Using Microsoft Excel Pivot Tables to Verify Posting Group Setup and Analysis in Microsoft Dynamics NAV

In the early stages of a Dynamics NAV implementation, it is essential to verify your Posting Group Setup through testing. I have come to rely on Excel Pivot Tables for this analysis.

I will use a Dynamics NAV Finished Production Order to illustrate this. What I want to find out is: Did postings go to the correct General Ledger Accounts?

Figure 1 – View of the Dynamics NAV Finished Production Order

I find the Item Ledger Entries associated to this Finished Production Order:

Figure 2 – View the Item Ledger Entries associated to this Finished Production Order

I then use the Dynamics NAV Navigation tool to find all of the General Ledger Entries associated with this Production Order.  To make sure I have all of the entries, I always remove the date filter and select “Find”.  The reason for this is that the transactions for a Production Order may have taken place over a period of many days:

Figure 3 – Use the Dynamics NAV Navigation tool to find the General Ledger Entries associated with this Production Order.  Be sure to remove the date filter to find all the entries.

Then I “Show” the General Ledger Entries:

Figure 4 – “Show” the General Ledger Entries

This gives me the list of General Ledger Entries associated with this Production Order, which I copy to Excel:

Figure 5 – Copy the list of General Ledger Entries associated with this Production Order to Excel

In Excel, I highlight all of the Columns and Rows that I want to convert to a Pivot Table:

Figure 6 – In Excel, highlight the Columns and Rows to convert to a pivot table

I then select “Insert/Pivot Table” which brings up this Options Dialog Window:

Figure 7 – Select “Insert/Pivot Table” which opens the Pivot Table Options Dialog Window

I select “OK,” which brings me to this window, where I drag down G/L Account No. and G/L Account Name into the “Row Labels,” and I drag down Amount into the “Sum of the Values”:

Figure 8 –Populate the fields to report: G/L Account No. and G/L Account Name into the “Row Labels,” and Amount into the “Sum of the Values”

This then populates the Pivot Table with a summary of the General Ledger Entries for this Finished Production Order:

Figure 9 – The Pivot Table is populated with a summary of the General Ledger Entries for this Finished Production Order

From this analysis, it is clear that the Posting Setups are correct.

If you would like more information on this subject or another Dynamics NAV subject, please contact ArcherPoint.

Read more blogs by Bob Bergman for practical advice on using Microsoft Dynamics NAV.