Get the skills you need to produce robust financial reporting using the software you already own! New NAV2013 account schedules training now available!

Posted: August 14, 2013 | Author: kpeters | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Account Schedules, financial reporting, general ledger, learning, NAV 2013, NAVUG Academy, training | Leave a comment

Looking for training on NAV account schedules? There are new classes now available. NAVUG Academy distance learning is offering two half day instructor led online sessions on September 20th. There is also a full day classroom session on October 21st held as part of the pre-conference training for NAVUG Forum, held in sunny Tampa, Florida. Detailed descriptions of all three classes can be found below, or simply click on the title of the session you want to register!

Account Schedules: Basics – half day course, 9:00am to 1:00pm, (9/20)

Microsoft Dynamics NAV account schedules are a powerful tool used to create custom financial statements directly from your general ledger. In this in-depth training session, you will learn the fundamental principles of account schedule construction. This course is open to any NAV user.

Using hands-on exercises, you will have the opportunity to apply what you learn during class to a basic trial balance and master the three basic account schedule building blocks: row setups, column layouts, and analysis views. You’ll discover how to filter your financial reporting by dimensions, layer in budgeted information, and produce reports by exporting to Excel in the most efficient way possible!

In this class all hands-on exercises will be done using NAV2013. Almost all account schedule functions are applicable to lower versions of NAV, so you will still benefit from the training if you use a version below NAV2013.

Functionality of account schedules is virtually the same, but navigation and look and feel is significantly different. This class is being taught only in the NAV2013 version. If you are using the Classic Client and will not be moving to NAV2009 RTC or NAV2013 soon, please wait to take a Classic class. If you are an experienced Classic account schedule user who wants to learn more about NAV2009 RTC or NAV2013, it is recommended that you begin with the Account Schedules: Basics class simply to get used to the new navigational paths required.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand basic construction of row setups and column layouts

• Learn how to build, update, and apply analysis views

• Use filters, formulas, and formatting

• Incorporate dimensions and budgets

• Integrate account schedules to Excel

Instructor: Kerry Rosvold

Audience: Finance

Level: Intermediate

Prerequisites: Intermediate to advanced level of experience as a NAV financials end user

Account Schedules: Beyond the Basics – half day course, 2:00pm to 6:00pm, (9/20)

If you already understand the three basic account schedule building blocks and you’ve got a firm grasp on dimension and budget filtering (or if you’ve already taken Account Schedules Basics), you are ready to expand what you know with this class! This course is open to any NAV user.

Using hands-on exercises, you will have the opportunity to apply what you learn during class to a simple balance sheet and income statement. You’ll discover how to design and use multiple column layouts with the same row setup base and expand time periods reported beyond the basics. Move past simple dimension filtering and incorporate dimensions into row setups and column layouts! Learn how to use more advanced formulas like base for percent and see how to use account schedules as an alternative way to reporting from the NAV budget tool.

Learning Objectives:

• Build essential financial statements, including an income statement and balance sheet

• Extend knowledge of additional time periods used in column layouts

• Expand use of dimensions into account schedules

• Use account schedules to report on all budgeting information

Instructor: Kerry Rosvold

Audience: Finance

Level: Intermediate

Prerequisites: Intermediate to advanced level of experience as a NAV financials end user; have taken Account Schedule Basics or equivalent prior experience with account schedules

Account Schedules and Analysis Views – full day course, 8:00am to 5:00pm, (10/21)

Microsoft Dynamics NAV account schedules can be a powerful tool used to create custom financial statements and analysis reports directly from your general ledger. Attend this all day training session to get a firm foundation on the basic principles of account schedule construction and learn how to build all of your essential financial statements. Using hands-on exercises, you will have an opportunity to stretch beyond the basics and discover how to build multiple row and column layouts, how to create dynamic reports using dimensions, how to incorporate budgets into your schedules, and how to leverage the power of integration to Excel to make your reports even more flexible. Additional time will also be spent on analysis reports and analysis by dimensions.

Microsoft Dynamics NAV version: This class will be taught in NAV 2013, and backward compatible with NAV 2009 RTC. If you are using NAV 2009 Classic, you will benefit from the class as the concepts and approaches are the same, however the navigation and user interface is different. These differences will be addressed during class.

Learning Objectives:

• Build essential financial statements, including an income statement and balance sheet

• Understand construction of row setups and column layouts

• Use filters, formulas, and formatting

• Integrate account schedules to Excel

• Incorporate dimensions and budgets to account schedules

• Extend principles to use of analysis reports and analysis by dimensions

Instructor: Kerry Rosvold, Augsburg Fortress Publishers

Audience: Finance

Level: Intermediate

Prerequisites: Intermediate to advanced level of experience as a NAV financials end user

Spots still available in classes next week on Financial Setups and Dimensions

Posted: April 12, 2013 | Author: kpeters | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: classes, dimensions, financial setups, NAVUG Academy | Leave a comment

There are still spots available in the classes I’m teaching on Financial Setups and Dimensions next week, on Wednesday, April 17th. Full class descriptions, and registration links are found on the NAVUG Academy site, or at the links below. See you in class!

Financial Setups in NAV – 9:00am to 1:00pm ET

Get under the hood to understand the inner workings of Microsoft Dynamics NAV financial setups. The class covers all the basics you need to understand how the financial management area can be configured. Whether you’re new to NAV, a prospective customer deciding if NAV is the right fit for your company, a Controller or CFO who is new to a company already using NAV, or even an experienced NAV user who wants to know how to maximize your software, this class will get you the foundation you need to make important configuration decisions regarding your ERP software. This course is open to any NAV user.

Focus on financial considerations like understanding and using posting groups, choosing dimensions, set up of master records for customers, vendors, and items, why number series are important, and what the options are for financial reporting. Understand what options are available to you related to budgeting, intercompany transactions and consolidations, and month end close and get a tour of best practices related to journal entries, accounts payable, and accounts receivable.

Dimensions in Dynamics NAV – 2:00pm to 6:00pm ET

What are dimensions, and why do you want to use them? How can you use dimensions to gain control, consistency, accuracy, and efficiency in your financial postings? How can dimensions make your financial reporting not only flexible but powerful at the same time? This course is open to any NAV user.

Using hands-on exercises in an online NAV database, try out different dimension configurations in multiple scenarios to really understand how they behave. Get a chance to see how dimensions flow through your accounting system from beginning data entry to final financial statement production. This class is your opportunity to finally understand dimensions in Microsoft Dynamics NAV and how they can help you and your business.

Blogiversary Top 20 (#14) Video Demo: How to export NAV account schedules to Microsoft Excel

Posted: April 10, 2013 | Author: kpeters | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Account Schedules, dimensions, Excel, export to excel, financial statement, learning, NAV, NAVUG, NAVUG Academy, training | Leave a comment

We’re celebrating our one year blogiversary by reposting the Top 20 Most Viewed in the last year, as determined by you, our readers! Follow this link to see the entire list. Enjoy!

There are some quick and easy ways to publish NAV Account Schedules to Microsoft Excel but some of them end up with some pretty ugly formatting unless you know a few secrets on how to make them look better. This short demo video shows you how to create a nicely formatted NAV Account Schedule in Microsoft Excel that only requires formatting the first time you set it up. Each time you replicate the report after that, you can simply update the report with new numbers and the formatting will remain the same every time.

While this demo shows how to create a financial report with three monthly tabs, you can easily extend this technique in a couple of different ways. I use this same technique to produce my monthly financial statement package. I have eighteen pages in the package I produce each month, and each page is a different account schedule. When I start a new month, I copy the Excel workbook and rename it with the new month, then use exactly this same technique to produce the new month’s reports. By using this technique, the new copied workbook acts as a “shell” to receive my new numbers. From month to month, I am able to maintain consistent formatting in my reporting while producing my financial reports in the most efficient way possible. I can apply the same principles to my monthly team budget reports. In this case, I can produce the same actual versus budget report over and over with a new dimension filter applied for each team, one per each Excel worksheet in the workbook.

If you’d like to learn more about account schedules, please visit my 2013 Classes page. This short video demo comes from my Account Schedules Basics class which I teach through NAVUG Academy. This class offering is just one of many classes that are being offered by NAVUG Academy in 2013 to help you get more out of your use of NAV at your company.

Video Demo: How to export NAV account schedules to Microsoft Excel

Posted: February 5, 2013 | Author: kpeters | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Account Schedules, dimensions, Excel, export to excel, financial statement, learning, NAVUG, NAVUG Academy, training | Leave a comment

This posting is one of the Top 20 Most Viewed in the last year! Follow this link to see the entire list.

Challenge to the NAVUG Community: NAV Account Schedules formulas cheat sheet

Posted: October 15, 2012 | Author: kpeters | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Account Schedules, challenge, cheat sheet, formulas, NAV, NAVUG, NAVUG Academy, tips and tricks, user group | Leave a comment

I had the opportunity today to teach a full day class on account schedules to an amazing engaged group of people! I get the privilege of doing this in person once a year at NAVUG Forum thanks to NAVUG Academy. In the last year, I’ve branched out to teach this same class in webinar format, and boy has it been a blast. The number one question I get is, “Do you have a cheat sheet for all the formulas you can use in Account Schedules?”

I’ve shied away from this in the past, because it’s a complex question. You’ve got to take into account comparison period versus comparison date, column type used, use of filters, and like all Microsoft products, there is often more than one way to accomplish the same result. But I think I’ve got us a start with the page I’ve just put out on my blog.

I believe the power of community is an amazing thing. We continually make each other better by sharing information.

I CHALLENGE YOU TO SUBMIT A COMMENT WITH AN ACCOUNT SCHEDULE FORMULA THAT’S NOT YET BEEN LISTED.

As long as I can test it to prove it works in the way described, and it’s different enough from already listed formulas, I’ll add it to the list and make sure to put a shout out to the contributor on the blog.

I’m looking forward to seeing what our amazing NAVUG community can accomplish!

What is there to talk about regarding NAV financial reporting?

Posted: April 21, 2012 | Author: kpeters | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Account Schedules, add-on, Analysis Reports, BREP, C/SIDE, Dynamics, ERP, Excel, general ledger, ISV, JET, Management Reporter, Microsoft, NAV, NAVUG, NAVUG Academy, Object Designer, PowerPivot, SQL, SSRS | Leave a comment

If you’re a Microsoft Dynamics NAV user, like I am, there are a whole ton of choices to make regarding financial reporting.

Account Schedules, the native financial reporting package that reports on general ledger transactions.
Analysis Reports, also a native NAV reporting option, that extends reporting to item ledger entries from the sales and purchasing tables.
Object Designer, the native C/SIDE development tool used for the NAV application, which includes a report writer.
SSRS (SQL Server Reporting Services), a Microsoft reporting tool package that uses the SQL programming language.
PowerPivot, the free Microsoft Excel add-on that became available with Microsoft Office 2010, allowing data to load from NAV (and other data sources) through a direct connection to Excel.
JET Express, a former ISV (Independent Software Vendor) reporting solution, released for NAV 2009 in September 2011 as available for NAV users, and included with the Microsoft BREP (Business Ready Enhancement Plan), instead of as a separately purchased add-on solution.
Management Reporter, recently released by Microsoft on March 31, 2012 as a free add-on for all Microsoft Dynamics ERPs with the caveat that, for NAV users, it is only available if you already had the licensing for FRx.
Any large number of additional ISV solutions, sold as separately purchased add-ons to NAV.

As the Controller for my company, it’s my job to stay informed on what’s available and determine which choices are the best possible given the available skills sets of the employees who use them and the overall cost. It’s also my job to make sure I know what the future direction of the ERP software is, so I can advise on decisions we make as a company with that knowledge in hand.

Take note, that from the list above, two major options have been launched in the last seven months. My feeling, as a NAV end-user, is that Microsoft has not delivered a clear direction for their financial reporting strategy for the NAV product, and has left the onus of choice on the user.

I have to admit, I’m the kind of person who likes choices, and I’ve sampled every single option on the list above in one way or another. The reporting strategy for my company is based on three principles: 1) the report must balance to the general ledger, 2) it must be consistently replicated in future periods, 3) it must be able to be maintained by someone in the company with the right skill set.

So yeah, we’ve got a lot to talk about.

I’ve used account schedules as my primary financial reporting solution, at two different companies, since 2004. I have the opportunity to teach about this reporting tool through NAVUG, doing webinars throughout the year, speaking at the annual conference, and even teaching classes for NAVUG Academy. For a while, I’m going to talk about account schedules here, but you’ll occasionally come across other topics as we learn more about the NAV financial reporting landscape, and where it will take us next.