Case Study  -  PureLogic Incorporated  

Integrating Service Industry Resource  Management

with Microsoft Dynamics GP

 

 

VIEW

PureLogic is a Microsoft Partner with a long record of accomplishment in developing and delivering both custom and packaged solutions for the Microsoft Dynamics GP platform. Their packaged applications provide service organizations and contractors with intuitive solutions for Service Order Processing, Dispatch and Scheduling, Contract Administration, Preventive Maintenance, Returns Management, as well as Payment Processing and External Systems Integration. PureLogic is committed to meeting the needs of the service industry where resource optimization and quality delivery are paramount.

 

THE CHALLENGE

Microsoft Dynamics GP is the leading business management software solution for mid-market organizations, and provides robust functionality for accounting, financial management, distribution, purchasing, inventory control, manufacturing, project accounting, payroll and human resources. To meet the needs of the service industry, PureLogic embedded their eService/360 product into Dynamics GP using the same Dexterity development system used by Microsoft to create Dynamics GP. However, because resource management and logistics as well as service dispatch and scheduling are not readily available in Dynamics GP, PureLogic selected DBI Technologies' Solution Schedule .NET and Studio Controls .NET components to provide this essential functionality.

 

HOW WE DID IT

"We knew the type of interface and functionality we wanted for our customers… ”, said Jeffery Southworth, Director of Product Development at PureLogic. “… and were pleased that Microsoft’s Visual Studio Tools (VST) for Dynamics GP was available to help us take full advantage of DBI’s .NET components. Not only did DBI have exactly what we needed in the way of Resource Scheduling and Dispatch we also found they had a comprehensive collection of data, presentation and general UI design controls, as well. After evaluating and stress testing their commercial controls, along with a few phone calls back and forth, we started to incorporate DBI's Solution Schedule .NET and Studio Controls .NET components into our project.”

"I was very pleased with how fast we were able to implement these controls." continued Jeffery, "And we took full advantage of DBI's custom component services, which really jump-started our development process. Their consulting team really knew their stuff, and why wouldn’t they? They’ve been building commercial scheduling and UI / Data software for years. Within three weeks of committing to our approach, we had a fully functional drag and drop Service Dispatch and Scheduling application including bidirectional integration with our Service Order Processing module. We were amazed at how fast we were able to satisfy this complex requirement and still keep it intuitive and easy to use for our customers.”

 

WHAT IT DOES

“DBI Technologies' dbiList, dbiDate, and dbiSchedule controls offer an efficient way to present scheduled and unscheduled service orders to the dispatcher for sorting, selecting, scheduling, and unscheduling.

To schedule an order, the dispatcher uses the DBI Calendar control to select the schedule date, and then drags the unscheduled order from the dbiList to an available start time for an eligible Team Resource. The dispatcher can then increase or decrease the time period allocated to the order by simply resizing the timebar with the mouse. Using Microsoft VST for Dynamics GP, we were able to easily include the following code in the AfterTimeBarDrop() event of the dbiSchedule control to update the Team Resource, Arrival Date/Time, and Departure Date/Time on the underlying service order record in the Dynamics GP database.”

 

Private Sub DbiSchedule1_AfterTimeBarDrop(sender As System.Object, e As Dbi.WinControl.Schedule.AfterTimeBarDropEventArgs) Handles DbiSchedule1.AfterTimeBarDrop

        'Update team and arrival/departure date/time values

        SmServiceTrxHdrOpenTable.Key = 1

        SmServiceTrxHdrOpenTable.SmDocumentNumber.Value = e.TimeBarItem.Tag

        iTableError1 = SmServiceTrxHdrOpenTable.Change() 'Passive lock

        If iTableError1 = TableError.NoError Then

            EService360.Tables.SmServiceTrxHdrOpen.SmTeamItemNumber.Value = e.ScheduleItem.Tag 'Team Item Number

            EService360.Tables.SmServiceTrxHdrOpen.SmScheduledArrivalDate.Value = e.TimeBarItem.Start

            EService360.Tables.SmServiceTrxHdrOpen.SmScheduledArrivalTime.Value = e.TimeBarItem.Start

            EService360.Tables.SmServiceTrxHdrOpen.SmScheduledDepartureDate.Value = e.TimeBarItem.End

            EService360.Tables.SmServiceTrxHdrOpen.SmScheduledDepartureTime.Value = e.TimeBarItem.End

            iTableError1 = EService360.Tables.SmServiceTrxHdrOpen.Save()

            If iTableError1 = TableError.NoError Then

                Me.lstScheduledOrders.Items.Add(Me.lstUnscheduledOrders.SelectedItems(0).Text)

                Me.lstUnscheduledOrders.Items.Remove(Me.lstUnscheduledOrders.SelectedItems(0)) 'Selected item

                Select Case Me.lstScheduledOrders.SortColumn

                    Case 0 'Order Number

                        Me.lstScheduledOrders.Sort(0)

                    Case 1 'Name

                        Me.lstScheduledOrders.Sort(1)

                    Case 2 'Address

                        Me.lstScheduledOrders.Sort(2)

                End Select

                sTimeBarTip = e.TimeBarItem.Text

            Else

                Dynamics.Forms.SyVisualStudioHelper.Functions.DexError.Invoke("Error " + Str(iTableError1) +

               ": Unable to save record in SM Service Trx Header Open table.")

                Exit Sub

            End If

        Else

            Dynamics.Forms.SyVisualStudioHelper.Functions.DexError.Invoke("Error " + Str(iTableError1) +

            ": Unable to lock record in SM Service Trx Header Open table.")

            Exit Sub

        End If

    End Sub

“To unschedule an order, the dispatcher simply selects an order from the Scheduled Service Order dbiList and drags it into the Unscheduled Service Order dbiList. We were then able to include the following code in the lstUnscheduledOrders_DropList() event of the dbiList to remove the timebar from the dbiSchedule as well as the Team Resource, Arrival Date/Time and Departure Date/Time from the underlying service order in the Dynamics GP database.”

 

 'Update arrival/departure date/time values

            EService360.Tables.SmServiceTrxHdrOpen.SmTeamItemNumber.Clear() 'Team Item Number

            EService360.Tables.SmServiceTrxHdrOpen.SmScheduledArrivalDate.Clear()

            EService360.Tables.SmServiceTrxHdrOpen.SmScheduledArrivalTime.Clear()

            EService360.Tables.SmServiceTrxHdrOpen.SmScheduledDepartureDate.Clear()

            EService360.Tables.SmServiceTrxHdrOpen.SmScheduledDepartureTime.Clear()

            iTableError1 = EService360.Tables.SmServiceTrxHdrOpen.Save()

            If iTableError1 = TableError.NoError Then

                'Add the new node into the list

                Me.lstUnscheduledOrders.Items.Add(Me.lstScheduledOrders.SelectedItems(0).Text)

                Me.lstUnscheduledOrders.Tag = Me.lstScheduledOrders.Tag

                Select Case Me.lstUnscheduledOrders.SortColumn

                    Case 0 'Order Number

                        Me.lstUnscheduledOrders.Sort(0)

                    Case 1 'Name

                        Me.lstUnscheduledOrders.Sort(1)

                    Case 2 'Address

                        Me.lstUnscheduledOrders.Sort(2)

                End Select

 

                'Select unscheduled order

                For Each oNodeItem In Me.lstUnscheduledOrders.Items

                    If oNodeItem.GetCellText(0) = Me.lstScheduledOrders.Tag Then

                        oNodeItem.Selected = True

                        Me.lstUnscheduledOrders.EnsureVisible(oNodeItem) 'ensure the selected item is visible in the control's viewing area

                        Exit For

                    End If

                Next

 

                'Remove timebar from schedule

                Dim bExitAll As Boolean

                For iTeamItem As Integer = 0 To Me.DbiSchedule1.Items.Count - 1

                    For iTimeBarItem As Integer = 0 To Me.DbiSchedule1.Items(iTeamItem).TimeBars.Count - 1

                        If Me.DbiSchedule1.Items(iTeamItem).TimeBars(iTimeBarItem).Tag = Me.lstUnscheduledOrders.Tag Then

                            Me.DbiSchedule1.Items(iTeamItem).TimeBars(iTimeBarItem).End =

                            Me.DbiSchedule1.Items(iTeamItem).TimeBars(iTimeBarItem).Start 'Workaround to clear RulerSelectColor

                            Me.DbiSchedule1.Items(iTeamItem).TimeBars.Remove(Me.DbiSchedule1.Items(iTeamItem).TimeBars(iTimeBarItem))

                            Me.DbiScheduleObject1.Start = Me.DbiDate1.Date.AddHours(Me.cboScheduleStartTime.SelectedIndex)

                            Me.DbiScheduleObject1.End = Me.DbiDate1.Date.AddDays(1)

                            bExitAll = True

                            Exit For

                        End If

                    Next

                    If bExitAll = True Then

                        Exit For

                    End If

                Next

 

                'Remove the original dbiNodeItem from the source dbiList control

                Me.lstScheduledOrders.Items.Remove(Me.lstScheduledOrders.SelectedItems(0)) 'First selected item

 

                'Unselect all timebar items

                For iTimeBarSelected As Integer = 0 To DbiSchedule1.SelectedTimeBars.Count - 1

                    DbiSchedule1.SelectedTimeBars(iTimeBarSelected).IsSelected = False

                Next

 

“And finally, to create a seamless bidirectional integration between the Service Dispatch and Scheduling application and our Service Order Processing module, we added the following code to the TimeBarDoubleClick() event of the dbiSchedule control which automatically opens the Service Transaction Entry window and displays the specified Service Order below.”

 

Private Sub DbiSchedule1_TimeBarDoubleClick(sender As System.Object, e As Dbi.WinControl.Schedule.TimeBarDoubleClickEventArgs) Handles DbiSchedule1.TimeBarDoubleClick

        If cboBranch.SelectedIndex >= 0 Then

            If EService360.Forms.SmServiceTrxEntry.SmServiceTrxEntry.SmBranchId.Value = cboBranch.SelectedItem And

                EService360.Forms.SmServiceTrxEntry.SmServiceTrxEntry.SmDocumentType.Value = 2 And

                EService360.Forms.SmServiceTrxEntry.SmServiceTrxEntry.SmDocumentNumber.Value = e.TimeBarItem.Tag And

                EService360.Forms.SmServiceTrxEntry.SmServiceTrxEntry.DisplayExistingRecord.Value = True Then 'User is displaying this record

                EService360.Forms.SmServiceTrxEntry.Open() ' bring to front

            Else

                EService360.Forms.SmServiceTrxEntry.SmServiceTrxEntry.ClearButton.RunValidate()

                EService360.Forms.SmServiceTrxEntry.SmServiceTrxEntry.SmBranchId.Value = cboBranch.SelectedItem

                EService360.Forms.SmServiceTrxEntry.SmServiceTrxEntry.SmBranchId.RunValidate()

                EService360.Forms.SmServiceTrxEntry.SmServiceTrxEntry.SmDocumentType.Value = 2

                EService360.Forms.SmServiceTrxEntry.SmServiceTrxEntry.SmDocumentNumber.Value = e.TimeBarItem.Tag

                EService360.Forms.SmServiceTrxEntry.SmServiceTrxEntry.DisplayExistingRecord.RunValidate()

                EService360.Forms.SmServiceTrxEntry.SmServiceTrxEntry.SmCustomerName.Focus()

                EService360.Forms.SmServiceTrxEntry.Open() ' bring to front

            End If

        End If

    End Sub

 

“And vice versa, when the user clicks the above highlighted button on the Service Transaction Entry window in Dynamics GP, trigger logic automatically opens the Service Dispatch and Scheduling window and highlights the selected Service Order.“

 

 

CONCLUSION

 

The combination of Visual Studio, great Developers skills and the right component software - Solutions Schedule and Studio Controls - are unbeatable for creating intuitively interactive presentations of enterprise Resource data for planning, scheduling and optimizing the value of Enterprise Resources.  For further in-depth discussions and samples of how DBI’s component software products can be integrated into any project, please download a product evaluation today: https://www.dbi-tech.com/Trials/dbi_TrialDownloads.aspx

 

All DBI component software products include detailed, per component help files, sample applications for each control along with sample source code and all combined with full annual product maintenance and technical support services.

 

 

Please contact the companies for further information...

PureLogic Incorporated -  www.mypurelogic.com

DBI Technologies Inc - www.dbi-tech.com

 

 

www.dbi-tech.com

 

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