Today, for the benefit of our Microsoft Dynamics NAV clients, we share the thoughts of Jeff Landeen, a NAV consultant based out of Toronto, Canada, who shared the benefits of his implementation expertise in a brief recent article at MSDynamicsWorld.com found here.
Landeen notes that he frequently has the opportunity to clean up “problem inventories” for his clients, thus helping them tune their NAV for better performance. Given that our own firm often finds itself in a similar position with clients, we’re happy to share a few of his tips today…
- Adjust cost. This function is critical to getting your inventory correct in your G/L. It calculates costs based on manufacturing, purchasing, and other inputs and pushes them through the system, notes Landeen. Adjust Cost ensures that “when you post a sales invoice, a sales shipment, or a purchase receipt it can automatically flow through.” While it can be set up to automatically flow to the G/L with every transaction, companies sometimes turn it off to improve overall system performance. The problem is, sometimes they forget to turn it back on! As Landeen notes, “The risk with turning it off for performance reasons is that people usually forget to turn it back on.” If you forget, your period-end may take hours later when you turn it back on. A word to the wise.
- Mixed period postings. When different parts of a transaction post in different periods (like shipments or receipts posted in a different period from their invoices or purchase invoice), you may need to do an accrual, or post to another account, he notes.
- Manual entries and entry errors. Landeen suggests disabling direct posting. He notes that it is often a source of invalid values in inventory accounts. There is no reason to manually post to an inventory control account and it should be turned off from the start, he adds.
- Unfinished production orders. Manufacturers… remember: you have to close out your unfinished production orders.
- Poorly designed customizations. NAV is noted for the great flexibility that is offered by its inherent customizability. You can model your business on it quite nicely, and use those modifications to ensure accurate workflows and competitive advantage. Just be very cautious when doing so in any areas that may touch upon cost. He and we would both remind users: test, then test some more.
There is probably no more robust ERP solution than NAV. As resellers of the product now for 15 years, we’ve seen how it helps companies streamline operations and improve reporting – all big ROI boosters. Employing Mr. Landeen‘s tips above might help to ensure it’s done a little more painlessly.
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