The Dynamics GP Blog

One of the great things about GP 2010 is the simple “no coding” of the user interface. There are several methods that can be used, but by far the quickest and simplest is to use Modifier tool. For example, this is how the default empoyee screen looks when you use the default setups for GP Payroll:

Now with a little bit of work in the built in GP modifier tool, we can rename/hide and adjust any feild names that appear in the form: Take a look at this simple localized customization for Pakistani Payroll Customers:

Notice, how simple cosmetic changes can bring a much more localized personel experience to your user.

As a policy, Axone Business Solutions, has a number of localized screen modifications which are offered to all our customers on a “no charge basis”.

One of the great benefits of GP 10 is the flexibility that you can build into the business process design. You can have quite literally “no controls” or lots of “checks and balances”. It’s really up to your business policy and vision of how you want to run your organization. Lets look at this diagram.

The concept behind this simple flow chart is to illustrate the checks and balances that you could design into your Purchase Order and Cheque Signing processes.

 The green boxes represent GP functions and transactional entry screens. The red boxes represent “approval stages” in the process and the blue boxes represent some type of physical activity. Taking this further, the diagram demonstrates that, if desired, the cheque signing authority can literally sign Vendor related payment cheques blindly as no cheques can be presented without first going through each of the routines and tasks. The key features of GP 10 that can bring this all together are Workflows, Security, Roles and Integration. Let’s look at each of these features to see how it impacts this “PO to Cheque” process.

• Within GP,Workflows are the rules for an approval system. (Read more on the subject here)
• Security set up enforces who can do what on various documents and transactions. GP has a very sophisticated security model which can be tailored for groups of users or right down to an individual user. 
• Roles, introduced in GP 9.0, are a set of pre-defined configurable, screens, reports, tasks, business rules etc, that can be linked to users of the ERP application. GP contains 32 roles out of the box. EG. CFO, AP Clerk,Warehouse Manager, Bookkeeper etc.
• Integration. One of the key advantages that define an ERP is “Integration among different functional areas to ensure proper communication, productivity and efficiency and preserving data integrity in one shared database”

So, signing cheques blindly, maybe not for you. However, can GP support you if you wanted to yes it can.

Most small businesses in Pakistan want a simple package designed for a small business. Sometimes they end up using QuickBooks. And why not. It’s quick, easy, and affordable to most local businesses that are just starting out and have limited financial resources. As those companies grow it makes sense for them to “squeez” as much functionality as possible out of their current Quickbooks, in the hope that their Quickbooks investment, would not be “wasted”.
One side effect of this tatic, is not comming to the realization that a “Beginners Software” like Quickbooks can only take you as far, as the functions that are built in to it. There is a massive gap between even Quickbook Enterprise and Microsoft Dynamics GP.

Take for example the recent findings from the 3rd party company The Accounting Library where they found that Microsoft Dynamics GP 10.0 out of the box includes a great deal more functionality than QuickBooks Enterprise 9.0.

Considering the functionality gaps shown to the left, the fast ROI customers experience when moving to Microsoft Dynamics GP, along with gaining powerful out of the box interoperability with the Microsoft Office products they use every day, it is no surprise that customers continue to make the Smart Move to Microsoft Dynamics GP!

You can use Cash Flow Management to predefine an opening balance for a forecast, based on a single cash management transaction or a specific General Ledger account balance. You also can base a forecast on one or more checkbook balances with or without work / adjust transactions, such as deposits, payments, and reconciliation adjustments that are not part of the checkbook balance.

Cash Flow Management is installed automatically when you install Microsoft Dynamics™ GP.

You also can use Cash Flow Management to complete the following tasks:

Create an unlimited number of cash flow forecast definitions.

• Forecast cash flows in different ways
• Create scenarios without actually recording transactions
• Summarize daily inflows and outflows of cash in the calendar window
• View the summary of any given day’s cash inflow and outflow
• Obtain weekly—detailed or summary—and monthly calendar reports

Cash flow forecasts and transactions

You can create and keep an unlimited number of cash flow forecast definitions. The cash flow forecasts that you define will be displayed in the Cash Flow Calendar and the Cash Flow Explorer. “What if” transactions (external inflow and outflow transactions that are not actually entered in Microsoft Dynamics GP) let you see what effect actual transactions will have on your cash flow.

Entering “what if?” cash flow transactions

Cash Flow Management allows you to enter “what if” transactions (external inflow and outflow transactions that are not actually entered in Microsoft Dynamics GP) to see what effect these transactions will have on your cash flow.

Using the Cash Flow Calendar window

The Cash Flow Calendar displays inflows and outflows based on the default forecast you set up in the Cash Flow Forecast window. You can use the Cash Flow Calendar to scroll to different months, or to open to a specific day and view your transactions.
In the Cash Flow Calendar, outflows appear in red, inflows appear in blue, and the balance to date is shown in black.

You may be asking yourself how can I think about spending money on a new ERP system in this economy?

The truth is, it‘s the perfect time to replace your inefficient, out-dated local software system with a new one that provides easier and better access to the critical information that will help your business jump ahead of the competition as the economy moves out of the current recession. Companies often upgrade to new software when they are busiest and feel the pain of limitations of their older system the most – but that is when they have the least time and resources available to make the change and learn how to take advantage of the new capabilities.

If you’re struggling with an ineffective system yet are reluctant to make a change because you think it will cost too much and/or it will be too disruptive, think again.  Now, when business is less hectic, is the time to prepare for the coming recovery. And it may be a lot more affordable than you think.

We see a lot of companies investing in new technology now. If you’re a growing business looking to move from other systems such as Sage MAS 90 or 200, read more on how other companies have benefited from investing in a more advanced ERP system such as Microsoft Dynamics GP.

Pakistan today, is facing an unprecedented power shortage problem. Schedule Power blackouts, locally know as “Load Shedding”, are a common misery amongst the public as well as businesses. As a business owner / management team member this is a frustrating situation to be in, as it haves a direct effect upon your business productive is beyond your control to change the circumstances. So what should you do to keep your business afloat?

• Recognize that this is a Long Term problem. Despite, what you may read or hear in the media from various public officials, Load Shedding is here to stay!
• Recognize that the loss in productivity in your business does not necessary mean that your costs have decreased. You’re still paying employees to sit ideal during load shedding time, your still receiving electricity bills etc.
• Recognize that you need to make up the shortfall in productive by improving the efficiencies of your people and processes. Find ways for your employees to do more with less, take apart your current business processes, reengineer them to be faster and simpler.
• Recognize that Technology can help you improve the efficiencies that you target to improve.
  From the technology viewpoint, ERP / Accounting Business System packaged software’s are generally and genuinely able to offer you a path to improvements in business critical functions like operations, supply chain management and finance. These software solutions are designed to integrate ALL of your business processes allowing you to design and implement organizational wide, “Ways of Doing Things”. Let’s take an example:

Purchase Order Controls

Many companies today are still “casual” in their controls around employee purchases. Their purchase approval process remains a manual, paper-driven process. With a lack of control and automation, employees may make purchases first and submit the expense for reimbursement after the fact. Managers may spend time following up with employees and asking them to write up a request, even though the items are already being used. This type of outdated purchase approval process can create budget overruns leading to unexpected expenditures.

In using an ERP packaged solution, for example Dynamics GP. You could use the web-based Requisition management solution to help increase control and visibility over the entire purchasing process. With Requisition Management, your employees can enter purchase requests online for manager approval. Requisitions are then automatically transferred to new or existing purchase orders in Purchase Order Processing. Management has visibility into employee purchase requests before the purchase is made, so they can easily validate that the purchase requests are within budget before approving. This process helps reduce repetitive data entry and eliminates costly mistakes.

This is just one brief example of how using an ERP may help drive up efficiencies to make up for the losses in productivity that you face. My last piece of advice: It’s easy to get frustrated with any critical business issue you may face , so be diligent about recognizing the problem and know that there are many sources of help available to you to.

Picture this for your Start up company. The market potential is large, your sales targets are ambitious but doable and you’ve secured some early funding. Your business plan calls for a highly efficient, focased workforce using technology to drive through sales performace whilst minimizing costs.
Now you start the process of evaluating your technology system options and you come across a local software vendor, who appears to have some sort of solution for you. During this engagement you tell the vendor what you “beleive” are your unique requirements and he keeps on advising you that he can provide with a “customized” solution. You both get caught up in the “custom made” solution disscussion and then proceed to go ahead with authorizing the start of a project.

Sometime in the future you start to discover the following:

• You were not in operation when you finalized your requirements, so there were quite a few assumptions. Now your requirements are been refined, but your vendor cannot go back to the drawing board and start the “coding” again.
• The vendor does not really have the skills or experience to actually write an application that can get you up and running.
• The tools that the vendor uses are obsolete and in some cases even discontinued by the tools developer.
• The vendor builds software but does not have the project management experience or methodology to actually implement the software in an organization.

If you are a small start up company with limited capital you certainly cannot afford a slow, painful and chaotic implementation from a local vendor custome made software solution. There are some excellent “off the shelf’ packaged software systems, eg.Dynamics GP, which can, with a little bit of effort take you far beyond what any local software vendor can provide.

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What is a Workflow?

There are a number of definitions. Wikipedia has a fairly comprehensive description of the subject, however for busy Business Owners such as yourself, I’ve narrowed it down to what “Workflow” means within the Dynamics GP system.

As far as GP is concerend there are 2 definitions:

1. Workflow is a System - Workflow is a system that you install with Dynamics GP. It provides that functionality that you need to create indivual workflows and or approval processes.
2. Workflow is an Approval System -  It’s an approval process for a document or a ‘batch’. Bascially, it is the ‘rules’ for how a document or batch has to ‘flow” through the system and be approved by someone and under what conditions it can be approved.

Lets take this example;

In this Purchase Order Approval Process, the workflow shows who must approve purchase orders and under what conditions.

Ali Submits a Purchase Order for Rs.2,000. In this sceanario, the Purchase Order must be approved by Abbas. If the Purchase Order was for Rs.8,000 the it would need approval from both Abbas and Feroze.
Benefits of Using Workflows

There are many benefits to using Workflows in an organization. Here are some of the Key benefits.

Consistency
The Workflow system enables you to define the approval process for specific documents and batches, such as purchase order documents and Receivables Management batches. By using the Workflow system, you ensure that documents and batches are reviewed and approved in a consistent and efficient manner.

Automatic Notification
Users can be automatically notified when a document or batch is assigned to them for approval, or when a document or batch they submitted is approved. Users can be notified via desktop alerts or e-mail alerts.

Access through Office SharePoint Server and Outlook
Users don’t have to log on to Microsoft Dynamics GP to approve documents and batches. Users can approve documents and batches by accessing the Workflow web site, which is built on Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, or by responding to e-mail messages in Microsoft Office Outlook 2007.

Reports
There are several Workflow reports you can generate. These reports help you monitor the Workflow system and identify specific workflow steps or approvers who may be slowing down an approval process.

Mariano Gomez has just reveled some excellent insight into what Business Owners of the future will be expecting their technology investments to deliver.
If you use or are considering a Dynamics GP implementation, then this post is a must read.
Read his full post here