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Ghosts, goblins, and budgets!

Monday, October 24th, 2011

It’s that scary time of year again for ghosts, goblins, and budgets.  Gives me chills just thinking about it.

But it doesn’t have to be too scary.  I’ve been working with several companies on their budgets and have found some things that you may want to keep in mind when importing your budgets.

1)    What version of Microsoft Office are you using?  We have seen where Microsoft Office 2010 has the ability to hide data in cells and could possibly be masking data.  Sometimes you may not know that data is hiding until you export to a text file.  This is not something that happens all the time, but if you find that you have issues importing it could be hidden data.

 

2)    Naming of Fiscal Periods: Typically you would go to Cards->Financial->Budgets and follow the steps in the wizard to create your Budget Template in an Excel spreadsheet.  This gives you the default format that Dynamics GP is expecting when you are ready to import your new budget figures.

 

If you‘ve made changes to the Period Name by going to Microsoft Dynamics GP -> Tools -> Setup-> Company -> Fiscal Periods, you will want to make those same changes to your exported spreadsheet columns.  The export will have the original Period Names for each period, not the changes that you made, and the import will fail because it can’t reconcile the changes for the import.

 

The error you receive will mention incorrect number of fiscal periods, but the real issue is that you renamed the period descriptions, and those have not exported with your Budget export to excel, and it cannot match up those columns when importing back into Dynamics GP.

Hopefully this saves you some time and effort, because we definitely know how hectic this time of year can be.

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Posted in Dynamics GP, Tips 'n Tricks |

Looking to connect with other GP Partners?

Monday, September 19th, 2011

“They say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself” 

     Andy Warhol

Dynamics GP Partners:  Do you remember Stampede?  Are you looking for an opportunity to connect, gain insight, improve your bottom line?  Are you looking for new strategies while preserving the core that’s made you successful?  If so, you need to attend GP Partner Connections 2011, November 6-8 at Caesar’s in Las Vegas.

Connections has become an exclusive planning, training, and networking conference for Dynamics GP partners from all over the country.  This will be the 3rd year of a grass roots effort to bring value back into the Partner Channel. 

Who should attend?  Consultants, Developers, Practice Managers, Project Managers, and business leaders in any Dynamics GP ISV or Consulting practice. 

Save $100 by registering by 9/30/11.

Contact me for more details, and for more information on the breakout sessions, go to the GP Partner Connections website:  http://www.gppartnerconnections.com/ 

Take the time to change. 

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Posted in Dynamics GP, GP User Group, Microsoft, Tips 'n Tricks, Training |

New functionality – ‘Negative Cash Receipts’ – great addition, however…

Thursday, September 8th, 2011

I was so excited to hear about the new functionality in GP regarding negative cash receipts!  Over the years we have dealt with scenarios whereas the ability to enter a negative cash receipt would make things so much easier.  One scenario I’ve outlined below:

 

A not-for-profit agency offering services to clients gets paid by a funder.  The funder sends remittances for several clients in one check.  The check includes payments and adjustments.  The adjustments have always been difficult to deal with as they reduce the amount of cash received.  So if you had 3 claims for 3 different clients/customers:

 

Customer A    $100

Customer B    $200

Customer C      $75

 

Invoices are created and posted in GP.  You receive a check that includes full payment for Customer A & B, but an adjustment for Customer C for -$75.00.  The net check is now $225 – not enough to clear the balances for Customers A & B without overstating cash.  A credit memo then needs to be created to cover the shortage, which doesn’t properly reflect the series of events, but does get the balances correct.

 

With negative cash receipts I had anticipated that for this scenario you would enter the check as follows:

 

Customer A    $100 receipt

Customer B    $200 receipt

Customer C    -$75 receipt

 

While you CAN enter the payments this way, the application is somewhat restricted.  Even though your payment for Customer C is a negative, it still can only be applied as if it is a cash receipt.

 

 

If you try to apply the -$75 to the open invoice for Customer C you receive the error message ‘You may not overapply the document’.  If you create a credit memo to clear the debit balance created by the negative cash receipt, the customer balance is correct, but you cannot apply the two documents.

 

I had also thought that you might be able to use this functionality for NSF checks.  However, the fully applied invoice will not appear in the ‘apply’ window when entering the negative cash receipt.  As a workaround I attempted to unapply the initial cash receipt, then apply the adjustment, but was back where I started with the error of overapplying.

 

The scenario where you CAN use negative cash receipts is when an invoice has a partial payment applied.  So if Customer A had an invoice for $100, and a payment of $50 was received and an adjustment of $50 was received you could apply as follows:

 

Invoice           $100             Invoice balance        $100

Receipt           $50            Invoice balance          $50

Adjustment    -$50            Invoice balance        $100

 

Net balance of invoice is now $100.  The negative cash receipt increases the debit amount of the initial invoice.

 

Although Microsoft is headed in the right direction with negative cash receipts they still have some work to do.  It is a brand new type of document in GP 2010.  I have made a product suggestion requesting more flexibility in the application process. 

 

If this functionality matters to you and your business process I would advise you do the same. The development team at Microsoft reviews these suggestions.  If they get a big response they will take action – but they need to hear from YOU!

 

Click here to make your suggestion today.

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Posted in Business Process Knowledge, Dynamics GP, Specific GP Modules, Tips 'n Tricks |

SQL Server Power Pivot for Excel

Tuesday, August 30th, 2011

Power Pivot is an add-in to Microsoft Excel 2010 and is intended as a self-service Business Intelligence tool that allows power users to create their own models from just about any data source including Microsoft Dynamics GP.  Best of all, this add-in is free of charge and can be downloaded here.  Once installed, you will have a ribbon tab in Excel called ‘Power Pivot’

PivotTable Ribbon

To add data, simply click on the ‘PowerPivot Window’ button.  You can then import data from many different sources including SQL Server, RSS and flat text file among others.  Once you have the data imported that you want to use, simply click on the ‘PivotTable’ button and choose how you would like to view the data

PivotTable

You can then slice and dice the data any way that you like.  Here we display 2 charts, 1 for sales by salesperson and the other for sales by customer from GP.  This literally took 3 minutes to create.

 

PivotTable Charts

A few of the amazing things that PowerPivot allows you to do are:

1.       PowerPivot is not limited to 1 million rows as Excel is.  There is actually no limit on the amount of rows.  PowerPivot is able to work with very large sets of data because it stores the data in memory

2.       PowerPivot allows you to define relationships.  In Excel, if you need to join data from two separate sheets it requires you to use the VLOOKUP function.  PowerPivot uses relationships on columns and most of the time automatically recognizes such relationships

3.       DAX Function language – Not only are the 80 Excel functions included in this language, but over 60 new functions are defined, including a function that accommodates fiscal years.

4.       Easily create Pivot Tables and Charts using the PowerPivot field list.

 

PowerPivot is a powerful tool for the Excel Data Analyst taking pressure off the IT department to create reports.

 

 

 

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Posted in Dynamics GP, FRx / Reporting, Technology, Tips 'n Tricks |

Saving Keystrokes in GP

Monday, August 22nd, 2011

Would you like to save keystrokes?  Mouse less?  Here are a couple of shortcuts you can use in Dynamics GP.  Some of them you may remember from one of my earlier blog posts.

 

Sales Order Processing Quick Print

When printing an invoice in Sales Order Processing, the typical key strokes are:

 

1)    Click printer icon

2)    Select which documents to include

3)    Click Print

4)    Select printer or screen

5)    Select number of copies

6)    Click ‘OK’

 

With Quick Print the key strokes are:

1)    Click ‘CNTRL’ and ‘Q’ buttons on your keyboard simultaneously and watch the clicks happen automatically!

 

How to setup Quick Print:

·         Open the Sales Transaction Entry window – Transactions>Sales>Sales Transaction Entry

·         Click on ‘Options’ from menu

·         Select ‘Quick Print Setup’

·         Mark options as applicable

·         Click ‘Save’

 

Quick Links

Quick Links are found on your home page in GP.  A quick link allows a user to access a window/web site/external program with one click rather than using the drop down menus.

 

How to setup a GP Window Quick Link:

·         Go to Home Page

·         Click on ‘Change Details’ in the Quick Links area

·         Click on ‘Add’ button

·         Select ‘Microsoft Dynamics GP Window’

·         Navigate through Menu group and Categories/commands to select the Quick Link destination

·         Click ‘Ok’

·         Click ‘OK’

·         Refresh Home page to see new Quick Link in your Quick Links list

 

Shortcuts

Shortcuts are similar to Quick Links, but they reside in the Navigation Pane in GP.  The functionality is the same as a Quick Link.  Once click on the shortcut and you arrive at your desired location!

 

How to setup a Shortcut

·         Click on ‘File’ in the window you would like to create a short cut for

·         Select ‘Add to Shortcuts’

·         Short cut will now show in your Navigation Pane

 

To remove a short cut simply right click on the shortcut and select ‘delete’ from the list.

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Posted in Best Practices, Dynamics GP, Tips 'n Tricks |

GP 2010 R2: Email and Word Templates

Monday, August 8th, 2011

We still love the Word Templates in GP 2010. The main issue, however, was that not all reports were available as a template.  Users spoke, and the developers listened!  With GP 2010 R2, a new tool called the MS Word Template Generator is available.  Any report available in Report Writer can now be processed through the Word Template Generator.  Here are the basic steps:

1) Report Writer generates a data file (an XML file)

2) The Word Template Generator creates a template based on the data file

3) The template is imported into GP and can be edited as necessary (there’s an add-in for WORD that allows you to view and select GP fields).

4) When you print the report, choose Template instead of Standard

 

A few of the benefits of Word Templates:

1) Users are able to re-format templates in a familiar environment (Word)

2) Templates can be assigned to specific customers

3) No more multiple reports dictionaries for multiple companies!  Reports can be assigned to specific companies.

 

GP2010 R2 has new email capabilities, as well.  Any report window that has a Print button now also has an Email button. Users can generate a custom message, add data fields from the transaction window, and send!  The report is static, in an HTM format, and can be viewed using a web browser by GP users and non-users.

Thinking about moving ahead to GP2010 R2?   Gilchrist Scott is offering discounted rates for upgrades scheduled in August. Contact us soon to talk about upgrading. (207) 761-2133.

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Posted in Dynamics GP, Microsoft, Specific GP Modules, Tips 'n Tricks |

Recurring Payables Batches

Tuesday, July 19th, 2011

Have you discovered this time-saving trick -  Recurring Payables Batches?  If you enter any transactions that recur on a predictable schedule, with the same amount, payees, and terms (think: Rent, Parking, Insurance), then this will be your new favorite time-saver. 

a.       Go to TransactionsàPurchasingàBatches.  Enter a Batch ID that suits the recurring transactions, something like MONTHLY.

b.      Select Payables Trx Entry as the Origin

c.       The Frequency field determines how often this batch will be posted.  For a  recurring batch, select one of these options:

                                                               i.      Biweekly (once every two weeks)

                                                             ii.      Semimonthly (twice a month)

                                                            iii.      Monthly

                                                           iv.      Bimonthly (once every two months)

                                                             v.      Quarterly (once every three months)

                                                           vi.      Miscellaneous (Use the Days to Increment field to specify frequency)

d.      Enter the posting date that corresponds with the next time you will need to record these transactions. 

e.      Select the correct Checkbook ID.

f.        Enter Alt-R or click on the Transactions button.

g.       Any transactions you enter and save in this batch will be saved in the WORK table until posted, when they will be moved to OPEN until paid.  There will now be transactions dated for the next recurrence in the WORK table.  You can go back into the Payables Batch Entry window, open up your MONTHLY batch, and the transactions will be there with the appropriately incremented posting date. 

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Posted in Best Practices, Dynamics GP, Specific GP Modules, Tips 'n Tricks |

Streamline User security with Dynamics GP 2010 Security Enhancements

Tuesday, July 5th, 2011

If you’re familiar with security roles and tasks in GP 10 you’ll be very pleased with the enhancements to security in the GP 2010 release.  Security roles were definitely a big step in the right direction, but there were areas that needed some fine tuning.  We are extremely pleased with the recent changes!

Display security roles and tasks

In the previous version , when viewing a user’s security, security roles, tasks and items, ALL items were displayed regardless of whether access was granted or not.  Now you can display only the security roles, tasks and items to which access has been granted.  See before and after screen shots below:

Before – the ‘Display Selected Tasks’ box was not available thus making the task of viewing access a bit tedious by scrolling through ALL tasks to determine what is marked/unmarked.

1-security-role-setup1

Security Role Setup

 

After – by marking the ‘Display Selected Tasks’ it reduces the list to only those items marked in the list:

 2-security-role-setup1 

Copy user security settings

You can now copy security from one user to another for company access, security roles and tasks!  This has made the process much more efficient!  No more opening multiple windows to setup a new user, now setup is complete in the user setup window. 

In version GP 10 setup of a user involved the following steps/windows:

1)      Setup user (User Setup)

2)      Grant company access (User Access)

3)      Assign security role(s) by company (User Security)

Now all three steps are combined  in one window using the copy functionality:

Simply click on the ‘Copy Access’ button in User Setup,

 3-user-setup

 Then select the user ID you would like to copy settings from using the looking glass.

 

4-copy-user-security 

This functionality is also useful when an employee is changing positions within the company.   Go to the User Setup window, click ‘Copy Access’ and select an employee in the new position to copy settings from.

If you would like more info why not check out the ‘What’s New’ document found on the Customersource website, or if you are already using Dynamics GP 2010 go to Help>What’s New in the application.

 

 

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Posted in Dynamics GP, Specific GP Modules, Tips 'n Tricks |

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