Reformat Number into Dynamics GP Account Number

Microsoft ExcelA few weeks ago, Steve Endow retweeted about formatting a number in Microsoft Excel into a Microsoft Dynamics GP account number (I can’t find the tweet now, unfortunately). I had a fiddle around with this and it works fine for display, but the underlying data is still a number; it is just the display which has been changed to a formatted number.

However, with only a couple further steps, the account number can be correctly reformatted. I’m going to step through this one from the start; the basic premise is that we have some account strings which are not formatted; e.g. they do not have the segment separators or leading zeros:

Microsoft Excel with unformatted data

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How to Remove a Dependency from a Windows Service

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business CentralIn the last post I showed how to use sc.exe to add a dependency to a Windows service; the first time I added the dependency to the eOne and eConnect services, I got the service name wrong. This was because the server I was working on had a SQL Server Named instance rather than the default name.

I had to do some searching around how to remove the incorrect dependency, as it was preventing the services from starting:

Services - Windows could not start the eConnect for Microsoft Dynamics GP 2018 Integration Service service on the Local Computer

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How to Add a Dependency to a Windows Service

Windows ServerWhile I was blogging about implementing SmartConnect, I mentioned that the service account should be either set as delayed start or have a dependency added.

The former option, making it delayed start, can be done through the Services control panel applet, you can’t add a dependency this way. Instead the dependency can be added via a command.

The service can be changed by using the sc.exe which is a component of Windows. To use the command we need to know the Service name of both the service we want to add the dependency to and also the service name of the service it will be dependent on.

In my example, I am adding a dependency to the eOne SmartConnect Service; to find the Service name, open Services from the Control Panel, rich-click the service and locate the Service name:

eOne SmartConnect Service Properties

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SQL View to Report on Fixed Allocation Accounts

Microsoft Dynamics GPIf you are using Fixed Allocation Accounts in Microsoft Dynamics GP, there is only a standard report which shows the distribution accounts against one of the accounts. These reports are not very user friendly and can;t be exported to Microsoft Excel in usable way.

Below is a SQL View which can be added to a reporting tool such as SmartList Designer, or a refreshable Excel report, which will allow users to see how Fixed Allocation accounts have been setup.

-- drop view if it exists
IF OBJECT_ID (N'uv_AZRCRV_FixedAllocationAccounts', N'V') IS NOT NULL
    DROP VIEW uv_AZRCRV_FixedAllocationAccounts
GO
-- create view
CREATE VIEW uv_AZRCRV_FixedAllocationAccounts AS
/*
Created by Ian Grieve of azurecurve|Ramblings of a Dynamics GP Consultant (https://www.azurecurve.co.uk)
This code is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 UK: England & Wales (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 UK).
*/
SELECT
	['Account Index Master - Fixed Allocation'].ACTNUMST AS 'Account Number'
	,['Account Master - Fixed Allocation'].ACTDESCR AS 'Account Description'
	,CAST(['Fixed Allocation Master'].PRCNTAGE AS NUMERIC(15,2)) AS 'Distribution Percentage'
	,['Account Index Master - Fixed Allocation Distribution'].ACTNUMST AS 'Distribution Account Number'
	,['Account Master - Fixed Allocation Distribution'].ACTDESCR AS 'Distribution Account Description'
	,CASE WHEN ['Account Master - Fixed Allocation Distribution'].ACTIVE = 1 THEN 'Yes' ELSE 'No' END AS 'Distribution Account Active'
	,['Account Category Master'].ACCATDSC AS 'Distribution Account Category Description'
	,CASE WHEN ['Account Master - Fixed Allocation Distribution'].PSTNGTYP = 1 THEN 'Profit & Loss' ELSE 'Balance Sheet' END AS 'Distribution Account Posting Type'
	,['Account Master - Fixed Allocation Distribution'].USERDEF1 AS 'Distribution Account User-Defined 1'
	,['Account Master - Fixed Allocation Distribution'].USERDEF2 AS 'Distribution Account User-Defined 2'
	,['Account Master - Fixed Allocation Distribution'].USRDEFS1 AS 'Distribution Account User-Defined 3'
	,['Account Master - Fixed Allocation Distribution'].USRDEFS2 AS 'Distribution Account User-Defined 4'
FROM
	GL00103 AS ['Fixed Allocation Master'] WITH (NOLOCK)
INNER JOIN
	GL00105 AS ['Account Index Master - Fixed Allocation'] WITH (NOLOCK)
		ON
			['Account Index Master - Fixed Allocation'].ACTINDX = ['Fixed Allocation Master'].ACTINDX
INNER JOIN
	GL00100 AS ['Account Master - Fixed Allocation'] WITH (NOLOCK)
		ON
			['Account Master - Fixed Allocation'].ACTINDX = ['Fixed Allocation Master'].ACTINDX
INNER JOIN
	GL00105 AS ['Account Index Master - Fixed Allocation Distribution'] WITH (NOLOCK)
		ON
			['Account Index Master - Fixed Allocation Distribution'].ACTINDX = ['Fixed Allocation Master'].DSTINDX
INNER JOIN
	GL00100 AS ['Account Master - Fixed Allocation Distribution'] WITH (NOLOCK)
		ON
			['Account Master - Fixed Allocation Distribution'].ACTINDX = ['Fixed Allocation Master'].DSTINDX
INNER JOIN
	GL00102 AS ['Account Category Master'] WITH (NOLOCK)
		ON
			['Account Category Master'].ACCATNUM = ['Account Master - Fixed Allocation Distribution'].ACCATNUM
GO
-- grant permissions to view
GRANT SELECT ON uv_AZRCRV_FixedAllocationAccounts TO DYNGRP
GO

Feature Explained: Invoice Receipt Date

Microsoft Dynamics GPBack in 2017, regulations in the UK changed so that business of a certain minimum size, had to start recording the date an invoice was received. To support this new regulation, Microsoft introduced a new Invoice Receipt Date field to a number of windows in the Purchasing series. This new field was introduced in the July 2017 hotfix.

The presence of this field does not seem especially well-known, so I figured I do a quick post covering where it is and how it would be used.

The Invoice Receipt Date has been added to the Date Entry windows for the three types of transaction:

  • Payables Transaction Entry (Purchasing area page » Transactions » Transaction Entry)
  • Receivings Transaction Entry (Purchasing area page » Transactions » Receivings Transaction Entry)
  • Purchasing Invoice Entry (Purchasing area page » Transactions » Enter/Match Invoice)

Taking Payables Transaction Entry as an example, to access the Payables Date Entry field, click the expansion arrow next to the Doc. Date field:

Payables Transaction Entry

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Installing FileZilla Client: Downloading

FileZilla - The free FTP solutionThis post is part of the Installing FileZilla Client series. FileZilla is a free software, cross-platform FTP application, consisting of FileZilla Client and FileZilla Server. Client binaries are available for Windows, Linux, and macOS; server binaries are available for Windows only. This series is taking a look only at the Windows FileZilla client.

FileZilla can be downloaded from the FileZilla Project website; click the big green Download FileZilla Client button:

FileZilla - The free FTP solution download page

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Installing FileZilla Client: Series Index

FileZilla - The free FTP solutionI’ve tried a number of FTP applications over the years, but I keep coming back to FileZilla. While are a few things I don’t like about it, it seems to be the best of the free offerings available. FileZilla is a free software, cross-platform FTP application, consisting of FileZilla Client and FileZilla Server. Client binaries are available for Windows, Linux, and macOS; server binaries are available for Windows only. This series is taking a look only at the Windows FileZilla client.

Over the course of this short series I am going to install and use FileZilla. The index below will automatically upload if you are reading this the source blog, otherwise check back to the master post at azurecurve.

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Create User or Assign Company Access Without Using sa

Microsoft Dynamics GPWith Microsoft Dynamics GP, there are only two user accounts which can, by default, create new users or assign access to companies; these the the sa (SQL Server System Administrator) and DYNSA (Dynamics GP System Administrator).

The former account should only be used when absolutely necessary (such as when implementing Microsoft Dynamics GP or moving it to a new SQL Server Instance; there are some ISV products which also insist on the sa account when it isn’t strictly necessary from a tecHnical perspective).

The recommended way of maintaining security is to configure a normal user account with the permissions necessary to create and assign users to companies. There are a few steps to go through to assign the relevant security.

Mark Polino did a post a while ago on adding users without using the sa account, but, in this post, Mark assigned the sysadmin role to the user. While this will do the job, and in fewer steps, I prefer to lock down security so users only have the permissions required, which precludes assigning a sysadmin role. The reason for this is both best practice, but also that I have several clients who will not allow the sysadmin role to be assigned to a GP user.

The following steps cover the minimum security required for a user to be able to add new users or assign them access to companies.

Assign the user to all companies in Microsoft Dynamics GP (this is done in the User Access Setup window (Administration area page » Setup » System » User Access):

User Access Setup

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Create SmartConnect Journal – Standard Map: Conclusion

eOne SolutionsThis post is part of a series on creating a Journal – Standard integration using SmartConnect from eOne Solutions; I recently posted a series on Implementing SmartConnect.

Over the last few posts in this series, I have shown how to create a simple General Journal integration.

The process is slightly more involved than creating a similar integration, but the huge advantage is being able to schedule the integration to automatically run and select all files from a folder.

With Integration Manager, to allow multiple people to use the same integration you had to point it at a shared drive letter which all users had in common (and often not all did, due to being in different locations).

In addition, SmartConnect can also process the Excel spreadsheet directly, without requiring the user to save the active page down as a CSV; something which Excel really doesn’t want you to do.

The other main benefit of SmartConnect is that if there is an eConnect node available, it can integrate that type of record into Microsoft Dynamics GP, whereas Integration Manager could only use the ones available via the standard or eConnect adapters.

eOne Solutions also have a product called Node Builder which allows additional eConnect nodes to easily be created without the need for a developer. I’ll be taking a look at NodeBuilder in a future series.

Create SmartConnect Journal – Standard Map: Could Not Run The Scheduled Map

eOne SolutionsThis post is part of a series on creating a Journal – Standard integration using SmartConnect from eOne Solutions; I recently posted a series on Implementing SmartConnect.

The final error I received while creating the Journal – Standard map was when I scheduled the map to run automatically:

Windows Event Viewer showing error

JOURNALSTANDARD : SmartConnect Scheduler : Could not run the scheduled map You do not have access to the connectors required for this map.

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