GP 2013 Document Attachments – FAQs

 

With GP 2013, document attachment has been widely considered as a desired feature. In this post, I am including common inquiries and answers about this feature.

Q1 - Where to find illustrative resources explaining document attachment feature on a step by step basis ?

On Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Guide: System User's Guide, chapter 19 | Document Attachments. The following content is thoroughly illustrated;

Q2 - Can I attach documents to payable transactions Journal entries ?

Until GP2013 SP2, document attachment doesn’t include neither payable transaction nor General Entry in GL. The following master records and transactions are supported by this feature.

Although, several suggestions have been provided on Microsoft Connect to add this feature for payable and General Entry.

Q3 - What are the document attachment tables ?

• CO40100 | Document Attachment Setup
• CO00101 | Document Attachment Master
• CO00102 | Document Attachment Reference
• CO00103 | Document Attachment Properties
• CO00104 | Document Attachment Status
• CO00105 | Document Attachment E-mail

Q4 – When I attach a document, the original file is deleted !

That’s simply a configuration check, on the Document Attachment setup screen (Microsoft Dynamics > Tools > Setup > Company > Document Attachment), there is an option to delete original attachment, if checked, the original will be deleted. As shown below;

Q5 - What is the “default location” field on the setup window for Document Attachment?

When you click on attachment icon either on a master record or transaction, the “Select an attachment”window will default to retrieve all the files in this path, from which you will attach a selected document.

Q6- When I delete an attachment, the file is still be shown on the “Deleted” tab, how can I completely remove an attachment ?

Dynamics GP manages the deletion of attachments by categorizing the deleted documents in a separate tab, which can still be shown on the document attachment window.

To completely remove an attachment, I would go for a database delete statement which is well considered.

Q7- Where are the attachment stored ?

Document attachment in Dynamics GP considers SQL Server solution for storing files and documents in the database.

Q8- What does the Document Attachment Utility do ?

Although it doesn’t provide any message or notification on completion, but if you follow the process on SQL Profiler, you will find that it does check all the attachments which fall (on or before) a date specified at the utility window, any of these with no link to a certain transaction or master record will be permanently deleted.

Best Regards,
Mahmoud M. AlSaadi

Dynamics GP 2013 SP2 - SmartList Designer

Dynamics GP 2013 service pack (2) comes with a new feature; SmartList Designer. Immediately, several questions come in mind, Can I edit an existing "out of the box" Dynamics GP SmartList, and the answer is still no. 

Although, smartList Designer gives the work around solution for modifying current smartlists by being able to create new smartlist based on existing ones. In this essence, the answer to your customers could be “yes” somehow.

One the usual SmartList window, a new button is added through which you go to the SmartList Designer Window as shown below;

SmartList "New" Button

The SmartList Designer Window provides “Database View” considering the tables’ physical names. Objects to choose from includes:

• Tables
• Views
• SmartList Objects

SmartList Designer

As shown above, you can create a new report by considering the relationships between the data sources you choose, as well as any filtration criteria if any. Once completed, the “Execute Query” is clicked to show the T-SQL Query created upon your to retrieve the data requested.

It’s worth saying that the “script” generated below with the T-SQL query pane is not editable, as you may think initially about including further codes within the script. It’s not even saved in the Database as a static script after completion. Only the rules that you configure in the relationship, filter and selected fields’ panes are stored.

You can still consider “calculated fields” in the SmartList Designer through the Athematic, text, Date and time, Math and aggregate functions, in order to add further capabilities to your smartlist report.

Many questions still roll up in my mind, aren’t there quite duplicated features among the SmartList Builder and SmartList Designer, Why not combine and extend the capabilities of the two in one greatest SmartList Tool !   Further versions might hold the answer.

But now, it is worth saying that the SmartList Designer has achieved a considerable progress, as well as the better performance in retrieving data.

Best Regards, 

Mahmoud M. AlSaadi