Connecting to Microsoft Dynamics Great Plains

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Do you use Microsoft Dynamics Great Plains as your finance system?  Great!  BrightGauge has a featured integration with the Great Plains.  Here’s a quick document to help you get it connected:

Step 1 - Log in to your BrightGauge Account  

If you haven’t created an account yet, go here to get started.

Once logged in, to get started: 

• New Accounts

On first login, from the account Overview page, click on the "Add a Datasource" button:

Or, from the first "Welcome to BrightGauge" dashboard page, click on the "Connect a Datasource":

• Existing Accounts

From the account Overview page (to access click on the BrightGauge logo on the top left hand corner), click on the green "+" towards the bottom right of the page (next to the list of your exiting datasources):

Or, click on "Data" menu on the the top righthand corner of the screen, and select "Datasources" from the drop down menu:

Now click on “Add a New Datasource” and then click on the "Microsoft Dynamics GP" icon:

Whether a new or existing account, you'll come to datasource settings screen below. Leave this page open as it will be used in Step 4. You can now proceed onto the next steps.

Step 2 - Download and Install BrightGauge Agent

Since Great Plains runs off a SQL database, you’ll need to download and configure the BrightGauge Agent.  The link to download the BrightGauge Agent is on this screen (Item "A" above).  Documentation to help setup configure the BrightGauge Agent can be found here.  Make sure to install the BrightGauge agent on a machine somewhere within the same network as your MS-SQL database for Great Plains.  If you have issues, there are some known issues here or email support@brightgauge.com for assistance.  If you want to limit the firewall exception to inquiries from our IP addresses, you can see them above item "B" in the image above (blurred out here, login to see the addresses).  

Step 3 - Create a SQL user within the Great Plains database

Once the agent is up and running, you’ll now need to create a SQL user within the Great Plains database. Great Plains runs off of MS-SQL, so here’s a guide on how to do that.  Make sure to enable the user to log into the Great Plains databases. We'll need read (the permission is db_datareader) access to 2 databases in your setup:

• Dynamics
• your company's database. This is the important one.  This one actually contains the information for your company.  The name here differs for each setup, so make sure to use the one associated with the data you want to pull

Step 4 - Configure the Datasource Settings

Refer to the screenshot below and match the corresponding numbered fields:

1. Connection Name

Agent

2. The external IP address for the BrightGauge Agent on your network

3. Port Opened on your firewall

Database

4. Internal IP Address for the Database or Machine Name (if using multiple SQL instances, use the IP or machine name followed by a back slash and then the instance name: 192.168.1.100\instance or SQLServer\instance)

5. Database name.  This is the company database referred to in step 3.  This is NOT the dynamics database.

6. This field is for advanced SQL setups not using the default SQL port (1433). Enter the non-default port in this field. Leave BLANK if using the default SQL port (1433).

7. Username you created in the database

8. Password you created for that username

Step 5 - Test Connection

Once you've filled out all of the fields, make sure to test the connection.  If successful, save the connection.

Please note, a common issue we have seen clients experience is with the "AutoFill" feature in web browsers inputting the wrong the credentials for the database user field. When a test connection is successful, the page is refreshed and the autofill takes effect automatically without the user realizing. The user then selects save, accidentally saving the autofilled credentials which are incorrect. A way to prevent this issue is to open a private browsing window (or incognito window) to fill out the datasource configuration page, or simply retyping the credentials after the test connection and clicking "Save".

Once you’ve saved the connection then the datasets and gauges will be added to your account. 

Signup for one of our weekly training sessions here to get more familiar with the product as well as check out our support forums at support.brightgauge.com