If you’re like me and the rest of the team here at Tensoft, we’ve been eagerly awaiting the release of Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Financials, Business Edition. Since before it was released to the public on November 1, we’ve been racing to explore the application, review the available documentation, and learn all the ins and outs of this very exciting new offering.
Because it’s still very early in Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Financials’ lifecycle, we quickly found that there’s currently no User Guide. (At least there’s none at the time this post is being published). There’s lots of good information online and the “Learn More” functionality is certainly helpful, but I thought it might be helpful to jot down our “Top Ten” tips to help others who are getting started.
Top Ten Tips for Getting Started with Dynamics 365 for Financials:
- If you’re having problems, try switching browsers. And, start with IE – it seems to still be the key to getting Microsoft things to work.
- Don’t forget to that launching an InPrivate browsing session\window often works wonders.
- You can easily migrate data using the built-in Dynamics 365 wizard if your data is in one of the following three formats:
Excel (using the 365 template for your GL, Customer, Vendor and Item files);
An on-premise version of Quickbooks; or,
GP 2016 June Hotfix or GP 2013/2015 Nov 2016 Tax release versions. - Some Microsoft NAV experience will be very helpful with for getting started with Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Financials, but keep in mind that this is a different product.
- Quite a bit of additional functionality is in development now and is scheduled for release soon (such as EFT for Payables, which should release in late Q1), but be aware that you may have missed some existing functionality! There are currently two “Experiences” in Dynamics 365: “Basic” and “Suite.” To activate the Suite experience, go to Company Setting and change Experience to Suite. Then log out and log in again. In fact, this way of “seeing” your changes applies throughout 365. If you change something - such as role - your changes will take effect after you logout and log back in.
- To easily edit the layout of things like Sales Invoices or Quotes in Microsoft Word, just click “Export Layout,” make your changes, and then Import the layout back in. This is a great example of how integrated Dynamics 365 for Financials will be with Microsoft Office. Report editing in Office will provide users a familiar interface in which to work. Dynamics 365 for Financials also integrations very tightly to Outlook. Functionality exists today, that allows documents such as PO’s, Invoices, and Quotes to be created and sent directly from Outlook that then create the records in Dynamics 365 Financials.
- The walk-through guides in the application are currently one of the best places to look for help, but they can be tricky to find. Here’s a handy map: click .
- You may notice that there’s no “Save” button in Dynamics 365. Don’t worry though – your work is being saved. To “Post” or “Post and Send,” just click the option that you want, at the top of the document that you’re working on (such as a Sales Invoice, for example).
- Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Financials is integrated with CRM and Outlook, so there are already some great new features for tracking and managing Sales, like Email Interaction Logging: click .
- Does it all seem a little foreign? If so, brushing up on your Microsoft NAV knowledge can help. Here’s a great place to get some basics down: click .
Need a Little More Help?
Online help and training for Microsoft Dynamics for Financials can be found . And, as you might guess, “check back frequently” is the advice of the day. Please comment with any other helpful tips that you’ve found, and be sure to if you’d like Tensoft to help with your Microsoft Dynamics 365 installation or purchase.
By Caprice Murray, Director of Marketing at Tensoft, a Northern California-based Microsoft Dynamics Partner
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