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- Herausgeber: Packt Publishing
- Kategorie: Fachliteratur
- Sprache: Englisch
The latest release of Dynamics GP 2016 offers a powerful, adaptable, and cloud enabled enterprise accounting software solution. The new version has experienced changes in serviced-based architecture, workflow, existing functionalities, and the introduction of plenty of new features. This book will help you get the most out of Dynamics GP quickly and effectively.
This book picks up where implementation training leaves off. Whether you are new or experienced, you will find useful recipes to improve the way you use and work with Dynamics GP. The book starts with recipes designed to enhance the usefulness of Microsoft Dynamics GP by personalizing the look and feel of the application.
Most of the recipes are designed to give you tips for a typical installation of Dynamics GP, including core financials and distribution modules. The book then moves through recipes that include automating Dynamics GP to allow users or administrators to focus on value adding tasks, connecting Dynamics GP to Microsoft Office, exposing hidden features in Dynamics GP, PowerBI, and much more!
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Seitenzahl: 389
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016
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Table of Contents
Microsoft Dynamics GP 2016 Cookbook
Microsoft Dynamics GP 2016 Cookbook
Copyright © 2016 Packt Publishing
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.
Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the authors, nor Packt Publishing, and its dealers and distributors will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book.
Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.
First published: August 2016
Production reference: 1160816
Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.
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ISBN 978-1-78646-340-1
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Credits
Authors
Ian Grieve
Mark Polino
Reviewers
Jivtesh Singh
Leslie Vail
Commissioning Editor
Kunal Parikh
Acquisition Editor
Nitin Dasan
Content Development Editor
Priyanka Mehta
Technical Editors
Dhiraj Chandanshive
Ravikiran Pise
Copy Editor
Safis Editing
Project Coordinator
Izzat Contractor
Proofreader
Safis Editing
Indexer
Rekha Nair
Production Coordinator
Aparna Bhagat
Cover Work
Aparna Bhagat
About the Authors
Ian Grieve is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for Microsoft Dynamics GP. He is also a certified Dynamics CRM consultant, specializing in the delivery of Microsoft Dynamics GP. He is the ERP Practice Manager at Perfect Image Ltd., a Microsoft partner, and VAR in the North-East of England, where he is responsible for the delivery, by his team, of all Dynamics GP projects.
Ian has worked with Microsoft Dynamics GP since 2003, and over the years, he has dealt with all aspects of the product's life cycle, ranging from presales, implementation, technical, and functional training post go-live support to subsequent upgrades and process reviews.
Ian is the author of Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Financial Management by Packt Publisihing and Microsoft Dynamics GP Workflow 2.0 and Implementing the Microsoft Dynamics GP Web Client by azurecurve Publishing. He is also the co-author of Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Cookbook by Packt Publisihing. Additionally, he has produced the Microsoft Dynamics GP Techniques online learning course and was the technical reviewer for several books on Microsoft Dynamics CRM published by Packt Publishing, including Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Cookbook.
In his spare time, Ian runs the azurecurve blog, Ramblings of a Dynamics GP Consultant (http://www.azurecurve.co.uk), which is dedicated to Microsoft Dynamics GP and related products.
The most recent offshoot of running his blog is that Ian has started writing plugins to extend the functionality of the blogging platform, WordPress. A new site, azurecurve Development (http://development.azurecurve.co.uk), contains information about his plugins.
Thanks to my parents for their support through the years and to my employer, Perfect Image Ltd., for giving me the opportunity to work with clients in many different fields and, not least, for being open to me taking on outside projects such as this book and its predecessors.
I also owe thanks to all the clients I have worked with over the years, whose needs and questions have prompted me to learn ever more about Microsoft Dynamics GP, thereby putting me in a position to write this book.
Thanks to the technical reviewers, Leslie Vail and Jivtesh Singh, and fellow Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals, for their valuable feedback, which helped make this book better.
And finally, thanks to Mark Polino, my co-author on this book and the author of the first edition. It was a pleasure working with him on this book.
Mark Polino is a Microsoft MVP for Business Solutions, a certified public accountant, and a Dynamics Credentials professional for Dynamics GP. He runs the premier Dynamics GP-related blog, DynamicAccounting.net. Mark has worked with Dynamics GP and its predecessor, Great Plains, for more than 15 years. He has worked as an author and co-author on five Dynamics GP-related books. He works as the Director of client services for Fastpath.
About the Reviewers
Jivtesh Singh is a Microsoft Dynamics Certified Technology Specialist for Dynamics GP, based in Sydney, Australia. He has been awarded as the Microsoft MVP for Dynamics by Microsoft for 6 years in a row (2011-2016). Through his blog, which is widely read in the Dynamics GP and CRM community, he covers tips and tricks and news on Dynamics GP.
Over the last 15 years, Jivtesh has lead and managed successful product development and Dynamics implementations for multiple clients, including some of the Fortune 500 companies. He is a Dynamics consultant and systems implementer, and he has been associated with the Microsoft technologies since the launch of the Microsoft .NET framework. He has over 10 years of experience in development and maintenance of enterprise software using coding best practices, refactoring and usage of design patterns, and test-driven development.
Jivtesh recently built a Kinect interface to control the Microsoft Dynamics GP Business Analyzer with gestures. Later, he built a part of the GP future demo for Convergence GP Keynote.
He has set up a custom search engine directory for the Dynamics GP blog (www.gpwindow.com) to help with easier access of Dynamics GP resources for the GP community. With MVP Mark Polino, he has also set up a Dynamics GP product directory (www.dynamicsgpproducts.com).
Jivtesh's blog on Dynamics GP is available at www.jivtesh.com.
You can visit his custom search engine for GP blogs at www.gpwindow.com.
You can reach him on LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/in/jivtesh or contact him on his e-mail id <[email protected]>.
Leslie Vail is a CPA and is working as a Microsoft Dynamics GP consultant for nearly 20 years. She started off working on version 1.0 in 1993. During this period, she completed numerous implementations, conversions, and custom development projects. She is a session leader at many partner and customer technical conferences and conducts training classes throughout North and Central America.
Leslie has been a Microsoft Dynamics GP MVP since 2007. She is recognized throughout the industry for her product expertise and contributions to the Dynamics community. She is the principal of ASCI, Inc., a consulting firm located in Dallas, TX.
As a Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT), she serves as a subject matter expert (SME) for the Microsoft Assessments and Certification Exams (ACE) team. She is a member of the US MCT Advisory Council and has been listed as one of the Microsoft Dynamics Top 100 Most Influential People by DynamicsWorld. She is one of the top contributors to the Microsoft Dynamics GP Newsgroup and Dynamics Community forum. Leslie maintains the popular Dynamics Confessions Blogspot (http://dynamicsconfessions.blogspot.com/) site.
She has reviewed and developed Microsoft Courseware, co-authored the book Confessions of a Dynamics GP Consultant, Accolade Publications, and is the Technical Editor of several books dedicated to Microsoft Dynamics GP.
Leslie provides implementation and consulting services for companies ranging from a family office to a multinational manufacturing firm. She is a Microsoft Certified IT Professional in Microsoft Dynamics GP Applications and Microsoft Dynamics GP Installation & Configuration as well as a Microsoft Certified DBA (Database Administrator).
She holds a Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist certification in Dexterity, Modifier with VBA, Integration Manager, Report Writer, HR/Payroll, Financials, Inventory and Order Processing, FRx Report Designer, SQL Server 2000, SQL Server 2008, and Microsoft XP Professional.
A skilled developer, Leslie uses Dexterity, Modifier with VBA, Integration Manager, and eConnect to provide custom solutions to her clients. She is a Certified Integration Developer (CID), a Dexterity CID, a Dynamics Tools CID, and a Dexterity Certified Systems Engineer.
Her training proficiency spans the entire Microsoft Dynamics GP product line. She is an experienced trainer and teaches classes for Dexterity, Financials, Inventory and Order Processing, HR/Payroll, Integration Manager, Modifier with VBA, FRx Report Designer, SQL Server Reporting Services, Report Writer, Crystal Reports, SmartList Builder, Excel Report Builder, Integrated Excel Reports, Extender, and System Manager.
Prior to working with Microsoft Dynamics GP, Leslie was the tax director for a large financial institution, before which she worked for one of the original Big Eight accounting firms as a senior tax accountant.
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Preface
Tens of thousands of Microsoft Dynamics GP users keep the accounting functions of their rms running day in and day out. They ensure that vendors get paid, customer payments are tracked, and the financial statements balance at the end of the month. In short, they provide the information critical to corporate decision making.
Of the many tens of thousands of people using Dynamics GP, the majority of them only ever use a small subset of the available functionality. They may get basic training when Dynamics GP is implemented or when they join the company; they learn enough to do their job but never look beyond this set of skills for ways to improve processes and become more efficient.
On top of this, many users start working with a particular version of Dynamics GP and continue to use the system in the same way as the years pass and upgrades are installed with many new features available.
The work gets done but good employees are left with a nagging feeling, an itch, that there must be a better way. This book is designed for those people who want to scratch the itch and learn how to get more out of Dynamics GP.
Many of the ways to get more from Dynamics GP do not require extensive knowledge of the system, merely a desire to learn and to make Dynamics GP easier, faster, and simpler. These features, tips, and techniques have been compiled into a set of recipes designed to let Dynamics GP users cook up solutions to their problems.
Like any good cookbook, the recipes are laid out into simple steps optimized for quick application and are easy to follow and get right in the first attempt. This easy gratification is designed to draw users deeper into the recipes with the goal of improving efficiency, allowing the time saved to be put back into other finance activities, or the simple pleasure of wrapping up the day and going home early.
What this book covers
Chapter 1, Personalizing Dynamics GP, contains recipes designed to enhance the usefulness of Dynamics GP by personalizing the look and feel of the application.
Chapter 2, Organizing Dynamics GP, contains recipes that are designed to help administrators get more out of Dynamics GP for their users by changing the way Dynamics GP is organized.
Chapter 3, Automating Dynamics GP, contains recipes that focus on efficiency and automation and are designed to be time savers across the system.
Chapter 4, Leveraging New and Updated Features in Dynamics GP, contains recipes demonstrating some of the key new and updated features in Dynamics GP 2016 from the Financial and Distribution series.
Chapter 5, Exposing Hidden Features in Dynamics GP, contains recipes on techniques that are often well known to consultants but missed by users. It contains hidden settings that can help save a lot of time.
Chapter 6, Improving Dynamics GP with Hacks, contains recipes that are used to hack existing features in Dynamics GP so as to improve efficiency.
Chapter 7, Preventing Errors in Dynamics GP, contains recipes for administrators and users to help prevent errors in Dynamics GP. It also includes ways to fix erroneous transactions that managed to make it to the general ledger.
Chapter 8, Harnessing the Power of SmartLists, contains recipes to harness the power of Dynamics GP's ad hoc reporting tool and ways to leverage the reporting power of SmartLists.
Chapter 9, Extending SmartLists with SmartList Designer, contains recipes to extend SmartLists by building your own objects from tables or SQL Views using SmartList Designer.
Chapter 10, Connecting Dynamics GP to Microsoft Office, contains recipes that help connect Dynamics GP with Microsoft Office 2013 and discusses the ways in which Office can be used to improve processes in Dynamics GP.
Chapter 11, Maintaining Dynamics GP, contains recipes for an administrator or power user to help maintain Dynamics GP.
Chapter 12, Extending Dynamics GP with Professional Services Tools Library, contains recipes which use the Professional Services Tools Library (PSTL) to ease company and data setup and to modify data in an existing Dynamics GP implementation.
Chapter 13, Modern Business Intelligence for Dynamics GP, contains recipes based on Microsoft's new BI tools, OData and PowerBI.
What you need for this book
The following software is required for this book:
Who this book is for
This book is for Dynamics GP users and Dynamics GP partners and is primarily focused on delivering time-proven application modifications. This book assumes that you have a basic understanding of business management systems and basic knowledge of Dynamics GP. All of these recipes are real-world tested and designed to be used immediately.
Sections
In this book, you will find several headings that appear frequently (Getting ready, How to do it, How it works, There's more, and See also).
To give clear instructions on how to complete a recipe, we use these sections as follows:
Getting ready
This section tells you what to expect in the recipe, and describes how to set up any software or any preliminary settings required for the recipe.
How to do it…
This section contains the steps required to follow the recipe.
How it works…
This section usually consists of a detailed explanation of what happened in the previous section.
There's more…
This section consists of additional information about the recipe in order to make the reader more knowledgeable about the recipe.
See also
This section provides helpful links to other useful information for the recipe.
Reader feedback
Feedback from our readers is always welcome. Let us know what you think about this book—what you liked or disliked. Reader feedback is important for us as it helps us develop titles that you will really get the most out of.
To send us general feedback, simply e-mail <[email protected]>, and mention the book's title in the subject of your message.
If there is a topic that you have expertise in and you are interested in either writing or contributing to a book, see our author guide at www.packtpub.com/authors.
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Now that you are the proud owner of a Packt book, we have a number of things to help you to get the most from your purchase.
Downloading the color images of this book
We also provide you with a PDF file that has color images of the screenshots/diagrams used in this book. The color images will help you better understand the changes in the output. You can download this file from http://www.packtpub.com/sites/default/files/downloads/MicrosoftDynamicsGP2016Cookbook_ColorImages.pdf.
Errata
Although we have taken every care to ensure the accuracy of our content, mistakes do happen. If you find a mistake in one of our books—maybe a mistake in the text or the code—we would be grateful if you could report this to us. By doing so, you can save other readers from frustration and help us improve subsequent versions of this book. If you find any errata, please report them by visiting http://www.packtpub.com/submit-errata, selecting your book, clicking on the Errata Submission Form link, and entering the details of your errata. Once your errata are verified, your submission will be accepted and the errata will be uploaded to our website or added to any list of existing errata under the Errata section of that title.
To view the previously submitted errata, go to https://www.packtpub.com/books/content/support and enter the name of the book in the search field. The required information will appear under the Errata section.
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We appreciate your help in protecting our authors and our ability to bring you valuable content.
Questions
If you have a problem with any aspect of this book, you can contact us at <[email protected]>, and we will do our best to address the problem.
Chapter 1. Personalizing Dynamics GP
In this chapter we are going to cover the following topics:
Introduction
This chapter explores recipes designed to enhance the usefulness of Microsoft Dynamics GP by personalizing the look and feel of the application. These recipes provide the first few steps in harnessing the full power of Dynamics GP. They are designed to improve productivity now, so don't wait to put them to use.
In almost all cases, the recipes in this chapter do not require an administrator and are available to the average user. The ability of each user to tailor these items to their own needs is what makes them so powerful.
By personalizing Dynamics GP, users get the opportunity to fine-tune the system to the way that they work. There is something incredibly satisfying about tailoring a system to make it more efficient, and we'll cover some of these personalizing options here.
While the nature of these recipes makes them useful right away, it is strongly recommended that these items be attempted in a test environment first.
Personalizing the home page by selecting the right role
Since version 2010 of Dynamics GP, Microsoft has placed a strong emphasis on user roles in both the organization and the software. Selecting the right role in the system presents many of the best Home Page options by default.
A role is usually selected by default when a user is created, and it's often wrong because at setup the focus is placed on job titles and not on the tasks the user performs. Additionally, user's roles evolve and change over time. Fortunately, changing a user's role is easy, so we'll look at how to do it in this recipe.
How to do it...
To change a user's Home Page role, complete the following steps:
Changing the role resets any customizations that a user has made to their Quick Links or Business Analyzer settings in the home page; the user is prompted with a warning that their customizations will be lost and is given the choice of cancelling the change of role.
Click on OK to indicate an understanding of the consequences of changing a role.Select Your Industry at the top. Changing an industry simply adds or removes the available role options immediately below. Selecting Other as the industry provides all of the role options.On the left-hand side, select the role that's closest to a user's responsibilities. As a role is highlighted, a description of that role's tasks is included on the right-hand side. Click on OK to accept the role:See also
Improving visibility by setting required fields to bold and red
Microsoft Dynamics GP provides an option for each user to identify the required fields on any form. By activating this setting, users can get a definitive visual cue indicating the minimum required fields on any form. This recipe shows you how to turn Required Fields bold red and what the end result looks like in both the desktop and in the web client (which was introduced in Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 R2).
Getting ready
Prior to changing the appearance of required fields, the Show Required Fields feature needs to be turned on—first in the desktop client and then in the web client as well. To activate this feature in either the desktop client or the web client, perform the following steps:
How to do it...
To improve the visibility of the required fields, follow these steps:
How it works...
Dynamics GP contains identifiers behind the scenes to mark fields as required. Dynamics GP uses these identifiers to change the color of the field name. Highlighting the required fields provides a quick visual cue in order to ensure that at least the minimum amount of data is entered prior to saving a form. This will save hours of time by preventing annoying messages indicating that the required fields have not been completed, especially since there is no indicator as to what field is missing.
There's more...
By default, activating Show Required Fields simply sets the required fields to black and regular. That is, it doesn't distinguish them at all. This is important because if Show Required Fields is off completely, Dynamics GP will prompt users to turn it on but that won't appear to have any effect.
There are some areas in Dynamics GP where required fields are not marked in red and bold despite this feature being properly applied. In almost all cases, these required fields occur in the grid section of a transaction entry form. This area of a form has a heading at the top and a grid that allows multiple entries under one heading. The nature of the programming behind the grid format prevents Dynamics GP from properly highlighting these fields, and unfortunately, there is no way to force a field inside the grid to reflect the Show Required Fields setting.
When a user receives a warning that a required field is missing but all the required fields appear to be correctly filled in, they should examine the fields in the grid for missing information. The most common culprits are the Unit of Measure and Site ID fields.
Modifier with VBA
With the available Modifier with VBA utility for Dynamics GP, an administrator or developer can make additional fields required, and in most cases, Dynamics GP will properly apply the red and bold formatting automatically. More information on Modifier with VBA is available from the manuals in Dynamics GP or from an authorized Microsoft Dynamics partner.
Further personalizing the home page by customizing the layout
The customization possible on the home page has been enhanced further in Microsoft Dynamics GP from the options that were available in Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010.
A default two-column layout will be loaded when the Home Page role is selected, but it can be customized by the user:
How to do it...
To change a user'sHome Page role, complete the following steps:
There's more...
In Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010, sections on the home page were reorganized within the Customize this page… window. In both Microsoft Dynamics GP Desktop Client and Web Client, reorganization is accomplished on the home page itself using the mouse to drag and drop the section in the same way as you would drag and drop a window.
The home page will automatically shuffle the other sections around as the selected one is being moved. When placed in the required position, release the mouse button and the section will drop into place:
See also
Speeding up access to data with Quick Links
Like the shortcut bar, Quick Links provides fast access to data both inside and outside Dynamics GP. Although there is some overlap with shortcuts, Quick Links provide some unique features. For starters, related Quick Links are provided based on the user's home page role. Additionally, Quick Links also provide fast access to navigation lists, something that shortcuts can't do. In this recipe, we'll select an included navigation list and then add it as a Quick Link.
Getting ready
Navigation lists provide another way to work with data in Dynamics GP, and they can't be added to Shortcut bar. For our Quick Links example, we will look at adding a navigation list as a Quick Link.
How to do it...
To add a navigation list as a Quick Link, perform the following steps:
How it works...
This process put theCustomers Quick Link at the top of the Quick Links area. Now, clicking on the Customers Quick Link will immediately open that navigation list. Without this Quick Link, a user would need to select Sales from the home page and find the Customer link every time they need to add a customer. Simply selecting a Quick Link is a much faster way to get deep into Dynamics GP.
See also
Rearranging navigation to make it easier
The Navigation pane on the left-hand side of Dynamics GP is full of useful functions. Sometimes, it is too full! For many users, it's beneficial to rearrange items on the Navigation pane to better suit their role. We'll look at how to do that in this recipe.
Getting ready
Most users quickly discover that left-clicking and dragging the separator above the Home
