Fan Favorite Reports for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012
Posted on: June 21, 2016 | By: Jarrod Kraemer | Microsoft Dynamics AX/365
Authored by: Chris Rusing
One thing that our consultants at Logan Consulting always try to stress to our clients is to maximize the out-of-the-box functionality that Microsoft Dynamics AX has to offer. Specifically speaking, there are hundreds of reports across all of the modules in AX that are available and just waiting to be utilized. Whether you have just started using AX or you have been using it for some time, there is always an opportunity to learn something new in this expansive ERP system. Below are a couple of reports that are ‘fan favorites’ amongst our clientele.
The first report we will go over can be found at this address: Accounts payable> Reports> Transactions> Invoice> Vendor invoice transactions
This form will open up when you select the report. We will go through each field in order to fully utilize this particular report. This report is aptly named as it provides information on invoices that have been posted to a vendor account.
The dimension set field is where you will select your preconfigured financial dimension sets. The report will break down the invoices by whichever dimension set you choose. The from date and to date fields are where you will enter the date range of the invoices. Note: these fields are not limited by fiscal year, so you can enter a range that can multiple years. Invoice type has three options: Open, Paid, or Both. The Open option will pull all invoices that are, you guessed it, open. The Paid option will pull all invoices that have been, guessed it again I bet, paid! Both will pull all invoices- open and paid, simply incredible, I know. Clicking the box next to With transaction text will pull the description from the journal lines into the report.
Once all those parameters are set, click the Select button to enter criteria that can be queried. You will see this form open.
Under the header Criteria, select the vendor you would like to query from. If you have the specific invoice number, you can input that in the last field. There are many other fields you can query from by clicking the Add button to the right. When you are complete click OK at the bottom of the form. Click OK again to run the report.
The next report to go over can be found at this address: Accounts receivable> Reports> External> Customer account statement
Below is the form that is opened when the report is selected. As before, we will go through each field and describe their value. You may have noted that the sub-category of this report is external i.e. this is the perfect report to send to your customers so they are aware of what invoices need to be paid.
If you have print management settings setup on any particular modules and/or customers, then select the Use print management destination to enable those features for this report. The from date and to date fields are where you will enter the date range of the invoices. As in the previous report, these ranges can span across multiple years. The Only open option, if checked, will pull only the invoices that are open (it is suggested to check this box so the report will run faster because of less transactions and also for the reason that the customer would only want to view invoices that have not been settled yet). The Include reversed option, if checked, will also include transactions that have been reversed. There is no need to consider the Giro with sum option unless your legal entities are located in the European Union. Checking the Balance other than zero box will create a report that excludes customer balances that have a $0 balance. If any of your customers are currently on a payment schedule and you would like the details of their progress, then check the Show payment schedule box. Sometimes the options of the report are self-explanatory, as in our next option the Show credit limit box. If this is checked, the credit limit of the customer will be shown on the report. Entering a date in the Show due until field will give you additional information at the bottom of the report. The information provided will show the amount due as of whichever date you entered in the field.
If you would like the customer to see the distribution of past due invoices into the predefined aging period buckets, then click the Show maturity distribution box. This information will be shown at the bottom of the report. In the Aging period definition field you can select any predefined aging period definitions, which will put the amount due in those predefined buckets. I would suggest changing the Print period description to ‘Yes’ as it will give the buckets their appropriate aging description. This report also gives you the ability to create your own distribution buckets by selecting the Manual setup of maturity distribution option. Simply define the Interval (number of days/months), the Day or Month, and finally the Printing direction (Forward or Backward). For example, if you enter 1 for the interval, Month as the time period, and Backward as the printing direction, the information at the bottom of the report will show amounts in buckets for each month prior to the current date.
Click the Select button on the right to enter additional criteria. The Criteria column will be where you make your selections. For example, to choose a specific customer per the screenshot below, find that customer in the first row (Customers, Customers, Customer account). You can also add additional filters to the form using the Add button on the far right as in all other reports. When you are complete click OK at the bottom of the form. Click OK again to run the report.
This report, and all others, can be exported to Excel, as a CSV file, a PDF, and also printed/ saved to a file path.
We hope that this blog has given you better insight to these reports and how reports, in general, can be utilized in AX. For additional information please feel free to reach out to us at info@loganconsulting.com or (312) 345-8817.
All the best!
Logan Consulting
www.loganconsulting.com