Dynamics GP 2013 R2 introduced the new "Workflow" feature that is being used to replace the functionality that used to be in the Business Portal. Our clients use the Requisition features of Business Portal so the comparable features in GP 2013 R2 were of great interest.
As you may know Business Portal (BP) was designed to run on top of SharePoint. The migration path for that product is quite painful and ends up in a dead-end - as Microsoft has stopped shipping Business Portal with GP starting in version 2015, due out later this year. So if a client is currently using Business Portal on GP they have some work to do to figure out if the replacement Workflow features can substitute for what was in BP.
For our BP Requisition users there is some significant loss in making this move. They use the "multiple times" feature where a user can be in the approval hierarchy more than one time. That feature allows the requisition creator to choose an alternate approver, which is critical for our clients. There is no equivalent capability in GP Workflow. So the clients either need to change their process or find another solution.
As for upgrades we were always stuck in the SharePoint 2007 environment. This reached the end in GP 2010 and in GP 2013 the clients need to move to SharePoint 2010 (and 2013 is now an option.) But to get there we have to move from 32-bit SharePoint to 64-bit SharePoint which means we have to start over on a new server. This also means that while our data will be brought forward none of the essential security permissions in SharePoint will. Again this will result in substantial pain.
And the worst of making that move is there is no future beyond GP 2013. So the best option is to look for requisition products in the Third Party community and integrate to GP.
We really like Workflow in GP but very much dislike what Microsoft has done to clients in this migration path.
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