Ostendo -Future Releases
- Progress Claim Approvals and Retentions Screen
- Predictive Service Maintenance and Useage Billing
- Additional Advanced Manufacturing Features
- DRP Distribution Requirements Planning
- Budgeting
- Accounting link with Pastel Partner


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.