July 5, 2011
by TGO Consulting
Custom Links is a standard GP tool that is often ignored or forgotten by day-to-day GP users, which is surprising considering how powerful the tool is and how remarkably easy it is to set up and use.
Consider a task you perform on a daily basis. Are there webpages that you have to access to complete that task? Do you frequently visit customer or vendor websites? Do you access a webpage for currency exchange rates when updating your exchange tables? Do you use a shipment tracking website? All of these sites, and any others, can be setup as a custom link, saving you time, and making your group more efficient, by requiring fewer clicks of the mouse to open them.
With Custom Links there is no need to open Explorer or Outlook, simply click a link in the GP window you’re already using and the window opens automatically.
In this week’s Tips and Tricks we will go through some of the options available in Custom Links, and work through some useful examples.
GP CUSTOM LINKS SET UP
To set up Custom Links go to Microsoft Dynamics GP >> Tools >> Setup >> Company >> Custom Link
Select “New” or use the keyboard shortcut, Alt-N, and the Create/Modify Custom Link window will open.
DESCRIPTION OF FIELDS
Prompt: This is the “type” of link you’re creating. There is a predefined list of options to choose from.
Ex. Chequebook, Credit Card, Currency, Customer, Employee, Exchange Rate, Item, Salesperson, Tracking Number, Vendor
Custom Link Label: The label can be anything you choose that will clearly identify this link to the user.
Field Value: If you selected “chequebook” in the Prompt field above this lookup will give you a list of available chequebook IDs, if you selected “currency” it would give you a list of currency IDs, etc. There is a checkbox labeled “All field values”. If you want the same link to be available for all chequebooks, for all currencies, or for all customers, select this checkbox.
Internet Address: This is where you type the address of the window you want to pop up when the user clicks on the link you’re creating.
EXAMPLES
Example 1.0 – Create a link to a customer webpage
A link to a customer or vendor webpage can be useful in many situations. Clicking between multiple windows to look up the internet address and typing it in your Internet Explorer is inefficient. Even looking for the address in your favourite list in Internet Explorer takes more time than using Custom Links would.
This will allow you to automatically open the webpage that has been saved on the internet information window for the specific customer selected in any transaction window.
Links can also be added for the customer’s e-mail, FTP site (shown below), or any other field that is used on the internet information window.
Example 2.0 – Create a link to an online currency converter for all currencies.
If your organization uses multicurrency a custom link to the site that provides current exchange rates will make maintaining your exchange tables much simpler.
Once you click save on this window, anywhere the words Currency ID are underlined you will have an option to go directly to the Bank of Canada’s Currency Converter.
If you would rather attach this link to Exchange Rate rather than Currency ID use the following setup.
Now the words Exchange Rate on the Exchange Rate Entry window will give you the option of opening the online currency converter.
As you can see adding a new Custom Link is very simple, and allows you to take advantage of automation functionality in Dynamics GP. Consider how many additional steps you take in a day that can be automated using this feature!
If you have any questions about Microsoft Dynamics GP optimization please contact TGO Consulting at support@tgo.ca, or visit our website.
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