Ostendo -Future Releases

- Predictive Service Maintenance and Useage Billing
- Additional Advanced Manufacturing Features
- Budgeting
 

Ostendo 4 August 2011 Release Notes

Web Services, Mobility, Remote Access and Third Party Software Integration
There are multiple approaches to providing access to applications via the internet, mobility devices,  and also giving third party developers a way of interfacing their software products.  Following are the goals we set out to achieve:
1)  Enable Ostendo to interface with other web enabled applications
2)  Allow Ostendo Users (and their Customers / Suppliers) to seamlessly connect, inquire and  enter information via the internet real time
3)  Allow the use of mobility devices such as IPhones, IPads, Smart Phones & Tablets to interface real time with Ostendo
4)  Provide a developers interface for third party software applications
5)  Allow productivity tools (such as MS Excel spreadsheets) to connect real time with Ostendo
6)  Not to hard code anything, such that it couldn't be modified by users of Ostendo
7)  Not count the concurrent connections via the internet as separate licensed users 
8)  Finally, to achieve all of this without the need for external tools, ODBC drivers or having to run on an external  web server 

We're pleased to report that we have achieved all the above (and a little more) by building the following into the framework of Ostendo:
1)  The Ostendo application itself can be run as a Web Server: This basically means that anything from an MS Excel spreadsheet through to a developer using MS Visual Studio can link into Ostendo (via Custom scripts) and pass and retrieve information real time.  
2)  The custom scripting can interface with other Web applications (via web services / XML):
This means that scripts can easily be developed to link to other web enabled applications (i.e. GPS tracking, On-Line Accounting software, live FX exchange rates etc...) 
3)  Web Pages can dynamically be generated from Ostendo and served up to a Web Browser on a PC or a mobility device: This means that (via Custom scripts) anything from Order entry front ends, Stock count screens, Customer service interfaces, Job and Service capture screens can be served up dynamically.
4)  When running the Ostendo client as a Web server there is a different licence which basically means we don't restrict the number of sessions running through the connection.

Additional Fields – No Practical Limits
We have now allowed for the dynamic creation of additional fields for all the screens that support the additional field feature. That basically means that, whereas before we restricted the number of additional fields to either 16 or 6 (depending on the screen/table), you can now add as many additional fields as needed.

Inquiry Screens – We can now have up to 12 detail tabs
We have now increased the number of detail tabs/queries available in an Inquiry screen from 6 to 12.
Remember with every detail tab you can define multiple drill downs – in other words, I might be in an Item Inquiry screen and then wish to drill down and display all Sales Orders for the particular item I have currently selected. There is unlimited ability to define drill downs/links to other Inquiry and even scripts.

User Security & Options – Allow Site Change
We have added a new field called 'Allow Site Change' in the User Options tab. By selecting this for a specific user, that user will be able to alter the Site Name with Orders and other screens that are site specific.

Firebird 2.5 Support
We are pleased to announce the full support for the latest version of Firebird 2.5 (the Database Ostendo uses). There are a number of advantages going to 2.5 over the current 1.5 we've been running on, the main ones are:
1)  Improved performance and lower resource usage: We have found that 2.5 can provide, on average double the speed when running reports and queries.
2)  Support for 64 Bit processors and operating systems (therefore improved performance and under load)
3)  Better support for multi-processor servers

PDF, Excel & RTF outputs from Reports & Forms
We have significantly improved the quality of the PDF, Excel & RTF file outputs from Reports & Forms in Ostendo

Ostendo Licence Key – Stored in Database Now
From this update on, your Ostendo licence key will stored in the Database (not in a folder or registry).

Screen Logging
We have added a new screen logging facility that, as the name implies logs all screens, reports, inquiries, views & scripts that a user runs. This feature can be enabled in the System Settings (File-System Settings-Environment) screen.
There has also been a new Inquiry added for displaying the screen logging data - called 'Inquiry - Screen Logging' (General-Inquiries-Inquiry Screen Logging). This allows you to drill down to the detail by user.    

Order Tabs – Unlimited Allowed
We added the ability to add any number of order tabs to the order screens (Sales, Jobs, Purchases and Assembly Orders).

Price Inquiry – Price Levels & Inventory Availability
We have added the ability to display the Inventory Availability and all Price Level Prices into extra tabs within the Price Inquiry Screen.

Sales Rules – Payment & Deposit Deletion Date Logic
We have added a new rule for what date is used when deleting a Customer Payment and/or a Customer Deposit. You can use the actual date, payment date or determined by cutoff date.

Sales Rules – Statistics Start Month
We have added a new rule that determines the basis for which the 'Year to Date' and 'Last Year to Date' figures are calculated. The 2 options are:
1)  Calendar Year: This calculates the figures from the beginning of the calendar year
2)  Financial Year: This reads the Financial Start from the System Settings screen and then uses that to calculate the figures 

Payment Methods – Extra options
We have added some new options for Payment methods:
1)  Finance Charge: There are 3 options for this field (No Charge, Fixed Percentage, Fixed Amount). If Fixed Percentage is selected then a percentage can be entered as the default, which will be automatically added to Customer Payments and POS Payments. If Fixed Amount is selected the user can then enter a fixed charge amount in the Customer Payment or POS Payment screen.
2)  POS Sequence: This is the position sequence of the Payment button within the POS Payment screen.
3)  Image: This is the image that will appear on the POS Payment button for that Payment method.

Customer Payments – Finance Charge
We have added a new field in the Customer Payment screen to record a finance charge against a payment (typically used where a credit card is used).  There are 3 options (No Charge, Fixed Percentage, Fixed Amount)

Crediting Invoices – Financial or a Direct Credit with popup line selection
We have added the ability to create 2 different types of credits via the 'Credit' Button in the Batch Invoicing screen. 
1)  Create a Direct Credit using the Invoice as a Template: This option allows you to generate a Direct Credit via a popup grid of all the Originating Invoice lines. When in that popup grid you're able to select the lines you wish to credit and then create the new direct credit with only those lines. Please Note: This generates an independent credit and doesn't stop you from using that same invoice as a template for a new credit (unlike a Financial Reversal Credit). The idea of this style of credit is for environments where goods have been returned and a partial credit and stock return is required in a simple one step manner. See 'Direct Invoices – Write Off Quantity' for a simple way of writing off returned stock. 
2)  Create a Reversal Financial Credit for the Selected Invoice: This option is how the credit has been working to date and in effect is really designed for where a mistake has occurred (such an incorrect price). The original invoice is reversed creating an exact reversal credit, this then allows for the mistake to be fixed and the new invoice regenerated. The only time this type of credit will return stock is if the originating invoice was a Direct Invoice, otherwise it will revert the originating order back to a state where there are still picked lines that require invoicing.

Direct Invoices – Write-Off Quantity
We have added the ability to enter a stock write off quantity in the Line Variant tab of the invoice line. The idea of this feature is to allow for the quick write off of stock when it is returned for a credit.
In actual fact we don't immediately write the stock off – we automatically create an Inventory Adjustment batch with the lines and quantities that were flagged for write-off. The default adjustment type used comes from the rule in 'Item Rules'. This process allows for confirmation before the adjustment batch is actually posted. 

Sales Orders – Copying with Reversal & Retaining Original Prices
We have added 2 new fields when copying and an existing order:
1)  Pricing Method: There are 2 options (ReCalculate Prices & Existing Prices). If 'ReCalculate Prices' is selected then the latest rules for that customer/product combination are used the price is calculated for each line. If 'Existing Prices' is selected then the prices are copied from the original order lines.
2)  Reverse Qtys: This option is for reversing the quantities of the original order. This would commonly be used in a Return from Customer process.

Item Rules - Negative Stock check by Site, Warehouse, Location
We have added a new rule for defining the level in which the negative stock check applies. Previously if an Item (or All items) was prevented from going into negative, the check was applied at stock for that Item as a whole. With this new rule you are now able to block negative stock at a Site,
Warehouse or Location level (i.e. if you set the rule to 'Site', then the sum of all inventory held against warehouses linked to a particular site couldn't go below zero).

Item Site Master (New Screen)
We have added a new screen called 'Item Site Master' linked to the Item screen. This enables the definition of rules and costs by site for a specific Item code. In essence this would be used for companies that operate from a single database, but with multiple distinct sites (branches) that have either different order polices and/or different costs.  The information that is used from this screen is dependant of the flag (Cost by Site) in the Item Rules.

Item Rules – Cost by Site
This new rule is used in conjunction with the new screen 'Item Site Master' and basically determines whether the Average, Last and Standard costs are stored and calculated by Site or for the Item as a whole. This is applicable for companies where there are multiple sites/branches that wish to reflect the different costs associated with each item for such things as freight and handling charges when calculating the average cost, therefore posting a more accurate site cost for COGS.

Inventory Replenishment (Numerous Enhancements)
Inventory Replenishment has been enhanced in a number of functional areas and at the same time has had a significant speed improvement (up to 10-20 times faster). Areas of enhancement are:
1)  Exclusion Logic: We have added the ability to exclude any of the demand and/or supply sources. This enables the replenishment (as an example) to be run say for forecast demand only (thereby emulating a 'Master Production Schedule'), or maybe exclude Assembly demand because the component minimum levels cater for internal demand.   
2)  Expediting Logic: We have added the ability to flag the fact that Purchase and/or Assemblies can be expedited. In other words we assume that those supply orders can be brought forward to meet demand if needed (rather than raising the requirement for any more supply orders). This works in conjunction with the flags at specific order level (see Purchase & Assembly Orders – No Expediting) and provides for a report of products, quantities and new required dates for orders that require expediting.       
3)  Forecasting Logic: 
a.  Forecast Style: There are 2 options (Inventory or Sales). If 'Inventory' is selected then the forecast is assumed to include all demands (both dependent and independent) – in other words if an item was both sold directly and used as a component in an assembly then the forecast would need to cover both demands, whereas if Sales was selected then the assumption is that the forecast is only for items sold directly, excluding assembly demands.
b.  Forecast From: There are 2 options (Entered Monthly or History Generated). If 'Entered Monthly' is selected then the forecast is read directly from the Item Forecast records (this has been the only option previously for forecasts – the only difference now is that forecast can also be by Item- Site combinations). If 'History Generated' is selected then the forecast is dynamically generated based on past history (whether it is only direct sales or all inventory is driven via the forecast style option).  When 'History Generated' is selected you then have an additional 3 settings
(History Source, History Days and History Factor %).
c.  History Source: There are 2 options (Average Days or Same Month Last Year). If 'Average Days' is selected then the value from 'History Days' is used to look back that number of days to determine a daily average and use that when projecting forward.
d.  History Days: This is the number of days to look back for calculating the average per day (used in conjunction with History Source).
e.  History Factor %: This is a multiplying percentage used when the Forecast From is 'History Generated'. An example might be that you wish to use the same demand for the same month last year, but factor it up by 20%.    
4)  Specific Site: We have added the ability to run the Replenishment for a specific site. This basically means that the following occurs:
a.  Only Demand and Supply orders that are linked to that site are included
b.  If forecasting is used then:
i.   If it is 'Entered Monthly' then the forecast for that Item-Site combination is used if it exists otherwise the item forecast is used (See 'Inventory Forecast – By Site' section).
ii.  If it is 'History Generated' selected then only history records pertaining to that site will used.
c.   If there is a record in the Item Site Master for the Item-Site combination then the reorder levels, minimum quantity, order multiple, lead times, supply method, sourced by and supplier come from that record, otherwise it comes from the Item record.
d.  If there is a record in the Item Site master for the Item-Site combination and the sourced by is set to 'Transfer' then if a requirement is generated for this combination  a planned 'Inventory Transfer - Site Transfer' will be created. The site used to transfer from is defined in the 'General- Company Sites' screen.     
5)  Specific Supplier: We added the ability to generate the replenishment for all items that are linked to a specific primary supplier.

Inventory Transfers – New Site Transfer and Transfer Charging Functionality
We have added 2 new features in this screen:  
1)  Transfer Charging: We have added a new checkbox for including a transfer charge when moving stock from one warehouse/location to another. This allows for costs such as freight to be added to cost of the product being transferred (unless you have the flag 'Item Rules-Cost by Site' set to true, this cost will be accumulated to the overall average cost of the Item for everything in stock). Options available for transfer charging are:
a.  Charge Code: This is a descriptor code which then bring a default caption and cost centre for this charge
b.  Charge Caption: This is descriptive field only
 
c.  Allocation Method: This determines the method of allocating this charge across all items in the Transfer – methods are (Quantity, Cost, Weight & Volume).
d.  Cost Centre: This is the cost centre that will be credited with charge amount (Stock is debited with the charge amount).
e.  Charge Amount: This is the charge amount.   
2)  Transfer Style: We have added a new field to determine the style of transfer :
a.  Location Transfer: This is a standard transfer from any warehouse/location to any other warehouse/location (was existing functionality) in a simple one step process.
b.  Site Transfer: This allows for transferring from one site/branch to another and requires a 2 step process. In other words the transfer requires an In-Transit warehouse/location to be defined for the site (see In Transit Defaults) and then moves the stock to that In Transit location, requiring a receipt process at the receiving site – enabling full traceability of stock movements and clear acceptance of what was sent.

Inventory Forecast – By Site
We added the ability to add a Site Level Forecast per item. Simply highlight the Item in the Item Forecast list and click on the 'Add' – you will then be presented with a list of sites to select from.


Purchase Orders – Copying with Reversal & Retaining Original Prices
We have added 2 new fields when copying and an existing order:
1)  Pricing Method: There are 2 options (ReCalculate Prices & Existing Prices). If 'ReCalculate Prices' is selected then the latest rules for that customer/product combination are used the price is calculated for each line. If 'Existing Prices' is selected then the prices are copied from the original order lines.
2)  Reverse Qtys: This option is for reversing the quantities of the original order. This would commonly be used in a Return to Supplier process.   

Jobs - Job Schedule Invoice (Pre-Fill descriptive lines from Job Lines)
We have added the ability to pre-fill the descriptive lines for printing on a Job Scheduled Invoice directly from the Job Lines. The idea here is that you may wish to fix the price of the Job but still the exact breakdown of all the materials & labour that went into making that Job up (remembering that there is an option to only display the lines without individual line prices).

Job Orders – Creating Customer Assets on the Fly
We have added the ability to create Customer Assets on the fly when creating new jobs where the job type is set to service/install a customer asset. There is a new edit icon (just to the right of the lookup icon) in the Customer Asset field – on clicking on this icon the Customer Asset screen will be displayed from which you can create a new Asset (Customer name is automatically pulled through) which then gets passed back to the Job Order creation screen for continuation of the Job.

Job Line Actual Move Inquiry
We have added a new Inquiry screen displaying any Job Line actual moves that have occurred from one job to another. This provides an audit trial of what was moved by whom, for what Job and where the actual originated from.

Customer Asset Readings (New Screen)
We have added a new screen for capturing readings for Customer Assets (Service-Customer Assets-Customer Asset Readings). This is the basis for both usage billing and for forecasted predictive service (both of these features are to be released in the next public update). There is also the ability to define the Reading Type (i.e. Mileage, Hours, Kilowatts, Copies etc...) in a new screen called 'Customer Asset Reading Types' (Service-Settings- Customer Asset Reading Types). An Asset can have as many reading types as required. 

Job Claims & Retentions
An integrated Job Claims and Retentions process has been developed using the user Defined Module  This process allows you to create, maintain, and print multiple Project/Job Claims.  You can also maintain Retention records linked to each Claim. The Claims can then be monitored and subsequently updated with approval information such as Approvers name, date, and approval reference. From this you can raise an Invoice for the Approved Claim. Similarly, you can monitor Retentions related to the Job/Retention Claim Date and raise an Invoice for the Retention(s) being claimed.

 

Ostendo 8 November 2010 Release Notes

Job Retentions (New Screen)
We have added a new screen called Job Retentions (Jobs-Job Retentions). The idea of this screen is that it displays all Jobs that have Job Retentions and allows creation, deletion of the Invoice from that screen (very similar to Job Invoices). The Job is still flagged as requiring retentions (via the Job Invoice screen) and each time a Job invoice is created a new Job Retention(s) record is also created – for schedule invoices you can have up to 2 retentions per invoice (you'll see 4 new fields in the Invoice schedule record). 


Job Invoices (Enhancements)
We have added the ability to define the exact cost that is transferred into Cost of Goods Sold when creating Scheduled Invoices – see the extra options in the Invoice Cost Style dropdown (Fixed Amount, Fixed Act Percent & Fixed Plan Percent). These new options allow either a fixed value to be entered, or a fixed percentage of the job costs to date.
As mentioned in the Job Retentions section we have also added 4 new fields (Retention1 %, Retention1 Date, Retention2 % & Retention2 Date). These are used to create the Job Retention records.


Customer Asset Readings (New Screen)
We have added a new screen for capturing readings for Customer Assets (Service-Customer Assets-Customer Asset Readings). This is the basis for both usage billing and for forecasted predictive service (both of these features are to be released in the next public update). There is also the ability to define the Reading Type (i.e. Mileage, Hours, Kilowatts, Copies etc...) in a new screen called 'Customer Asset Reading Types' (Service-Settings- Customer Asset Reading Types). An Asset can have as many reading types as required.  


Location Dimensions (Enhancement)
We have enhanced the Locations screen by adding the following fields:
1)Aisle – Used for referencing the physical position of the location
2)Rack - Used for referencing the physical position of the location
3)Row - Used for referencing the physical position of the location
4)Weight – Used to record the max weight allowed for this location
5)Volume – Used to record the max volume allowed for this location
Although we will be enhancing the use of these new fields, there has been a new Inquiry screen added – called Location Capacity, which displays a list of all locations with their current stock weights and volumes, as compared to the maximum for that location (uses the information stored in the Item Dimension screen for each product). 
There is also the ability to automatically build the location code based on the Aisle, Rack & Row entered (this can be found in the Item Rules screen).


Screen Logging
We have added a new screen logging facility that, as the name implies logs all screens, reports, inquiries, views & scripts that a user runs. This feature can be enabled in the System Settings (File-System Settings-Environment) screen.
There has also been a new Inquiry added for displaying the screen logging data - called 'Inquiry - Screen Logging' (General-Inquiries-Inquiry Screen Logging). This allows you to drill down to the detail by user.
  

Header Tax Rounding for Sales Invoices (Enhancement)
We have added the ability to get the system to recalculate the tax totals at an invoice header level , and if different than that the tax calculated line by line then a tax rounding amount is generated against the header and posted as a separate journal (using the Payment Rounding and Sales Incomes cost centres). This can either be turned on globally by setting a new flag in Sales Rules called 'Round Invoice Header Tax for All', or can be turned on for specific customers via the 'Round Invoice Header Tax' flag in the Pricing & Invoicing tab for the specific customer.
Note: This doesn't apply if the invoice was generated via Point of Sale.
 

POS – Group Cash up (Enhancement)
We have added the ability to group POS stations for End of Day processing. In other words you are able to define (in POS-Settings-POS Stations) which station is used when processing the End of Day balances. This caters for environments where cash drawers are shared across more than one POS terminal.  

Tax Codes – Consolidated & Tax on Tax (Enhancement)
We have added a new field against Tax Codes called 'Tax Type', this allows for 2 new styles of Tax (Consolidated & Tax on Tax). These styles accommodate both industries (i.e. Wine Industry) and countries (i.e. Canada) that require tax to be calculated via a combination of more than one tax code.
1)Consolidated: This type basically adds all the child tax code rates together to formulate the parent tax rate.
2)Tax on Tax: This type multiplies each of the child tax code rates together to formulate the parent tax rate.     

 
Ostendo Workflow (Enhancement)
We have redesigned the standard Ostendo Workflow that is included in the Ostendo application directory (called 'BaseOstendoWorkflow.dat'). The new workflow not only has a more modern look and feel, it includes an extra tab (Service) and displays the number of KPI's associated with various screens (i.e. Overdue Orders, Open Quotes, Shipped Deliveries, Open Calls, Overdue Job Retentions etc...). The KPI's are auto refreshed every minute via an embedded script (the script attached to the 'Ostendo Operation Workflow' caption in the top right corner on the Sales Tab). The actual script is also included in the Ostendo application directory (called 'BaseOstendoWorkFlowKPIScript.txt').
 

Ostendo API Functionality (New Feature)
We have added support for an API interface into the Ostendo application. Rather than hard-coding specific functions we have allowed for the passing of script names, therefore providing for an unlimited array of functions. As part of the upgrade a new folder will be automatically created called 'API' under the Ostendo folder. The contents of this folder are:
1)OstAPIExample.exe: This is an example executable that allows testing of the API interface. There are 2 scripts (GETRS & GETSTR) that need to be created in the Ostendo database (via Custom Scripts) – these scripts can copied from the 'Ostendo Script Code' tab.
2)OSTAPIREG.exe: This registers the Ostendo application for API use.
3)OSTENDOAPI.xlsm: This is an example excel spreadsheet demonstrating the ability to lookup Customers & Items and then getting the price for that combination (this logic would be the basis for an estimating spreadsheet). To run this spreadsheet you will need to create 2 scripts (GetValueForExcel & OstendoLookup) – these can found in the EXCELAPISCRIPTS.txt file.
4)EXCELAPISCRIPTS.txt: This file contains the 2 scripts required for the above Excel example.     
 

Ostendo 28 September 2010 Release Notes

Global Tax Code Change
 We have added a new screen (System Configuration-Global Tax Code Change) that allows for mass updating of Tax Codes for: Open Sales Orders, Open Purchase Orders, Open Job Orders, Item & Descriptor Tax Inclusive Prices and Open Recurring Invoices.
With the exception of Recurring Invoices (which allows for manual selection of old and new Tax codes), the tax code is replaced based on the new Tax Matrix rules (see Tax Matrix topic). This screen operates in a similar manner to the Global Name Change screen, in that it can only be run with exclusive use of the database (i.e. you are the only user logged into Ostendo).
When running this screen the date that is passed to the Tax Matrix rules, is the current system date. In other words if you were to update all open Sales Orders on the 30th of September 2010, and there was a Tax Matrix rule for the 1st of October 2010, nothing would change.

 
Tax Matrix
 We have added a new field called 'Effective From' into the Tax Matrix screen. This allows for the entry of an effective date for tax matrix rules. If the effective date is left blank, the rule will be applied unless there is another rule where the effective from date is less than or equal to the current date. Note: For New Zealand customers, please see the section at the end of these notes for specifics on how to handle the GST rate increase.
 
 
Item Rules – Qty to use for Web
 We have added a new rule called 'Qty to use for Web'. This field allows the selection of the following:
 
1)       OnHand Qty: The Items Total Stock Quantity
2)       Available Qty: The Items  (Total Stock Quantity – Total Demand Quantity + Total Supply Quantity)
3)       Free Qty: The Items (Total Stock Quantity – Total Demand Quantity)
 
This new rule is used when extracting the Item stock information for Web based ordering systems.

 
Order Inventory Availability – Planning Notes
 We have added a new field called 'Planning Note' into both the 'Orders' grid and the 'Supply Orders' grid (within the Shortages tab). This field allows for notes to be recorded against the order for planning purposes. In other words, lets say that you were scheduling assembly orders to release for the next few days and, as you were looking through what was available (based on material constraints) you wanted to flag each order that couldn't be released with a note about what action you had undertaken to expedite the shortages. This note is effectively logged against the order header and therefore even if the orders were rescheduled it is retained. 
      
 
POS – Batch Entry Panel
 We have added the Batch Entry Panel into the POS screen (similar to the Batch Entry panel within Sales Orders). This enables mass selection of the following:
 
1)       Lists: This enables a List to be selected and therefore all the different styles of lists are available (i.e. Automatically generated history list, based on previous POS orders).
2)       Items: This enables the mass selection of Items. If the Item has tracked characteristics (i.e. Serial Numbers, Batch Numbers etc…), then you will be prompted for the characteristic as you select those items.
3)       Descriptors: This enables the mass selection of Descriptor Codes.
4)       Catalogues Items: This enables the mass selection of Catalogue Codes. Catalogue codes were previously unavailable in POS, this feature is ideal for a workshop or simple jobbing environment.   
  
 
POS Rules – No change given for Zero Sales
 We have added a new option (POS Settings-POS Rules) to block the ability for a POS operator to hand out change from the till if there was a zero sale.
 
System Settings - New Environment Settings
 We have added 2 new options to this tab:
 
1)       De-activate Auto Correcting: If this option is selected, the automatic correcting of spelling errors will be de-activated (although the error will still be highlighted in red).
2)       Embed fonts when saving or emailing reports as PDF: If this option is selected the fonts used in the report are embedded within the PDF file. This would only be required if say a special font was used and it was unlikely the recipient had that font installed on their computer. The downside to enabling this option is the much larger PDF file size that's created.    
    
 
User Security & Options – New Options
 We have added 2 new options into the 'User Options' tab:
 
1)       Disable Preview Export: By selecting this option, the ability to export the report into all file formats (excluding PDF) from within the Print Preview screen is disabled.
2)       Enable Option Price Change: This option applies to using the new Features & Options functionality within Sales and Job Orders (see the separate topic on Features & Options). If selected the user will be able to change the feature price derived from the option selected. 

 
Items – New Options
 We have added a new field called 'Exclude from Web Sales' and an extra option in the 'Configured By' drop down list called 'Features'.
 
1)       Exclude from Web Sales: This is a checkbox located on the 'Additional Inventory Settings' drop down window. This option was designed for exclusions when extracting Items for a web sales environment.
2)       Configured By: We have added a new option called 'Features' in the drop down list. This is only applicable when the Item is a Custom Product (Sourced By = Custom).    
 
Features & Options
 We have added a new style of Custom Products called 'Features & Options'. Previous to the introduction of this new style we had the choice of either 'Rules' or 'Manual' configured products. In essence Features & Options sits in between these 2 existing styles. To understand the differences between these different styles lets look at each in some more detail:
 
1)       Manual: This style allows the build up of a Bill of Material (BOM) unique to the Sales or Job Line. It basically presents the user with the ability to build a custom product via an enhanced BOM screen. The user can alter the margin / mark-up by component line, and therefore rollup the costs and prices to formulate an estimate for that distinct configuration. This method of configuring a custom product is ideal for industries that don't necessarily have fixed rules and potentially have an endless array of end products that can be manufactured (i.e. The sign manufacturing industry).
2)       Rules: This style allows for custom product scripts to be defined against the item and can facilitate pretty much any rules based product. In other words it wouldn't be suitable for environments where there are no rules (Manual style is designed for that), but because of the nature of scripting, it can support industries where there are complicated calculations, questions that are dependant on previous answers etc… However, the main downside to this style is that it does require the ability to develop the custom script. Industries like joinery are well suited to rules based configuration because of their unlimited dimensional combinations.
3)       Features: This new style, as pointed out earlier, sits in between the Manual and Rules styles. It allows for Features & Options to be added to a standard Bill of Material (BOM). The idea is that the product has a number of predefined features, and for each of those features, a predefined list of options. Each option then has a defined price, enabling the user to configure which feature/option is required for that specific sales/job line. The end result (like the other 2 styles) is that a unique BOM is created and used to generate a linked Assembly Order. The big advantage of this new style over Rules, is that it is very simple to set-up and maintain. Industries like furniture or motor home manufacturers are well suited for this style of custom product.
 
To set-up this new style you would firstly need to define an Item as Sourced By = 'Custom' and Configured By = 'Features'. Then a Bill of Material would be created for the base product, and all selectable features, and their options defined in a new tab (that's only enabled for custom-features items) called 'Features'.
To invoke the Feature and Options selection when entering a Sales/Job Quote (or Order), you either click on the configuration icon (in the Line Code edit box) or double click on the line in the order line grid (exactly like configuring a Manual Custom product). See the Reference Help (Bills of Material topic) for more explanation of this new custom product style.
                          
System Action Scripts – Extra Screens Available
 We have added the ability to link scripts to more standard system actions. Some of the new actions are:
 
1)       Labour – Post all Timesheet Entries
2)       Purchasing – Post all Purchase Receipt Entries
3)       Purchasing – Receive Purchase and Close Purchase Shipment
4)       Purchasing – Post Purchase Invoice
 
We will continue to add the ability to attach scripts to more action buttons throughout the system. Remember, this is, in addition to the Screen Data Scripts, Related Scripts & Order Scripts that can also be added to screens throughout Ostendo.
 
Enhanced Scripting for Edit Views
 
We have expanded the capability of scripting that can be used within Edit Views. Some of these enhancements are:
 
1)       Ability to programmatically Hide/Display the buttons within the screen (Add / Save / Cancel / Delete / Reports / Related) 
2)       Allow for chaining of Edit Views to other Edit Views
3)       Ability to programmatically Hide/Display columns
4)       Ability to call an Edit View from another script locating the specific record and locating on a defined tab (in the same manner as can be done with a standard screen)
5)       If Related options are defined in the Edit View script, the Related Toolbar automatically displays (again like standard screens).


 

Ostendo 5 May 2010 Release Notes

Related Toolbars throughout the System
 We 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
 We 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
 We 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 power 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; however 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 were 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 we 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)
We 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
We 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
We have added a new option (Pricing-Settings-Pricing Rules) to get the system to evaluate the lowest (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 lower 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
We 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
We 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 we provided a fixed number of fields displayed in this grid and only the column order could be modified. We 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 we 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
 We 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
 We 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
We 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 weight/qty. The setting for this can be found in the Item-Setting-Item Rules screen.  
 
Displaying Buy Prices for Multiple Supplier Pricing in Lookup
We 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
We 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
We 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
We 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 web address for the new location map link feature
 
Ability to print/email documents with Customer Statements
 We 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
We have changed the position of the Customer field in both the Payment & Deposit screens, so that the defaults from the customer were applied when first entering the details.   
 
Shortcut method of Printing, Previewing or Emailing (Ctrl-P, E & S) for Order screens
We 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
We 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
We 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
We 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)
We 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
We 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 between 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
We 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
We 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
We 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
We 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
We 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
We 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
We 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
We 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
We 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 we have allowed 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.
            
 
Health & Safety Module (Built using new User Defined Tables, Edit Views & User Defined Menus)
We decided that to demonstrate the power of some of the new functions provided with this release, that we would build a complete sub-module using them. The sub-module we 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.
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

 
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.

 
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.

 
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.

 
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.
 

Ostendo 18 January 2010 Release Notes

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.


Ostendo 21 October 2009 Release Notes

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.