When it comes to AP automation, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central (BC) provides a host of enhanced features, with everything from invoice matching to customized payment schedules. And unlike Microsoft Dynamics GP, Microsoft Dynamics 365 is completely cloud-based and offers free updates, as well as access to its dimensional reporting system.
But the biggest benefit is the access to countless add-ons that accelerate your Microsoft Dynamics application and boost productivity.
At Gorilla Expense, our automation platform makes it a cinch to streamline accounting processes. Automated workflows for expense reports and credit card reconciliation provide enhanced functionality and increased visibility that saves accounting teams money and time down the road.
The best part is that our Microsoft Dynamics BC expense management integration is fairly straightforward configure.
Managing a Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central integration
The Gorilla Expense Dynamics automated workflows offer easy integration with Dynamics 365 BC via our web application. When implemented, expenses will be pushed to Microsoft Business Central as a General Journal Entry, Job Journal, or Purchase Invoice.
But the real steal is how the integration can map to a specific, customized layout in a business’s ERP and sync data in real-time. For example, a best-in-class expense management integration should understand an ERP configuration and directly send expense data to those customized points.
Let's look at a Purchase Invoice as an example. Once configured to your integration needs, our application syncs the following data to your Microsoft Dynamics 365 BC application:
- Vendor Name - The vendor name is documented on the user profile within Gorilla Expense and can be associated with the user’s out-of-pocket and credit card payment methods.
- Posting Date - The posting date can be mapped to the current date or expense report start date or expense report end date.
- Document Date - The document date can be mapped to the current date or expense report start date or expense report end date.
- Vendor Invoice Number- This will be the unique expense confirmation number generated by the expense report.
- Account Type and Account Number - The General Ledger (GL) Account Number is stored in the Gorilla Expense database. Depending on the expense type selected by the user, the Gorilla Expense Integration will map the associated GL Account number to the Purchase Invoice Line.
- Description- The description is prepared by selecting one or a combination of multiple fields on the integration setting screen. It can be set as a combination of expense confirmation number, name, and comments.
- Tax Area Code - For customers who have GST/VAT requirements, the expense integration maps the Tax Area code to the Purchase Invoice -- depending on the selected Province or State.
- Tax Group Code - As another GST/VAT measure, our solution pushes the Tax Group code to the Purchase Invoice based on your Province or State.
- Shortcut Dimensions - Dimensions, also called segments in Microsoft GP, are custom fields that are maintained on the user profile or structured as a dropdown on each expense line. The expense integration can align these custom dimension values to their fields on the purchase invoice lines.
- Incoming Document File - The expense report's receipts can be mapped as PDF documents.
How does the expense integration know what to do?
When setting up the expense integration, our team maps your desired information through the map to Business Central. This ensures that all fields, including custom fields, are pushed to BC automatically, and can be found exactly where you want them to be.
A particular data type is the shortcut dimension. These dimensions are often specific from business to business. Our integration can map to these specific fields and push data accordingly.
To review your dimension mapping, you can visit your Expense Report Integration page under the Integration tab on your dashboard. Then click on the button that says Integration Settings.
From that point, there are only three simple steps:
- Set the values you want to use to true.
- Select which field you want to map.
- Save the integration changes.
Our integration will also send receipts to Dynamics 365 Business Central. But this is only the starting point. To really leverage your Dynamics integration, there are a few best practices to consider.
Schedule your demo
Ready to streamline your expense management workflow? with us today and learn more about how the Gorilla Expense can power your AP system.
