Ostendo Update Notes from 19 October 2007 – What’s New

Ostendo Update Notes from 19 October 2007 – What’s New

Discount Matrix (New Screen)

We have added a new screen (found in the Pricing Menu) for defining discounting rules to be used either in conjunction with price levels, or to be used as the sole means of calculating sell prices. The discounting rules apply to Items, Descriptors, Catalogue Codes & Labour Codes. Please refer to the reference help for more information on this new functionality.

Job Orders – Alter Mark-Up Percentages (New Screen)

We have added a new screen available from within the Job Lines tab for changing the Mark-up percentage for the entire Job, by Job Task, by Code Type or by Analysis Group. This screen also provides the ability to view the Existing and Revised Gross Profit by the various levels available. Please note that this will only be available if the Job Type has the Values Bar switched on, which is defined in Job Types screen.

Service Level Agreements in Call Centre

We have added the service level agreement logic into the Call Centre screen (If switched on in the CRM Rules screen). Previously we had added the ability to define Service Level Agreements (SLA’s) and their measures in the CRM Settings menu (A default SLA can be defined for the whole system – but a specific SLA’s can then be defined against each customer).

The concept is that you may wish to track and measure planned and actual responses to specific steps involved with that call (eg: Initial Follow-up & then the Resolution). Each step may have a planned response time (in Minutes, Hours or Days); the system then automatically determines the planned response Date & Time based on the Call Start Date & Time. In determining the planned response dates & times the Work Times (Defined in the General-Settings menu) and new Holiday dates are used. When entering the Actual Response Date & Time for each step – the system then back calculates the true time it took to respond.

Transferring CRM Contacts to Outlook

We have added the ability to transfer Contacts from the Contact screen directly to MS Outlook (A new button appears in the Contact screen). The idea is that you are able to filter the list of contacts (using the standard Filtering & Sorting capability) and then send the contacts in that filtered list.

Analysis View Mail Merge

We have added the ability to perform MS Word mail merging from within any Analysis view within Ostendo. For more information on how this works please refer to the reference help.

Exporting & Importing Reports & Views

We have added the ability to export & import specific reports and views from within the Report & View Developer. This means that if a report is developed in one database it can be exported (creates single output file which contains the queries and conditions) and then imported into a new database (if it is a report the report layout file also needs to be copied).

Customer Asset Hierarchy (New Screen)

We have added a new screen for defining Customer Asset Hierarchies (parent-child relationships between assets). We have also provided a tree view for displaying multiple levels of assets (this can also be found in the Customer Asset screen).

Desktop Dashboard Views

We have added the ability to define up to 4 independent dashboard type views (Analysis, Charts, Pivot Views) within the background of a users desktop. This is defined against each user in the ‘System Configuration-User Security & Options’ screen. Each quadrant can have its own auto-refresh rate (eg: You may wish to monitor Key Business Indicators and therefore set the refresh rate to say 5 minutes) which then automatically refreshes the view for that quadrant.

The uses for this style of interface are varied, but the most common use would be providing a big picture view of key information for the particular business (eg: Sales Trends, Open Order Values, Late Purchases or Deliveries, Orders Due Out Today, Open Calls, etc…).

We will be providing standard examples of views for Sales, Purchasing, Jobbing and Manufacturing in the next update.

Navigation Bars in Key Screens

We have added navigation bars into key master and operational screens to facilitate the moving through records without having to go back to the opening list. The navigation is also based on what has been filtered in the opening list (eg: If you were altering all Item Codes in a particular category, you would filter on that category in the opening list and move to the Detail Tab, where the navigation bar will take you through only those items for that category).

This feature is ideal for mass maintenance of records.

Item Receipting in the Job Order Screen

We have added the ability to receive a serial controlled Item into Stock from a ‘No Invoice’ style of Job (The set-up for this defined against the Job Type). The concept behind this is to allow for work, refurbishment or accessorising of a large ticket item to be carried out and then put back into stock. One of the key differences between using this method rather than an Assembly Order is the optional ability to cost all the parts and labour that goes into that Job at sell prices rather than pure cost (with the difference between the actual Cost and the Price of the Item is going to stock at, posted to a nominated cost centre – typically an inter-department income account). This is commonly used in the marine industry where the Sales & Service departments are treated as separate profit/cost centres.

Once the Job is closed the Item is automatically receipted into stock (based on the rules defined against the Job Type).

Holiday Dates (New Screen)

We have added a new screen for defining holiday dates that are then used for exclusion purposes when calculating duration for Jobs, Assembly Orders and SLA planned & actual response times.

Customer Assets – Manually Add Warranties

We have added the ability to manually add warranties to existing customer assets. You simply define the new warranty in the Warranty definition screen and then add the warranty from with-in the Customer Asset screen.

Bills of Material & Where Used Inquiry Tree Views

We have added the capability to view Bills of Material and the Where Used Inquiry screen via a multi-level tree view style. To expand or collapse all levels you are able to right-click from within the tree view grid.

Audit Logging of User Created & Modified for All Tables

We have added to automatic logging of User Created & User Last modified to all tables within the system. These fields will now be available to add to opening lists and any reports or views as needed.

Customer Statistics – Additional Outstanding Invoice Tab

We have added an additional tab to the Customer Statistics screen for displaying only outstanding customer invoices. Please note you are able to right click on this new grid to ‘Go To Invoice’ which will take you directly to the invoice (also available in the Invoice History, Payments & Deposits tab)

Point of Sale Functionality

We are in the process of finalising this, and there will be a specific update solely for this new module in the very near future.

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 Notes from 9 May 2007 – What’s New

Ostendo Update Notes from 9 May 2007 – What’s New

Colour Tracking in Order Screens

We have added the ability to define tracking colours for all order tracking codes. This colour can then be displayed in the opening lists for Job Orders, Sales Orders, Purchase Orders & Assembly Orders.

Expanded Job & Sales Quoting Options

We have added the ability to select 3 different styles of quotes (Formal, Letter & User) and have included an additional quotation options screen for defining the contents of the layout (eg: Letter body) and the amount of detail to print.

NOTE: If you are upgrading Ostendo the new Quoting functionality will only be available to you if you copy the ‘JobQuoteSheet.fr3’ and the ‘SalesQuoteSheet.fr3’ from the ‘Reports_Backup’ folder in the Ostendo ‘Reports’ directory.

Displaying Task Bill Contents on Invoices & Quotes

There is now an additional option in Job Orders (for Task Bill types of Job Lines) to select whether the planned or actual contents of the task bill is printed on the quote and/or invoice. Useful for where a fixed price is quoted for a task, but the customer still requires the material & labour breakdown (no prices for the content details).

NOTE: If you are upgrading Ostendo the new Quoting & Invoicing functionality will only be available to you if you copy the (‘JobQuoteSheet.fr3’, ‘SalesQuoteSheet.fr3’, ‘SalesInvoiceSheet.fr3’, ‘SalesProformaInvoiceSheet.fr3’) from the ‘Reports_Backup’ folder in the Ostendo ‘Reports’ directory.

New Job Issues Screen

We have added a simple issues screen (located in the batch toolbar of the lines tab) for high speed issuing while in a Job Order. This provides a fast method of creating both the job lines & actuals issues in a single entry.

Improved Inventory Replenishment

The speed of running the inventory replenishment for a large number of products has been significantly improved.

Setting Currency Decimal Places

There is now the ability to define the number of decimal places allowable for currency type fields (eg: Unit Costs & Prices) from 2 to 6. The default is set to 2, but can be altered in the System Setting screen (System Configuration menu).

Screen Sensitive Help

We have added the ability to display the specific screen help while in that screen by pressing the function key (F1).

Running Ostendo in a Scheduled Command Line Mode on a Server/Workstation

The Ostendo executable will now run in command line mode (non-graphical) if a script name is passed as the final parameter (eg: “C:\Program Files\Ostendo\ostendo.exe” SCRIPT=CallCentreEmailScript). See the ‘Scripting Enhancements’ for examples of how this can be used in a business.

Scripting Enhancements

We have added approximately 50 new functions to the Ostendo scripting engine. We are in the process of documenting and developing working examples. To provide an insight into what will be possible here are some typical uses:

• Importing Orders such as Sales, Purchases, Jobs and Assemblies into Ostendo from emails/web sites
• Importing Supplier Catalogues either manually or automated
• Automatically running reports at pre-scheduled times, and then emailing these to specific staff (an example of this will be provided)
• The ability for your customers to request copies of documents; such as invoices, quotes or delivery notes via an automated web/email solution (an example of this will be provided)
• The ability to capture requests such as: service or quote requests via a simple web form, and then have them feed automatically into the Call Centre Ticketing system within Ostendo (an example of this will be provided)
• The ability to automatically update web sites with new price lists etc (an example of this will be provided)
• Automatically create timesheet entries based on employees emailing timesheets in excel (an example of this will be provided)
• Provide the ability to automatically feed information into Ostendo from external sources (such as PDA’s and Data capture devices)

Reports. A few new reports have been added and some old ones upgraded. These are:

• Sales Invoices – We have modified the layout to include the additional Task Bill functionality (as covered above). NOTE: If you are upgrading Ostendo, to use the additional functionality you will need to copy the new form ‘SalesInvoiceSheet.fr3’ and the ‘SalesProformaInvoiceSheet.fr3’ from the ‘Reports_Backup’ folder in the Ostendo ‘Reports’ directory.
• Job & Sales Quotes – We have modified the layout significantly for these forms for the new Quoting functionality (as covered above). NOTE: If you are upgrading Ostendo, to use the additional functionality you will need to copy the new form ‘JobQuoteSheet.fr3’ and the ‘SalesQuoteSheet.fr3’ from the ‘Reports_Backup’ folder in the Ostendo ‘Reports’ directory.
• Delivery Pick List & Delivery Document – We have modified these layouts to display the contents of Kitsets. NOTE: If you are upgrading Ostendo, to use the additional functionality you will have to copy the new form ‘SalesPickSheet.fr3’ and the ‘SalesDeliverySheet.fr3’ from the ‘Reports_Backup’ folder in the Ostendo ‘Reports’ directory.
• Invoice & Statement Remittance Forms – We have included a remittance style of invoice & statement layout (CustomerStatementReportRemit.fr3 & SalesInvoiceSheetRemit)
• Purchase Receipts Not Invoiced – We have included 2 different styles of this report.

Various Small Fixes & Improvements

Various issues and enhancements that have been reported to us over the last few weeks have been fixed in this update.