Dynamics GP to Business Central – The Arrival of Smartlist Features via “Add Fields from Related Tables in Analysis Mode”

Gavin WhittakerLeave a comment

Introduction

Microsoft recently added a new feature to Business Central called “Add fields from related tables in Analysis mode”. This is one of the most talked features to arrive in Business Central in a long time, and is rightly receiving rave reviews in the community.

Coming from a Dynamics GP background myself, I couldn’t help but notice its similarity to the much loved “Smartlist” feature in Dynamics GP.

In this post, I’ll compare these two features highlighting their similarities, explore their capabilities, and share real world examples of how I’ve used Business Central’s new feature to solve some reporting challenges.

Smartlist in Dynamics GP

Smartlist is a much loved tool in Dynamics GP that offers a central location where you can report and search on all aspect of your company data.

I’ve captured an image of this tool below

As you can see, the various areas of the system such as “Sales”, “Purchasing” and “Financial” are listed in the left hand pane as yellow folders, and you can select them to view the data.

Crucially you can also add additional columns to the view and search and then export the data to Excel. You can also save “favourites” so you don’t have to recreate these views again.

Additionally, you can also use a feature called “Smartlist Designer” which enables a user to create their own Smartlist, joining tables together so they can view data from more than one related table.

This is a really powerful set of tools that you can use to generate reports, right in the standard product, without the need for any additional reporting tools.

Introducing “Add fields from related tables in analysis mode” in Business Central

I must admit as much as I loved Business Central when I first made the move, I did miss the reporting capabilities that Smartlist gave me.

Although I love the various analysis views in Business Central, and how I can export data so easily from pretty much any page, I’d often find myself struggling for some crucial fields to include on the list pages, that I could easily get using a Smartlist in Dynamics GP.

However it seems some of these challenges are over with the introduction of “Add fields from related tables in analysis mode” 😊.

To use this feature you must first activate it via the “Feature Management” page.

With this feature enabled, when you access a List Page in Business Central and click the “Analyse” button you can add additional columns 😊. (just like Smartlist)

For example, I recently needed to add the “Amt. Received Not Invoice Excl VAT” to the “Purchase Lines” page so I could create a “Goods Received Not Invoiced” report.

To achieve this I went to the “Purchase Lines” page, added my filter, and then clicked the “Analyse” button

Next click “Add columns from” and then selected “Purchase Line”

Then select my column and click “OK”

The column now appears with a reference to the table it was added from:

Finally I can save it as a “Favourite” so I don’t have to keep recreating it. (just like Smartlist)

Amazing!! I’ve managed to create my report without stepping outside of Business Central. No third party tool needed!

And there’s more…

However, in this instance, we’ve only just scratched the surface.

In the example above I added a column from the table the page is based off, which you could argue I could get using other more traditional ways, such as via “Personalisation” or “Customisation” on the role.

I blog about adding extra fields via Customisation here

The real power of this functionality comes when you want to include data from other related tables. (Much like Smartlist Designer. Do you see the similarity now 😊)

For example I recently had to add the “Bank Account” and “Sort Code” to a payment journal for a user.

To do this I went into the “Analyse Mode” on the Payment Journal and clicked “Add columns from” and selected the relevant table

Next I select the relevant columns

And click OK and the columns are displayed. (I could then save it like I did in the first example)

You can even create your own links by selecting “Other source…” and linking to tables that Business Central hasn’t suggested. This opens up all sorts of possibilities for reporting.

Conclusion

This is an amazing feature that has so much potential to make life easier for users of Business Central. Lots more reporting requirements can be fulfilled without the need for third party reporting tools.

Although its a little different to Smarlist in Dynamics GP, there are many similarities that I believe will make it a highly appreciated enhancement to Business Central for many users transitioning from GP to BC, as well as for those contemplating the move.

Thanks for reading!

Dynamics 365 Business Central – How to change the VAT amount on a Purchase Invoice or Purchase Order

Gavin WhittakerLeave a comment

Introduction

Sometimes, when entering a Purchase Invoice from a supplier into Business Central, the system calculates the VAT slightly differently than what appears on the supplier’s invoice.

When this happens we need to change the VAT on the Purchase Invoice in Business Central to reflect the suppliers Invoice.

In this post we’ll go through how to do this when raising the Purchase Invoice via the “Purchase Order” page and also the “Purchase Invoice” page.

First a little Config

Before we do this we must first configure Business Central to allow us to change the VAT on documents and journals.

We first do this by setting the “Max. VAT Difference Allowed” in the General Ledger Setup. I’m going to set this to 0.20 which means I’m allowed to change the VAT by up to £0.20p

Next I need to switch the “Allow VAT Difference” option ON in the “Purchase & Payables Setup” page. This will allow me to change the VAT amount on a Purchase transaction.

Now I have the configuration setup, we can go through changing the VAT on a Purchase transaction.

First we’ll tackle a Purchase Invoice entered via the “Purchase Invoice” page.

Changing VAT in the Purchase Invoice page

In this scenario, we have a Purchase Invoice for £111.11 with 20% VAT, and Business Central has calculated the VAT as £22.22. However, the supplier’s invoice shows a VAT amount of £22.23. We therefore need to change the VAT to reflect the suppliers invoice correctly in Business Central.

Below is the Purchase Invoice with the VAT calculated as £22.22.

To change the VAT I need to click “Invoice > Statistics”

I then click into the VAT Amount and change it to £22.23 which matches the suppliers invoice

The VAT is now reflected correctly in Business Central

Changing VAT on the Purchase Order page

Suppose you’re entering the same Purchase Invoice, however this time we are using the “Purchase Order” page to raise the Purchase Invoice. In this case we need to do the following

Below is the Purchase Order with the VAT calculated as £22.22

We now click “Order > Statistics”

You now drill down on the “No. of VAT Lines” in the “Invoicing” FastTab

You can now edit the VAT amount

And now the VAT is reflected correctly on the Purchase Order page

Conclusion

This post has outlined how to change the VAT amount on various Purchase documents when the VAT calculated by Business Central differs from the actual supplier invoice.

Thanks for reading!

Dynamics 365 Business Central – How to use the “Recurring Requisition Worksheet” for Recurring Purchase Orders

Gavin WhittakerLeave a comment

Introduction

There might be times when you need to place Purchase Orders for the same items or services over several weeks or months in Business Central.

There’s a couple of ways you might achieve this, however in this post we’ll look at how the “Recurring Requisition Worksheet” can assist in the process.

First lets look at the Requisition Worksheet

Anyone who uses Business Central for planning will likely be well versed with the “Requisition Worksheet”.

The “Requisition Worksheet” is a fantastic planning tool that helps in managing and automating the purchasing process.

By running the “Calculate Plan” function in the Requisition Worksheet, Business Central will suggest items to order according to your item settings and other parameters.

You can then review and adjust these suggestions before clicking “Carry Out Action Message,” which generates the appropriate Purchase Orders and removes the items from the Requisition Worksheet.

However, it’s important to note that last part. The “Requisition Worksheet” removes the items once the Purchase Orders are generated.

If you wish to retain the lines for ongoing reordering, this is where the “Recurring Requisition Worksheet” proves to be particularly useful.

The Recurring Requisition Worksheet

So what is the “Recurring Requisition Worksheet”? Well its very similar to the “Requisition Worksheet” but when you click “Carry out action messages” to create the Purchase Order the worksheet lines remain.

Please note another difference is you can only use the “Replenishment System” of “Purchase” in the recurring requisition worksheet whereas in the “Requisition Worksheet” it can suggest other replenishment options such as transferring or assembling Items. However this is fine as this blog is focusing on Purchase Orders 😊.

Now, let’s take a close look at the “Recurring Requisition Worksheet”.

First, search for “Requisition Worksheet Template” to set up a “Recurring” requisition worksheet as shown below.

Next search “Recurring Requisition Worksheet” and you will open the “DEFAULT” worksheet in the Recurring Requisition Worksheet page.

Note, I could have clicked “Requisition Worksheet Names” in the Template page above and created multiple Worksheets in the RECURRING template rather than using the DEFAULT one

Now I can add my Purchase Order lines which I want to order regularly along with a “Recurring Method” and “Recurring Frequency” etc.

For example below I want to order 10 x Athens Desks every month from Vendor 30000.

I can now click “Carry Out Action Messages” to create the Purchase Order, and unlike the standard “Requisition Worksheet,” the lines remain in the worksheet. Additionally, the “Order Date” is updated according to the “Recurring Frequency,” which is set to one month in this instance.

I now have the following Purchase Order for my Athens Desks

And the lines have remaining the recurring requisition worksheet and “Order Date” on the line has been updated by one month.

Now, when I’m ready to order those desks again, I can just jump into the “Recurring Requisition Worksheet” and click “Carry out Action Message”.

I could have also set the “Recurring Method” to “Variable” so after creating my Purchase Order the quantity is changed to 0.

Conclusion

This blog shows how you can use the “Recurring Requisition Worksheet” to help with scenarios where the same items or services are ordered every month.

This can prove a real time saver if you make regular purchases for certain items or services each month.

Thanks for reading!

This is a great Inventory management tool, that potentially reduces stock-outs while ensuring you aren’t carrying too much stock.