Multiple Default Purchase Accounts for Vendors

If you’ve been entering payables transactions in GP, then you probably already know that you can assign a default purchase accounts to each vendor. BUT, did you know that you can assign multiple accounts to a vendor?

Here’s how:

In the Vendor Account Maintenance window, click on the Ellipse button (button with 3 dots) to the right of the Purchases account.

Enter the additional accounts that will used for this vendor and check those accounts that you want to Default on the Transaction.

When you create a payables transaction for this vendor, and go to Distributions, the Default accounts will fill in.  All you need to do is enter the amount for each account.

And, when you click on the lookup icon to the right of Account, all the vendor’s default accounts will appear.  You can change to look up to show All Accounts by clicking on the down arrow to the left of View (in the Accounts lookup window.)

Would your team benefit from GP Training & Education or GP support? Contact CSSI today to speak with our experts!

Waive Finance Charges in GP

If you issue monthly finance charges, and you have some of those customers who never pay theirs, you can easily waive these finance charge transactions in GP.  By using the Waive process, this will reverse the posting of the original finance charge.

And then when you drill down to that the finance charge, you can see that it’s been Waived.

You can also view waived finance charge totals in SmartList by Life-to-Date (LTD), Year-to-Date (YTD) and/or Last Year (LYR).

Do you need GP technical support or training? CSSI’s experienced Dynamics GP pros are ready to help. Contact us today for help.

In this video, we present a custom report created in SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS), but also possible to use in Crystal Reports or Power BI.

What does this SQL Server Reporting Services Report Do?

This custom SSRS report lists items that are needed for current open sales orders in Dynamics GP. It also shows a running total of the projected available quantity for each item, based on the requested ship date or the promise date for PO’s. Finally, the report will highlight items with quantity available of 0 or less.

If this SSRS report would be useful in your business, or if you would like assistance in report design, creating other custom reports in SSRS, Crystal Reports, or Power BI, or custom code and applications, please contact the report designer experts at CSSI. CSSI can also assist you with custom programming services, developing unique high-value applications for your business.

Using GP Allocation Accounts

In GP, you can use a Fixed or Variable Allocation account to automatically distribute fixed or variable percentages of a transaction among several distribution accounts.

1. Fixed Allocation

1. Go to Financial > Cards > Fixed Allocation
2. Enter an account number and description
3. Enter each Distribution Account and its percentages
4. Click on Save

2. Variable Allocation

1. Go to Financial > Cards > Variable Allocation
2. Indicate whether you want to calculate the percentages based on the year-to-date balance or on the transaction period balance of each breakdown account
3. Select the series where you expect to use this allocation account; the allocation account will appear in all lookup windows in the selected series
4. Enter the distribution account (the account that will be posted to)
5. Enter breakdown accounts by selecting a distribution account then enter the corresponding breakdown account on the right. (The balances of the breakdown accounts determine the percentage that will be posted to each distribution account.)

3. Using GP Allocation Accounts

1. When you use an allocation account in a transaction, you won’t see the breakdown of the distributions until the transaction is posted to general ledger
2. An allocation account cannot be assigned as a distribution account for another allocation account
3. You CAN assign an allocation accounts to a vendor as a default purchasing account
4. Allocation accounts do not carry a balance

Need support with GP allocation accounts or any other GP topic such as management reporter, or GP upgrades? CSSI’s team of friendly experts is ready to help. Contact us to get started today.

Microsoft Dynamics GP – New Features for 2021

As we start off a fresh new year, it’s a great time to update Microsoft Dynamics GP users on on all the new functionality in Dynamics GP for 2021! In this on-demand webinar, GP consultant Deborah Newcomer from CSSI brings you up to date on GP ERP software, discusses each new feature, and takes a look at the road map for this ERP solution. We think that Dynamics GP customers will find this discussion helpful.

Some of the content discussed in this on-demand webinar (Whats new in dynamics GP 2021) includes:

General Updates

Prior GP lifecycle plan: Prior to 2021, Microsoft published fixed dates for end of mainstream support and end of extended support. Please note: if you are running a version of GP which is either beyond or approaching its support end date, it’s time for a GP upgrade: contact CSSI to discuss your options.

New GP Lifecycle policy: Microsoft has committed to releasing 2 or 3 updates per year. You are considered current if you install at least 1 upgrade per year. Keeping current with updates not only gives you access to new functionality such as the features discussed below, it also provides you with bug fixes and patches to keep you secure.

New GP Features for 2021

The following topics are covered in the webinar recording:

New GP Features – System Manager

• Why you should periodically run ‘check links’. You can now schedule ‘check links’.

• Bulk move/remove columns in Smartlist.

• Screen outputs automatically open in a maximized state.

• You can now use a Named Printer when printing Word Templates.

New GP Features – General Ledger

• Transaction entry contains new GP user defined fields.

• Reconcile financial information – a useful feature when changing fiscal periods.

• Transaction entry: Excel copy/paste now uses decimal places assigned to each currency

• Payables management – use copy/paste to create payables transactions.

New GP Features – Purchasing

• Vendor maintenance includes a new DBA field.

• Vendor maintenance includes a 1099 NEC (non employee compensation) option.

• Payables management setup – vendor map and transaction type new feature.

GP New Feature – Inventory

• Export stock schedules to a spreadsheet, make updates, and import data back into GP. Great workflow improvement for some.

New GP Features – Sales Order Processing

• Option to print sales documents, even when sent via email.

New GP Feature – HR

• Automatically mask Social Security numbers on many HR reports.

Who is CSSI?

CSSI Technologies is a Microsoft partner with over 20 years of experience as a GP consultant. We provide training, support, and consulting for companies which utilize Dynamics GP ERP software. We believe that Microsoft Dynamics GP users deserve great guidance and support. Wondering if you are receiving great support from your GP provider?

To learn more about how CSSI can assist your business with the GP ERP system, please contact us to get started.

Assigning a GP SmartList Favorite Password

One of the new features added in Dynamics GP 2018 is the ability to assign a password to a SmartList Favorite. Maybe you’ve created a new list and you want another Dynamics GP user to be able to view the list but not make changes. If he or she doesn’t know the password, they won’t be able to save changes. Use the Add or Remove Favorites window to make password adjustments.

Need more help with Smartlists in GP?

• SmartList builder
• SmartList designer
• Setting default SmartList
• SmartList Options window

CSSI is here to help! Contact us for GP technical support.

Need to Back Out GP General Journal Entries?

If you have a general journal entry that was posted incorrectly, either with a wrong posting date or wrong GL account numbers or amounts, did you know that you can easily back out a Dynamics GP general journal entry and post a correcting entry without having to re-key the entire transaction manually?

Here’s how to back out GP General Journal Entries

1. Go to Financial > Transactions > General
2. Click on the Correct button
3. Click on the Action down arrow to select whether you want to just back out an entry or back out a journal entry and create a correcting entry
4. Select the Year
5. Enter the number of the general journal entry to be corrected
6. Click on OK
7. The window will fill in with the entry to be backed out (original entry reversed)
8. Leave as is and click on Post
9. If you selected the “back out a GL entry and create a correcting entry” action, then a second journal entry will be created. This contains the date, accounts and amounts from the original journal entry. Make any necessary changes then Post.

Need help with Dynamics GP? CSSI provides technical support and training with our team of experienced GP pros! Contact us today.

Creating GP Fiscal Periods

Because the year end is fast approaching, here’s a reminder on how to create a new fiscal year in GP.  Go to Microsoft Dynamics GP > Tools > Setup > Company > Fiscal Periods.  Type in the new year.  Verify that the First Day, Last Day and Number of Periods are all correct then click on Calculate.  Click on OK when finished.

It’s also recommended that you go into this window to close individual periods once you’ve printed financial statements for that period.  You don’t want users posting back to prior periods! 

Contact CSSI for further GP training or technical support.

Are your vendor, customer or employee ID’s alphanumeric and based on the name?  What happens when a name gets changed?  You’re stuck with an ID that doesn’t match the name.  Well, not if you use the GP Modifier tool!  This tool can be used to change master ID’s (Vendor ID, Customer ID, Employee ID or Item Number).  The Vendor and Customer tools are located under Utilities on the Purchasing and Sales pages.  The Employee and Inventory tools are accessed thruogh the PSTL (Professional Services Toolkit Library).

On the other hand, the GP Combiner tool will let you combine master records.  For instance, maybe you have a vendor that was created twice, under two different ID’s, and you’d like to combine them into one.

To use the Vendor Combiner and Modifier tool:

1. You must be logged into GP as the ‘sa’ user
2. All other users must be logged out of GP
3. Go to Purchasing > Utilities > Vendor Combiner and Modifier
4. Choose which tool you’d like to use (Combiner or Modifer)
5. Enter a Source Vendor ID and a Destination Vendor ID
6. Click on Process
7. A report will print showing where or not the process was successful

It is strongly recommended that you have a current database backup prior to running these tools in case you accidentally enter an incorrect ID or if you have any hardware issues during the process.
If you have a large number of ID’s that need combined or modified, they can be imported into the tool from an Excel spreadsheet that has been saved as a .csv file.

Need GP help or support? Contact CSSI for expert guidance.

If you subscribe to our monthly newsletter, you’ll know that we’ve previously discussed Fixed and Variable Allocation Accounts.  Another category of account you can create is GP Unit Accounts.  This type of account keeps track of non-financial information, such as number of employees per department or square footage per department/division.

To create a Unit Account, go to Financial > Cards > Financial > Unit Account.

Unit Accounts are treated like Balance Sheet accounts.  During the GL year-end close process, the balance will be carried forward to the new year unless you check the box to “Clear Balance During Year-End Close”.  (This checkbox was a new feature added in GP 2013.)

You post to unit accounts with by creating a general journal entry.  Debit the account to increase the balance and credit the account to decrease the balance.  This is the only time you can post an out-of-balance journal entry. Budget information can also be added for Unit Accounts. Unit accounts can be added to your financial statements and used in calculations.
  
Send a message to users in GP
You can send a message to other users within GP.
Go to Administration > Utilities > System > Send Users Message.  Check the box beside User ID to send a message to all users.  Or, check individual users.  Type in a message.

You can send a message as a Notification Message, which means a message box will pop up on that user’s GP screen (as shown below).  Only users currently logged will receive this message.

Or, you can send a message as a Task with Reminder.  However, this message will only be seen if the user is displaying Tasks on their GP Home Page.

You can also filter your user selection by clicking on the down arrow to the left of View All Users.  This way you can narrow the list down to only users currently logged in.  Or just those users logged into a particular company.

Interested in GP help or support? Contact the CSSI GP team today.