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Dynamics GP Around the World

Friday, December 9th, 2011

With the weather getting a little colder, we all know the Holidays are fast approaching.  It is around the Holidays that many, like myself, begin to travel to see loved ones.  This year in particular, I have a lot of travel lined up.  This got me thinking about how popular Dynamics is around the world.  So with that said, here are some quick facts about Dynamics GP’s worldwide popularity …

  • Dynamics is most popular in North America, the Middle East, Singapore, UK, Australia & Ireland.
  • Dynamics GP, originally called Great Plains, was developed in Fargo, North Dakota by Great Plain Software.
  • There are currently over 300 000 Dynamics customers around the world, spanning 41 languages

Globe

Adam MacIntosh is the Senior Project Manager with WebSan Solutions Inc., a professional services consulting firm specializing in helping companies get the most out of their ERP systems. You can contact Adam at Adam.MacIntosh@WebSan.com or at 416-499-1235 ext. 213.

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Evaluation Tools

Wednesday, November 9th, 2011

In 1983, Quaker Oats purchased Gatorade, transforming it from a multi-million dollar business into a multi-billion dollar business.  Fast forward a decade & Quaker decided that another drink manufacturer was primed for the same growth.  This time, Quaker eyed a takeover of Snapple, a popular fruit beverage.  After paying a large ransom for the Snapple business, Quaker did not see the returns it had forecast.  The Snapple brand fizzled as Quaker resources were washed down the drain.  Eventually, the Snapple brand was sold at a $1.4 billion loss to Quaker.

What went right with Gatorade that went so wrong with Snapple?

The measurement tools that Quaker used to evaluate Gatorade were both accurate & appropriate.  However, in the decade that past, these same evaluation tools were not updated.  Quaker applied the same methods & metrics to the Snapple brand that they did to the Gatorade brand.  However, in the decade that had passed, these tools were no longer the most appropriate.

Evaluation mechanisms are constantly being updated.  What works today might leave you behind tomorrow.  Quaker found this out first hand.  If companies want to continue to thrive, they must be constantly tweaking & evaluating the tools they use to evaluate their business.

Microsoft Dynamics GP leverages ever evolving Microsoft technologies in order to provide the best reporting options possible.  Users can access reports in many different formats.  Business Alerts can send automated emails to any staf member when exception criteria are met or at specific intervals.  Emails can be configured to include attachments, including lists of applicable information.  Users can have similar automated Reminders open on their screens when specified criteria have been met.  This allows for fast & automated management by exception.

To Do lists & Check List force users to complete tasks periodically in a structured way.  Meaning, no longer are workflows undocumented or dependent on a single employee.  If an employee leaves the organization, those same tasks must still be completed.

Standard reporting is available in paper format as would be expected.  Users can further use inquiries to research linked transactions if auditing information.  The same information can be exported to Excel or Word at the click of a button through a Smartlist.  These can all have filters applied to them to restrict the information that is displayed.  However, where Dynamics GP takes things a step further is SRS Reporting.  Smartlists can live on the server in the form of an Excel Report.  These can contain, charts, graphs, lists or whatever one’s heart desires.  These reports are linked to the server & the Dynamics GP database through Excel, meaning information is constantly changing on them automatically as data is entered into Dynamics.  And the best feature is that those who wish to view these reports do no require a Dynamics GP user license as they are not actually logging into GP.  The same premise applies to SRS (or SQL Reporting Services) Reports.  These are built through regular SQL statements & can include filters, etc, just like any SQL query would have.  Data can be displayed in many different formats & again, do not require a license to view.

The evaluation tools offered by Microsoft are beyond comparison & constantly evolving.  those utilizing Dynamics GP are always in the know & won’t be left behind.

Pie Chart

Adam MacIntosh is the Senior Project Manager with WebSan Solutions Inc., a professional services consulting firm specializing in helping companies get the most out of their ERP systems. You can contact Adam at Adam.MacIntosh@WebSan.com or at 416-499-1235 ext. 213.


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Built In Informational Messages on Login

Sunday, September 11th, 2011

One of the lesser known setup features of Microsoft Dynamics GP2010 is the ability to have the system pop-up a predefined message box on login advising to the status of an environment.

If anyone has used the fabrikam company, you know what I’m referring to, the modal dialog box that appears advising that this is a demonstration company, etc etc.

There are actually two other message boxes that you can trigger for your own company.

If you navigate to your company setup screen  (Tools–> Setup –> Company –> Company)

compsetup

You can add two different reserved tags to the end of the Company Name.

The first is <TEST>, (make sure you include the angle brackets and enter all UPPERCASE letters). This will trigger the following popup for all users to this company on login:

testpopup

Alternatively, if you change the company name and a “<HISTORICAL>” tag to the end of the company name you will trigger this pop-up:

histpopup

These are both handy messages to advise users that this is a Test or Archive instance.

This works in both GP10 and Gp2010, however, as of build 1752, there is a small known glitch in which the Dynamics Connect home-screen widget will not work when using these tags. See this blog for details…

A word of caution, don’t modify any other parts of the company name, and always put the tag at the end, as some modules require exact spelling of the company name for their registration keys to operate (for example Canadian Payroll).

In my next post I’ll discuss the various methods to have different colours by company, in both GP10 and GP2010.

Stay tuned until next time…

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Server Error in /lus Application error on Home Screen

Saturday, September 10th, 2011

New on the Dynamics GP2010 home screen is the “Connect” window. This widget dynamically populates with Microsoft Dynamics GP support information, user groups and links to general information.

One thing we noticed is with any of our test companies we always saw this error:

Dynamics HomeScreen Error

Well it turns out this is caused by special characters in the company name.

As many of you know, when you put the tag “<TEST>” into the company name you get a nice warning on login that this is a a test company. See this blog for details…

Unfortunately, the angle brackets cause the URL to the Dynamics Connect site to get malformed.

Here is the URL that Dynamics Connect is trying to access:

https://online.dynamics.com/lus/?se=popup&autorefresh=false&product=GPRoleCenter&version=11.00.0349.000&roleid=0&country=US&locale=EN-US&company=%3cTEST%3e&role=Basic+Home+Page

Notice the “&company” parameter  is “%3cTEST%3e”. The %3c and %3e are the HEX equivilant codes for the ASCII characters that represent < and >

If you remove the characters it will open fine.

Here try to click this link: https://online.dynamics.com/lus/?se=popup&autorefresh=false&product=GPRoleCenter&version=11.00.0349.000&roleid=0&country=US&locale=EN-US&company=TEST&role=Basic+Home+Page

Unfortunately until Microsoft fixes this your only options are to either remove the “<TEST>” from your company name or remove the Dynamics Connect widget from your home screen in user preferences.

Alternatively if you had a DPI based firewall that scanned outgoing URLs, you could make some crazy rule to use URL rewritting, but that’s really out of scope of this article :) .

Thanks for reading, until next time….

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The Digital Transaction: eBanking in Dynamics GP

Sunday, September 4th, 2011

A couple of days ago I blogged about the transition from paper to the digital age. Now, it’s time to familiarize yourself with the eBanking capabilities in Dynamics GP.

For those who don’t know, more and more businesses are relying on electronic funds transfer or EFT to pay their bills. The most obvious reason is that it is just plain easier. However, it also automates the process of sending and receiving payments, provides an electronic record of payment and some vendors may even offer better terms for EFT payers due to typically shorter wait times for payments and less paperwork on their end. Work smarter and faster by accessing transaction information online and applying transaction accounts when they occur, rather than days or weeks later.

With eBanking in Dynamics GP EFT, you can:

  • Manage your financials more effectively
  • Reduce administrative expenses
  • Improve Productivity
  • Increase your financial security
  • Access decision-driving information online

The comprehensive eBanking tools in Microsoft Dynamics GP improves overall efficiency within an enhanced security environment. By automate your company’s critical banking activities and interact with your bank electronically saves your company and yourself time and money.

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Introduction to Dynamics GP: Quick Journals

Tuesday, August 30th, 2011

Welcome to the second entry in a series of posts focusing on some of the basic functionality within Microsoft Dynamics GP. This guide will cover the creation, use and advantages of Quick Journals.

Quick Journals are extremely useful for creating recurring journal entries in which the accounts stay the same each time, but the amount differ. A simple example would be an entry of wage expenses.

To create a Quick Journal, open the Quick Journal Setup window. From the main menu select Microsoft Dynamics GP >> Tools >> Setup >> Financial >> Quick Journal.

Quick Journal Setup

Give the Quick Journal a unique ID, a description, a source, and reference. Next, select an offset account. This account will be used to balance the debits and credits of the transaction. If you would to give users the ability to change this offset account during transaction entry, mark the Allow Override checkbox, otherwise, leave it unchecked. Finally, add the accounts to be used in the transaction. Note that not all accounts entered in the Quick Journal Setup window need to be used in the transaction. Click Save to complete the creation.

To make an journal entry using a Quick Journal, open the Quick Journal Entry window. From the main menu select Transactions >> Financial >> Quick Journal.

Quick Journal Entry

Select a Quick Journal ID. Then, simply enter the amounts for accounts to be used in the transaction. In this example, I am not entering an amount against account 100-5100-00. Note that unlike regular general journal entries, Quick Journals cannot be saved to a batch. They can, however, be saved individually. Click Post to complete the transaction.

Here the Quick Journal that was posted in this example:

Journal Entry Inquiry

Notice how the account I did not enter an amount against was not used in the transaction? This makes Quick Journals incredibly flexible. Also note that the total was entered against the offset account to balance the transaction.

To learn more about the advantages of classes in Microsoft Dynamics GP, check out our training video on Quick Journals, and for more topics visit our GP training videos page. Also, read the previous entry in this series here to learn about the advantages and use of classes in Dynamics GP.

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From the Gutenberg Press to Hosted Dynamics GP

Tuesday, August 30th, 2011

Many companies have started to embraced enterprise resource planning (ERP) in order to maintain their competitiveness. They have quickly learned a fundamental truth: technology can move a company forward only as far as its business processes will allow.

Amongst most organizations, paper or hard copies is the principal format for sharing invoices and associated documents for approval. Paper processes generates uncertainty and blind spots in a business. An example could be your Accounting department. Accounting has no way of knowing where a paper invoice resides on someone’s draw or desk after it is sent around for approval, nor how long it will sit there. Executives are unable to make accurate financial predictions because they see only completed transactions—not those in process, floating somewhere in the company’s structure.

With paper processes restraining the real value of a paperless ERP for companies large and small, the need for a way to automate the transformation of paper documents into digital data and to manage the resulting documents has prompted technology developers to innovate a new generation of devices and services. This is where Hosted Microsoft Dynamics GP comes in.

The next technological move from paper format is for companies and their accounting departments to consider is the cloud—online services that can dramatically reduce the costs of technology. Instead of a company’s investing more in its own infrastructure—additional servers, software, networking and maintenance—it can turn to the cloud for the applications it needs. By integrating your company with the Microsoft Dynamics cloud platform, it easily scales with your company’s needs and automatically upgrades as innovations evolve.

To help your company get away from paper and into the clouds, contact us here.

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Introduction to Dynamics GP – Customer Classes

Thursday, June 30th, 2011

Welcome! This is the first entry in a series of posts focusing on some of the basic functionality within Microsoft Dynamics GP. This entry will cover the creation, use and advantages of classes.

Stated simply, classes allow various record types, such as customers, venders, items, users, or employees to be grouped together by a certain characteristic. For example, a New York customer class could be setup to group all customers based in New York together. To create a new customer class, browse to Microsoft Dynamics GP >> Tools >> Setup >> Sales >> Customer Class.

Enter a Class ID to identify the customer class, a description, and the properties associated with the class, including payment terms, salesperson, shipping method, and so on. In this example, I am creating a NEW_YORK customer class to group all of my New York-based customers together. Click the Accounts button to open the Accounts Setup window and to assign distribution accounts. Save the class when completed.

Customer Class Setup

Now when creating a new New York customer, all I need to enter is some basic name, address, and phone information, and then assign the NEW_YORK class. The properties entered for the NEW_YORK class are carried over to the customer, including the distribution accounts. If I had to enter ten New York-based customers into Dynamics GP, I’ve just saved myself a lot of time and from a lot of tedious data entry. If there are properties that default from the NEW_YORK class that do not apply to the specific customer, I can still modify the individual customer.

Customer Maintenance 

In the future, if a new salesperson needed to be assigned to all New York customers, I would make the change to the NEW_YORK class. Dynamics GP would then ask if I would like to roll-down the changes to the customer records. Selecting “Yes” will apply that change to every customer record the NEW_YORK class has Again, I’ve avoided a large amount of tedious data entry.

Window Confirmation

To learn more about the advantages of classes in Microsoft Dynamics GP check out our training video on classes, and for more topics visit our GP training videos page.

Visit often to see our latest posts and videos!

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Growth and Adoption Rates of ERP Systems in Recessions

Tuesday, January 18th, 2011

The foundations of ERP are found in manufacturing resource planning, traditionally used by companies which produced tangible goods in factories. The adoption of ERP and MRP systems was initially quite slow – management were content with the status quo and saw no reason to change what seemed to be working. However, the recession experienced in the late 1980s and early 1990s forced many companies to make a choice: Either find new ways of operating more efficiently and effectively, or go under. This created a massive boom in the ERP market, which lead to massive changes in the ways in which fundamental business operations were conducted, and those organizations that made it through the recession came out stronger.

North America is no longer the goods-producing collection of nations it once was and is instead dominated by service industries. However, many of the same problems that existed in manufacturing organizations twenty years ago still exist in these businesses: Lack of integration, inability to respond and take advantage of environmental change, time and money wasted on data entry and redundancies, and so on. Much like the recession twenty years ago, the economic downturn caused by the subprime mortgage crisis has forced many modern companies to find new ways of performing more effectively and efficiently.

This is the time to get ahead of the competition, and Microsoft Dynamics GP is the perfect solution for organizations looking for more than simple accounting and reporting features without high maintenance costs and complexity.

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Vacation Tracking in Dynamics GP

Sunday, January 9th, 2011

It’s that time of the year when many employee are taking time off to spend time with family.  Whatever holiday you celebrate, this is definitely the time of the year for family.  With employees out of the office, companies must track the amount of time taken by each employee.

Microsoft Dynamics GP has a number of vacation tracking options:

  1. The Human Resources module has a Vacation Calendar option.  This presents a calendar view, with a listing of employees that have taken time off for each day.
  2. The Canadian Payroll module makes Vacation Accruals every pay period.  Each employee has a vacation rate attached to them. With each pay cycle, automated accruals are made to each employee record to track the amount of vacation earned.  When vacation is taken, it comes out of this same pool of time earned.  Further, all the appropriate entries are made to the General Ledger with each transaction.

Adam MacIntosh is a Senior Project Manager at WebSan Solutions Inc with numerous Human Resources & Canadian Payroll implementations completed.

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