MDGP 2016 R1 Feature of the Day: Export/Import in SmartList Designer

Microsoft Dynamics GPMicrosoft Dynamics GP 2013 SP2 saw the introduction of SmartList Designer. It was reasonably useful, but nowhere near as useful as SmartList Builder. Little by little Microsoft are making SmartList Designer more useful. Microsoft Dynamics 2016 R1 actually makes it quote a bit more useful by adding the ability to export and import SmartLists:

Export/Import in SmartList Designer

Import in SmartList Designer

Export in SmartList Designer

One f the problems with SmartList Designer was that you had to create the SmartList on the server on which you wanted it; you could not develop it on a test system or development system and if, as a partner, you wanted to give it to another client you had to recreate it. This is why I often created SQL Views and plugged them in rather than creating the SmartList in the Designer.

I’ll need to do some testing to see how good the export/import functionality is, but this feature may allow us to put together SmartLists on our development system and then export them for clients.

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MDGP 2016 R1 Feature of the Day: Analytical Accounting User Access Settings

In Microsoft Dynamics GP 2016 R1 Analytical Accounting has been enhanced to add an option to allow users to be given access to all transaction dimensions:

Analytical Accounting User Access Settings

This is a nice simple feature but one which will make maintaining Analytical Accounting so much easier. I have more clients using the old Multi-Dimensional Analysis than AA, with maintaining access being one of the sticking points so I may have to have a chat with them and see if this changes the equation.

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MDGP 2016 R1 Feature of the Day: Budget Import Exception Report

MDGP 2016 R1 Feature of the Day: Budget Import Exception Report

This feature of the day is the production of an exception report during the Budget import. This is going to be a very popular one:

The main features of are:

  • When importing a budget from Excel, an exception report will print displaying accounts that aren’t setup in Dynamics GP

The Budget Wizard is a good tool, but it has always been problematic to identify accounts on the budget upload which didn’t exist. This new feature will make importing budgets far easier now any missing accounts are highlighted.

I have a couple of customers who might be tempted to upgrade just to get this one feature (including one who just upgrade to Dynamics GP 2015 R2.

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MDGP 2016 R1 Feature of the Day: Payroll Posting Accounts

MDGP 2016 R1 Feature of the Day: Payroll Posting Accounts

Again a US and Canadian only feature of the day; the use of Payroll posting accounts has been made easier:

Payroll Posting Accounts

The main features of are:

  • See all posting accounts in a navigation list
  • Easily filter and sort accounts with navigation list functionality
  • Export and Import payroll posting accounts using Microsoft Excel

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MDGP 2016 R1 Feature of the Day: Prepayments on Purchase Orders

MDGP 2016 R1 Feature of the Day: Prepayments on Purchase Orders

Again this feature of the day is building on one introduced in a recent version. Prepayments were introduced in Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 R2, but all the clients I spoke to about it said that it wasn’t useful as the prepayment could only cover the subtotal.

This feature of the day allows the prepayment amount to cover taxes, freight and miscellaneous:

Prepayments on Purchase Orders

The main features of are:

  • Prepayment amount on purchase orders can now include Taxes, Freight and Miscellaneous
  • Entire PO amount can be included in the prepayment

This update to prepayments finally makes them usable. I’ll need to remember the clients I have previously discussed it with and let them know of the new functionality.

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MDGP 2016 R1 Feature of the Day: Inactive Pay Codes Lookup

This feature of the day is for the US and Canada only; the ability to exclude inactive pay codes from lookups:

Inactive Pay Codes Lookup

The main features of are:

  • Option to exclude inactive pay codes from the pay codes lookup
  • Works for Employee Pay Codes Lookup and the Pay Codes lookup window

Payroll in Dynamics GP is US and Canada only so I have no commentary to add to this feature.

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MDGP 2016 R1 Feature of the Day: Excel Export as Numbers

This feature of the day puzzles me somewhat as I would swear this was a feature introduced within the last couple of versions. It is the export of numbers as numbers from a SmartList:

Excel Export as Numbers

As I mentioned in the introductory paragraph, this is a feature I believe was already introduced, but upon further reflection this may be a slightly different new feature.

The previous feature I am thinking of (but can’t find a specific announcement) exported the numbers to five decimal places and without a currency symbol. The example given in the screenshot, above, has a currency symbol and is to two decimal places.

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MDGP 2016 R1 Feature of the Day: Payables Credit Card Payment Run

Microsoft Dynamics GPThis feature of the day adds a third transaction type to the payment process to allow a payment run to be made by credit card instead of cheque or EFT:

Payables Credit Card Payment Run

The main features of are:

    Option for a computer check batch to be paid by credit card
  • The credit card payment will create an invoice for the credit card vendor
  • A remittance form will print to show the invoices paid

I’ve just been doing an upgrade of a client to Microsoft Dynamics GP and had a discussion around the payment of invoices by credit card. When they upgrade again this feature will, I’m fairly sure, be quite popular with the payments team (unfortunately their next upgrade is probably a year or so away.

I already have my first upgrade to Microsoft Dynamics GP 2016 R1 booked in, so I will have to have a chat with them and see if they process many payments on credit card.

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MDGP 2016 R1 Feature of the Day: Payroll Document Attach

There are quite a few of the new features in Microsoft Dynamics GP 2016 R1 which are building on features introduced since GP 2013.

This feature adds the ability to use the Document Attachment feature, introduced in Dynamics GP 2013 R1 on the PTE Employee Expenses window and Employee Expense Entry windows:

Project Accounting Document Attach

The main features of are:

  • Use the Document Attachment feature in PTE Employee Expenses and Employee Expense Entry
  • Header and line attachments such as receipts can now be added to an employee expense
  • Attachments will flow from PTE to Project Accounting to Payables

I love the Document Attachment feature as it makes it so easy to store documents in Dynamics GP without having to maintain a network share so it is nice to see it being rolled out to the action pane on more windows.

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MDGP 2016 R1 Feature of the Day: Project Accounting on Requisitions

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 R2 saw the introduction of the purchase requisitions and they are being enhanced further with integration with Project Accounting:

Project Accounting on Requisitions

The main features of are:

  • Project Number and Cost Category ID fields available in Purchase Requisition Entry window
  • Requisitions with project and cost category can still go through workflow process
  • Project and cost category will flow to Purchase Order

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