RG Connect 2012 Sheri s Tips and Tricks October.11.2012 Prepared by Sheri Carney 1400 Talbot Road South, Suite 301 Renton, WA 98055 425.277.4760 www.resgroup.com
Contents GLOBAL TIPS... 4 1. Automatic Login... 4 2. Is It Done Loading?... 4 3. <TEST>... 4 4. Tasks with Links... 5 5. Custom Reminders... 5 6. Custom Links... 7 7. Limit Auto Complete Settings... 8 8. Fix Auto Complete... 9 9. Process Monitor... 9 10. Add Window to Home Page Shortcuts... 9 11. Organize Home Page Shortcuts with Folders... 10 12. Adding Shortcuts for Multiple Users... 11 13. Hot Keys... 12 14. Print Trial Balance for Non-consecutive Accounts (Works for Vendors/Customers Too!)... 13 15. Quick Backup... 13 16. Easy Backup of Modified Forms and Reports... 14 17. Print Dialog Box... 14 18. Mass Close in Fiscal Periods... 14 19. Ctrl-L for Lookups... 15 20. Dates on Report Options... 15 21. Batch Drilldown... 16 22. Copy Security to Additional Companies... 17 23. Display Selected Roles... 18 24. Field Help... 18 25. Printable Manuals in GP... 18 26. Professional Service Tools are Free!... 18 Page 2 of 34
SMARTLIST TIPS... 19 27. Shortcuts... 19 28. Rename Columns... 19 29. Search All Columns... 20 30. Match 1 or More... 20 31. [charlist] or [^charlist] or [!charlist]... 21 32. Speed Up Exports to Excel... 21 GENERAL LEDGER... 22 33. Allow Account Entry (or Not!) for Control Accounts... 22 34. Mass Copy Chart of Accounts... 22 35. Correcting Entries... 23 36. Copy Transactions... 24 37. Quick Journal... 25 38. Clear Recurring Amounts... 26 39. Save Only One Transaction Per Recurring Batch... 26 40. Recurring Posting Field... 26 41. Z Recurring Batches... 26 PURCHASING... 27 42. Vendor Priority for Check Runs... 27 43. Copy Distribution References... 28 44. Post in Summary for Payables Check Batches... 29 45. How is YTD Calculated for Purchasing SmartList Fields (eg Amount Paid YTD)?... 29 SALES... 30 46. Add Comments Without a Comment ID (SOP)... 30 47. Quick Print... 30 48. Cut Off Dates in Paid Sales Transaction Removal... 31 49. How is YTD Calculated for Sales SmartList Fields (eg Total Sales YTD)?... 32 FIXED ASSETS... 32 50. Undo Depreciation... 32 PAYROLL... 33 51. Print Edit Lists in Payroll!... 33 Page 3 of 34
GLOBAL TIPS 1. Automatic Login Both the Welcome to Dynamics and the Company Login window have remember me check boxes Administration Pane SETUP-SYSTEM-SYSTEM PREFERENCES Check box to Enable Remember User 2. Is It Done Loading? The Date/Company/User ID showing at the bottom left of the GP window will be gray while Microsoft Dynamics GP is loading, and then turns black when complete 3. <TEST> When creating a Test company, be sure to include <TEST> after the database name. This will not only prompt the user with a window alerting them they are logging into a Test company vs. Production, but it will also disregard Payroll employee count so as not to cause license issues. Page 4 of 34
4. Tasks with Links Microsoft Dynamics GP Dropdown Menu TASK LIST New Task 5. Custom Reminders Home Page TO DO-NEW REMINDER click New in Custom Reminders Page 5 of 34
Select existing SmartList and define parameters of notification When criteria is met, Reminder will appear on Home Page in To Do section Page 6 of 34
6. Custom Links Administration Pane SETUP-COMPANY-CUSTOM LINK Click on New You will then see the web link anywhere there is a drilldown for the Prompt chosen Page 7 of 34
7. Limit Auto Complete Settings Microsoft Dynamics GP Dropdown Menu-USER PREFERENCES AutoComplete The default setting is not to remove unused entries at all, and to store 10,000 entries per field. This can have a negative impact on performance and login time eventually as the entries need to load per user at login. Be sure to enter a reasonable number of days for removal of unused entries, and limit the maximum number of entries stored per field to increase performance time especially at login. Page 8 of 34
8. Fix Auto Complete To remove an accidental or unwanted entry in Auto Complete, begin typing the entry to make it appear in the Auto Complete list. Then just right-click on the entry you would like to remove and select Remove From List. 9. Process Monitor Microsoft Dynamics GP Dropdown Menu PROCESS MONITOR To confirm whether the process you are running is just being slow, or if it has already completed with no results, click on the Microsoft Dynamics GP button and select Process Monitor. If something is listed in the Process window, your workstation is still working on it. 10. Add Window to Home Page Shortcuts To add a window in Microsoft Dynamics GP to the Home Page shortcuts, simply click on the File menu at the top left and choose Add To Shortcuts Page 9 of 34
11. Organize Home Page Shortcuts with Folders If your Home Page Shortcut bar has become cluttered and therefore not much of a shortcut, you can easily organize the shortcuts by function by sorting them into folders Right-click in Shortcut bar on Home Page and choose Add-Folder Add as many folders as you like, then rename them according to function. There is a trick to getting the shortcuts into the folders however. For the first item in each folder, you need to right click on the shortcut you want to move there and choose Cut. Then right click on the folder you want to move that shortcut to and choose Paste. Once you have pasted one item into a folder, you will then be able to just drag and drop the rest. Page 10 of 34
12. Adding Shortcuts for Multiple Users Set up User Classes at Administration Pane SETUP-SYSTEM-USER CLASSES Assign Users to the Classes at Administration Pane SETUP-SYSTEM-USER (Need to be logged in as sa to do this) Logged in as sa, go to the Shortcut Bar on the Home Page you will see a Shortcut Folder for User Classes. Expand the folder and you will see individual folders for each User Class created. Page 11 of 34
13. Hot Keys Navigation Pane on Home Page Right click on Shortcut Select Shortcut Properties Select any of the available Keyboard Shortcuts and click on OK That hot key will now pull up the desired window for you. Page 12 of 34
14. Print Trial Balance for Non-consecutive Accounts (Works for Vendors/Customers Too!) Financial Page-Accounts List Checkmark the accounts you would like to report on Choose Print Trial Balance from the Reports dropdown menu in the Action Pane 15. Quick Backup Create backups within Microsoft Dynamics GP on the server, logged in as the sa user Microsoft Dynamics GP Dropdown Menu MAINTENANCE-BACKUP Page 13 of 34
16. Easy Backup of Modified Forms and Reports Microsoft Dynamics GP Dropdown Menu TOOLS-CUSTOMIZE-CUSTOMIZATION MAINTENANCE Highlight everything in the window and click on Export. Choose where you want to save your file, naming it Backup of Reports and Forms Current Date.Package. This can also be done for individual reports if you are going to be making modifications and wish to save the existing format just in case. The same window is used to import the file back in if needed just click on Import and browse out to where you saved the previous file. Everyone needs to be logged out of Microsoft Dynamics GP if you are importing into a shared dictionary. 17. Print Dialog Box To prevent the Print Dialog box from appearing each time you print, you can adjust a setting in the Dex.ini file, which is located in the Data folder of the Microsoft Dynamics GP folder on the local drive. NoPrintDialogs=TRUE 18. Mass Close in Fiscal Periods Microsoft Dynamics GP provides the capability of closing out specific sections of a modue/series prior to closing the entire series. Administration Pane SETUP-COMPANY-FISCAL PERIODS Mass Close button Page 14 of 34
19. Ctrl-L for Lookups In any lookup field (fields with a looking glass to click on for lookups), you can begin to type the ID you are searching and then click on Ctrl-L on your keyboard to be brought to that section of the ID list to choose from. 20. Dates on Report Options Every Report Option that has the ability to restrict by Date range also allows the ability to set generic reporting dates to help prevent the need to open the Report Option each month for reporting. Page 15 of 34
21. Batch Drilldown In the Navigation Pane, choose any of the Series Batch lists (such as Payables Batches) Checkmark the batch you would like to view Select View Transactions in the Go To action pane dropdown This will show you a quick listing of all transactions saved to the batch selected Page 16 of 34
22. Copy Security to Additional Companies When new companies have been created, you can easily just copy security for a user from an existing company s roles. Administration Pane SETUP-SYSTEM-USER SECURITY Enter the User and current Company, then click on the Copy button Select the new companies you would like to copy security to and click OK Page 17 of 34
23. Display Selected Roles Easily see the Roles currently assigned to a user by checking the Display Selected Roles check box in the User Security Setup window. Administration Pane SETUP-SYSTEM-USER SECURITY 24. Field Help Put your cursor in any GP field and hit the F1 key for Help. There will be a Fields hyperlink at the top of the Help window that will take you to a definition of every field on that window. 25. Printable Manuals in GP You can access pdf formats of all of the modules in GP by clicking on the Help question mark at the top right of GP and selecting Printable Manuals. You can look up helpful How To s in this format. 26. Professional Service Tools are Free! Page 18 of 34
SMARTLIST TIPS 27. Shortcuts Home Page Shortcut Bar Right-click and choose Add-Add SmartList Select favorite in scrolling window then click Add then Done (Note you can assign a hotkey as well!) 28. Rename Columns Highlight the Display Name in the Change Column Display window to type in a more descriptive column header Page 19 of 34
29. Search All Columns When searching Columns in the Search menu, click on the down arrow to the left of Selected Columns (which is the default) and choose instead the All Columns option 30. Match 1 or More When searching columns, be sure to utilize the Search Type field at the bottom right of the Search window to be able to Match 1 or More instead of Match All if needed Page 20 of 34
31. [charlist] or [^charlist] or [!charlist] These SQL wildcards are able to be used in SmartList. This is helpful when there are too many search criteria to fit in the four available search definition options and when the values are not consecutive for the use of the is between filter. [charlist] includes everything typed between the brackets, while [^charlist] or [!charlist] includes everything except for what is typed between the brackets. Thanks to Frank Hamelly s blog post for this tip! 32. Speed Up Exports to Excel Modify the dex.ini file (located in the Data folder of the local GP2010 folder) to include the following line item (referred to as a dex.ini switch ): SmartlistEnhancedExcelExport=TRUE This changes how the data in SmartList is written to Excel, resulting in a dramatically quicker result. Thanks to Mark Polino for pointing out this cool but undocumented switch created by Patrick Roth of Developer Support. Page 21 of 34
GENERAL LEDGER 33. Allow Account Entry (or Not!) for Control Accounts Financial Page CARDS-FINANCIAL-ACCOUNT 34. Mass Copy Chart of Accounts Financial Page CARDS-FINANCIAL-MASS MODIFY Choose Copy for the Modify option Select range of Accounts to copy Enter New Account Mask (such as 500-????-?? to copy a new segment 500 across a range of accts) Choose to Display Selected Range to verify the correct accounts to copy have been chosen Click on Modify at bottom right Page 22 of 34
35. Correcting Entries Financial Page TRANSACTIONS-FINANCIAL-GENERAL Click on the Correct button at the top of the window Choose Back Out a Journal Entry and Create a Correcting Entry Enter the Journal Entry number and click OK This will create a new Journal Entry opposite of the original (to be posted as-is for successful reversal), as well as an exact copy of the original for edits to be made prior to posting again. Page 23 of 34
36. Copy Transactions Financial Page TRANSACTIONS-FINANCIAL-GENERAL Click on the Copy button at the top of the window Enter the Journal Entry number and click OK This will create a new Journal Entry number with distributions duplicating those of the original. Page 24 of 34
37. Quick Journal Financial Page SETUP-FINANCIAL-QUICK JOURNAL Enter Journal ID and Description Enter Reference Enter Offset Account and remaining accounts Save Financial Page TRANSACTIONS-FINANCIAL-QUICK JOURNAL Pull up Journal ID Fill in Debits and Credits Save or Post Page 25 of 34
38. Clear Recurring Amounts Financial Pane TRANSACTIONS-FINANCIAL-BATCHES A checkbox in the Batch Entry window instructs the system to clear the amounts on the transactions in the batch when posting a recurring batch. 39. Save Only One Transaction Per Recurring Batch Ease of keeping track of postings, locating information, editing and deleting 40. Recurring Posting Field Financial Pane TRANSACTIONS-FINANCIAL-BATCHES Prevent over-processing by utilizing the Recurring Posting Field 41. Z Recurring Batches Put a Z in front of recurring Batch IDs to move all to bottom Page 26 of 34
PURCHASING 42. Vendor Priority for Check Runs Purchasing Pane CARDS-VENDOR Options Button Purchasing Pane TRANSACTIONS-SELECT CHECKS Page 27 of 34
43. Copy Distribution References To easily copy distribution references to all of the line items in your distribution entry without using the mouse: Enter your first Distribution Reference Then simply select Ctrl + C on your keyboard to copy the entry, hit the down arrow to move into the next Distribution Reference field, then select Ctrl + V to paste. Continue by hitting down arrow then Ctrl + V. Page 28 of 34
44. Post in Summary for Payables Check Batches Administration Page SETUP-POSTING-POSTING Choose Purchasing for the Series Choose Computer Checks for the Origin Mark to Create a Journal Entry Per Batch 45. How is YTD Calculated for Purchasing SmartList Fields (eg Amount Paid YTD)? Purchasing Pane ROUTINES-YEAR-END CLOSE Any transactions posted since the date recorded as Calendar Last Closing Date, regardless of transaction date, are included in YTD SmartList calculations -Unless date is manipulated at Year End Page 29 of 34
SALES 46. Add Comments Without a Comment ID (SOP) Sales Pane TRANSACTIONS-SALES TRANSACTION ENTRY Click on blue expansion arrow to the right of Comment ID 47. Quick Print Specify which Sales Order Processing documents to print, along with print options and destination in order to use a keyboard shortcut to print the document(s) instead of having to use several key strokes. Sales Pane-TRANSACTIONS-SALES TRANSACTION ENTRY Options-Quick Print Setup Page 30 of 34
Mark the Documents, print options (such as choosing to keep the current document displayed!), and Print Destination, then choose OK To print using the sales quick print option: Open the Sales Transaction Entry window, the Sales Order Fulfillment window, or the Sales Transaction Inquiry Zoom window and select the order/invoice you would like to print. Press Ctrl+Q on your keyboard to print the document. 48. Cut Off Dates in Paid Sales Transaction Removal Sales Pane ROUTINES-PAID TRANSACTION REMOVAL Enter Cut Off dates for NSF and Checks to allow for possible voiding Page 31 of 34
49. How is YTD Calculated for Sales SmartList Fields (eg Total Sales YTD)? Sales Pane ROUTINES-YEAR-END CLOSE Any transactions posted since the date recorded as Calendar Last Closing Date, regardless of transaction date, are included in YTD SmartList calculations -Unless date is manipulated at Year End FIXED ASSETS 50. Undo Depreciation Financial Pane ROUTINES-FIXED ASSETS-DEPRECIATE ONE ASSET Enter the Asset ID, select the Book, then enter the previous Depreciation Target Date Page 32 of 34
You will receive a warning - click on Yes to continue. PAYROLL Once depreciation is processed the asset is updated and a journal entry is created when the GL Posting routine is run to back the depreciation out. This only works for one asset at a time. If you need to undo the depreciation for all assets, you can contact Microsoft support for a SQL script to do so. 51. Print Edit Lists in Payroll! Administration Pane SETUP-POSTING-POSTING Choose Payroll for Series and Computer Checks for Origin Mark the PPR reports Page 33 of 34
Print after Calculate Checks report This can be changed right here for this posting. You would then have to update the Payroll Posting Accounts to fix it for the next pay run. Page 34 of 34