How to create invoices with Microsoft Dynamics SL

Invoices play a large part in the accounts receivable process. Many businesses create invoices as part of their fulfillment process and for other business transactions. If you’re in charge of creating invoices, and your office utilizes Microsoft Dynamics SL software, this tutorial will guide you through the process of creating invoices.

To begin, open the Microsoft Dynamics SL software and login. You’ll see a two-panel screen; the panel to the left is a tree of Dynamics SL options, and the panel to the right will be the viewing screen. In the left panel, select “Accounts Receivable,” then select “Invoices.” The right panel, now titled “Accounts Receivable” will show several options. Under the header “Input,” select “Invoice and Memo.” The “Invoice and Memo” form is where you’ll fill in all necessary details of your invoice.

1. Review batch section

   When the screen opens, your cursor is within the “Number” field of the Batch section; though this field is required, leave it blank, as it will auto-fill once the invoice is ready. A batch can include multiple invoices, but this tutorial will not cover multiple invoices within one batch.

   The “Period to Post” is the period for which you’d like this specific invoice to apply. At the opening of “Invoice and Memo,” the period to post will either show the current month and year, or the default your company has set. We’ll revisit “Handling” and “Control” shortly.

2. Update document section

   Upon opening the “Invoice and Memo” form, the “Document Type” should be set to “Invoice.” If it isn’t, select “Invoice” from the dropdown menu.

   Click the Customer ID box to input customer information. If you’re unsure of the customer’s ID number, select the icon next to the field or press F3 to view a list of customers. If the customer is not in the system, sort the list of customers by ID to determine the next ID’s value, select “Insert,” then enter all necessary information, including the name of their main contact, billing address, phone number, and class and billing terms. Though Dynamics requests two addresses, the billing address is what will be printed on the invoice. Once complete, save the customer’s information and close the window. Then, back in the “Customer ID” window, select and save the new customer.

   The date entered in the “Date” field should match the information to be printed on the invoice. We’re creating one invoice for the batch, so in this case, the number entered in “Amount,” which should be the total amount charged on the invoice, should also match the number in “Control” in the Batch section. Fill both numbers in.

3. Update invoice and memo section

   The required portions of the Invoice and Memo Section are “Term,” “Project,” and “Due Date.” “Company ID” will already be filled in and uneditable. “Total” will auto-fill as line items are added.

   Click the box labeled “Term,” then double-click or press F3 to see your available options. Select the option that best fits your need. “Project,” though required, can be filled with a dash (“-”) if there’s no associated project. Update the due date as necessary for your company.

4. Update detail section

   In the “Detail” section, enter each line item that should appear in the invoice. There are several columns for each row, but the ones we’ll focus on are “Quantity,” “Unit Desc,” “Unit Price,” and “Description.” The other columns are either not required, or will auto-fill with information provided in the preceding sections, or with your company’s defaults. After inputting all line items, verify that the amount listed in “Total” in the “Invoice and Memo” section matches the “Control” and “Amount” listed under “Batch” and “Document.” Select the “Invoice Preview” button, and use this to verify that all information on the invoice matches your input.

5. Release the invoice

   Let’s head back to “Handling” and change the option to “Release Now.” Select “Finish” (not “Save”) from the icon menu. The “Finish” icon shows a disk appearing in front of a page. A pop-up will request information about the insert level of the invoice. Since we’re making a singular invoice, we’re going to select “Batch,” which signifies that we’re done with the batch. If we planned to add another invoice to the same batch, we’d select “Invoice.”

6. Access and send the invoice

   We’ve released the invoice, which means it’s logged in our system and open as unpaid, but our customer doesn’t yet have it. There are a few ways we can access the invoice to send it to our customer.

   • Quick send to one-time receiver. Once you’ve selected “Finish” and your insert option from step 6 above, the “Invoice and Memo” screen will reload. With your cursor in your “Batch Number” field, you can input or search for the recently created batch, and open it. The invoice details will load in the form field. At the bottom of the screen, click “Quick Send to One-Time Receiver.” Choose your delivery method, then input the customer’s information, and click “Send Request.” Your invoice will be sent directly to the customer as an email.
   • Publish to Sharepoint. If your company has created a Sharepoint site for the customer, selecting “Publish to Sharepoint” will send the invoice directly to their Sharepoint site for easy access.
   • Manually print. If neither of those options work for you – or if you’d like to have a physical copy of the invoice – head back to your main “Accounts Receivable” screen and select “Invoice/Memo Forms” under the header “Report.” An “Invoice/Memo Forms” box will pop-up. Here, make sure the “SELECT INVOICE” template ID is selected, then click  “Load Template” at the bottom of the popup. Click the “Select” tab, between “Sort” and “Options” and enter the batch number in the “Value” column. Preview the print to ensure you’ve selected the right invoice, then select “Print.”