Managing multiple companies in Dynamics 365 Business Central
Many organizations support multiple companies and will also often have users that process data, documents, and other tasks from multiple companies within the organization. While these companies are part of the larger organization, they still need to process and track their individual financial and operations data. Dynamics 365 Business Central allows multiple environments and companies to be set up and has tools to assist users in more easily managing work across them.
Environments and Companies
Environments in Business Central come in two types: Production and Sandbox. Production environments holds the live business data and Sandbox environments are used for testing out new processes before introducing to the live data. Companies are held within Environments. Some businesses may use multiple environments as a way to separate companies by geographic regions or some other defining factor.
If a user has access to companies within multiple environments, they can switch between environments by selecting it from the apps list on the Dynamics 365 apps page.
To switch between companies within an environment, select the Settings icon in the top right, it looks like a gear. Then click My Settings. The company can then be selected via the Company field in that window.
Company Consolidation
For organizations that contain multiple companies, whether through separate entities or subsidiaries, consolidated companies can be created to manage financial data from each included company. Consolidation can be performed across companies with different charts of accounts, companies in different fiscal years or currencies, or even just partial amounts of a company’s information.
A consolidated company set up similarly to regular companies. It will have its own chart of accounts separate from the companies that make up its parts. The Consolidated Trial Balance report helps to provide an overview of the combined companies by combining general ledger entries from each. The data held within the consolidated company is not the live data that is viewed in each individual company. This data is updated using the Run Consolidation action available on the Accountant Role Center.
After consolidating companies, there may be duplicate transactions if they were recorded within multiple companies. Removing the duplicates is a manual process, but the G/L Consolidation Eliminations report helps to display how removing entries would affect the trial balance.
Working in the Company Hub
The Company Hub is a great feature that was added back as part of 2020 Release Wave 2. It is a workspace that was designed specifically as a way to make it easier for multi-company users to access data and manage tasks across multiple companies.
Users can access the Company Hub by setting their role to Company Hub and can also make it their default starting page. The home page for users with the Company Hub role provides links to each different environment available to the user and the companies within them, including consolidated companies.
Using the personalization feature available through the settings button at the top right, additional data points for each company can be displayed on this page. This could include records like open documents or invoices that are due for the company.
The My User Tasks function will provide a list of tasks to be completed across all companies and also helps to highlight the more important pieces of information and how to best plan time for each. Selecting a task from the list will bring up the appropriate page within the related company.
Getting started
Keeping track of all the moving pieces from having multiple companies can be a difficult task. Dynamics 365 Business Central provides tools to better manage multiple companies and stay efficient. If you’re interested in learning more about how Business Central could help your organization, fill out the contact from below to speak with one of our consultants!