50 Tips in 50 Minutes: The Builders Wally Dodds Dorado Solutions, Inc.

@GPUG The Builders  SmartList Builder – Inside GP - SmartLists  Excel Report Builder – Outside GP - Excel Refreshable  Drilldown Builder – Open windows in GP from SmartList or Excel  Navigation List Builder – Inside GP – left side of Series Page

@GPUG SmartList Builder 1. % - Use as Wildcard for multiple characters 2. _ - Use as Wildcard for one character

@GPUG SmartList Builder 3. [character list] - any characters in the list

@GPUG SmartList Options Allows you to change the following defaults for each SmartList: 4. Go To - Set the default GoTo of your choice 5. Maximum Record - Adjust the number of records to display when running the SmartList 6. Columns and Order – Adjust the Order in which the columns default on the SmartList 7. Match Case box – Sets the default for the SmartList to support Case Sensitive search 8. Enable Match Case - Makes the Match Case checkbox available for selection on a Search

@GPUG 9. Begin with the eOne SmartList Builder Templates Available on eOne Solutions website under OEM Products Free templates that mirror Standard SmartLists *Note - You cannot modify the core SmartLists that ship with GP 10. Check your results frequently 11. Learn the GP Database and leverage the available tools – Resource Descriptions – Support Debugger – SDK – SQL Mgmt Studio

@GPUG SmartList Import/Export 12. Export or Import SmartLists – use this as a method to backup an existing SmartList before you make changes, allows you to share with others.  Tools=>SmartList Builder=>Import  Tools=>SmartList Builder=>Export *Note – Export located here… Tools=>SmartList Builder=>Export

@GPUG 13. Duplicate SmartLists  Want a SmartList similar to an existing one with minor changes  Prevent loss of data prior to making a change to an existing SLB  Restrict users visibility to key data

@GPUG Enhancing SmartLists 14. Remove duplicate columns from SmartList so user doesn’t see Item Number in the Search or Add column lookup multiple times. Remove indexes as well to avoid confusion to end users. 15. Change selected columns 16. Change display names 17. Change column order (GP2010 R2 Only) 18. Connect to… – Extender data – Any ODBC compliant data source (i.e. other SQL Databases, DYNGRP and GP Userid role) 19. Create GoTo’s 20. Create Drill Downs and Drill Arounds

@GPUG Table Joins 21. Left Outer vs. Equal Join  Left Outer will return all records from the 1 st table and only those records from the 2 nd table where the joined values equal  Equal Join will return only records where all joined values match

@GPUG SmartList Builder Security 22. PowerUser can see all objects  Grant access to SQL Objects if/when required 23. Create SLB Task for SmartList  Create SLB Role or Assign Task to Existing Roles

@GPUG Searching Multiple Fields 24. Create a calculated field which combines multiple columns to allow users to search using ‘Contains’ for that new calculated field and it will essentially search across all the fields in the calculation.

@GPUG Restrict Data by Logged in User 25. Use ‘Restrictions’ SmartList object to be based on User or User Class. Assign User Classes to users in the security user setup window. 26. Use SQL View to add logged in user and join logged in user view to existing SmartList this will automatically restrict by logged in user. (i.e. Fixed Assets Projections, Sales by Salesperson) 27. Use SQL Views to create Dynamic sales reports within SmartList with totals by period.

@GPUG 28. When using SQL Views if you add more columns to an existing view and the view is used in existing SmartLists, Open the SLB SmartList click the view on the left side and then choose ‘Edit’, make no changes, just click ‘Ok’ and the link window will close, your new columns will now appear. 29. Grant DYNGRP to all custom SQL Views for use in SLB, Navigation Lists or Excel refreshable reports. 30. Add extender window to SmartList or another window in GP to use as a filter. Great for when you need more than 4 filters.

@GPUG 31. Want to see the note from a table or form, click the expansion button on the NoteIndex field from the desired table and then choose ‘Show Note’.  *Note - Easier than adding the notes table to the SLB 32. Add a Mask to a String field such as Phone Number or Social Security Number.  (XXX) XXX-XXXX will display as  X – is a place holder for the data 33. Account Indexes can be easily converted to display the actual account by using the expansion button and choosing ‘Display as Account’

@GPUG 34. Use the Field Options to define when a numeric field should display as a Negative.  *Note – make SOP Return Transaction types show up as negative quantities and $’s. 35. You can edit multiple numeric fields formatting at once. Select Options=>Edit Field Settings=>Currency Fields, Long Integer Fields or Integer Fields

@GPUG 36. If list items don’t default correctly or you want to make changes to the list click on the expansion button above the Fields scrolling window and enter the list numbers and description for each item.

@GPUG 37. When creating GoTo ‘Set the value of Field and run field script’ is 90% the correct option. 38. Create a GoTo to open a Website and pass data from SLB. Ex. Shipping Carrier Tracking Nbr. or Bing Maps to map an address of customer or vendor. 39. Create a GoTo that will ‘Open a File’ such as a pdf, excel sheet, word document, CAD, Video, etc.  Ex. in Mfg environment store your CAD drawings on the server now with a click on the GoTo you can open the CAD drawing right from your SmartList

@GPUG Excel Report Builder 40. Use the Multi Company SmartList option to view data across multiple Dynamics GP company databases 41. Use your ‘Favorite’ SmartLists in regular lookups for GL Accounts, Items, Vendors, Customers, Employee’s. 42. Create SmartLists to view outliers or error prone data.  Ex. In Payroll create a SmartList that shows all employees with more than 40 hours a week to quickly identify potential issues.

@GPUG 43. Create an Excel or Word template with Macros to export data to a standard file format.  *Note – when you now attempt to export to Excel you will see the Quick Export and your solution Export. Quick Export is the standard SmartList export. 44. You can copy your SLB SmartList to Excel but you CANNOT copy your Excel report to a SmartList. Publish your SLB SmartLists to Excel Reports, limiting users need to be in GP.

@GPUG 45. If publishing an Excel Report with views using SQL the Excel report must be published by a user with SQL Administrator privileges (i.e. the ‘sa’ userid) 46. Make Multicompany reports in a single workbook, consolidate in a single worksheet and create a summary page for a single Excel Refreshable, choose Options from the Excel Refreshable report toolbar.  *Note – you can’t create a summary page when consolidating into a single worksheet.

@GPUG 47. Drilldown Builder works with SmartLists, Excel reports, Word documents, SSRS, Outlook messages. It allows authorized users to open GP SmartLists or Windows when on a selected record (similar to a GoTo). 48. Create a SmartList and use it in a SmartConnect integration as a data source.  *Note – this is an excellent method to allow users to restrict real-time data with the ‘Search’ filters and then update, integrate records in GP without ever having to export the data and then reimport. 49. Change the default record count to display from 1000 to something larger with this sql script (ex. 10,000 as shown below) update ASIEXP81 set asi_max_records = 10000

@GPUG 50. Add this line to your Dex.ini file to quick exports to Excel.  SmartlistEnhancedExcelExport=TRUE  *Note – the excel sheet will not be as nicely formatted but it will be so much faster, it does strip off leading 0’s and some foreign currency symbols do not display correctly.

@GPUG Questions? Wally Dodds Dorado Solutions, Inc.