SQL Reporting Services (SSRS) CSS Workaround
I recently did a report for a client who could run the “same” report (a customer monthly statement) for any one of five separate companies that they own (in this case they are using Microsoft Dynamics GP and have five companies within it).
Each statement had a variety of branded things including a different logo and different color scheme for the text throughout the report.
SSRS doesn’t have this type of CSS support, so I used embedded code to make this easier for me.
First I have a parameter on the report for what company the report is for. In this case the parameter is called companyInits and it’s a 3 character string.
Then on each textbox that needs to be colored I have this expression:
=Code.CompanyColor(Parameters!CompanyInits.Value)
This calls the embedded VB code below.
In the report menu, under report properties, in the code tab I added this (this is just a sample, the real code has five separate colors, one for each company):
Public Shared Function CompanyColor (CompanyInits As String) As String
Select Case CompanyInits
Case “NWD”
CompanyColor = “#64B6B9″
Case “XXX”
CompanyColor = “#FF0000″
Case Else
CompanyColor = “#000000″
End Select
End Function
Basically on any text in the report that needs to be colored based on the company, I change the color property to call this custom code. Be careful, because if the custom code won’t compile, it will just give you a generic reportservice error when you try to run a preview of the report.
I have an additional function that hides controls that I need to show based on which company the report is being run for. For example, the company logo. I have five images added to the report with the following expression in the Visibility, Hidden property:
=Code.HideImage(”imgLogoXXX”,Parameters!CompanyInits.Value)
For me “XXX” would be the initials of the company that the logo is for.
Then in the code window I have this code:
Public Shared Function HideImage (ControlName As String,CompanyInits As String) As boolean
If Right(ControlName,3) = CompanyInits Then
HideImage = False
Else
HideImage = True
End IF
End Function
I know that this isn’t as good as a CSS that could be applied based on a parameter, but it works for me! Also, you can easily imagine how this can be used for font-type, style, etc. Also, by going directly into the code of the rdl it probably wouldn’t be that hard to apply this to many fields pretty quickly. For a lot of different functions it may be best to avoid embedded code and instead do a .net assembly (this may depend on client preferences).
Thanks
Dwight Brown
Systematica Inc.
Year End Payroll Processing
Closing this year’s payroll has presented excellent opportunities. Here are a couple of items that I learned during preparation for year end:
- The GP Year End tax update required/included the service pack 4 installation
- GP 10.0 only supports preprinted W-4 forms
- Allot time to align the preprinted W-4 forms
- It’s good practice to reconcile the federal wages to the state wages. This will ensure the state and federal wages match on the W-4.
- When we ran the quarter end filing, we had to change the system date to 12/31/2009. If we left the date as current, GP thinks we are filing for current quarter in 2010!
Typically When state taxes do not match federal wages, this is caused by a new employee who recently started and their state tax card is not setup correctly. After troubleshooting, we found that the data entry for tax withhelding required tweaking. The payroll admin would input the tax information for the federal tax withholding. She would simply input the state code in the Transaction Tax Defaults field. She did not create a state tax card for the new employee. It was assumed that inputting this field on the federal tax card would default accordingly to the state tax card. This does not. This caused a discrepancy between federal and state wages for a given employee.
Has anyone experienced other types of discrepancies with trying to balance/reconcile payroll?
Release of Dynamics GP 11 Around the Corner!
The upcoming release of Microsoft Dynamics GP 11 will reach General Availability in May 2010. This is an exciting new release encompassing the following functionality:
Systematica Attends Solar Power International 09
Last week the Systematica team attended Solar Power International in Anaheim, California. In several conversations with PV manufacturers, equipment providers and distributors, it is evident that the Microsoft Dynamics GP manufacturing and distribution suite of products can provide significant value to the solar industry. The hot topics of the industry included work order management, job and product costing, service management and profitability tracking. Functionality to support these processes can all be found within the Dynamics GP application. For more details, please see our website: http://www.systematicainc.com/IS-M_ManufacturingNeeds.asp
Benefits Deadlines – Keep Everyone Informed
Benefits Deadlines – Keep Everyone Informed
While Healthcare reform is the headline these days your employees are likely more concerned with changes that will affect their coverage as of January 1, 2010. If your plans for communication changes and open enrollment are not in place don’t wait another minute. An internal calendar may be all you need but be certain you keep everyone informed.
Get the News Out
Get the news out by providing advance notice of meetings, online requirements and due dates. Don’t just use email to publish the calendar. Use many forms of communication; post an update on your internal blog or company intranet, memo lines on paychecks, posters, and even the old fashioned letter. I know of one client who leveraged their TVs in restrooms to make announcements! Definitely, more than one employee will see the reminder, “Open Enrollment Forms Due November 13th,” when it is posted prominently in either the restroom or break room. Creating the buzz now will ensure fewer struggles for you at the eleventh hour.
Collect Frequently Asked Questions
Create a FAQ sheet with the most commonly asked questions and get it out. Everyone is pressed for time and summing up what others have already inquired about will save you from having to answer the same question over and over again. Most importantly your employees will appreciate the easy read summary. Keep in mind gathering the FAQ’s may alert you to some commonalities that may form a pattern allowing you to pin-point a glitch in the process or system. This gives you the opportunity to update forms or alter an online program before frustrations mount.
Reminders, Reminders, Reminders
Don’t wait till the bitter end to send out the “If enrollment is not completed in 24 hours your health coverage will be cancelled” emails. Reminders along the way are much friendlier and more likely to decrease grumbling in the end.
Additionally, if your plans allow employees to continue the same coverage without updating any forms be certain to make this crystal clear in all materials. A confirmation of coverage is a nice touch that reinforces plan benefits and changes. Be certain not to hide or attempt to cover up modifications. Prepare employees for increases in out of pocket expenses so they can make informed decisions. Avoiding full disclosure now will only lead to frustration in the New Year.
Outgrowing Quickbooks
I have had a great opportunity working with a particular client. Systematica helped this client implement the HR/Payroll module of Microsoft Dynamics GP. A couple of the issues they had with their previous system were performance, reporting and functionality. Their top priority is functionality. In particular this includes streamlining how they calculated payroll and enhancing their reporting capabilities. As I was researching an issue for them by doing a Google search, I found this article and thought it was helpful for those users/businesses that are experiencing growth and are still using QuickBooks. This article reminded me of this client. Though this client was not a QuickBooks user, they still had similar pain points of outgrowing their previous system. Because of this, I wanted to share with you all.
I hope this doesn’t come across as a knock on QuickBooks. In a previous life, I was a small business owner and lived ‘n’ breathed the business through QuickBooks. However I do see how a company can outgrow certain software as the company grows. The article I found is actually a blog from a Microsoft Dynamics GP partner out of Ohio. This blog best formulates how a company knows they have outgrown QuickBooks -
There are 6 signs that a business is outgrowing Quickbooks and should consider MS Dynamics GP:
1. Experiencing unacceptable delays in menus or screens
2. Reports take an unacceptable amount of time to print
3. Customer, vendor, employee or other lists exceed 10,000 items
4. Exceeding 32,000 transactions or the file size reaches 30MB
5. Requiring additional functionality to accomplish more
6. Requiring more robust reporting to gain business insight
Above encompasses both the system and functional needs of a growing company. Advantages to switching to Microsoft Dynamics GP include competitive pricing, various conversion tools and products, consistent look and feel to MS Office and Outlook and having access to MS support. Something to think about…
GP Payroll to Payables: How to pass custom data to the check!
Garnishment management can be a complex process for companies that manage their Payroll in house. One client of Systematica uses Dynamics GP for both Payroll and Payables and uses the Payroll to Payables integration in order to pay employee garnishments. The government requires that the garnishment checks include the employee’s last name and the check-date together on the remittance. This data is not available out-of-the-box, GP simply creates vouchers for each garnishment without passing any data that ties the payables voucher back to the payroll records that created them. The client was currently opening each garnishment voucher and replacing the document ID (which is a sequentially generated field just used for reference) with the employee name and date. Our goal was to replace this with a simple command button that would update all of the garnishment document IDs with the employee ID and check date.
Our solution required the following steps: Read the rest of this entry »
Southern California Payroll Focus Day
On September 17th, 2009, Systematica participated in the Southern California Payroll Focus Day. The following local chapters of the American Payroll Association, mobilized to organize this event:
• Inland Empire Chapter http://www.ieapa.org
• Los Angeles Chapter http://www.laapa.org
• Orange County Chapter http://www.occapa.com
• North San Diego County Chapter http://www.nsdccapa.org/
• San Diego Chapter http://www.sandiegochapterapa.org
• San Gabriel Valley Chapter http://www.sgvcapa.org
• Ventura County Chapter http://venturacoapa.webexone.com
• Santa Barbara Chapter http://apasba.org
The theme of Payroll Focus Day 2009 was “Working Together for a Winning Combination”. The day allowed various members (businesses located in SoCal) to come together and learn about new payroll trends. Topics included:
“Soar like an Eagle as a Payroll Professional” – Dave Wakeling
Employment Labor Law – Helene Wasserman
Unemployment & State Taxes – Michelle McElrea
Identity Theft – John Pacheco
Time & Attendance – Randy Wussick
At lunch, we had the opportunity to speak with some of the payroll attendees. We asked how the focus day was going. Their response was interesting. It is good to learn about the new trends and labour laws but it is also very frightening. According to one attendee, a lot has changed. You have to tread very carefully with regards to how you pay people in terms of fairness and consistency. She has worked in a payroll capacity for more than 30 years. She even reminisced about cutting checks by hand!
Systematica participated in the Focus Day as a Bronze Sponsor. As a team, we distributed exhibitor responsibilities. Sara and Dwight shared the morning session, while Elizabeth and I shared the afternoon session. It was very pleasant spending the day with fellow vendors and meeting the payroll attendees. We were asked quite frequently what we did. After hearing about Microsoft Dynamics GP and its capabilities with HR and Payroll, most echoed the running theme of fairness and consistency. They really didn’t know that Microsoft had such capabilities. It is always good to be out there spreading the Microsoft word!
HR & Payroll for Incentive Based Compensation Case Study
Systematica Inc. and Glidewell Laboratories have released a case study on Microsoft’s site. The study is specific on how to leverage the HR and Payroll modules within Dynamics GP to offer performance based pay incentives to production employees. Please find it here: Microsoft Case Study
End of Support for Great Plains 8.0
For those holding out on upgrading, support for Great Plains 8.0 ends 10/13/2009. If you are interested in the details, see the link below for the full lifecycle policy.
http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/?LN=en-us&p1=7967&x=10&y=9
