Microsoft’s answer is No, but here’s more information
May 30, 2016
Pam Misialek states in the Dynamics GP Community:
Management Reporter for Dynamics GP will continue to be supported and ship now and in the future releases of Microsoft Dynamics GP. Large features like going fully to the cloud and other major enhancements will not be made to Management Reporter for Dynamics GP.
The Management Reporter for Dynamics GP product will not be discontinued.
Then in response to the firestorm that creates, she says this:
The Management Reporter team has decided to not make major enhancements for GP and SL. It will continue with AX. It will continue to be available, so if MR works for your needs it’s still a solid solution that will be supported. Any pains you have experienced with MR will not be corrected.
The GP team is a different team in Microsoft, so this message doesn’t relate to the GP future direction and roadmap. Since MR is not going fully to the cloud and has other limitations, we have been working with the ISV community to solve those needs.
Since MR will continue to be available, there isn’t a formal announcement because it’s not being retired or discontinued. For example, you won’t find any announcement on Project Accounting not getting new features because it’s still available.
I gave partners a heads up on the direction because I felt it was the right thing to do. Financial Reporting is a critical component and partners need to understand what the best options are. Management Reporter will continue to be part of GP and for on prem deployments is a great solution. Existing customers investments are still safe. For situations where more is needed, the ISV community is the place to go.
I hope this helps.
June 20, 2016
And here’s more information from Ryan Sandness in response to the above.
In response to the many questions we have been getting lately…we want to clarify the product positioning for Management Reporter.
- Management Reporter is the preferred financial reporting solution for Microsoft Dynamics AX, GP, and SL.
- Management Reporter will continue to be supported through the lifecycle of the ERP versions it ships with.
- Management Reporter has been renamed to financial reporting in Microsoft Dynamics AX ‘7’.
My Take
The handwriting’s on the wall. And it has been for a long time. This is just the first public acknowledgement that M-R continues “without enhancements”. We’ve been waiting for it to catch up to FRx for YEARS. And honestly, how ironic is waiting/wanting it to catch up to FRx (a product that was last updated back when dinosaurs roamed). [snark]
Here’s one of my posts from EIGHT years ago re missing features in M-R: FRx vs. Management Reporter: Got Functionality? Seems like most of them are still missing. [sigh]
I do wonder if a more reliable data mart counts as a major enhancement. [snark]
Cheers.
First you have a great blog. Looking at your comments from eight ago to today, what is really missing? I hear folks longing for the good old FRx days but the reality it was not the greatest program. I do a lot of consulting and the error rate of FRx is fairly high. A lot of things like Excel and Row linking are really not good concepts. Overall it seems MR is a much more staple product with nice features. Most clients that I speak with are fairly happy.
Just saying
Hi Jim…thanks for the comments! You’re right, there ARE some nice features, but there are also gaping holes. Biggest is the lack of Subtotals. No effective dates functionality. Buggy. Microsoft just doesn’t seem to be allocating resources or paying attention to what users want and need. Meanwhile, some of the original FRx people have put together a new package. I’m investigating. Cheers…Jan