What you'll find on this page:

• Accounting Periods Enhancement
• Classes (formerly Production Types) Enhancements
• General Enhancements

Accounting Periods Enhancement

Functionality has been added to use Accounting Periods to generate Accounting reports (Instead of using the Transaction Dates.) This is useful for adding backdated Transactions after a Financial period has been closed off as well as for manipulating Cost of Sales transactions to fall in the same period as the corresponding Sales transactions.

By default, this functionality will be turned off and the Transaction Dates will drive the Accounts reporting.

Settings

This functionality can be enabled by setting the General Settings > Accounting > Use Accounting Periods setting = Yes.

How it works

A date field is provided for the Period date. The Period date is only available in the Ledger and visible only when the setting Accounting Periods = Yes.

When the Transaction date is set, the Period date is automatically set to the same date as the Transaction date. When the Period date is set, however, the Transaction date is not updated.

• Close Off Dates - If you are using Periods, the Transaction date may be set to a date which is on or before the Transaction’s Close off date. The Period date will then be set to the first day after the Close off date.
• Customer/Supplier Age Analysis - By default, the Customer/Supplier Age Analysis will work on the Transaction Date. To generate an Age Analysis that matches the Financial Statements when using accounting periods, however, you need to check the Periods check box next to the date filter. See image below:

• Financial Reports (VAT Control, Income Statement, Balance Sheet, Trial Balance) will automatically work on either the Transaction Date or on the Period Date depending on the setting above.
• Ledger - Date Filter - A Period option has been added to the Ledger’s data filter. When it is checked, the date filter searches on the Period Date. By default this is unchecked. See image below:

Classes (formerly Production Types) Enhancements

The Production Types module has been renamed to a more generic Classes and functionality has been added to create Items modules based on settings linked to Classes. Each Class can now open as a separate module simply by adding it to Menu Manager > Menu Items and will display all the Items from Categories linked to the Class. Set Type = Class and then select the Class in the Module column See image below:

The Classes functionality allows you to create modules with names that are industry specific. Eg. For a restaurant you could now have modules for Menus, Ingredients, Consumables and toggle between them without having to close any of them.

The motivation behind this functionality is to be able to provide a simplified interface that only displays the fields required for the Class. With this in mind a number of settings have been added to show/hide sections and fields as well as to set default values for fields that are not displayed. See image below.

User Access - User Access to Class Modules is set in the same way that it was set for Item Categories. From the Classes setup module you are able to select Menu > User Access and select which users have access to the selected Class. And from User settings > Items and Inventory > Classes Modules - User Access, you can select which Modules the selected user has access to.

User-defined fields can be linked to Classes and can be updated directly in the Classes setup form. (They are no longer available in the User-defined-fields module) See image below:

Classes Modules Interface

The new Classes module consists of a list view, which lists all the items in the categories which are linked to the class and an editing view which opens when you open an item from the list view.

List View

The list view displays the list of Items in the Classes Module (Items in Categories that are linked to the Class). By default the grid is read-only, but you can make it editable by clicking Menu > Edit Grid. See image below:

Editing View

Users can open the Editing View by double-clicking on the Item or by using the popup menu > Open Item function. The Editing View only displays the fields that have been selected to be displayed in the Class Settings. See image below:

When a Costing is used, the Caption for the Costing can be set (in this case ‘Recipe’) and it can be updated directly in the Classes module - see image below:

Notes on Classes

• The existing Items module remains unchanged and it essentially becomes the advanced Item editing module.
• The User setting that controlled access to Item Categories has been removed in favour of setting user access by Class Modules. If you have Access to Items, you now have access to all the Categories in Items.
• The interface has been updated to make it more user-friendly. Only 2 tabs are used now: Detail and Costing.
• Settings have been added to:
  • Set a default Category
  • Show/Hide the Category field
  • Show/Hide the Subcategory field
• You are now able to show one or more Costing Types in the Classes module; before you could only show one of Estimating, Production or Supplier.
• The Set and From fields have been added to the Cost Price and Sell Price Grid views.

General Enhancements

• Setup > Transaction Types - The Trans Types grid has been enhanced to display the most important settings more clearly. The Transaction Flow has also been enhanced with the addition of some of the most important settings.
• Estimating - The note on Input items is now edited in a separate editor which is opened by selecting View/Edit Note from the popup menu or by using the shortcut Ctrl+N.
• Workflow - a Menu Type = Hidden has been added to the Workflow actions. This enables transactions to be added to the Workflow without being able to create them from the Workflow. See image below:

• Entity Items - The Type = Entity has now been removed from Items and existing Entity items have been changed to Other. This functionality has new become redundant with the new Classes enhancements. Modules affected are:
  • Items - All the fields are now displayed in the Items module, regardless of the Type - this is in line with making the Items module as the ‘advanced’ Item editing module.
  • Item Summary - Tabs are now hidden in the Item Summary according to settings in the Item’s linked Class. The Transactions tab is now shown only if there are transactions linked to the Item.
• Transaction Types > Copy Rules - A ‘View all’ filter has been added which makes it easy to view all the copy rules simultaneously.
• Transaction Types - Transaction Flow - A new tab has been added to the Transaction Flow module that illustrates the flow of transactions in a treeview. The root level lists all the Transactions that can be created from new and then the cascading transactions are displayed up to 25 levels deep (The limitation is necessary because of circular loops - eg. Quote copies to Costing and Costing copies to Quote etc…) See image below:

• Transactions - Inventory View - An Inventory View has been added to the Transactions Edit Interface. Click the View button above the Items grid and select Inventory. All the Transaction Items that update Inventory (Including the Estimate Resolve Items) are listed in this view and display In Stock, On Order, Reserved, Available, Required and Variance quantities in the Items base Unit.
• User Settings > Other > Transactions: Allow post-dated Transactions - A setting has been added which can prevent users from post-dating transactions. When this setting = No and a future date is added to a transaction, the date will revert to today’s date.
• User Settings > Setups > Menu Manager > Access Allowed - An explicit User setting has been added to control access to the Menu Manager (Before Administrators could edit Menus)
• Delete Button - The Delete button has been moved to ‘Menu > Delete... ’ in the modules listed below: (To prevent accidental deletion when the intention is to delete items.)
  • Estimate Type
  • Budget
  • Actions
  • Price Lists
• Transaction Items - Cost Centre and Supplier fields have been added to the Transaction Items table (VATITEMS), hidden by default. Under current functionality these fields can be used for information and reporting purposes only. A CostCentre and Supplier field have also been added to the Transaction Item Data Pipelines. See image below:

• Period Date - The Period Date can now be viewed/edited in the Transaction interface - see images below. These fields are only visible when the Accounting is set to use Periods.

• Accounts Find Panel - A Find Panel has been added to the Setups > Accounting > Accounts grid. The Find Panel searches all the fields in the grid.
• Customer/Supplier VAT Type - The Customer/Supplier ‘VAT Exempt’ setting has been replaced by a VAT Type setting. The upgrade script updates this setting as follows:
  • If Cus/Sup was Exempt, the default Forex Tax Type is assigned
  • If Cus/Sup was not Exempt, the default Standard VAT Type is assigned.
• Suppliers - An Accounting > Contact field has been added as well as a field to record the Supplier VAT No.
• VAT Control - The Customer/supplier VAT No. has been added to the VAT Control.
• Staff - Warnings - A warning has been added when duplicate Staff Nicknames are added or a Staff Nickname has not been added - see image below:

• Exceptions Reporting Module - The following checks have been added to the Exceptions module:
  • Check if Customer/Supplier VAT TypeID is blank
  • Check if Customer/Supplier is linked to Forex and a Standard VAT Type
  • Check if Staff Nickname is duplicated
  • Check if Staff Nickname is blank
  • Check if User Password is duplicated
  • Check if User PIN is duplicated (NB a PIN of ‘99’ is a duplicate of ‘999’)
  • Check for duplicate Names in User-defined fields.
  • Check if the Currency setting on Bank Accounts is null
  • Check Menu Items with Blank/Invalid links.
  • TransType - Accounting but no Accounting Status
  • Costing Transaction with Transaction Items which are not linked to the Item Master
  • TransType - Allows Forex and Price set to use Cost Price or Inventory Price
  • TransType - Inventory Resolve but no Header or Footer Stock Status
  • The data filter has been updated with the addition of a Type filter - see below. When Other is selected, Blank and Duplicate exceptions are not displayed. The Module lookup is dependent on the Type selection

• Classes linked to a menu item but not linked to an Item Category.
• Timekeeping - Linked to Transaction, but Transaction Type does not use Assign to field.
• Transaction Type is set to use the Planning board but there is no Planning Board Status linked to the Planning Board.
• The following Exception has been added to Other:
  • Customer/Supplier is blank on Accounting Transactions that updates the Customer/Supplier Age Analysis. These transaction cause a discrepancy between the Age Analysis and the Payables/Receivables item in the Balance Sheet.
  • No New Transaction Status - The Transaction Type Status list does not have a Default = New Transaction status. This causes a new transaction to be created without a Status.