Is Your ERP System Getting Personal With You? Dynamics GP 2010 Will.

Microsoft Dynamics GP has always been known for its many user friendly tools that made it easier for users to get to the tasks they need, find the information they want, and complete their normal day to day work in as few of steps as possible.  Well in Dynamics GP 2010, they have gone even further in adding improvements in the ways you can personalize the solution to each user’s specific needs.

These improvements can best be described based on the kinds of things you may to do while within Dynamics GP.  First of all, navigation throughout the system can be made streamlined.  Some of the options you have to tailor this to a user’s specific needs include:

• Start-up Shortcuts – You may be aware you can add shortcuts to the areas where you do your most frequent work.  This is done by opening that area (for example Sales Transaction Entry screen) and then going to File à Add to Shortcuts.  But you can then also add this newly created shortcut to a Startup folder in the Home Shortcut area which will automatically open this item each time GP is started.
• Make your Home Page personal – You can easily personalize your home page to include what you need.  At the top right of the Home page is Customize this page…  Clicking on this gets you to options to determine what sections you want on your page (for example Metrics, Quick Links, My Reports).  But you also have the option to Change Roles – on the button on the bottom right.  You make your role selection by Industry and then your job responsibility.  Based on your job responsibility, there may be a more appropriate role that you can chose, quickly giving you Home page access to more of the things you need.
• Quick Links – This can provide easy access to things both within GP and without.  It is similar to Shortcuts but it has a few more features.  All you need to do is navigate to the Home page, move to the Quick Links section, and a little pencil will appear in the top right part of the screen.  Clicking on this opens the Quick Link Details window.  By clicking on the Add button, you will see the types of things you can add.  These are not only GP Windows, but GP Navigation Lists, GP Extender windows, web pages and external programs.
• Breadcrumbs – GP now has included the concept of a “breadcrumb” trail of your navigation through screens.  This now appears on your top left part of the screen, showing the step by step method used to get to where you are.  You can click on any step of that to quickly go back to a previous navigation point.  You also get a drop down arrow to show you more of your navigation history.
• You also have Reminders and Tasks that can help you mold the system to your particular needs.

Now that you can move around quickly within GP to get to where you need to get your information into the system, you also have many ways to personalize how you can find data or get data out of the system.  Some of these include:

• My Reports – This is a simple means to organize your most frequently used reports, allowing access to them with one click.  You can do this by going to the area you want (for example Sales or Purchasing), then choose the Report List from the Navigation List section.  Select the report and the report option you want (you may have multiple options representing different report settings or filters).  From here you can click in the top Action Pane area to Add to My Reports.
• Customizing your reports and lists – Keep in mind you can also customize your reports and lists, to create multiple options or navigation lists with certain filters applied.  These can be saved and then referenced in various Shortcuts or Quick Links to further streamline your system for what you need.
• Metrics – Finally, GP 2010 has greatly improved the Metric capabilities.  These are all the pretty graphs and charts that you sometimes see on a Home page.  They can be accessed via Home, Customize this page… (on the top right).  Then choosing the Metrics expansion arrow (à) to get to the Metric Details.  It is here you can add or remove predefined metrics.  You also can create custom metrics using SQL Reporting Services.  These visualizations of the real-world conditions help to greatly understand where things currently stand and what additional action may be required.

All these personalization capabilities make any employee more efficient and productive.  But they also have the added value of reducing training or ramp-up times for new employees.  When all their options are laid out in front of them and things they need are only 1-2 clicks away, a new worker can get up and running much more quickly – saving the company money.

by Rick Feterick / Feterick & Associates, Inc – an Indiana Dynamics Partner
Ph:  847-795-8200             Email: rfeterick@feterick.com

Is Your ERP System Getting Personal With You? Dynamics GP 2010 Will. is a post from: ERP Software Blog

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