With the release of Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Round 2, you can now reprint the Outstanding Transactions Report after a reconciliation has been completed for any checkbook!!!!

In previous versions of GP, the Outstanding Transactions Report was one of the reports available to print immediately after a checkbook is reconciled. Once printed, there was no way to reprint or recreate the report.

Now, with the release of Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 R2, you CAN reprint the Outstanding Transactions Report!

The Outstanding Transactions Report has been added as an option when a user selects the drop-down arrow under Reports in the Financial Posting Journals window. To open the Financials Posting Journals window, on the Reports menu, point to Financial, and then click Bank Posting Journals:

 
You have the ability to print all Outstanding Transactions Reports, or to restrict the report by Audit Trail Code(s):

Here is an example of the new Outstanding Transactions Report – Reprint:

Please click on the following link for detailed documentation on what’s new in Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 R2 Financials:

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 R2 Financials New Featuresand VIDEO!!


Enjoy!

Andrea

New Analytical Accounting (AA) Features for GP 2013 R2!

By Adam Gaber

Hello AA users!  I am excited to tell you about some great new AA features in Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 R2.

1. AA Pre-Activation Check:  This is a great new feature for new users of AA or current users who need to activate AA in an additional company.  This check will warn you if there are any duplicate records that would cause errors when attempting activation.  In prior versions, users would get an error if duplicates existed after starting the activation process.  Activation can take quite some time and the error message can occur well into the process.  This will save you a lot of time in identifying and correcting any duplicates before starting the activation process.

 2. Copy and Paste from Excel to the GJ Transaction Entry Window:  Another great new feature in this release is the ability to copy and paste a new General Journal entry with Analytical Accounting Alias information from Excel if AA is activated.  This is only available in the General Journal Transaction entry window.  To avoid getting the warning message (Analytical Transaction Entry window has not been opened even once), you will want to be sure to validate any AA transactions prior to saving or posting.  Please refer back to the new GL feature blog for more information on the GL functionality.  This should be a great time saver for those of you who have these entries saved in Excel. 

 3. AA Default Codes from Invoice:  This new feature will automatically default AA transaction dimension codes from the invoice for Payables, POP, Receivables, and SOP account distributions that exist on both the invoice and applied payment or receipt.  Please note that AA codes will not automatically default from the original invoice for Returns or Credit Memos.

These are just three of the many great new features in R2.  Get your upgrade scheduled now!  Please follow the links below for the full details about these and many other new features in R2.  Enjoy!

Please click on the following link for detailed documentation on what’s new in Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 R2 Financials:

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 R2 Financials New Features and VIDEO!! 

We have recently seen an increase in calls of a failed upgrade to Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 R2 for the GLReverseHistYear stored procedure. The issue seems to be caused by having installed Analytical Accounting (AA) at a prior version of Microsoft Dynamics GP but not upgrading it along the way with the other products because AA was no longer needed or wanted, however the KB to remove AA objects was not used to remove AA so there are remnants of AA in the Dynamics and Company databases.

Now if you look in your DYNUTILS.set file in the GP code folder, you will more than likely not see AA listed as you more than likely don’t even have AA installed since you are not AA, so therefore you would not expect Microsoft Dynamics GP Utilities to attempt to update any of the AA objects. 

Since AA is not listed as installed, GP Utilities functions as it should and the AA tables are not being updated.  However, when this stored procedure is being created, the stored procedure is created off of the GL tables and AA tables, and checks them for the Ledger_ID column.

If you are capturing a DexSQL.log during this Upgrade process, you will see the following entry:

create procedure GLReverseHistYear  @YearToOpen INT,  @O_iErrorState INT = NULL OUTPUT  as BEGIN  declare @sql1 NVARCHAR(4000),  @sql2 NVARCHAR(4000),  @sql3 NVARCHAR(4000),  @ColumnName VARCHAR(100),  @l_cBBF     VARCHAR(255),   @l_cPANDL   VARCHAR(255),   @l_cINTERID CHAR(5),  ……

ERROR [Microsoft][SQL Server Native Client 10.0][SQL Server]Invalid column name 'Ledger_ID'.

If AA was previously installed but never was used, you can use the KB Article below to completely remove AA.  Once that is done, during the Upgrade, the stored procedure will no longer see the AA tables and therefore the upgrade will not fail at that point when creating the GLReverseHistYear Stored Procedure because it will not see that the AA tables are missing the ‘Ledger_ID’ column because the AA tables will not exist.

However, if you do use AA or have previously used it in the past and don’t want to lose the data in those tables, you would need to install AA so that it is listed in your DYNUTILS.set file so that the AA tables themselves are upgraded properly.  Then when the GLReverseHistYear stored procedure is created, the AA tables will have the correct table structure, meaning that the Ledger_ID column is added earlier in the upgrade and the stored procedure will see that column during the process of creating that stored procedure and will not cause the upgrade to fail.

I do want to note, that AA needs to be on a version/build of Microsoft Dynamics GP that has a supported upgrade path.  For example, if AA was never upgraded from GP 8 or GP 9 and you are upgrading to Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 from Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010, there is not a valid upgrade path for AA and the only option would be to use the KB to remove AA and start over from the beginning for AA as if it had never been installed.

Two options to resolve this upgrade issue:

1. Option 1: Install Analytical Accounting if you need to retain your AA history or would like to use AA going forward.
   1. Installing Analytical Accounting will then prompt you to upgrade Analytical Accounting which will update your AA tables which will then allow the Stored Procedure to get created successfully.  This will only work however if Analytical Accounting is on a version/build that has a valid upgrade path to the version/build of Microsoft Dynamics GP that you are upgrading to.

2. Option 2: Remove Analytical Accounting if you do not need to retain your AA history and do not plan on using it in GP 2013 R2.
   1. 915903 - Steps to remove Analytical Accounting from a computer that has Microsoft Dynamics GP installed
   2. https://mbs.microsoft.com/knowledgebase/KBDisplay.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;915903

Thanks!
Lance

In case you missed the news, Business Portal 6.1 is now available.  Check it out!

One of the requirements for installing BP 6.1 on SharePoint 2013 is that the Web Application you create must use the ‘2010 experience version’.  When you deploy a Web Application in SharePoint 2013 using the 2010 experience version it will prompt you to upgrade the site with a pink bar across the top of the site.  This pops up EVERY time you visit the site and is quite annoying.  Not only that, but if one of your users takes it upon themselves to click this and upgrade the site it can take down your BP site.

Here is a picture of what I’m talking about:

Luckily, there is an easy way you can stop this notification from appearing when visiting the site!  Use the following PowerShell:

Change the URLHERE to the name of your site (with a port number if it’s not port 80).  So if your BP site is http://servername/bp, you would only put in the http://servername piece.  You can then copy and paste all lines into a text file.  Save the text file to the BP server as a .ps1 file and then run it with administrative privileges.

I hope this helps you prevent any “accidental” upgrades of your Business Portal Web App.  Thank you to my colleague Dan Peltier for collaborating with me on this solution.

As you may know, Office 365 Dashboards are now available with the release of Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 R2. Dashboards consist of four Excel files that are deployed with the main Excel reports. These can be used with your Office 365 Subscription to display your companies data in an attractive and easy format. Here is a link to some more information about this new feature.

https://community.dynamics.com/dynamicbusiness/b/theedge/archive/2014/05/28/introducing-microsoft-dynamics-gp-2013-r2.aspx

If you're thinking of leveraging Dashboards, or you are currently working with them, there are two known issues that we've recently come across with the Dashboards.

In the Sales Dashboard, the last two data connection strings have the TWO sample company hard coded into the SELECT statement. Referencing this screenshot, you'll want to modify these connections to point to your Company data.

Second, in the Purchasing Dashboard, the Pivot table is off by one row. The easiest way to fix this is to update the Dashboard page. Put your cursor in Row Labels to use the formula bar, and update it to =VendorBalance!G6 (the default was G5). You'll need to increase this for all vendors in that column. The last one will be G15.

Once you make these minor tweaks, your shiny new Dashboards should be working great. Big thanks to Jodi Christiansen for assisting with this!

Dan Peltier

With the release of Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Round 2, you can now default the next Asset ID based on Class when a new asset is created!!!

The Default Asset ID from Class feature provides you with an additional option for assigning a default Asset ID value when a new asset is created in the Asset General Information window. One of the new features added with the release of Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 was the ability to define a default Next Asset ID that is automatically incremented for all assets. This was added in the Fixed Assets Company Setup window.

This feature takes that functionality a step further, allowing you to default asset IDs by Class, making them more easily identifiable. For example, users may want all assets in the AUTO class to have a prefix of AUTO. Users can now define the Next Asset ID for each Class in the Class Setup window.

To open the Class Setup window, on the Microsoft Dynamics GP menu, point to Tools, highlight Setup, point to Fixed Assets, and then click Class:

 
With this added functionality, the system will first look to the Class Setup window to get the next asset ID value, if the ‘Default Asset ID from Class’ option is marked. If the option is not marked, then the system will look for the default value from the Fixed Assets Company Setup window. If the option is not marked to use default asset IDs at the company level, then the asset ID defaults as blank in the Asset General Information window.
 
In the Asset General Information window, the Class ID field has been moved above the Asset ID field, and the Master Asset ID field has been moved to the right side of the window under the Status field to allow for the new functionality. To open the Asset General Information window, on the Cards menu, point to Fixed Assets, and then click General:

Please click on the following link for detailed documentation on what’s new in Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 R2 Financials:

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 R2 Financials New Features and VIDEO!!


Enjoy!

Andrea

We have added some new features and windows to the Suggested Item feature.  I will detail these out below:

FEATURE1: Suggestion Analysis

An Analyze button was added to the Suggest Sales Item Maintenance window to allow you to analyze an item and recommend companion items that should be sold with it. This feature adds flexibility by evaluating current sales documents and providing results of what items have been sold together within a certain Date Range and Document Type.

(Cards | Inventory | Item | Suggest Items)

After you click Analyze this will bring you to a new window called Suggested Sales Item Analysis:

When you click the Calculate button a number of things will occur:

• The system will tally the number of items sold on the sales transactions and the number of each companion item sold with that item on each sales transaction in the Date / Documents Range selected. The range may include transactions in the history, work and open tables.
• Once all companion items have been recorded, the system will compute the median for the transaction quantities.
• The median quantity will be returned as the Suggested Quantity as a default quantity. The field will be editable and the user can change the default quantity.
• Inactive and discontinued items will be excluded from analysis.

FEATURE 2: Suggested Sales Item Sales Script

Once you have completed the setup of the Suggested Item, there is a text field available where you can enter a sales script to provide more information on the Suggested Item. This text field will be found on the Suggested Sales Item Maintenance and Suggested Sales Item Analysis windows.

The Sales Script will provide guidance for your sales staff, so they can easily suggest items to add to a customer’s order. This feature will have the potential to increase sales and profitability.

Here is the new feature added to the Suggested Sales Item Maintenance window (Cards | Inventory | Item | Suggest Items)

Here is the feature on the Suggested Sales Item Entry window

FEATURE 3: Additional Information added

Unit Price, Quantity Available, and Quantity to Add fields have been added to the Suggest Sales Item Entry window to improve the suggestion process. Here is an example of what the Suggest Sales Item Entry window looks like with the new fields:

Below you will find more information on how these fields function..

• Unit Price: The Unit Price will be available to the user if the customer asks the price before adding to the document.
• Quantity Available: The user will be able to immediately see if there is quantity available at a specific site.  If it wasn’t available they could either not suggest the item or change it to a different site where they did have quantity available.  Once a site is changed the Quantity Available for that Site will be displayed.
• Quantity to Add: This quantity is calculated by multiplying the “parent” item quantity on the sales order times with the Suggested Quantity for the Suggested Item. Once the user selects OK on the Suggest Sales Item Entry window, the Suggested Item(s) are added to the sales transaction using the Quantity to Add value for each Suggested Item’s Sales Order quantity.

I hope you like the new features that were added to Suggested Items.

A lot of great features for SOP in Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 R2.  Here is more information around the new features in Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 R2.

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 R2 Distribution New Features and VIDEO!!

We have added a new feature/window to Inventory called Assign Items to Multiple Sites. This new feature will allow the user to select an item and assign it to one, multiple or all sites and select key item/site default settings for Site, Item Print Option, Primary Vendor and Landed Cost Group.

To access this new window you will find a Go To off the Item Quantities Maintenance window (Cards | Inventory | Quantities/Sites).

This will open up the new window called Site Item Assignments:

Here you can do the following:

1. You can restrict the Sites that are in the Look up

2. Assign a single site or multiple sites to an Item.

3. Mark an Item/Site inactive

4. Set a Primary Vendor

5. If you are registered for Landed Cost you can select the Landed Cost Group ID.

6. If you are registered for Advanced Distribution you will be able to select your Item Print Options.

In previous versions you would have to manually assign each Item to a Site.  This new feature adds a lot of flexibility

A lot of great features for Inventory in GP 2013 R2.  Here is more information around the new features in GP 2013 R2.

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 R2 Distribution New Features and VIDEO!!

.

We all like it when the word FREE is in the title right?

To all my dear HRP friends who have asked over and over about eLearning for HRP, well, here it is and YOU have been heard!

I was very excited to get the opportunity to work with this team to create an HRP training video, the bad part is you SEE and HEAR me, HA 

It may not be as detailed as some of you want, but it is a start and available for customers and partners, all FREE!!  One of the best ways to understand the benefits of investing in the Dynamics GP 2013 HR and Payroll solution is to dive right in and become educated on how to use the software.

Topics covered:  

• HR & Payroll in Microsoft Dynamics 2013

• HR and Payroll Setup

• Employee Setup for HR and Payroll

• Process Payroll

• HR and Payroll Utilities, Year-End, and Reporting

HR and Payroll in Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013

We are pleased to announce the release of the HR and Payroll in Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 eLearning course available on Microsoft Virtual Academy (MVA) for the entire world!

What is MVA?

Successful technologists never stop learning and great technology never stops evolving. Microsoft Virtual Academy (MVA) offers online Microsoft training delivered by experts to help technologists continually learn, with hundreds of courses, in 11 different languages. Our mission is to help developers, knowledgeable IT professionals and advanced students learn the latest technology, build their skills, and advance their careers.

MVA is free of charge, and the entire service is hosted on Windows Azure.

 

Thank you for your continued support and feedback around Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 – HRP.

Please forward this on to all, enjoy!

Dedicated Microsoft HRP Representative

Terry Heley

We have added some enhancements to the Prepayments featureand Encumbrance Management reporting.  I will document these enhancements below.

Enhancement 1: Payables Payment Zoom

A PO Number field has been added to the Payables Payments Zoom. To open the Payables Payments Zoom window on the Microsoft Dynamics GP menu, point to Inquiry, point to Purchasing, click Transactions by Vendor or Transactions by Document, Select a payment document, and click the Voucher/Payment Number link.

Clicking the PO Number zoom field will take the user to the Purchase Order Inquiry Zoom window where the Prepayment was applied.

Payables Payments Zoom window

The PO Number will only be populated if Prepayments are involved.

Enhancement 2: New Prepayment Integrations.

We have added new Prepayment functionality to include the following modules:

• Multi-dimensional Analysis (MDA)
• Analytical Accounting (AA)
• Project Accounting (PA)
• Cash Flow Management (CFM)

In the previous versions of Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013, Prepayments were automatically disabled if you were Registered for Multi-dimensional Analysis, Analytical Accounting, Project Accounting, and Cash Flow Management.

I will document a bit more detail around these integrations:

MDA Integration

The MDA integration will not block the enablement of the Purchase Order Prepayment. No MDA information can be entered for Prepayments.

Analytical Account Integration

The AA integration will let the user enter dimensional information for the accounts when the prepayment is entered and then will reverse those same dimensions when the prepayment is consumed.

Project Accounting Integration

The Project Accounting Integration will allow the user to enter prepayment information on the purchase order. Currently there is no update or tracking done in Project Accounting in relation to a Payment.

Cash Flow Management Integration

The CFM Integration will include the prepayment information when purchase order transactions are included in the cash flow forecast. This will result in a lower amount due for the purchase order.

The Document Amount in the Cash Flow Explorer window will reflect the Purchase Order total minus the prepayment posted amount. The Total Amount Remaining will reflect this calculation as well.

Enhancement 3: Print from Encumbrance Summary and Detail

A new drop-down arrow has been added next to the Print icon where you can add the Encumbrance Summary Inquiry and Detail Inquiry SSRS report. To open the Encumbrance Summary Inquiry/Detail Inquiry window on the Inquiry menu, point to Purchasing, point to Encumbrance Management, and then click Summary or Detail

Encumbrance Summary Inquiry

Encumbrance Detail Inquiry

You must have SSRS set up in order to see the drop-down arrow icon and print the Encumbrance Summary inquiry and Encumbrance Detail Inquiry SSRS report.

By default, the Report will print as the Standard Report in Report Writer. To change this, you will need to select the drop-down arrow and point to Assign Reports.

Any parameters specified in the inquiry window will be passed to the report, so what you see on the inquiry window is what will print.

A lot of great features for POP in GP 2013 R2.  Here is more information around the new features in GP 2013 R2.

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 R2 Distribution New Features and VIDEO!!

With the release of Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Round 2, there are new Email Features we are excited to share with you!

Receivables Management:

Feature #1 – Print Remaining Documents – Statements:

The Print Remaining Documents – Statements feature was added to allow a user to email and print customer statements at the same time without duplication.

In the past, if a user chose to print statements for a large group of customers, Microsoft Dynamics GP would send a statement for every one of those customers even if some were set up to have statements emailed using Microsoft Word Templates. This would cause unnecessary duplication of some customer statements.

In the previous versions, you could either email all statements or print all statements. It was not possible to do both at the same time.

When the Print Remaining Statements check box is selected and the Email button clicked in the Print Receivables Statements window (Microsoft Dynamics GP >> Tools >> Routines >> Sales >> Statements), Microsoft Dynamics GP will:

1. Generate emails for all customers set up to receive statements via email using Microsoft Word Templates.

2. After all emails have been generated, Microsoft Dynamics GP will then print all remaining statements for customers included in the group who did not receive an email:


 
Feature #2 – Email Address Based on Document Type – Customers:

The Email Address Based on Document Type - Customers feature was added to allow the user to assign specific and/or multiple email addresses to specific Sales Document Types for each Customer.
 
In the previous versions of Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013, if you wanted to send the Receivables Invoice to one email address and the Customer Statement to a different email address, then you would have to modify the email address in the Customer’s Internet Information window.

With the new functionality, when the Enable radio button under Email-Address based on Doc Type is active in the Customer Email Options window (Cards >> Sales >> Customer >> Email button), you can assign specific and/or multiple email addresses by clicking on the Email Address button (ellipsis) next to the document type:


This will open the new Email Address Based On Document Type window, where a user can select the appropriate check box next to each email address or addresses to assign them to that specific document type. It is also possible to assign the same email settings to other document types in the Email Address Based On Document Type window:


 
Payables Management:

Email Address Based on Document Type – Vendors:

The Email Address Based on Document Type - Vendor feature was added to allow you to assign specific and/or multiple email addresses to specific Payables/Purchasing Document Types for each Vendor.

When the Enable radio button under Email-Address based on Doc Type is active in the Vendor Email Options window, you can utilize the new functionality:



A user can assign specific email addresses to a document type, by clicking the Email Address button (ellipsis) next to the document type in the Vendor Email Options window.

When you click on an ellipsis button next to a specific Document Type, GP  will open the new Email Address Based On Document Type window, where you can select the appropriate check box next to each email address or addresses to assign them to a specific document type. It is also possible to assign the same email settings to other document types in the Email Address Based On Document Type window:

Sales Order Processing:

Feature #3 – Print Remaining Documents – Print Sales Documents:

In the Print Sales Documents window, we have changed the way the functionality works regarding the Print Document and Send Document in E-mail options. This new change allows you to email documents in a Range or Batch and print the remaining documents (excluding those you emailed). This removes an extra step of removing the printed copy of the documents that were already sent via email.

Selecting the Destination options for PrintDocument and Send Document in E-mail, the system will attempt to email all documents in the selected range or batch; only then it will print the remaining documents that were not set up for email. To open the Print Sales Documents window on the Transactions menu, point to Sales, and then click Print Sales Documents.

Purchase Order Processing:

Feature #4 – Print Remaining Documents – Print Purchasing Documents:

In the Print Purchasing Documents window, we have changed the way the functionality works regarding the Print Document and Send Document in E-mail options. This new change allows you to email documents in a Range or Batch and print the remaining documents (excluding those that were emailed). This removes an extra step when removing the printed copy of the documents that were already sent via email during this process.

Selecting the Destination options for PrintDocument and Send Document in E-mail will attempt to email all documents in the range or batch; then print all the remaining documents that did not email as part of the range or batch. To open the Print Sales Documents window on the Transactions menu, point to Purchasing, and then click Print Purchasing Documents.

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 R2 Financials New Features and VIDEO!! 

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 R2 Distribution New Features and VIDEO!!

When Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 was released we introduced the new SmartList Designer feature. In Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 R2 we’ve expanded on that functionality to make it even better.

Go Tos:

Starting with Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 R2 you now have the ability to inherit and create Go To objects in SmartList Designer. You can use these objects to drill back from a record returned by your SmartList to a Navigation List, external web page or another SmartList.

To utilize this new feature you can simple click on any existing SmartList that you want to use as a base for your SmartList Designer object and click the New button.

You will see that there is a new Create Go To button is available on the Action Pane.

When you click that you will see each of the Go Tos that were inherited from your base object listed with a Type of Existing.

You can click Add and select the desired Go To type. From there you can provide the name of the Navigation List, SmartList or web page URL that you want to link to. Be sure to specify your Default Go To so a simple double-click action will allow you to drill back on a record.

Please note that when you select an Existing Go To you will only have the option to Delete. This limitation is intended to maintain the integrity of the Go To object that is shared by one or more other SmartLists.

For more information on this feature you can watch the following video:

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 R2 System Wide New Features

http://youtu.be/oLC78MI9dSU

Miscellaneous Enhancements

In addition to add new features the Dynamics GP team reviewed feedback provided by several customers and partners to enhance the SmartList Designer feature. Among those are:

1) Security has been altered so users do not need to be POWERUSER in order to create or view SmartList Designer objects

2) Add/Removing columns in a Favorite created from a SmartList Designer object will now save as they should

3) Date restrictions using non-US regional settings will now return data correctly

For the complete list of fixed items you can review the Install and Fix List documentation for the Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 R2 update (https://mbs.microsoft.com/customersource/northamerica/GP/downloads/service-packs/MDGP2013_PatchReleases)

Hey All! 

As we see more customers upgrading to GP 2013 R2 we noticed the following security roles and tasks are missing:

Security Roles- 

ESS EMPLOYEE MANAGER*   

ESS EMPLOYEE*                   

ESS PTE EMPLOYEE*       

ESS PURCHASE REQUESTER* 

Security Task:

ADMIN_COMPANY_013*      

ADMIN_PURREQ_021*       

ADMIN_SYSTEM_SL06*      

EMP_TIME_EMPLOYEE_001*  

EMP_TIME_MANAGER_001*   

INQ_PURREQ_005*         

PTE_TIME_ENTRY_001*     

RPT_PURREQ_006*              

TRX_PURREQ_026*         

TRX_PURREQ_027*   

This is noted in the Upgrade Instructions manual that you will need to add these on an upgraded install.

A new install will load them for you.

The SCRIPTS will create these missing security roles and tasks for you.

The feature to take a company offline in Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 R2 provides an easy way for administrators to take a company offline in order to perform maintenance or business tasks that require exclusive access to the company, such as a year-end close or an upgrade/update.

While a company is offline, only the user needing to perform the task and administrators can log into the company. Administrators can also provide a default or custom message to users who attempt to login/access a company while it is offline.

Administrators are able to select which companies to take offline and what which users should still have access to the company when it is offline.

With this feature, administrators can also see how many users are currently logged into the companies being taken offline and send those users a message that will be displayed within the Dynamics GP 2013 R2 application.

Messages can be sent as a task reminder of upcoming events like maintenance happening this weekend or pop-up messages asking the user to exit the system, for example.

When the administrator has taken a company offline, current users will be able to stay in the company and continue working, once logged out, however, they will not be able to log back in unless they are a user designated to access the company when it is offline.

The ‘Take Company Offline for Maintenance’ window can be accessed through the Administration area page, selecting ‘Take Company Offline’ under the Utilities section.

When an administrator inserts a company over to the ‘Offline Companies’ side of the window, it will show the number of current users in that company(s). Clicking on the ‘Current Users’ link will open the User Activity window where you can see what users are logged into that company and also gives admins the option to remove those users.

One the bottom of the window is the messaging options. This is what users will see when they attempt to log into an offline company. You can either use the default message, or select Custom and enter your own text.

After selecting a company to be offline, click OK to take the company offline. If users are logged into the now offline company/companies, you will receive the following message. If you click No, the Take Company Offline for Maintenance window will close.

If you click Yes, the Send Message window will open:

In this Send Message window, you can specify which users that are logged into the selected company/companies will receive notification. You can also use the ‘Send Message As…’ options to determine how users will receive that notification.

You can choose from either a Notification Message (for users that are currently logged on) or as a Task with Reminder. Once you enter text for the message that will be delivered to users and click Send, the notification will be sent out.

Specify Offline Company Administrator

When a company is offline, you may specify a single user that will still be able to login to perform the desired maintenance/administration tasks.

This can be done through the Company Setup window, accessed from the Administration area page, under Setup.

In this window, use the ‘User with offline access’ field to specify who is able to log into the offline company and click OK to save changes:

 **Note: If you attempt to delete the user who has access to an offline company, you will receive the following:

     “You are not able to delete this user because they are assigned as the user that can log into a company when it is offline. Change the user allowed to log into an offline company and then you can delete this user.”

Login Experience

Non-Administrative Users:

Users that log into Dynamics GP and look at the Company Login window will see that the name of the offline company will be changed to reflect its status:

 If the user attempts to log into an offline company, an offline company is the only company the user has access to, or if the user is setup to automatically log into a company that is offline at the time, the user will see a notification that the company is offline:

Administrative Users:

If the user logging into an offline company is in the ‘sysadmin’ SQL Server role, the POWERUSER security role, or has been given permission to access the company when it is offline, they will see the following warning message when they select an offline company. If the admin user chooses Yes, they will be able to login to the offline company.

 Hopefully this feature will help life easier for administrators with taking companies offline, knowing what users are currently showing as logged into a company as they're trying to take it offline and to let users know when a company is currently offline or scheduled to be offline at a certain time.

For those of you that have already upgraded to GP 2013 R2, I’m sure that you have noticed the new Ribbon feature, which is also known as the Action Pane. For those that haven’t, I think you are missing out on a cool feature that gives you a more graphical/refreshed look at your list of options versus compared to the old Menu Bar. It is a definitely a change from what you are used to seeing in GP, but we hope that it’s one that users will easily adapt to. Please see the list below for more changes that you will see in the GP 2013 R2 Ribbon. I also want to mention that after an upgrade or an install of GP 2013 R2 you will, by default, see the Action Pane.

1. You will now see the name of the company database and the user that is logged into GP in the Title Bar of any Window that you open within GP (See screen shot below for an example).
   
   
   
   

2. The File/Edit/Tools…etc menus have been placed in the ribbon.

3. The Holds, User_Defined, Distributions and Commissions buttons that used to exist at the bottom of the Window now exist in the Ribbon.
   
   
4. You will also see that the Windows Note, Help, OK and Cancel…etc buttons are located in the Ribbon in the Windows that contain them.
   
   
5. If you are looking to tab through the buttons on the Ribbon, they will come after the last field in the Window.

If for some reason you don’t want to use the Action Pane or users are having a hard time getting used to the new look and feel, there are two other display options to choose from. Your other options are Action Pane Strip and Menu Bar. It is very easy to change to those other options, just follow the steps below. It is a global change so it will apply to all companies.

1. Login to GP.
   
   
2. Click the Microsoft Dynamics GP Menu.
   
   
3. Select ‘User Preferences’.
   
   
4. Click the drop down arrow next to Window Command Display and you will see your three options (Action Pane, Action Pane Strip and Menu Bar).
   
   
5. Make your selection click the ‘OK’ button. The placement of the ‘OK’ button will depend on which option you currently have selected.
   
6. You will have to log out of GP and log back in before you will see the changes. Below is a screen shot of what you will see in the User Preferences Window.

I’ve also included screen shots of each display option. Please see below. I used the Sales Transaction Entry Window for my example. 

ACTION PANE

ACTION PANE STRIP

MENU BAR

I hope that you all enjoy this new GP 2013 R2 feature!!

Please continue to check out our Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 R2 Upgrade Blog Series Schedule for the remaining blogs!

Scale Groups are a very interesting feature for the Web Client. Though the idea for its creation came to fill in a need for our partners hosting the Web Client, it does have practical application in On Premise installations as well.

In its simplest sense, it is a mechanism to affect the routing to a specific Session Host or group of Session Hosts. It has a one to many relationship with both Session Hosts and Tenants.

When Web Client was initially released, it was not uncommon to see the following environment:

With this environment, you would set up the location of the Dynamics GP client in Tenant Services that would be deployed to each Session Host. This worked perfectly fine until you needed more than 51 Dynamics GP clients. Once more than 51 Dynamics GP clients were needed, this model no longer was viable. The environment then needed to change to this:

As you can see, a second Web Server needed to be spun up to handle the next 51 GP Clients. This creates some very challenging scenarios for the administrators when troubleshooting multiple deployment environments.

This is the design challenge that is overcome with Scale Groups for the Web Client. The multiple environment above can now be designed as:

One functional change was made to validation of the user entered on the Logon.aspx page. The Authorize() method is now called from the Web Server versus the Session Host. This will allow for the user to be routed to the correct Session Host when it comes time to create a session.

When it comes to setup for Scale Groups, this is all done through PowerShell. This includes the creation of a Scale Group, defining the relationship between a Scale Group and a Tenant, defining the relationship between a Scale Group and Session Host, and everything in between. To this end, a GP PowerShell application has been created and can be deployed from the media. It does have a requirement that PowerShell 3.0 be deployed before it can be installed.

With the GP PowerShell application, 17 cmdlets have been created to help. Here is the list of those cmdlets:

• Scale Group PowerShell cmdlets
  • Get-GPScaleGroup
  • New-GPScaleGroup
  • Update-GPScaleGroup
  • Remove-GPScaleGroup
• Session Host PowerShell cmdlets
  • Get-GPSessionHost
  • Update-GPSessionHost 
  • Remove-GPSessionHost
•  Scale Group \ Tenant PowerShell cmdlets
  • Get-GPScaleGroupTenant
  • Add-GPScaleGroupTenant
  • Update-GPScaleGroupTenant
  • Remove-GPScaleGroupTenant
• Session Host \ Tenant PowerShell cmdlets
  • Get-GPSessionHostTenant
  • Update-GPSessionHostTenant
• Miscellaneous PowerShell cmdlets

• Get-GPSessions
• Get-GPSessionCentralAddress
• Set-GPSessionCentralAddress
• Get-GPWebClientVersion

Information on the intent of each cmdlet and its syntax (including the required and optional parameters) can be found by running a Get-Help.  For example, you could run Get-Help Remove-GPScaleGroup and the following result would be displayed:\

With all of this information, hosting partners will likely leverage this feature in their deployments. It allows you to create a more customized environment where the needs of a customer can be tailored to their situation. An example of this would be two tenants (Tenant A and Tenant B) are part of the same Scale Group (Scale Group 1). Tenant A is heavily using the system and because of this usage, Tenant B is seeing performance issues. You can move Tenant B to another Scale Group (which would be a different Session Host than what they were using in Scale Group 1) to help rectify the situation.

Lastly, I discussed that this can be used in an On Premise environment. I have seen customer set up a multitenant environment for a number of reasons. It could be:

1. There are multiple reports.dic
2. There are multiple product configurations that need to be in place within the Dynamics.set
3. A training environment is set up so that a user can become familiar with the systems and with the data without negatively affecting that data when practicing
4. A development\test environment has been set up

For #1 and #2, each tenant can only specify one Dynamics.set and one Dex.ini. With multiple reports.dic, each unique Dynamics.set in which the path to the reports.dic resides would need to be its own tenant.

It is with #3 and #4 where Scale Groups would have an impact. You could have your production environment on one scale group with it set of Session Hosts and your development\test\training environment on another scale group with its set of Session Hosts. Since a Session Host can only belong to one Scale Group, the actions performed on the development\test\training environment won't adversely affect the performance of production.

Though this feature may not fit every scenario where Web Client is installed, it is good to understand the flexibility that Tenant Services and Scale Groups provides so that your environment can be designed to take advantage of the features if a future need dictates its usage. 

I wanted to help with the understanding of limited users. Limited Users are setup just like normal users in GP in the User Setup window (GP>>Tools>>Setup>>System>>User). If users are only logging into GP to use the new self-service functionality or for “read-only” access as many times what security admins want, you might consider setting them up as a limited user type.

With enhancements made to GP2013 R2, there are 2 user counters in GP (one for limited and one for Full) and they are both concurrent (not named). As I mentioned you would set up a Limited User just as you would a Full user at GP>>Tools>Setup>System>>User and set the user up as “Full” or “Limited” in the drop down field “User Type”.  You would only want to set up a limited user if you want them to view inquiries and reports in GP or to use just the new self-service functionality.

The Limited User would log into GP, just as they would a normal GP user but when they log in, the user count would tract against the limited user counter.

New enhancements were also made to the limited user functionality, where GP performs a security check for the resource itself and also that the resource is available to a limited user. This feature will restrict the Limited user to only access things such as inquiry windows, reports, navigation lists, SmartLists, etc. All reporting is available to the Limited Users. (Report Writer and SQL Reporting Services)  Limited Users are prevented from accessing windows used to update data, however the exception being certain self-service windows where the user can only affect data pertaining to themselves.  The Limited User cannot be member of the PowerUser Security Role. If you assign the PowerUser security role to the user, you will receive a message, “This user has been assigned access to the POWERUSER security role and cannot be defined as a Limited Type. Review the security that has been setup for this user. When you click the OK button, the user type is set back to Full.

In the Security Task Setup window, you will see a new icon in the operations section of the window next to the operations available. The icon denotes windows that are available to limited user types.

Both Full and Limited are concurrent users, so if you have 150 users that would need to log into GP for example, you would need to gage how many Limited users and then how many Full users might be logged in at the same time when deciding how users you might need. Both Full and Limited users can be purchased and prices are on the Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Price list here.

I just want to note that there is a “Limited User” that is available in GP 2013 prior to R2, however the Limited User is not functional until GP 2013 SP2. The issue prior to SP2 is that if you create a limited user and then assign them one or more of the 'LIMITED USER' security roles that are available in the User Security window, when the limited users attempt to login to Dynamics GP 2013, it won't let them in and gives an error that maximum number of users are in the system.

The only work-around is to assign the limited user a regular security role, but this will give them full permissions to everything that security role gives them access to, which isn't a true “Limited User” or upgrade to SP2 or later in which this issue has been resolved.

Just by setting the user as a 'limited' user in the User Setup window doesn't make it completely a limited user if you're not assigning it only the 'Limited User' security roles.

In GP 2013 R2, they made changes to the Limited User as I have mentioned earlier, in which the code does a double check on the resources that are available to the assigned security role and then checks again to see if the resources are available to the Limited User.

Check out the Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 R2 System Wide New Features video for more information on the limited user type.

Thanks!
Lance

We have been getting a lot of requests from partners excited about the new Self Service functions introduced in Dynamics GP 2013 R2.  Partners are asking what type of licensing is required for a customer to use these features. In order to use the new self-service functions added to R2 right now, a user must be able to login to GP whether it be on the Web client or the Desktop client at least as a Limited user.  Several Self Service tasks were built into core GP including: Requisition Management, Employee Self Service, and Project Time.

Here are brief descriptions of each:

• Requisition Management- In Dynamics GP2013 R2 Purchase Requisitions lets a user enter a requisition.  The requisition ties in with Purchase Order Processing functionality and is workflow enabled. 

• Employee Self Service - In Dynamics GP2013 R2, you can enter timecards and enter time on behalf of a user directly in Dynamics GP.  Deployed on either web client or desktop client and integrated with workflow, employees can submit a timecard or recall a previously submitted timecard.

• Project Time-  Project Time allows users to enter time against projects and incorporates full workflow functionality. Users will be able to view the timesheet document as it flows through the approvals system, and recall and edit documents prior to approval completion.

If users are only logging into GP to use any of these functions, you might consider setting them up as a limited user type.

With enhancements made to GP2013 R2, there are 2 user counters in GP (one for Limited and one for Full) and they are both concurrent with perpetual licensing (not a named user). You would setup a GP user at Microsoft Dynamics GP > Tools> Setup> System> User and set the user up as “Full” or “Limited”.  You would likely want to setup users that would only access these Self Service functions in GP (if the user is not also using GP for other reasons) as Limited users. When they log into GP they would track against the Limited user counter. Limited users also have access to reports and inquiries.

Additional enhancements were made to the limited user functionality in GP 2013 R2: There is a security check for the resource itself and also that the resource is available to a limited user. This feature will restrict the Limited user to only access things such as inquiry windows, reports, navigation lists, SmartLists, etc.  Windows that allow users to create or update any data will not be available.  The exception to this are Self Service windows that allow the user to read, write or update information pertaining only to that user.  Check out the Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 R2 System Wide New Features video for more information on the limited user type.

Both Full and Limited are concurrent users so if you have 150 users that would need to logging in to GP for example only to enter payroll time, you would need to gauge how many might be logged in at a time when deciding how many concurrent limited users you might need. Both Full and Limited users can be purchased and prices are on the Microsoft Dynamics GP2013 Price List.  For technical presales assistance or an advisory request, feel free to email: napa@microsoft.com to reach a partner technical consultant.

For more information on the Transition Upgrade Policy, see the document at the link below. Appendix A has a detailed chart:

Transition Upgrade Policy 

To summarize, most users that are going to take advantage of these functions and aren’t using Dynamics GP for other reasons, would be looking at ensuring they have Limited users.

*** FUTURE (COMING SOON) We are also building out Companion Apps for certain Self Service functions such as Procurement and Time Management. These cross platform apps will enable “on the go” users to use their favorite device.

*** For SPLA licensing, a limited user is also needed to access these functions in Dynamics GP. SPLA users are named unlike the concurrent users for perpetual licensing.

Links to other licensing documents:

Microsoft Dynamics SMB SPLA Licensing Guide

Licensing Guide

On July 14, 2014 the Canada Revenue Agency announced a change for Ontario. The proposed changes are retroactive to January 1, 2014, and the revised tables reflect prorated tax rates to allow employers to withhold the correct additional amounts from employees. The changes to the tables apply to employees who earn more than $150,000 in 2014.
Due to complexities and timing, employers will not face penalties for failing to withhold as a result of the Ontario budget measures introduced late in July.

Microsoft will release an update with these changes by the end of August, 2014.
All notifications will be posted on these two sites based on version.

2010

https://mbs.microsoft.com/customersource/northamerica/GP/downloads/tax-regulatory-updates/cagptuye2010

2013

https://mbs.microsoft.com/customersource/northamerica/GP/downloads/tax-regulatory-updates/cagptuye2013

To expedite the release process, we have decided to release this as a chunk (.cnk) file over a full install (.msp) file.  What risk this will pose to us is the customer needs to be on the latest buildof GP 2010 and GP 2013 in order to install this chunk file.  For GP 2013 customers, this means they need to be on GP 2013 R2 to apply this tax update.

Versions that are required:

GP2010 for the March Tax Release 2014 (Core version = 11.0.2320 and CanPay Version = 11.0.2322)

GP2013 for the R2 release (Core version = 12.0.1745 and CanPay Version = 12.0.1701)

Once you have installed the MSP to be on the above version, then you may chunk in the changes for September which are only for Ontario.

I hope to release this in the next two/three weeks, with this chunk file release, there will be no translations for French around this change.

It is very important in order for taxes to work correctly the customer be on the correct installs noted above.

This change will also be rolled up into any later releases (.msp) installs for the specific version.

Never a dull moment when it comes to payroll!

Thanks

Terry

We've received various questions regarding the Workflow 2.0 functionality that is new to Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 R2 (12.00.1745 and above) and wanted to provide an overview to maybe address some of these questions.                                            

In this new Workflow 2.0 functionality, we currently have four (4) total workflow types:     

• Requisition Entry

This workflow type will allow you to setup a Requisition Management workflow similar to that of the Requisition Management feature currently available in Business Portal. You can use both this new Requisition Entry workflow and Requisition Management in Business Portal at the same time, if you're currently using Business Portal and Requisition Management and either already on or thinking about moving to Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 R2.                        

• Payroll Time Card Entry

• Project Time & Expense Timesheet Entry

• Purchase Order Entry

This workflow type is replacing the Purchase Order Approval workflow type currently available in the Microsoft Dynamics GP Workflow web application that runs on SharePoint.                     

Because of this, if you're currently using the Dynamics GP Workflow web application and are using the Purchase Order Approval workflow type, and you are currently on or moving to Dynamics GP 2013 R2, you then MUST be using the new Workflow 2.0's version of the Purchase Order Entry workflow, and cannot also be using the Dynamics GP Workflow's version at the same time. That being said, if you are using any other workflow types in Dynamics GP Workflow web application running on SharePoint, you would continue to use the Dynamics GP Workflow application running on SharePoint even when running on Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 R2.              

How this is done is that in Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 R2, there are separate setup windows for the new Workflow 2.0 functionality and the original Dynamics GP Workflow web application.  To use the new Workflow 2.0 functionality and any of the four (4) available workflow types available, the setup is done via the following setup windows:                                                                                                                                  

1. Tools > Setup > System > Workflow Setup

The Workflow Setup window is used to setup e-mail options for Workflow 2.0. After marking the 'Enable E-Mail for Workflow' option, you must enter the e-mail address, Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) server, and authentication information for an e-mail account so you can send e-mail notifications.  While Web Services for Dynamics GP is required when using the Dynamics GP Workflow web application that runs on SharePoint, Web Services is optional when using Workflow 2.0 and is only needed if you want approvers to be able to perform actions, such as approving or rejecting, directly from e-mail notifications.             

                       

2. Tools > Setup > Company > Workflow > E-mail Message Setup

This window is used to create messages that you can send to notify a user when a workflow step is assigned or an originator when a workflow action is completed. You can also use and customize default messages that are already available by adding fields that are associated with a document type or workflow. For example, you could add the action deadline or comments from the originator of a purchase order approval.  

                          

3. Tools > Setup > Company > Workflow > Workflow Calendar

This window is used to determine the deadline for activity assignments made for workflow steps. You can define the company's typical work days and work times each day, as well as holidays or other exceptions to the days listed as typical work days. This window is similar to the Workflow Calendar available in the Dynamics GP Workflow web application.                                 

4. Tools > Setup > Company > Workflow > Workflow Maintenance

This window is used to define and configure Workflow 2.0 for Microsoft Dynamics GP processes. For example, you can create and configure a workflow, configure workflow steps, activate and inactivate a workflow and setup managers and approvers for the workflows.

To continue to use the Dynamics GP Workflow web application that runs on SharePoint, when using any other workflow types besides the Purchase Order Approval workflow, even when on Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 R2, you will use the 'Workflow Setup for SharePoint' window, which is found via the Tools > Setup > Workflow for SharePoint path. This window looks exactly like the original Workflow Setup window used in prior versions of Microsoft Dynamics GP:

The 'New Workflow in Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 R2' blog can be found at this link, which also has a link to the Workflow 2.0 document:                                                                                                      
https://community.dynamics.com/gp/b/dynamicsgp/archive/2014/06/05/new-workflow-in-microsoft-dynamics-gp-2013-r2.aspx

Hopefully this will help clarify some questions related to the new Workflow 2.0 functionality available and new to Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 R2 (12.00.1745 and later) and the use of the Dynamics GP Workflow web application as well, especially regarding the use of the Purchase Order Approval workflow type.