You can probably guess that GP Sales Order Processing is used to enter, print and post sales orders. But did you know that you can also enter quotes, invoices, back orders and returns individually or in batches?

Are you aware that Sales Order Processing in Dynamics GP allows you to transfer sales documents from one type to another? For example, when goods or services are delivered to a customer, you can transfer the order to an invoice. The price the customer will pay and your cost will be calculated automatically.

Here are a couple of points you need to keep in mind, before transferring a document:

• Make sure there are actual quantities to transfer to an order, invoice, or back order
• Verify that the appropriate transfer options are marked for the type ID in sales setup
• Enter a batch ID for the document
• Approve the document, if required

For more information about Sales Order Processing in Dynamics GP, join our webinar on November 14 and learn how to cut lead times and speed up your transactions.

Doriana Kote, Marketing Assistant, WebSan Solutions Inc., a Channel Elite Awards Winner for 2013

It will surely be!

 Many business owners that are in the process of expanding their company will need a bigger and better ERP (enterprise resource planning) system to handle day-to-day business operations. According to a report called “ERP – The Cuckoo in the Cloud Land”, 84% of respondents said that they used at least one form of ERP. More businesses are moving to the cloud for a number of reasons which can include: Lowering the cost of ownership, becoming eco-friendly and reducing dependence on internal IT personnel.

The report also advocates 2014 will be the year of the ERP cloud. According to survey respondents, 14% have fully migrated an ERP system to the cloud, with the majority (31%) saying they will migrate in the next 12 months. A further 27% said they’d be in by the end of 2015.The report also conducted a survey of critical areas of the organization that were important to business owners and SQL databases got 69% of the vote, followed by ERP (66%) and accounting and finance apps (66%),Business intelligence (48%) and CRM (40%).

At WebSan Solutions, we offer an online (SaaS) hosted-enterprise business software solution, leveraging the vast capabilities of Microsoft Dynamics GP. Microsoft Dynamics GP (formerly Great Plains) is one of the top-rated accounting and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software solutions on the market today.

Not everybody is convinced about moving to the cloud, but in time that will change. If you have any questions about ERP Cloud or migrating to the cloud, contact us for more information.

Once a project is finished, user should close out that project within Dynamics GP.  This helps to avoid errant postings to the project & ensures accurate reporting.

To close a project within Microsoft Dynamics GP, first set the status of your project to Completed within the Project Maintenance window.  Then, navigate to  Project > Transactions > Project Closing to access the Project Closing window.  Within this window, select the Contract Number that the completed project belongs to.  All the completed projects for that contract should then appear in the listing below.  To close a project, check the box under the Close column & select Process.

Users should note that even though a project is set to status of Completed, there may be additional transactions that may need to be completed prior to closing the project.  If additional transactions are required, the box under the C* column will be blank.  To obtain a listing of the transactions yet to be completed for a 'Completed' project, select the blue arrow beside the Project number field within the Project Closing window.  This will open the Project Closing More info window wherein users are presented with a check list of all the tasks required prior to closing the project.

[caption id="attachment_1505" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Project Closing[/caption]

There are times when users may have completed check list items, but they do not display within GP as completed.  If this occurs, it is good practice to run the PA Reconcile Utility.  This utility will search through the GP transaction tables to verify what activities have truly been completed.  To access this window, select Project > Utilities > PA Reconcile.  Select a data set to reconcile and then click Process.  The utility is fairly quick depending on the volume of data within your Dynamics GP environment.

Today Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERPs) are developed and implemented so fast that it is hard to keep up with all this surplus of information. What is more, companies should make sure that during and after the implementation, all employees must be adequately trained on the system’s capabilities.

Using technology to facilitate this process is an essential technique to minimize costs and improve its effectiveness. Instead of buying expensive classroom training courses, nowadays you can easily buy e – learning courses that will save the company money, time and a lot of effort. Below you will find some of the benefits that e –Training will bring to your organization:

1. Combine theory and practice by applying your knowledge in real – time.
2. A fun and interactive way to understand complicated software, such as ERP.
3. Test your knowledge by completing online quizzes.
4. Learn on your own pace.
5. More affordable than classroom training.

WebSan Solutions offers a comprehensive e - Training solution for Microsoft Dynamics GP through WebSan University. Videos, tests and a lot more of interactive documentation help you understand and apply procedures easily in the convenience of your own time and place. You can also choose between a variety of courses for both beginners and advanced users. You can even setup your company’s unique course catalogue customized to your specific needs.

For more information visit WebSan University and sign up free for our Learning Management System. This month’s course on October 31^st focuses on Payables Management in Microsoft Dynamics GP.

Doriana Kote, Marketing Assistant, WebSan Solutions Inc., a Channel Elite Awards Winner for 2013

Many companies have a need to grant Dynamics GP users access to a window, but not all functionality within that window.  For example, many clients will want users to be able to input invoices, but not post them individually.  Instead, they will force users to save invoice transactions to a batch such that a manager can review the source documents and post.  An easy way to achieve this is through Field Level Security which allows the Dynamics GP admin to restrict user access to singular buttons within a window (such as the Post button).

To configure Field Level Security, navigate to Microsoft Dynamics GP > Tools > Setup > System > Field Level Security

This will open up the Field Level Security window.  Within the window, select Add to create a new restriction.

[caption id="attachment_1442" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Field Level Security window[/caption]

This will open the Field Security Maintenance window wherein one defines a the window and field to restrict.  Within this window, enter an ID and Description for the restriction.  Then select the Product Name, Form Name, Window Name & Field Name using the look-ups within the window.

I was recently deploying a number of GP customizations in the model of Forms and Reports with VBA, when I encountered the following error during package importing:

I had never seen this error before but upon review of the customized form, I realized that my VBA code failed to import along with the form itself. All users had logged out of the current environment and the customizations had been tested successfully in a test system. I was stumped. One common IT phrase came to mind when deciding on the next troubleshooting step: “Have you tried turning it off and on again?”

Although I did not restart the terminal server, I took to a similar strategy: I wiped all customizations and started clean. This step has worked in the past when users were navigating through customized GP windows, where the application would suddenly crash without warning. The following entry was logged in EventViewer on the server:

Any time you experience strange application crashes, or error messages when importing custom VBA packages, chances are there are corrupt dictionaries and VBA files sitting in your Dynamics GP program folders. The following are a number of steps to resolve most of these issues in a short period of time:

1)      Export all custom packages from the instance of GP that you are experiencing said errors. If you imported a package and received an error, ensure that you do not include the half-imported customization within your exportation (you will be importing the necessary package separately).

Purchase Orders, widely known as POs, is vital for keeping track of your orders and inventory as well as for both forecasting and reporting purposes. As far as small businesses are concerned, they consider Purchase Order Processing (POP) a hassle or an accountant’s concern. Well they need to realize that POP is an essential part of any retailer’s or wholesaler’s day to day operation. Even if you use your supplier’s B2B portal, it is important to enter the same information into your system as well. Not only does it help streamlining internal buying procedures but also it provides management information about costs.

Here are some of the reasons why you should consider implementing a POP module, if you haven’t already:

1. Cut time - intensive activities and increase efficiency. A single centralized system is linking all departments together and there is no need for paperwork. This also speeds up the movement of documents within and outside the company, because everything is in electronic format and staff can circulate the documents to each other instantly via e-mail and the internet.
2. View your costs instantly. POP allows you to have information about your committed costs concerning Purchasing prior even to receiving the relative invoice. That is, when an order is placed in the system upon a specific supplier, you can view your costs immediately in the form of a Purchase Order, without waiting to receive an invoice and key it in the system. Therefore, at the same time POP allows you to have better control over your expenditures.
3. Improve your cash forecasting. Recording Purchase Orders in your system and being able to define your future costs, enables you to predict your future cash flows more effectively.

WebSan Solutions offers Purchase Order Processing for Microsoft Dynamics GP to help you improve your vendor relationships and minimize your costs. For more information, join our webinar on Purchase Order Processing on October 17^th.

Doriana Kote, Marketing Assistant, WebSan Solutions Inc., a Channel Elite Awards Finalist for 2013

Check out our YouTube page for great Dynamics GP Training videos and other informative tips!

Adam MacIntosh is a Senior Account & Project Manager with WebSan Solutions Inc, a Microsoft Dynamics GP Partner and 2013 Canadian Channel Elite Awards Winner.  Adam can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 416-499-1235 ext 213.

Users should keep in mind that all banking transactions need to be processed through a Chequebook ID in order to display in that bank subledger & that one should NEVER post a general journal entry to a bank GL account.  When we look at the Bank Transaction window, there is only a single Chequebook ID to allocate the transaction to.  This is the account to which this transaction will apply.  You will see in the lower portion of this window, you must explicitly state the other half of the GL portion of this entry.  This should NOT be a bank GL account as a general journal entry to that bank GL will not affect that bank’s subledger.

A transfer of funds from one account to another should be completed through the Bank Transfer Entry window where possible.  You will see on this window that there are two Chequebook IDs that must be identified.  Thus, this transaction will affect two separate bank subledgers.  One can only use this window wherein one of the account currencies is the functional currency (this is due to how GP treats the entries and is a restriction of the system).  When you need to enter these types of transactions, you will have to enter TWO separate bank transactions. One will be an Increase Adjustment to the ‘to’ account, the other a Decrease Adjustment to the ‘from’ account while using a clearing account to flow the funds through.

I thought I would share a couple useful posts from our friends at Dynamics University

Who Posted this Journal Entry?

http://dynamicsuniversity.com/article/dynamics-university-summer-2013/who-posted-journal-entry

Encumbrance Management for Non-Profits

The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is held annually each September in Toronto and is one of the world's most prestigious events. This year the event takes place from September 5th to the 15th. TIFF is so special because it is publicly attended, so everyone has the chance to watch their favorite stars in action. So far this year's festival has been a huge success and has films from the most countries ever, as well as the largest number of world premieres in festival history. Did you know it actually boasts 146 World Premieres and films from 72 countries?

Our Time and Expense Management system offers you the option of booking time off for watching your favorite movie at TIFF. You can also see your request and get your time approved by your manager in real time, so there is no need to worry about paperwork procedures.

Our Time Off module benefits include:

• Requesting different time off types that is suitable for your business – eg. vacation, sick, paid and more
• Tracking who’s in and who’s out at any time
• Getting real time off balances
• Requesting time off right away

To find out more information about the other features of our Time and Expense Management System, click here.

Doriana Kote, Marketing Assistant, WebSan Solutions Inc., a Channel Elite Awards Winner for 2013

When a user posts an individual transaction in GP, that transaction will likely display in the Financial Series Post, saved to a batch with an odd, automated ID.  These IDs are auto-created by Dynamics GP & are based on the source document / originating module from which the transaction was posted.  Generally, the first 2-3 characters of the these Batch IDs are based on the module, with 3 or so more characters to identify the transaction type.  this is or course followed by a numeric counter.

If one reviews the Source Document listing in GP, that will generally tell them what all the abbreviations represent.  For those more technical, source documents can be found in SY00900 in the database.

Below, I have listed a number of the more common prefixes to an automated Batch ID and have noted the module which they represent.

Adam MacIntosh is a Senior Account & Project Manager with WebSan Solutions Inc, a Microsoft Dynamics GP Partner and 2013 Canadian Channel Elite Awards Winner.  Adam can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 416-499-1235 ext 213.

WebSan Solutions Inc. has won silver in the Best Small Business Solution category for this year’s CDN Channel Elite Awards. http://www.computerdealernews.com/channel-elite-awards/winners

This award honors the partner that has created the most innovative and problem-solving hardware, networking, cloud or software-based solution for an organization or department with up to 100 seats or less using the solution.

CDN is the voice of Canada's IT channel community for more than 25 years and defines an information technology solution provider as an organization that resells computer hardware, software or peripheral products along with providing IT-related professional services, support services, consulting in a cloud or on-demand environment, on-premise fashion or as managed service.

Congratulations WebSan Solutions! Well done team!

By: Natalie Williams, Application Developer, WebSan Solutions Inc. a Microsoft Dynamics GP Partner and 2013 Canadian Channel Elite Awards Winner.

In this year's Channell Elite Awards, WebSan Solutions Inc. has won the silver award in the Best Small Business Solution category: http://www.computerdealernews.com/channel-elite-awards/winners

This award honors the partner that has created the most innovative and problem solving hardware, networking, cloud or software-based solution for an organization or department with up to 100 seats or less using the solution.

As a winner, we were judged by a panel of CIO or IT director level executives. Category winners were chosen based on the following criteria:

Innovation - originality in the application of the IT solution to the business problem

Improved Sales or Revenue - evidence that the solution benefited the customer with improvement in sales, revenue or cost reduction measured in dollars or in percentage

As a follow up to my EFT for Dynamics GP 2010 blog this week, I thought I’d share a few common setup issues I’ve learned to overcome through my experience with various clients. It’s no secret that when dealing with financial institutions, time is often of the essence. Reversing an incorrect payment or attempting to stop payment to a certain vendor often requires hours of effort over the phone with representatives who may or may not be immediately helpful. As such, the following covers a few common setup issues when first setting up EFT for Dynamics GP 2010.

Having the Wrong Address ID Specified on Vendor Cards

One of the most common issues I’ve had clients ask me is why banking information for certain vendors shows up blank on generated EFT files. They’ve setup their file format correctly as per the specifications from their financial institution, setup the vendor card correctly to match the EFT file format (Where information is pulled from), and the transaction is posted and included in the EFT run with no issues. However when they generate an EFT file and upload to their financial institution website, they come to realize there is no financial information specified on the file.

This is a common issue which at first is a bit tricky to spot however can be resolved fairly quickly. Your first step is to double check whether you have actually entered banking information on the EFT BankMaintenance window. This may sound unnecessary (and obvious) however there are often cases where clients have two vendors with very similar names where one has EFT information specified versus the other which does not. To access the EFT Bank Maintenance window:

• Open the Vendor Maintenance window from the Purchasing Module in GP
• Lookup the vendor by Vendor ID and select the Address tab located at the bottom right of the window
• This will open the Vendor Address Maintenance window. Select the EFT Bank option to open the Vendor EFT Bank Maintenance window
• Here you will find all financial details from which your generated EFT file is pulling data from

If there is data specified here as you originally anticipated, close these newly opened windows and return to the Vendor Maintenance window. This brings us to the originally mentioned issue causing blank financial information to appear on your EFT file. While on the vendor card, check the Address IDs specified for different actions in GP as shown below:

If you find yourself always starting from scratch when creating custom VBA forms in Dynamics GP even though you've created other similar forms in the past, here's a little trick to save yourself some time:

1. Find a similar VBA form that you have already created and export that form to a package file using the Customization Maintenance window.

2. Browse to where you saved the package file and open the file in a text editor (such as Notepad).

3. Here you can do 2 key things that you can't do directly in Dynamics GP's VBE window.  The first thing you can do is change the name of the form by simply doing a Find & Replace and changing the existing form name to the new name you want to use.  The second thing you can do is change the Product ID.  You'll notice that when you create a form in a standard Dynamics GP module, you can't use it in Project Accounting (or other add-on modules).  By changing the Product ID at the top of the package file, you can make the form available in a different module.  So if you originally created the form for the Customer Maintenance window (Product ID 0), simply change the Product ID to 258 to now make it available in Project Accounting.

4. Save your changes to the package file.

TSQL doesn't handle multiple transactions very well.  In fact it doesn't handle it at all.  So what do you do when you have nested stored procedures, all which require transaction handling?

TSQL has a built in function that will return the number of BEGIN TRANSACTION statements that have been called on the current connection.

@@TRANCOUNT

Using this you can choose whether to begin a transaction or not based on the value it returns.  If it returns a number greater than 0 then you are currently in a transaction.

However if it returns a 0 then there were no other transactions and you are free to start one.  The best way to do this is to set a variable that indicates if a transaction is needed, since when you start your new transaction and you try to check again when you need to do a rollback or commit, @@TRANCOUNT will not return 0 since you recently started a transaction.

If you have used Microsoft’s Business Portal solution for tracking your employee time and expenses even once in the past, you will definitely understand the meaning of this title. Do you find Business Portal too complicated for your business needs? Are you looking for a simpler and more effective way to track your employee time towards clients and projects?

WebSan Solutions offers a robust, out of the box Time & Expense Management System that keeps track of your employee’s time and expenses easily. Our system not only allows you to record your time and expenses, but also you can request and approve time off for holiday, vacation or sick time as well as create and approve Purchase Requisitions. What is more, all of these options are accompanied by powerful and flexible reporting tools in order to review your progress in a presentable manner.

This September 2013, we are releasing the newest version 4.0 of our Time and Expense Management System for all hosted and on-premise clients. The updated version will include enhanced user settings and group management features to provide better control to system administrators. Additionally, new menus, dynamic resizing and re-designed color schemes make user environment and navigation more appealing.

For more information, you can view our Time & Expense Management System in action or contact us to request a demo.

Doriana Kote, Marketing Assistant, WebSan Solutions Inc., a Channel Elite Awards Finalist for 2013

Our Time and Expense Management System offered by WebSan Solutions Inc. allows the employee to easily include and process any expenses that he or she may incur on a company credit card, along with any expenses that were not processed through the company credit card.

This feature is great for the finance department, as they don’t need to do any additional work on their end to process the expense, or to make sure that the appropriate amounts get paid to the employee and the credit card issuer.  All that work is done by the employee who incurred the expense.

When an employee is set up with a company credit card, all he or she needs to do when entering in an expense, is to select the option in the drop down box that is provided and the system automatically sets up payments in Microsoft Dynamics GP to be paid to the credit card vendor for the marked entries.

By: Matt Locke, Application Developer, WebSan Solutions Inc. a Microsoft Dynamics GP Partner and 2013 Canadian Channel Elite Awards Finalist.

It's a Friday afternoon, 3pm, going into a long weekend. You are already going to hit traffic heading up to the cottage if you leave now, however it won't be as bad as in a couple of hours. You just finished a modified SOP Blank Invoice Form and would like to import it into your client's production environment. As you click the import button in Customization Maintenance, your heart starts to race as you cross your fingers and pray that the REPORTS.DIC file is not locked by any users....and you get the "Unable to open customizations dictionary" message. The afternoon sun will have to wait until tomorrow.

When importing customized reports through Customization Maintenance, users accessing the reporting dictionary will need to log out of Dynamics GP to have the report import successfully. This can be a pain and a scheduling nightmare for users and yourself alike. "There has to be a better way!" Well, luckily, there is. If you have access to the REPORTS.DIC file found in the "Microsoft Dynamics/GP/Data" directory, then you can import the modified report straight from this dictionary file using Report Writer (this is assuming that you developed the report in a test environment and would now like to push it through to production). To do this, follow the steps below:

Step 1: Copy the REPORTS.DIC file from your test environment to a local or network shared drive that is accessible from the production server.

Step 2: Log into the production environment with 'POWERUSER' access and launch Report Writer (Microsoft Dynamics GP menu >> Tools> Customize >> Report Writer).

Step 3:  Click 'Report', then click the 'Import' button: