Ostendo Update 5 May 2010 – What’s New

Related Toolbars throughout the System

The Developers have added a new toolbar to all screens that have related menu options (via the Related Button on the right side of the screen). This toolbar replicates the contents of the screens related menu with buttons within this new toolbar. This speeds up the process of drilling down or linking to other screens from the current record. Remember that scripts can be added to related menus, therefore allowing for any functionality to be added that screen with the related menu. The Related Toolbars can also be tailored by user; simply by clicking the Customise button at the far right end of the Related Toolbar.

There is also a flag in the Environment Settings tab of the System Configuration-System Settings screen that hides the related toolbar for all users.

Spell Checking for all Notes Fields

The Developers have added the ability to activate spell checking for all notes fields throughout the system. This feature can be turned on via a flag in the Environment Settings tab of the System Configuration-System Settings screen. Once turned on you will notice that the spell checking occurs as you type and will also attempt to auto correct common misspellings.

One Step Invoicing

The Developers have added a new style of invoicing through Sales Orders called ‘One Step Invoicing’. This style, in effect allows for the speed of Direct Invoicing and POS, but with the poThe Developersr and flexibility of Sales Orders. The idea is that an Invoice can be generated from a Sales Order by clicking on one button (picking, actual invoice creation and payment application- if applicable; all happening seamlessly for the user). There are 2 styles of One Step Invoicing (‘One Step No Backorders’ & ‘One Step with Backorders’), which are defined against the Sales Type (Sales-Settings-Sales Type) in the Invoice Style field. An additional option available to One Step Invoicing is the ability to use the Order number as the Invoice number. This can be set-up in the Sales Rules screen. To help explain what these options provide please see the below:

1) One Step No Backorders: When this is defined as the Invoice Style against the Sales Type, the Sales Order screen looks exactly as it previously did for Counter Sales; hoThe Developersver the differences are as follows:

a. If a Customer Deposit is entered/linked to the Sales Header, there is a new flag ‘Auto Apply Deposit’ which if set will automatically apply the deposit taken against the first and subsequent invoices (if applicable).

b. When the ‘Invoices’ button is clicked (or shortcut Ctrl-I is entered) then the invoice is created behind the scenes, any applicable deposits are applied, and the print options windows pops up allowing it to be sent to the printer, screen or email. If the new shortcut key (Ctrl-I) is used, the invoice will automatically be sent to the printer with the Preview option deselected.

c. The quantity to be invoiced directly relates to the Order Quantity, in other words if the order quantity is 10, then the invoice quantity will be 10. If subsequently the invoice quantity needs to be changed (there The Developersre only 5 in stock) then, all the user has to do is change the order quantity to 5 and click the invoice button again (or use the shortcut keys) and a new invoice will automatically be generated for the 5. Now because The Developers had previously created an invoice for 10, a credit is automatically generated and matched off against that original invoice (while flagging both as Don’t Print On Statement and undoing and then re-applying any deposits taken). This allows for simple changes to be made, while at the same time ensuring an audit trial and integrity of the financial data.

2) One Step with Backorders: When this is defined as the Invoice Style against the Sales Type, the Sales Order screen has a couple of changes to the previous style. The first is that an extra toolbar appears at the top of the Lines tab called ‘One Step Invoicing Mode’; and the second is that an extra field called ‘Invoice Qty’ appears in the sales line entry panel. Points a) and b) against ‘One Step no Backorders’ are exactly the same for ‘One Step with Backorders’, the extra options are:

a. There is a new field called ‘Invoice Qty’ appearing in the Sales Line entry panel that initially is defaulted to the Order Qty value. This new field is used as the basis for the invoice, hence allowing backorders to be created (i.e. An order qty of 50 and an Invoice qty of 20 would effectively generate a backorder qty of 30).

b. If an Invoice is generated in error (i.e. 20 was invoiced out but only 10 was in stock), then the Sales Order is pulled up and the dropdown selection against the new option ‘One Step Invoicing Mode’ is changed from ‘Create New Invoice’ to ‘Adjust Previous Invoice’. In doing this the invoice qty at the line level will revert back to the qty previously invoiced out, allowing a change of that qty. The change of qty will then generate a credit and a new invoice (similar logic to ‘One Step no Backorder’).

Location Map Links (Google Maps)

The Developers have added the ability to link to Google maps, both for the actual map and for the directions from your company site to the physical address of the company. This functionality has been added to the following screens:

1) Customers & Suppliers

2) Sales Orders & Sales Deliveries

3) Job Orders & Job Calender

Importing Serial Numbers for Receipts & Shipments

The Developers have added the ability to import serial numbers from a text file when in Purchase Receipting and Purchase Shipments. A new button appears in the Line Allocation tab that allows you to point to a text file with the list of serial numbers for that specific product.

Get Best Price Logic

The Developers have added a new option (Pricing-Settings-Pricing Rules) to get the system to evaluate the loThe Developersst (best) price for the customer. A couple of examples of where this features applies would be:

1) A special or promotional price has been defined for a product, but the pricing level for the customer would return a loThe Developersr price (normally a special pricing would take precedence).

2) The customer has a fixed discount, but is part of a buying group and the group actually gets a better discount.

Logging of Global Name Change & Merge

The Developers have added the automatic logging of any Global Name changes or merges. Previously if you changed say an Item Code from ‘123’ to ‘12300’, all reference to ‘123’ would have been changed to ‘12300’. Now all changes are automatically logged with the old and new values along with the user name, date and time. There is a new Inquiry for this table in the General-Inquires menu.

Job Calendar – User Customised ‘Jobs Not Booked In’ Grid & Floating Window

The Developers have enhanced the Job Calendar screen to allow for the customisation of ‘Jobs Not Booked In’ grid and also allow the grid to be set as a floating window. The following further explains these 2 enhancements:

1) Jobs Not Booked In – Grid Customisation: Previously The Developers provided a fixed number of fields displayed in this grid and only the column order could be modified. The Developers now allow the complete customisation of the fields displayed in the grid by user (works in the same manner as customising any of the opening lists in standard screens).

2) Jobs Not Booked In – Floating Window: In allowing for extra fields to be displayed in the grid The Developers needed to provide for the ability to see these fields without having to scroll. The solution to this was to provide the ability to un-dock or float the grid as a separate window. To achieve this you either double click on the title panel of the grid, or click on the title panel and drag the grid from it’s fixed position.

Additional Fields for More Screens

The Developers have added the standard 16 Additional fields to the following screens:

1) Employees

2) Company Assets

3) Bills of Material (Header & Steps)

4) Assembly Orders (Steps)

5) Projects

6) Job Invoices

BOM History Notes

The Developers have added History notes to the Bill of Material screen. This allows for recording of revision changes and any other applicable notes.

Pack Size On Hand Calculation

The Developers have added the ability to calculate the On-Hand quantity of Pack Sizes by summing up the number of batches. The assumption here is that the batch number is used as a carton id, and the pack size is variable The Developersight/qty. The setting for this can be found in the Item-Setting-Item Rules screen.

Displaying Buy Prices for Multiple Supplier Pricing in Lookup

The Developers have included the supplier buy prices when looking up a supplier from the Create required Orders or the Line Source tab in Order screens, if the Item or Descriptor has a restricted supplier buy price list. In other words you are able to determine which supplier has the best price for the product or service before selecting that company.

Pivot Views – Ability to Save Layouts and Chart the Pivot View Results

The Developers have added the ability to save and then restore layouts for a pivot view. To better explain this lets use the Sales History Pivot View as an example. It’s likely that when analysing sales you’ll want to view it grouped by at least the following:

1) Product Category

2) Sales Region

3) Customer Type

Now each of these groupings can be saved against the one pivot view and recalled by the press of a button.

Ability to Output as PDF from Grids, Views, Calendars

The Developers have added the ability to export from any List, Grid, View or Calendar a PDF file. This extends to the existing file formats (XLS, HTML, XML, & CSV)

New Environment Settings tab in System Settings

The Developers added a new tab to the System Settings screen called ‘Environment Settings’. This tab pulls together options/flags that affect the Ostendo environment. A few new options are:

1) Hide Related Toolbar: This deactivates the new Related Toolbar across the system for all users

2) Enable Spell Checking: Activates spell checking within note fields across the system for all users

3) Licence Notification to Administration Users Only: This restricts the licence renewal message to users flagged as administrative users only.

4) Location Map Link: This stores the The Developersb address for the new location map link feature

Ability to print/email documents with Customer Statements

The Developers have added the ability to flag Customer linked documents to print/email when Customer Statements are generated. This could be used to send say a monthly newsletter out, or maybe a special offer.

Customer Payments & Customer Deposits change position of Customer

The Developers have changed the position of the Customer field in both the Payment & Deposit screens, so that the defaults from the customer The Developersre applied when first entering the details.

Shortcut method of Printing, Previewing or Emailing (Ctrl-P, E & S) for Order screens

The Developers have provided for a keyboard shortcut to Print (Ctrl-P), Email (Ctrl-E) or Preview (Ctrl-S) for Order and Invoice screens. This allows the user to use the keyboard rather than clicking on the print buttons with the mouse. Note: When using these shortcut keys for Invoices, be aware the Invoice will automatically be posted (when clicking on the Print Button you have the option of selecting the ‘Preview’ flag, which does not post the invoice)

New Option for List Filtering against User Security

The Developers have added an additional flag in the User Security-Options tab allowing the ‘Filtering & Sorting’ to be either deactivated or activated, when a List Filter condition is re-applied on a screen open.

Filtering added to Service Confirmations

The Developers have added the ability to Filter & Sort the Service Confirmations screen. This allows for sending out confirmations based on filtered criteria.

Linking a script to the User when logging in

The Developers have added the ability to link a Custom Script directly to a user login (System Configuration-User security & Options). In other words when a user logs into Ostendo the custom script will run in background.

Auto Pick of Expiry dated Products (Sales Rules)

The Developers have added a new option in Sales Rules screen (Sales-Settings-Sales Rules) to allow Expiry dated products to be automatically picked based on oldest first logic. This applies when Auto Picking is carried out in both the Order & Delivery screens.

Inventory Counts – Ability to Generate based on Past Inventory History

The Developers have the ability to generate Inventory counts based on the past inventory movement history. In other words if an item had at any stage been in a specific Warehouse-Location combination a count record would be generated for that combination.

The 3 options for creating a new Stock Count are:

1) Current Inventory Only: This option generates the count for items that are currently in stock.

2) Current Inventory Plus Items with Past History: This option generates the count for items that are currently in stock and any Item-Warehouse-location combinations that had previously existed.

3) Current Inventory Plus Items with Zero Stock: This option generates the count for items that are currently in stock and Items that are currently have Zero Stock, but had been in stock previously. The difference betThe Developersen this option and option 2 is that a count record is only created for the Items primary warehouse and location.

Hiding Purchase Receipt Prices by User

The Developers have provided for the option to hide Purchase Receipt costs by user. This enables staff to receipt goods without seeing the buy prices. The option is flagged against the specific users in this screen: System Configuration-User Security & Options. Note: If the Receipt is linked to a Purchase Order, then the unit price from the order will be used, otherwise if the Receipt is not linked to a Purchase Order then either the specific Supplier buy price (if defined) or the standard Item/Descriptor buy price will be used.

HTML for Emailing with Scripting

The Developers have added the ability to format the body of an email generated from within a script as HTML. This basically means that the body can be formatted with the formatting capability found within HTML (i.e. Fonts, colours, bold, etc…).

System Action scripts

The Developers have added the ability to link scripts to standard system actions. Here is an example of where a system action script could be used:

A user clicks on a menu option (eg: Items) and lets say you wish to replace the standard screen with an Inquiry screen for specific users; by using this new feature you could do exactly that.

Ability to link scripts to Inquiry Drilldowns

The Developers have added the ability to link custom scripts directly to the drill down capability of Inquiry screens. This feature enables any action to be preformed directly from the Inquiry Screen. A couple of examples of actions might be:

1) Creating a Sales Order from a Customer Inquiry

2) Sending an email from an Overdue Purchase Inquiry

Run Command Script option

The Developers have added the ability to run encrypted command scripts developed by Development-X for the purposes of one off updates to a company’s database.

Enhanced Scripting

The Developers have expanded the capability of the scripting engine by:

1) Including additional advanced Ostendo functions

2) Exposing all functions & procedures available (including all properties)

3) Making available all objects with an Ostendo Workflow – therefore enabling dynamic runtime manipulation of the workflows via scripts

4) Introduced a script style that allows linking to the new Edit View screens

User Defined Tables

Click the following link for an example screen shot:

The Developers have added the ability for the creation of new user-defined tables within the Ostendo database. This along with the other 2 new features: ‘Edit Views’ & ‘User defined Menus’, allows for an endless array of additional solutions to be developed either specifically for a unique customer requirement, or for a vertical industry requirement. Note: By providing this front end to create tables, all the necessary triggers and rules apply to the new table. That is, Ostendo knows about these new tables, therefore all the standard functions that are available to standard Ostendo Tables (i.e. Audit Logging) are also available.

See the following topic on ‘Edit Views’ for further explanation.

User Defined Menus

Click the following link for an example screen shot:

The Developers have added the ability for User defined Menus to be created under any of the major module menu categories (eg: General, CRM, Labour etc…). This allows for Edit Views, Custom Scripts and Custom Links to be grouped together under a sub-menu name and then linked to an appropriate main menu category.

Edit Views

Click the following link for an example screen shot:

The Developers have added a new option in the ‘Report and View Developer’ screen, allowing ‘Edit Views’ to be created. An ‘Edit View’ is as the name suggests, a view that can be edited. In other words, you are able to create entry screens by simply typing in an SQL statement. In some ways they are like the Inquiry screens but with the addition of giving the user the ability to Add, Modify & Delete records. This alone would be fine for simple tables, but for more complex entry screens, specific logic needs to incorporated (eg: Calculated Fields, Lookups & Values defaulted from the selection of another field value). To achieve this The Developers have alloThe Developersd for custom scripts to be linked to these Edit Views; in essence providing the ability for new entry screens to be created for specific custom requirements.

When you combine this feature, with the ability to create User Defined Tables & User Defined Menus (see separate release note topics), the ability to tailor Ostendo to suit specific market requirements is almost limitless.

To demonstrate how to actually make use of this, The Developers have included in the Training Help, step-by-step instructions explaining how to set-up a ‘Loan Equipment Register’ (linked to the Company Asset), by making use of the User Defined Tables, Edit Views, Custom Scripts & User Defined Menus.

Note: See the new ‘Health & Safety Module’ write-up for a complete application developed with these new features.

Health & Safety Module (Built using new User Defined Tables, Edit Views & User Defined Menus)

The Developers decided that to demonstrate the poThe Developersr of some of the new functions provided with this release, that The Developers would build a complete sub-module using them. The sub-module The Developers decided to develop was for the Health & Safety area. This should not only be a very useful addition to the standard modules within Ostendo, but shows how these features can be pulled together into a real world application. To download the instructions on how to install this module, please use the following link:

(Note: If you would like this solution, but after reading the above instructions feel that you require assistance, please contact your Ostendo consultant)

The main areas covered by this new module are:

First Aid Register

Maintains a record of all minor first aid activities. You can record

• Employee
• Date and Time of treatment
• Who carried out the treatment
• What the Injury was
• What treatment was carried out

Click the following link for an example screen shot:

Incident Register

Maintains records of incidents that could give rise to Injury, recognition of Hazardous situations, etc. The Incident itself may be investigated in detail using the Incident Investigation function. This could also result in a Serious Harm Form being raised.

Click the following link for an example screen shot:

Incident Investigation

An Incident Registration usually results in an Investigation. This routine allocates Activities to a Co-ordinator, monitors the Investigation process and retains all information gathered from the Investigation.

Click the following link for an example screen shot:

Hazard Register

This records Hazards and highlights significant Hazards. This feature records the Hazard and highlights controls that must be put in place to minimise the Hazard. A person can be made responsible for seeing that the minimisation activities are carried out.

Click the following link for an example screen shot:

Serious Harm Register

Serious Harm covers any conditions that amounts to or results in permanent loss of bodily function, or temporary severe loss of bodily function: respiratory disease, noise-induced hearing loss, neurological disease, cancer, dermatological disease, communicable disease, musculoskeletal disease, illness caused by exposure to infected material, decompression sickness, poisoning, vision impairment, chemical or hot-metal burn of eye, penetrating wound of eye, bone fracture, laceration, crushing. Full in-depth details are maintained and are normally a mandatory Government requirement.

Safety Equipment Register

This allows you to record all Safety Equipment and create a schedule of planned activities to maintain this equipment. Upon carrying out maintenance the action is recorded against each Item of equipment.

Various Small Fixes & Improvements

Various other smaller issues and enhancements that have been reported to us have also been fixed in this update.

Ostendo Update 18 January 2010 – What’s New

Item Sizes – Enhancement

We have enhanced the use of Item Size tracking, so that the size can now be used as a variable unit of measure. What we mean by this is that you are able now to treat the size value as a conversion factor, thereby allowing the tracking of dual variable unit of measure. To help explain this, imagine the following scenario:

You are stocking and selling 2.5kg Hams, and although the weight is close to 2.5 kg’s there can be reasonable variability. Now lets also assume that you’re charged by the supplier for actual weight of each ham; you would therefore like to make sure that the customer buying the ham is also charged for the actual weight. To add to the complexity, you wish to stock and to price by each ham, because that’s how the customer orders them. This new feature achieves the objective by tracking the sizes of the hams (in actual Kg’s), displaying in Inventory Availability both the quantity of hams and the total actual weight, and then calculating the Invoice unit Price based on which sizes were picked and the standard conversion factor the ham pricing was set by.

Customer Deposits entered in Sales & Job Orders

We have added the ability to enter Deposits from within the Sales and Job Order screens. This effectively creates a Customer Deposit allocating it to the specific order number. We have also added 2 extra fields to the Order table showing the total amount and un-applied amounts of all deposits linked to that order.

Catalogue Codes in Job Templates & Task Bills

We have added the ability to now add Catalogue codes when setting up Job Templates and Task Bill Codes. The facility has always been available to use catalogue codes when within Jobs; this enhances their use.

Lists – Enhancement

We have added the ability to dynamically create Lists based on previous Order History. In other words, you can now define against an Inventory List that it is created from Order History, looking back a maximum number of days or number of orders. This feature works within Sales, Jobs and Purchase Orders, not only pre-filling the List with the order lines, but displaying the order date and the order number for each line.

Add to this, the ability to link a List Code to a Customer, and this becomes a very fast way of creating orders where the customer typically orders similar products.

Jobs – Alter Mark-ups Enhancement

We have enhanced the Alter Mark-ups screen in Job Orders. You now have the ability to base the mark-up, margin and unit price calculation of either the planned or actual cost, previously only planned cost was used. This is a useful feature for companies that invoice out based on the actual costs and products used in the Job.

POS – Optionally Displaying Costs, Margins & GP

We have added the ability to display Costs, Margins and Profit within the POS screen. This feature is only available if the option held against the POS operator is turned on. The activation of this is actioned in the Employee screen.

Additional Fields Displayed in Line Grids

We are now dynamically displaying any additional fields added to Order Lines in the Lines grid within each Order screen.

New Email Scripting Function for IMAP

We have added a new function into scripting for receiving emails via IMAP (used as the protocol for MS Exchange and Windows Server 2008). There is still the existing function that uses POP3, but the new one provides the ability to link to an MS Exchange server without having to set-up POP3 connection.

Speed Improvements

You may notice some improvements in speed of operation, more likely to be noticeable in the Jobs module, particularly where large templates are used.

Various Small Fixes & Improvements

Various other smaller issues and enhancements that have been reported to us have also been fixed in this update.

What’s Coming in future Ostendo Updates:

What to expect:

(1) Progress Claim Approvals and Retentions Screen

(2) Predictive Service Maintenance and Useage Billing

(3) Additional Advanced Manufacturing Features

(4) DRP Distribution Requirements Planning

(5) Budgeting

Ostendo Update Notes from 21 October 2009 – What’s New

Ostendo Update Notes from 21 October 2009 – What’s New

User Defined Constants (New Screen: File-System Configuration-User defined Constants)

We have added a new screen that allows the creation of user defined constants; that can then be used in reports, inquiries, views and scripts. Often there are values that shouldn’t be either hard coded in a script, or prompted for the user to enter every time they run say a report or inquiry. To illustrate this, we have added 2 constants (in this update), which are referred to in one of the new Inquiries (Days of Inventory). One of the constants is used to determine the historical horizon for calculating average usage, the other for flagging whether or not the reorder level is included in the calculations.

Inquiry Screens (Enhanced):

Now all Inquiry screens will save column positions, column widths and any filtered conditions, subtotalling or sorting against each column by user.

Customer Financial Statistics – New Standard Inquiry Screen

This new standard inquiry displays the average actual payment days (as compared to the average planned payment days) and customer outstanding balances aged by periods (periods determined by your setting in ‘Financial Configuration-Aging Periods’). This inquiry is ideal for a ready reference to customer balances and how they have been tracking historically with paying on time. There are 2 additional detail tabs, which display the following by customer:

1)       Outstanding Invoices

2)       Un-Applied Payments

Days of Inventory – New Standard Inquiry Screen

This new standard inquiry is a must for companies managing inventory. It basically provides a snapshot of how many days of stock you currently have (based on user defined historical usage – Number of Days in the new ‘User Defined Constants’ screen), and then calculates your overstocking value by factoring in each items lead-time, and, if included (switchable in the new ‘User Defined Constants’ screen), the reorder level (minimum stock). In essence it allows the following information to be looked at:

1)       Whether there has been any usage for each item in the user defined historical period (The number of days set will be dependent on the nature of the business)

2)       The Current Inventory Value and Quantity by Item

3)       The average daily usage and value for each Item

4)       The re-order level converted in a number of days

5)       The overstocked days and value  – this assumes lead times are accurate and that the re-order level effectively provides a buffer.

Understanding the importance of accurately defining lead-times we have developed a lead-time inquiry for Items (see below).

Item Lead times – New Standard Inquiry Screen

This new standard inquiry screen provides each item’s default lead-time; the average purchased lead-time (only if Purchase Orders are used); whether an item has a Bill of Material (BOM), and if so, the lead time held against that BOM; and finally the average manufactured lead-time.

Multi-Item Information – New Standard Inquiry Screen

This new standard inquiry displays the following tabs by Item:

a.      Inventory levels

b.      Transaction History

c.      Sales Trends – This displays 7 periods of Sales Values & Quantities for Daily, Weekly and Monthly periods – showing an average for those periods and then indicating whether the last period has either Increased, Decreased or Equalled the Average

d.      Sell Prices – Displays all the Price Levels for that Item and calculates the Sell Price based on the Pricing Method

e.      Buy Prices – Displays all the Supplier specific pricing

Job Calendar Rules (New Screen: Jobs-Settings-Job Calendar Rules)

This new screen sets the following properties for the Job Calendar:

1)       Calendar Days Back – Defines the default number of days for which the Calendar displays allocations/bookings. This can be changed while in the Job Calendar

2)       Calendar Days Forward – Defines the default number of days for which the Calendar displays allocations/bookings. This can be changed while in the Job Calendar

3)       Display Allocation Inquiry – This turns on an Inquiry Panel at the bottom of the Job Calendar. The Inquiry panel displays 1 of 2 Inquiries:

a.      Allocation Inquiry – If the user clicks on an allocation/booking then the Allocation Inquiry SQL is displayed

b.      Calendar Inquiry – If the user hasn’t selected a specific allocation/booking then the Calendar Inquiry SQL is displayed

4)        Allocation Inquiry SQL – The actual SQL for the Inquiry (there is a default)

5)       Calendar Inquiry SQL – The actual SQL for the Inquiry (there is a default)

Job Calendar (Enhanced):

We have significantly enhanced the overall functionality of the Job Calendar, focussing more on resource scheduling. Following are some of the key changes:

1)       The calendar now displays allocations by resource, rather than the tasks the resources are linked too. This basically means that resources can be allocated to the task many times (previously you would have to create new tasks for each separate allocation).

2)       You can now drag and drop on the calendar from the Jobs (not Booked-In) sitting in the grid (bottom right of calendar)

3)       You are able to set the forward and backward horizon days to determine what’s displayed on the calendar (in Job Rules)

4)       There is now a non-allocated employee defined for any job booked in but not as yet allocated to specific resources (previously displayed across all)

5)       You are able to set the Resource Status (eg: Assigned, Sent, Accepted, Declined or Finished) – remember you can link this to MS Outlook via appointments (using a custom script – an example is available)

6)       A planned Labour Code can be linked to the Allocation (and specific notes can be entered).

7)       A new Inquiry Panel appears at the bottom of the Calendar if the ‘Display Allocation Inquiry’ is set to true in the new Job Calendar Rules screen.

8)       Scripts can be linked to the Job Calendar via Order Scripts. You link a script to either the allocation (right click popup menu), or to the toolbar at the top of the calendar (ideal for say creating Timesheets from the calendar).

Job Rules (Enhanced)

There are 2 new fields defined in this screen:

a.      ‘Create PO Receipts from Job Issues’ – This allows the Job Order Issues screen to automatically create Purchase Receipts. See the new feature ‘Job Order Issues (Enhanced to Create PO Receipts from this screen)’

b.      ‘Use Line Notes for Purchase’ – This, if checked, will copy the Job Line notes across to the Line Notes of the purchase order line.

System Settings – New Email Option (Enhanced):

We have added a new email client setting in the System Settings screen. This dropdown allows the selection of either ‘Other’ or ‘Outlook’:

a.      Other – This is the default option and based on the existing logic. In other words it will work with any MAPI compliant email client (including MS Outlook).

b.      Outlook – This new option only works with MS Outlook, and allows for the users auto signature to be included with emails being sent from Ostendo. This would be the recommended method if MS Outlook is used as the default email software.

CRM Rules (Enhanced):

We have added a new field called ‘Default Job Type for Service Jobs’ which allows the selection of a Customer Asset style of Job Type. This is then used when creating Job Orders/Quotes from the Call Centre screen – when the user has selected a Customer Asset in the ‘Who is It’ panel.

Item Site Settings (New screen – Items [Related Menu] For default Warehouses and Locations):

We have added the ability to define specific Warehouses and Locations by Item, by Module and by Site. As an example, you could define a different Issue Location for Assembly Picking than for Sales Picking. If no Site settings are defined for the Item – the standard defaults are used.

Order Header Warehouse & Location Overrides (New Feature):

We have added the ability to override the Warehouse and Location at an Order Header level. By default the warehouse and locations either come from the new Item Site Settings or from the main Item settings.

Override Price Level for Customers (New Feature):

We have added a second Price Level held against the Customer called ‘Override Price Level’. This is designed for where the customer might be, say on Trade Pricing, but for a specific number of Items there are exceptions. In other words if a price is found in the Override Price Level for that Item, then it is used, otherwise the price derived from the customers standard price level is used.

Display Decimals (extra to existing Decimals in System Settings):

We have added an additional decimal precision setting for defining the number of decimals to display (you may wish to enter 4 – but when displaying only see 2).

Exclude Deposits from Aging (Enhanced):

We have now added the ability to exclude deposits from the Aging report (it actually excludes them by default). Note: For ad-hoc Customer Aging see the new ‘Customer Financial Statistics’ inquiry.

Reporting Period Definitions (with new Sales Inquires to demonstrate these):

We have been asked on a number of occasions how to run reports based on non-consecutive date periods (eg: Month To Date verses Year to Date). There is now a new screen found under the Reporting Configuration menu called ‘Reporting Periods’; this allows you to define up to 4 periods per period code and then use these definitions in reports, views and inquires. To demonstrate this there are a number of new Inquiry screens in the Sales Inquires menu:

1)       Customer MTD and YTD Sales (This is based on the Calendar Year)

2)       Customer Financial MTD and YTD Sales (This is based on the Fiscal Year – defined in the System Configuration-System Settings screen)

3)       Cust Type MTD and YTD Sales (This is based on the Calendar Year)

4)       Cust Type Financial MTD and YTD Sales (This is based on the Fiscal Year – defined in the System Configuration-System Settings screen)

5)       Category MTD and YTD Sales (This is based on the Calendar Year)

6)       Category Financial MTD and YTD Sales (This is based on the Fiscal Year – defined in the System Configuration-System Settings screen)

7)       Item MTD and YTD Sales

8)       Item Last 4 Weeks Sales

9)       Item Last 4 Months Sales

10)   Site MTD and YTD Sales

11)   Site Financial MTD and YTD Sales

12)   Item Sales Trends (In Daily, Weekly, Monthly buckets for 7 periods – Both Sales & Quantities)

Configured BOM (Enhanced):

We have enhanced the manually configured BOM screens found in Sales and Job Orders. Previously you could only adjust a markup % against the header of the BOM, now you can define mark-ups, margins and prices at a line level within the BOM Lines (see also the Configured Mark-up’s screen to define default mark-ups by analysis group). This improves the ability for companies that assemble custom products to create estimates.

Configured Markups (New screen – Assembly-Settings):

We have added a new settings screen to allow the definition of default mark-ups per analysis group – specifically for Configured BOM’s.

Job Order Issues (Enhanced to Create PO Receipts from this screen):

We have added the ability to create Purchase Receipts for Items and Descriptors directly from the Job Issues screen (this assumes the Job line is linked to a Purchase Order). To activate this option, you’ll need to set the flag called ‘Create PO receipts From Job Issues’ in the Job Rules screen.

There is also another 2 options when pre-filling lines in this screen:

1)       ‘Pre-fill for all lines with zero qty’ – This has been added for companies that wish to issue everything to the Job upfront, and then when the Job is completed return any unused materials.

2)       ‘Pre-fill planned usage for all lines including purchased lines’ – This basically pre-fills all remaining Job Lines with the remaining qty, whether they are purchased or not.

User Customised Lookup screens (Enhanced):

We have added the ability to customise the standard Ostendo lookups by user. We are often asked for the ability to display extra fields, or in some cases to hide fields, by user. Rather than hard coding this, you can now customise the lookup’s; in the same manner as the opening lists for standard screens (so long as the user has List Customising turned on in User Security). You need to be logged on as that user and then while using the Lookup screen – right click as you would for an opening list.

Recognising that companies may not wish for users to then re-customise after the appropriate fields have been either shown or hidden, you can then turn-off the list customisation and what ever has been set will stay for that user (didn’t previously work that way for standard opening lists).

System Screen Conditions (Enhanced – Now includes Lookups):

We have added the ability to enter conditions for lookup’s by user (eg: there maybe someone in the company who only looks after purchasing, and you may wish to restrict their Item/ Descriptor Lookups based on that logic – or it maybe that Ostendo is used across multiple branches and Customers/Suppliers need to be restricted for specific users).

Save Grid Filter and Disable Grid Print & Export (Enhancements – File-System Configuration-User Security & Options):

You can now set at a user level whether the Grid conditions are saved when exiting screens; and also whether that user can print or export the contents of a list.

Archive Prefix can now include merged fields (Enhanced):

You can now include merged fields in your archive prefix for reports (eg: lets say for readability when archiving invoices you wish to have the Invoice Number as part of the archive file name, then the prefix definition might be something like:

Invoice [INVOICENUMBER] – now the resultant file name would look like this: Invoice12345-###### (where the #’s are a unique sequential number that is appended to all archived files)

Supplier Catalogues – Contents Not Purchased (Enhanced):

We have added an additional checkbox held against Supplier Catalogues called ‘Contents Not Purchased’. The idea of this is for where you wish to use the catalogue, but will not be creating purchase orders for any of the contents when used in Jobs or Sales Orders.

Cost Centre Mapping (extra option for Assembly receipt Standard Cost Variance):

We have added an extra cost centre type in the Cost Mapping screen (and in the warehouse screen) for Assembly Receipts Standard Cost Variance. Previously any Assembly Receipt Standard Cost variances were posted to the same cost centre as variances from Purchase Receipts.

Job Orders – (Enhanced – History Notes included in Notes section of the Job Header):

You are now able to view and edit History Notes within the Job Header screen (previously only via the related menu).

New table designed for Integration with Phone systems (for creating Call Centre Calls):

We have added a new table called ‘INCOMINGCALLS’ into the Ostendo database. The idea of this table is so that incoming calls can be inserted as records, which then immediately pops-up a notification message to the appropriate user (based on the physical computer name – which indicates their physical extension). This then allows the option to automatically create a Call Ticket.

Ostendo Script Scheduler (New Application):

We have developed a new application that allows scripts to be run based on predetermined frequencies and times. This application (oss.exe) is automatically installed into the standard Ostendo directory (via the Update) and should be executed on the server. The idea of this scheduler is to regularly run scripts to do things like:

1)       Email KPI’s or Notification Alerts out based on specific rules

2)       Automatically pick up emails and create things like Timesheets and Orders

Ostendo Database Utility (New Application):

We have developed a new application that allows the Backup, Restore and Validation (and if necessary, repair), of Ostendo Databases. This application (dbutils.exe) is automatically installed into the standard Ostendo directory (via the Update) and should be executed on the server. This application has its own built-in help.

Various Small Fixes & Improvements

Various other smaller issues and enhancements that have been reported to us have also been fixed in this update.

A new ASAT Receivables Report

This new report displays all the Customers with their aged receivables as at a certain date.

It runs from the Customer Aging menu option.  The customers are listed in alphabetic order and in the NON-DETAIL mode, the list provides a very quick listing without confusion.

Customer Aging Report

Ostendo Update Notes from 16 July 2009 – What’s New

Ostendo Update Notes from 16 July 2009 – What’s New

Multi-Currency Sales (Complementing existing Multi-Currency Purchasing)

We have added in the Sales Multi-currency functionality complementing the existing Purchase Multi-currency and landed costing functionality.

1)       As with Purchasing, the currency codes and exchange rates are defined.

2)       Additional Cost Centres are now available against Currency Codes (eg: FX Debtors, Exchange Loss/Gain)

3)       Customers now have a default Currency Code, although it can be changed at order/Invoice time

4)       Price Levels can now be linked to a Currency Code

5)       Payment Accounts (Bank Accounts) can now be linked to Currency Codes

6)       Payments and Deposits have a currency (which can be different from the currencies of the invoices the payment is applied to)

7)       Customer Statements are generated by currency

8)       The FX gain or loss is calculated automatically when the Customer Aging report is run, based on the exchange rates for the report As At Date

Please Note: You can run multi-currency within Ostendo but post as local currency transactions to the General Ledger (See ‘Local Ledger Postings for Foreign Currency Transactions’)

Local Ledger Postings for Foreign Currency Transactions

We have added the ability to post all ledger transactions as local currency transactions, but still use the multi-currency features within Ostendo (File-System Configuration-System Settings-Accounting Link). This basically means that Orders can be entered, Invoices generated and payments taken in different currencies, but a single currency General Ledger can be used.

Custom Data Screens

We have added a new type of Script called ‘Custom Data Screens’. This allows for creation of what are typically called ‘Data Collection’ screens. In concept these scripts combine a user defined graphical front end with the power of the scripting engine. The design has also taken into account the ability to use a scanner, keyboard or touch interface simultaneously. Some samples of the types of applications this new style of script provides are:

1)       Shop Floor Data Collection (Time & Attendance)

2)       Job or Assembly Order Tracking

3)       Customised Picking Interface

4)       Touch Screen POS Interface

5)       Touch Screen Product Configuration

6)       Scanner driven Retail Product Lookup

We will be providing some samples of the above via a download link in the next few weeks. For developers we have also provided the ability to encrypt the script to protect IP (See the note about this at the end of these release notes)

Freight Descriptors

We have added the ability to define Descriptors as Freight Descriptors (in the new Freight Tab in the Descriptor Screen). Also available from the new tab is a new popup screen for defining rates for both volumes and weights. These rates are then used to calculate line prices (In Sales & Job Orders) on entry of the actual weight and/or the actual volume. See the help file for more detailed explanation.

Daily Summary Postings

We have added the ability to summarise Journal postings into daily transactions by transaction type (File-System Configuration-System Settings-Accounting Link). In other words you may wish to post only 1 journal per day for all Job Issues, rather than a journal for every job order that had issues in that day.

Audit & Notification Logging

We have added the ability to activate logging values on adding, modifying and deleting by table and field name. The logged records store the new & old values (where applicable), the user name and the date & time of the change. There are 2 purposes for logging; the first is for pure audit logging, and the second for notification logging. A simple example of what notification logging could be used for is say, automatically emailing a delivery confirmation out to the end customer on the delivery status changing from ‘Planned’ to ‘Shipped’.

Product Line Messaging

We have added the ability to define line messages against Items, Descriptors & Labour Codes for Sales (POS), Jobs, Purchase and Assembly Orders. These messages appear as an information panel while entering the order line and can include dynamic information from the code itself. In other words if say you wished to display the standard buy price while entering a specific item for a sales order, then the message definition might be something like:

The Standard Buy Price for [ITEMCODE] is [STDBUYPRICE]

Basically merged database fields are encapsulated with square brackets ‘[‘ & ‘]’ (this same syntax is used when merging fields in the email text).

Fixed Price Quantity Breaks

We have added the ability to enter quantity break prices for the calculation method ‘Fixed Price’. The only difference to quantity breaks for other calculation methods is that the fixed prices are entered as actual prices, whereas the quantity break prices for all other calculation methods are expressed as percentages.

Multi-Tiered Discount Structure

We have added the ability to enter up to 3 cumulative discounts in the Discount Matrix (Pricing-Discount Matrix), which then calculates the total discount to be applied. The idea of this is for industries where discounts are expressed as discounts on discounts (eg: If a customer is part of a buying group that receives 20% discount, but on top of that for a specific category of product they get another 10% after the first discount, then the total discount would actually be 28%).

Pack Size Enhancement

We have added the ability to display the Inventory Availability results in user selectable ‘Pack Sizes’. This is assuming that the item has been defined with pack sizes (Items-Order Dims). The idea of this is for industries that take orders from customers in different pack sizes, but stock and sell based on a standard unit of measure (eg: Used in the meat industry where pricing and stocking is in Kilograms, but the customer may very well order in a nominal carton size of say 50kgs).

Active Connections – Enhanced

We have added the ability to remove users from the Active Connections screen. This screen will now also appear on exceeding the Ostendo User count. In other words if you have say a 5 user licence, and the sixth user tries to login, the Active Connections screen will appear, displaying who is currently logged in, and if you have Administrator rights you will be able to log a user off.

Sending Invoices to a Different Customer than the Billing Customer

We have added the ability to send Invoices to a different customer than the billing customer. The set-up for this is done in the Customers screen. A typical scenario for this feature would be where there is Head Office who is paying for the Invoice, but the actual invoice needs to be sent to the branch for approval.

Job & Assembly Progress Inquiry & Analysis Views

We have added a couple of new Inquiries and Analysis views that graphically display the progress of Assembly & Job orders through departments (via the steps or tasks). These inquiries/analysis views simulate a manual planning board displaying the progress of the order and any issues (via the tracking code) colour coded.

Note: If the analysis view is linked to the Desktops views for a user, a timer can be set refreshing the view at predetermined intervals, in other words you could have monitor continuously displaying the order progress for a customer service environment.

Un-limited Order Line Scripts

We have added the ability to define unlimited order line scripts. This feature allows for additional functionality to be added to order lines specific to the site.

Script Encryption

As the power and capability of the scripting engine has continued to improve, the sophistication and value of the scripts being developed has also improved. We now have a number of partners developing scripts to do the following types of things:

1) Interfacing with Web Stores

2) Connection to CAD applications for automatic BOM & Order creation

3) Enhancing functionality in Ostendo such as POS with loyalty programs

4) Interfacing with PDA/PDT devices for Stock Counts, Receipting, Issuing, and Order Taking

5) Interfacing with other software applications

These are only a few examples but can add tremendous value to the Ostendo application. To protect the IP of the partner, and therefore facilitate the wider use of these scripts we have provided the ability to encrypt the script when sending out to others. It is a simple method of saving the script to a file (available with the Custom Script Editor) and selecting Yes to the encryption question. From there the encrypted file can then be sent to the recipient and loaded via the ‘Load from File’ option (available with the Custom Script Editor).

Ostendo Script Scheduler

We are in the final stages of testing a new scheduler that will allow scripts to be run at predetermined frequencies and times. This will be run on a server and execute scripts to do things like:

1)       Email out KPI’s or Notification Alerts based on specific rules

2)       Automatically pick up emails and create things like Timesheets and Orders

A separate email will be sent when this has been finalised.

Various Small Fixes & Improvements

Various other smaller issues and enhancements that have been reported to us have also been fixed in this update.

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