From the Microsoft Dynamics GP Blogs: Cleaning up the Inventory Series; Customizing Word Templates; Using Management Reporter; "Z-" currency IDs

To Remove or Not to Remove: Issues to Consider When Cleaning up the Inventory Series: One of the options presented when performing a year-end close in the Inventory series (Inventory>Routines>Year-End Close) is the removal of "Discontinued Items". GP2themax illuminates the pros and cons of selecting this option:

"Should you choose this option?  That depends.  Making this selection will remove the items from your Item Master.  It will also remove ALL TRANSACTION HISTORY from the Inventory tables for the items removed.  While you could still have access to some item history from the SOP and POP tables, that history would be limited compared to what's available from the Inventory tables. Consider carefully, before making the decision to check this box, whether giving up the historical data is a fair trade-off for cleaning up your Item Master."

The Benefits of Using Management Reporter: Dynamics GP Land shares a quick couple of thoughts on Management Reporter:

"I have been working in it more and more lately, and I really like it. Of course, there are the missing pieces for now, but I know that they will come in time. But a couple of things that make life so much easier... Being able to easily add dimensions, including account category or analytical accounting, for reporting... Create report groups to generate reports together, and specify whether you want to override the report definition settings for date, etc... Being able to organize report building blocks, and reports in report library by folders.  And then in the Report Definition, on the Output and Distribution tab, being able to send reports to a specific folder in the Report Library."

"Z-" currency IDs in GP: What are they, and are they Necessary? Mariano Gomez, the Dynamics GP Blogster, answers some common questions to clarify the "Z-currency" mystery in GP: 

"If you are familiar with Microsoft Dynamics GP and the sample company, Fabrikam, you may have noticed by now that after adding the sample company (which is not a requirement by any means), you will get a number of predefined currencies such as Z-US$ (US Dollars), Z-UK (British Pounds), Z-C$ (Canadian Dollars), Z-AUD (Australian Dollars), and so forth, accompanied by a number of exchange rate tables... These currencies were created as part of the sample company, Fabrikam (formerly The World Online, Inc). The reason these currencies exist is so you can test transactions in various currencies in the sample company without worrying about additional setups, i.e, exchange rate tables. Because currencies are a system wide setting, they can be used across all companies created in the system."

Customizing Word Templates and the Maintain Compatibility Option: David Musgrave at the Developing for Dynamics GP blog explains the value of keeping the "maintain compatibility" option selected when customizing word templates for GP 2010:

"It turns out that not all .docx files are the same.  There are some differences between Word 2007 .docx format and Word 2010 .docx format.  When this option is selected, the Word 2007 .docx format is maintained.  If you uncheck the option, the document will be saved in Word 2010 .docx format and the Maintain Compatibility option will not be available again for that document.  Once a document has been saved in Word 2010 .docx format, there is no way to save it again in Word 2007 .docx format."