Category Archives: GP Functionality

GP 2013 Home Page (Re)Design Horrors

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Well, I could understand what you might think after reading the title of this post AND if you had read my previous post on GP 2013 Home Page Redesign.

I did admit that the redesign was kind of great for users. Ian Grieve had commented back with an important #FAIL factor of this redesign.

With that #FAIL factor, I just got one more to crib about. So lets list it:

  • You cannot scroll within a frame. You MUST rely on mouse clicks(or a trackpad). You have no other option. (Thanks Ian, for your feedback with this point).

UPDATE (GP2013 SP1): Looks like this one’s fixed. You can indeed scroll within a frame using a standard mouse scroll wheel or a trackpad’s scrolling functionality. It’s a welcome fix.

  • If you ever want to realign the frames of a module (for instance Manufacturing), you can. But wait, that would stay ONLY TILL THAT SESSION IS ACTIVE. Once you log out from GP and log on back, your realignment is gone. Poof!!!

I am sure it is going to be highly irritating for users who rely mostly on GP home page.

And with that above statement, I now reverse my opinion on my first post.

VAIDY

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Canada is Phasing Out Penny – How it affect GP Transactions?

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Canada is so bold in phasing out Penny from its coinage. It is a very bold move. But how does it affect Microsoft Dynamics GP? How customers could adapt to this new situation?

Microsoft Dynamics GP Support team has answers to it. Read their post on their blog: Phasing out Penny in Canada.

Very informative and important post.

VAIDY

Caps Lock Reminder – For Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013

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I had developed a small customisation module which would alert users while logging on to Dynamics GP with CapsLock key on. You can read more about it here: GP Login Form – Caps Lock Reminder Update.

That customisation was developed using Modifier with VBA. But with Dynamics GP 2013, much emphasis has been given to the new Web Client. Which means, all our VBA code logic won’t be supported by web client.

That said, I have now converted my code from VBA to VS Tools (using C#.Net as programming language). Those who are interested can download it FOR FREE from following link:

CapsLockMessage-12.0.0.1.dll

Instructions to use:

  1. Copy this DLL file and paste it on to GP AddIns folder (can be located inside GP 2013 application folder).
  2. Ask users to log out and log on back.
  3. If you do not need this tool anymore, just remove this DLL from AddIns folder, after all users log out.
  4. This can be used safely in production environment. This tool doesn’t interfere in any of your day-to-day transactional activities. The scope of this is restricted only to GP login form.

Your feedback is always welcome.

VAIDY

Possibility of Changing Account Format of COA

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Over at Dynamics GP Support and Services Blog, Andrea Melroe describes on possibility of changing the account format of COA, rules involved, limitations and more important factors.

Excellent post and I am sure many GP customers and partners can learn a thing or two from this all important post.

VAIDY

Field Service Setup Menu in Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013

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Has anyone noticed a subtle but highly logical change in Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 menu structure?

Field Service Setup menu was grouped under Project till GP 2010. The path to access Service, Return, Contract setup menus was Microsoft Dynamics GP -> Tools -> Setup -> Project; which quite honestly did not make any sense. You are accessing Field Service setup, but from under the name Project…!?!?!?!?!?

Good folks at MSFT (and/or original developers of Field Service) might have sensed it, so now the setup menu items are logically structured under Field Service.

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I am happy to say the least. Because, if you want to access Field Service setup windows from GP home page, it was not possible till GP 2013. Now that’s also been fixed.

Small change, but a BIG difference it has made. Thanks MSFT & Field Service Team, for this.

VAIDY

Importance of PO Line Item Entry Dates

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How many of you, PO users, use the following dates on a PO Line Item Detail Entry window in Dynamics GP?

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GP defaults all appropriate fields with User Date, but user can change it with actuals.

These dates are not mere dates. They offer critical means to improve vendor followups. And this could be done per PO line item. For instance, you can create a SmartList custom alert and add it on your GP home page (Reminder Cue) for those PO line items whose Current Promised Date is reached & PO line status is not Closed, Received or Cancelled.

It’s a pain, though, to make this dates entry happen. In my case, users always would say that it’s too much of a data entry and they already have something else as followup mechanism. But trust me, they are fooling themselves (first) and the company overall.

VAIDY

Document Attachment in Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013

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I am a bit late on this topic. We already have many posts (including Feature of the Day – Inside Microsoft Dynamics GP) on this written by several community members. So instead of repeating it again, I am just adding pointers here to those posts.

To just brief what it is: Document Attachment is a new feature in Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013, which would enhance the way we currently deal with document attachments on a record. If you had sensed it right, yes it’s almost like OLE Notes, but much more than that.

This scores above OLE Notes, purely on grounds of three main factors:

  1. It doesn’t restrict itself to 32 bit architecture, like OLE notes container does.
  2. It is compatible with Web Client, but OLE notes is not.
  3. It stores the attachments on company specific SQL tables. You heard it right. It stores on database by harnessing SQL Server’s file stream, if I am not wrong.

More information about this (and how to use) could be read on below posts:

VAIDY

OLE Notes & GP 2013 Web Client – Mariano

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It’s a bit hard to take it, but reality being the OLE Notes attachment feature won’t work on GP 2013 Web Client for current technical reasons.

Read his post here: OLE Notes and Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Web Client

That brings to us a new feature called Document Attachment in Dynamics GP 2013. This can be used instead of OLE Notes. It looks just perfect for me to start using it instead of OLE. Not just because of the incompatibility with web client, but also due to it’s robust features.

More can be read in my next post and also Mariano’s.

VAIDY

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 – Feature Videos

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Awesome way to learn what’s new in Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013.

Inside Microsoft Dynamics GP (official GP blog) has posted a list of all Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Feature videos.

I personally checked out some videos and it’s highly informative, but have not gone thru’ the entire collection though.

Go ahead and explore the videos. I am sure you will start planning to optimise some of your business processes after seeing these new features.

VAIDY

Inactivate a User – Dynamics GP 2013

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You can now inactivate a user in Dynamics GP 2013 temporarily. This is a feature addition to User Management in GP.

There is a new field called *Status* which is a Dropdown List. Contains 3 statuses namely, Active, Inactive & Lesson User.

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When a user status is set to Inactive, that user cannot log on to GP but will retain his/her access when activated again. We can still manage access information of an inactive user. Upon his/her next login, the modified access information will get into effect.

When a user status is set to Lesson User, that user can access ONLY Fabrikam Inc. (sample company).

Cool, isn’t it…!!!

VAIDY