Dynamics GP Sales Forms Modification in Report Writer notes

If you have Microsoft Dynamics GP ERP, formerly known as Great Plains Dynamics and eEnterprise, implemented in your organization, it is often the case that you need custom reports, especially Sales Invoice, Order, Return, Backorder, Quote.  Likely the candidates to be on your modified Invoice are Logo, Disclaimers, Special Instructions.  We assume that you are on Dynamics GP 10.0 and we will give you highlights on how to modify forms in GP ReportWriter:

1. Security for the user to use Report Writer.  Please, login Dynamics GP as sa – this is MS SQL Server System Administrator account, it is required to update user access on MS SQL master, DYNAMICS  and Company DB records level.  Tools->Setup->System->User Security, pick the user id and the company and mark IT Operations Manager role.  You do not need this step if your company is very small and Great Plains Security is not a big concern and you could allow modify GP forms under SA user ID

2. Create Company Logo.  In Dynamics GP->Customize->Report Writer, create new Resource as the Picture.  Here you can upload your logo in BMP or JPG format (you can try other formats, however results may require you additional iterations).  You should be patient, as logo upload might be sensitive to your logo source file format and quality, so in some cases you may have different results in printing to your local printer and PDF file.  In most of the cases you should consider creating Picture resource by uploading high resolution picture, for example consider 443x136.  If Picture resource is now created, it should be available in your RW modified reports

3. Now in RW Original Reports left section find SOP Blank Invoice Form (this is usually a default for SOP Invoice Type, however if you altered the default, you should check it in Sales Order Processing Setup and there in default Invoice ID format – options are Blank, Short, Long Other formats).  Now move the form to Modified section on the right side and open it, then click on Layout button on the right.  Please, note that you will have to place your Logo Picture resource on both portions: Report and Page header, as Dynamics GP SOP forms may be longer than just one page.  Typically you place the logo above Company Name and Company Address Line 1 on the left top corner

4. Testing.  You do not want your GP users to scream on you and testing helps you to have happy IT life.  In RW click on File->Microsoft Dynamics GP menu and you will be back to Great Plains user interface.  In Sales section click on Sales Transaction Entry and pick one of the existing work phase invoices, print it.  If you think that the form is completely different from what you expect to see, check security for the user: Tools->Setup->System->User Security, pick company and userid and Alternate/Modified Forms and Reports ID ( usually DEFAULTUSER) – check that this ID has access to Modified SOP Blank Invoice form

5. If you think that this Dynamics GP modification routine is too complex or you do not want to take a risk, please feel free to call us: 1-866-528-0577, help@albaspectrum.com