Business Intelligence and Reporting Track helps solve user challenges at NAVUG Forum.
Posted: September 24, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: analysis views, business intelligence, Dynamics, JET, Microsoft, NAV, NAV 2013, NAVUG, reporting, RTC, user group Leave a commentJason Chance, Senior Programmer/Analyst at Seventh Generation and Business Intelligence and Reporting Track Leader for NAVUG Forum, guest blogs today on what the BI and Reporting Track has to offer end users at NAVUG Forum, the annual NAV end-user conference held in Seattle, October 15-18 2012.
Without fail, whenever I lead a NAV roundtable discussion or training class, people talk about the reporting. I’ve only met a handful of people who are completely happy with their business reporting and most of them have spent significant resources developing reporting solutions outside of NAV. But before you throw in the towel on reporting in NAV, and spend a lot of time and money, you owe it yourself and your organization to understand what’s available in NAV. This is where NAVUG Forum 2012 comes in.
NAVUG Forum is an excellent event led by NAV users and professionals. It’s not a sales pitch. It’s not a glossy brochure full of fluff. It’s real NAV users sharing their experience and insight gained through years working with NAV. In the reporting and BI track we’ll focus how you can get the most out of the existing tools in NAV. With sessions like Reporting 101 and Reporting 102, you’ll learn how to create and modify NAV reports. Sessions on the Role Tailored Client will show you how to use the RTC to customize the data that you see in NAV. The Analysis Views and Jet Reports session will highlight two often under utilized reporting tools in NAV. The NAV 2013 sessions will give you a preview of what to expect in the newest version of NAV.
If you have issues and concerns with your reporting capabilities, chances are someone else has the same concerns, who knows, maybe they’ve already solved their problems. Come to NAVUG Forum, learn from your peers, build a network of colleagues that can help you get the most out of NAV.
See you in Seattle.
Microsoft’s concept of how 2019 will look like
Posted: September 21, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Dynamics, Kinect, Microsoft, NAV, video demo 1 CommentMicrosoft Dynamics NAV users have already gotten the chance to see Jesper Lachance Raebild’s video demo using Microsoft Kinect in a NAV manufacturing environment. If you missed it, find the link to the video here.
What else does Microsoft have in store for us? Take a five minute break to see what 2019 could look like.
The NAV accountant’s little helper: the reconciliation account check box
Posted: September 18, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: balance after posting, Classic Client, general ledger, journal entry, NAV, net change, posting test report, reconciliation account, RTC, tips and tricks Leave a commentThere’s a tiny feature in NAV that I take for granted. It’s there, in the background, hiding in the setup, and it helps me out just a little almost every time I make a manual journal entry. Especially if I’m in a bit of a rush, or distracted, this option gives me one more quick but effective look at what I’m doing before I commit a journal entry to my books permanently. This nifty little thing can be added to your NAV setup at any time without any help from IT and won’t require any maintenance. The option I’m talking about is the Reconciliation Account check box you can find on your general ledger account card. Here’s where you can find it:
Role Tailored Client
Classic Client
For any account where you’d like this additional double check, check the Reconciliation Account box found on the General Ledger Account Card. Now go put together your journal entry.
Instead of posting directly from the entry, choose Actions=>Posting=>Test Report=>Preview (if you’re RTC) or just choose Posting=>Test Report=>Preview (if you’re Classic). NAV will put together a handy dandy print preview which will now include a section at the bottom labeled Reconciliation. This little section will show you which direction your entry is going in, what sign your ending balance will be, and what the actual balance after posting will look like. This all happens before you commit it as final to the system. This may be just the extra bit of help you need in order to keep you from making an error. If you like what you see, post that journal entry!
If you have an account where you’ve got a lot of daily activity, you may not find this as useful as you do with accounts with just a little bit of activity throughout the month because you’ll have a more frequently changing end balance. Decide what might be useful to you.
Next time you do a journal entry, give it a try. Go to the account card and check the box. Make your journal entry. Before you post, run the posting test report. Is the net change in your journal entry going in the right direction? Did you enter the correct account? Is your ending account balance the right sign? Most importantly, is the balance after posting what you expected? This little helper can give you a quick preview before you hit post and save you from having to reverse and correct an entry.
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10 easy tips for payment terms success in Microsoft Dynamics NAV
Posted: September 13, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: accounts payable, accounts receivable, aging, customer, discounts, document date, due date, Dynamics, immediate, invoices, Microsoft, NAV, payment terms, suggest vendor payments, tips and tricks, vendor Leave a comment1. 
Know that the Document Date is what controls the calculation of payment terms. This is true for both vendor invoices as well as customer invoices.
2. The vendor and customer areas share the same Payment Terms setup. Make sure the folks who maintain these tables know they’ll need to share the codes that are set up here.
3. Basic terms use very basic setup. Payment terms of Net 30 simply require a Due Date Calculation of 30D in order to work.
4. Immediate payment terms can be accomplished in two ways. The first way is to leave the payment terms field blank on the vendor or customer card. When this occurs, NAV makes the assumption that the payment terms are immediate. The second way is to populate the Due Date Calculation with 0D. By putting in zero days, you can still define a payment term and name it as immediate. I don’t like to see blank fields in any of my data, so I recommend using this method.
5. 
Discounted terms follow a specific combination in the payment terms table. For discounted terms like 1/10 Net 30 (one percent discount if paid in ten days, otherwise due at thirty days), use this setup.
6. You may have some things you always pay on the first of the month, like rents. How do you get invoices to show up on your payables aging on the first day of the month regardless of whether the month has 31, 30, or 28 days? In the due date calculation, use this simple formula: CM+1D.
7. If you send checks, and you need for that first of the month payment to get in the mail in time to be received on the first, get a little fancier with the formula and use CM-3D. This will calculate the due date as the third to last day of the month, no matter how many days are in the month.
8. If you need to date something as always due the last day of the month, set up the Due Date Calculation as D31. This will always calculate the due date on the last day of the month, regardless of how many days the month has.
9. When running the suggest vendor payment process for payables, the last payment date corresponds to the due dates calculated by the payment terms. The date you put in this field will suggest payments to be made with due dates up to and including the date listed.
10. If any invoice gets posted with incorrect payment terms and you need to correct the due date in order for it to show up properly on your aging, you can go in and correct the due date on the already posted invoice. This can be done from the end-user level and does not require use of the object designer. Drill down to the correct invoice record from the Balance ($) field found on the general tab of the vendor card. Use a triple-click with your mouse on the due date field to change the date quickly and easily. The same steps can be accomplished from the customer card.
This posting is one of the Top 20 Most Viewed in the last year! Follow this link to see the entire list.
Basic column layout options for NAV Account Schedules
Posted: September 10, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Account Schedules, balance at date, Classic Client, column layout, comparison date formula, comparison period formula, financial statement, fiscal year, general ledger, NAV, net change, RTC 5 CommentsColumn layouts in NAV account schedules are what you build to add more flexibility to your financial statements. You can have an unlimited number of column layouts to match together with your already existing row setups. In general, most basic row setups contain general ledger numbers and column layouts contain dates. As an example, when I produce my income statement, I will have one row setup that reflects a summarized income statement and at least four different column layouts that reflect different configurations of month to date, year to date, comparisons against budget, and twelve month trended views.
Just like with row setups, there are many available options in the column layouts. This large variety of options can sometimes be overwhelming to the new account schedule user. I’ll show you which columns to choose in the column layouts for account schedules as a beginning point, and go through some simple explanations of how they are used.
Fields to start with:
Column No. – The column number is completely optional, but highly recommended. This simple element of the column layout will eventually be one of the key features of your account schedule, allowing you to calculate and organize with ease.
Column Header – This is where you’ll define, in words, what you’re showing in each column of your report. Keep it short; there is a 30 character limit.
Column Type: Net Change, Balance at Date, or Formula – There are actually seven options to choose from here, but I recommend that you limit yourself to these three when you’re just getting started. The key here is knowing what type of accounts you’re reporting on. If you’re using income statement accounts (Revenue/Expense), then you need to use net change. If you’re using balance sheet accounts (Assets/Liabilities), then you need to use Balance at Date. Formula allows you to perform calculations in a column.
Ledger Entry Type – This column will allow you to define what type of ledger entries you will show. This is where you can choose actual general ledger entries or budgeted general ledger entries.
Formula – If you’ve chosen Formula as the Column Type, this is where you’ll put the formula.
Comparison Period Formula – This column allows you to define date formulas that are used to calculate the amounts shown. I generally recommend that beginning account schedule users start out using the comparison period formula field instead of the comparison date formula field. The comparison period formula field references the accounting periods set up in the fiscal year, so this option seems the most consistent, and is especially necessary for companies that may not follow a calendar fiscal year. Common data labels used in this field are CP for current period or -1CP for previous period and FY for fiscal year or -1FY for prior year.
Shown below are both the design view and the user view of a column layout for a summarized income statement showing year to date and prior year to date information in the columns to demonstrate the use of these six basic options in an account schedule.
Role Tailored Client
Classic Client
For more information on row setups, please see these posts: Basic row setup options for NAV Account Schedules and Complete row setup options for NAV account schedules.
If you’re just beginning to use account schedules, see Getting started with a new account schedule.
This posting is one of the Top 20 Most Viewed in the last year! Follow this link to see the entire list.
NAVUG FORUM 2012 Overview and IT Track – Keyword: WOW!
Posted: September 6, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: NAV, NAVUG, user group Leave a commentLewis Rosenberg, Information Technology Manager at Mars Fishcare, Information Technology Track Leader, and Programming Committee Chairperson for NAVUG Forum, guest blogs today on what the IT Track has to offer end users at NAVUG Forum, the annual NAV end-user conference held in Seattle, October 15-18 2012.
All I can say after reviewing the list of offerings for this years’ NAVUG Forum in Seattle is WOW! If you have never attended a NAVUG Forum before, this is a “must-attend, must-participate, WOW!” event! There will be so much quality information available from so many quality Dynamics NAV professionals. This is the best opportunity to link up with, meet, and network with so many people that do what you do every day using Dynamics NAV.
The conference begins with an optional day or half-day of training. There are ten different classes to choose from for a small additional fee. The classes being offered span a wide range of subject areas including finance, manufacturing, information technology, and reporting.
The remainder of the event spans three days and offers more than 100 sessions organized by eight subject tracks: BI-Reporting, Finance, Global, IT-Developers, Manufacturing-Supply Chain, NAV 2013, Strategic, Potpourri. You can attend sessions in multiple tracks to get the most out of the conference.
One of the most exciting things about the sessions offered is that they are all led by Dynamics NAV users and professionals like you. All of the sessions encourage participation, sharing of knowledge and solutions. The power of networking is what NAVUG Forum is all about!
This year’s Information Technology track features thirteen sessions covering topics like Cloud Computing, Database Optimization, SharePoint, Web Services, NAV 2013, the Role Tailored Client, and Dynamics NAV Security, Permissions, & Roles.
NAVUG Forum 2012 is at the Grand Hyatt in Seattle Washington from October 16 – October 18. All the information you need is available at http://www.navugforum.com. Connect, Learn, Share! WOW!
Lewis I. Rosenberg Information Technology Manager, Mars Fishcare Programming Committee Chairperson, NAVUG
Dynamics NAV Financials 