Ostendo Update Notes from 22 February 2008 – What’s New

Ostendo Update Notes from 22 February 2008 – What’s New

Configurable BOM’s at Sales and Job Lines

We have added in the ability to manually configure Bills of Material at a Sales and Job Line level (for Quotes & Orders). This feature is ideal for companies that assemble/manufacture product that are specifically engineered to order. You have the choice of starting with a standard BOM (which is automatically copied to tables for that line), or creating one on the fly. In essence you have most of the same features in the standard BOM screen but with the addition of modifiable costs at a BOM line level, for calculating a rolled up cost, and therefore a price (based on a defined mark-up %). Once the BOM is defined, it is then used for the Assembly Order if generated. Some pointers on the use of this feature are:

1)       Configured Items need to be defined with Sourced By = ‘Custom’ and Configured By = ‘Manual’ (if Custom Scripting is used the Configured by = ‘Rules’)

2)       A standard BOM can be set up for the Product, although this is not necessary if the BOM is to be built on the fly.

3)       The default planned unit cost method (eg: Last, Average, Standard, Buy price) for each Configured BOM line comes from the Assembly Rule definitions.

4)       Finally, when a Sales or Job line is created for the Configured Product an extra icon appears in the code field (like the standard custom product, but instead of displaying the Answers given to scripted questions, it pops up a Configured BOM screen).

High Speed Order Pad Option (For Order Entry / Telesales)

We have added a new style of Inventory List for speed entry (found in the main Inventory menu). In the Detail tab of the List there is new a dropdown combo allowing the selection of either ‘Check list’ or ‘Order Pad’, this style changes the entry interface when the list is used in Orders; the ‘Check List’ simulates the previous entry interface with checkboxes’ for each line in the list, whereas the new ‘Order Pad’ style removes the checkboxes and provides a high speed (primarily keyboard driven) manner of selecting items to transfer to the Sales, Job, Purchase or Assembly Order. We have also added in the ability to predefine ‘Colours’, ‘Sizes’ and ‘Grades’ in the List, which is useful when there is a defined matrix of combinations (eg: the apparel industry).

This Inventory List code can now be selected when creating a new Sales Order or Quote, and in doing so automatically displays that List for speed entry/selection of List contents. You can also define a default List code against the Customer, in the ‘Defaults’ tab of the Customers screen.

A few interface tips:

1)       The List columns can be re-arranged to suit (eg: Qty column is always the first column) and will be saved by user.

2)       There is a new field in the List called ‘Group’, which is defined specifically for that List and lines are automatically sorted by that group and then the list line number.

New positioning of Print and invoice Buttons in Order Screens

We have repositioned the standard ‘Print’ & ‘Invoice’ (if applicable) buttons to the right button panel on Order style screens for ease of navigation.

Auto Pick feature in Sales Orders

We have added a new feature into Counter Style Sales Orders called ‘Auto Picking’. This basically means by clicking on this new button that appears in the Batch Panel in the lines tab; all lines will be automatically picked (Note: Source on Demand lines and lines with serial no’s, batch’s etc will not automatically be picked). This feature is turned on in the Sales Rules screen.

Prompting for Creation of Invoice after Auto Pick

We have added a new option if ‘Auto Pick’ is used, for speed invoice generation. The user is immediately prompted to create the Invoice if all the lines were picked (Note: A message will display if there are any non-picked lines). This feature is turned on in the Sales Rules screen.

Kitset Availability Button in Order Lines

We have added a new Kitset availability button that appears in the Line Info panel of Sales & Job Orders. In the caption of this button we display the maximum number of that specific Kitset that could be produced, calculated based on each of the component stock on hand figures. Clicking on this new button will display a simple list of only the Item Codes within the Kitset, their stock on hand, and the maximum quantity of Kitsets each could produce.

Conditions for filtering Screens by User

We have added the ability to define specific filter conditions per user for a select number of screens. The idea of this feature is to restrict information by user (eg: restricting Sales Orders by region, or Customer by Type per user). This new screen is found in the System Configuration menu and allows the entry of the user, the screen name and then the specific conditions. The conditions are simply assigned to specific fields for the table associated with the screen. To explain this further lets look at an example; say you wish to restrict a user to only see customers of the type ‘General’ and ‘Active’ status:

CUSTOMERTYPE=’General’

CUSTOMERSTATUS=’Active’

Now lets say you now wish to filter based on 2 different values for the same field (Or Conditions), so you would do the following:

(CUSTOMERTYPE=’General’ or CUSTOMERTYPE=’Retail’)

Note: An unlimited number of conditions can be defined for any of the fields available in the screen table.

Inventory & Work in Progress (WIP) As At Financial Valuation Reporting

We have added a new screen/report for doing financial ‘As At Valuations’ for Inventory & WIP. This can be found in the main Inventory Menu just under the Inventory Labels menu option. The detailed Inventory, Job WIP and Assembly WIP reports are still found in their respective reports menus.

Extended Price at Purchase Invoice Lines

We have added the ability to enter the Extended Price at a line level, which then back calculates the Invoice Unit Price.

Print with Order flag against linked Documents

We have added the ability to flag linked documents to print with order, this basically sends the linked document to the printer at the time the Order sheet is printed. You are prompted for this when printing the Order sheet.

Various Small Fixes & Improvements

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