Microsoft Dynamics GP and Dayforce integration

What moves between them

The main flow runs from Dayforce into Microsoft Dynamics GP. After each payroll run, ml-connector reads payroll cost allocation data and employee records from Dayforce, calculates the GL impact, and posts GL journal entries into Dynamics GP's general ledger allocated to the correct cost centers and GL accounts. Employee additions, terminations, and role changes from Dayforce can also be synchronized to Dynamics GP to keep headcount aligned. The connection is one-way from payroll to finance; Dynamics GP does not push finance data back to Dayforce since Dayforce does not have AP or vendor modules.

How ml-connector handles it

ml-connector stores Dayforce OAuth2 credentials and automatically renews the Bearer token before expiry, since tokens last only one hour. On the Dynamics GP side, ml-connector accepts the customer's on-premises SBA or SOAP endpoint URL and a dedicated Windows domain account created by the customer, using Windows Authentication (Negotiate or NTLM) to call the API. Before posting GL entries, ml-connector confirms that the fiscal period is open in the Dynamics GP calendar, and it wraps the journal entry payload in the required top-level Payload key that SBA expects. It retrieves Dayforce employee and payroll data using the client-specific base URL (refreshed daily from metadata endpoints) and filters for changed records using date-range parameters. The specific GL accounts and cost centers in Dynamics GP must be pre-configured to match the cost allocations coming from Dayforce. If a fiscal period closes before ml-connector posts a journal, the entry is queued and replayed once the next period opens. Every record carries a full audit trail.

A real-world example

A mid-sized manufacturing company with plants in multiple regions runs Microsoft Dynamics GP on-premises for general ledger, AP, and inventory, and uses Dayforce in the cloud for payroll and benefits across all locations. The finance team previously received a spreadsheet of payroll totals from HR each pay period, manually reconciled labor costs by location and job code, and re-entered GL entries into Dynamics GP by hand, a process that took 2-3 days per cycle and often contained data-entry errors. With Dayforce and Dynamics GP connected, each payroll run's GL entries flow directly into Dynamics GP and automatically post to the matching cost centers for each plant. Payroll audits are faster because the GL now always matches the source data, and the finance team eliminated the manual re-keying step, freeing up time for month-end close and cost analysis.

What you can do

• •Post Dayforce payroll GL entries into Microsoft Dynamics GP's general ledger after every pay run, allocated to the correct cost centers and GL accounts.
• •Sync employee additions, terminations, and role changes from Dayforce to Dynamics GP to keep headcount and labor cost allocations in agreement.
• •Handle Windows domain authentication for Dynamics GP (Negotiate or NTLM) and OAuth2 tokens for Dayforce, with automatic token renewal before expiry.
• •Validate that fiscal periods are open in Dynamics GP before posting GL entries, and queue entries for replay if a period closes.
• •Poll both systems on a schedule you control, with automatic retries, a full audit trail, and the ability to replay any record if a downstream post fails.

Questions

What records move between Dayforce and Microsoft Dynamics GP?

Payroll GL journal entries and cost allocations flow from Dayforce into Dynamics GP's general ledger after each payroll run. Employee records (hires, terminations, role changes) can also sync from Dayforce to Dynamics GP to keep headcount and labor allocations aligned. The flow is one-way from payroll into finance; Dynamics GP does not push data back to Dayforce since Dayforce does not have accounts-payable or vendor modules.

How does ml-connector handle the different authentication methods between the two systems?

ml-connector stores both credential sets encrypted. For Dayforce, it sends OAuth2 username and password credentials to the Dayforce token endpoint, receives a Bearer JWT, and refreshes the token automatically before the one-hour expiry. For Microsoft Dynamics GP, it uses the Windows domain account the customer provides, authenticating via Kerberos or NTLM to the on-premises SBA or SOAP endpoint.

What happens if the fiscal period in Microsoft Dynamics GP closes before a GL entry posts?

Before posting any GL journal entry, ml-connector checks that the target fiscal period is open in the Dynamics GP calendar. If the period has closed, ml-connector queues the entry and replays it automatically once the next fiscal period opens, ensuring no manual intervention is needed when payroll runs span fiscal boundaries.