[Steve Erbach]

Dear Collaborators,

Pursuant to a recommendation from another thread, I turned on the “Doc Date Verify” in the Professional Services Tools Library (PSTL). Today our Accounts Payable lady, Stephanie, pointed out that now, whenever she enters a new invoice that happens to have an invoice date in the just-closed period, she sees this:

She isn’t prevented from entering the invoice…it’s just an extra click. But if you knew our Accounting Department, you’d wanna stay away from giving them extra clicks to make!

Is it possible to control when that message appears? Every time an invoice of any kind that is entered with a date in the last month seems excessive!

Thank you,

——————————
“Sparkly” Steve Erbach – Business Analyst & MS Dynamics Platform Administrator
WOW Logistics Company – Appleton, WI
VP for Communication, GPUG WI (Milwaukee) Chapter
Co-Chair, GPUG WI (Green Bay) Chapter
GP 2016 (16.00.0439) / MR 2012 CU15
Blog: https://www.gpug.com/blogs/steve-erbach
Twitter: @serbach
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[Frank Heslin]

I don’t know if you can override that or not.  But I love her user name:  She’s the Stephaniest!

——————————
Frank Heslin
Financial Systems Administrator
ExamWorks, Inc.
Atlanta GA

Member, GPUG Advisory Committee
Chairman, Georgia Regional GPUG Chapter
Summit 2016 Track Leader
GPUG All Star 2016

GP2015 R2
MR CU14

Follow me on Twitter: @Automate_It

GPUGGA – http://www.gpug.com/Atlanta

*** Help Us, Help You…provide enough info so that we don’t have to ask for more:) ***
*** If you solve your issue please share the solution to assist others! ***
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[Rob Klaproth]

Steve, I completely disagree.  The whole purpose of the tool is to warn people when they are trying to post to a closed period.   From what I understand, unless she changes the posting date The system will NOT let her post the invoice anyway because the period is closed so this is letting her know exactly what the tool was designed to do… don’t try to post to a closed period.   🙂 

Sent from my iPhone

——Original Message——

I don’t know if you can override that or not.  But I love her user name:  She’s the Stephaniest!

——————————
Frank Heslin
Financial Systems Administrator
ExamWorks, Inc.
Atlanta GA

Member, GPUG Advisory Committee
Chairman, Georgia Regional GPUG Chapter
Summit 2016 Track Leader
GPUG All Star 2016

GP2015 R2
MR CU14

Follow me on Twitter: @Automate_It

GPUGGA – http://www.gpug.com/Atlanta

*** Help Us, Help You…provide enough info so that we don’t have to ask for more:) ***
*** If you solve your issue please share the solution to assist others! ***
——————————

[Steve Erbach]

Rob,

I would agree with you regarding posting to closed periods; but she isn’t posting to a closed period… the invoice date happens to be in that time frame, but the posting date is today’s date. We just received the invoice from the Vendor and the date on it is from two weeks ago. Stephanie dutifully entered the invoice date and got the message — which she hasn’t seen before because we didn’t have “Doc Date Verify” invoked.

Does GP automagically assume that the date of the invoice will be the posting date? I ask because I’m just the lowly admin; I don’t do the day-in, day-out transactional work.

Regards,

——————————
“Sparkly” Steve Erbach – Business Analyst & MS Dynamics Platform Administrator
WOW Logistics Company – Appleton, WI
VP for Communication, GPUG WI (Milwaukee) Chapter
Co-Chair, GPUG WI (Green Bay) Chapter
GP 2016 (16.00.0439) / MR 2012 CU15
Blog: https://www.gpug.com/blogs/steve-erbach
Twitter: @serbach
——————————
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[Steve Erbach]

Rob,

And I’ve partially answered my own question regarding how GP looks at invoice dates vs. posting dates. We’ve set the Posting Setup option for “Posting Date From:” to be “Batch”, not “Transaction”.

There aren’t that many invoices that come with dates in the prior month after we’ve closed that month… so there won’t be too many clicks that Stephanie has to make. It does seem that the “Doc Date Verify” setting should examine that Posting Date From selection before throwing up that message.

Regards,

——————————
“Sparkly” Steve Erbach – Business Analyst & MS Dynamics Platform Administrator
WOW Logistics Company – Appleton, WI
VP for Communication, GPUG WI (Milwaukee) Chapter
Co-Chair, GPUG WI (Green Bay) Chapter
GP 2016 (16.00.0439) / MR 2012 CU15
Blog: https://www.gpug.com/blogs/steve-erbach
Twitter: @serbach
——————————
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[Rob Klaproth]

Steve,

 

The accountants in the room will definitely have different opinions then you or I do!  ☺  Many of my clients turn this functionality on because their staff are accidentally keying in the wrong date, and they want to warn them when they are doing so, to try and prevent the accidental 3/14/2026 date instead of 3/14/2016, which creates a LOT of problems for them to have to go back and clean up with MS Tech support or their GP partner.

 

That is the main reason people turn that functionality on, to make sure people know when they are entering a date that is in a period that does not exist.

 

Unfortunately, the unintended consequence of also warning when they are trying to post to a closed period comes up as well.  Some controllers probably want it to do that, while others will consider this an inconvenience.   I guess it would be nice if you could decide WHEN to warn the user, but that functionality doesn’t exist in the current toolkit.

 

My personal opinion is the benefit or preventing future problems outweighs the extra key click, but the accounts payable clerk entering the invoices probably has a much different opinion!

 

Rob

 

 

 

——Original Message——

Rob,

I would agree with you regarding posting to closed periods; but she isn’t posting to a closed period… the invoice date happens to be in that time frame, but the posting date is today’s date. We just received the invoice from the Vendor and the date on it is from two weeks ago. Stephanie dutifully entered the invoice date and got the message — which she hasn’t seen before because we didn’t have “Doc Date Verify” invoked.

Does GP automagically assume that the date of the invoice will be the posting date? I ask because I’m just the lowly admin; I don’t do the day-in, day-out transactional work.

Regards,

——————————
“Sparkly” Steve Erbach – Business Analyst & MS Dynamics Platform Administrator
WOW Logistics Company – Appleton, WI
VP for Communication, GPUG WI (Milwaukee) Chapter
Co-Chair, GPUG WI (Green Bay) Chapter
GP 2016 (16.00.0439) / MR 2012 CU15
Blog: https://www.gpug.com/blogs/steve-erbach
Twitter: @serbach
——————————

[Steve Erbach]

Rob,

Nice summary. Yes, Stephanie was concerned the first time it happened — since she hadn’t seen it before — but now that she knows it’s coming, no hu-hu!

And we turned on the Doc Date Verify for the exact reason you mention: a mis-typed cash receipt date — 2106 instead of 2016.

Thanks,

——————————
“Sparkly” Steve Erbach – Business Analyst & MS Dynamics Platform Administrator
WOW Logistics Company – Appleton, WI
VP for Communication, GPUG WI (Milwaukee) Chapter
Co-Chair, GPUG WI (Green Bay) Chapter
GP 2016 (16.00.0439) / MR 2012 CU15
Blog: https://www.gpug.com/blogs/steve-erbach
Twitter: @serbach
——————————
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[David Joosten]

If there is a very specific date field that is a concern and you are not required to backdate transactions (we force all our cash receipts to be closed every day) then you can just disable the date field in Field Level Security for most people, you just need to remember to also take access away to the change system date.

At the risk of offending all the developers, it is also a very well suited option to using a small bit of VBA to validate the field.

Regards,

——————————
David Joosten
Enterprise Architect
Premier FMCG (Pty) Ltd
Waterfall City
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[Steve Erbach]

David,

Definitely an “inside baseball” tip! I’ve done a bit with field-level security. Actually, I couldn’t tell you how to turn off access to the system date change. How do you do that?

Sincerely,

——————————
“Sparkly” Steve Erbach – Business Analyst & MS Dynamics Platform Administrator
WOW Logistics Company – Appleton, WI
VP for Communication, GPUG WI (Milwaukee) Chapter
Co-Chair, GPUG WI (Green Bay) Chapter
GP 2016 (16.00.0439) / MR 2012 CU15
Blog: https://www.gpug.com/blogs/steve-erbach
Twitter: @serbach
——————————
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[Steve Erbach]

Frank,

I thought the same thing when we created her User ID!

I didn’t think there was a filter for when that message appeared. Thanks.

Regards,

——————————
“Sparkly” Steve Erbach – Business Analyst & MS Dynamics Platform Administrator
WOW Logistics Company – Appleton, WI
VP for Communication, GPUG WI (Milwaukee) Chapter
Co-Chair, GPUG WI (Green Bay) Chapter
GP 2016 (16.00.0439) / MR 2012 CU15
Blog: https://www.gpug.com/blogs/steve-erbach
Twitter: @serbach
——————————
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[Amber Bell]

Hi Steve,

Have you considered using the Mass Close (aka Mass Close and Super Specific Close) button on the Fiscal Period setup? You could “Close AP” for everything like Payments and Voids…but keep it Open for Payables Trx Entry.

Admin > Setup > Fiscal Periods > Mass Close

 
This doesn’t break the Doc Date Verify. It would just be keeping AP Transactions open (since that specific window should be kept open based on your notes above).

——————————
Amber Bell
Training Dynamo LLC
Email: amber@trainingdynamo.com
Website: http://www.trainingdynamo.com
Twitter: @trainingdynamo
——————————
——————————————-

[Rob Klaproth]

Wow Amber, we learn something new about GP every day!I had no idea you could close specific parts of AP without closing the entire module.  Thanks for sharing.

 

 

 

 

——Original Message——

Hi Steve,

Have you considered using the Mass Close (aka Mass Close and Super Specific Close) button on the Fiscal Period setup? You could “Close AP” for everything like Payments and Voids…but keep it Open for Payables Trx Entry.

Admin > Setup > Fiscal Periods > Mass Close

 
This doesn’t break the Doc Date Verify. It would just be keeping AP Transactions open (since that specific window should be kept open based on your notes above).

——————————
Amber Bell
Training Dynamo LLC
Email: amber@trainingdynamo.com
Website: http://www.trainingdynamo.com
Twitter: @trainingdynamo
——————————

[Lou Spevack]

I like the mass close approach too.  Another method would be to use a Business Alert to warn for document dates outside a selected range.

——————————
Lou Spevack
Systems Accountant | Dynamics Credentialed Professional
American Council on Education
Washington DC
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[David Clayton]

Hi Rob,

Wow Amber, we learn something new about GP every day!I

I know exactly what you mean 🙂  

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David Clayton
DMC Consultants Limited
Kingston, Jamaica
http://www.dmcjm.com
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[Steve Erbach]

Amber,

No wonder people go ape when you present!

I’m awarding you a GOLD Leslie Vail badge. You’re the first recipient!

Sincerely,

——————————
“Sparkly” Steve Erbach – Business Analyst & MS Dynamics Platform Administrator
WOW Logistics Company – Appleton, WI
VP for Communication, GPUG WI (Milwaukee) Chapter
Co-Chair, GPUG WI (Green Bay) Chapter
GP 2016 (16.00.0439) / MR 2012 CU15
Blog: https://www.gpug.com/blogs/steve-erbach
Twitter: @serbach
——————————
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[Amber Bell]

I am honored. This is actually one of the tips I am going to demo at GPUG Amplify next week! If no one likes this one, I will tell them that it is a “Steve Erbach – Leslie Vail Gold Badge” award winning tip!!

Here is my slide for next week. (I used a site http://www.canva.com) to create my little “Standard GP Functionality” logo.

——————————
Amber Bell
Training Dynamo LLC
Email: amber@trainingdynamo.com
Website: http://www.trainingdynamo.com
Twitter: @trainingdynamo
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[Shawn Dorward]

Amber,

So Cool! Love the ‘logo’!  I was actually working with someone TODAY and was showing them the options in mass close – it was a jaw dropping moment!  I love under used features and this is one of my favorite! 

I too am highlighting this next week @ Amplify in my Life Hacks Session!  Maybe I can ‘borrow’ your ‘standard GP’ icon 🙂 🙂

——————————
Shawn Dorward
Twitter: @ShawnMDorward
Implementation Consultant
InterDyn Artis
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[Amber Bell]

Hi Shawn,

I emailed it. (I will probably use it in my next book so I just sent it directly to you). 🙂

See you soon at Amplify!

——————————
Amber Bell
Training Dynamo LLC
Email: amber@trainingdynamo.com
Website: http://www.trainingdynamo.com
Twitter: @trainingdynamo
——————————
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[Steve Erbach]

Amber,

>> This is actually one of the tips I am going to demo at GPUG Amplify next week! If no one likes this one, I will tell them that it is a “Steve Erbach – Leslie Vail Gold Badge” award winning tip!! <<

Say! You could insert a slide just before this tip that has the Gold Leslie Vail badge on it! A little fanfare music, too! Then, while they’re going, “Ooooo! Prettyyyyy!”, you can hit ’em with your tip!

Regards,

——————————
“Sparkly” Steve Erbach – Business Analyst & MS Dynamics Platform Administrator
WOW Logistics Company – Appleton, WI
VP for Communication, GPUG WI (Milwaukee) Chapter
Co-Chair, GPUG WI (Green Bay) Chapter
GP 2016 (16.00.0439) / MR 2012 CU15
Blog: https://www.gpug.com/blogs/steve-erbach
Twitter: @serbach
Welcome to Dynamics!
You do not have permission.
Call Steve. (hat tip: Lou Spevack)
——————————
——————————————-

[Steve Erbach]

Amber,

Question from Stephanie, our A/P lady: if we UN-check the “Payables Trx Entry” in Mass Close, does that make it at all possible that transactions could be posted to closed periods? Just checking to be sure!

Regards,

——————————
“Sparkly” Steve Erbach – Business Analyst & MS Dynamics Platform Administrator
WOW Logistics Company – Appleton, WI
VP for Communication, GPUG WI (Milwaukee) Chapter
Co-Chair, GPUG WI (Green Bay) Chapter
GP 2016 (16.00.0439) / MR 2012 CU15
Blog: https://www.gpug.com/blogs/steve-erbach
Twitter: @serbach
Welcome to Dynamics!
You do not have permission.
Call Steve. (hat tip: Lou Spevack)
——————————
——————————————-

[Amber Bell]

Hi Steve,

From your original post, it looks like you are using the Posting Date from the batch…even if you were not, here is what would happen and why I suggested opening the Payables Trx Entry:

Your user is entering and wants to Post with a transaction date to a closed Period. I think you are closing AP and GL to control what hits the GL. I would suggest keeping the GL closed for the period but opening the Payables Trx Entry window.

Example:

AP Invoice Date 03/15/17
Batch Posting Date 04/12/17

If you Opened the Payables Transaction Entry for March, but keep March GL closed…this would post without problems. If someone posted without a batch, the system will not post through. You would see this (unless they manually overwrote the GL Posting Date by clicking the Blue Arrow by the date on the transaction)

AP Invoice Date 03/15/17
GL Posting Date 3/15/17

The AP would post just fine…but the GL batch (that would need to be posted separately) will not post to a closed period. The problems would kick in if the user changed the date on the Journal Entries and then posted…because now AP and GL would appear to be off.

My recommendation is to prevent this by turning off “Allow Transaction Posting” and turn on “Post Through”. I tested. The Edit list doesn’t show the Fiscal Period is closed message…but the AP batch goes to batch recovery and won’t post because the GL date is closed. That gives the user the change to fix the GL Posting date if needed.

——————————
Amber Bell
Training Dynamo LLC
Email: amber@trainingdynamo.com
Website: http://www.trainingdynamo.com
Twitter: @trainingdynamo
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[Steve Erbach]

Amber,

I’m thinking what I’m thinking is this: the number times that someone would enter a crazy date (2106 vs. 2016) are far less frequent than people needing to enter transaction dates in closed months. That 2106 vs. 2016 thing happened once in three years. Turning on the “Doc Date Verify” and then having everybody run into a warning message about entering dates from closed periods isn’t worth it. On top of that, the process you’ve detailed, while completely valid, is overkill in our situation, I think.

I just had both the A/R and A/P ladies come in concerned about the possibility of posting transactions into closed periods if that “Doc Date Verify” option remained on. We talked about it; and the upshot was that entering a goofy date was far less frequent than our need to post transactions in the current period with document dates in the prior, closed period. They’d prefer not to have that warning pop up to protect them against something that’s only happened once in three years.

You have stayed with me above and beyond the call of GPUG duty on this, Amber! Thank you. Much as I hate to not take the advice of a Leslie Vail Gold badge winner, we’re going to go with the simplest option: turn off “Doc Date Verify”.

Sincerely,

——————————
“Sparkly” Steve Erbach – Business Analyst & MS Dynamics Platform Administrator
WOW Logistics Company – Appleton, WI
VP for Communication, GPUG WI (Milwaukee) Chapter
Co-Chair, GPUG WI (Green Bay) Chapter
GP 2016 (16.00.0439) / MR 2012 CU15
Blog: https://www.gpug.com/blogs/steve-erbach
Twitter: @serbach
Welcome to Dynamics!
You do not have permission.
Call Steve. (hat tip: Lou Spevack)
——————————
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[Jim Harris]

Hey Steve – you asked earlier in this string about how to prevent users from changing their user date in GP.  You just need to restrict access to that User Date window in whichever security tasks it is currently granted under.

Since you’re already in a risk taking mood (as evidenced by ignoring the advice of the inaugural Leslie Vail Gold badge winner), you may want to turn this off just to find out who howls.

——————————
Jim Harris
DIS
ExamWorks, Inc.
Atlanta GA
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[Steve Erbach]

Jim,

>> you may want to turn this off just to find out who howls. <<

You are bad!

Regards,

——————————
“Sparkly” Steve Erbach – Business Analyst & MS Dynamics Platform Administrator
WOW Logistics Company – Appleton, WI
VP for Communication, GPUG WI (Milwaukee) Chapter
Co-Chair, GPUG WI (Green Bay) Chapter
GP 2016 (16.00.0439) / MR 2012 CU15
Blog: https://www.gpug.com/blogs/steve-erbach
Twitter: @serbach
Welcome to Dynamics!
You do not have permission.
Call Steve. (hat tip: Lou Spevack)
——————————
——————————————-

[Glenda Homan]

Steve,

It can happen more often than you think.  We have 213 A/P transactions with Document dates from 5/27/2017 to 07/31/6844 to 03/02/9014 with all sorts of different dates between.  We have turned on Doc Date Verify now.

——————————
Glenda Homan
Dolese Bros. Co.
OKlahoma City OK
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[Steve Erbach]

Glenda,

213?! Egad! Are they typing with their feet?!

Kidding! Kidding!

Regards,

——————————
“Sparkly” Steve Erbach – Business Analyst & MS Dynamics Platform Administrator
WOW Logistics Company – Appleton, WI
VP for Communication, GPUG WI (Milwaukee) Chapter
Co-Chair, GPUG WI (Green Bay) Chapter
GP 2016 (16.00.0439) / MR 2012 CU15
Blog: https://www.gpug.com/blogs/steve-erbach
Twitter: @serbach
——————————
Welcome to Dynamics!
You do not have permission.
Call Steve. (hat tip: Lou Spevack)
——————————
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