Processing Payables in Dynamics GP vs. Business Central: What’s Your Direction?
Are you considering moving from your dependable workhorse Microsoft Dynamics GP to the cloud-based Dynamics 365 Business Central? It’s a logical choice – but for Accounts Payable teams, it’s a big change.
I’ve been working with Dynamics GP for 25 years and Business Central for five years. In my previous position, we advised many clients during their transition from Dynamics GP to Business Central.
This blog will look at changes you can celebrate and gaps you’ll need to fill.
Payables in Business Central
Business Central offers many new features that don’t exist or are more user-friendly than in Dynamics GP. For example, you’ll gain:
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Great dashboards and lists to see important data at a glance.
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Quarterly updates with new customer requested features and little downtime.
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Flexible licensing so all users can gain access to reports or transactions based on their duties.
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Robust financials, manufacturing, and distribution modules with more built-in functionality that used to reside in add-ons.
You’ll also be free from expensive upgrades when new BC versions are released, because you won’t need to add hardware or be down for hours.
Check Printing: A Sore Spot in Business Central
As you compare the two ERP solutions, you’ll find a few things Dynamics GP has that you will miss.
First, D365 BC was developed with electronic payments in mind – not check printing. In many parts of the world outside of the United States, most companies don’t write that many paper checks. Europe and Latin America recognized long ago that hand-signing wet signatures on paper checks is an antiquated practice, and using checks increases your risk of fraud.
What does this mean for you? If you still make the bulk of your payments by paper check, you’ll have some significant setup to do. The process of making payments is more complex in Business Central than you are used to with Dynamics GP and Mekorma Payment Hub.
Your company’s checks will need to be configured with the correct MICR font and formatted to be compliant with the bank’s check standard. If you have multiple checkbooks per company, you may have to create custom check formats.
In Dynamics GP, you rely on fast efficient payment processing with Mekorma Payment Hub, especially if you manage multiple companies with the Action Board. This includes features like MICR check writing capabilities, electronic signatures, and secure approval workflow. This also may include Mekorma Remote Payment Services, which integrates with both ERPs.
Many of our Dynamics GP customers ask whether they can have all the same functionality in BC that they have with the Payment Hub – and the answer is yes. Much of the functionality is there, but it works a little differently.
YES
- Electronic Signatures: Mekorma has developed an Electronic Signatures app you can utilize to free your approvers from hand-signing checks. There is a free version for all BC customers, and a subscription version for Binary Stream Multi-Entity Management users.
- Approval Workflow: Business Central has native approval workflows that integrate with Mekorma Electronic Signatures for a secure and efficient solution. This will ensure that payments are locked down until they’re approved. Once approvers have done their job, checks can be printed with electronic signatures – just like you have today with the Payment Hub.
- Positive Pay: You can also make use of the Positive Pay module in BC to deter some check fraud.
- Mekorma Remote Payment Services: RPS works similarly on both Dynamics GP and BC and will help you transition to BC seamlessly. If you’re not familiar with this solution, keep reading.
COMING SOON
- Custom Check Formats: You have limited options for customizing check formats in BC, with some extra work as mentioned above.
- Check Formats per Bank Account: There are other limitations, like the inability to configure check formats per bank account.
- Action Board: For those of you who manage multiple companies in BC, your users will need to log in to each one independently to process batches. Our roadmap for BC includes multi-company processing features, similar to the Action Board for Dynamics GP.
How Can Mekorma Help?
It is important to take a step back and examine HOW you want to approach payables in your new system. Migrating to a new ERP system is a great time to evaluate your AP processes – many ERP implementations fail because outdated ways of working are simply shifted to the new system.
We can help you plan your migration, focusing on how to optimize your payment process in Business Central.
Since you will most likely be moving to the cloud, you should consider migrating your vendors to electronic payments like ACH or virtual credit cards – and we have a recommended way to accomplish this that benefits you now, even while you’re on Dynamics GP.
Mekorma Remote Payment Services Offers Seamless Payables for a Smooth Migration
Mekorma offers an option that might spark a new way of thinking – and working. Mekorma Remote Payment Services (RPS) was developed to make the migration to the cloud easier. RPS allows you to send all of your payments – checks, ACH, wires and virtual credit cards – by transmitting payment instructions to an online service provider. This allows your company to offer a variety of payment types to your vendors, but your AP team doesn’t have to manage that complexity within your ERP.
Best of all, if you are staying on Dynamics GP for another year or more, Remote Payment Services is available for you on GP and BC. This will make your transition to BC, whenever it happens, a much easier process. Mekorma can move your Remote Payment Services with you when you move to Business Central, Acumatica or another ERP system in the future.
We’ve also got a lot more in the works – we’re committed to bringing end-to-end AP automation to BC, similar to - and eventually surpassing - our Dynamics GP offerings!
Check out our Business Central Roadmap to peek into the future.
We're looking forward to traveling there together!
