To void a check, it must have an O (outstanding) status and must still be in the database. Voiding a check reverses all transactions originally generated for the check, which reopens the documents paid on the check and increases the vendor balances to reflect the reopened documents.

When you void a check, the status of the original check becomes V (void) on the Check Register (03.630.00) report. The void check produced is designated as VC (void check) with a document status of V (void). A void check has the same reference number as the original check issued. The Check Register (03.630.00) report lists the original and voided checks. For more information see “Void Check Entry (03.040.00)” in the online Help.

Note: You can only void checks that were written and saved with a number. You cannot void a check in the system that did not complete the print check process. 

To void checks:

1. Open Void Check Entry (03.040.00).
2. Type the Period-to-Post if it is different from the default value.
3. Select the Handling option. Options include the following:
   • Hold — Save the batch for future editing.
   • Release Later — Set the batch’s status to Balanced to prepare for later release for posting in Release AP Batches (03.400.00).
   • Release Now — Release the batch for posting on accessing a new or different batch, or exiting Void Check Entry (03.040.00).
   • No Action — Leave the current batch status unchanged.
4. Type the total amount of the checks to void in Control.
5. Type the numbers of the original checking account and subaccount from which the check is issued.
6. Type the number of each check to void in Check Number or press F3 to look up checks that have not yet cleared. They will display with the vendor ID and amount. Select the check(s) that you would like to void.
7. Check the value in Batch Total against the value in Control. If the values are not equal, change the value in Control.
8. Click Finish on the toolbar. Only batches with Handling set to Release Now are released. If Release Later is the Handling, go to Step 9. All other batches are saved and wait for you to make a change to the Handling before they can be processed.
   1. If you want to issue a replacement check, change the pay date on Document Maintenance (03.250.00). The document is selected based on the pay date.
   2. If you do not want to issue a replacement check, reverse the original document on Voucher and Adjustment (03.010.00) by selecting Debit Adjustment from the Type list.  Then write a manual check for a zero amount on Manual Check/Payment Entry (03.030.00).
9. Release the batch using Release AP Batches (03.400.00).

Occasionally, an AP check gets cleared in AP Check Reconciliation (03.060.00) prematurely and needs to be voided in Accounts Payable (and NOT in the Cash Manager (CA) module or Bank Reconciliation (BR) module). Our consulting services can provide assistance with reopening the cleared AP check so it becomes available again to be voided, saving you time and removing the frustration of trying to resolve this issue on your own.

Dynamics SL is a feature-rich and flexible product that will continue to offer value over the coming years to its very loyal customers.  We hope the information shared here has been helpful.  Our goal is to provide you with useful knowledge and encourage confidence as you plan for your future accounting needs.  If you’d like to have an issue addressed in a future blog post, let us know.

The end of mainstream support or even extended support by Microsoft doesn’t mean you have to stop using Dynamics SL. We have provided support to many clients who continue to use older versions of Dynamics SL for which official support, both mainstream and extended, ended years ago. However, they can be vulnerable to situations where an update to MS Windows, SQL Server, or other operating software may be incompatible in some way with the older version of SL. Over the decades we’ve been supporting SL we’ve seen this happen just a few times to users of out of service versions.

Regardless of your risk tolerance, all SL clients will eventually need to choose another accounting solution, but you have plenty of time to plan carefully for that transition. There are lots of options in the marketplace for accounting software but none will be an exact match to the SL you’ve grown accustomed to and your next solution will likely be more expensive than your current system since most, if not all, systems are now available only by annual subscription. Although no one likes to have change forced upon them, this may be a good opportunity to reevaluate your requirements and the best way to satisfy them. The good news is that you have plenty of time to do that.

If you still have questions we haven’t answered here, don’t hesitate to get in touch. We’d be happy to help you in any way we can even if it’s nothing more than talking through your options. 

We offer extensive service for both partners who resell SL and customers who use it. Our company is owned by the founders of Solomon Software, the creator of the product that was acquired by Microsoft and rebranded as Dynamics SL, and we still have veterans of that company on our staff. We regularly serve companies by helping them apply software upgrades, creating customizations, providing year end updates for government forms, integrating with other systems, resolving errors, or helping them learn to use new features. We also have some very beneficial add-on software products to help you get more out of your SL system. One of which is a mobile Time and Expense entry system provided by our sister company, Beyond Software.

When you start your planning for what comes after SL we recommend you also consider Beyond’s solution for financial and project accounting which uses the same Time and Expense software that integrates with SL and we have the ability to move all your SL history in the transition.

Dynamics SL is a very feature rich and flexible product and still has a lot to offer over the coming years to its very loyal customers. We hope the information provided here has been helpful and will give you useful knowledge and confidence as you plan for your future accounting needs. 

Because the calendar year 2020 was a leap year, you'll need to verify the February 2021 period is updated to reflect 2/28 (not 2/29) as the last day of the month.

How to update the February period in GL Setup:
If you have a Fiscal Year-End (June 30th, September 30th, etc.), you are likely already in F/Y 2021. If you have a Calendar Year-End December 31st, you will soon be closing F/Y 2020 (if you haven't already) and rolling into F/Y 2021.

For Calendar-Year databases, please do this AFTER you close F/Y 2020.

1. Navigate to the Fiscal Info tab in the GL Setup screen in each of your Dynamics SL/Solomon databases
2. Confirm or update the month-end date for February to reflect 2/28

For any questions about this post or anything Dynamics SL & Solomon Software related, get in touch with us!

Because the calendar year 2020 is a leap year, you'll need to verify the February period is updated to reflect 2/29 as the last day of the month.

How to update the February period in GL Setup:
If you have a Fiscal Year-End (June 30th, September 30th, etc.), you are likely already in F/Y 2020. If you have a Calendar Year-End December 31st, you will soon be closing F/Y 2019 (if you haven't already) and rolling into F/Y 2020.

For Calendar-Year databases, please do this AFTER you close F/Y 2019.

1. Navigate to the Fiscal Info tab in the GL Setup screen in each of your Dynamics SL/Solomon databases
2. Confirm or update the month-end date for February to reflect 2/29

For any questions about this post or anything Dynamics SL & Solomon Software related, get in touch with us! 

In an era where Digital Transformation and Cloud Technology drive how businesses make decisions, are database backups still necessary?

Choosing to use software that sits ‘in the cloud’ or apps that download and connect you to your data with minimal learning time, might leave you thinking it removes any responsibility you have for making sure your data is being backed up.

​But is it this easy? Is it safe to assume that wherever that ‘cloud’ is, your data is being managed with the same precision as you would do yourself if it was on hardware in your building?

Then, organizations changed to placing their corporate data on a server accessible by everyone in the company. Security policies were put in place assigning each employee to a role. The role defined what access, or permissions, the individual was granted to in the database. IT departments managed the security policies and were responsible for maintaining employee access rights. Servers were set up with mirroring capabilities and virtual images were created to store backups. If a server went down, the backup servers could be configured for direct access. The IT department was responsible for managing these practices. 

Now, companies trust a third-party Cloud Solutions Provider (CSP) to maintain the hardware, software, operating system, databases and access to each. Companies have downsized, and in some cases eliminated altogether, their IT department. They depend on the CSP to provide all IT related services. The CSP is now responsible for maintaining security policies. The company’s ability to manage disasters rests in the agreements they have with the CSP.

Are you experiencing year-end reporting issues? Our Dynamics SL support team has put together a summary of a few common issues & questions that tend to resurface this time of year pertaining to tax year 2018 government tax filing and 2018 payroll tax withholding.

The tax table updates can be accessed here:
https://mbs.microsoft.com/customersource/northamerica/SL/downloads/tax-regulatory-updates/MDSLDec2018PayrollTaxUpdates

The updates contain the following revisions:

• Federal – Effective January 1, 2019
• California - Effective January 1, 2019
• Georgia – Effective January 1, 2019
• Iowa – Effective January 1, 2019
• Kentucky – Effective January 1, 2019
• Maine – Effective January 1, 2019
• Missouri – Effective January 1, 2019
• New York – Effective January 1, 2019
• North Carolina – Effective January 1, 2019
• Ohio – Effective January 1, 2019
• Oregon – Effective January 1, 2019
• South Carolina – Effective January 1, 2019​

​If you are using the Accounts Payable module, the main takeaway is:

• If you need to run the 1099 history rebuild, it won’t work in 2015 unless you install the year-end updates. The 1099 history rebuild was broken in SL 2015.

​The year-end updates should fix this for 2015 CU1, even though it doesn’t appear to be documented anywhere.

The Dynamics SL 2018 year-end updates can be accessed here:
https://mbs.microsoft.com/customersource/northamerica/SL/downloads/tax-regulatory-updates/msdl2018yearendupdates

For more information or to request assistance on these issues, contact Ruth Ann Ellerbrock at rellerbr@solomoncloudsolutions.com or (419) 581-2833. 

Are you a Dynamics SL customer? If you are, chances are that you’ll need to print checks in SL in 2019.
​
Before attempting to print checks in 2019, remember to purge the 2017 year so that 2018 will become “current” and 2019 will be the “next” 1099 Year.

From within the Accounts Payable (AP) module in SL, open the 1099 Calendar Year Control screen. If the “current” year value is 2017, then it needs to be purged.

As the screen notes, ‘the purge option should only be used after final printing of the 1099 forms for the oldest year displayed on this screen has been completed…it is recommended that backup copies of your database be made immediately prior to this process.’

​Once you are ready to purge, click ‘Begin Processing’.

Get in touch with Solomon Cloud Solutions today for all your Dynamics SL needs.

Solomon is a proud sponsor of the 2018 Dynamics SL User Group, being held in St. Louis on April 23-26. Will you be attending? 

If so, stop by our booth (32) in the Expo Hall and say hi to our representatives, Nicole Holliday and Pat Gibson.

Nicole Holliday
Nicole is the Director of Sales & Marketing at Solomon Cloud Solutions. This will be Nicole's 19th time attending an annual SL (Solomon) conference since she first started working at Solomon Software in 1991.

Pat Gibson
Pat is a Senior Consultant and one of the first developers of Solomon Software. Since 1982, he has played an integral role in the support and development of Solomon I, II, III, IV, and the Dynamics SL product. Pat has lost track of the number of conferences he's presented at over the years, but it's safe to say he's been to a lot.
 
Pat Gibson will be presenting the following session on Wednesday April 25th from 1:30-2:30 p.m in room Parkview-Aubert:

Solomon Cloud Solutions is committed to improving Dynamics SL customer satisfaction and success. In this session Pat will present the following solutions to help you make informed decisions faster, improve collaboration, increase your productivity and reduce costs. 

• Mobile Time & Expense for Dynamics SL - Enhance your SL experience with a powerful, mobile T&E solution that allows you to capture time and expenses on the go, 24/7, from any device.
• Salesforce Integration with Microsoft Dynamics SL - Reduce data entry with a seamless integration between Salesforce and Dynamics SL. Points of integration include but are not limited to; Accounts and Customers, Quotes and Sales Orders, Purchase Orders, Opportunities and Projects, and product synchronization.
• Notifications for Dynamics SL - Schedule notifications with more customizability, more delivery options, and a more user-friendly configurable environment than Project Communicator.
• Two-Factor Authentication for Dynamics SL - Further secure your Dynamics SL users' access with Web Apps Two-Factor Authentication. This integration utilizes Duo to protect against phishing, social engineering and password attacks. Secure your logins from attackers exploiting weak or stolen credentials.
• Web Apps ROI Scheduler for Microsoft Dynamics SL - Schedule Web Apps reports to run at specific scheduled times and send unscheduled reports as attachments to any email recipient, Dynamics SL user or group. Unlike with Application Server, no additional machine or license is required.

As the original architects of Solomon Software we have over three decades of software development experience and are always looking for ways to increase your productivity - this is a session you don’t want to miss!  

While it may be too early to think about ‘Spring Cleaning’, the time for ‘Winter Cleaning’ is NOW!

If you’re asking yourself what’s Winter Cleaning, think of it as the ‘cleaning’ every organization needs to do in their ERP software at the end/beginning of the year. Just like Spring Cleaning, its purpose is to get rid of, or put into storage (aka archive) things you no longer use, but are not ready to part ways with entirely.

​We can apply this idea to our ERP systems to ‘clean them up’ so they are optimized for day-to-day use. You will be surprised how much more efficiently your business runs when your software system is clutter-free.  As you might with Spring Cleaning, if this task seems overwhelming or too time consuming, taking a room-by-room (module-by-module) approach can make it more manageable. 

In General Ledger, look for accounts and subaccounts no longer in use. Setting them to inactive allows historical data to be retained and prevents them from being accidentally selected during transaction entry in the future.

​Remember, the system runs faster when it only needs to look through active records during searches and queries. Update or enter new budgets to reflect projections for the new year. There is no need to purge data. With your new budgets in place, you can rest assured you are measuring results against the new projections. 

In Accounts Payable, it’s a good time to make sure all of the bills are paid that can be paid. Then, review the list of vendors and set those you no longer plan to do business with to a status of Inactive. If you plan to use new vendors for orders and services, now is a good time to add them in the system, including W-9 information, if applicable.

​Having new vendors ready for selection when you need to make the next purchase or contract for their services, allows the accounts payable staff to focus their energy on getting the best prices and rates rather than worrying about system setup. In the case of large orders or contracts, the savings can add up. 

Companies that take responsibility for payroll internally should remember to update employees, deduction withholdings, and tax rates periodically. Keeping deduction withholding amounts and tax rates up to date ensures accurate payroll processing. Specifically at the end of the year, after W-2s are finalized, it’s even more important to make sure that terminated employees are set to inactive.

​This will eliminate them being accidentally included in the first payroll of the new year. Payroll calculations process more quickly when terminated employees (set to inactive) are no longer included in the calculation. Winter cleaning is also a good time to make sure you have up to date address information for your employees. This will be beneficial when you need to send W-2’s. 

If you keep track of inventory items, set those you no longer plan to track to inactive status and set up new ids for any new items you plan to use in the coming year. Before setting the status to inactive though, remember to make sure the quantity (qty) on hand is zero and the inventory item has no remaining value.

​When the inventory items, with zero quantity on hand, are marked inactive, your ability to find the active items will improve. Reports will be shorter as they will no longer include the now inactive items. Organizations that carry a large volume of different items will particularly benefit from this clean up task. Queries run faster when data optimization is complete. Remember also to deactivate sites, warehouse locations/bins, and lot serial numbers no longer needed.

​Project focused organizations should review projects, tasks, and labor accounts no longer needed and set to inactive. Review budgets and update them to reflect the predictions for the future year. Accurate analysis of projects can make the difference in meeting a deadline or staying within budget.

​Removing clutter allows project managers to make quick decisions, which often are needed to secure additional funding for projects. Now is also a good time to review your resources (employees and subcontractors). Set those no longer providing project services to inactive status, this will make resource assignment more efficient.

Winter cleaning can often go undone when the business is running at full speed. Left untouched, they create clutter in your ERP system and slow down day-to-day processes, with users giving little thought to what might improve processing. As the clutter increases, your employees may eventually feel the same level of stress and frustration as a homeowner who neglects ‘Spring Cleaning’ for multiple years and whose drawers and closets are pushed to overflowing. Prevent frustration and stress by performing your “Winter Cleaning” today.
​
If you have additional ‘Winter Cleaning’ tips or questions, please send them to rellerbr@solomoncloudsolutions.com for inclusion in future articles.