gptip42day - Purchase Order Receipt Tolerance

Do you wonder why GP allows you to over-receive against a PO?  So do the rest of us.  In my opinion, this is a shortcoming that is basic to exercising adequate control over the purchasing process. 

However, if you do need that functionality in your business, Microsoft Business Solutions (MBS) Professional Services, does offer a customization (at a fairly nominal cost) they call 'PORECTOL', or PO Receipt Tolerance.  This easy-to-install customization provides the ability to set a tolerance for excess receipts against your POs.  You can choose a zero tolerance or some reasonable low tolerance which prevents receiving in excess of the tolerance you set.

For more information, contact MBS Professional Services through your GP Partner.

gptip42day - Account Framework

Just a tip to remind you that if you or your consulting team are installing a new instance of GP, make sure you allow for expansion in your account segments.  I have a client that wants to change their accounts from a 3-segment to a 4-segment number to add a division code at the beginning of the number.  Unfortunately, the consultant who set the account framework at installation 2 years ago didn't allow for expansion in the account segments.  See below -

Tools>Setup>Company>Account Format

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Currently, the Main segment is the first segment of the account, which has a Max Length of 4 characters.  However, we want to make the first segment the Division code and the second segment the Main segment.  Note that the Max Length in the second segment is 3, and we need 4 characters for the Main segment.   The Max Length is set during account framework setup and can't be changed without using either the PSTL Account Modifier or Corporate Renaissance Group's Reformatter, neither of which comes free.

Making the Max Length in each segment longer during initial framework setup would have prevented this.  It would have just been a matter of setting the segment length to the desired values.

gptip42day - Default Sales Transaction Type

Are you annoyed that every time you want to enter an invoice in the Sales Transaction Entry window, you have to manually change the Transaction Type?  Here's how to avoid that annoyed . . .

Tools>Setup>User Preferences (GP9 & Previous)

MDGP>User Preferences (GP10)

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Set the Default Sales Doc Type to 'Invoice' and there you go.  Note that this setting is by user, not global.  This allows each user to determine the Sales Doc Type that works best for them.

gptip42day - FRx Security

Here's another FRx tip, courtesy of one of the GP forums.  When setting up security in FRx, make sure that the usernames and passwords in FRx match GP usernames and passwords EXACTLY.  The reason for this is that FRx has its own security module that does not communicate with GP security.  When using FRx security, there are actually two validations that occur - one in FRx and one in SQL.  If the FRx username and password isn't exactly the same as the GP credentials, access to SQL will fail because SQL access is granted via GP credentials.

Also, if a GP user changes their username or password in GP, you must manually update their FRx credentials to match or SQL validation will fail the next time they try to login to FRx.

This isn't an issue if you're not using FRx security because the only validation that occurs in that case is the SQL validation, which uses the GP credentials.

gptip42day - Restricting FRx Row Results to Specific Columns

Let's say you have a statistic, perhaps 'Employee Headcount' from a unit account that you want to appear on your FRx Profit and Loss Statement but you want the headcount to appear in only one column, not in all the columns on the report.  Here's how to set that up -

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Placing the column in which you want the headcount to appear in the 'G' Column of the report Row Format tells FRx that you want that data to appear only in that column.  If you want the data to appear in multiple columns, enter those columns separated by commas, i.e., C, G, J.

gptip42day - SmartList GoTo

It's a pretty safe bet that anyone who uses SmartList knows that you can double click any record in the results pane and drill into the underlying document.  However, did you know you can use the Go To button to access windows other than the default window?

Here's how - SmartList provides a number of related windows that are available by clicking on the Go To button in the upper right corner of the SmartList window.  For instance, look at all the other windows available for Receivings Line Items. 

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SmartList is a great jumping-off point for data inquiry and transaction processing.  Before GP10 and its Lists, I used to advise clients that they might want to use SmartList as their primary navigation tool for daily GP tasks.

gptip42day - Year End Close - Sales

Closing the Fiscal Year in Sales updates Year-to-Date, Last Year, and Life-to-Date information in the Customer Payment Summary window and Customer Yearly Summary Inquiry window.

Closing the Calendar Year does not affect amounts in those windows but does update information in the Customer Finance Charge Summary window.

In preparation to close the Fiscal Year -

1.  Post all transactions for the current Fiscal Year.  If you need to enter transactions for a future period before closing the year, save the transactions in a batch but don't post it until after closing the Fiscal Year.

2.  Backup the company database.

3.  Perform a Receivables Aging (Tools>Routines>Sales>Aging) and print an Historical Aged Trial Balance as of the last day of the Fiscal Year.  Keep this report for your records.

4.  Close the Fiscal Year.  If your Fiscal and Calendar Years coincide, choose the 'All' radio button in the Year-End Close window.  If not, choose the 'Fiscal' radio button.  Click 'Process'.

Tools>Routines>Sales>Year-End Close

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5.  Close the Fiscal Periods for the Sales series (optional).  Tools>Setup>Company>Fiscal Periods.

6.  Close the sales tax periods for the year (optional).  When you close the Tax Year, accumulated totals in the Tax Detail Maintenance window are cleared and transferred to last year's tax totals.  (Note - you should close the Tax Year only after both Sales & Purchasing series are closed.)

Tools>Setup>Company>Tax Details

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Year-to-date tax totals can then be added for the new Tax Year.  Tax amounts entered after closing the Tax Year are added to the new year's totals.   

Tools>Routines>Company>Tax Year-End Close

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Refer to GP Help for further information on the effects of closing the Tax Year.

7.  If your Fiscal and Calendar Years do not coincide, close the Calendar Year at calendar year-end.  Post your Calendar Year transactions, backup your company database, then choose the 'Calendar' radio button and click 'Process'.

Tools>Routines>Sales>Year-End Close

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8.  Make a final backup of your company database.

Tomorrow we'll look at closing the Purchasing series, a process which is very similar to the Sales series close.

gptip42day - Year End Close - Inventory

Closing an Inventory Fiscal year transfers summarized current-year information to history. You can also choose to remove Discontinued Items, Sold Lot Attributes, Sold Receipts and Cost Change History, and change your Standard Costs to prepare for the new year.

Be aware that changing Standard Costs DOES NOT create a financial batch to reflect the inventory valuation change in your general ledger. This entry must be prepared manually by referring to pre- and post-close Stock Status reports to determine the valuation change.

In preparation for closing the year –

1. Enter and post all transactions for Sales Order Processing, Invoicing, Purchase Order Processing, Inventory Control, Bill of Materials, Project Accounting, Field Service, Manufacturing - any transaction that might affect inventory.

2. If needed, complete a Stock Count, then enter and post any adjustments.

3. Print the following reports for your permanent records.

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4. Make a complete backup of your company data.

5. Open the Inventory Year-end Closing window.

Tools>Routines>Inventory>Year-End Close

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6. Choose records to remove. You can remove records for discontinued items, sold lot attributes, and sold receipts and historical cost changes, as needed. For more detailed information on these items, refer to GP Help.

7. To update Standard Costs for items with FIFO Periodic or LIFO Periodic valuation methods, check 'Item’s Standard Cost'.

8. Click ‘Process’ to close the year.

Note - While the year-end closing is in process, you won’t be able to post transactions or batches, reconcile quantities, change valuation methods, or change decimal places. If you attempt to begin one of these procedures, an alert message will appear, warning you that you must wait until the year-end closing process has been completed.

9. After you’ve closed the year, you should make a final backup of your company data.

The effects of closing the year in Inventory are as follows –

- All summarized current-year quantities, costs, and sales information of items you’ve been keeping summarized sales history on are transferred to transaction history.

- The Beginning Quantity of each item is updated from the On Hand quantity at each site. (Some reports—such as the Turnover Report—use the beginning quantity field in calculations.)

- The Quantity Sold field for each item is reset to zero.

Depending on the selections made in the Inventory Year-End Closing window, these tasks might also be accomplished –

- Purchase receipts of items that have been completely sold are removed.

- Cost change history information is removed.

- Discontinued items that have been completely sold are removed.

- Lot attributes of items tracked by lot numbers that have been completely sold are removed.

- Standard Costs are updated from the value in the Current Cost field for items using FIFO or LIFO Periodic valuation method.

Note again, that updating Standard Costs DOES NOT create a financial batch. Print a pre- and post-close Stock Status report to determine the valuation change. Then create a manual journal entry to post the difference.

Tomorrow we'll look at Closing the Sales year.