Hope everyone had a wonderful long weekend and now it is back to work.  I wanted to ask have you installed service pack 3 for GP 2010.  Below are the top 5 reasons why to install service pack 3.

1. Service pack 3 for GP 2010, which is a larger service pack with lots of change, will be included in the year-end updates due to release November 2012 (US) December 2012 (Canadian Payroll).  To relieve some stress from your daily work load, install the update now so you have time to test areas of change specific to your company.  Then you will have a stress free year end with minimal changes in the update (Let's hope!)

2. There are issues fixed in this service pack for Human Resource & Payroll that over 25 customers have reported.  Check out the list I have below about what other customers are talking about.

3. One of the below fixes is impacting my business on a daily bases.

4. If you don't your behind the time.

5. Because Terry Heley told me to do it!

As I stated above we had a lot of change in Service Pack 3 so I wanted to highlight a few of the areas in more detail for you, check out the below site or PDF for a complete list of changes.

Payroll Recurring batch date
This is an oldie but a goody.  If you create a recurring batch, let's say for monthly with your Transaction date from 6/1/2012 date to 6/30/2012, located in the Payroll Transaction Entry window, expand to the detail line.  Run a payroll with this batch.
The issue was the dates were not advancing to the next pay period, they would stay the same.  With service pack 3 installed the dates will now advance, how cool is that?

Employee / Employer Medicare & Social Security Liability on check registers
Did you realize we have 4 check register reports? 
1. Reprint check register
2. Manual check register
3. Direct deposit check register (used when direct deposit is active)
4. Check Register (used when you do not have direct deposit)

When we released the employee / employer FICA changes back in 2011, many customers wanted to see the liability split out between employee and employer.  We originally had it lumped into one total, which is more difficult to verify your payroll deposit is the correct amount.
Per customer request, once you install service pack 3 on all registers, you will see it split out employee / employer with totals.  Look to see it added to the Period End Payroll Summary report in our next release GP 2013.  Other area customers feel it would be useful. 

Position History has incorrect effective date
Have you ever noticed how you can save to history for position changes, but the effective date in position history is zero?  This is listed under Cards | Payroll | Employee | Additional Positions button, click History and expand the line item.
Once you install service pack 3, we will not go back and fix existing information, but going forward as you save changes, you should not the correct date being listed.

The OSHA reports on GP 2010
Have you printed an OSHA 300 or 300A report in GP 2010?  If you have you would have noticed words were cut off in many sections of the report.  This was due to a font sizing issue, this worked fine on GP 10 (as always).  In support we created package files for customers as workarounds, but it was permanently fixed in service pack 3. 

Payroll reprint pay check
We have seen some minor oddity's with the reprint pay check feature in GP 2010, so fixing those minor items.  Over 5 issues fixed around this area.

I could go on and on, but I know this is long enough, go take the challenge and install GP 2010 Service Pack 3 today!
https://mbs.microsoft.com/customersource/downloads/servicepacks/mdgp2010_patchreleases.htm?printpage=false

As a reminder going into year-end, 10 customers will get a year-end update
Even though the lifecycle states 10/2012, we will give 10 customers the 2012 year end update for US and Canadian Payroll and round 1 2013 tax tables for U.S. Payroll.

This will give the customer till end of December,  then they will need to upgrade soon after, which is a hectic time.

https://mbs.microsoft.com/Cms/Templates/document/General.aspx?NRMODE=Published&NRNODEGUID=%7b7F4336C3-312D-4EDB-BDF1-DC970C32170E%7d&NRORIGINALURL=%2fcustomersource%2fdownloads%2ftaxupdates%2fusgptu10%2ehtm%3fprintpage%3dfalse&NRCACHEHINT=Guest&printpage=false

Blog
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/dynamicsgp/archive/2012/04/05/microsoft-dynamics-gp-10-0-mainstream-support-ending-on-october-9th-2012.aspx

Hot Topic
https://mbs.microsoft.com/customersource/support/selfsupport/hottopics/HOTTOPIC_MDGP10_SupportLifecycle

Have a great week!

Terry Heley
Microsoft Dynamics GP Cheerleader

Happy Holidays Everyone!

How are we all doing during this hectic season?  I hope well.  In support we are starting to see a few customers that have installed the U.S. Payroll Year-end Update (which includes service pack 3) for Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010.
Once you install the update and now users are starting to use the system, they may report this error when they go to Recreate or Reprint the Paystub:
Inquiry | Payroll | Check History

Error in equation 'Print YTD Amounts'

This happens when the company has modified the Reprint Pay Statement.  In service pack 3, there were a few bug fixes around the Reprint / Recreate paystub and in order for those changes to work with the form, you should print the original.
Customers will need to set security back to the original form and then you will not receive the error message.
Microsoft Dynamics GP | Tools | Setup | System | User Security or Microsoft Dynamics GP | Tools | Setup | System | Alternate/Modified Forms and Reports. 
The problem is you have to "re-modify" your form.  What I have heard from a few clients is they just removed the social security number from the form, which is an easy change.

I know what you are going to say, Terry....we should not have SSN on any payroll form, and yes I agree with you , that is something we are looking at to remove Social Security Number from all payroll forms, in the fure, yeah!
Back in the day as you can all remember with me, many customers used it as a tracking device and wanted it on forms, not so much in the new era!

Link to the KB that will list all the fixes in service pack 3:
https://mbs2.microsoft.com/Knowledgebase/kbdisplay.aspx?scid=kb,en-us,2672761

Link to Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 service pack 3 page:
https://mbs.microsoft.com/customersource/downloads/servicepacks/MDGP2010_PreviousPatches#English

Everyone have a WONDERFUL New Year!
Terry Heley
(Dreaming of fiscal cliff)

Many times in support we are asked how to track loans in payroll. We would tell you to set up a deduction and retrieve your money back.
This is great and all, but some companies allow multiple loans to employees and if you have ever noticed a deduction start to PAY an employee back, that is usually a sign they are re-using deductions and maximum limits have been met so it starts to PAY BACK the employee.

Not exactly what we want a deduction to be doing :-)

I was working with a customer that allowed this with minuscule amounts, which makes it difficult. What we ended up doing is putting the loan amount in ARREARS instead. This works out much better.

Instead of putting the maximum amount for the loan, when an employee owes you money, put this amount in deduction in arrears, Cards | Payroll | Employee | Arrears Transactions.
Once you have the amount recorded in the Arrear Transaction window for the employee and deduction, the next payroll, it will start to take out.
Remember, the system will take the deduction amount and then arrears; in this case we only want arrears taken.
On the deduction record, choose fixed amount and put zero, then for the pay period maximum, put the amount you want taken each payroll, example 50.00 (the pay back amount)
Now process payroll and review the employee to make sure the arrears is taken how you want it.

This way, no more messing with multiple deductions for employees and when you need to take on more for the loan, just put the additional amount.
Also you do not have to worry about it not stopping.  Once the arrears have been collected, it stops automatically, yeah!

Attached is the Deduction in Arrears Manual for your review too if you are not familiar with the functionality.

Thanks! 

Well.....that is a VERY good question and many customers seem to be asking this in the 2013 year as they process payroll.

With the rate back to 6.2 this year, 2013, and now that our code looks at the tables to find the Employee/Employer Medicare and Social Security rates, we had code in place for rounding on the employee side, but not employer.
When you process payroll, you may see some employees round differently than the employer amount.
This will not happen on every employee, in an entire payroll, you may see 4 to 5 employees off compared to an employer amount.

This was fixed in the January Hotfix, see Kelly's blog:
https://community.dynamics.com/product/gp/gptechnical/b/dynamicsgp/archive/2013/01/25/the-january-2013-hotfix-is-now-available-for-microsoft-dynamics-gp-2010-and-microsoft-dynamics-gp-2013.aspx?wa=wsignin1.0

That is all wonderful, but you, as a payroll customer, want your payroll amounts to be the same, why are they different, it is the same rate, 6.2/6.2.

To fix, below is a script you can run, that will make the employer amount match employee in two tables, UPR30100 (Check History)  and UPR30200 (Tax Liability) for the 2013 year only.

This will only fix payroll, nothing to General Ledger, you can manually adjust it if you want.  We should be talking about a small amount, but payroll people want it to tie to the penny!

This is a base script, change it up how you want, it will state all records changed, but it may have just touched a few of those records.

Back-up’s are encouraged. :-)

Run this script in Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio against each company database you process payroll for.

update UPR30100

      set dbo.UPR30100.EFICASSWH = dbo.UPR30100.FCASWPR,

      dbo.UPR30100.EFICASS_Tax_On_Tips = dbo.UPR30100.FICSTPTX + dbo.UPR30100.Uncollected_FICASS_TaxP

where dbo.UPR30100.YEAR1 = 2013

update UPR30200  

      set EFICASSTL = FICASSTL + Uncollected_FICASS_TaxP

where YEAR(CHEKDATE) = 2013

10 Customers did not get the January hotfix, nor will get the 941 change come March 2013, if you are on version 10, you really need to upgrade, you can run the script above with no problems.

Yeah, W2's are out the door, good luck with the rest of your 2013 payroll processing.

Terry Heley

The Fiscal Periods Setup window allows you to change the First Day and Last Day of a year that is already setup and has transactions entered for it.  Because of this, it is very important for you to enter the correct Year along with the correct First Day and Last Day.

A. To prevent end users from accessing this window, please use Field Level Security or modify the Security Task(s) that have access to this window as appropriate.  If you are going to use Field Level Security, please look at Step A1.  If you are going to modify a Security Task(s) or a Security Role(s), please look at Step A2.

1. To prevent end users from clicking the Calculate button in the Fiscal Periods Setup window, please do the following:

a. On the Microsoft Dynamics GP Menu, point to Tools, point to Setup, point to System, and then click Field Level Security.
b. In the Field Level Security window, click the User ID, the Company Name, and click Add.
c. In the Field Security Maintenance window, please do the following:

i. Enter a Field Security ID and Description.
ii. Click the Product Name lookup button.
iii. In the Resource Explorer window, expand Microsoft Dynamics GP, expand Company, expand Fiscal Periods Setup, and then click Main: Fiscal Periods Setup.
iv. In the Display Name list, click Calculate Button, and then click OK.
v. Back in the Field Security Maintenance window, select the Security Mode you would like (for example, Password Before), select a Password ID, and then click Save.

d. In the Field Level Security window, check the check box for the Field Security ID you created, click Apply, and then click OK.
e. This User ID for the Company you selected should be prompted to enter the password you created before they can click the Calculate button in the Fiscal Periods Setup window.

Note: We have a KB article regarding frequently asked questions about Advanced Security and about Field Level Security in Microsoft Dynamics GP.  It is KB ID 894705 and the link to it is: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/894705

2. To prevent end users from accessing this window, please modify the Security Task(s) that have access to this window as appropriate.

a. Here is a script you can run in SQL Server Management Studio to see what Security Tasks and Security Roles currently have access to the Fiscal Periods Setup window:

SELECT  ISNULL(A.SECURITYROLEID,'') AS SECURITYROLEID,
ISNULL(M.SECURITYROLENAME,'') AS SECURITYROLENAME,
--ISNULL(M.SECURITYROLEDESC,'') AS SECURITYROLEDESC,
ISNULL(O.SECURITYTASKID,'') AS SECURITYTASKID,
ISNULL(T.SECURITYTASKNAME,'') AS SECURITYTASKNAME,
--ISNULL(T.SECURITYTASKDESC,'') AS SECURITYTASKDESC,
R.PRODNAME, R.TYPESTR, R.DSPLNAME, R.RESTECHNAME, R.DICTID, R.SECRESTYPE, R.SECURITYID
FROM DYNAMICS.dbo.SY09400 R
FULL JOIN DYNAMICS.dbo.SY10700 O ON R.DICTID = O.DICTID
AND O.SECRESTYPE = R.SECRESTYPE AND O.SECURITYID = R.SECURITYID
FULL JOIN DYNAMICS.dbo.SY09000 T ON T.SECURITYTASKID = O.SECURITYTASKID
FULL JOIN DYNAMICS.dbo.SY10600 A ON A.SECURITYTASKID = T.SECURITYTASKID
FULL JOIN DYNAMICS.dbo.SY09100 M ON M.SECURITYROLEID = A.SECURITYROLEID
WHERE R.DSPLNAME like  '%Fiscal Periods Setup%'

b. If results are returned with the script in Step 2a, go to Step 2c.  If no results are returned with the script in Step 1a, please do the following steps:

i. On the Microsoft Dynamics GP Menu, point to Maintenance, and then click Clear Data.
ii. In the Clear Data window, click Display, and then click Physical.
iii. Select System for the Series, click Security Resource Descriptions in the Tables list, click Insert, and then click OK.
iv. Run the script in Step 1a again.

c. To edit  the Security Task in Dynamics GP, on the Microsoft Dynamics GP Menu, click Tools, click Setup, click System and then click Security Tasks. 

Note: We have  a KB article regarding frequently asked questions about role-based security in Microsoft Dynamics GP.  It is KB ID 951229 and the link to it is: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/951229/de

B. If the Year field in the Fiscal Periods Setup window does need to be changed, you may be able to use the Fiscal Period Modifier Tools in Professional Services Tools Library to change it. 

1. Please contact your partner to get the Professional Services Tools Library download from the following link:

a. https://mbs.microsoft.com/partnersource/downloads/releases/noam_pstl.htm?printpage=false

2. You can find information on the Fiscal Period Modifier Tool in the ProfServicesToolsLibrary.pdf file located in the Dynamics GP Code folder > Documentation. There are two KB articles that give information about the Fiscal Period Modifier Tool as well.  They are as follows:

a. 855493 Description of the Fiscal Period Modifier tool in Microsoft Dynamics GP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/855493/de

b. 859205 The Open Year button in the Fiscal Period Modifier
https://mbs.microsoft.com/knowledgebase/KBDisplay.aspx?scid=kb;en-US;859205

Note: The Fiscal Period Modifier tool cannot be used to move historical transactions in the GL30000 table (Account Transaction History) to the GL20000 table (Year-to-Date Transaction Open).

C. If you accidentally changed the First Day and Last Day for a Year that already had data in it and you have posted new transactions for a date within that First Day and Last Day, your options are as follows:

1. If the year you changed was an open year, you may be able to the Fiscal Period Modifier Tool to correct the situation.

2. If the year you changed was a historical year, you can either restore or contact Microsoft to do a GL Year End Undo Advisory Service.  Your Partner can contact Advisory Services through either phone or email:

a. Phone: 800-MPN-SOLVE or
b. Email: askpts@microsoft.com

As more and more Customers upgrade to Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 to get all the AWESOME new functionality that everyone is talking about, we are starting to see this error message when you try to install the US Payroll tax update from within Microsoft Dynamics GP,

(Microsoft Dynamics GP menu >> Maintenance >> U.S. Payroll Updates >> Check for Tax Updates)

The entry UpdateLogin is missing in the dex.ini file.  Please contact your system administrator.
The entry Pathname is missing in the dex.ini file.  Please contact your system administrator.

The error is popping up because the Web Client Runtime components were installed with the Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 installation on the machine installing the tax updates.  You must install tax updates on a computer that does not have the Web Client Runtime feature installed.

The Web Client Runtime feature should be installed on the machines that will be used for the Web Client.  Processes that are for rich client should be completed on a rich client install where the Web Client features is not installed.

Thanks, have fun installing 2013 Tax update round 3, released yesterday!

https://mbs.microsoft.com/customersource/downloads/taxupdates/tugp2013.htm?printpage=false

Thanks
Terry Heley

The Government of Canada has announced it is going to phase out the penny from the Canada's coinage system. 

Microsoft Dynamics GP has researched this situation and we are aware Canada is phasing out distributing new pennies.  From what we have discovered at this time, we do not have to make any changes.  Electronic payments can continue using pennies.  Customers may want to evaluate their item pricing structure but that is also not required.

Here is an example of how you can set this up in Microsoft Dynamics GP:

Create an account for the penny difference in the Account Maintenance window (Cards > Financial > Account).

Assign the account to the Writeoffs account in the Customer Account Maintenance window (Cards > Sales > Customer > Accounts) or in the Posting Account Setup window (Microsoft Dynamics GP > Tools > Setup > Posting > Posting Accounts) for the Writeoffs account under Sales.

Enter an Invoice in the Sales Transaction Entry window (Transactions > Sales > Sales Transaction Entry) and post it.

Enter a Cash Receipt for the Cash payment in the Cash Receipts Entry window (Transactions > Sales > Cash Receipts) for the amount minus the penny/pennies and post it.

Apply the Cash payment to the Sales/Invoices document in the Apply Sales Documents window (Transactions > Sales > Apply Sales Documents).  Enter the appropriate Writeoff amount in the Writeoffs field, and then click Post.  Choose to print the Discounts/Writeoffs Journal report which prints the RM Apply Document Journal report as seen below. 

Note: Another option would be to use the Write Off Documents Routine (Microsoft Dynamics GP > Tools > Routines > Sales > Write Off Documents). 

For more information on phasing out the penny in Canada, you can click the following links:

• http://www.mint.ca/store/mint/learn/eliminating-the-penny-6900002
• http://www.budget.gc.ca/2012/themes/theme2-fs-fi-2-eng.html
• http://www.fin.gc.ca/1cent/toolkit-boite-a-outils-eng.asp