Three Steps to Taming Smartlist Sprawl in Microsoft Dynamics GP

Smartlist is an ad hoc reporting tool built into Microsoft Dynamics GP. The simplicity and power of Smartlist reporting is a significant differentiator for Dynamics GP, but like every good tool, its power can be used for good or evil. We talk about the good a lot, so let's spend a few minutes on evil.

The biggest negative for Smartlists is what I like to refer to as "Smartlist Sprawl". As Smartlists permeate an organization, users often find that they have a proliferation of Smartlists, many of them no longer used, or only used for a one-time event.  It makes it difficult to figure out which Smartlist to use to for a particular task. Users are also reluctant to change Smartlists that they didn't create, lest they destroy a report needed by someone else. Consequently, users simply create another Smartlist and contribute even more to the sprawl. It's a vicious cycle, but there are some things that can be done to control Smartlist scrawl.

1. Make Smartlist Favorites visible only to your User ID.

Smartlists are saved by making a particular set of Smartlist parameters a Favorite. When saving a Favorite, users can choose to make the Smartlist...