Dynamics GP 2015R2 to 2018R2 upgrade - Upgrade!

This is part 3 of my journey to upgrade GP.

Let the fun begin!  It is time to do the base upgrade.  We all know how that starts right?

GP Utilities.

As SA, of course.

As this was an existing Dynamics installation upgrade I just had to click a few Next buttons right?

Not so fast!

I didn't even get past the Dynamics database upgrade when I received the nasty message:

"The stored procedure SynchronizeTableData() of form duSQLAccountSynch : 27Pass Through SQL returned the following results: DBMS: 2601, Microsoft Dynamics GP: 0."

Turns out I'm not alone with that one.  Google will return mucho resultso.  However the only one you need is here.  This one goes back quite a few versions, but I don't recall actually seeing it before.  It's apparently not common, but if you modify right Smartlist you get bit (Payroll > Employee?).

The problem lies in the Dynamics table ASIEXP86.  Log story short backup that table then clear it then restart the upgrade.  Do that after restoring the Dynamics database, of course.

That did get me past into the company upgrades.  As we have 7 companies I watched for a while and made sure our primary company database upgraded, then disconnected from the server to let it run to completion.

As that was past quitting time I jumped back in this morning to see how things went.  Oddly when I logged in there was no GP Utilities session waiting for me to click the Finish button.  WTF right?

A check of the Windows logs pointed me to the fellow in IT that pulled a restart on me.  Claims he didn't see anyone logged on.  False!

Ah well, bygones be bygones right?  It's been a while since I had to restart an upgrade and since 3 companies had already completed I just had to clear the Dynamics..DULCK table and restart Utilities to finish the job.

All went well until the last company finished then the GP Utilities window showed blank.  Checking the Task Manager revealed an odd pattern of CPU utilization by the session, indicating that the process was still running - but the blank window was odd.

As I left to come and start this blog I was interrupted regarding a report issue.  As I was rendering assistance I noticed a MAJOR clue - I had folders in SSRS for all my companies.  AHA!!!

I had failed to clear the SSRS setting in the Dynamics database after I had restored it following the first error.  That was in my script but I'd overlooked it on the restore.

Returning to my GP Utilities session revealed the nasty GP Utilities window telling me my "Business Intelligence reports were not deployed."  - Buzz off!

I've got some cleanup to do in my SSRS folders.  We don't bother with GP's standard SSRS reports and this is something that's plagued me for years (none of my clients in my former life as a consultant bothered with them either.)  GP insists on loading these "BI" reports if there is a reference to an SSRS instance.  I think it's time for a suggestion to make this an optional step instead of a default process.

Of course the window is asking me to Retry or Cancel.  I don't want to Retry but Cancel just allows it to keep going - trying to load SSRS reports I don't want.  So it's "Hammer Time" on the program - End Task!

I hate to do that but they leave me no choice.

I was then able to start GP and get my first hands-on with GP 2018.  I see that I've got a new step in my upgrade process right off-the-bat: get rid of "Intelligent Cloud Insights".  Sorry but I don't care!

Another buzz-off!