This integration had been live for nearly 2 years, running every night, and running without issue - or at least without this kind of issue. In other words, fairly stable.  They also never touch the service accounts, so the thought that the password might have been changed was nearly impossible.

The Error

The text of the error was:

Error type: Unknown
Code: 1000
Location: e-Connect
User Message: The server process could not be started because the configured identity is incorrect.  Check the username and password. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x8000401A)
Description: System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0x8000401A): The server process could not be started because the configured identity is incorrect.  Check the username and password. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x8000401A)

The client is using Dynamics GP2010 and the accompanying eConnect version for their integrations.

Troubleshooting

I researched the error the normal way, using "Dr Google" as one of my clients calls it.  (My bad, I guess I should say "using Bing!", but alas, old habits die hard).  We got many hits on this error but everyone's experience was one of two things:

• You need to use a domain account for the identity (this client already was using a domain account)
• The password must have been changed by someone (this was verified as not the case)

So, we were a little stumped until someone thought to check the Event Viewer on the server. In my role at this client I don't have access to the server on which this integration runs (it doesn't run on the actual GP sql server), so thankfully, one of the clients thought to look there to see if by chance there was more information. Sure enough, the event viewer log was much more specific!

The description in the error was "Logon failure: the user has not been granted the requested logon type at this computer".  In short, the Active Directory account didn't have permission to log onto that server any more - nothing to do with the username or password configuration being incorrect.

At that point we went back to the IT team, and sure enough, they were doing some network and permission clean up in the recent days and inadvertantly removed some groups' "log on as a service" permissions.

The moral of this story?  If you get an error, check the event viewer too, to see if there is more specific information there about the error. In this case, it was obvious what the issue was but since no one checked there initially, we wasted a couple of days trying different things first.

It's somewhat of a tale of two client scenarios, and advice to those who hear certain things from their clients, and are in a position to recommend license options.

I've got two clients right now both of whom have expressed a need for additional user licenses in the near future.  Both of them have decent user bases right now (12 and 16 user licenses respectively). Both of them are running into issues with the maximum number of concurrent users being logged in, at various times of the day or week or month.

Client #1

Client number 1 has been a Dynamics GP client for 10 years, and their accounting department has grown probably double in size since they first implemented GP.  They keep hiring and have more and more users using GP every year.  Right now they have approximately 25-30 actual GP users set up in the system, and at least half of them are daily, transactional users which need GP open all day long to do their jobs.  The other half range from people that do a lot of analysis and reporting, to people who perform tasks more at certain times of the month - monthly expense report entry, for instance.  So far a 16 user base has been ok, but over the last few months, as they've hired one or two or three more bodies, they are using all 16 licenses nearly every hour of every day.

With this client, there is very little that can entirely offset the use of Dynamics GP outside of the application via reporting tools, as most of the users in the "non-day-to-day" camp still need in GP to do lots of inquiries, not all of which are easily replaced outside of GP.  This client is a perfect example of when they simply need to consider purchasing additional full user licenses to relieve some of the pressure - as well as the inevitable "Can someone log out of GP for a minute please?" cries around the office!

Client #2

Client number 2 has also been a GP client for a number of years. Their 12 user license has served them well for many years but over the years, they added more and more users to GP to allow more non-accounting staff to run their own reports and do their own inquiries.  This seemed innocent enough at the time, but now as their overall staff level has grown, they too are running into issues where there aren't enough licenses for the users to log in when needed.  In this case, they often also have a couple of users who do tons of reporting and analysis opening both of their primary entities (companies) at the same time so they can easily flip back and forth at will, without stopping something they are doing in one company. That right there is 4 licenses taken up by 2 users most days of the week.

In contrast to the first client, they have a small accounting department and only about 30-35% of the user activity in GP is from users who I would define as "needing to be in GP".  The vast majority of their user base do things that can easily be transitioned to other external methods - excel reports, sharepoint, SSRS reports etc. Some need in only to look up the next PO number to use; some only need to check inventory quantities on hand; some only run project accounting reports to check the status of their projects.

With this client, when they first asked me about an estimate to add new users, I immediately thought that in this case, it's a complete waste of money for them. They originally purchased users for something they never ended up implementing, leaving them also with 50+ light user licenses, which to me means they shouldn't spend a dime on licenses right now.  I'll be working with them over the coming weeks to make a plan to transition as many of these users out of GP as possible, to external reporting and inquiry options.

The difference between Full & Light

Before I get into details, both of these clients are GP2010 users, not GP2013. Both of them are also on Business Ready Licensing so that is what I am really talking about in this post.  This information is also intentionally generic and general - specific questions on all the purposes and usages of each license should be a question for your partner if you are unsure.

In these examples, a full user is a license to log into GP itself; a light user is a license that allows you to access GP data externally to GP - Excel Reports, SSRS, Sharepoint etc. all come to mind as ways to access data and use its information.

Pricing varies depending on market and other factors, plus there are price breaks once you buy 11 or more users etc.  For simplicity, let's just say the cost of a full user is $5,350 + enhancement. The cost of a light user is around $175 + enhancement. That's a huge difference!

In my examples, client #2 was considering purchasing at least a couple more licenses which means an expenditure of over $10,000.  What I explained to them was for the same money, and likely for a lot less than that, it would be better for them in the long term to spend that money on the services to identify the reporting needs, utilize the out of the box report options already there in Excel Reports and SSRS, and if needed write a handful of specific reports to cover gaps that aren't addressed. They have more than enough Light User licenses to cover their needs, and if they need more in the future, a couple hundred bucks is a no brainer.

If you are a consultant, and you notice your clients often at or near their maximum user capacity, look around at what users are keeping GP "full" and whether there are external solutions for them that have the option to provide more service to them and more inexpensively purchase licenses.

If you are a client and you're in a situation like I have described above, take a look at what the users in GP are doing and identify any that don't 'really' need GP to do what they are doing. Talk to your partner about options, and extend the reach of the information in GP to other users in your organization!

Fast forward to last month, when I received an email from another customer who was asking me "did you ever find out what the issue was with that error? We are having the same problem now!".  We exchanged emails and I researched what notes I had taken at the time, and in the end, she confirmed for me that what worked for my client also worked for her.

So, this post is just an update on the issue and at least one resolution, in case it helps someone else out there. Some of this is a repeat of the rant blog, without the rant!

The Issue

The client's error message was "Account Number does not exist".  This occurred when they were creating the poster file in Canadian Payroll, after running their payroll successfully that week.  They'd been live for several years so the fact that now of all times a new random error came up was a little odd.

The Resolution

The accounting in Canadian Payroll is fairly straight forward: each paycode has an account number and in the main Setup window, you can identify if you want to "mask" the account number, say, to go to an employee's department segment in the GL. The biggest complication is usually forgetting to set the masked value in the department setup or the combination of the paycode's account and the masked value doesn't exist. Those are pretty easy to spot.

The other most common source of Account Missing types of errors usually you figure out immediately upon running your first payroll tests after configuration: some default account in a setup window wasn't populated with the default GL account.

This error was strange and random.  The good news: both my client and the person who contacted me through the blog comments found the same common issue, and it resolved this error:

• The company setup (Canadian Payroll Control window) had "Allow Banked Leave GL Accrual" set to No while the employee in question had their field set to Yes.
• In both cases, this only popped up when the employee was taking vacation, and it was looking at the account setting to identify where to reduce the accrued vacation.

So, sounds simple but annoyingly random! Hopefully if anyone else finds the same error, this may help them resolve it too.

There was an issue identified last week with the 2012 year end tax update that affects T4s.  This issue is being worked on and a hotfix should be available soon.

The specific issue is this:

• Box 24 (EI Insurable Earnings) will show the 2011 rate $44,200 instead of the 2012 rate $45,900
• Box 26 (CPP Pensionable Earnings) will show the 2011 rate $48,300 instead of the 2012 rate $50,100
• Also, RL-1 Box G (QPP Pensionable Earnings) will show the 2011 rate $48,300 instead of the 2012 rate $50,100

These amounts will appear in the T4 edit (or RL-1 Edit) windows after running the Create T4 (RL-1) process.  There are scripts you can download to fix this issue, or you can wait until the hotfix is released.

Here are the Customersource links: GP2010 and GP10.

NOTE: if you create your T4s or RL-1s and then run the scripts - and THEN run Recreate T4s (or RL-1s) it wipes out the script update.  Keep this in mind and keep the scripts handy if you are creating and recreating the forms, until the hotfix is ready.

UPDATE:

The hotfixes were released in the end of January, and for the record, here they are:

GP2010 link (version after update: 11.0.2164)

GP2013 link (version after update: 12.0.1343)

This is a regular hotfix, so you will notice in the details on the downloads page or documentation, there are other bug fixes included with this. The hotfix includes the following (for Cdn Payroll):

• 2013 Quebec new health contribution formulas
• The form corrections related to the issues noted above (T4, RL-1)
• Any year end tax changes for GP2013

I say this every year - time flew by!  As my dad just told me, it seems to fly by faster the older you get.  It certainly does!  Today is December 31st and my sister & I are visiting my dad and his wife, and loving the few relaxing days away from home.  Along with relaxing with family, this is my favourite, if not humbling, part of the new year process: reviewing what I said I would do this year!

What happened in 2012?

Well, I started the year resolving to make more reasonable goals... what a cop out eh?  I also thought I'd do monthly resolutions, in an effort to keep them manageable.  I'm embarrassed to admit that I forgot about that by mid-February!

Here's the quick tally of what I wanted to accomplish and how I fared (hint: not very well!):

• Blog 3 times a month - I finished the year with 26 articles, after writing 28 in 2011.  I'm surprised that I got that many written actually, it felt like I only wrote a dozen or so.
• Read more - the good news is I plowed through a huge pile of magazines so I no longer have a backlog of mags to read; but I didn't read as many books as I wanted to.  I'll call this a slight success!
• Re-immerse myself in development - this never got off the ground!
• SQL Reporting Services - I started by installing the Report Builder 3.0 application but other than playing with that a little bit, I really didn't make much headway on this.

So, what did I accomplish this year? 

Under the category of "the 99% complete project": Hey!  I actually finished my Report Writer series!  Now THAT's an accomplishment... I'd left it dormant for a few months and was happy to finally dust it off and finish it.

In the "is it me or is the rest of the herd insane?" category: I found a few interesting bugs, here, here and here.  It sounds crazy but part of the fun of being a consultant is troubleshooting issues, and with that, there is just something about the moment when you find you've actually discovered a bug and aren't going crazy!  (Not that bugs are a good thing, but when you don't get the expected results and are trying to prove that you're not causing the problem, the validation that it is a bug is kind of nice!)

On the social and learning side of things, I returned to Fargo for my second time, to the Technical Airlift.  I met a bunch more of our fantastic GP community members and had a great time learning about GP2013.  I love putting names to faces, that's always the best part to me.

Saving the best for last: The best part of 2012 for us in the GP world arguably was the release of GP2013 in December 2012... this was a highly anticipated release with the first web client being introduced.  I'm looking forward to upgrading my environments to play with the new features.

What's in store for 2013?

As I sit here, I'm not entirely sure what 2013 will look like for me.  The last half of 2012 included some "life changes" and the early part of 2013 will most definitely include continued personal distractions.  One thing is for sure, in 2013 I'll be moving somewhere, to a location yet to be determined!  I've got a house to sell first, which is on the market but not moving as quickly as I would like.

Other than that, this year's resolutions will be more along the lines of things I'd like to keep doing!

• Upgrade at least one of my environments to Dynamics GP 2013.  This is an easy one, there is no way to learn better than to get your hands on a new product or version.

• Migrate to and learn Management Reporter 2012.  This is also an easy one.  I've used MR already, I just haven't gotten around to playing with the newest version.  Two of my clients use FRx Webport so we've been waiting until this MR release with a web client replacement to consider migrating.

• Blog more!  LOL... it wouldn't be a proper new year's resolution list without my annual "I'd like to blog more often" entry!  I predict sporadic blogging until I am sorted in a new house/condo/apartment/hole-in-the-wall, at which time one of two things will happen: I'll be renovating a new place & still randomly blogging or I'll have more time to blog more often!

• Reading.  I'll keep this on my list, as there are tons of things I'd like to read both personally and professionally.  I picked up a few GP books from our fine community of authors over at a Packt Publishing sale and look forward to reading them all for the first time.

• Take a Dexterity course.  The good news is this year there are several classes scheduled with either Mariano Gomez and Leslie Vail in early to mid 2013.  I'm not sure yet which one I'd be able to attend but I'd love to get to one of their offerings while the choice of dates and locations is vast.  Personally I'd love to take on the London UK offering from Mariano, which happens to fall the week of my birthday.  How cool would that be?  A good excuse to travel somewhere and celebrate a birthday in style!  I'm not sure the timing works as that coincides with a go-live of a project I'm on, so we'll have to see about that...

That's it... kind of a "low-hanging fruit" list of resolutions but hey, at least they are achievable!

Here's hoping everyone has a happy new year and a fantastic 2013!

A client has a bunch of inactive GL accounts and for a project, wants to re-active them to do some re-allocations and then inactive them again.  Simple right?

I set up a simple Integration Manager integration for them, and set the "Inactive" field to "Use Input".  In other words, let the user decide if they are inactivating or re-activating the accounts.  Better than changing the integration, right?

Seemed like a good idea at the time.  So we set the field to Use Input and then they ran it, it gives them a drop down list, and they chose False, as in "re-activate".  They run the integration and start getting a bunch of errors "This account has a current balance".  Hmmm.  That should not matter if you are "activating" so I didn't understand the message.

They spot checked the GL accounts on the error log + the accounts not on the error log.  Everything is still inactive, except the ones on the error log, because they were never inactive as they had a current balance.

OK.  Well, against all logic, I suggested running it again but choosing TRUE instead of FALSE.  The field is Inactive so TRUE should 'inactivate' it, but stranger things have happened, and it's worth trying.  I thought there is a chance that it is working backwards for some reason.

Same issue.  Huh.

Well... let's get rid of the Use Input and put it back to Use Constant and set it to False.  Run the integration, it works like a charm.

So, in this bizarro world, Use Input apparently ignores whatever the user selects in the drop down list and runs the integration as "Inactive = True".  Using a constant works.

Go figure!  Just when you think you've seen everything, something new and strange pops up!

(for reference, the client is using GP2010, and Integration Manager 11).

Enough of that.  Part of the learning curve has fortunately been handled by reading other users' experiences and searching out tips and tricks to understand how to get things to work for you.  None of what I'm putting in here is new or revolutionary, but hopefully it helps someone out!

Key note for all of these tips: I am not using a touch device so these tips are 100% for keyboard and mouse users... some might work for touch too, I have no idea!

What I love about Windows 8

I really love the overall look and feel, the UI itself.  Others hate the metro tile home screen but that is the single biggest thing I love.  My home page has been turned into my start menu.  Remove some app tiles, add some new app tiles, move the things I use most frequently to the far left side, and voilà!

Playing with Tiles

The first thing I did, after doing a clean install of Windows 8 (to remove the typical new computer bloatware), was to customize the tiles & my home page.

Windows 8 puts a lot of default apps on there that I have no interest in.  I tried some of the default apps like Windows Mail, found them too limiting, so I uninstalled them.  Others I simply removed from "Start" (unpin them).

• Right click on most app tiles on the home page and you see options like "Uninstall", "Unpin from Start" and with some apps (seems to be limited to Microsoft apps) options to make the tile smaller (one square) or larger (two squares).
• Not all apps have an uninstall link - like the App "Store" for instance, but most do.
• If you right click on several apps, you are actually selecting multiple app tiles - and your selections will differ.  Look for the checkmark in the right hand corner of the app tile to identify what is selected.  This is how you select multiple items, but it's not quite as obvious as holding down a CTRL key which is what most users are used to.  I use this to unpin a bunch of apps I don't want, all at once.
• Moving tiles is as simple as click and drag to a new spot.

Adding new tiles

To see the list of all of the apps installed on your computer, you can right click on an empty portion of the home page and select All Apps.  This shows tiny tiles of all of your apps.  Then right click on what you want, and select Pin To Start to create a tile/shortcut for it.  This is the equivalent of modifying or editing your old start menu.

Things like the specific items in your control panel are also right clickable - there is a shortcut on the context menu to Pin To Start.  Personally I like to have a shortcut on my desktop for Windows Update so in this case, I put a shortcut on my home page for it.  I also put a shortcut to the Control Panel since I tend to use that a lot.

I have not yet figured out if you can put a tile shortcut to a specific document on the start menu; I'm sure there is a way but I haven't looked into that yet.

Handy Shortcuts

There are tons of articles on shortcuts for Windows 8... simply google (or bing!) Windows 8 shortcuts and you'll get tons of hits.  Here are the things I use a lot, and a few new ones I just started to use.

• Windows Key = toggle between start page and your last app.  This is awesomely simple - I used to use the Windows key once in a while on Windows 7 to hit the start menu, but this is even better.  I use this constantly to see my "home page start menu".
• Multiple Monitors? Move the home page to the right monitor using Windows key + Page Up or Page Down.  I only (only! ha!) have two monitors so I haven't tied this with 3 ... apparently you just keep hitting Win + PgUp (or PgDown) and it cycles through your monitors.
• Want to add multiple monitors or are hooking up to a projector?  Windows + P opens the project charm.  
• Tired of mousing over to the corner to open the Charms sidebar?  Windows + C opens the charms and even better, Windows + I opens the Settings if all you want is to quickly shutdown your computer or do other things in the Settings section of the Charms bar.
• Did you know there's a poweruser / Administrator menu?  I knew about Administrative Tools but this was completely new to me: Windows + X opens a special poweruser menu with all sorts of toys for managing your computer. (Not new apps, but shortcuts to the most commonly used admin apps).  Way cool.
• Looking to lock your screen when you go to a meeting?  Windows + L is quicker than CTRL-ALT-DEL + enter.
• The new "open apps" bar on the left side you can scroll through with Windows + Tab.  Kind of like ALT-TAB to scroll through open items, this scrolls through open apps on the Windows 8 bar.

Some Search tips

• Want to search quickly?  One quick way to search is simply press Windows to get to your home screen and just start typing.  Seriously, this is cool.  Doesn't matter where you are searching, just get to the home menu and start typing.  No mousing to the Charms or shortcuts.  
• You can also edit the search apps to either hide an area you don't want to search results in, or pin it to move it to the top.  It does appear that only the first three "apps" show instant results but the other apps are there if you want to search there.  For instance, I use Evernote, so if I am searching for something that is in Evernote, I click Evernote in my search bar and it then passes your search phrase to that application.
• A second way to search quickly for when you really want to search specific areas: WIndows + Q is to search Apps; Windows + F is to search Files; Windows + W is to search Settings.

I'm quite sure there are tons more handy tips and tricks... my favourites?  X for the admin menu & Windows key simply to get back to the home page and facilitate easy search.

I think this is a fantastic step forward in Windows operating systems and I encourage new users to try the play with the new tools instead of instantly looking to make it look like Windows 7 or earlier!  Have fun with it... 

First - an important note although I doubt this will affect anyone already: Dynamics GP 2013 RTM did not release with the 2013 tax rates!  So in the unlikely event that you are considering upgrading to GP2013 immediately (since it's launch yesterday!), I would recommend holding off until the first hot fix is released.  The hotfix is expected the week of January 21, 2013.  New clients - same goes for you... the RTM build has the 2012 tax rates and thus any payrolls run in it, will not reflect the new tax rates yet.

Now on to the details of the tax update: (PDF file with the year end update details)

These links will be live on Friday December 21st, 2012 (just in time for the end of the world!  (couldn't resist a little Mayan calendar joke...))

GP10 (build number expected to be 10.0.1868 & Canadian Payroll version 10.0.1880)

GP2010 (build number expected to be 11.0.2121 & Canadian Payroll version 11.0.2128)

GP2013 (will update this when the hotfix is out...)

I'll be doing my first update for a client this weekend... if any issues arise or anything interesting comes up, I will post an update or new article!

Microsoft Dynamics GP2013 has launched!  Yay!

Here is a link to the launch portal on Customersource: click here

There is a ton of information out there already on the Microsoft sites and in the Microsoft Dynamics community so I won't get into repeating a lot of what's already been blogged about.  Suffice to say: it's a big day with the introduction of the first web client, some very cool new features and tons of excitement in the community about this release.  Check it out!

When the Windows 8 previews and betas came out, I fully intended to install them on a virtual image or something, and get to know the new features.  So much for that!  The, ahem, fortunate timing of dropping a laptop and having my other functional Dell brick fail to boot led me to a just-in-time-for-Christmas new shiny laptop.  While my American friends were eating Thanksgiving turkey, I was doing some timely Black Friday shopping.  It seems Canadian retailers have adopted the sale weekend much to our price advantage!

I ordered another trusty Lenovo, my third one. Even though my first one died, I got a ton out of it and took it everywhere.  My last one - which I dropped - actually still kind of worked even after dropping it on a tile floor. Dented, yes, but busted, no!  I think I dented some internal things though as there were several issues with all the ports on one side not working all the time etc., and Black Friday came calling to rescue me from frustration.

This is an off-topic post - nothing to do with Dynamics GP this time around.  I'm behind in my blogging (again) and will get back to that shortly.  For now, I wanted to document some Windows 8 installation related things that may help someone.  I needed to search long and hard for some things and I'd like to save someone the trouble when they go to do what I've done.

The background

As I mention above, I bought a Lenovo, an X230 model specifically.  I bought it with a mid-range configuration but didn't order it with a Solid State drive (SSD), as I planned on getting one far cheaper after the fact.  Every time I buy a new computer, the first thing I do is wipe it clean and do a clean O/S install.  This time, I was doing a clean install as well as swapping out the hard drive for an SSD.

I also bought it pre-loaded with Windows 8 Professional.  Everything here is related to the Pro version, so YMMV if you are not on Pro (although I think the steps below are generic enough to work for any edition).

These notes are not in any particular order, it's not meant as a "how to" but rather a compilation of things that helped me.

My end goal was the following:

• Install an SSD instead of the hard drive it came with
• Keep the UEFI boot to take advantage of the secure boot functionality
• Do a clean install, not a clone of the factory install

Lastly, I'm not a hardware person, so I may use the most technologically correct terminology in places... apologies for that!

Windows 8 product key

If Windows 8 is installed already by the OEM vendor, the product key should be embedded in the BIOS.  I didn't need to worry about finding my key, getting the key, hacking a registry to get the key etc.  In previous iterations of Windows, there are usually some steps that require finding out the key for what is installed so you can use it again.  No need this time.  In fact, I still have no idea what my product key is, and the O/S is so new, Lenovo hasn't gotten around to putting the stickers on the bottom of the laptops yet to show you the key.  I've installed Windows 8 twice now (I'll explain why!), and it recognized that I had an OEM key in the BIOS and installed without any issue whatsoever.

Windows 8 drivers

This was the biggest and most pleasant surprise for me.  The first time I did a clean install was with my old Lenovo x61s and Windows XP.  Wow, the clean install instructions were convoluted.  There were at least 17 steps to install, 99% of it was the exact order and method to install the drivers you need. Pain in the ___.  I don't remember how it worked with Windows 7, it certainly was simpler, but with Windows 8, nearly everything worked right off the bat.  I haven't installed a single Lenovo driver, and have 3 devices that are "unknown" - but using my laptop I haven't yet found what isn't working and I've used everything I would use on a regular basis.  It might be a while before I find what those 3 devices are! 

Now, this being said, not all of the Microsoft drivers are the best ones out there for your devices and hardware. I found one instance where I will have to find the Lenovo driver and it isn't even for my laptop but for the docking station.  Audio doesn't play when my X230 is docked, but it is a simple fix, according to many sources online.

Swapping hard drive for an SSD

There are several blogs and several forum posts about doing Windows 8 clean installs, and several about swapping an SSD for a regular hard drive.  I didn't seem to find many articles or blogs that did both, they all seemed to do one thing or another or didn't addres the difficulties I had run into.  Also, many of them were using a clone approach which doesn't seem to be recommended from what I have read, because of differences in the hardware types.  It sounds like you don't want to clone a regular hard drive to copy that to an SSD as it won't be installed optimized for an SSD.

Fortunately I didn't find any issue or difficulty in doing this.  I did a full recovery backup of the factory install in case I needed to revert back to Win8 "original" - that's always a safe recommendation.  After that, I literally took out the old hard drive *, installed the SSD, and with the next steps on the specifics to boot into Windows 8, that was it.  Not a single issue was SSD/hard drive change related.

* To be clear, there is a proper way to remove the hard drive which is basically:

• Turn off the computer
• Unplug the power supply
• Take out the battery
• Press the power key to drain any remaining power
• Remove the hard drive (in my case, remove a couple of screws to access it).
• Install the new hard drive/SSD
• Put the battery back in and continue

Windows 8 media

This was the part that I found a challenge, specifically getting the media in the right format for UEFI.  First things first: apparently you can use any media including Windows 8 Upgrade media to do a clean install.  From everything I've read, you do not need a "full" copy for a clean install.  (Assuming you are eligible for the upgrade version).  If you have MSDN or TechNet subscriptions, you should be able to find what you need.  Since I wanted to upgrade my home computer too and I don't currently have an MSDN subscription, so I took advantage of the upgrade offer for Windows 8 - $40.

Using the ugprade media method, here is the rough steps (because initially I was expecting that it was as simple as buy it and download it)..  It seems at first like you can't just download the media but rest assured, you do in the end.  The website for the upgrade offer starts with having an upgrade advisor download. 

• It checks your hardware for issues with requirements, if any, so you know in advance. 
• Next, it asks you what you want to keep off of your computer.  I selected None since I didn't intend to install immediately on this machine, I just needed the media. 
• Next is the ordering part and you get your product key (if you are actually upgrading... that key is what I'll use for my home computer).  
• Finally it gets to the download part and the options are basically Install Now or Install by Creating Media.  I chose the latter.
• The last step gives you an option of downloading an ISO or using a Flash Drive.

UEFI & BIOS settings

This specifically was the part where I got a little messed up and ended up installing twice, because I didn't understand the whole UEFI thing initially. (Not that I'm an expert now...).  Initially I created a DVD ISO image using the download and then attempted to just hook up my DVD to my laptop and reboot.  WIth legacy boot, depending on your BIOS settings, this usually would recognize the DVD and prompt you to "press any key to boot from CD/DVD" or something like that.  This didn't, it just kept stopped at a boot menu.  It recognized a DVD was attached with an ISO image, but the BIOS was set to UEFI secure boot and it's incompatible with the DVD ISO method.  I changed my BIOS to "both" (Legacy/UEFI) and then it recognized the DVD and booted into Windows 8 setup and I was set.

However, when it was done, and I went into my BIOS to set it back to UEFI only, it would no longer boot because it was installed in Legacy mode.  So back to the drawing board.  To make a long story a little shorter, here is what worked and what didn't for me:

• DVDs are formatted in NTFS which isn't compatible with UEFI (for booting at least...).  If you don't care about UEFI and are happy with Legacy boot mode, you should be able to change your bios setting to Both or Legacy and allow it to act as normal like any older O/S ran.  The boot times for UEFI only vs Legacy seemed similar to me so I don't think there is a big difference.
• I would like to use UEFI secure boot, so I opted to re-install WIndows 8 again.  It requires boot media to be formatted Fat32.  I didn't have a big enough USB flash drive so I ended up buying one, because I wasn't able to format an external USB hard drive as Fat32.
• Next, to make the flash drive bootable, basically you need to extract the ISO contents.  There are several tools out there, MagicISO lets you mount an ISO image like a hard drive, from which you could copy the contents to the Flash drive.  One common search result for this issue was to download the "Windows 7 USB Download Tool".  I did that at first, but it formats the USB Flash drive as NTFS first and then extracts the ISO contents!  So, you can do that but then copy the contents off the flash drive, reformat as Fat32, then copy back.
• Lastly, I still couldn't boot from this Flash drive and the final thing missing was I cannot boot to this device with Secure Boot enabled in the BIOS.  Once I disabled Secure Boot, but still was in UEFI mode, once again I was successful getting to the Windows 8 install screens.

After installing, I re-enabled the Secure Boot option and I'm back in business.

I may have missed some small nuances here and there, but hopefully this covers the majority of it... going in circles around the UEFI thing took the most time. For a day or so it felt like all I kept doing was burning DVDS (thinking they didn't burn properly), or copying files to/from Flash Drives to get this to work.  That was annoying so hopefully this helps someone just cut to the chase and quickly do a clean install.

The best part about going through all of this is you learn a little more and that's never a bad thing.

Going the route of using an SSD is amazing.. it boots in 5 seconds or so, it's unreal.  The "windows experience" disk data transfer rate went from a score of 5.9 to 8.1 or something like that... just no comparison to how fast an SSD runs vs. a regular hard drive.

I've had fun playing with windows 8 so far and hope to post again about a few tips and tricks I found as I've been working through things.