Here are the steps to duplicate an existing Company:
1. Have all users exit Great Plains.
2. In Great Plains, go to the Create Company screen (Setup | System | Company).
3. Give your Company a name, a unique Identification Code, and set the path to the data. The path is the root of your Great Plains DATA folder. Do this by browsing (click on the small manilla folder icon in the path to the data row.)
4. Once the path to the data is set, choose Save. Once you see the message that "a new Account Format has been created. Please verify.", the company is created.
5. Go into User Access (Setup | System | User Access) and grant access to the new Company.
6. Exit Great Plains.
7. Go into Windows Explorer and browse to the location where your data is stored.
8. Browse into the DATA folder. You should see a SYSTEM folder, TAXES folder, and other folders as well. You should also see a folder for your existing and new Companies.
9. Browse into your existing Company folder. You should see a COMPANY, FINANCE, PURCHASE, SALES, INVENTRY, PROJECT, and PAYROLL folders. Highlight all folders and choose COPY from either the Edit menu or right-click and choose Copy.
10. Browse to your new Company and choose Paste via the same method you used to copy the folders. You should be prompted to overwrite a folder. Choose YES TO ALL to copy over the data. When the copy is complete, you should have a duplicate of your existing data.
11. Launch Great Plains and log into the new Company. Run Shrink, Rebuild, and Check Links maintenance (File | Maintenance) to validate the data.
Transaction history
If you keep transaction history, detailed information is kept about all transactions that were posted and that were paid during the year.
If you remove transaction history, complete information is not available to print the Historical Aged Trial Balance report or the posting journals. You can select ranges by voucher number, by document number, by document date, by document type, by vendor ID, or by vendor status.
To remove transaction history, use the Remove Payables Transaction History window. To do this, follow these steps:
1. Use the appropriate step:
o In Microsoft Dynamics GP 10.0, point to Tools on the Microsoft Dynamics GP menu, point to Utilities, point to Purchasing, and then click Remove Transaction History.
o In Microsoft Dynamics GP 9.0 or in earlier versions, point to Utilities on the Tools menu, point to Purchasing, and then click Remove Transaction History.
2. In the Ranges list, click the type of range that you want to select.
3. In the From box, type the starting date of the date range.
4. In the To box, type the ending date of the date range.
5. Click to select the Transactions check box.
6. If you also want to remove distribution history, click to select the Distributions check box. This option makes distribution removal more convenient. This option can be used to make sure that you are not maintaining distribution history for transactions that no longer exist in the system.
7. Click Process.
Distribution history
If you keep distribution history, a detailed record is kept of how Payables Management transactions affect the balances of the posting accounts. If you remove distribution history, you may not have all the information that is needed to reprint the posting journals in the future.
To remove distribution history only, use the Remove Payables Distribution History window. To do this, follow these steps:
1. Use the appropriate step:
o In Microsoft Dynamics GP 10.0, point to Tools on the Microsoft Dynamics GP menu, point to Utilities, click Purchasing, and then click Remove Distributions.
o In Microsoft Dynamics GP 9.0 or in earlier versions, point to Utilities on the Tools menu, point to Purchasing, and then click Remove Distributions.
2. In the Ranges list, click the type of range that you want to select.
3. In the From box, type the starting date of the date range.
4. In the To box, type the ending date of the date range.
5. Click to select the Remove check box, and then click Process.
When you remove distribution history, you will not remove the related transactions. When you remove distribution history in Payables Management in Microsoft Dynamics GP, the historical distribution records in General Ledger in Microsoft Dynamics GP are not affected. Payables Management transaction history is maintained separately from General Ledger transaction history. This feature enables you to maintain distribution history for Payables Management regardless of whether you use General Ledger.
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Calendar year history or fiscal year history
If you keep calendar year history, vendor information is recorded in a month-by-month format. If you keep fiscal year history, the same information is recorded according to the fiscal period format that you specified in the Fiscal Periods Setup window.
To remove the calendar year history or the fiscal year history, use the Remove Payables Calendar/Fiscal History window. To do this, follow these steps:
1. Use the appropriate step:
o In Microsoft Dynamics GP 10.0, point to Tools on the Microsoft Dynamics GP menu, point to Utilities, click Purchasing, and then click Remove Period History.
o In Microsoft Dynamics GP 9,0, or in an earlier version, point to Utilities on the Tools menu, point to Purchasing, and then click Remove Period History.
2. In the Ranges list, click the type of range that you want to select.
3. In the From box, type the starting date that of the date range.
4. In the To box, type the date that you want the range to end.
5. Click to select the Remove History check box, and then click Process.
After history has been removed, you cannot print the Calendar report or the Fiscal Year History report for the ranges of information that are removed.
Journal History
If you keep distribution history, you can reprint posting journals for Payables Management transactions. Posting journals are valuable audit trail tools. Posting journals include audit trail codes that are assigned to transactions during the posting process. You can use posting journals to trace any transaction back to when it was entered.
After history has been removed, you cannot reprint the journal history for the removed range of information. If you keep the transaction history and the distribution history for vendor records, or if you select the Print Historical Aged Trial Balance check box in the Payables Management Setup window, the transaction history and the distribution history are not removed when you remove journal history. The batch itself is removed. Therefore, you cannot reprint the posting journal. The transaction history and the distribution history will remain until the records are removed in the Remove Payables Transaction History window or in the Remove Payables Distribution History window.
To remove journal history, use the Remove Payables Journal History window. To do this, follow these steps:
1. Use the appropriate step:
o In Microsoft Dynamics GP 10.0, point to Tools on the Microsoft Dynamics GP menu, point to Utilities, click Purchasing, and then click Remove Journal History.
o In Microsoft Dynamics GP 9.0 or in earlier versions, point to Utilities on the Tools menu, point to Purchasing, and then click Remove Journal History.
2. In the Ranges list, click the type of range that you want to select.
3. In the From box, type the starting date of the date range.
4. In the To box, type the ending date of the date range.
5. Click to select the Remove History check box, and then click Process.