Microsoft Dynamics GP provides extensive reporting and, with Microsoft Dynamics SmartList, interactive list building capabilities. However, managers often need to be able to react in real-time when responding to financial events. Dynamics GP provides a very simple, but powerful, feature called Business Alert that notifies key decision makers when records in Microsoft GP’s database tables meet certain conditions.
Business Alert is tucked away in the main Dynamics GP menu—found in the upper-left corner—under Tools>Setup>System. It is well worth taking a few minutes to learn about.
What’s so powerful about Business Alert? It’s a way to be notified in real-time when, say, a customer credit limit has been exceeded, or it’s time to reorder a new part from inventory. While these are a few fairly common high-priority business events, Microsoft Dynamics GP’s Business Alert makes it easy to craft customized alerts for your company’s unique requirements.
Business Alert provides a convenient wizard-like interface that lets you select specific table columns, and insert them into formulas involving basic math and comparison operators. As you might expect, you can string conditions together with Boolean and/or to fine-tune the actual trigger event.
Additionally, there are functions for summing up a numeric field or finding min and max across multiple records. For example, it would be quite easy for a manager to get a handle on overtime with a formula that tallies the hours employees worked for a given period and then trigger when a limit is reached.
Once the Business Alert formula is set up, you have the option of sending an email or a direct message to all relevant users. If you chose to send a direct message, the alert would automatically appear on the Microsoft Dynamics GP home page under the Reminders list, where it would be highly visible.
Since there’s no limit on the number of alerts that can be created, each department would then have the flexibility to manage their own alerts for the business conditions that are important to them.
