10 40 00 0010 0000
2 10 40 00 0150 0200
3 10 40 00 0150 0300

18
Additional interesting point 2
• Also included in table GL00100 are columns for
Description and Account category
This is how it looks:
ACTDESCR ACCATNUM
Checking Acct 51
Fd 2 Stock 72
Fd 2 Stock - MVA 72
Fd 3 Stock 72
Fd 3 Stock - MVA 72
So this is how you access Account Categories and account
descriptions for reports

19
Trial Balance
• Table GL00110 has columns for Dr and Cr and
PerdBlnc (which is the calculated net)
When you close a year the balances are recorded
in this table with a PeriodID of 0 so the 0 period
has the cumm totals from the previous period
If you do not close the previous year then you get the
cumm from the previous year as well as the current
year – so the trick is to close the previous year.
To calc a YTD, T/Bal sum the PerdBlnc for each
Account

IS YOUR LIFE
NOW CHANGED?
The End

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