Let’s reminisce a little bit. Take yourself back in time to when you implemented Microsoft Dynamics® GP (or learned it for the first time). Visualize the hefty training manuals. Visualize the conference room with Microsoft Dynamics® GP (“Dynamics GP”) displayed on the projector. Visualize the stack of work piling up on your desk while you’re in training all day…those were the days, huh?
Remember how much information you were trying to absorb at one time? Remember how you couldn’t possibly remember everything you learned while you were trying to do your day job, too? You couldn’t possibly have learned everything there is to know about Dynamics GP in one shot. Inevitably, there were some things during implementation where you said “Yeah, that looks good but I’ll use it later”. Learning and I daresay implementing is or at least should be an ongoing endeavor. Here are a few things you might have forgotten about:
1. Business Alerts – Poor man’s workflow
Business alerts are notifications when a particular event has occurred in Dynamics GP. An example of a business alert might be notifying the controller when a particular customer’s balance has exceeded a designated amount. Another example might be notifying the accounting manager when a check run has been processed so she can make sure the positive pay file was sent to the bank. You can provide a notification through Dynamics GP or through e-mail. There’s a little configuration in SQL server to get the e-mail function to work but it’s not that tough. Setting up the alerts is wizard-based and usually pretty easy as long as you start with pretty basic alerts.
Navigate to Administration>>Setup>>System>>Business Alerts.
2. Posting reports – Who needs ‘em?
See if this sounds familiar. You post a batch of payables checks. A bunch of print dialog boxes pop up, you print the reports and stick them in a binder to be retained for three years (company policy). Ask yourself if anyone ever looks at these reports…ever? All posting reports can be reprinted from Dynamics GP on demand, so there’s usually not a great reason to keep these reports around in paper form. There’s often not a very compelling reason to even print them in the first place. Good news, you can switch these reports to print to screen or even not print at all!
Navigate to Administration>>Setup>>Posting>>Posting.
3. Reconcile to GL – For unruly subledgers
If this one was in a cookbook, it would be labeled a “one-pan-wonder”. Starting in Dynamics GP 10.0, there’s a feature available that allows you to compare subledger transactions (AP or AR) to the general ledger to find out where you’re out of balance. It’s in Excel format and super easy to use – who couldn’t love that!
Navigate to Financial>>Routines>>Reconcile to GL
4. Paid Transaction Removal – Sounds bad, works great
Ok, I know anything with the words “transaction” and “removal” sounds like a bad thing, but just roll with me for a minute. Open up an inquiry screen for Transaction by Customer in AR and pull up one of your normal customers. See the boxes for Work, Open, and History? Go ahead and uncheck the boxes for Work and Open. Is there anything left? Take a scroll through the transactions that are left, if any. If there’s nothing there or everything in the window is a few years old, that means you’re not removing paid transactions or not removing them on a regular basis. When a customer pays an invoice, it doesn’t automatically move to history, but sits in open. The Remove Paid Transactions routine moves fully paid (or applied in the case of credit memos) to history. It makes the inquiry screens easier to use because you can see the unpaid transactions more easily – definitely a best practice.
Navigate to Sales>>Routines>>Paid Transaction Removal
Best wishes in your ongoing “implementation” endeavors and until next time, keep getting Dynamic!
Jessie