FRX for Microsoft Great Plains: advanced techniques – Excel, Cash Flow, Consolidation

FRX for Microsoft Great Plains: advanced techniques – Excel, Cash Flow, Consolidation

By Andrew Karasev

Alba Spectrum Technologies

USA 1-866-528-0577, 1-630-961-5918

Microsoft Great Plains has multiple reporting options: Report Writer, Crystal Reports, SQL Server Reporting services, but the most popular tool for financial reporting is still (and remains) FRx. If you are Controller – you probably use FRx reports on the weekly basis and have a need in advanced options. FRx was available for all the major Great Plains versions, MS SQL Server, MSDE, Ctree, Pervasive SQL/Btrieve database platforms. In this small article we would like to give you highlights on FRx reporting.

Cash Flow. By one reason or another we find customers who are complaining about their current Microsoft Business Solutions partner – more specifically that consultants are not capable to design Cash Flow report . They easily design P&L, Balance Sheet, but not Cash Flow. We would like to give you our opinion that Cash Flow just needs good understanding of P&L and Balance Sheet accruals and in FRx you can create cash flow from P&L with adjustments on non-cash accruals from BS – this is well described in Accounting textbooks as Cash Flow indirect method.
Excel. This is very typical problem. When business is small or midsize – and it owns several legal entities/companies – the small entities might have no accounting application, but Excel tables (or QuickBooks that exports to Excel). In this situation you should consider building consolidated reports in FRx, pulling info from Multiple Great Plains companies and Excel. You should use link menu item for the Column in Row Format and have it as GL+Worksheet (Excel or Lotus 1-2-3) or External Worksheet. GL+Worksheet is the easiest – you specify your Excel file and worksheet in this form [C:\MyExcel.XSL]P&L in Worksheet File Name and then you should understand the syntax in the Row layout – such identifiers as CPO (Column Period Offset) or RPO (Row Period Offset). These identifiers help you when you have either column with your fiscal periods (say twelve months) or row and want to adjust your report to the period automatically – click on Report Date – you will see Base Period – this base Period should be the offset amount – horizontal (CPO) or vertical (RPO)
Consolidation. This topic is usually self explanatory, however you should know the classic accounting consolidation principles – such as inter companies consolidation accounts (exclude them from your consolidated report).
Technical Issues/Service Packs. Well – FRx has to deal with multiple accounting applications and this leads to reasonably high number of bugs in its releases. Good example is – in initial FRx 6.5 when you use (C=D10+D12)/CPO – you get 0 or blank instead or YDT or Current summary. As a persistent GP support specialist for your company you should login into customer source and check for the latest FRx service pack and issues fixed in this patch

Happy designing! if you want us to do the job - give us a call 1-866-528-0577! help@albaspectrum.com

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer in Alba Spectrum Technologies – USA nationwide Great Plains, Microsoft CRM customization company, serving clients in Chicago, California, New York, Texas, Florida, Georgia and having locations in multiple states and internationally ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ), he is Dexterity, SQL, C#.Net, Crystal Reports and Microsoft CRM SDK developer.