As promised from my last entry, I will be discussing SmartList functionality this time – how to use them to your advantage and how to build/modify your own.
SmartList in a nutshell is a powerful means of accessing your Dynamics GP data in simple to read form for reporting and analysis. They can be found right in the Microsoft Dynamics GP dropdown menu. There are predefined SmartLists for all modules, which means there is one for everybody. Examples of a few that come with the system are PA Cost Categories found in the Project Accounting folder and Open Purchase Orders, which is located in the Purchasing folder. Using a SmartList is as simple as clicking on the SmartList icon in the desired module. After the data is generated, you could then export to Excel for further data manipulation. There is also an option to export to Word if required.
If the standard SmartLists do not satisfy all of your analysis purposes, there is an add-on tool called SmartList Builder that allows you to customize the standard SmartLists as well as create your own to query a customized set of information. If available, the tool can be found in Micrsoft Dynamics GP-> Tools-> SmartList Builder->SmartList Builder. SmartList Builder allows you to link up to 32 tables in the system and configure your own column headings to suit your reporting needs. I will go through the steps of creating a new SmartList for my own purposes: Contract ID with Project ID and Project Name. To begin, name your SmartList and choose the Product that the data will come from. Project details are found in Project Accounting so that was the product I selected.
To start adding tables, simply click on the “+” symbol on the left panel and select “Microsoft Dynamics GP Table”. From there, you can choose and/or link up to 32 tables of your choosing to incorporate your desired set of data. There will be some research to be done in order to link the right combination of tables for your own purposes. The information I need is found in the PA Contract Master File and PA Project Master Files so I need to first add the PA Contract table and then link the Project Master table based on a common field (Contract ID):
I can then select the fields I require to be displayed in my dataset:
Just save the SmartList and it will be good to go in the SmartList window!
You can also choose to further filter your dataset using the Search button on the SmartList menu:
I hope this helped! My next blog entry will cover the Report Modifier feature in GP!
Steven Lu
416-499-1235 x. 209