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Case Study: How Grand Isle Shipyard Upgraded from Manual Tracking to Microsoft Dynamics GP Project Accounting Module

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Grand Isle Shipyard (GIS) was established in 1948, LA as a modest company designed to serve the commercial fishing industry. It quickly evolved into the emerging Oil and Gas Industry on entering the Gulf of Mexico. Their mission is to provide quality products and services to customers in a safe and environmentally sound manner at fair and competitive prices. Today the company has advanced and diversified to become one of the industry’s most capable and trusted energy partners.

It serves the oil and gas industry both nationally and internationally. GIS has the capacity to offer solutions in the upstream, midstream, and downstream markets, as well as the resources to span the whole life cycle of their customers’ projects. From the planning stages of large projects through construction, commissioning, and finally decommissioning, they coordinate their services with operations.

THE PROBLEM: Weekly Manual Time-Entry and Verification of Employees

Oil and natural gas are significant players in the energy sector and have an impact on the global economy. The oil and gas industry is capital intensive and dependent on cutting edge technology. GIS used a powerful ERP system – Microsoft Dynamics GP for project accounting and despite this, the company’s accounting team had to manually enter the timesheets of the employees.

Manual time tracking led to delay in approvals and added burden not only on the accounting team but also the employees. This said, the company needed a powerful, seamless and easier approach to time tracking to improve visibility and process hourly work. This change from manual tracking to automotive tracking will have a multiplicity of positive impacts on the accounting team and the employees. Starting from quick approvals to easy time management.

THE SOLUTION: Flawless Integration of the Microsoft Dynamics GP Project Accounting Module

Grand Isle Shipyard used Microsoft Dynamics GP for project accounting. They were looking for a scalable automation solution that could map to certain fields in Microsoft Dynamics GP’s Project Accounting Module without a hitch. With its intuitive and easy-to-use integration, Gorilla Expense became the answer to GIS’s problem.

Gorilla Expense customised the automation process for timesheets to meet GIS’s needs. This flawless integration of the Microsoft Dynamics GP Project Accounting Module convinced the GISY team to switch to Gorilla Expense’s Timesheet Solution. The transition to an automated and user-friendly solution for accounting teams and employees took less than two months.

This solution allowed employees to automatically log hours within their systems and customise their timesheets to make the approval process faster and frictionless. Within two months of rolling out the solution, GIS has 530 active users to date. The automated timesheets gave GIS greater visibility and streamlined approval process. This in turn resulted in a decline in expenditure and rise in task value. Employees focused on high-value tasks.

Find the downloadable version of this case study here

To know more about our expense management solution, visit our website.

GPUC2021

Gorilla Expense Sponsors GPUC 2021

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Gorilla Expense is happy to announce its sponsorship of the Great Plains User Conference (GPUC) in 2021. Providing both in-person at the Microsoft Campus in Fargo, ND, and virtual attendance options on November 15-19, 2021, Microsoft Dynamics GP users can take advantage of 90+ sessions directed by experienced professionals. 

In joining other industry leaders as a sponsor, Gorilla Expense will provide an in-depth session on decreasing AP workloads when creating comprehensive expense reports. Attendees will also be able to ask the Gorilla Expense team of experts anything and everything about accelerating their expense management and payment reconciliation at our virtual booth on November 17th and 18th.

At this conference, Gorilla Expense will be discussing:

  • Best expense management practices for accounting, finance, and sales
  • How to make expense reporting easy and painless
  • A lighthearted and serious look at expense fraud 

The GPUC has provided Microsoft Dynamics GP users an opportunity to advance their careers and grow their network for years. And for a limited time, attendees can bring their team for one low price of $2,999 or $599 for an individual pass if they register now. 

About Gorilla Expense: Gorilla Expense is a leading provider of expense reporting automation software for AP teams. Based out of Duluth, GA, and with users in over 40 countries, Gorilla Expense has been selected by CIO Review Magazine as one of the 10 Most Promising Microsoft Dynamics Solution Providers and 10 Most Promising Sage Solution Providers. In 2021, GetApp also featured Gorilla Expense as a leader in expense reporting software.

For more information about Gorilla Expense’s Expense Management Solutions, contact Kathleen Forsyth, Director of Channel Sales and Marketing at kathleen@gorillaexpense.com.

Computel Gorilla

Gorilla Expense announces new partnership with Computel Group, a Microsoft partner business consulting firm

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Written by Rhea Rahme

 

In our drive to expand our markets internationally, Gorilla Expense has teamed up with Computel Group, an established business consulting firm in North America and The Middle East with over 20 years experience in ERP implementations.

 

Gorilla Expense’s systems will further enhance the ERP functionalities of Computel Group’s client base, providing 100% visibility of T&E spend and offering savings through automation of expense management.

 

Computel’s clients have traditional ERPs like Microsoft Dynamics GP and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central that typically do not include expense management. In fact, this important aspect of business management has often been neglected by ERP developers.

 

This strategic partnership will extend the coverage of Gorilla Expense to previously untapped markets. With users in over 40 countries, Gorilla Expense’s in-depth knowledge of various expense reporting related processes and experience integrating our powerful systems with numerous third party systems is aligned with Computel Group’s business consulting expertise.

 

Computel Group’s expertise in ERP implementation is designed to foster the growth of their clients’ business and to save them money. Therefore, this strategic partnership brings synergy and added value to our clients in the sense that we measure our success by our clients’ success. Computel Group’s consulting expertise paired with Gorilla expense’s powerful systems enable our clients to be more efficient, save time, money and stay ahead of their competition with the most efficient and easy to use systems on the market.

 

To know more about Gorilla Expense’s integration with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central visit our Dynamics 365 Business Central page. If you have any questions about the integration, please feel free to connect with sales@gorillaexpense.com and existing customers can write to support@gorillaexpense.com

Expense-reporting-for-Microsoft-Dynamics

Shopping for a T&E Expense Reporting Software? Here are the Must-Haves

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There is always room for improvement when it comes to anything, and so, you’re probably reading this because you want to improve the current expense management system and processes you have.

So before shopping and procuring an expense management software, you have to look at the specific requirements of your organization. What does the day to day operations look like from an expense standpoint? Is the software going to scale and adapt to your needs? Do you deal with international travel and booking that needs to be addressed? Does your business use corporate credit cards?

Expense-reporting-for-Microsoft-Dynamics

Now that you have figured out your unique requirements, you have a better idea of what to look for to make your expense management so much more efficient. Take a look at these expense management software must-haves:

  • Corporate credit card integration. This avoids corporate credit card expenses from slipping through the cracks, which can cost the company a lot in the long run. The software should be able to automatically import corporate card expenses and provide to the user for reconciliation.
  • Mobile apps for Real-time tracking. Today’s technology makes it easy to capture receipts with just a click of a smartphone camera. This should be a standard feature of your software, in addition to easy mileage tracking using maps. If there is OCR in the mobile app, that would be a bonus!
  • Real-time reporting. Time is money, and reports should be easy to create and submit without any delay. The software must be able to organize reports while providing a clear picture of T&E spend, which helps with improved visibility for the organization.
  • Timely reimbursements. Reimbursements must occur in a timely manner, and automation plays a big part in this. The software should be able to support reimbursements either via payroll or through the ERP/Accounting system. It also helps to have automatic notifications and reminders for employees to submit their receipts to move things along.
  • Easy Accounting system integration. The software must seamlessly integrate with Microsoft Dynamics ERP so that all the data can be automatically pushed into Dynamics and reconciled. This also avoids manual work, duplications and redundancy, while making the finance team’s lives much more efficient.
  • Customer support. You should be able to easily implement your system, with solid adoption amongst your employees. If there are any issues, the software vendor must be able to address these promptly and thoroughly.

As you can see, there is not really one perfect solution that it comes down to. The best solution out there is really the one that works best for your company and your needs.

It is also important to understand how the expense management solution can configured to fit your organization. And there is where Gorilla Expense comes in. Gorilla Expense can accommodate various expense management needs, and we specialize in integrating the data into Microsoft Dynamics ERP. We work with various customers across the world and across myriad industries.

If you would like to see a live demo of the solution or have any questions, please contact us at sales@gorillaexpense.com

Expense Tracking for Dynamics GP and Goodbye Business Portal in GP 2015

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Microsoft officially announced that Business Portal and Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 runtime will be discontinued in Microsoft Dynamics GP 2015. They plan to focus instead on including most of the functionalities directly into the core code base of Dynamics GP 2015.

“The plan is to basically phase out Business Portal as we release apps or modules inside Dynamics GP that replace the same functionality”, said Microsoft’s Kelly Obach, Manager of the Executive Business Center.

Business Portal has been an important and integral part of Dynamics GP for many years. Users could gain a quick peek into a company’s data and run graphical reports quickly. Of course all the goodness did not come without challenges, ranging from software requirements, tricky admin functionality of the module and proprietary architecture. Business Portal also provided a basic non-mobile solution for capturing project related expenses.

GP 2015 Features (Click on Image)

For customers looking to upgrade to Dynamics GP 2015 from older versions or for customers looking to migrate to GP 2015 from other systems, Business Portal will no longer be available. If T&E Expense Management in Dynamics GP is an important requirement for your business, what do you do?

That’s where ISVs like Gorilla Expense fill the gap with our expense reporting software for GP, which integrates with various versions (GP 10, GP 2010, GP 2013). While Microsoft Dynamics brings great features to the core ERP product, we bring the robust expense related pieces which include Mobile Apps, Web Application, Credit Card Integration and seamless + fully Automated Integration into Dynamics GP using our proprietary Integration App.

Not only does it solve the challenges and pain points for the customer, it also enhances capabilities within GP. Check out the video of our automated integration with GP (VIDEO)

Our solution is not only powerful but also very easy to use and intuitive. And most importantly, we pride ourselves in providing the best support you have ever seen from an ISV. Our goal is to ‘Wow!’ the customer every time. Don’t believe us? See what our customers are saying about us (TESTIMONIALS)

As a Premium GPUG member, you can also view the webinar we did with GPUG on ‘Make T&E Expense Reporting for Dynamics GP Painless & Paperless’ here (WEBINAR)

GPUG Premium Member

If you are interested in a personalized demo of our expense management software for Dynamics GP, contact us at sales@gorillaexpense.com

Demystify Expense Reporting and Integration of T&E Data to GP

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Ask any traveling employee or AP Manager for a task they dislike the most in their day-to-day work. The inevitable answer will be – expense reporting.

Let’s face it – expense reports are despised, they are delayed, they are viewed as distractions and simply considered to be a hassle. But they are a necessary element of today’s increasingly mobile workforce. With corporate cards, foreign currencies, cash advances and many other moving pieces, expense reports continue to be daunting. And that is where technology and automation comes to the rescue.

Many companies struggle to tackle challenges and take firm steps with automating the expense reporting process because of not knowing where to start, when it comes to automating the process. Aberdeen Research Group’s report (‘Expense Management for a New Decade and The Mid-Market Expense Management Program’) says that:

* 56% of mid-market companies have limited visibility into T&E spending

* Only 33% leverage cloud-based expense reporting solutions

* Only 28% utilize corporate credit cards and integrate the data in T&E systems

* Just 15% provide T&E data to C-level executives for financial forecasting purposes

The good news is that cloud-based T&E software’s like Gorilla Expense have significantly brought down the cost of automating the expense reporting process. The software provides significant reduction in expense processing costs and removes frustrations for the travelers and accounting teams.

To reap the benefits and take the hassle out of this process, here are three steps that companies can execute on immediately:

1> Automate the T&E process to eliminate manual work while utilizing the latest technology

Gorilla Expense provides multiple options for users to submit expenses – mobile, web, corporate credit card import and email forwarding. By utilizing the mobile app, the entire expense report can be submitted from the mobile device by the user without having to get in front of a computer!

The advantage for the user is that the expenses are done immediately after incurred along with all the relevant information including expense categorizations and receipts. Since the managers can approve expense reports on the mobile device, their work becomes quick and simple too.

2> Integrate the expense data into Dynamics GP and stop manual data entry

Once the expense report is approved, the most preferable way is to send the data to GP without having to manually key in the data.

Gorilla Expense’s ‘1-click’ integration can send the data to GP in seconds with a single click! The standard and most common integration is to Payables within GP. Here, Gorilla Expense sends expense data as a Payable Transaction Entry within the Purchasing module.

Gorilla Expense can also integrate the data to the Project module in GP for project related expenses. The project managers can be setup as approvers in the chain so that there is full visibility of T&E spend related to projects.

3> Educate employees regularly on expense report related policies and processes

Companies that are serious about tackling the challenges associated with a manual T&E process must provide clear guidelines to employees and communicate them consistently.

When it comes to policies, companies must inform and educate employees about what are considered soft violations, what are hard violations and what are the ramifications for breaking policies.  Companies must appoint a designated expert who can answer questions from employees and clarify doubts.

In conclusion, by simply following these 3 steps, companies can derive benefits immediately and make life easier for the road warriors and accounting personnel. And that’s a sure-fire way of improving productivity and cutting costs overnight versus a manual expense process that can be wasteful and reckless.

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Interested in visualizing the benefits of T&E automation? Curious to see how the various moving pieces like corp. card, mobile expenses come together? Want to see the GP integration in action?

Join us on the webinar to learn more and see a live demo of the solution.

Dynamics GP Credit Card Integration

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Gorilla Expense offers a robust and fully automated integration of credit card data into Dynamics GP. This is available for all versions of GP (GP10 and above). Using our proprietary Gorilla Expense Integration App, the AP Manager can import credit card transactions (or the App can do it automatically), auto-categorize the transactions to specific expense types/cost categories using our mapping algorithm and then send the data to GP with a click of a button. Any relevant information supplied by the credit card company in the data file can also be referenced in the ‘Memo’ field in GP, within Payables > Distributions.

The advantages that the Gorilla Integration App offers are:

* Send credit card data to GP through automation

* Complete visibility of credit card expenses in GP

* Prevent duplicate expenses in GP

* Improve the reconciliation process through reporting and analytics within Gorilla Expense

* Eliminate time consuming manual work of keying in data

Gorilla Expense supports integration with all the major credit card companies – AMEX, VISA and MasterCard and their various file formats. The flavors of credit cards that we support range from the standard Corporate Credit Card for T&E Expenses to Purchase Cards or P-Cards for making purchases on behalf of the employer.

Here is how the process works:

Step 1> The AP Manager opens the Gorilla Integration App and logs in as the Admin. Here we have selected GP2013 as the system to send the data to. The Integration App is typically accessed by the Admin user (belongs to Accounting/AP/IT etc.) in a company.

Logging into Integration App as Admin

Step 2> Once logged in we want to select and import the credit card file supplied by the card provider that is typically downloaded by the Admin on a weekly or monthly basis. In this example, we are using a file supplied by our AMEX corporate card on a monthly basis. The following screenshot shows how the Admin can select the respective card and its format.

Selecting the card and format

**Note: Depending on how the credit card program is setup and services offered by the card provider, Step 2 can be fully automated with no human intervention. In that case, the Gorilla Integration App will automatically ‘pick up’ and import the latest file supplied by the card provider from an FTP site. AMEX typically enables this offering by default for all their corporate card and P-card programs and Gorilla Expense supports this approach**

In the screenshot below, the admin has selected the AMEX file – ‘Transactions.csv’ for import. The file was downloaded from our online AMEX account.

Selecting the file downloaded from the AMEX website

Step 3> Once the file is selected, the Integration App automatically associates the expense type and vendor using our mapping algorithm as shown in the screenshot below. This makes the transactions complete and no manual work is need to categorize the transactions.

Auto-allocation of expense type and vendor

Step 4> The Admin can now select all transactions or select specific transactions to import into the system and send to GP. The screenshot below shows that two transactions were selected to send to GP. Out of the two, only the one shaded in Green was sent. The transaction shaded in Yellow was already submitted earlier and is highlighted as a duplicate transaction. The Gorilla Integration App prevents duplicate transactions from being sent to GP by using the ‘Unique Identifier’  number supplied by the credit card as part of their file. This a is a powerful feature that saves AP Managers lots of time in checking for duplicates and also makes the reconciliation process easier.

Import transactions and prevent duplicates

Step 5> Once all the transactions are imported into the Gorilla application, they are dragged and dropped into a batch and send to GP through automation using the same Integration App. The transactions show up as invoices within a batch called ‘GORILLA’. Depending on the payment method defined in the Gorilla application, the invoices are created to pay the employee or the corporate credit card.

In this example, our AMEX card has the payment method defined as AMEX which is tied to the ‘AMEX’ Vendor ID defined in GP. Here are a couple of screenshots that show the expense data in GP > Payables.

Invoice in Payables

When Distributions is opened, the details from the transactions, namely the vendor and the report number are also made available to provide additional visibility for the CFO / accounting manager and to make it easier to search for expense data in GP.

Distributions in GP

This explains how credit card data can be integrated into GP using the Gorilla Expense Integration App. The App is very flexible in allowing credit card data from multiple cards and various formats to be imported into the system. If you would like to see a live demo of the App or have any additional questions, please contact us at info@gorillaexpense.com

Different Flavors of T&E Expense Integration with Dynamics GP – Series (Intro)

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Dynamics-GP-Expense-Tracking

As we all know Dynamics GP provides an organization with solid agility and flexibility in meeting their business needs today and also into the future. With such flexibility, comes the ability to configure GP in many different ways to meet unique requirements of the organization – and this extends to expense reporting as well.

Gorilla Expense offers a fully automated and seamless integration with GP. We refer to this as ‘1-click’ integration’. We do this by using web services and eConnect, depending on the customer’s preference. While we can do a flat-file based integration, our customers love the way our integration app sends the data from several expense reports to GP with just a click! When it comes to expense reporting, there are multiple ways to integrate the data from our system to GP. In this series, we will be exploring the different flavors of our integration with GP.

Integration with Payables in GP – Series (1 of 3)

This is the standard and most common format of our integration with GP. Here, we send the expense data as a Payable Transaction Entry within the Purchasing module in GP. Expenses sent from our system will show up as invoices. Depending on the payment method defined in our system and the setup of vendors, the invoice will be issued for the employee or the corporate credit card.

Integration with Project Accounting in GP – Series (2 of 3)
Here, we send the expense data from our system to the Project Accounting module in GP, where expenses will be captured against different cost categories and tied to specific open projects. The project workflow is also mapped within our system such that the respective project owner(s) will be approving the expense reports before they are sent to GP.

Integration with Receivings in GP – Series (3 of 3)
Here, we will send the data as a Receivings Transaction Entry within the Purchasing module. The expenses are allocated to different cost categories and the PO number is referenced. Since these expenses will show up as Receivables once posted, this integration is used when the customer is planning to bill back their clients. The customer name /PO number is referenced in our application so that the expenses are tied to it.

Besides these, we can also configure our Integration App to do other forms of integration as needed. In the next article, we will showcase our integration with Payables in GP. Stay tuned!