Over the last two or three years the VAT rate in the UK has changed three times; temporarily down to 15% from 17.5% and then back up a year later before a permanent rise in January 2011. On each occasion we issued advice to customers on how to handle these changes within Microsoft Dynamics GP; there were two ways for them to make the change; either create a new Tax Detail or amend the existing one. Personally I recommended the former as it is somewhat cleaner; you can tell at a glance what the VAT rate will be without the need to check the date the invocie was registered. If the latter option was taken users needed to remember which rate is effective on what date during the cross over period which means lots of scope for errors. Continue reading “Feature Explained: Date Effective Tax Rates”
Microsoft Dynamics GP: One Key To Rule Them All
In Microsoft Dynamics GP, one key to rule them all: the F1 key;
Continue reading “Microsoft Dynamics GP: One Key To Rule Them All”
The Roots of Microsoft Dynamics GP: Where Have All the Accountants Gone?
Mark Polino has an article titled The Roots of Microsoft Dynamics GP: Where Have All the Accountants Gone? on MS Dynamics World where he questions the growing number of people with a technology background, rather than an accountancy background, now involved with Microsoft Dynamics GP.
I have to admit to being one of these technology people; I started life as a developer before moving to support and finally into consultancy, implementation and training with some pre-sales thrown in on the side.
Mark is a CPA who now implements GP; I’m implementing GP and am thinking about getting myself a qualification from one of the accountancy bodies here in the UK. As time has passed I have collected a fair amount of knowledge and understanding of accountancy practices and think it would be beneficial if I expanded upon and certified this knowledge.
My current problem is that there are so many certification bodies in the UK that I am having problems choosing which one to go for! Do I go for the Association of Accounting Technicians, Chartered Institute of Management Accountants or the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants or one of the others?
If anyone reading would like to offer suggestions then please comment below.
ODBC For Microsoft Dynamics GP on Windows Server 2008 R2
When installing Microsoft Dynamics GP on an x64 OS such as Windows Server 2008 R2 the Data Sources (ODBC) in Control Panel cannot be used as this will create an x64 data source whereas Microsoft Dynamics GP will only work with an x86 data source.
An x86 ODBC connection can be created by using the Data Sources (ODBC) which is located in %windir%\syswow64\odbcad32.exe. You can navigate to it using Windows Explorer or by using the Windows Run command;
Resetting the dynsa password
I was working on a client’s system the other day and discovered that no-one knew the dynsa password. Bearing in mind my minor crusade to get clients to stop giving the SQL sa password to the GP administrator, instead giving them the dynsa password, I needed to reset the password.
In theory this should be possible from the User Security window (Microsoft Dynamics GP menu » Tools » Setup » System » User). However. after changing the password I was unable to log into Microsoft Dynamics GP with the dynsa user.
In the end the solution is to remove the password using the SQL Server Management Studio. Next time dynsa logs in the following message will be displayed and force the password to be changed;
Management Reporter Migration Wizard: ACE.OLEDB.12.0 Provider Is Not Registered On The Local Machine
This particular problem is going to occur if you either do not have Microsoft Office installed or, on an x64 OS, you have installed the x86 version of Microsoft Office when you try to install the Management Reporter Migration Wizard (in particular Microsoft Access);
Centralising OLE Notes
It has become standard policy that whenever we install Microsoft Dynamics GP the OLE Notes directory is centralised; this means that any files which are added to record notes are available to all client machines. The problem I constantly have, is that I expect the setting to be in Microsoft Dynamics GP itself; stored somewhere like System or Company Settings and I end up spending a few minutes hunting around before I remember it’s not. Continue reading “Centralising OLE Notes”
Feature Explained: Display Reminders As Visual Cue
Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 has some decent functionality enhancements in it, as well as some UI enhancements. One of these is the ability to display reminders as visual cues.
In previous versions of Microsoft Dynamics GP, and as default in GP 2010, reminders show as text links with the number of items in parenthesis;
Continue reading “Feature Explained: Display Reminders As Visual Cue”
Problem Posting General Ledger Batches In Test Company
I recently fielded a call from a client who had copied their live database across to test so they could do a reconciliation of Purchase Order Processing accruals to the General Ledger accrual account without having to chase a moving target as new transactions were processed. Continue reading “Problem Posting General Ledger Batches In Test Company”
To sa, or not to sa? That is the question.
Actually, that’s not the question at all; as a general rule of thumb, the sa user should not be used by anyone within Microsoft Dynamics GP. The sa user is the SQL System Administrator user whereas Dynamics GP has it’s own System Administrator user; dynsa.
So, what is the difference between these two system admins? Well, to start with, sa is the SQL Server database administator and, as such, has access too all databases, including non-Dynamics databases, on the SQL Server instance. Instead dynsa should be used as it is the GP database administrator and only has access to the GP databases.
While sa is needed for initial system instllation and configuration, and for some third party add-on administration, it should not be used for day-to-day administration of Dynamics GP. As dynsa is a database owner it can be used for most security and maintenance tasks within GP and, like sa, is granted the Poweruser role automatically.
I have to admit, this is more “do as I say, than as I do” because we have been slightly lax in getting this message out to clients. This is something I fully intend to put right this year as I travel around client sites doing upgrades to Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010; in some cases this may lead to entertaining discussions with various Heads of Finance or Directors of Finance or Resources. However, I think in all cases the clinching argument is that using dynsa instead of sa minimises the possibility of tampering with non-GP databases should the password be accidentally leaked.