If you are processing EFT for payables in GP, you can now post to the Bank Rec by batch total, instead of individual payments. This was a new feature added in GP 18.5. Simply go the Purchasing > Setup > Payables and check the “Allow Summary Post to Checkbook for EFT/CC.
When marked, if an EFT batch of vendor payments is posted, the Bank Reconciliation is updated with a single EFT payment that you can drill down on to see a breakdown of the detail.
Note that this feature does not apply to Manual Payments in GP and this new field in Payables Setup will not be enabled automatically at time of the upgrade of your system.
Here’s a new Dynamics GP feature which was added in the GP 18.4 release – how to save inquiry window sort options.
This option is available in the following windows: Receivables – Transaction by Customer, Receivables – Transaction by Document, Sales Item, Payables – Transaction by Vendor, Payables – Transaction by Document, Bank Reconciliation – Checkbook Register, Checkbook Balance.
Select your default Sort by option then click on View > Save Window Preferences.
In addition to the sort options being saved, the “Include” Type (Work/Open/History) will be saved, along with the size of the window if you change it.
These saved default settings are per individual user and are system wide, so the saved setting will default for any company that user logs into.
GP Tip: GL Transaction SmartList with Originating Name
If you’ve ever needed a way to find all transactions that posted to a particular GL account by Vendor or Customer, here’s an easy way. Use a SmartList.
Open SmartList and expand the Financial folder then the Account Transactions folder. Start with an existing list and modify it.
In this case, we are going to create a list of all postings to the Accounts Payable GL account and include the Vendor ID, Vendor Name and Document Number.
Click on the Columns button. Select Add to add columns. Select a column that you do not want included and click on Remove.
Rearrange the order of the columns by first checking the box to the left of the column name then use the up and down arrows on the right side of the window.
In the screenshot below, the “Originating” columns contain information from the originating transaction. If you are viewing GL transactions that originated in accounts payable, then Originating Master ID represents Vendor ID. If you are viewing GL transactions that originated in accounts receivable, then Originating Master ID represents Customer ID.
Next to filter your list on GL account number, date, etc., click on the Search button. Select a column name in each Search Definition field. In our example, we’re including all transactions that posted to the Accounts Payable account for a specific TRX (Transaction) Date range.
When creating a new SmartList favorite, always be sure to increase the number of maximum records that will be searched. This normally defaults to just 1,000.
To save your new list, click on the Favorites button. Type in a Name then click on Add > Add Favorite.
The GP Account Rollup Inquiry screen allows you to summarize information from GL several accounts and display this information in several ways such as Current and Previous years, Actuals vs. Budgets with variances. Use this as a quick way to view a sum of a group of related accounts.
1. Go to Financial > Inquiry > Account Rollup 2. Enter an Option ID 3. Press the Tab key 4. Select Yes to add this option 5. In the Sort By drop-down list, select the G/L account segment you want to use to sort the information that will be displayed. 6. Select the number of columns of information you want to display 7. For each column of information, enter the column heading you want to use, and the Type of information you want to display. If you selected Budget type, click on the lookup icon to the right of Selection to select your Budget ID. If you selected Calculated type, click on the blue arrow to the right of Selection to open the Account Rollup Inquiry Calculated Column window.
8. Enter restrictions to define the account segment ranges you want to use in this inquiry. You can set up multiple ranges for a single segment. 9. Click on Save 10. Go back to the Option ID you created and click on Redisplay. You can choose to display either Net Change amounts or Period Balances. 11. Click to select an amount then drill-down on one of the blue underlined column headers to see the account breakdown.
GP Tip – Federal Payroll Tax Table Update Instructions for GP
Wondering how to update the federal payroll tax table in Dynamics GP? Here is a helpful explainer:
1) Ask all users log out of GP 2) Log into GP as the ‘sa’ user 3) Go to Microsoft Dynamics GP > Maintenance > U.S. Payroll Updates > Check for Tax Updates 4) Select the Automatic method then click Next
5) Enter your Authorization Number. This is your Authorized number with CustomerSource, which is normally your phone number (with the area code and no punctuation). Click on Login.
6) The tax tables will update. Click on Finish after the updates have been applied successfully.
7) You can verify that you have the latest tax update by going to Microsoft Dynamics GP > Tools > Setup > System > Payroll Tax. The “Last Tax Update” field should have the date of 1/19/18. 8) This updates Federal and State withholding taxes only 9) If you have a change to your state unemployment tax rate, go to HR & Payroll > Setup > Payroll > Unemployment Tax. Select the State and change the Tax Rate.
Do you have inventory items that you would like removed? Did you know that there is a process to accomplish this in Dynamics GP? Here’s how:
You can start preparing items to be removed during the year-end process by changing the item type to Discontinued. Go to Inventory > Cards > Item. Change the Type to Discontinued.
Items are tracked the same as Sales Inventory items in that you can still sell Quantities On Hand. You can also enter adjustments for the item and can delete the item when the quantity reaches zero.
You can also remove Discontinued items during the Inventory Year-End process.
Mark this option to remove the records for discontinued items that have been completely sold. Items assigned the discontinued item type will be removed from the item records during the year-end closing process, unless there are quantities of the item, or one of the following is true:
The item does not exist on an open transaction (sales document, purchase order, unposted inventory transaction).
The item is assigned to a kit.
The item is a component of a bill of materials.
The item has one or more bills of materials of its own.
If you or any of your GP users get a script error, like the one below, when they log into GP, it has to do with a setting on your GP Home Page.
Click on No many times until the error goes away. Then click on “Customize this page” in the upper right-hand corner of the Home Page.
Uncheck the Connect checkbox.
Or you can disable the Connect option one user at a time by running the SQL script below against the DYNAMICS database. (Replace ‘xxxxxx’ with the GP user ID.)
UPDATE SY08100 SET Visible = 0 WHERE SectionID = 6 AND USERID = ‘xxxxxx’
If you want to disable it for all users just omit the last line that filters by a specific user ID.
Get More Help With GP
We hope this helps you solve GP script errors at the login screen. For more GP support, training, or upgrade help, please contact CSSI.
As a GP / Great Plains consultant for over 20 years, CSSI keeps tabs on Microsoft’s software roadmap. You may have noticed lots of marketing around Microsoft’s Dynamics 365 Business Central, and you may have felt some pressure to migrate. While CSSI will be here to support you if and when you decide to migrate, be aware that you do not need to do so in any currently foreseeable future.
Why Dynamics GP / Great Plains Remains So Popular
The community of Great Plains users is remarkably dedicated and passionate. Did you know that GP is used by over 20,000 customers?
Great Plains remains popular for many reasons:
GP meets the customer’s requirements.
Over time, the customer has integrated GP add-ons and customizations to create a highly specialized accounting system perfectly suited to its business needs.
The customer does not foresee benefits from migrating to a cloud-based ERP environment. In fact, the higher costs of cloud hosting become prohibitive.
Customers who do not regularly update to new GP versions do not want to be forced to do so.
Microsoft’s Commitment to Great Plains / GP
This past April, Microsoft made an announcement on the future of Microsoft Dynamics GP.
Their announcement states that, as of April 1, 2026 (3 years from now), there will be no new customer sales of Dynamics GP. As a steppingstone to this, from April 2025 there will be no new sales of GP Perpetual licenses. Subscription sales can still happen for the additional year.
HOWEVER, this will have no implications for existing customers! Existing customers can continue to purchase new licenses and modules after 2026. There will still be tax and other product updates for Dynamics GP, including lots of new features already planned for the next version (18.6), due to release October 2023. And this will continue with future versions 18.7, 18.8, etc.
Therefore, for existing Microsoft Dynamics GP customers, nothing has really changed. Microsoft has committed to continuing support and development of Dynamics GP to 2028 and beyond.
How CSSI Can Help You with GP
CSSI is pleased to support the community of 20,000 companies using Great Plains. We plan to continue to support GP for as long as our customers need us.
For help with Great Plains, please contact CSSI. We’d be pleased to help with friendly, practical GP support.
Getting a ‘Maximum Users Logged In’ Message?
Do you or any of your users have trouble logging into GP sometimes because the maximum number of users are already logged in? Maybe you need to review which users are performing which tasks.
The 3 Types of Users In Dynamics GP
Full User. This is the most common type of user. This user has full access to do anything in GP, but they are limited based on the security permissions assigned to them within GP.
Limited User. These users can view data only, with inquires, reports and SmartLists. They cannot post transactions or change master records. PLUS, the cost of a Limited User is 80% less than the cost of a full user.
Self Service. These users can only access the Self Service modules, which are used to enter PO requisitions, payroll expenses and timecards, and project expenses and timesheets.
You can see which users are currently logged into GP by going to Administration > Utilities > System > User Activity. Here you can remove (Delete) users who should be logged out.
Keep in mind that, with the use of refreshable Excel spreadsheets, you can have non-GP users viewing GP data outside of the system.
This is a repeat of a tip we published in February of 2022 but, with the rise in the number of check fraud cases, this may be a good time to start using Safe Pay (also known as Positive Pay).
Microsoft Dynamics GP has this built-in tool to assist in the prevention of check and ACH fraud. It’s a process that involves creating a file of payables payments (checks and EFT’s) that you submit to your bank.
Any payments presented to your bank are compared to your company’s issued Safe Pay file. If a payment does not match the information in the file, your bank will contact you for authorization.
If you do not see this option in your GP, then it either needs to be installed and/or registered.
It requires a few setup steps. You first need to contact your bank to confirm that they offer this service and then ask them for file specifications. This file format gets created in GP by going to Financial > Routines > Safe Pay > Configurator, where you select an Output file Type and define the types of records lines and record fields per line.
Next, go to Financial > Routines > Safe Pay > Upload Maintenance. Select the Bank Upload ID (Bank Format) that was created in the first step. Link it to a Bank ID and a Checkbook ID. Select the Upload Filename and Path where you want the file to be created. The same file name will be used every time. (The file gets overwritten each time you create a new file. Have no fear, though, you can always recreate a file from history.)
If you are using EFT processing in GP, be sure to check the “Include EFT Transactions” checkbox at the bottom of the window.
Once you are ready to create a Safe Pay file, after you have posted a batch of payments, go to Financial > Routines > Safe Pay >Transaction Upload. Select the Bank Upload ID. Enter a Last Upload Date and Upload Cutoff Date. Click on the Load/Reload Transactions button. The payments to be included in the file will appear. Click on Upload to create the file.
Click on Proceed when the window below appears.
Click on OK again.
If your bank provides you with a confirmation number when the file is submitted, you can enter that in the next window. If you do not have a confirmation number, just enter any number then click on Successful.
You can then print a report listing all the payments that were included in the file.
To recreate a Safe Pay file, go to Financial > Routines > Safe Pay >Transactions History. Select your Bank Upload ID. Click on the left and right arrows to scroll through previously created uploads. Click on the Upload button the recreate the file.
Need More GP Support?
For more helpful Dynamics GP support, contact the pros at CSSI. We’d be happy to help. Get GP help here.
