29 June 2009

Weekly Dynamic: Transaction vs. Batch Posting

Dynamics GP provides a an option in most modules to post transactions individually or via a batch of transactions. This is set in Tools->Setup->Posting->Posting and can be controlled differently for different transaction types. The vast majority of consultants I know (including me) recommend posting by batch, but it's not always clear to user why so here are my reasons.

  • Batches allow users to save and review transactions prior to posting.
  • Batches allow printing edit lists to identify errors prior to posting.
  • Batches can require approval and/or verification.
  • Batch posting provides better control over the posting date. For transactions, this defaults to the transaction date. It can often be changed with the arrow on the date field but few users figure that out.
  • Some transactions like Inventory Adjustments require batch posting to really work right.
  • Batches can provide another reference or grouping point for searching or reporting.
  • Batches recover better from errors via Batch Recovery than directly posted transactions. This is a personal observation and I don't care what anyone says. I've more hard to fix errors resulting from transaction posting than from batch posting. Something will go wrong so you might as well have the best chance at recovery.
This leaves the average users with two simple options. Ignore all the advice and experience of a bunch of GP consultants and pay us ton of money to fix it when something goes wrong or use batch posting. I'm not worried, plenty of folks will choose option 1.