Translate Microsoft Dynamics GP into a foreign language

If your organization implements Microsoft Dynamics GP, formerly also known as Great Plains Dynamics, as its corporate ERP system and is expanding internationally, we’d like to give you some ideas about translating Great Plains into a foreign language and implementing it internationally. You need to look at GP from two positions: first, interface translation and local character input and saving, and second, making your foreign subsidiary’s ERP application compliant with host country regulations and business practices (aka localization):

1. What languages ​​can be supported? There are the restrictions of compliance with the ASCII table. If your language doesn’t support ASCII and requires support for Unicode characters (we don’t recommend GP, as its technology layer), Microsoft Dexterity doesn’t support Unicode directly, at least at this time and for the foreseeable future. Unicode usually means hieroglyphs: Chinese, Japanese, Korean. Rest of the world including languages ​​like Arabic, Russian, Dari, Persian, Ukrainian, Latvian, Portuguese could be translated and supported

2. Translation technologies. We recommend that you review two methods. The first method is based on Great Plains Dexterity, where you open Dynamics.dic in Dex and then export string resources to a convenient file format (Excel, for example), perform the required translation, and then distribute the custom Dynamics dictionary to your users. The second method is when you export strings from the Dynamics dictionary, translate them, and finally import them into the forms dictionary (if you plan to have modified reports, you need to import strings associated with reports in Reports.dic). This second method requires a Customization Site Enabler license, however in our opinion it is preferable as you don’t have to expose your users to the bug fix cycle. Dexterity is more powerful and flexible, however it may require additional programming and debugging.

3. How to enable saving of foreign characters in Microsoft SQL Server? This question has two parts. The first part is support for Windows operating system characters, there are two options available: the first is to select your local country version on Windows installation (this option will load Windows in your local language and automatically enable support for the characters entering Dexterity); the second is to enable the foreign language in windows language support (in control panel). The second part is to install MS SQL Server with local language collateral support. If you plan to host all of your Great Plains businesses on the same server in the US, you must change the collaterals for the foreign business database manually

4. Corporate ERP location dilemma. Each accounting system has reasonable flexibility in configuration: taxes (including sales tax and VAT or value added tax), the ability to provide a custom sales invoice report (foreign countries may have unique requirements , related to the numbering of invoices, reports to the tax agency, etc.) . Based on our experience, we do not recommend a non-localized corporate ERP system in large countries, such as Brazil, China, Russia, India, and the reason is simple: large countries have all the points to consider themselves autonomous and develop complex regulations. . For smaller countries, such as Afghanistan, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Lithuania, Poland, Uzbekistan, the issue of compliance may be of less concern as these countries typically follow international GAAP standards.

5. And last paragraph: maybe Great Plains is already localized for your country? This corporate ERP application is available in most English-speaking countries: US, Canada (including French version for Quebec/Montreal), UK, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand. It is also located in some of the Spanish-speaking countries in Central and South America: Mexico, Argentina, Chile, to name a few. There are also a few flavors of Arabic localizations, available through various local resellers in the Middle East.