Book Image

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Cookbook

Book Image

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Cookbook

Overview of this book

Microsoft Dynamics GP is an enterprise resource planning system, essentially an accounting system on steroids, designed for mid-sized organizations. The implementation of Dynamics GP is usually considered to be complex, and people often realize there must be more efficient ways of working with the system. This book will show readers how to improve their use of Dynamics GP and get the most out of this tool quickly and effectively. "Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Cookbook" picks up where implementation training leaves off. Whether you are new or experienced you will find useful recipes for improving the way you use and work with Dynamics GP. The clear recipe steps and screenshots make implementing these solutions easy for users of any level and will be sure to improve your efficiency with the Dynamics GP 2013 system. The book starts with recipes designed to enhance the usefulness of Microsoft Dynamics GP by personalizing the look and feel of the application. Most of the recipes are designed to give tips for a typical installation of Dynamics GP, including core financials and distribution modules. The book then moves through recipes that include automating Dynamics GP to allow users or administrators to focus on value adding tasks, harnessing the power of SmartLists to leverage both simplicity and power, connecting Dynamics GP to Microsoft Office 2013, exposing hidden features in Dynamics GP, and much more! Through the final chapters, the book covers system maintenance and extending Dynamics GP with the Support Debugging Tool and Professional Services Tools Library.
Table of Contents (22 chapters)
Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Cookbook
Credits
About the Author
Acknowledgment
About the Author
Acknowledgment
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Getting faster access to data with the shortcut bar


The shortcut bar provides fast access to Dynamics GP's windows and SmartLists along with web pages and external applications. Often, external shortcuts are used for quick access to things such as currency websites, budget spreadsheets, shipping sites, or other applications. Almost anything used to improve a user's productivity can be linked to via the shortcut bar. In this recipe, we'll spend some time looking at how to get the most out of it.

Getting ready

The vertical area to the left side of the Dynamics GP Home page is known as the Navigation Pane. Select Home on the Navigation Pane to make the shortcut bar visible on the top left side.

Selecting other Navigation Pane sections makes other navigation options available. Only the Home selection makes the shortcut bar available.

There are six types of items that can be added to the shortcut bar:

  • Dynamics GP windows

  • SmartLists

  • Macros

  • Web pages

  • External files

  • Folders

How to do it...

The most common use of the shortcut bar is to add a Dynamics GP window for fast access. The simplest way to do that is as follows:

  1. Select Financial from the Navigation Pane on the left side. In the center area page, select General. This opens the Transaction Entry window.

  2. From the Transaction Entry window, select File | Add to Shortcuts.

  3. Click on the Home button to see the Transaction Entry window added to the shortcut bar.

How it works...

The shortcut bar in Microsoft Dynamics GP works a lot like shortcuts on the Microsoft Windows desktop. Dynamics GP places a pointer to the window or file inside the shortcut and launches the appropriate selection when the shortcut is clicked.

There's more...

Typically, users simply accumulate shortcuts on the shortcut bar but to really get the most out of the Shortcut Bar requires are a few extra techniques.

Use external Shortcuts for greater flexibility

For web pages and external shortcuts, right-click on the Shortcut Bar. Then select Add followed by Add Web Page or Add External Shortcut.

Selecting Add Web Page provides the option to enter the location (URL) along with a button to test that the link works correctly.

Selecting Add External Shortcut provides an option to browse for the external file on your system. This can be an application file such as an Excel spreadsheet or a Microsoft Word document. It can also be a link to an application such as Microsoft CRM, budgeting software, or Solitaire for a much needed break.

Setting a keyboard shortcut allows the use of a set of keystrokes to launch a shortcut. For example, this means that Ctrl + Shift + J could be setup to launch the Transaction Entry window for a journal entry or F2 to launch Microsoft Office Excel.

Organize with folders

Right-clicking on the Shortcut Bar and selecting Add | Folder provides an option to add a folder to the Shortcut Bar that can be used to organize entries. For example, a Month End folder can be used to hold links to windows, routines, and reports that are used as part of the month end closing process. This is a great place to start organizing shortcuts.

Complex shortcuts

Microsoft's Developing for Dynamics GP site provides additional information on dealing with complex shortcuts for scenarios such as launching an application and opening a specific file. More information is available at http://blogs.msdn.com/developingfordynamicsgp/archive/2009/08/24/creating-external-shortcuts-with-parameters.aspx.

See also

For information about activating shortcuts when Dynamics GP starts, look at the Reducing clicks with start-up shortcuts recipe. For more information about folders, take a look at the Remembering processes with Ad Hoc Workflow recipe in Chapter 3, Organizing Dynamics GP.