Gorilla Expense offers full integration to push expense data to Microsoft Dynamics 365 (online versions). Expenses can be posted to the Dynamics 365 as a General Journal Entry, Job Journals and Purchase Invoices (available for Microsoft Dynamics 365).
Technical Overview
The integration is done using Gorilla expense web application. Admin user will fetch all “Manager Approved” expenses and send them to Dynamics 365 via the Dynamics 365 Web Service (SOAP/ODATA). This can be done on-demand by an accounting user or automatically as soon as the expense report is approved all levels. Below is the high-level representation of the various components involved.
Please note that this architecture ensures that Gorilla Expense Cloud Infrastructure is unaware of customer ports, firewall, IP Addresses and more importantly any Dynamics 365 specific details. While this enhances security, it also reduces the complexity associated with opening ports or making modifications to customer’s infrastructure.
Functional Overview (Purchase Invoice)
Typically, the integration is done by posting an expense report to the Purchase Invoice screen. The overall integration architecture & process is identical, irrespective of which Dynamics 365 screen you integrate with. The screen shot below shows an expense after it is posted to the Dynamics 365 Purchase Invoice. The example below shows an expense report with 2 lines worth $110.00 (AMEX Corporate Card expense of $50.00, Out of Pocket Expense of $60) that is posted to Dynamics 365 as a Purchase invoice from Gorilla Expense. Two invoices are created in BC, the first one under vendor AMEX and second one under the users’ vendor name.
The main fields in the above screen that Gorilla Expense sends to BC are as follows -
- Vendor Name- For out of pocket expenses, the Vendor name is maintained on the user profile within Gorilla Expense. For corporate credit card expenses the vendor name will be associated with the credit card pay method within Gorilla Expense.
- Posting Date: The posting date can be set on Integration setting. It can be mapped to today’s date or expense report start date or expense report end date.
- Document Date: The posting date can be set on Integration settings. It can be mapped to today’s date or expense report start date or expense report end date.
- Vendor Invoice Number-This will be the expense confirmation number associated with the expense report within Gorilla Expense. Ex.GE101-0.
- Account Type and Account Number –The GL Account Number is maintained in the back-end on the expense type master within Gorilla Expense. Depending on the expense type selected by the user, Gorilla Expense Integration will map the associated GL Account number to the Purchase Invoice Line in BC
- Description/comment- The description is prepared by selecting one or combination of multiple fields on the integration setting screen. It can be set as combination of expense confirmation number, name, and comments.
- Tax Area code – For customers who have GST/VAT requirement, Gorilla Expense maps the Tax Area code to the Purchase Invoice line depending on the Province/State user has selected on the expense line
- Tax Group Code - For customers who have GST/VAT requirement, Gorilla Expense maps the Tax Group code to the Purchase Invoice line depending on the Province/State user has selected on the expense line
- Shortcut Dimensions (Dimensions1, Dimension2…Dimensions8) – Depending on the Client requirement, the Dimensions can be either maintained on the user profile or can be made available for the user to select from a dropdown on each expense line. The integration can then be configured to map these values to the corresponding dimension fields on the purchase invoice lines.
- Job No - The Job No is maintained in the back end on the project master within Gorilla Expense. Depending on the project (job) selected by the user, Gorilla Expense Integration will map the associated Job number to the Job Journal Line in BC.
- Job Task No - The Job Task No is maintained in the back end on the project task master within Gorilla Expense. Depending on the project task (Job Task) selected by the user, Gorilla Expense Integration will map the associated Job task number to the job journal line in BC.
- Incoming Document file: Expense report’s receipts can be mapped to as PDF documents to the Purchase Invoice
Expense Report Export Process (Web Application)
Select the Export Expense Reports that you would like to export from Integration -> Export Expense Reports menu. Select the status as ‘Manager Approved’, select the company from dropdown list. Click on ‘Show Approved Expense Reports’ button to show all manager Approved Expenses of selected company. Select all expense reports and click on “Send to ERP & Update Status” button. This will send all expense reports that were selected to BC and will also update the status from Manager Approved to AP Approved or AP Paid, depending on the client’s preference.