Friday, May 14, 2010
Speeding up SmartList Exports
http://blogs.msdn.com/developingfordynamicsgp/archive/2010/05/14/smartlist-exports-slowly-to-excel-part-1.aspx
The switch is:
SmartlistEnhancedExcelExport=TRUE
It's a wonderful piece of information, thank you Patrick.
Until next post,
Leslie
Friday, March 5, 2010
Allocating Tips in Payroll – How and Why?
This posting steps through the tip allocation computation used by the Payroll module in Dynamics GP. Some questions have come up lately on the forums; rather than posting a lengthy answer, I thought it would be better to cover it in more detail in my blog.
What is it? -- The IRS has set a minimum amount that it expects waitstaff should have included in income for tips. The tip allocation calculation function merely adds an amount to taxable income; it does NOT result in an extra amount going into the paycheck.
The amount includable in income for an employee who is directly tipped is the greater of (a) the amount they reported to their employer or (b) their allocable share of the minimum amount established by the IRS (for 2009 it was 8%).
An indirectly tipped employee does not receive allocated tips. Generally, indirectly tipped employees receive their tips from other tipped employees rather than directly from the customers. Positions such as cooks, bussers, hostesses, barbacks, and dishwashers are typically indirectly tipped employees. Of course, an employee could receive both direct and indirect tips, if so they will be included in the allocation computation for their direct tips.
The Dynamics GP instructions provide the following explanation about allocated tips:
Microsoft Dynamics GP uses the Gross
Receipts method that is calculated per pay
run. The allocated tips amount equals the
difference between tips received and
employee gross receipts divided by
company gross receipts, multiplied by the
tip allocation rate, provided the difference is
more. Made to each directly tipped
employee.
Reading it again won’t help. I think an example is in order.
Our Example -- Let’s say our company, named Tailspin Pizza (“Tailspin”), has three employees who receive tips. The employees are tipped both directly and indirectly
During a payroll period, gross receipts at Tailspin were $15,500. Total tips reported by employees for this period were $980. Directly tipped employees reported $430 and indirectly tipped employees reported $550. Based on the IRS guidelines, the employees’ total tips should have been 8% of $15,500, or $1,240. Our job is to properly calculate and allocate the $260 shortfall.
Dynamics GP can do it!
How to set it up in Payroll -- Payroll Options need to be set telling the system that you want to use the tip allocation feature. To do this:
1. Navigate to the Payroll Setup window
Microsoft Dynamics GP>>Tools>>Setup>>Payroll>>Payroll
2. Select the Options button on the lower right-hand corner of the Payroll Setup window.
3. Mark the Calculate Tip Allocation checkbox in the Options section of the Payroll Setup Options window and set the Tip Allocation Rate to 8.00% (or whatever applicable percentage).
The allocation rate is determined by the IRS. Unless a lower amount was negotiated with the IRS, the rate was 8.00% for 2009.
How to set up Pay Codes --The appropriate pay codes need to be set up in order to include tips in a payroll run. Additionally, we need to be able to indicate whether the tips were received directly or indirectly. For the purposes of the tip allocation computation it does not matter whether the tips were ‘charged’ or ‘reported’. We’ll set up the following 3 Pay Codes to use in our example:
Pay Code | Pay Type | Tips Received |
CTIPI | Charged Tips | Indirectly |
CTIPD | Charged Tips | Directly |
RTIPD | Reported Tips | Directly |
For the payroll period, Tailspin has total gross receipts of $15,500. Total gross receipts are calculated by adding together the individual employee receipts entered on the payroll transaction. The employee’s receipts are entered on the Payroll Transaction Entry window with the ‘show’ details open.
The Calculation -- Total gross receipts were $15,500, total reported tips were $980. Tips received directly were reported as $430. Tips received indirectly were reported as $550.
Directly Tipped Employees | Gross Receipts for payroll period | Direct Tips Reported |
ACKE | 3,500 | 30 |
BARB | 5,500 | 100 |
BARR | 6,500 | 300 |
Totals | 15,500 | 430 |
Directly Tipped Employees | Directly Tipped Share of 8% of the gross | (Times) Gross Receipts Ratio | Employee’s share of 8% of the gross |
ACKE | 690 | 3,500/15,500= | 156 |
BARB | 690 | 5,500/15,500= | 245 |
BARR | 690 | 6,500/15,500= | 289 |
Total | 690 |
Directly Tipped Employees | Employee’s share of 8% of the gross | (Minus) Tips Reported | Employee shortfall (use 0 if no shortfall) |
ACKE | 156 | 30 | 126 |
BARB | 245 | 100 | 145 |
BARR | 289 | 300 | - |
Total | 690 | 430 | 271 |
5. Calculate the allocable share of the total tip shortfall. $1,240(total gross receipts x 8%) less $980 (total tips reported, includes direct and indirect) = $260(amount to be allocated among employees who had a shortfall).
Shortfall Employees | Allocable Amount | (Times) Shortfall ratio | Amount of allocation |
ACKE | 260 | 126/271=.46484 | 120.86 |
BARB | 260 | 145/271=.53516 | 139.14 |
BARR | 260 | 0/271=.00000 | 0 |
Total | 260.00 |
Leave it to the IRS to dream up this ‘simple’ allocation calculation. Fortunately Dynamics GP does it for us!
Until next post!
Leslie
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
DEXVBA.ini Switches - Part 1
In keeping with my ‘.ini’ switch theme I would like to keep track of entries we can make to the DEXVBA.ini file. I currently have only two. I hope you will comment here if you have any others and I can add them to the list. I have titled this ‘Part 1’ in hopes that I will get additional settings so that I may post a ‘Part 2’.
The DEXVBA.ini file is not created by default. You will need to open Notepad (or similar text editor) and create it. The file should be created in the root Windows folder, not in the GP folder.
Step 1. Create a file named DEXVBA.ini in the root Windows folder.
Step 2. Add the following line to the top of the file: [General]
Step 3. Add the selected .ini setting beneath [General].
INI Setting | Description |
LogObjects=TRUE | This will create a text file that will include all of the objects in a VBA project. The text file will be the same name as the product dictionary with a ‘.txt’ extension. |
NoUnresolvedDialog=TRUE | This will suppress the following error message when you launch Dynamics GP. “The product_name.vba project references some objects that cannot be found. These objects are listed in the file: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Business Solutions\GP\ product_name.txt” The warning will be suppressed for all VBA projects loaded. It doesn’t solve the problem regarding missing objects, but it suppresses the message. |
Until next post!
Leslie
Friday, February 19, 2010
GP 2010 on 64-bit Windows 7 with i3 Processor
I have more to report on my attempted installation of Dexterity 2010.
Thanks to Vaidy for the guidance, I did the following:
I ran "dw20sharedia64.msi" from the following path:
GP2010 Main Folder -> Tools -> Dex -> Watson -> dw20sharedia64.msi
I got this error:
I then ran “dw20sharedamd64.msi'” from that same folder and was greeted with nothing noteable. I didn't expect anything because this is not an AMD processor, but you never know.
I then ran the “dw20shared.msi” and received this message:
It looked promising, but then nothing else happened.
I then run the setup.exe file for Dex and got this again:
The test machine's processor is an i3. The i3 was released January 8th, 2010. Since the first error message tells me the processor isn't supported, I am thinking the new processor may be the issue.
I do not have another machine to use for the beta - has anyone tried to install Dex 2010 on a similar hardware configuration to mine?
The machine is 64-bit, running Windows 7 Professional, with an i3 processor.
Until next post!
Leslie
12 inches of Snow in Dallas!
How is this related to Dynamics GP? It isn’t, but it was a record setting day! The snow fell on Thursday, Feb 11, 2010. It is all melted now, but it was amazing.
The city shut down, schools closed, electricity went out, etc. I grew up in Michigan, if they had closed the schools because of cold weather and snow, I would still be in high school.
The pictures are from my neighborhood. We lost a lot of trees, that was a shame.
Until next post!
Leslie