Categories: Dynamics FO / AX UG, How To, User Group Communities
As we begin our transition into a new year, many of us are working through a financial period close called, affectionately, “year-end close.” It can be a trying time for everyone in a company, especially accounting and finance teams. Further, there are several tasks that need to be completed by different departments within the organization. On top of this, many companies must go through a financial audit during this timeframe as well.
So, how do companies keep track of all the period-end deliverables that must be completed? Well, Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations has a solution with its Financial Period Close workspace, available on the default dashboard.
This is great news as we all need a little extra help keeping our period-end processes and tasks organized. Since we are now excited about this functionality, let's start by navigating to the default dashboard, where you will discover that the financial period close workspace is empty.
Now, what do we do?
Do not despair. This workspace should be empty as every company has different period-end close processes and tasks. Think of this as a central repository for assigning tasks and keeping up with the statuses of the tasks that get assigned to different users in your organization at period end.
To set up this workspace so that it works for your organization, navigate to General ledger > Period close > Financial period close configuration. Within this screen, you will see several setup options in a list view:
Unfortunately, there is a need to complete these configurations in a specific order, and the Financial period close configuration list page does not contain these configurations in the proper order.
Ideally, you would work in this order:
By working in this order, you will build upon the previous selection and avoid the headaches associated with reworking.
Calendars are set up to define a period of time during which you expect closing processes to be completed. This is where you define the working days within a period, as well as the beginning and end of that period. This helps with assigning tasks so that days off aren’t included in scheduling calculations.
Task areas are the areas defined by your organization that will complete the period-end tasks. For example, an organization may choose to create task areas by department or work stream.
In the following example, the task areas are defined by the system module:
Closing roles are the roles of the workers, or resources, who will be completing the closing tasks assigned. It is important to think through who will be completing the closing tasks and defining the roles this way.
These roles are not tied to security roles and are defined in the system as "free text strings." Your organization will define these roles and then assign resources to them (in a later step). The number of roles you define will vary based on factors such as the size of your company, responsible parties, and the tasks defined.
Templates are used through Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations to standardize processes. The financial period close is no exception to this.
When creating a new template, you can start from scratch or copy an existing template. The templates are built using Task areas and Closing roles as defined in previous steps.
To create new tasks, add attachments, delete tasks, and/or set dependencies, select the ellipsis (…) next to the Select area dropdown. When creating a new task, define what the task is, how many days after the period it is due (Due date relation column), what time it is due, the Closing role associated with the task, for which companies the task is relevant, and a link to the area where the task is performed within the system.
If a dependency has been defined or an attachment has been included with the task, it will create a checkmark on the line. A dependency is a task that is dependent upon the completion of another task.
Closing schedules are set up to pull in Template and Calendar information that was defined in previous steps. The Closing schedule is used to define the dates for the closing tasks within the period as defined.
Finally, Resources are the workers who are assigned to the Closing roles defined in an earlier step. I have set myself up as a Resource and assigned myself the role of Accounting Manager for the company USMF. This means that tasks assigned to the Accounting Manager role in company USMF will be assigned to me to complete.
There is also an option for Resources to see All tasks and statuses or Only assigned tasks. This helps clean up the extra noise for workers who may only want to see what is assigned to them. I selected the All tasks and statuses view for myself because as an accounting manager, I am responsible for following up on tasks.
When I navigate to the Financial period close workspace, I will now see a lot more information based on the processes that were defined in the Financial period close configuration screen. I can see how many tasks are past due, any tasks remaining today, tasks that are blocking other tasks from being completed, and a cohesive visual representation of tasks that are past due, displayed in red.
As you can see, this is a fantastic tool to keep your organization’s period close processes organized and on schedule.
Happy closing!
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