ERP software: Microsoft Dynamics for governments
Help your team comply, regulate, budget, report, spend—and deliver—service, on time and on target
Published: December 9, 2005
Do you wish you had more time for delivering services rather than for funding and accounting processes? Microsoft Dynamics GP (formerly Microsoft Business Solutions−Great Plains) can help state, city, and local government agencies adhere better to regulations and controls, proactively manage grants and budgets, and streamline accounting processes.
Microsoft Dynamics GP can help your agency focus on operations instead of technology in the five critical areas listed on this page.
On This Page
Interfund accounting
Manual entry, balance transfers, and reconciliations can make fund accounting a challenge. With intercompany features in Microsoft Dynamics GP, you can manage your interfund transfers with ease, helping to ensure that your account balances are accurate. You can transfer funds across accounts, divisions, and companies without manual entry and reconciliation processes. And automatic transaction analysis helps to confirm that fund accounts are balanced, or it automatically makes adjustments to help ensure funds are reconciled. Intercompany and General Ledger programs seamlessly integrate within Microsoft Dynamics GP. And the one-time setup is fast and easy.
Control account management
Gain a more detailed picture of your financials. Manage payables control accounts by reporting segments while you gain a detailed picture of your finances for your reporting requirements. Payables management with Microsoft Dynamics GP enables you to work within a single set-up window to monitor all the details of payables. Your government agency can define each report segment to represent a program, fund, division, or cost center and display a breakdown by segment values for your central control payables accounts. Control account summary reports enable you to drill down to segment details. And automatic generation of journal entries helps to ensure accurate reporting at the end of the month.
Encumbrance management
Encumbrance-management features in Microsoft Dynamics GP can help your government agency proactively manage and adhere to budgets, streamline reporting processes, and monitor encumbrances at any time.
| • | Managing budgets: Automated checks and controls help to ensure budgets stay within their limits and funds are correctly allocated. With a password requirement, you can prevent potential mishandling of funds. |
| • | Improving reporting and monitoring encumbrances: Seamless integration with purchase order processing in Microsoft Dynamics GP helps you analyze budget information and act fast when business conditions require it. You can track encumbrances on any timeframe, view summary and detailed information for encumbrances, and simplify year-end reporting processes. |
Commitments tracking and management
Requisition management features in Microsoft Dynamics GP enable employees to enter purchase requisitions online and track them as commitments against budgets. And because you can monitor status and activity in progress, you can tighten budget controls without halting purchase order processes. When requisitions exceed budgets, automatic alerts can help you react immediately to keep your government agency on track. And you can reduce processing time, streamline transfer of outstanding online requisitions, and automate the process of adding committed purchases to any of your financial reports.
Grant management
Tracking and reporting costs for grants can be challenging. Grant-management features in Microsoft Dynamics GP can help you manage grants proactively, promote accountability of sponsors, and maintain tight control over project and funding success. For example:
| • | Track expenditures to specific grants and programs |
| • | Receive automatic warnings when you exceed budgets |
| • | Streamline transaction entry |
| • | Monitor daily expenditures and budgetary controls |
| • | Control transactions by general ledger account, project, dates, and user |
Grant-management capabilities in Microsoft Dynamics GP can help government agencies manage multiple budgets, so you can focus on your business services. For example:
| • | Track costs for a grant life cycle with easily accessible information |
| • | Assign multiple projects to a grant or assign grants to projects |
| • | Know your budget status with automatic updates |
| • | Improve control and decision making with access to real-time accounting information |
Grant reporting can be tedious, but reporting tools in Microsoft Dynamics GP can help you deliver grant status information on time in a standard (or specialized) report.
Next steps
Evaluate Microsoft Dynamics GP and contact your Microsoft partner (or Microsoft) to learn how to acquire a solution to meet the challenges of government agencies.
