GP Vs BC

Dynamics GP to Business Central – How to Recreate the GL Summary Enquiry using G/L Account Balance, Analysis Mode or an Analysis View

Gavin WhittakerLeave a comment

Introduction

A common query I see when migrating Dynamics GP users to Business Central is “how can I view my General Ledger balances, like I can in Dynamics GP using the Summary Enquiry window“

In this post, I’ll first outline the key differences between the account structures in Dynamics GP and Business Central. Then, I’ll explain what happens to your GL account structure during migration if you use the Microsoft migration tools. Finally, I’ll share three methods to view your GL balances in Business Central in a way that feels familiar to Dynamics GP users.

Spoiler: in one of the methods we use Copilot and natural language to create the view 😊

Dynamics GP Account Code Structure Vs Business Central Dimensions

First lets take a step back, and look at how Dynamics GP and Business Central differ when it comes to the structure of the Chart of Accounts.

In Dynamics GP the GL account code is segmented, whereas Business Central uses a single GL code and dimensions.

For instance, in Dynamics GP, a GL code for Payroll Taxes in the admin department of the north division might look like 200-5170-00. Here, 5170 represents Payroll Taxes, 200 is the admin department, and 00 is the north division. If you have 10 departments and 5 divisions, you could end up with 50 separate GL codes for Payroll Taxes alone.

Given the same scenario in Business Central, you’d just have one GL code for Payroll Taxes, a Dimension called “Department” with your departments, and a Dimension called “Division” with your divisions. This means we’ll only ever have one GL account, but can still analyse to department and division by selecting the dimensions and the relevant dimension values.

Coming from a Dynamics GP background myself, I love this about Business Central 😊. That said, it can create challenges for GP users transitioning to BC, especially when viewing data, as we’ll explore next.

Now we know how the Chart of Accounts structures differ, lets look at the what happens when you migrate the Chart of Accounts from Dynamics GP to Business Central using the Microsoft migration tools.

What happens when you migrate your Chart of Accounts from Dynamics GP to Business Central

When you migrate your Dynamics GP Chart of Accounts and transactional data to Business Central using Microsoft’s migration tools, the process consolidates your GL codes based on the natural account segment. So in our earlier example , if I did have 50 Payroll Taxes codes for the various department and division combinations, I’d be left with just one GL code called 5170. We would then get Department and Division created as Dimensions. I’ve shown how this works below:

Now when posting transactions for Payroll Taxes in Business Central, I’d pick GL code 5710 and then the Department dimension and the Division dimension.

This consolidation can drastically simplify and shorten the Chart of Accounts, but it can make viewing GL balances “by dimension” a bit trickier, as we’ll see.

Viewing the General Ledger balances in Dynamics GP and Business Central

Now we know how the GL account is structured in Dynamics GP, and how its then migrated to Business Central, let’s take a look at the Summary Enquiry window for one GL code.

Since Dynamics GP’s GL code includes the natural account, department, and division, selecting a code like 200-5170-00 lets you quickly view its balance

For example, below I can see the period balances of my Payroll Taxes GL account (5170) for my Accounting department (200) for my North division (00) very easily

After migrating to Business Central, if you check the Chart of Accounts page, you’ll only see the total balance for GL code 5170. This is because the migration consolidates all amounts into one GL code, combining balances across all departments and divisions. (at transaction level the entries have the GL code, department and division, however the Chart of Accounts shows just the balance at GL code level)

Therefore if I now use the “G/L Account Balance” page in Business Central to view period balances they differ from Dynamics GP as they include balances for all Departments and Divisions

How can I view the GL Balances by period like Dynamics GP?

Fortunately, there are several ways to achieve a Dynamics GP-like view in Business Central. I’ll walk through three methods below

1. Filter the Chart of Accounts page prior to opening the G/L Account Balance page

At first glance it looks like you can’t filter the “G/L Account Balance” page however if you filter the “Chart of Accounts” page first, this is carried through to the “G/L Account Balance” page.

For example below I’ve prefiltered the totals of the Chart of Accounts page and then when I open the “G/L Account Balance” page the amounts are filtered and match Dynamics GP summary enquiry

2. Use Analysis Mode from the General Ledger Entry page

With the new(ish) Analysis Mode available on List Pages we can filter and pivot data. We can utilise this feature to present the data just like Dynamics GP

First go to the “General Ledger Entries” and then click “Analysis Mode”

Then enter the criteria as per below:

The great thing about this is I can use natural language in Copilot to create the View. For example I entered the text below:

And this is the result. Now that is pretty cool 😊

3. Use an Analysis View

The final way I’ve found to do this is by utilising an Analysis View.

I configure it as per below setting the compression by month and dimensions

Now when I go to “Analysis View Entries” I can filter and show the balances just like the Dynamics GP summary enquiry

Conclusion

This post highlights all the great features we have in Business Central to filter and slice and dice our data to match our experience’s in Dynamics GP.

In my opinion Business Central is giving you the best for both worlds. You can easily see the balances by GL Code or any combination of dimension.

In Dynamics GP to get a summary total at GL account level (i.e. the balance in 5170 for Payroll Taxes) you need to use “Account Rollup” or export the data and summarise it.

Thanks for reading!

Dynamics GP to Dynamics 365 Business Central – How to post a batch of Sales or Purchase Invoices using the same Posting Date

Gavin WhittakerLeave a comment

Introduction

During a recent training session with a client transitioning from Dynamics GP, a question came up regarding batch posting.

In Dynamics GP, it’s possible to use the batch’s “Posting Date” as the posting date for all transactions within the batch. The client wanted to know if this same functionality is available in Business Central.

In this post, I’ll walk you through how to achieve this in Business Central.

Dynamics GP Batch Setting

The setting the client is referring to is configured in the “Posting Setup” window in Dynamics GP as shown below:

Here, you can configure, on a ledger and per-transaction type (origin) basis, whether the system should use the posting date from the individual transaction or the batch when posting transactions.

Business Central “Post Batch” Feature

In Business Central, when posting multiple Sales or Purchase Invoices, you can control which date the system uses as the “Posting Date” through the following option.

See below, I can select multiple Purchase Invoices and select “Post > Post Batch”

And then enter the Posting Date you wish the system to use for each of your Purchase Invoices:

Let’s walkthrough an example with Purchase Invoices

Let’s say you have the two Purchase Invoices shown below, each with a different posting date in September, but you want both to be posted using a Posting Date of September 30, 2024:

First, you select both Purchase Invoices in the Purchase Invoice list page, choose “Post > Post Batch,” and choose to replace the Posting Date as shown below.

Now when I view the Purchase Invoices I can see both invoices have a Posting Date of 30/09/2024

Conclusion

This post shows how you can batch post Sales or Purchase Invoices using a single Posting Date, replicating the functionality available in Dynamics GP.

Thanks for reading!

Dynamics GP Vs Dynamics 365 Business Central – Place Purchase Transactions and Vendors on Hold

Gavin Whittaker1 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 how purchase holds work in both Dynamics GP and Dynamics 365 Business Central. Both products offer solutions for applying holds at a document and Vendor level, however there are differences which we can explore.

Dynamics GP

In Dynamics GP you apply holds to individual transactions via the “Transactions > Purchasing > Holds” window.

By placing the document on hold you won’t be able to pay this via a manual payment or the automated “Select Cheques” routine (the Dynamics 365 Business Central equivalent being “Suggested Payment” batch job).

Therefore you must remove the Hold via this window in order to pay the document.

You can also produce a list of documents on Hold via a Smartlist prior to creating a payment run to assist with the process.

If you wish to prevent any documents from being paid on a particular Vendor you can tick the “Hold” flag on the Vendor Maintenance window as per below:

Placing the Vendor on Hold will prevent any payments being issued however you will still be able to enter and post transactions other than payments.

Dynamics 365 Business Central

To place a document on hold you go to “Vendor Ledger Entries” and click “Edit List”.

You then enter any 3 characters in the “On Hold” field to indicate the document is on hold. For example below I’ve entered the characters “GW” in the On Hold column.

Although you can use any 3 characters we tend to suggest using users initials as this gives the added benefit of knowing who has placed the document on hold. You can also filter the “Vendor Ledger Entries” either on initials or whether the field is blank or not to identify which documents are on hold (i.e. add a filter for On Hold <>’)

When you add the 3 characters to the On Hold field this excludes the document from being picked up by the “Suggest Payments” batch job in the Payment Journal however you can still pay and apply the document manually. This is different to Dynamics GP which requires the Hold flag to be removed before it can paid.

You can prevent any payment to the Vendor via the “Blocked” field on the Vendor Page.

You can prevent all payments from being made by selecting “Payment” or prevent any transaction from being posted on the Vendor by choosing “All”. This differs to Dynamics GP as even if a Vendor is placed on Hold you are only prevented from posting payments.

Conclusion

Both Dynamics products offer robust solutions for applying document and vendor holds. The main difference seems to be that Dynamics GP gives the user the ability to ensure a single document won’t be paid, even via a manual payment, and Dynamics 365 Business Central gives flexibility to prevent all document types being posted against a blocked Vendor.

Thanks for reading!

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