Microsoft Dynamics GP does a wonderful job of holding history and organizing information. You can get that information using the built-in Smartlist Designer or the wonderful eOne Smartlist Builder to pull that information. The newer flavors of Microsoft Dynamics GP even add the robust Power BI as a way to surface information.

Each tool has its advantages. Take, for example, the case of looking at vendor payment history in Dynamics GP. In that scenario, you would want to see every payment to vendors, but you could also be interested in seeing the multiple vouchers included on any payment. Something like this:

This is an example of a SQL Reporting Services report (also called SSRS reports). We have a long history of making SQL Reporting Services reports (including, ahem, a video showing us making a full report in under 15 minutes!)

Advantages of SQL Reporting Services

Smartlists are great because they’re built into the application and familiar to end users. But to show both the voucher details along with the payments, Smartlist might not be the best way to visualize the information. So one approach might be using SQL Reporting Services for this example.

The advantages of this report are:

• All SSRS reports can be exported to Excel for additional work, if that’s your thing 😊
• SSRS reports can have parameters to restrict by date range, vendor, payment type, or any number of criteria. If it’s in the system, you can report on it.
• SSRS reports can be scheduled. In this example, sure, you might not need the report to be scheduled. But other reports might be perfect for an automated delivery, even to users who use Microsoft Dynamics GP directly.
• See the little plus symbols? In this report we allow collapsing or expanding the detail. A user might want this report to be “collapsed” to show the payments only, but then toggle to see the vouchers or credits that made up the total.
• Not shown in this report is the ability to link to content within Microsoft Dynamics GP. If you’re logged in and have security, imagine clicking on a link in the report that opens a vendor record or voucher inquiry within GP to expose still more information.
• If you have Microsoft Dynamics GP, then you have a SQL server, which means you also have SQL Reporting Services. (Read: you already own this technology!) Why not better leverage your investment?

We have a simple SQL View and an SSRS report as a starting point free for download! Fill out the form below and the library will be emailed to you. As always, drop us a line at info@altavistatech.com or give us a call at 855-913-3228 to chat!