Dynamics 365 Business Central – Why do you need to specify posting groups on G/L codes?

Gavin Whittaker2 Comments

Introduction

Since I’ve been working with Dynamics 365 Business Central I’ve loved the concept of posting groups. As a way of a very brief background, posting groups are used by Dynamics 365 Business Central to gather the required G/L codes when you post a transaction. Therefore you add posting groups to entities like Customers, Vendors, Bank Accounts, Item and also more interestingly G/L codes.

Coming from a Dynamics GP background I could understand why posting groups where needed on all entities, with the exception of G/L codes? Surely if I specify a G/L code on a transaction or journal, this is the G/L code I want to post to?

In this post I hope to shed some light on why the system still requires posting groups on G/L Codes.

A Sales Transaction using a G/L Code

As way of an example lets imagine we are adding the Sales Invoice using a G/L code as per below:

This transaction looks fairly straight forward. We are posting a Sales Invoice with a revenue code of 10100 therefore we expect G/L entries of Debit Debtors and Credit this Revenue code. With this in mind why would we need posting groups defined on the G/L code?

Ok, that’s a fair point, so let’s change the transaction ever so slightly and add some line discounts.

So now we have added line discounts we need a posting to the “Sales Discount” G/L code. However how is the system going to select the correct G/L code?

You guessed it, the answer is using Posting Groups.

So, if we look at the G/L card for G/L code 10100 we can find the product posting groups:

As this is SERVICES the system will use this, in combination with the “General Business Posting Group” from the Customer card, to select the relevant discount code using the “General Posting Setup” window, in this case 10300.

Without this information the transaction would fail to post. This is why the system is requiring you to enter posting groups onto G/L codes. They are needed so the system has a method of gathering other G/L codes that might be needed on the transaction.

Conclusion

This is likely obvious to seasoned Dynamics NAV and BC users however its something that took me a little while to fully grasp so I thought it worth sharing.

Hopefully anyone new to Dynamics 365 Business Central found this useful. (you can also read more about posting groups in this post)

Thanks for reading!

Dynamics GP Vs Dynamics 365 Business Central – Class IDs and Templates

Gavin WhittakerLeave a comment

Introduction

This is another blog in a series I’ve been writing comparing functionality in Dynamics GP to Dynamics 365 Business Central.

In this post I’ll compare Dynamics GP Class ID’s to Dynamics 365 Business Central Templates. Both offer a method to quickly setup static data like customers and vendors however as usual both offer slightly different features and functionality.

Dynamics GP – Class ID’s

When creating static data like customers or vendors in Dynamics GP you can use Class IDs to make the process more efficient. As the Class ID is stored on the customer card, we also generally advise to create Class’s as a way to group together similar customers or vendors.

Below is the Debtor “Class ID” that can be used for defaults when setting up Customers in Dynamics GP. (this is accessed via the “Tools > Setup > Sales > Debtor Class” menu option)

As you can see various options can be set on the Class that the customer will then inherit if its assigned this Class. Things like the payment terms, the credit limit, currency and so on. We also specify the default GL codes that can should be used.

Once its setup you physically assign the Class ID to your customers as per below and the customer will inherit the settings from the Class ID.

You can then make any tweaks to the customer setup after the settings from the Class have been copied. For example you may wish to have slightly different discount on this debtor to what was on the Class ID.

One interesting feature of the Class ID is, if you make a specific change on the Class ID you can then roll this down to all Customers that are assigned this Class. (or not if you prefer). For example you may change the Sales Person on a Class and roll this change down to all Customers in the Class and only this change will be rolled down. (therefore other tweaks you had made on the Customer would be unaffected)

As the Class ID is physically stored against the customer you can also run certain reports by Class ID such as the various trial balance reports.

Dynamics 365 Business Central – Templates

In Dynamics 365 Business Central we can use “Templates” to assist in creating static data such as customers and vendors.

To do this I can select “Actions > Functions > Templates” when in a customer page.

Next I can click “Actions > New Document > New”

This would present me with a “Customer Template” I can create as per below:

In this page I can set things like default payment terms, currency codes and also posting groups for GL codes.

Once I’ve entered the default information on the template I can select this when creating new customers so those settings are inherited. I can also then edit and tweak any settings that are specific to this customer.

**Please note the template you used to create a customer isn’t saved on the customer.

Also, if I’ve accidentally assigned the incorrect template to a customer I can reapply another template via the option below whilst in the customer page

I can also create a new template based on the settings of a customer that’s already been created (or any existing customer). To do this I’d select the option below in the customer page:

Conclusion

Both Dynamics GP and Dynamics 365 Business Central offer great solutions to improve the efficiency of entering static data.

The difference with Dynamics GP is the Class ID stays with the customer enabling you to group certain debtors and run reports based on certain Classes whereas the template is just used to copy information to the customer.

Another interesting feature of Class Ids in Dynamics GP is the ability to change the Class and roll down any changes to the associated debtors.

Thanks for reading!

Thinking of making the move to Business Central? We can help

Dynamics 365 Business Central – How to change the Due Date on a posted transaction

Gavin WhittakerLeave a comment

Introduction

Due dates are automatically calculated using payment terms however sometimes you may wish to change them after posting the transaction.

You can do this on both the Sales and Purchase side using the relevant “Ledger Entry” page. Below I’ll demonstrate how this is done on a Payables Invoice using “Vendor Ledger Entries”.

Demo

First open the Vendor Ledger Entry page and click “Edit List” off the action pane

You will now see that the Due Date, along with other editable fields, can be changed. Here I’ve changed the due date on the top transaction from 01/07/2020 to 01/08/2020

As you can see I can also change the payment discount and tolerance dates.

Conclusion

Very quick post today but hopefully useful nonetheless.

Thanks for reading!