In the previous recipe we saw how to save SmartLists
as Favorites. Now we can look at how to use a Favorite to build a custom
reminder. SmartList Favorites actually make up the core of the Reminder
feature in Dynamics GP.
A custom reminder is a warning or alert generated by Dynamics GP and displayed on the Reminders
section at login. It's used to alert a user about situations that exist
in Dynamics GP. For example, reminders can display the number of
invoices sixty days or more past due. These can also include the
ability to drill back into the transactions that generated the reminder.
The basic process takes a SmartList Favorite and builds criteria used
to drive the reminder.
Getting ready
The first step in creating a
custom reminder is to create a SmartList Favorite. That topic was
covered in detail in the last recipe, Speeding up access to information with SmartList Favorites,
so this should be easy for everyone. We'll keep this example simple and
assume that we simply want to be alerted about debit transactions over
$1 million.
How to do it...
Once a SmartList Favorite has been created it can be turned into a custom reminder using these steps:
1. Click on the SmartList button on the menu bar at the top or select Microsoft Dynamics GP from the top and click on SmartList.
2. Select Financial, then Account Transactions.
3. Click on Search. Set Column Name to Debit Amount. Set Filter to is greater than and Value to 1000000:
5. Click on Favorites to save this as a Favorite.
6. Name the Favorite Debit > 1 mil and leave it visible to System:
7. Click on Add | Add Favorite and reminder.
8. Select Number of records. Select is greater than. Leave the amount equal to zero. Select the Display as a Cue checkbox and click on OK:
9. On the To Do Area Page click on the Refresh button. The Refresh button is indicated by two swirling arrows in the upper right near the Help button. This refreshes the current page.
10. In the Reminders pane you should see the Debit > 1 mil reminder with the number of debit transactions over a million dollars:
11. Click on the Debit > 1 mil line to drill back into the SmartList Favorite:
How it works...
Custom Reminders start
with SmartList Favorites as their base and let users build reminders
based on those results. This increases the power of Reminders because
the core SmartList itself can be narrowed to provide very targeted
results that can then be used to drive the alert.
Different users will need to be
reminded about different things. SmartList Favorites provide
opportunities to deliver relevant information to the right people in
time for them to take action.
There's more...
Custom Reminders can also be modified and removed. Users aren't locked in after creating them.
Modifying and removing Custom Reminders
It is possible to change a custom Reminder by selecting New Reminder from the Home page, highlighting a reminder to change, and clicking on Modify instead of New. This reopens the Custom Reminder window allowing changes to be made.
Additionally, selecting Remove instead of Modify will delete that reminder.
