Rose Business Solutions Dynamics GP

Project Accounting Overview Videos

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Chapman) — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 20:54:00 +0000

I just recorded some overview videos for Project Accounting to provide an introduction to some of the scope and functionality of the system. I covered these topics:

Project Accounting – T&M - This video shows how to use Project Accounting in Dynamics GP to set up a simple T&M project, enter timesheet information, and create invoices using a batch process.

Project Accounting – Fixed Fee - This video shows how to use Project Accounting in Dynamics GP to set up a simple Fixed Fee project, enter timesheet information, recognize revenue, and create invoices using a batch process.

Project Timesheet Entry in Business Portal - This video shows how to easily enter project timesheet information into Business Portal, use an approval process, and post directly to the Project Accounting module in Dynamics GP.

These are quick little demos that cover a lot of material.

Creating SmartLists using SmartList Builder and SQL Views

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Chapman) — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 21:33:00 +0000

There are a number of GP bloggers that often include SQL Query Language as part of their posts. This is a rich source of specific problem solvers.

SmartList Builder allows you to easily take advantage of these resources to provide data inquiry and reports.

These are the steps to use once you’ve found a SQL Query that would be useful:

Create the new SQL View using the SQL Query
Grant access to the new view
Create the SmartList using the SQL View

I created this video to show you a simple example of how to do it.

Victoria Yudin is one GP Blogger that regularly includes SQL Queries in her posts. Check it out.

This is the specific post I referenced in the video.

Microsoft Dynamics GP upgrade thoughts

noreply@blogger.com (Doug Pitcher) — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 18:02:00 +0000

I hear more and more buzz being thrown around about Dynamics GP 2010 all the time. I myself have installed, tested, created youtube video's, participated in webinars, etc. so I guess I've just added to the general hysteria.

I was just trying to think back over the past several releases of Great Plains and remember if there was similar hype. I remember going to convergence during one of the major release announcements (could have been 7 or 7.5) and hearing MBS announce a great new version that is now available. Excited and surprised a bit, having to spend the whole convergence trying to find out about all the cool new features etc. I'm sure there will be those type of breakout sessions this time around in Atlanta but if you keep up with any of the Dynamics blogs, communities, and resources there is far less need to wonder what is being release.

I'm sure some of this is because of the following:

Downloading a GB or so of data is way more feasible now than in 2005
MBS used to send out CD's when the software was released. That was often the first time partners and customers actually got to play with the new version
Bloggers, MVP's, MBS employee's etc. are able to disseminate great information to the Dynamics community where in the past the monthly email newsletter from your partner was about all the resources available
Youtube demo's galore on Dynamics GP
Webinars from MBS and your local partners regarding what's coming out new
Beta testers used to be the risky early adopters. Now they seem a dime a dozen. ha.

So does all of the above make upgrading less of an unknown? Sure.

Does that mean you should run out and upgrade as soon as the RTM release is finalized? NO WAY.

I recommend waiting at least one full service pack before even considering upgrading. I’m sure there are lots of differing opinions on this subject but to me it’s just not worth the pain and agony that occur with the first version no service pack release of any software.

Should 8.0 and before clients upgrade to 10.0 at this point?

So if you are on an older version of GP (8.0 and before) should you be waiting until Aug/Sept timeframe for the first SP of Dynamics 2010 to be released? (that’s 5 or 6 more months) I guess it depends if you are OK with the risk of running without MBS support for that long. (Obviously if you are still on 8.0 or before this isn’t that big of an issue for you.)

My general thoughts are at this point, wait for the first SP of Dynamics 2010. You can skip some further pain that’s caused by unexpected bugs in waiting for the first SP and you can still have a good 4 or 5 years of use from the system. This is assuming you will use 2010 until very last legs of the product mid way through 2015. But you really should be upgrading at some point as I suggest in my To upgrade or not to upgrade post.

Technorati Tags: Upgrade

Integration Manager and ODBC

noreply@blogger.com (The .Net Ninja) — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 22:09:00 +0000

Integration Manager (IM) is a common choice for integrating data into Microsoft Dynamics GP. IM has several hooks into the Great Plains modules include the Financial, Payables, Receivables, Sales Order Processing, Payoll, Inventory, Project Accounting (via eConnect), Fixed Assets (via eConnect), and can even be used to update exchange rates. The tool allows users to define named integrations, source locations, source relationships, and target field mappings.

Integration Manager's general functionality is to take mapped data and validate it using Great Plains business logic. If the validation succeeds, IM creates the Great Plains records and uses system automation logic to perform subsequent calculations (like the sales tax engine or auto creation of general ledger distributions).

Integration Manager expects that the user be involved, and actually requires the push of a "Run" button to initiate the integration. There are no scheduling or service components to Integration Manager. IM is a great tool for small business integration, and is perfect when user involvement and manual data manipulation is acceptable.

Since the "IM Process" is manually driven, how can we make it easier for the user? Well, I believe one place to look is in the management of source locations. Most IM integrations are set up using the standard delimited text source (CSV, Pipe Delimited, etc..). Setting up integrations like this can be inconvenient for multi-record transactions, like Sales Order Processing (SOP Header, SOP Line). Each record type would have to be defined as a separate file in the integration, and saved as text delimited. This process can become quite combersome, especially when dealing with Excel to text conversion rules (try saving an Excel field as CSV with leading zeros in the field data...). Add on top of that fact that these integrations are regularly re-occurring, and this process can quickly become stale.

To get around some of these problems, we can use ODBC. IM provides two types of ODBC connection; I prefer to use the Advanced OBDC version. Let's walk trough an excercise.

Create an Excel file with two tabs - one for SOP Header and one for SOP Line information. Make sure the lines can at least be related to the header via document number. Save your Excel file to a network location. Name the tabs "Header" and "Line".

Go to Control Panel->Administrative Tools->Data Sources (ODBC). Create an Excel ODBC data source (System DSN) that connects to the file location - name it "IM Test". You will need to click "Select Workbook" and then browse to the network location and point the Data Source to the Excel File saved in step 1.
Start integration manager. Create a new integration called "Single File Test".

Add a source to the integration. When prompted for the Source Type, select "Advanced ODBC". Click on the "Define New Advanced ODBC" node. This will open the source query dialog.
Name your source query "SOPHDR". In the data source drop down, select "IM Test". This is the ODBC connection we set up in step 2. Paste the following statement into the SQL Statement box: SELECT * FROM [Header$]

Click "Apply". Check out the columns tab - notice that IM was able to read the columns from the Header worksheet.

Repeats steps 4-6 for the Line tab in the Excel worksheet. Note that the SQL Statement will change to: SELECT * FROM [Line$]

Now, configure your integration as you normally would by adding an SOP destination, query relationships between SOPHDR and SOPLINE, and destination mapping.

Run the integration - we now are able to run an IM integration with multiple sources, all from the same Excel file.

Why is this useful? Well, a good Excel person could create a template or macro to manipulate the original source data into the correct integration format. They could save this template/macro somewhere to be re-used. Each time the integration needs to be run, the Excel template is opened, the source data is feed to it (copy and paste anyone?), and the manipulation is done via template/macro. We have not quite hit the value point: now just save the loaded template file to the ODBC network location...run the integration - all done! There is no more saving of multiple files to multiple locations with specific names. We have configured all that in our template (including tab names). Just one file, copied to one location.

I should not stop there; however, the text delimited IM approach we are used to using is actually just circumventing the Windows operating system ODBC setup. IM is actually using ODBC in all configurations. You could mimic the text delimited setup by using the operating system Data Sources/ODBC connection and IM Advanced ODBC setup.

We can make one more conclusion from this reasoning - you can use ANY ODBC connection for IM, including direct connections to SQL Server, Oracle, and Microsoft Access! Here is a sample of some of the ODBC connections provided by windows:

"All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: They have their exits and their entrances" - As You Like It by William Shakespeare

SmartList Builder

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Chapman) — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 19:15:00 +0000

There are many ways to use SmartList Builder and many reasons why you should check it out. SmartList Builder allows you to create your own SmartLists and to enhance existing SmartList views.

You can easily create a new SmartList to compliment the ones that are provided with GP. And they are very easy to build.

Here’s an example of a simple SmartList I built to look at the MRP results from Manufacturing:

Here’s a simple example of a SmartList with two tables.

Dynamics GP 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Chapman) — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 21:51:00 +0000

We held our GP 2010 webinar yesterday. The participation level was about what we expected.

We covered a few different areas:

Demo new GP functionality:

Word Forms
Home Page Metrics Creation & Customization
Report Drill-back to GP from SSRS and Excel
“The new way to do business” demo
“Management Reporter” demo

Pricing and Licensing:

Changes in DCO
Opportunities for Business Portal Users

CustomerSource

The materials from the event are available here:

http://rbsdynamicsgp2010.wordpress.com/sneak-peek-event/

Check it out when you get a chance.

GP 2010 – Adding Extender Data to the GP Home Page

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Chapman) — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 21:41:00 +0000

Extender has always been a handy tool for collecting additional data in GP. The reporting options are improving.

With the release of GP 2010, it will be easy for you to add data collected from an Extender Form, to the GP Home Page.

The process is really pretty easy:

Create the Extender Form
Create an Extender View
Use the Report Builder in SQL Reporting Services to create a chart
Customize the Home Page to include the new chart

O.K. There’s a lot there. But look at this video that steps you through a simple example.

This is another compelling reason to upgrade to Dynamics GP 2010.

Is There a GP BOM Import Tool?

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Johnston) — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 07:01:00 +0000

When doing a Great Plains manufacturing implementation, I'm often asked to import manufacturing bills of material from another system. Clients are sometimes very surprised to hear that GP does not have a built in BOM import tool. We do BOM imports using SQL inserts from Excel spreadsheets for clients during an implementation so some clients think that they should have a tool to import BOMs too.

I think there is a need for such a tool and we could develop one but there are some big issues for both the implementation team and the client. Let me try to explain.

There are 3 GP tables that hold BOM related data.

BOM Header table
BOM Detail table
Reference designator table

The data in each of these tables has to be formatted and organized correctly. If not formatted and organized correctly, the import may not work or bad data may be imported. This leaves quite the liability for the implementation team and if users are not getting the results they expect, they do not have a useful tool.

The BOM Header table is fairly straight forward as the import would have to list only the finished good or subassemly items. Just think of the upper left quadrant of the GP Bill of Material Entry window.

The BOM Detail table is much more complex. Think of the right half of the Bill of Material Entry window. In order to get all the data imported correctly the source document would have to list each finished good and it's components (including subassemblies) and each subassembly and it's components. Each of these rows would have to include the correct position number and relationship to the appropriate subassembly and final assembly. This takes a long time to do. Try taking an indented BOM from another system, export it to Excel, and then put all the rows in the proper sequence and keep all the columns straight. It takes time to do this.

The formatting issue is worse for the reference designators. Most systems will export the reference desigators in one long string. GP requires that the string be broken into 21 character segments (including spaces and punctuation). I have had to format these strings into as many as 10, 21 character segments (a column for each one in Excel) and it takes a lot of time.

Users also have to know what the field values mean in these tables. For example what is a BOM Type = 1? What is a BOM Category of 2? SQL requires the use of numerics to identify these rather than 'Phantom or Regular as you see on the front end. Did you also know that these two fields are flipped in the SQL tables? What the GP Bill of Material Entry window calls BOM Category is BOM Type in SQL.

Users also have to know the field formats that SQL uses and the field lengths. If you exceed the field length in your data source, you will not get the desired results in the front end.

In order to have an effective tool, you should validate the import with the Great Plains business logic. Do all the items exist in the Item Master, are the items setup in Item Engineering Data, are all the sites and work centers setup, does the BOM already exist, etc., etc., etc. The fact that Microsoft has not exposed a BOM API via eConnect would require complete reverse engineering or specialist Dexterity knowledge (to invoke manufacturing calls in the correct order). Business logic would also need to include handling of BOM revisions and revision levels.

So what am I trying to say here? It is my belief that using SQL imports for BOMs does not save users any time, really. By the time you get done with all the formatting, import verification, error correction, user acceptance and sign-off, you could have created these BOMs using the GP Bill of Material Entry functionality. Many BOMs are similar to each other in many organizations and the BOM Copy functionality saves users time and reduces errors.

It is fairly easy to create a SQL BOM import to get the data into GP manufacturing once you understand the table structure and have a basic understanding of SQL statements. The real issue is getting the data in the correct format for the import and then validating the data once it is in.

With the many BOM export formats being used today (single level, multilevel, CSV, XML, etc.) it is time consuming and costly to write interfaces for each. Custom adapters or complex mapping tools may be needed to handle these various formats. So it becomes a costly issue for the client or the partner.

With that said, there are some pretty nice tools available to import items and BOMs from CAD software such as Solid Works and Autocad. If clients are using these tools, we generally recommend they buy one of the integration tools that are available to export items and BOMS from the CAD software and import it to the GP item master and BOM tables. These integration tools act as a middleman and take the data from one system and format for GP.

I know that creating BOMs is no fun, but Great Plains functionality does a pretty good job entering BOMs and using business logic to validate the entry of BOM data. There just really are no shortcuts if you want accurate BOMs and manufacturing functionality. Manufacturing is complex because of all the inter-relationships involved. Everything (BOMs, routers, work centers, MO's, picklists et. al.) works together and if business logic is not followed, it most likely will not and you will end up with a bad result. So take your time and do it right the first time.

GP 2010 – Drill-through to GP Screens from Reports

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Chapman) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 15:01:00 +0000

GP 2010 includes 23 drill-through connections to GP screens that can be imbedded in reports. This is a further extension of GP data to other reporting tools that you can use in your organization.

The drill-through connections key on specific fields (e.g. Customer Number) that open specific GP screens (e.g. Customer Maintenance).

Also delivered with GP 2010 will be a Drilldown Builder that will allow you to create your own drilldown functionality. This will be licensed as part of SmartList Builder, which already includes Excel Report Builder.

I created this short video that demonstrates how to add a drill-through to an existing report.

This is another compelling reason to upgrade to Dynamics GP 2010.

For more information about GP 2010, check out this site and attend our Sneak Peek event.

Why Are My Cycle Count Dates Wrong?

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Johnston) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 15:00:00 +0000

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you spent hours and hours setting up your cycle counts, religiously recording your counts and then find that all the 'Next Count Dates' are wrong? Or maybe you ran a SmartList and saw that all your 'A' parts have the same 'Next Count Date'?

Most users of Great Plains inventory only setup cycle counts once a year, or if you are really good at it, once every few years. So, when the 'Next Count Dates' are wrong you find yourself scratching your head for two reasons.

The first is 'How did this happen'? The second would then be 'How do I fix it'? The answer to the first is not always easy to figure out, but here are some reasons that the 'Next Count Dates' get out of whack so to speak.

Full Physical Inventory - When an item has been setup to be cycle counted, most users will spread the 'Next Count Date' for the item(s) evenly over the count cycle. For example, say you have 90 items that you want to count every 90 days. GP allows users to count one of the items every day for 90 days so that after 90 days all of the items have been counted. When the item is counted, the 'Next Count Date' is calculated to be 90 day from the date it was last counted. So when a full physical inventory count is done, all items now have the same last counted date so all 90 day items will have the same 'Next Count Date'. 90 days from the full physical inventory count date.
Items were counted 'Out of Cycle'. For instance, if you have a site that has items spread out over time to be counted and your company for some reason decides to count everything at that site on the same date, the 'Next Count Dates' will all be the same depending on the cycle count assignment interval assigned to it.

These are the two most common situations I have found. The fortunate part is the 'Next Count Dates' are easy to reset so that items are again spread out over time. Open the Stock Cycle Count Assignment window in Inventory Cards.

I find that the easiest way is to assign an ABC code to every item if you haven't already done so. To assign ABC codes use the Item ABC Analysis wizard in Inventory Routines.

When in the Stock Count Cycle Assignment window, users are asked to enter the Stock Count Interval Days (How often you want to count the items in this group). Enter a Date and Time to Start Counting. This date will be the first date GP will use to assign the items and spread the 'Next Count Date' for each item in the group. If you set the interval to 90 days and have 90 parts in the group, the first item will have a 'Next Count Date' of 4/12/2017 (as in the example) and the next item 'Next Count Date' will be 4/13/2017 and so on until all items are assigned a new 'Next Count Date'. Keep in mind that inventory calendar down days are skipped, in other words an item will not have a 'Next Count Date' that is an inventory calendar down day.

Select the Stock Count Range (range of items to assign to this interval and start date) and insert into the box. In this example, I have chosen to count all my A items once every 90 days starting on 4/12/2017. If you click on the Details button you will see a list of the items selected and their current 'Next Count Date'. Click Process and you have just reset all your 'Next Count Dates'.

Not that hard was it. Happy counting.

GP 2010 - User Defined KPI's and Graphs on the Home Page Using SQL Server Reporting Services

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Chapman) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 18:43:00 +0000

GP 2010 includes the functionality to allow users to design their own Home Page by creating their own reports in SQL Server Reporting Services, and displaying those reports to the GP Home Page.

To try this out you can create a simple report using Report Builder in SQL Server Reporting Services. Once the report is created it’s easy to add to the GP 2010 Home Page.

I created this short video that demonstrates the whole process.

This is another compelling reason to upgrade to Dynamics GP 2010.

For more information about GP 2010, check out this site and attend our Sneak Peek event.

Using Routings to Calculate Mfg Lead Times

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Johnston) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 15:37:00 +0000

In a previous post, we discussed how to enter manufacturing lead times in Item Resource Planning manually. Great Plains Manufacturing will calculate the manufacturing lead times for you from the routings you create to manufacture your items. GP Mfg provides a utility that will calculate the manufacturing lead times based on entries you make in your routings.

As we discussed earlier, there are two types of manufacturing lead times, Mfg Fixed Lead Time and Mfg Variable Lead Time. The entries made in Routing Sequence Entry dictate how these lead times are calculated. The Mfg Fixed Lead Time in Item Resource Planning is determined by the entries made in the Setup Time and the Queue Time on the right hand side of the Routing Sequence Entry window. The Mfg Variable Lead Time in Item Resource Planning is determined by the entry made in the Move Time and the Cycle Time in the Routing Sequence Entry window (see the example below).

The entries made in Routing Sequence Entry are made in hours or fractions of hours. Don't get confused with the entries made in Item Resource Planning that are made in hours. When you run the Calculate Mfg Lead Times utility, it will convert the hours entered in Routing Sequence Entry to days and display them in Item Resource Planning.

Repeat entering times for each sequence in your routing and the Calculate Mfg Lead Times utility will include entries made in all of your sequences.

Once you have made your entries in Routing Sequence Entry, you will need to run the Calculate Manufacturing Lead Times utility to convert the hours to days and display them in Item Resource Planning. You can run the utility for all items in your item master or just for one item. Click Calculate All for run for all items. To run for one item, enter the item number and click Calculate One.

After running the utility, go to Item Resource Planning. You will see that the Default Values have not been updated, but the sites assigned to the item now reflect the new values calculated by the utility. Also, be aware that running the utility will overwrite and values manually entered in the Item Resource Planning item-site combinations.

You will be able to see all the lead times for an item by doing an inquiry in manufacturing under routings as in the example below.

I would suggest trying this for one item at a time until you get familiar with how Great Plains calculates lead times and you get the results you are expecting.

GP 2010 Word Forms

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Chapman) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 22:18:00 +0000

The new Word Forms functionality in Dynamics GP 2010 is going to really be popular. It allows you to modify the format of sales orders, quotes, invoices, and purchase orders in Microsoft Word.

The two things that I really like about it are:

You can insert complicated graphics into your forms and they will look good. That is just not possible with Report Writer.
You can have as many different form templates as you wish so that you can assign a specific template to a specific customer or groups of customers.

I created a short video to demonstrate some of this new functionality.

Here’s an image of an invoice:

For more information on GP 2010 attend our Sneak Peek event on March 25.

Unsure About How Dates Are Calculated for MRP Planned Orders?

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Johnston) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 23:37:00 +0000

I find that many Great Plains manufacturing users do not use MRP effectively, or at all, because the release and due dates never seem to make sense. I realize that managing dates and then trusting the release and due dates from an MRP run can be a daunting task. That should not be a good excuse for not using a very powerful and effective tool.

Many users just use the default dates when creating documents that affect inventory and the manufacturing process because it is “too much work” to enter and manage the dates in Purchase Order Processing, Sales Order Processing and Manufacturing. I would argue that it costs users more in time and costs to not manage the dates up front and throughout the purchasing, sales and manufacturing.

How many times have you, as a user, had to track down a shortage, reallocate items to more urgent orders and correct errors? It is my belief as a former Controller and a current GP implementation consultant, that it cost you and your organization much more on the back end to deal with incorrect release and due dates than it does to enter and maintain meaningful dates in GP manufacturing. In fact, I feel so strongly about it, that I believe the savings would more than pay for an additional head or heads that may be required in your organization to maintain accurate dates.

When dates are used and managed effectively, issues that affect manufacturing and eventually shipping are identified quickly during an MRP run and MRP will even make suggestions on how to deal with the issues. MRP will include suggestions on moving orders in or out and cancelling orders that are oversupplied. Why should you study inventory levels via GP inquiries, reports and SmartLists when MRP will do it for you? Seems like a great time saver to me.

So where does MRP get the data to suggest release and due dates?

The due date is the date an order is due in house to meet the demand that created it. Due dates come from many sources including MO’s, MRP suggested MO’s, Sales Documents, Sales Forecasts, etc. The release dates suggested by MRP start with the due date of the document or MRP suggestion the item fulfills and works backwards, based on lead times and calendar down days.

MRP-Planned Manufacturing Orders

Let’s look at MRP-Planned manufacturing orders first. MRP looks at the lead times in the Item Resource Planning windows. The lead times can be entered here manually or generated from routers using the Calculate Mfg Lead Times utility. MRP will look to the item-site combination in Item Resource Planning. Since MRP suggests manufacturing orders for make item only, enter the lead times in days or fractions of days in either the Mfg Fixed Lead Time field or the Mfg Variable Lead Time field or both. MRP uses these fields differently as you might suspect.

Mfg Fixed Lead Time – does just that, adds a fixed number of days to the MO when calculating the release date. The formula is Due Date – Mfg Fixed Lead Time. For example, if your forecast shows a suggested MO with a due date of 8/1/2010, the release date would be 5 days earlier or 7/27/2010 as long as 7/27/2010 is not a down day on your work center calendar.
Mfg Variable Lead Time – is variable based on the quantity suggested. The formula is Mfg Variable Lead Time * quantity, rounded up to the next whole day. For example, if I have a Mfg Variable Lead Time = .01 and a quantity of 500, my lead time is 5 days.
Total Manufacturing Lead Time for a make item is Mfg Fixed Lead Time + Mfg Variable Lead Time, rounded up to the next whole day. Mfg Fixed Lead Time & Mfg Variable Lead Time in Item Resource Planning.

MRP-Planned Purchase Orders
If the item does not have a default site set in Item Quantities Maintenance, MRP will use the Purchasing Lead Time from the Item-Site combination in Item Resource Planning.

If the item has a default site set in Item Quantities Maintenance, MRP has two choices to select from.

No Primary vendor selected for the default site – Purchasing Lead Time is from the specified default site in Item Resource Planning Maintenance window.
Primary vendor has been selected for the default site – Purchasing Lead Time is selected from the item and vendor in the Item Vendors Maintenance window (Planning Lead Time).

I hope that this takes some of the mystery out of the MRP release dates and due dates.

Dynamics GP 2010 is on the Way

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Chapman) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:23:00 +0000

The next major release of GP will be Dynamics GP 2010. Microsoft continues to design and deliver the product to be easier to use and to be a more effective business tool for getting things done and reporting results.

There are a number of functionality enhancements and richer connections with Microsoft Office and other Microsoft technologies.

We are presenting a sneak peek of the new version on March 24th. Check out the details here.

This is an easy way to review the new release, so I expect you to be on-line with us on the 24th, 11:00 am – 12:00 pm PDT.

Go straight to the Click to Attend site here.

There will be a short discussion of CustomerSource immediately following, at 12:00pm. Are you using CustomerSource?

Budget Import & Export

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Chapman) — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 00:09:00 +0000

Dynamics GP has a very easy to use import and export function that allows you to create budgets in Excel and update budgets in GP, based on amounts you have in Excel.

All this functionality is available from the Budget Selection screen. Navigate to: Cards >> Financial >> Budgets

I created this short video to show this functionality in action.

One very important caveat: Make sure that you validate the information in GP after importing or updating budget information from Excel. There is no error reporting on the import function if the import does not properly import the data.

I usually create a quick FRx report for this purpose. But you could also simply export the information from GP, to a new spreadsheet (make sure not to overwrite your original spreadsheet).

Simple Formula to Extract Specific Data from a List in Excel

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Chapman) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:48:00 +0000

I recently discovered the “SUMIFS” formula in Excel that I think you’ll like because it makes it easy to select specific data from a data list in Excel. Excel Reports for GP is a great way to extract data from GP and report on it. Because the resulting Excel spreadsheet includes a data connection to the GP database, you can format the spreadsheet and refresh the data as you wish.

Typically I have used the pivot chart, and graph functionality in Excel to create the reports I want. But the “SUMIFS” formula allows me to have more control over the reported results and format. This is how I generally use the formula:

Define range names for the data you want to report on. In Excel:

Select the column with the data you wish to name
Formulas >> Define Names

Enter the formula to select the data you want:

Select the range that includes the data you want (e.g. Extended_Price)
Select the range that includes the values you will select
Select the specific value that corresponds to the data you want to display

The result:

See the formula in the formula bar on top. In this case I used a relational reference to the criterion I used, B17.

Try it out. It will give you a lot of control over the data you can select and how it is formatted.

Integration - All About Attitude

noreply@blogger.com (The .Net Ninja) — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 16:55:00 +0000

The possibility of an integration is rarely due to the technology. Most people would agree, but qualify possibility with a budget. With that said, even with great technology, skilled professionals, and adequate budget, integrations can still fail.

I think the reasons boil down to attitude and behavior:

1) Building from the bottom up: Avoid diving directly into topics such as field mapping and data exchange mechanics. Initial conversations should include high level topics like division of labor, project goals, expectations and business processes. High level decisions will alter the low level details.

2) The integration will do all the work: Integrations make work life easier by altering roles and responsibilities - not by removing them. Instead of entering data, we are now monitoring it. People will always be involved.

3) Lack of functional understanding: I have walked into situations where a client has an integration, with little to no knowledge of what it is actually doing...talk about dangerous! Documentation is one method for keeping knowledge in house and maintained. Another method involves training and practice: software reliance can be reduced and understanding can be increased by having people perform the processes manually.

4) This is how we have always done things: Any implementation project should be viewed as an opportunity to better a process...not re-invent it. When it is time for the company to adapt and grow, the integration should be prepared. Conversely, integrations built out of tradition lead to rigid processes and logic. What happens when business changes? You may have to re-implement the integration.

5) Oversimplification: There are plenty of simple integrations in which we just map a few fields and move some data, but this is not always the case. As a colleague of mine likes to say, "The devil is in the details." The devil is not very forgiving.

6) Haste: In most scenarios, time is on our side. Remember to take the integration through a sound SDLC, complete with client QA. It is a lot more expensive to clean up an integration than to just wait for it to be correct.

7) Fancier is better: Adding complex decision logic and transfer mechanisms (real time versus manual, etc...) may not actually make an integration better. There are actually legimate reasons to simplify an integration. Those reasons may include maintainability, stability, and flexibility.

People dictate the success of a project, and we should believe that technology and knowledge are never the limitations. The only limitation is human ingenuity, which is something we can control through our attitude and behavior.

"Respond intelligently even to unintelligent treatment." - Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

Great Plains Integration Requirements

noreply@blogger.com (The .Net Ninja) — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:27:00 +0000

Welcome to my first Rose Business Solutions blog post. For my first series of postings, I thought I would cover a topic near and dear to every developer working with Great Plains: Integration.

Software is now an integral part to operating a business, and many companies are tracking information in multiple systems, each with its own purpose. Much of this information has a dollar amount associated to it, which means it should probably end up in the ERP system.

There are many tools to choose from when implementing an integration; each has its own set of strengths and weaknesses. Ultimately, the solution choice is made based on the project budget, but what are some of the other factors that impact our choice of tool, and ultimately solution?

The answer: Requirements.

Over the course of implementing several integrations, I have compiled a list of requirement topics that are evaluated whenever an integration project arises:

1) Logistics: How exactly will the information get from point A to point B?
2) Security: Who has access to the integration? How sensitive is the information being transferred?
3) Tool Availability: Does a tool exist to help perform the integration, or are we starting from scratch?
4) Division of Labor: What are we responsible for? What is the client responsible for? What are third parties responsible for?
5) Automation: User driven, scheduled (how often) or real time?
6) Integration Points: What types of transactions are we integrating?
7) Integration Process: Where does the process begin? What happens with the data in GP before feedback? When does the process end?
8) GP Module Complexity: Are we integrating to the GL? Simple...Or are we integrating to Project Accounting? Not as simple...
9) Integration Volume: How much data will be transferred?
10) Field Mapping and Translation Logic: How many fields are mapped between systems? How difficult is the system translation?

Whew...I better stop before this gets too wordy. There are probably other factors to consider when deciding on an integration tool, but I think this list of ten is a good start. In my next few articles, I plan on drilling in on some of the tools and discussion some of the common mistakes. Until then, take care!

"Though we have heard of stupid haste in war, cleverness has never been seen associated with long delays." - Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Account Rollup Inquiry

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Chapman) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 15:57:00 +0000

The Account Rollup Inquiry screen allows you to summarize information from several accounts, and display information of several types, including: Actual, Budget, Prior Years, Other Currency, and Calculated.

Here is the summary level inquiry:

Here is the first drill down on the actual number that shows the accounts included in the rollup summary:

I created a short video to show this functionality.

Cash Flow Forecast

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Chapman) — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 16:43:00 +0000

This is a screen in Dynamics GP that I suspect gets little use. But it really can be quite useful because it gives you a time sequenced view of your payables and receivables, and allows you to drill down to see the detail records.

This is the basic screen:

If you click one of the days, it will bring up the Cash Flow Explorer that will allow you to see the details:

The set up is very easy, and allows you to create several “profiles” so you can take different views of the information in your system.

I created a short video to show this functionality.

Requisition Management

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Chapman) — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 23:38:00 +0000

Requisition Management is an easy to deploy and easy to use system that allows you to automate parts of your purchase requisition process, and integrates directly to GP. Requisition Management is included in the Advanced Management version of GP. It does require the deployment of Business Portal.

The set up is fairly straight forward, requiring the following configurations:

Company defaults
Approval hierarchy and approval limits
Business Portal role assignment to users

I created a short video to walk through part of this process.

Requisition Management is also fairly easy to use and integrates directly with GP, creating PO’s for approved requisitions.

The process is essentially this:

Create a requisition, and submit for approval
Approve the requisition, and submit to purchaser
Final review and approval, and automatically create PO in GP

I created another short video to show this process in action.

There are generally two shortcomings I come across when determining a good fit for Requisition Management:

For any given requisition creator, there is only one available approval routing. The system cannot be configured to automatically route a requisition to different approval paths depending on what is being requested, e.g. a laptop computer request would not be routed differently than a trade show attendance request. This can be somewhat mitigated by allowing requisition creators to select who will approve their requests, but then this defeats a common control that organizations look for when considering a requisition system.
A requisition with multiple lines has to be approved, rejected, or deleted in total. There is no ability to manage these processes on an individual line basis.

But with that said, if an organization is wishing to replace a manual requisition process, Requisition Management is a good first step.

Combining budgets in Dynamics GP 11.0

noreply@blogger.com (Doug Pitcher) — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 22:12:00 +0000

Following the superb example of Steve Chapman I decided to discuss some new features of Dynamics GP 2010 by video.

Click here if you would like a demo of how to combine budgets in GP 2010 beta version.

Make sure you veiw the video by the highest quality 720p (HD).

I'm taking requests. Let me know if there is anything you'd like a demo on and I'd be happy to publish it on youtube.com.

My favorite blog entries

noreply@blogger.com (Doug Pitcher) — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:55:00 +0000

After posting my last blog which was an update of an older post on top technical support issues I cited that the article was a very popular blog but it wasn’t one of my favorites to write. After seeing Mariano’s Best blogs of 2009 I started thinking about my favorite blog entries over the past couple of years.

Below are a few of my favorites:

Steve Chapman’s admission to how old he is
New Roseling announcement with potential baby names
What kind of training is most beneficial? I’m not sure if I followed up on this one or not. I guess I’ll do a future post on this
How long…before applying new SP’s? Dedicated to Rebecca Bunas from our office who is an avid U2 fan
Should you back up your database before posting payroll? I love horror stories from the trenches and this was a fun one. Here is another great “You should back up” blog
To upgrade or not to upgrade – we were going to upgrade this client last month then they put it off for another month. Maybe by this time next year they will be ready for 10.0 and decide why not redo the whole upgrade plan for Dynamics 2010
VAR versus Partner – I wax philosophical
The Famous David Musgrave – True story
Dynamics as a second language – probably my favorite one to write

I’ll hopefully add to this list as time goes on.

Dynamics GP Top Technical Support issues

noreply@blogger.com (Doug Pitcher) — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:14:00 +0000

Writers comments: This is an updated version of a post I did back in February 2009. This has continually been one of the most popular articles on our humble blog since I wrote it. I wouldn’t consider it one of my favorite blogs but quite a few people seem to have found it useful.

****

I was asked what issues I deal with the most often. I'm sure there are many others but these are the first ones that come to mind along with the resolutions below.

Here's my Top support issues list in no particular order:

Batch stuck in posting, receiving, etc. status
Where do I find the table that holds a particular set of data?
My sub-module doesn’t tie to the GL
How do I set up a new fiscal year?
I can’t login to Dynamics – Unknown dictionary error
How do I import budgets?
Dynamics won’t let me post
I have a metrics error on my homepage
How do I move Dynamics to a new server?
After closing the GL I realized I have incorrectly listed a BS account as a P & L account, now there is not beginning balance. (or vice versa)
How do I adjust then print 1099’s?
When trying to access sales transaction entry I get the error "Your previous transaction-level posting session has not finished processing".
Inventory shows it is allocated when it’s not
I don’t have beginning balances in my balance sheet accounts for the new year
After applying a SP my reports will not print and GP crashes

Resolutions:

Doug Pitcher blog post - http://www.rosebizinc.com/gpblog/2009/01/stuck-batches-in-dynamics-gp.html. Dave Musgrave comment gives script that works well.
Blog post by MBS employee Dave Musgrave. http://blogs.msdn.com/developingfordynamicsgp/archive/2008/10/05/finding-table-and-field-information-in-microsoft-dynamics-gp.aspx
See Steve Chapman post-http://www.rosebizinc.com/gpblog/2008/02/reconcile-to-gl-easily.html
See Doug Pitcher blog Post- http://www.rosebizinc.com/gpblog/2009/07/setup-new-fiscal-year-in-dynamics-gp.html
Usually permissions error when network ID doesn’t have access to reports.dic file. Find path in Tools>>setup>>system>>edit launch file>>enter system password>>Highlight dynamics GP, look to see where Reports line is pointing to. Open a browser and try to path to this location. Need
Cards>>financial>>budgets. Use import wizard by choosing New>>using budget wizard for Excel.
Print edit list of batch (printer icon at top right hand corner of batch window). This will tell you why you can’t post
Tech doc: 918313. Install Office Web Components link, question and answer #21.
Doug Pitcher blog: http://www.rosebizinc.com/gpblog/2008/08/moving-sql-to-new-server.html
Tech doc #864913
Doug Pitcher blog: http://www.rosebizinc.com/gpblog/2010/01/1099-for-dynamics-gp.html or http://www.rosebizinc.com/gpblog/2009/01/dynamics-gp-1099-printing-for-90-and.html
Tech doc #852623. Run scripts to release captured user.
Run inventory reconcile at Tools>>utilities>>inventory>>reconcile. Everyone needs to be out of GP (well sop, pop, inv or any module that touches inventory)
You need to close out the year in GP. If you are not ready to do this and need a BS follow directions found here: http://www.rosebizinc.com/gpblog/2009/02/no-beginning-balances-in-frx-balance.html
Recreate the reports.dic file. See blog post - http://www.rosebizinc.com/gpblog/2010/02/recreating-reportsdic-in-dynamics-gp.html

I'd be interested in seeing your most common lists of frequently tackled issues in GP. Any issues come to your mind other than the ones above?