Does More Always Mean More? Or Less?

I will admit I come from the "more is more" school of thought when it comes to information.  More information.  More detail.  More better.  But the fact is, particularly in larger volume situations, more can simply mean more to wade through.  More frustration.  More time.  Less better.

Let's take the case of posting in Dynamics GP.  In Posting Setup (Tools>>Setup>>Posting>>Posting), you specify the "Create a Journal Entry Per" setting.  If you select "Transaction", it is the equivalent of choosing to post in "detail".  Every transaction entered in the selected series and origin (window), will create a journal entry in the General Ledger.  So, for example, if you enter 10 invoices in Payables Management, you would end up with 10 journal entries in the General Ledger with 10 distributions to the Accounts Payable account and a 10 sets of distributions to expense accounts.

On the other hand, you can select "Batch" instead.  This would be the equivalent of posting in "summary".  Taking the same example as above, let's say you enter 10 invoices in to a batch in Payables Management.  When you post the batch, you would end up with only one journal entry in the General Ledger with one distribution to the Accounts Payable Account and one set of summarized distributions to expense accounts.

Well, great, you say.  But, you actually want a combination of these two methods.  You would like your expense accounts to post in detail and the Accounts Payable (or Cash or Accounts Receivable or...) account to post in summary.  We can do that too.  For the "Create a Journal Entry Per" setting, you can select "Batch" and also mark the "Use Account Settings" checkbox.  This directs the system to refer to the individual accounts to determine whether to post in detail or summary. 

If you choose this configuration, you must specify the "Level of Posting From Series" for your GL accounts (Cards>>Financial>>Account, Fixed Allocation, Variable Allocation).  There is a setting of "Detail" or "Summary" for Purchasing, Sales, Payroll, and Inventory Control.  For example, let's say that you would like your Accounts Payable account to post in summary and your expense accounts to post in detail.  So for "Create a Journal Entry Per", you select "Batch" and mark "Use Account Settings".  Then, you go to Cards>>Financial>>Account and locate the Accounts Payable account.  You would set the "Level of Posting From Series" to "Summary" for the Purchasing series.  So, when an entry is made in the Purchasing series that posts to the Accounts Payable account, it will be summarized by batch.  All other accounts with the "Level of Posting From Series" left at the default setting of "Detail", will post in detail.

On a side note, if you plan to configure this for your accounts, you can actually use the Mass Modify feature to update the "Level of Posting From Series" settings for a range of accounts.  Cards>>Financial>>Mass  Modify, and select "Update".

As always, let me know if you have any questions or want to share your own triumphs over the "more is more" or "more or less" mentality :)

** Keep in mind, when you select "Batch" for "Create a Journal Entry Per", the batch date will always be used as the posting date in the General Ledger.