Personally, I find Analytical Accounting complex and Project Accounting clunky. But I love the concept of Tracking Projects in PowerGP Online. The Microsoft Dynamics GP module MDA, however, is super simple to setup and use.
I honestly believe that EVERYTHING IS A PROJECT and YOU CANNOT IMPROVE WHAT YOU DO NOT MEASURE.
For our PowerGP Online offering, which is GP in the cloud, available in both Public and (now) Private clouds, we’ve enhanced the functionality of this cool Microsoft Dynamics GP module. I have always loved MDA, but it was missing the ability to Budget. So, we at Njevity added Budgets!
In the following video, I show how to setup MDA, use MDA, use our Budgeting in MDA, and finally see our fantastic Power BI reporting in MDA. All in less than 7 minutes.
Come on, I’m BI Belinda, was I really going to show you something without bringing Microsoft Power BI to the table.
6 Cool things you can do in MDA
- Track quantities on the same line as the amounts, without using Unit Accounts.
- Track multiple Projects (or Groups) for a single amount.
- Split a single amount among Codes within a single Project/Group.
- Use SmartList to see the detail. Note, this is an out of the box feature.
- Make entering the Project code Required, Fixed or Optional.
- With PowerGP Online, BUDGET for a Project/Code/Account!
3 ideas of things you can Track with MDA
- Track expenses for attending events in MDA. Let’s say you attend one big event, like GPUG Summit, and 2 SQL Saturdays and maybe an event specific to your company’s industry. With a single “Conference” General Ledger Account, you can track costs for each event AND specific employees.
- Track expenses for training. You saw this example in the video. I have a single training account, for a specific department. Each time I use that account to track training expenses, I can code the expense to a specific employee and a specific kind of training. This allows me to see who is getting trained and on what they are getting trained. This can be used to make sure that as a company, you are providing training to your team as equally as appropriate.
- Imagine this. You have a Dimension setup to track sales. For every sale in Sales Order Processing, the MDA code defaults (without user involvement) as a quantity of 1 sale. Then you use another Dimension to track the number of hits you pay an Internet Advertiser, using quantities in conjunction with the amount. Now you have the Sales Amount in dollars, the customers you sold to and the number of sales or invoices. You also know the total you spent on Internet Advertising with the number of clicks provided by that advertising. Imagine what you can learn from that?
The list is endless. EVERYTHING IS A PROJECT and YOU CANNOT IMPROVE WHAT YOU DO NOT MEASURE.
Remember, if you are using MDA, it’s in your GP database, so all the normal tools you use to extract data and report on that data will work with MDA. And with PowerGP Online MDA Budgeting, the final piece of the puzzle is in place!
