I heard it again this week
We need a month-end check list in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central!
- The check list needs to be in BC, not SharePoint or Teams.
- Users use a list to find tasks assigned with a start and due date.
- From each item on the list, the user should be able to go directly to the page needed to begin work.
- Users should be able to indicate that they have completed the task and on what date.
- Management should be able to go to the list to check on progress.
This would be really helpful, and I can’t believe we don’t have this already.
We have it already
We have month-end checklist capabilities in Business Central, and it has been there for quite a while. It is the little used, underappreciated User Tasks. I think part of the reason is that the User Task Activity Cue is on a limited number of role centers like Business Manager and Accountant. And if you were looking for a month-end checklist of accounting tasks, I don’t think you would search in the system search for “User Tasks.”
User Tasks
User Tasks is a generic task list tool for use by different departments for different purposes. But let’s focus on the month-end checklist for accounting in this post. To make access easier, I recommend that the first thing you do is bookmark the User Task list page. Remember, the activity cue is not available to all profiles that may want to access to User Tasks.
User Task Groups
Create User Task groups and assign members, for example users in the accounting department.
Assign User Task Groups or specific Users to a task. Assign a task to the accounting department’s User Task Group and any user in the group can see the task in the activity cue or easily find it from the list page. Create groups based on departments or specific activities like “Month-end.” Alternatively, assign user tasks to individual users. Using User Task Groups is optional.
User Tasks
User Tasks are easy to define. Give the task a name, assign it to an individual user or a User Task Group, set Start and Due Dates and assign a priority (optional.)
Next is one of my favorite features, the ability to link the task to the report or page that the user will need to use to start working on this task. For example, link the task to Reconcile AP to the Reconcile AP to GL report. Assign a link to each task. You may prefer to take the user to a different report or page. It is up to you.
Another step in creating the user tasks is recurrence. If the task to be a monthly task, select the Recurrence action to create multiple tasks into the future.
Define all tasks assigned to a group or required for a specific group of actions for a one time or recurring deadline.
If you use start dates, due dates and priority, users will be able to organize and more likely complete work on time. All members of an assigned user task group can see completion dates and who completed the work on any task assigned to the group. This makes coordinating activities within a specific group of tasks easier to manage.
Working from the User Task List
On opening and filtering the User Task List by Start Date, the user can go from a task directly to the workspace assigned to the task on setup. For example, if the task is to run Adjust Cost – Item Entries, the user can select the Go to Task Item action from the menu and the linked page or report will open.
If the task is to reconcile AP to the general ledger, and you want the user to go first to the Reconcile AP to GL report, the user can select the Go to Task Item action from the menu. The report opens because of the link to the report page on the task.
To set posting date range on users, the link can open User Setup. (NOTE: I was not able to assign General Ledger Setup to this task as this page was not an option for linking.)
Recording progress and completing a task
As work proceeds, a user should assign the task to their user (away from the User Task Group) and record percentage complete for the task. Though not required, assigning a user to know who is specifically working on a task is helpful. Knowing to what extent the task is complete is an added bonus!
Users need to indicate when a task is complete. When a user completes a task, the task is marked as complete, and the user is assigned to that task.
Managing open tasks
A User Task list filtered to open tasks within a date range and another for closed tasks within the same will be very helpful. Filtering to user or user task group might also be helpful.
Month-end task list in Business Central
With a little bit of setup, you too can have a month-end task list in BC. I hope you have found this to be a Righter WayTM for you to work in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. Please sign up for direct notification of blog posts if you have arrived at this post through LinkedIn. The only emails you will receive is direct notification of blog posts. Thank you!
