Microsoft Dynamics SL 2011 is Released

Microsoft has launched Dynamics SL 2011 and the SL community is all abuzz with the new features.  I will be outlining many of the top features over the next few weeks and months to show just what everyone is talking about.  If you've been a long time user of Dynamics SL (formerly Solomon) you have a lot to be excited about, trust me.

For those of you who are new to the product and are looking for a little more information, Microsoft Dynamics SL is an ERP solution for mid-sized, project-driven organizations and it can help you connect project management and accounting to streamline your business.  You can look elsewhere on this site for more information about this and other products.  For now, I'd like to talk more about SL 2011.

History Bar

Let's focus today just on some of the features in the User Interface.  You know how when you're in Internet Explorer (or most browers) and you can go back to a website by using the dropdown in the browser address bar?  Well, Dynamics SL 2011 has the same thing.  You can actually open a screen you were previously in by looking at your history from the address bar (see image below).

History Navigation bar (click to enlarge)

Search

The new search feature helps finds screens and reports.  You can simply type in a key word such as "project" and all the reports and screens with that word in it will appear.  Clicking on the links in the search window opens the screens directly.

Search results (click to enlarge)

Multi-Company

This makes it all worth it!  Switch companies without having to enter a user name and password.  This requires Windows authentication but it's worth the setup.  Click on the company displayed at the top right of the screen and you'll see a list of the most recent companies you've been to.  Click on the More button and you'll see the full list.  There is also a Search field to quickly navigate to a company further down the list if you have a lot.  This is by far one of the best new navigation features in SL 2011.

Mutl-company switching (click to enlarge)

Search companies (click to enlarge)

Users can also be logged into multiple companies at the same time.  The example below shows the Voucher and Adjustment Entry screens in CoHo Winery and Contoso.

Voucher from two companies (click to enlarge)

I'm going to stop here.  This should be enough to make you a little excited.  There is a lot more to this update such as Quick Query which allows you to filter data in every module quickly and save it for next time but I'll cover that next time.