Microsoft Dynamics Payroll Implementation: Are You Ready? Don’t Wait for January!

Are you planning to implement Microsoft Great Plains Dynamics payroll in the near future but think you should wait until January 1 to switch over?  You might want to re-think that decision!  I’ve done dozens of payroll implementations over the years and have found that the best time to make the switch is generally October 1.  Here’s why:

There is a lot of setup involved in any payroll implementation, regardless of the number of employees to be paid.  Not only do you have to enter or import employee personal data such as name, address, tax withholdings, and direct deposit routing numbers, but you also have to do the overall company setups:  Pay codes, deductions and benefits.  You’ve got to make sure you’ve got the most recent tax tables installed.  And, one of the most widely-missed items – you MUST verify the tax status (pre-tax, post-tax) of each deduction to be sure everything is withheld correctly and taxable wages are correctly stated.  You will probably also need to send a prenote file to your bank, or at least a test file of some sort if you will be using Direct Deposit.  That’s a LOT of setup and testing to do at the end of the year when you’re trying to close books and perform all the other tasks associated with year-end.

I’ve found that if you get everything set up and tested in September, you can start the employees on the new system on October 1 so the entire final quarter will be run through the new system.  You can import or enter quarterly payroll data for each employee once your setups are done (one “check” per employee per each of the first three quarters) to get your year-to-date numbers in, and then start with individual real checks for the fourth quarter.

This allows you to check reports during the months of October and November to be sure everything is running as you wish, and you don’t have all those additional stresses of bringing up a new payroll system at the same time as calendar year-end.  Some employers actually do the entire 4^th quarter on both their old payroll system and on their new payroll system to check numbers.  I don’t normally advise that kind of duplicity, but it could be a good choice for your company.  

Time to (pay)roll!  At Intelligent Technologies, we have extensive experience with Microsoft Great Plains Dynamics, including the US Payroll modules.  Contact us for more information on this or any other Microsoft Dynamics GP needs!  

Beth Hodge, Microsoft Business Management Solutions Professional

Intelligent Technologies, Inc., South Carolina Microoft Dynamics Partner