Tool Tip - Calculate How Many Working Days and Public Holidays For HR and Payroll

Figure 1 – Screen shot of Calendar for "How many working days and public holidays from date to date"

If you ever have to figure out the number of working days and public holidays from one date to another, the website http://www.workingdays.ca/Alberta.htm#aepd is the perfect tool to use to come up with the correct number of days. 

This window has multiple uses:

1. Use it to calculate a payout for an employee that is leaving

2. Use it to calculate the number of days and vacation for budgeting for the next fiscal year – it goes out to future years

3. Use it to fix the public holiday dates for sending out the notice for the upcoming year statutory days

4. Use it to check statutory days between Canada and the United States for planning purposes when the company works in both countries

5. Use it for planning weekend shifts for manufacturing shifts and for retail shifts

Using the Calendar function is much faster than counting the days manually on a calendar.

For other tips and tool tricks, keep reading this blog. 

Please contact us for more information on Dynamics ERP capabilities or to find out how we can help you with a Dynamics implementation.

Send an email to Support@dynamicsmct.com or call us at Toll Free:  +1.780-555-6144.

Submitted by Judith Hirst CPA, CMA MCP Senior Financial Analyst

www.dynamicsmct.com

Free Tool - Back Up Dynamics GP to Azure Server

Figure 1 – Slide showing that you can backup the GP database to Azure

Backing up data is one of the most important functions that companies can do on a daily basis. Most companies will back up their data to a local server on premises.  If there is a major issue such as fire or flood, that backup may not provide the safety net that companies believe that they have.

Many Dynamics GP users do not realize that they can backup their Dynamics GP directly to an Azure server thereby having a secure copy of their backup in the cloud.

Here is how it works.  Only the system administrator can open the Back Up Company window to make backups. The Back Up Company window is only available when using a Microsoft Dynamics GP installation on the SQL Server.  The administrator may choose to back up either the Company database or the System database.

Figure 2 – Back Up Company Window from Dynamics GP 2015 R2

Here is a list of the data that should be backed up.

Figure 3 – Dynamics GP files and databases that should be part of the backup

Please contact us for more information on managing back ups or contact us about  how we can help you with a Dynamics implementation or upgrade.

Send an email to Support@dynamicsmct.com or call us at Toll Free:  +1.780-555-6144.

Submitted by Judith Hirst CPA, CMA MCP Senior Financial Analyst

www.dynamicsmct.com

Five Reasons To Keep The Vendor (Supplier) List Clean

Figure 1 – The push broom used to keep shop floors clean

Most organizations have a safety policy in place.  High on the list of safety is keeping the premises clean and tidy.  An extension of this "clean and tidy" practice should be to keep the vendor list clean in the ERP system.

Why? Here are five reasons to keep the vendor list clean.

1. The longer and messier that the vendor list is, the more likely coding errors will happen. 
2. This increases the chances of the wrong vendor being paid for an invoice assigned to them in error.
3. Now, there are two voids to process, one for the cheque payment, and one for the invoice.
4. If Vendors have not been used in the last two years, inactivate them to reduce the risk that invoices will inadvertently be assigned to them. (In Dynamics GP, for example, run a SmartList to show vendors that have not received payment for the last two years, and then inactivate them.)
5. Managing the vendor list and reviewing it quarterly or semiannually will help to minimize the occurrence of fraudulent vendors, that is, vendors who submit the same invoice under different names.  You will catch these errors  because  you are watching.

The team at Dynamics MCT Consulting has been implementing Microsoft Dynamics ERP Business Solutions for more than 15 years and provides a full range of Microsoft Dynamics services.  Please contact us for more information on capabilities or how we can help you with a Dynamics implementation.

Send an email to Support@dynamicsmct.com or call us at Toll Free:  +1.780-555-6144.

Submitted by Judith Hirst CPA, CMA MCP Senior Financial Analyst

www.dynamicsmct.com

Dynamics GP–Free Tools #1–Consulting Toolkit from Willoware

 

Companies are always looking for ways to save time and money.  Free tools, especially time saving tools, are one way that IT departments can help the accounting departments move through data more quickly.

Willoware has a Consulting Toolkit with both modules for purchase and with some free tools.  The free tools include:

• SQL Database Manager
• SQL Query
• SQL Trace
• GP Finder
• GP Resource Explorer
• GP View Wizard

Of the free tools, my favorite is the View Wizard.  The View Wizard is a utility for creating SQL Views of Dynamics GP tables that using “human readable” column names.  For example, instead of ITMTRKOP the column name would be ItemTrackingOption.  This is a great tool for building user-friendly tables for reporting, or for use in complex queries creating views for SmartList Builder.

You can check out the list of tools in the Consulting Toolkit at https://willoware.com/products/consulting-toolkit/.

Contact us  at Dynamics MCT Consulting to get more information on the Willoware tools.  Send an email to Support@dynamicsmct.com or call us at Toll Free:  +1.780-555-6144.

Watch for further Free Tools blogs in upcoming posts.

Submitted by Judith Hirst CPA, CMA MCP