Microsoft adds BI tools to Dynamics GP 2010

Microsoft has announced additions to its Dynamics GP 2010 enterprise resource planning (ERP) software that was launched in April.

The R2 update includes a series of business intelligence features, underlining the growing trend to fuse such capabilities with enterprise software.

Chief among the updates is an improved user interface and personalised dashboard that delivers information to staff based on their actions and the data they are looking at on the network, according to Microsoft.

An improved workflow and electronic signature capability will help workers save time when managing compliance-based documents, and potentially reduce fraud, the firm said.

Fact Boxes and Action Shortcuts tools have been added via Microsoft's Lync 2010 communication platform that provides more information on the people staff are talking to as they type.

Crispin Read, product management group general manager for Dynamics ERP, boasted that Microsoft had seen huge demand for the product since launch.

"We have seen unprecedented momentum for Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010, having recently added more new customers in one quarter than any previous quarter in the history of the solution," he said.

The second edition of the Dynamics GP 2010 platform will be made available during the first half of 2011.