Dynamics 365 Business Central Tips and Tricks: Save Keystrokes and Time in Dynamics 365 Business Central Cloud: Part III

In this series of bi-monthly blogs, Western Computer shares our expertise with tips and tricks to help users work more efficiently in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. Based on our more than 30 years in business—with 1,250+ solution implementations, including more than 350 in the cloud—we share the expertise we have accumulated to enable users to work as proficiently as possible. You can also subscribe to these blogs in our LinkedIn newsletter.

I’m back to help you and your accounting team find more ways to save keystrokes and time in Dynamics 365 Business Central with my third and final blog in this series. I hope you found Part I and Part II helpful.

 

This series is all about providing you with shortcuts so you can eliminate mouse clicks when working in Business Central. Western Computer wants you to get work done faster so you can move on to helping your customers, vendors, and your internal team in making business happen.

 

In my first two blogs, I covered streamlined approval workflows, personalized views, corrections to posted documents, filtered views, customer/vendor/item templates, and deferral templates. I presented all these tips in a webinar co-sponsored by the Dynamics User Group and MSDynamicsWorld.

 

In this blog, here are three more areas in Business Central where your accounting team can save keystrokes and work more efficiently:

Recurring Purchase and Sales Lines

The Recurring Purchase and Sales Lines in Dynamics 365 Business Central function similarly to the default accounts function in Dynamics GP if you’re familiar with that ERP solution. The key difference is that you will set up a code and assign it to one or more vendors or customers.

 

This is helpful down the road, for example, if you change the account number that a code should be assigned to. You don’t have to update each individual customer or vendor. Just update the code, and the change will be automatically applied to each customer or vendor that uses that particular Recurring Purchase or Sales Line code.

 

As you assign a Recurring Purchase or Sales Line code to a vendor or customer, you can choose to automatically default the line(s) on new transactions. This speeds up the process of generating purchase orders and invoices for any vendor or customer with a particular code assigned to them.

 

You can also <Create Recurring Sales Invoices> for all or specific customers based on the Recurring Sales Line code(s) or customer filter. Once you see this in action, you will realize this takes very little effort—I really like that!

Recurring General Journals

Recurring General Journals eliminate the need to rekey or copy entries from Excel that are exactly the same month after month. For instance, you might pay real estate taxes twice per year but accrue the cost monthly at the exact same amount. All you need to do is post the Recurring General Journal entry each month.

 

After an entry is posted, the Posting Date will advance based on the Recurring Frequency used. But keep in mind when posting a reversing entry…the reversal is automatically posted the day after the Posting Date. Make sure your Posting Date is the last day of the month or define a Reverse Date Calculation.

 

The Reverse Date Calculation field enables another handy function that you have to personalize the page to see. This allows you to enter a formula such as <CM+1D> to ensure the reversal is posted one day after the last day of the month.

Standard Journals

Standard Journals in Business Central are similar to the Quick Journal function in Dynamics GP. When using Standard Journals, I’m often reminded of Phoebe in the TV show Friends and her saying, “Lather-Rinse-Repeat.”

 

Standard Journals are another way to eliminate rekeying or copying infrequent entries. You can save them as a Standard Journal and invoke them only when you need to. This way, you won’t clutter up your Recurring General Journal batch listing. You also don’t have to copy from Excel—the data 

will just be there ready and waiting for you. Just like Phoebe, you can repeat this whenever necessary.

 

This comes in handy, for example, when analyzing the bad debt expense account each month, but you don’t always need to make an adjusting entry. You can set up a Standard Journal, so when you do need to make an entry, you just pop the amount right in.

To Learn More 

To learn more about saving keystrokes and time in Business Central Cloud, check out Holly’s webinar where she takes you through screenshot demos and provides additional tips to work more efficiently. Also check out her other blog posts in this series on Dynamics 365 Business Central Tips and Tricks.

 

If you have specific questions, just contact Western Computer today. We’re here to help you reduce all those keystrokes and mouse clicks along with designing, deploying, and supporting your Microsoft Dynamics 365 solutions. 

 

Western Computer offers deep expertise across the Microsoft technology stack, particularly in Dynamics 365 Business Central Cloud. Our thought leaders can help you ensure your critical ERP application meets your business needs for today and beyond. For more information on how to make corrections in Business Central, or for help in designing, deploying or supporting your Microsoft Dynamics 365 solution, contact Western Computer today.