The Dynamics Explorer

Introduction

Dynamics GP and Dynamics 365 Business Central both have great options to manage financial periods therefore controlling what date ranges users can post into.

In this post I’ll explore how this is achieved in both products, and point out what I think are the key benefits of each solution.

Dynamics GP

In Dynamics GP you can open and close financial periods using the “Financial Period Setup” window as per below

There’s a couple of key takeaways here:

1. This is a global setting therefore the configuration of this window affects all users of the system. i.e. you can’t allow some users to post into certain periods on an individual basis.
2. You can close the financial period for one series, (or ledger) while leaving another series open. For example, in the configuration above you can post a Sales transaction with a GL posting date of March, however you can’t post a Purchasing transaction with a GL posting date of March as that has been closed.

Dynamics 365 Business Central

In Dynamics 365 Business Central you can control allowed posting dates in two separate places.

The first is by entering a specific date range in the General Ledger Setup as per below.

The next is at user level via the User Setup window:

If you haven’t specified a user as having a different “Allowed Posting Date” range in the User Setup window then they are bound to the allowed posting dates in the General Ledger Setup.

The key takeaways here are:

1. You can have different allowed posting dates for different users.
2. You can’t completely close one series (ledger) and have another still open.

Conclusion

I think both systems have great features.

I love the way you have the flexibility to only close down certain series (ledgers) in Dynamics GP, as I imagine in the real world departments aren’t ready to close at the same time.

I also like how in Dynamics 365 Business Central we can close a financial period using the “General Ledger Setup” window for the majority of users however you can configure some users, for example a financial controller, to have the flexibility of posting across a larger date range.

Perhaps one day one of the products will incorporate both ideas 🙂

Thanks for reading!