Sales

Where is the limit in Business Central CRM capability when integrating it with D365 Sales? (part 3)

Marko Totovic Business Central, CRM, Dynamics 365, ERP, Microsoft Dynamics CRM , , , , , , ,

As I have told you in the previous blog post for part 3, I will introduce you to the Data Synchronization feature, and I will try to explain all capabilities of Data Synchronization.

Before we start creating and explaining how it works, one step needs to be made before we Synchronize Sales Professional and Business Central. You will need to create Synchronization between Dataverse and Business Central first. The procedure of making it is the same. The difference is in the number of tables and the type of synchronization. In Dataverse Synchronization, you will get full sync of Contact, Customer, Vendors, and Currency. It is important to mention that this data sync is easy to set up and work with. As was the case a few years back, you don’t need an Admin User and Integration User (Non-Admin) in Dataverse. Now everything is done through a wizard in Business Central. All you have to do is go to the Assisted Setup in Business Central, choose Set up a connection to Dataverse and follow the steps. You have to pay attention to this setup at the beginning, where you have a question: Would you want to create a Virtual Table? It is up to you. You can switch it off or on, but we will not need Virtual Tables for our Dynamics 365 Sales Professional Synchronization.

Now that we have created Dataverse Synchronization, it is time to focus on our Sales Professional Data Synchronization. After you have created Dataverse Synchronization next step is to choose on the same page in Business Central Set Up connection to Dynamics 365 Sales. What will welcome you is almost the same wizard you got when you were created previously, but as you go through the next page, you will see the possibility of going to the Advanced setup of Synchronization. If you click on advanced, you will see the option to choose some of the tables for sync, my recommendation is to select all of them except Enable Legacy Sales Order Integration, but you will see that if you choose to Enable Bidirectional Sales Order Integration, you will not be able to select Enable Legacy Sales Order Integration.

Now when we choose Finish and let the system do its job, we will end that now we have a much more extensive list of synced tables than previously whit Dataverse synchronization. For example, we have Items, Opportunity, Sales Quote, Sales Invoice… etc. And of course, we see here which type of connection is made to which table, Bidirectional or To Integration Table or From Integration Table, but leaving this on the side more important is now to do coupling criteria. What are we doing here exactly? We are setting which field we want to do, checking duplicates, setting case-sensitive fields, and deciding whether we want to create e New record if he can’t find an existing one.

So, we now have to define Coupling criteria for all tables where the system asks us to do it, and when we finish, we will choose Run Full Synchronization. And the system will do its job, create all records, and match all already existing records on both sides.

Now that we have synced systems and what can we do with them?

In conclusion to this whole blog post, I will give you some examples of what you can do and how you can use the synchronization on and, of course, one CRM (Dynamics 365 Sales Professional) and one ERP (Business Central) for SMB altogether and use the best of both software and to get the best value at the end.

For example, as I have mentioned leads in previous blog posts, this is Sales stuff, and it is good not to mess with Business Central Customers as you may create some Invoices or a lot of financial transactions. So, let’s keep our ERP clear, and those data where we have some contact with somebody, let’s keep it in CRM. But this Lead is getting more interested, and we are getting the possibility to sell something to him (Athens Desk 1896-S, 😊), and he is becoming an Opportunity. We now have Synchronization between ERP and CRM and customer info in both systems. Still, what we can do more from Sales professional because we have Items, UOM, and Sales Quote Synced, we can create a quote in Sales Professional. Now when we want to do Invoicing, we can go to BC and get out the Quote that we made in Sales Professional (because of synchronization), and from that Quote, we will create an Invoice and successfully sell our product to our client. But this is not the end, because we know that in CRM works Salespersons and that for them it is important to understand what we have sold to somebody. This Invoice will be synced back to our Opportunity, and when it is on Opportunity, it will automatically be attached to the Account Table. Each Salesperson will know in the future what this client has bought for what amount and when. This process is called the Lead to Opportunity to Cash business process in two software which works together perfectly.

And one more thing, I’m not persuading you to start using and buying Sales Professional, but I just wanted to show you all the good stuff which comes for you for only 20$ per user per month as an Attached License if you are already a BC user.

And finally, there is always one more question. What if I need to add more tables to the synchronization? The answer is YES! I will stay on this answer because I would not like to rewrite your Microsoft Docs, but I’m giving you the link. In short, you will need a bit of BC development, but you will get it and make extra tables available in synchronization.

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The future of NAV – a small wrap up

atotovic Dynamics 365, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Microsoft Dynamics NAV , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

These days we got a lot of messages about the future of our product – Dynamics NAV. Now I’m seating in a plane and traveling to Nashville on NAVUG Summit and finally have found some time to make a small wrap up with all important things. I think now, after two Directions in North America and EMEA, picture is clearer.

Roadmap

The first thing I want to mention is roadmap of Dynamics NAV. I think it is absolutely clear that in this moment we have Dynamics NAV 2017 as ‘on prem’ and ‘on cloud ready’ solution, but as SaaS, we have Dynamics 365 for Financial and Operations Business Edition, generally based on Dynamics NAV. But this is just in this moment, because Marko Perisic announced in Madrid last week that we will have published Dynamics NAV 2018 at December 1st. This announced is mostly based on partners feedback and this is absolutely this what partners wanted. For now, SaaS solution will stay the same, with the same name and in the same countries (US, Canada and UK). But with this new NAV version, partners will get new solution and the most important, with this new NAV version they can start to use Visual Studio Code for Extensions v2. This is important because partners now can start immediately with new model of development and to be ready for the spring and new solution.

NAV##1

At the spring 2018, we will finally get already announced new product – Dynamics 365 “Tenerife”, but only as cloud SaaS solution. As on-prem solution, we will get Dynamics NAV 2018 R2, but with the same code base as Dynamics 365 “Tenerife”. In this moment I don’t know a reason why we will still have the same product with the different names ‘on cloud’ and ‘on prem’. But very soon, we will continue with only one name – currently code name Dynamics 365 ‘Tenerife’. System will have new modern web interface, sandbox and lot of new features (more about it in another post).

And ant the spring, we will get Dynamics 365 for Sales App with less features (ex Business Edition) and Dynamics 365 for Marketing as preview. Both of these products was presented on Directions and they really look nice and rich.

New Package – New Opportunities

As I said, I don’t want to write about all new features in the future release, but what with the whole package. The main idea is to stop to implement ERP and/or CRM; but to continue to implement full business solution. This is what clients need; they don’t care what part of system it is, the just need to solve their problems and their requirements. And as the new business solution, we will have Dynamics 365 as business solution who cover most of the potential client’s needs. That means we will not sell e.g. ERP, but solution. In this solution we will see what real requirements client has and implement adequate Apps with adequate level of features. Price will depend of this, but we will don’t know prices, because of lot of changes. By my opinion, very important is that now we can combine Apps from ex Business Edition and ex Enterprise Edition. With this we will have more agility in implementation process. And of course, all of this will be integrated with Common Data Service. And even better, we can use CDS for our integrations. We can use not only Dynamics 365 Apps, but also PowerApps, Flow, Office 365, Power BI, 3th party Apps… as the same business environment.

NAV##2

Conclusion

The final message is by my opinion very clear and very positive. For both partners and customers. Don’t afraid, Microsoft will not stop with this amazing product. Rebranding is not canceling. But with new name, we will get still the same powerful product, but with the great new opportunities as well.

I can write probably more, but I think this is more than enough as the first wrap up after two Directions. Future of our product is a clear.

Dynamics ERP and CRM Continue Together

atotovic Conference, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Microsoft Dynamics NAV , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I didn’t write a blog for a while, but these few days I’m on eXtreme 365 conference and I decided to share some observation. For some time, since there is a Dynamics 365 product family, we created a closer collaboration between ERP and CRM products. Generally, it was mostly based on technology.

But now, I see the next steps. First, more and more ERP partners try to learn more about CRM and the same situation is with CRM partners and ERP knowledge. Now, I’m at eXtreme 365 conference that was originally CRM conference, but from this year this is not only CRM conference. We have a lot of sessions about D365 for Financials, D365 for Operations, Common Data Service, PowerApps, Flow… And as I see, there are some NAV partners (and MVP’s as well J). Also, I saw announcement for Directions this year and there is a same situation, this will not be only NAV event and we will have CRM sessions as well.

IMG_1849

This is very important, because all of use started with thinking that we need to continue with both products together. And this is a huge opportunity for partners. This is opportunity for upselling and if they know both products they will be better on a market.

And about a conference. Great conference and great opportunity for networking. This is the first time I’m on some big conference that was not originally NAV conference and this is the great opportunity to see some new people, sometimes with different attitude. I also met some friends from a NAV world here and I can say this is a great mixture. I’m expecting something similar on Directions as well.

OK, in some next posts I’ll write more about some news with these products, but for sure we can expect more and more news in this world in next few months.

Posting Groups #27 – Deferrals in Sales

atotovic Microsoft Dynamics NAV , , , , , , , , , , ,

Few days ago I’ve published how you can use Posting Groups in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2016 when you have purchase where you use Deferrals. Now, I want to show you how it looks like when you use Deferrals in sales process. In my old post, you can find everything about using Posting Groups in standard sales process. Now, I’ll show difference. One of the main difference is that system doesn’t use inventory posting groups when posts sales invoice (the same as in purchase scenario).

In the following chart, you can understand how system uses Posting Groups when we have deferrals on Sales document:

SalDefChart.jpg

When we post document and get Posted Sales Invoice, we will get the following G/L Entries. You can find completely description of them in the next table:

SalDefEntries.jpg

When you use Items and Resources, system will use Sales Account from General Posting Setup, but if you use G/L Account in the sales line, system will use this G/L Account you typed.

You can notice that we have more line amounts. Number of lines is based on number of period defined in Deferral Template. For each period, we have two lines (positive and negative). We have always first period lines, but other period lines are behind all entries, because they have not the same posting date. Their posting date is based on setup in Deferral Template.

And I’ve forgot one things in the last post. If you want to see all lines using Navigate, you have to delete Posting Date in Navigate page or if you didn’t it, you have to delete Posting Date from filters in General Ledger Entry.

Sales Quote in NAV from Outlook “after NAV 2016”

atotovic Microsoft Dynamics NAV , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Few days ago during the WPC in Orlando, Microsoft has showed one of great news after NAV 2016. You can use NAV directly from Outlook in Office 365 with new NAV Mail Add-in. With this add-in, you will have your NAV pages and data in your mail.

Using this feature you can save your time because you will not have to change pages between your NAV and Office 365 and finding related data; you can finish all your sales process only in Outlook but using NAV data in background. Outlook can easy recognize your Outlook contacts and quickly prepare sales quote or invoice for example. We will still wait more about this great new feature, but now it look like awesome. Cannot wait Next+1 🙂 …

mpnav_nav_outlook

Posting Groups #19 – FA Sales Credit Memo Posting

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It is usual to have possibility to post Credit Memo for any item you sold. You can also make Credit Memo for Fixed Assets you sold. Generally, you can use the same flowchart about using of posting groups, as I published for FA Sales Posting.

But G/L entries will not be the same (with opposite sign) as you got in FA sales posting process. You will get the following G/L entries:

FA_Sales_CrMem

Entries are a bit different in comparison with posted invoice. Entries in FA Ledger Entries also will be the different. You will get only Gain/Loss FA Posting Type entries in FA Ledger Entries with Credit Memo Document Type. That means, you must create additional Acquisition and Depreciation entries manually, if you want to have Fixed Asset again in your system.

Posting Groups #18 – FA Sales Posting

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If we want to sale our fixed assets, it is a similar process as FA purchasing, but in opposite direction. In this situation, system uses customer posting group, VAT and general posting groups and FA posting groups.

You can see this process concept on following flowchart. One of specifics is how system determines VAT Production Posting Group. You can use it on one of following ways:

  • Manually choosing VAT Production Posting Group;
  • Inheriting from manually choosing/changing General Production Posting Group (Def. VAT Prod. Posting Group);
  • Inheriting from VAT Production Posting Group, configuring on Acq. Cost Acc. On Disposal on FA Posting Group;
  • Inheriting from General Production Posting Group (Def. VAT Prod. Posting Group), configuring on Acq. Cost Acc. On Disposal on FA Posting Group.

FA_Sale_FwC

Other specific in FA sales process is that system uses different configuration from FA Posting Group, depending of FA sales price (higher or lower price in comparison with Book Value).

In my first example, you will see what G/L entries you will get when we sale FA with higher price:

FA_Sale_G

In this example, you will see result of FA sales posting with lower price:

FA_Sale_L

On both of these examples, you will see that we have the last additional G/L entry. This entry will exist as Residual caused by rounding of Additional-Currency, but only if you use Additional Currency configured on General Ledger Setup. This entry will be usually a zero amount.

Posting Groups #13 – Finance Charge and Reminders

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When we have overdue sales invoices, we usually can use Reminders and/or Finance Charge Memos. Both of these documents increases debits of our customers. We don’t post these documents, but we issue them. But, these issued documents also can make G/L entries.

On the first flowchart, you can see how system uses posting groups on Finance Charge Memos.

FWC_FinChargeMemo

Results of this issued document in G/L entries are as following:

FinChargeMemo

Now, on the second flowchart, you can see how system uses posting groups on Reminder. It uses very similar as on Finance Charge Memos, but fees on Finance Charge Memos lines are based only on Terms, while fees on Reminders can be based on Terms and Levels.

FWC_Reminders

Results of Issued Reminders in G/L entries are as following:

Reminders

Posting Groups #10 – Item Returns Posting (Sale & Purchase)

atotovic Microsoft Dynamics NAV , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

In my earl posts about posting groups, I have showed purchase and sales processes. But both of these processes have its opposite processes.

If our customer wants to return items to us, we can use the Sales Return Order for this. When we finish posting, we will get Return Receipt and Sales Credit Memo as result.

On other side, if we want to return items to our vendor, we can use the Purchase Return Order for this. As result of posting, we will get Return Shipment and Purchase Credit Memo.

I will not prepare flow chart about using posting groups, because we can use the same schemas as we already have in Item Sale Posting and Item Purchase Posting posts.

First, I will describe sales return process. When we post Return Receipt, we will get only these G/L Entries:

##1

But, when we finish posting and post Sales Credit Memo, we will get more G/L Entries:

##2

The similar situation is in purchase return process. When we post Return Shipment, we will get again only these G/L Entries:

##3

But, when we post Purchase Credit Memo for this item, we will get more G/L Entries:

##4

And, on the end when we run Adjust Cost – Item Entries batch job, we will get the following G/L Entries (variance between expected and actual cost):

##5

Posting Groups #9 –Item Sale Posting with Payment Method

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I have already showed item sale process posting here in Posting Group #2 post. But, we can have some specific variants of this posting. One of them is when we use Payment Method.

If you choose Payment Method code on sales document header, and this Payment Method has configured Bal. Account Type and Bal. Account No., NAV will automatically create the balancing journal line. This functionality is great when we are being paid in full at the time of sale, but we can use this feature in some other specific process.

You can see how system works with Payment Method on following flow-chart:

SalesPMC

When we finish with this Sales Order posting, we can find following G/L entries navigated to Posted Sales Invoice. You can see standard G/L entries about invoice and the last two of them, connected with Payment:

SI_PyM_GLe