Many users have trouble finding basic information in Microsoft Dynamics Great Plains (GP) as they do not know which of the over 800 reports to look at. SmartLists in Dynamics GP can be quick and easy solutions for users once they understand how they work. It is important to realize that a SmartList is just a list of records that meet certain criteria. Once the SmartList is created, users have the ability to export it to Excel and get totals or subtotals on fields.

How to find specific data in Dynamics GP with a SmartList

For this example, a user wants to see a list of payments received from a specific customer during a specific time frame. They only want to see the customer ID, customer name, phone number, and current balance fields in the list.

The SmartList screen is broken down into modules and then subtopics.

How to create a customer balance SmartList

1. Click on the “+” in front of the module name to expand the trees the subtopics and any SmartLists that have already been created and saved as “Favorites” are visible.
2. Go to SmartList>Sales>Customer and click on the “*” which is the default SmartList that can be used to build on. This SmartList already contains some of the fields that the user is looking for and others they do not really need.
3. Click on the columns icon on the top ribbon, and the “Change Column Display” will open. In this case, they do not need any address information in the SmartList, so they can click on the fields they do not need and hit the remove button.
4. That leaves them with the desired fields and now they can start adding fields.
   
   To add a field, click the “Add” button to bring up a list of available fields. The fields appear in alphabetical order based on the field name. If there is a specific type of field a user is looking for, like currency, they can click on the “Type” column header to sort the fields by type.
   
   Note: It is important to remember that each SmartList item selected is only looking at one specific table in Dynamics GP. The desired field may not be in the table for the SmartList item selected. Sometimes a different SmartList item just needs to be selected to look at a different table. Other times, fields may exist in multiple tables and SmartList Builder needs to be used to select fields from multiple tables.
5. Use the scroll bars to scroll down and select the customer balance field and click the “OK” button.
6. Now customer balance shows in the list. Once the list is correct and all the desired fields are displayed, click the “OK” button.
   
   Note: There are three fields at the bottom of the screen. The first one will show how many records were found, the second indicates the search has completed, and the third shows how many records were searched and what the criteria was.

Ways to define the search criteria

1. Hit the “Search” icon from the ribbon on top to open the search criteria window. Here, there is the ability to enter up to four different search criteria options. For example, users can set up a search definition to only see customers who have a balance over $500.
2. Enter the number of records that the search should return in the “Search Options” field. If there are 500,000 customer records in the system with a balance over $500 and that number is left as is, only the first 1,000 records will show. For all records to be shown, users may enter 9,999,999,999 in that field to return all records that match the criteria.
3. Fields, such as the state field, can be added to the SmartList and rearranged. If a user wanted to see customers with balance of over $500 only in Kansas, they can add a second criteria to the SmartList.

While in the SmartList, it can be sorted by state, customer name, customer number, or customer simply by clicking on the column heading. A little up arrow on the field name indicates the SmartList is being sorted by that field.

How to save a SmartList as a favorite

If a SmartList will be used repeatedly, users can save it as a “Favorite”, and it will show up on the SmartList menu for them.

1. Click the “Favorites” button on the top ribbon.
2. Give the SmartList a name.
3. Click the “Add” button for a drop-down menu and select “Add Favorite.” Now the SmartList is on the menu to be used any time it is needed. If a change needs to be made to the SmartList, for example changing the state from Kansas to Illinois, just click the “Search” button on the top ribbon and change the state criteria from Kansas to Illinois.

Dynamics GP support provided by Citrin Cooperman

Citrin Cooperman’s Digital Services Practice can help your business get the most out of its Dynamics GP investment, such as using SmartLists to increase efficiency and enhance the use of your business’s data.

To learn more about how our team can assist with Dynamics GP upgrades and support, reach out to your Citrin Cooperman advisor or sales@citrincooperman.com.

Need to make the move from Dynamics GP?

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