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I’ve seen it happen over and over! A company needs to pull year-end audit documentation and spends countless hours sorting through drawers of printed documents trying to locate one single document. Or perhaps someone wants to know the reason for a journal entry. It made sense at the time, but now months later, you can’t find supporting documentation to explain it.
In both cases, getting to these documents at the click of a button would save aggravation, time and money. NAV provides the capability to add electronic documentation in the form of attachments, links, and notes to documents and cards. This allows us to easily navigate to the supporting documents within the system rather than sorting through piles of paperwork.
I will use the Purchase Invoice to demonstrate how to add an attachment, note, and link, and how to navigate to each, including from the related general ledger entries. As a bonus, I will also show how to add an attachment to a General Journal and navigate to view the attachment from posted entries. Note that in all examples, the FactBox for Incoming Document Files is showing.
You can add supporting information either prior to posting, or once a document has been posted; The method will be similar for both. I like to get in the habit of adding documentation while I am working in the purchase invoice prior to posting, but sometimes I forget and it’s nice to know that I can always navigate to the posted document and attach anything I forgot or add a note.
From the Purchase Invoice screen in NAV, you can navigate to all three options.
Purchase Invoice screen in NAV
Click on the Links icon on the ribbon. In the new window that opens, click the gear in the upper right-hand corner and select New.
Enter the link and a description and press Save. For the example, I’ve simply attached a website link, however I’ve seen this function used in the past to attach documents from a shared website portal such a SharePoint. Keep in mind that if you attach a link from SharePoint and the document ever gets moved or deleted, the link will no longer work. In such a case, I recommend attaching the actual document itself as opposed to the link. For more information on adding links, visit the Microsoft resource page here.
You will see the attached link. Feel free to add more than one link if you would like!
In the Incoming Document Files factbox, click on Attach File. Your file explorer will open. Select the appropriate document to attach and click Open.
The attached file will now be listed in the FactBox. You can add multiple attachments if desired.
In the Notes FactBox, click on the hyperlink Click here to create a new note and enter your note. To send a notification to another NAV user, select their username in the To: dropdown as well as click the checkbox. You can also add the note to the document without selecting anyone to notify.
The saved note will appear on the document as follows.
When we navigate to the posted document, we will see the electronic documentation in a similar location on the Posted Purchase Invoice as the original Purchase Invoice document.
Let’s look at what we can see from General Ledger Entries for both the Posted Purchase Invoice and entries posted through General Journals.
If we navigate to the General Ledger Entries for the posted purchase invoice, we will only see the attachment, and not the note or link. (There is a ribbon button for Notes and Links, however these items from the original document do not flow through to the General Ledger Entry).
In the G/L Registers list, locate the entry and click General Ledger to bring up the General Ledger Entries.
Locate the attachment in the Incoming Document Files FactBox.
General Ledger Entries screen for Posted Purchase Invoice
As a bonus, General Journals have a very similar functionality in NAV. You will be able to add an attachment before posting the entry, and then navigate to the General Ledger Entry and find the attachment on the journal lines. Recurring General Journals do NOT allow attachments.
General Journal screen in NAV
The General Ledger Entry looks similar to the last example, and the attached document shows on both lines of the posted general journal.
General Ledger Entries screen for posted General Journal
I highly suggest taking advantage of the electronic documentation functionality in NAV. It comes out-of-the-box with no customization and provides a great paperless audit-trail for both year-end and monthly reviews. It will also help eliminate the need for filing cabinets full of supporting documentation!
To see my previous blog: Closing Month-End While Working Remotely click here.
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