Why upgrade from Dynamics GP Management Reporter to Jet Reports

Management Reporter is a financial reporting tool from Microsoft that integrates natively with Dynamics ERPs including Dynamics GP. A replacement for Microsoft FRx, Management Reporter was a popular tool for quickly designing and sharing financial reports throughout an organization. Jet Reports, part of insightsoftware, is also a financial reporting tool that allows users to pull data directly from their Microsoft Dynamics system into Excel to create reports and dashboards. How are Management Reporter and Jet Reports related?

In 2016, Microsoft announced the end of new investment for Management Reporter and partnered with Jet to provide a free version of Jet Reports for all Dynamics GP users. Dynamics GP users were then faced with four options: 1) continue using Management Reporter knowing there would be no new features or upgrades, 2) start using the free version of Jet now included in Dynamics GP, 3) upgrade to the full version of Jet Reports, or 4) switch to an entirely new financial reporting platform.

This post will compare and contrast the features of Management Reporter with Jet Reports, then compare the included version of Jet in Dynamics GP with the full version of Jet to help users understand if they could benefit from upgrading to Jet Reports.

Management Reporter (MR) is a standalone application from Microsoft that pulls data from Dynamics GP, while Jet Reports is an Excel add-in that pulls data into Excel from Dynamics GP. Jet Reports works with Microsoft Dynamics GP 9 (November 2005 release) and later. Both tools were designed specifically for working with Microsoft Dynamics data and integrate seamlessly with Dynamics GP, but there are several key differences.

• Building reports – MR reports are built in components one-by-one, starting with defining rows, then defining columns and trees, while Jet Reports are built in whole, not in components, cutting in half or more the time it takes to create a report.
• Previewing reports – You cannot preview reports in MR, unless you assign a row to an actual report. In Jet Reports, you can easily toggle between design mode and report mode to check and see if the formatting and formulas you used are working as desired.
• Adding new accounts – When a new account is added in Dynamics GP, it must be manually added to MR. Due to the way MR is structured, not all data changes in Dynamics GP will be tracked on the change tracker and do not update the data mart, which is the tool that syncs MR with Dynamics GP. At times there might be hard coding involved to change how the data mart pulls data from Dynamics GP. On the other hand, Jet Reports has the ability to refresh data from Dynamics GP at any time and new accounts will show up, without any hard coding or manually checking for new accounts.
• Data extractions – MR connects directly to your instance of Dynamics GP, however you can only create reports in MR using that data – you cannot pull from any other source. In contrast, Jet Reports allows you to pull data from numerous sources and consolidate it together, rather than just pulling data from Dynamics GP for building reports. Jet Reports can extract any data from Dynamics GP into Excel, and when the data refreshes, so does your pivot table.
• Working in Excel – When building reports in MR, you can link to an Excel spreadsheet as a reference and pull in data from a spreadsheet. MR users often finding themselves switching between MR and Excel when building reports to pull in data from different sources that might have been exported into Excel. With Jet Reports, you’re working directly inside Excel and can pull data from a variety of locations in addition to from Dynamics GP. This creates a smoother workflow and reduces the need to switch between applications to find the necessary data for a report or dashboard. Additionally, with designing Jet Reports inside Excel, you can take advantage of formatting options, copying and pasting, and other functionality you are used to in Excel.
• Compatibility – The most recent version of MR reporter is Management Reporter 2012, last updated in 2014, and is compatible with Dynamics AX 2009 and 2012, Dynamics GP 2013 to 2018, and Dynamics SL 2011 and 2015. Jet Reports is regularly updated by insightsoftware, and is compatible with all Microsoft ERPs including Dynamics 365 products, Dynamics NAV, Dynamics GP, Dynamics AX, Dynamics CRM, and Dynamics SL.
• Migrating to a newer ERP system – Dynamics GP is no longer supported by Microsoft and many companies realize they will eventually need to migrate to a newer ERP such as Dynamics 365 or choose a new ERP altogether. MR is not supported by newer Microsoft products, and as such, none of your reports built inside MR will migrate with you to a new system. On the other hand, all worked completed in Jet Reports carries over into any ERP you choose since it is an independent platform and can pull data from any source; all you would have to do is update the data connectors.

Below is a table summarizing key differences between Management Reporter and Jet Reports.

While Management Reporter is a robust tool that serves Dynamics GP users, Jet Reports has additional functionality and flexibility from being an Excel add-in rather than a standalone application. If your business plans on migrating to a newer Dynamics solution in the near future, MR won’t be available, and it might make sense to switch reporting tools now instead of learning a new ERP and new reporting tool at the same time.

Knowing that many Dynamics GP users were combining Management Reporter with the power of Excel, when Microsoft decided to end support for MR they saw Jet Reports has a great alternative. The no-cost alternative to MR, called Jet Express for Excel, is an extension included for all Dynamics GP users to create reports in Excel. Jet Express for Excel was eventually rebranded to Jet Basics and is now available for all Dynamics GP and Dynamics NAV users. By design, Jet Basics has many of the same features and functionality as Management Reporter.

Dynamics users have the option to use Jet Basics as-is, included with their Dynamics subscription, or choose to upgrade to Jet Reports for even greater reporting capabilities. Below is a table comparing features between Jet Basics and Jet Reports.

As with Management Reporter, Jet Basics only allows pulling data from a single source – Dynamics GP. If you’re looking to combine data from multiple sources, then Jet Reports is the answer. Additionally, Jet Reports allows users to schedule and automate reports, view reports on the web, set version controls, and run reports in the background to save server speed.

Jet Reports offers far more than Management Reporter or Jet Basics, and gives Dynamics GP users more control over reporting and data sources. If you’d like to utilize Jet Reports alongside Dynamics GP, or any other ERP, contact a Rand Group solution expert today. Rand Group is a certified insightsoftware partner with nearly 20 years of experience implementing software solutions.