ANSWERSdrcanswers.com/ReleaseNotice2018.doc · Web viewPurchase Order Entry will now show the status of the P/O (Entered, Released, Printed, Faxed, Emailed, Processed) from the

Distribution Management System

Release Notice and Update InstructionsVersion 4.9

Copyright Data Resources Corporation 1981-2018

ANSWERS Distribution Management SystemRelease Notice and Update Instructions

Version 4.9___________________________________________________________________________________

Table of Contents

Table of Contents 2Introduction 3Enhancement Features Summary4Preparing for Installation 7Installation Instructions for Windows Servers 8General 12Inventory Management 13Purchase Orders 16Order Processing 17Accounts Receivable 20Accounts Payable 21General Ledger 22Answers Enhancement Suggestions Guidelines 23

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Introduction

The following pages outline the enhancements that have been made to ANSWERS version 4.9. It is not the intent of this Release Notice to fully describe each new feature or the details for implementing and using these features. For this type of detail information, you should refer to the appropriate section of the on-line help. On the following pages, you will find the changes listed by application. Instructions for preparation and installation of the upgrade to the new version can be found on the first few pages of this document.

The last "complete" or “official” release of ANSWERS was version 4.8. You must be running this version or later in order to install this update. If you have not yet upgraded to version 4.8, then you must first install the upgrade to 4.8 before proceeding with installing this upgrade to 4.9. Failure to install updates in the proper order will result in an unusable system until both data and Answers programs are restored from a good backup.

Any specific system requirements or other software changes needed in order to use a feature have also been noted. This means that any enhancement features requiring an update of your AcuCobol software. In addition, it may be necessary to answer certain new configuration questions before a certain feature or enhancement will be available on your system. These questions should be answered appropriately once you have finished installing your update.

This release can be downloaded from our web site for customers with broadband internet access.

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Enhancement Features Summary

The Answers 4.9 release includes many exciting new features. Below is a summarized list of some of the highlighted features you will find in this release. Please refer to the detailed listing by application found later in this release notice for additional information on the features listed below as well as other features not listed here. Always refer to the on-line help for complete operating instructions and explanations of program features.

General Product Code Searches throughout Answers have been updated to allow pressing an alpha

character to access the search. When the cursor is in the product code field, press any alphabetic character to access the Product Code Search and search by product code name.

G/L Account # searches throughout Answers have been updated to allow entering an alphabetic character and accessing the search.

Password prompts throughout the software have been updated to remain at the prompt when an invalid password is entered.

When adding new contacts, the address and phone number information can be left blank, instead of being defaulted by the primary contact.

When accessing the Contacts window for viewing or for a search, the Phone # shown for each contact will now be based on the “Call Preference” field.

The Instant Messaging Send a Message window will now show a concise list of selected recipients below the available recipients list.

The Instant Messaging Send a Message window will now provide a check-box on the header row of available recipients to allow easily clearing the list of all recipients if desired.

The Attached/Scanned Images/Objects Purge program can now be setup to run automatically during End-of-Day or End-of-Month.

The Email Log Purge program can now be setup to run automatically during End-of-Day or End-of-Month.

Purchasing Purchase Order Entry will now show the status of the P/O (Entered, Released, Printed, Faxed,

Emailed, Processed) from the Help pull-down menu bar for convenience. Purchase Orders can now be marked as “Prepaid” using the “Edit Purchase Order Terms” icon

button on the header tab in P/O Entry. You can also enter in the A/P Invoice Number that was used for the pre-payment in this same window.

When entering line items on a purchase order, the Committed Orders window shown at the bottom of the screen will now allow viewing and editing the sales orders for committed items.

The Stocking Status of Inventory items will now display along with the quantities in the frame below the detail line item entry grid in Purchase Order Entry.

Order Processing Users can now easily start a new Return, Order, or Quote by searching for a prior Invoice #,

Order #, Customer P/O #, or Reference #/field and once found then choose to copy all lines, a single line, or multiple selected lines onto the new Return, Order, or Quote as well as relevant header information.

Order Entry will now show the Gross Margin % on the line items as they are entered on Sales Orders and Quotes provided the system and/or user is allowed to view costs.

Negative freight charges can now be entered in Order Entry. Order Entry will show the Collect Account # for FedEx or UPS on the header screen and print the

UPS or FedEx Collect Account # on the Pick Ticket, Order Acknowledgement, and Invoice. Order Entry now allows for viewing and searching for Alternate Vendors.

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Notes entered on specific orders, returns, quotes, or warehouse transfers can now be checked to pop-up automatically whenever that transaction is accessed in Order Entry.

The Updated P/O List (and Updated Vendor Returns List) can now accommodate up to 90 purchase orders (and vendor returns).

An option has been added to prevent entering new orders for customers on Credit Review status. The Unit Cost on stock Kit Components can now be edited if the Kit is placed on “Manual

Costing” which can be done from the Edit pull-down menu from within the Edit Kit window. An option has been added to allow for inserting a “New Page” when printing Pick Tickets,

Invoices, Quotes, and WH Transfers. Special Charges have been updated to allow for setting up a “surcharge” amount. This will allow

you to apply a dollar amount or a percentage amount to a sales order for line items or as a total charge, just like you can add a restocking fee to returned items.

A Special Charge of “CCF” can be defined that will allow for automatic calculation of credit card surcharge.

Special Charges can now be assigned a default cost when they are setup and this cost can be entered or overridden as needed on individual order lines as well as on kit components.

The Stocking Status of Inventory items will now display along with quantities in the frame below the detail line item entry grid in Order Entry.

A password can now be optionally required to reinstate an Original Back Order to an “open” status.

Inventory Stock Receipts Entry now has an option to only display items that are still “open” on the purchase

order as well as being able to show all items on the purchase order. Inventory Maintenance will now provide an option to also update Sales Orders, Quotes,

Transfers, RFQ’s, P/O’s and Vendor Returns if the Description, Product Code or Vendor Part # are changed on an existing item.

The Stock # Conversion will now allow entering a “New Stock #” of the extended part number length (40 characters).

The Inventory Inquiry program is now resizable. Additional information is now shown on most of the tabs as the window is enlarged vertically and/or horizontally.

The Inventory Inquiry Units History tab has been revamped to show 24 months history also on customer returns, receipts, warehouse transfers out and warehouse transfers in. All columns can be shown if the window is enlarged enough horizontally. A horizontal scroll bar is added if the window is not large enough to show all columns. A chart of units history has also been added.

The Inventory Inquiry Transaction History tab has been revamped and turned into a grid so that all possible columns can be seen at one time depending on window size. A horizontal scroll bar is added if the window is not large enough to show all columns.

New charts have been added to the Quantities and Pricing tab when the screens are large enough to display them for available quantites, average units on hand, and sales history.

The Batch Price/Cost Update program can now optionally also increase or decrease Unit Prices on customer Price Exceptions and/or Contracts by a percentage.

Inventory Turns can now be computed based on any time period desired rather than always being based on the fiscal year-to-date.

An option has been added to the Inventory Adjustments to allow scanning/attaching images to individual adjustments. The scanned images/attachments will be viewable in Inventory Transaction History and you can also add scanned images to the adjustments from Inventory Transaction History.

The Inventory Detail Purge program normally run at month-end now allows purging different types of transactions based on varying cut-off dates if desired.

Stock Receipts Entry will now warn the operator if any items on the Purchase Order require the entry of Serial Numbers or Quantity Detail before they start the receiving of any line items.

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Stock Receipts now allows the entry of Expiration Dates on Quantity Detail entries as the items requiring it are received in.

Accounts Receivable The Invoice History tab and windows will now also show the Back Ordered quantity in addition to

the Shipped quantity on each line. Customer Mass Maintenance will now allow selecting/filtering which customers to update based

on a city and/or state found in their address lines. When using the Account Analysis/Account Analysis History to select invoices to re-print or send

to a customer, Answers will now keep and display a running total of the invoice amounts selected. Searches available from the drop-down arrow in Customer Inquiry have been modified to

remember the previously entered search criteria during that Customer Inquiry session. The Customer P/O # Search available from the drop-down arrow in Customer Inquiry has been

modified to search all customers and to be a partial P/O # search. An option has been added to the Account Analysis display to show only “open” items.

Accounts Payable Searches available from the drop-down arrow in Vendor Inquiry have been modified to remember

the previously entered search criteria during that Vendor Inquiry session. Accounts Payable Invoice Entry will now check for Purchase Orders marked as “Prepaid” and will

warn the operator against entering a duplicate invoice for the same materials. An option has been added to the Account Analysis display to show only “open” items. The option to Reprint Checks using the same check number or to void the old numbers and

reprint by assigning a new check number can now be changed from the default configured setting at runtime depending on the situation requiring the reprint.

General Ledger General Ledger Maintenance Activity and History tabs now provide a [Reverse Entry] button to

allow an easy way to create a reversing entry the opposite of a previous entry.

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Preparing for Installation

Every attempt has been made to ensure that you can install this new version of ANSWERS in a relatively simple manner; however, the following steps must be followed in order to insure success. Additionally, some installations occasionally require special attention due to things such as multiple companies, customized programs changed in the past, etc. If you feel that you may have problems due to an unusual aspect of your system, please contact Data Resources Corporation before starting your installation. As mentioned earlier, it is extremely important that you should only attempt to upgrade if you are currently running version 4.8 (any version of 4.8.x is acceptable) released in September 2017 (or later). If you are unsure, go to HelpAbout Answers from the Answers Menu before starting the update procedure.

The following steps should be performed regardless of your type of server. Once these steps have been completed, you should then proceed to the proper section of this manual depending upon the type of system on which you have ANSWERS installed.

1) Due to changes in the format of the following files, it is necessary to run and update the following journals before installing the update. Failure to do so will result in a loss of information from that particular journal being updated into other files such as General Ledger and the history files associated with it. Once the update has been installed, this could result in Invalid Format file errors and you will not be able to update them with the new version, thus the reason it is important to check and run each one of these now.

a. Run and update any Mass Inventory Maintenance requests entered but not yet updated. If you receive an error when attempting to run this program, then continue on skipping this step.

b. Run and update any Mass Customer Maintenance requests entered but not yet updated. If you receive an error when attempting to run this program, then continue on skipping this step.

2) Perform a Full System Backup. This backup will save your current version of ANSWERS programs and related files. This backup could be extremely important in the unlikely event you would have problems with the installation and would need to restore your system to the previous version until the problem could be resolved. On most Windows based servers, the ANSWERS programs and related files are actually stored on a “partition” of the disk drive and is usually referred to as the “D:” drive. While the Windows server operating system and other system related programs are typically stored on the “C:” drive. Therefore, when doing a full system backup, it is critical that you insure the “D:” drive (or the drive or folder where ANSWERS is located, if it is not “D:” on your system) is included in the Full System Backup.

3) Perform at least one or more data file (daily) backups. This backup is also extremely important and could be critical if something were to go wrong during the installation procedure with the conversion of your data files.

4) If you are starting the update procedure in the late afternoon or evening hours and you think there is any chance that the update process will still be running at the time your automatic end-of-day is scheduled to run, then you should disable your automatic end-of-day for tonight. It can then be turned back on tomorrow once the update completes. Another alternative is to schedule it to run earlier and get it done for today, before you start your upgrade install process, and then tomorrow change the time back to the normal time that it runs. It is extremely important that the end-of-day routines do not try to run while the update is in progress.

5) Once you have completed all of the steps in this section and feel as if you are prepared for the installation, then proceed on to the next section of this manual to perform the actual installation.

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Installation Instructions for Windows Servers

1) Refer to the “Preparing for Installation” checklist provided on the previous pages before starting the update procedure to insure it is safe to begin.

2) Login as an “Administrator” on the Windows Server console. This will require you to know an administrator’s password.

3) Load the ANSWERS Update onto your system. After you have down-loaded the update from our website, then use Windows Explorer or My Computer to locate the update file you downloaded. Our website suggested saving the download file into the “answers” folder on your server (which you should have access to from both the server and from client P/C’s). However, this was only a suggestion and the file can be downloaded from our website to any machine and folder on your network as long as you remember where it was saved. Once you have found the down-load file, double-click on it to start the installation and proceed onto the next step.

4) When the WinZip Self-Extractor dialog box appears:a. Verify that the Unzip to folder of “D:\answers” is correct. (If Answers is stored on a different drive

on your server other than “D:”, -or- in a different folder on your server, then change the “Unzip to Folder” as necessary to have the correct drive letter and folder name where Answers is installed.)i) If you are unsure the exact location of Answers on your server, bring up the Answers Menu,

then click on HelpClient Info and the 3rd line from the bottom should read “Install Folder:”. This is the folder name that should be entered in the “Unzip to folder” box of the WinZip Self Extractor.

b. Verify that the “Overwrite files without prompting” box is checked.c. Click on the “Unzip” button.d. You will see various Answers programs and related files (bitmaps, ODBC dictionaries, help files,

etc.) listed in the progress bar as they are unzipped and installed onto your system.e. When complete, you should receive notification of the number of files unzipped successfully.f. Click on “OK” when you receive this notice.g. You will then be returned back to the WinZip Self-Extractor dialog box, where you should click on

“Close” to exit.h. This should complete the loading phase of the updated Answers software unless you received

any errors during the above procedures.

5) To ensure that all users are logged off the system and that the system is in a “clean” state prior to starting the update procedure, reboot the system as you normally would by clicking on “Start” and then “Shut Down”. When the Shut Down confirmation window appears, click on “Restart” and then wait while the system goes through its restart procedure. This step is important to insure all Answers related data files are closed and that the update process can have exclusive access to them as needed.

6) Once the system has fully rebooted, log back in again as the “Administrator” on the Windows Server console.

7) Locate the icon for ANSWERS on the desktop of the Windows server console and “double-click” on it to start up ANSWERS. Note that while you can access ANSWERS from any P/C, you will need to perform this step on the console of the Windows server due to the manner in which some of the files are manipulated. Additionally, the conversion of the data files will run much quicker on the Windows server console than on a P/C connected over the network, just as is always the case with batch-oriented type programs under Windows on a network.

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8) When ANSWERS initializes, it will detect that you have loaded a new version of programs. You will need to respond affirmatively to any confirmations you receive about updating, otherwise ANSWERS will be inaccessible until this is done. If you are not prompted to update Answers, then it is likely you have not extracted the Answers update into the proper folder. Verify where Answers is installed on your server by clicking on HelpClient Info from the Answers Main Menu program and then noting the “Installed Folder” before exiting back out of Answers and then re-running the Answers Update download again, changing the folder as needed to match the “Installed Folder”.

a. Once the Update Control program starts, it will convert any data files from the prior version to the new version. You will see pop-up windows informing you of which file it is converting. This helps to give you an idea as to which files may take longer periods of time to convert and which may take shorter, depending upon the size of the file, which directly relates to the amount of information or history you have in each one. If you receive any errors during the update process, you should notify Data Resources Corporation immediately, so we can assist you in determining how to resolve the problem in order to get your system updated.

b. Please understand that this step may take some time depending upon how much history you have, the number of items setup in inventory, how long you have had your system, etc. The program may even appear to be not responding. Windows (especially newer versions) sometimes just show a completely white screen during this time especially if a screen saver was invoked or another program started over top of it. This does not normally mean the program is “hung”. It is very likely the program is still running and updating your files to be compatible with the new version. Do not abort the update procedure during this phase. Please be patient and give the conversion process time to finish.

c. When all files have been converted, your menu file will be updated to reflect obsolete programs that have been removed and new programs that have been added. Once this is done, the program will inform you that the update is complete unless you received any errors. You will then be returned to the ANSWERS Main Menu.

9) You should now click on ToolsActivate License from the ANSWERS Menu program’s pull-down menu bar. You will need to enter the Activation Key and License Number exactly as they appeared in the email you received from Data Resources containing the link to down-load the new version of ANSWERS. Failure to activate this new version will cause you to begin receiving warnings 14 days prior to the expiration date. If valid license information is not entered before the expiration date, ANSWERS will cease to function after the expiration date .

10) Once you have made any configuration changes for new features that you found in this Release Notice, you should be ready to allow other users to access ANSWERS again. Your installation should now be complete unless you have special circumstances, such as multiple companies, etc. If you have multiple companies, then it will be necessary to start up ANSWERS for each company using either the appropriate shortcut icon from the Windows sever console’s desktop, or by clicking on “File” at the ANSWERS Main Menu and then selecting the desired database directory from the drop-down menu. Then you will need to allow the update program to run for the alternate company, just as you did for your primary company.

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11) If you have a web server for on-line ordering and inquiry integrated with ANSWERS, it will need to be updated with new web pages, scripts, and programs to insure compatibility with the new version of ANSWERS. Failure to do this step or failure to select the proper server or web-site folder will cause your web-site integrated with Answers to cease functioning properly until corrected. A web site update program is provided to assist you with this task.

a) If your web-site is hosted on the same server as Answers, then use a program such as Windows Explorer to get into the “answers” folder on your server and locate the update program which is named “UpdateWebSite.exe”. Note: the “.exe” may or may not show on the end of the file name depending on how you have Windows configured. Double-click on this program to run it. You will then be prompted for the folder where your web-site is located. If your web-site is setup in a different folder than the IIS default, be sure to change it here or your web-site will no longer work now that you have updated your version of Answers. This program will extract the updated web pages, scripts, and programs into the folder you choose.

b) If your web-site is hosted on a different server than Answers, then you will want to:i) Login to the web server with Administrator privileges.ii) Use a program such as Windows Explorer to browse over to the Answers Server and get into

the main “answers” folder.iii) Copy the web update program named “UpdateWebSite.exe” to a convenient location on the

web servers such as the Desktop or Downloads. Note: the “.exe” may or may not show on the end of the filename depending on how you have Windows configured.

iv) Then double-click on this update program to run it.v) You will then be prompted for the folder where your web-site is located. If your web-site is

setup in a different folder than the IIS default, be sure to change it here or your web-site will no longer work now that you have updated your version of Answers. This program will extract the updated web pages, scripts, and programs into the folder you choose on this server.

12) If you encountered any problems, please notify Data Resources Corporation immediately, so we can

determine what and if any potential problems exist for you. Remember that we offer free technical support on upgrade related issues on the day you have registered to install the update. Our standard Technical Support Policy applies after that.

E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.drcanswers .com/support.htm Fax: (304) 255-1661Phone: (304) 255-5247

13) Once you are confident your upgrade has been successful, you should perform another Full System Backup. However, be sure to use a different tape or drive than the one used to backup prior to starting the update. Doing another Full System Backup is important to insure that in the event of a disk or system problem throughout the next year, that you will be able to correctly restore your system with the new version of programs. Failure to do this backup will leave you only able to restore your old version of programs, which will be incompatible with your data files, which have just been converted up to the new version.

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http://www.drcanswers/

mailto:[email protected]


Version 4.9___________________________________________________________________________________14) If you have Crystal Reports installed on one or more P/C’s and are generating reports from it that

access the ANSWERS data files via ODBC or XDBC, then you will want to instruct Crystal to verify its database settings the first time you access each report after loading the update. This is due to the fact that Crystal maintains some information about the layout of the ANSWERS data files that it is accessing via ODBC/XDBC. Since the update may change the layout (size, key structure, etc.) of some of the files accessed by Crystal, it is a good idea to tell Crystal to verify its database information based on the new ODBC/XDBC dictionaries provided with the update. To do this, open up a report that has been previously saved, and click on “Database” on the menu bar at the top of the screen, and then click on “Verify Database”. You may notice a delay while this is being done. If Crystal detects any necessary changes, it will provide you with the file name(s) that have changed and ask if they should be fixed. Failure to do this procedure may cause Crystal to be unable to run the report, to hang, or to run very slowly.

Let us now take this opportunity to thank you for taking time to upgrade your ANSWERS software and express our sincere hopes that your organization benefits from these new enhancements. We look forward to your continued involvement with Data Resources Corporation and our on-going commitment to provide modern, up-to-date, and easy to use software for our customers.

Also, please keep in mind that you can keep your ANSWERS software up-to-date via our web site by checking for possible program corrections for any problems you might encounter and down-loading any available updates to your system. You can access the update download page of our web site directly by going to “http://www.drcanswers.com/PCUpdatesComplete.htm”. This web site is updated often with any program changes and corrections and is dated so you can tell if you have the most recent update. Please note however that this web page only contains updates to this version of Answers, not the entire installation. You can also easily access this site from “Help” on the Windows Answers menu.

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http://www.drcanswers.com/PCUpdatesComplete.htm


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General

Product Code Searches throughout Answers have been updated to allow pressing an alpha character to access the search. When the cursor is in the product code field, press any alphabetic character to access the Product Code Search and search by product code name.

G/L Account # Searches throughout Answers have been updated to allow pressing an alpha character to access the search. When the cursor is in the G/L Account # field, press any alphabetic character to access the Account # Search.

Whenever possible, password prompts throughout the software have been updated to remain at the prompt when an invalid password is entered. The user can then try as many times as desired or Cancel out of the prompt. This will prevent the user from having to continually click on a button or option when an invalid password is entered.

When adding new additional contacts, the contact address, phone number, fax numbers can now be left blank instead of defaulting to the same as the primary contact. In the primary contact list window, under Options, a setting has been added to control whether the Primary Contact Information is defaulted to new contacts. Checked to copy is the default setting. This is a setting that will be remembered per user, so each user can select their choice and change it back and forth as desired, depending on their preference and the type of contacts being added.

When accessing the contacts window for viewing or searching contacts, the Phone # displayed on the main screen will now be based on the contact’s “Call Preference” field. Each contact can have a primary phone #, a cell phone #, and a home phone #. There is also a “Call Preference” field. Based on this field, the selected phone # will be displayed in the list box.

The Instant Messaging Send a Message window will now show a concise list of selected recipients below the available recipients list in a beige colored box. This list is shown to provide an easy way to see all users that have been selected without having to scroll thru the check-marks in the main recipient list especially in organizations where the list of available recipients to choose from is rather long. This box cannot be edited. Any changes to add or remove users from the intended recipients list must be made by checking or un-checking the boxes in the available recipients list as always.

The Instant Messaging Send a Message window will now provide a check-box on the header row of available recipients to allow easily clearing the list of all recipients if desired. This box will be empty (un-checked initially) meaning no recipients are currently selected. As users or groups are checked to be recipients, you will notice a blue slash in this box meaning that some selected recipients have been selected. If the “All Users” automatic group is selected, you will notice a green check mark in this box. By removing either mark from this box, you can easily empty/clear the entire list of recipients without having to un-check recipients individually.

The Attached/Scanned Images/Objects Purge program can now be setup to run automatically during End-of-Day or End-of-Month. A new “General” tab has been added to the Batch Data Entry program to allow entry of the cut-off date to control which attachments are purged. Along with this new cut-off date that can be entered ahead of time, an option also is provided to instruct the purge program to purge all attachments/objects dated prior to the cut-off date entered or only copies of emails sent from Answers and attached automatically.

The Email Log Purge program can now be setup to run automatically during End-of-Day or End-of-Month. A new “General” tab has been added to the Batch Data Entry program to allow entry of the cut-off date to control which email log entries are purged.

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Inventory Management

Stock Receipts Entry now has an option to display only “open” items on the purchase order. Open items meaning items that have not yet been fully received based on the quantity ordered. The default mode is to show all items on the purchase order, but the display mode can be toggled by clicking on “View” on the pull-down menu bar across the top of the window and then on “Show All P/O Lines” or “Show Only Open P/O Lines”. Each user’s setting is conveniently remembered for this particular option as they exit and re-enter the Stock Receipts Entry program.

Inventory Maintenance will now provide an option to also update Sales Orders, Quotes, Transfers, RFQ’s, P/O’s and Vendor Returns if the Description, Product Code or Vendor Part # are changed on an existing item. When you save an inventory item, whether you click to save manually or whether you are prompted to save and agree, the program will check if any of these 3 fields have been changed. If so, you will be provided with a Yes/No prompt informing you of which of these fields have changed and asked if you would like to also update the changed field(s) in all of the files listed on the screen and in this paragraph. If you would like to do so, then click Yes, otherwise, click No. This can be very helpful in cases where things such as the description, product code or vendor part number need corrected and you want those changes updated throughout these other files listed. However, there may be cases where a description or another field has been changed on a particular sales order, quote, P/O, etc. for some reason, where you may not want to have your changes to the item updated throughout these other files, so for that reason, if you do commonly change any of these fields on stock items on transactions, then it is important that users editing items in Inventory Maintenance be aware of this and may not want to use this option and therefore click No to this prompt if they change any of these fields on items that are changed on individual transactions.

Stock # Conversion will now allow entering a “New Stock #” that is the extended stock number length of 40 characters. During the actual conversion process, the system will follow the same stipulations as Inventory Maintenance in creating an internal part number that is the standard 19 characters in length, but the user may now enter up to 40 characters for the New Extended Stock # in the Conversion # Input program.

The Inventory Inquiry program is now resizable like other major inquiries such as Customer Inquiry and Vendor Inquiry. Most tabs will now show additional information as the window is enlarged horizontally and/or vertically. Some of those high-lights are listed below. The program will “remember” its window size and open up in the same size and location the next time it is used. This allows users to resize their window to a size and position that works best for them based on what of the following information they want to see easily.

1. Quantities and Pricing tab : If enlarged enough vertically, a list of other warehouses with this item setup will be listed at the bottom with all of their quantities. This is similar and will save users from having to click on the Other Warehouses icon and to pop-up that information. If enlarged enough horizontally and your User Profile allows you to view costs, you can toggle on the display of costs to the right of Prices. Costs can be toggled on under “View” on the pull-down menu bar. You may not want this turned on even if you are allowed to see costs on certain terminals such as those at a counter or ones a customer may be able to see.

If the screen is wide enough and the chart control is installed, the user will see an Available quantity chart beside the new WH quantities list. This chart shows the Quantity on Hand (including Showroom if configured to do so) in comparison to the Order Point of the item. If the item is above it’s Order Point level, or does not have an Order Point, the portion of the quantity above Order Point is in green. Order Point to zero is in red and if the item is below Order Point in quantity, the available quantity needed to get back to Order Point level is in grey. It is a quick

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visualization of where the item quantity is at compared to Order Point. You can see this control for each warehouse by clicking on the warehouse in the quantities box.

If the screen is long enough, a second chart will be displayed showing the Average Units on Hand for the past 24 months. This shows the quantities for SOM over the past 24 months. The dates used on the chart will be the actual date the Inventory Month-End Processing was run. If your users have been inconsistent with running the Inventory Month-End Processing program, then the data on this chart may not be as accurate, since it is referring to those SOM balances to get the number of units on hand and the end/beginning of each of the past 24 months.

If the screen is long enough and the user is allowed to see costs, a Sales and GM History chart will be displayed showing sales and GM history for the past 10 years. This data will be computed using invoices processed. The sales price and cost off the invoices for the past ten years will be calculated to display on this chart.

The information for the Average Units on Hand and the Sales and GM History charts is updated nightly by the end of day processing. So, upon loading the update to Answers 4.9, end of day must be run with the program enabled in order to populate the chart data. The program that needs to be enabled to run is the same program used to compute various data for the Executive Information Center and will most likely already be enabled. It is the Vendor Performance Calculations program in the Daily Task List of the Answers Batch Processing Parameters program.

2. Purchasing Controls tab : If tall enough, you will many Year-to-Date fields to save from having to click to pop-up that data. If it is enlarged enough horizontally, you will see some useful dates and all Lead Time history on this item to keep from having to pop-up that data.

3. Units History tab has revamped in multiple ways. First the system will now track and display MTD and 24 months units history for Customer Returns, Stock Receipts, Warehouse Transfers Out and Warehouse Transfers In as well as Net Sales/Usage history. So that this data will be immediately available after upgrading, a conversion program will run to look at your past Transaction History and summarize these monthly amounts so they can display accurate data. Additionally, if the window is tall enough, many Year-to-Date fields and dates will be shown across the bottom. Users can also click on buttons to view Lead Times, Lost Sales Detail, a Sales Graph, and Detailed Transaction History. The Detail History is now available from within any of the months and years columns and will show the transaction history for that particular year and month for the transaction type you placed your cursor on. For example, click on Usage cell and then on the “Detail History” button will show customer sales and returns. Clicking on Returns will only show returns from customers. Receipts will only show receipts for that particular month. Warehouse Transfers Out and In will only show transfers shipping out or into this warehouse for period selected. Note that users can also double-click on a cell to go directly to the detailed transaction history for that period. Different types of units are color-coded to match the colors shown in the Transaction History tab to visually distinguish between the various types. This same screen is also now displayed in a window from Suggested P/O Review, P/O Entry, and Vendor RFQ Entry when a buyer is on an inventory item and clicks to view “Units” as this provides a much more complete picture than the old Units History window.

If the screen is long enough, and the chart control is installed, the Units Sales History chart will be displayed below the YTD fields. In this case, the “Sales Graph” button will be greyed out and disabled as the chart is already shown.

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Version 4.9___________________________________________________________________________________

4. Purchase Orders tab: If enlarged enough horizontally, the user can now see all information at one time without having to use the radio-button options at the bottom as in the past to toggle between showing different columns. This tab will display and be available in this larger format when called from other programs as well.

5. Transaction History tab: The list of detailed transactions is now displayed in a grid. The advantage of a grid is that all possible columns for all transaction types as well as the running balance can now be displayed on a line without having to toggle between which columns are displayed under the Options button. Transaction Types are also color coded to visually distinguish them. If the window is enlarged wide enough, all columns can be seen at one time without even having to use the grid’s horizontal scroll bar. Options are still available to filter the display down to one particular transaction type and to change the display order from most recent to oldest or oldest to most recent. Users can still click on transaction types including sales, returns, receipts, vendor return adjustments, and warehouse transfers to view more details about that transaction. Double-clicking on one of these transaction lines will work the same as using the “View” button.

Receipts Cost Maintenance will now show the status of the P/O # and Release # below the “Approved for A/P” check-box in the lower left corner on the window to let the user know where this receipt stands in regards to Accounts Payable. There are 4 possible status codes that may be shown: Not Processed by A/P, Processed by A/P, Partially Processed by A/P, and new in this release “Prepaid P/O”. When this program is run with the optional switch /P that allows changing the status of the receipt, the user can now select from any one of these 4 status codes.

The Batch Price/Cost Update program will now also allow updating Unit Prices on Customer Price Exceptions and Customer Contracts by a percentage increase or decrease. Two new check boxes have been added in addition to being able to update Inventory items and Catalog items so that you can update price exceptions and/or contracts separately or at the same time as needed. When either of these new check boxes are checked, a new Exception/Contract percentage box will become enabled in the Pricing section of the window where you can enter the desired increase or decrease percentage for Unit Prices. Checking either of these boxes will also enable entry of a customer number range should you wish to limit which customers price exceptions and/or contracts get updated. Only Unit Prices are updated. No other fields such as price codes, discounts, cost or rebate related fields are updated. Also, price exceptions and contracts must reference inventory items that still fall within all the other ranges that can be used in this program meaning the items must still fall within the warehouse, stock #, product code, vendor and multiplier code ranges in addition to the customer number range in order to have their Unit Price updated.

Inventory Turns can now be computed based on any time period desired. They no longer have to be computed based on your fiscal year-to-date, although they still can be if that is desirable. But this flexibility allows you to get a better idea earlier in the fiscal year of how items are performing. For example, turns can now be computed on a 12-month rolling basis. Any time period can be handled assuming you have inventory transaction history still on file for the time period desired. The time period is controlled by the “Compute Turns Start Date” and “Month Closing Date” fields entered when running the Inventory Month-End Processing program. The dates between these two dates are then scanned for the Average Quantity on Hand based on Start-of-Month Balance records in history as well as all usage during this period from history. If you have your system configured to run End-of-Month automatically, you will now be entering the “Compute Turns Starting Date” in the Batch Data Entry program on the Inventory tab instead of being required to enter the Fiscal Year starting date.

An option has been added to the Inventory Adjustments program to allow scanning in/attaching items to individual inventory adjustments. The attachment icon will be available once the adjustment has been “saved”. Users can highlight the transaction in the list box or choose to “Change” the adjustment in order to access the option to go to the attachments window. Scanned images/attachments will be saved into

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Version 4.9___________________________________________________________________________________the Inventory Transaction History and will be accessible in the Transaction History window. Scanned images/attachments can also be edited/added from Inventory Transaction History for individual adjustments.

The Inventory Detail Purge will now allow purging different information and history based on different cut-off dates. The various transactions purged in this program include Customer Back Orders that have been filled, Customer Holds that have been filled, Purchasing Contracts that have been fulfilled, Quantity Detail records that have been depleted, and Receipts History for Stock Receipts that have been processed thru Accounts Payable. In the past a single cut-off date was used to decide what to purge and what to keep in all of the above listed areas. Now, different cut-off dates are allowed to keep longer history on some transaction types than others. For example, you may only want to keep 3 months history of filled customer back orders, but may want to keep 6 months or a year on receipts history, and 2 years on Quantity Detail. You can still easily purge all transaction types using the same cut-off date as before if desired. But you can also now enter different dates for different transaction types if desired. These additional cut-off dates can be controlled when running the purge program from the menu or can be set ahead of time in the Batch Data Entry program for those users that close their month automatically.

Stock Receipts Entry will now warn the operator if (a) any of the items on the Purchase Order require Serial Number Entry and (b) if any of the items require Quantity Detail. These warnings should give the operator a chance to make sure they have all necessary serial numbers and/or quantity detail information readily available before proceeding with any receiving on this P/O.

Stock Receipts Entry will now allow also entering an Expiration Date on Quantity Detail records along with previous fields including an ID, Quantity, Reference 1, Reference 2, and Vendor ID. Any expiration dates entered will also print out on the Stock Receipts Journals along with the other Quantity Detail related fields entered. These expiration dates will then be updated onto Quantity Detail records in inventory. This was done to keep users that want to utilize expiration dates on Quantity Detail records from also having to go to the Quantity Detail Maintenance program after receiving to update them with expiration dates.

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Version 4.9___________________________________________________________________________________

Purchase Orders

You can now click on the Help from the pull-down menu bar in Purchase Order Entry while editing a P/O to see its status. The status will show if the P/O is still in the Entry stage, Released (optional if configured), Printed, Faxed, Emailed, or Processed. If the P/O has been faxed or emailed, it will also show the date and time that it was sent. Processed means the P/O was printed, faxed or emailed and then also processed thru end-of-day by the P/O Registers. This status is similar to that shown in some of the P/O searches and displays but was added here for convenience so that if a user was working on a P/O, they could conveniently check on the status without having to go to another window to do so.

Purchase Order Entry will now allow marking a P/O as “Prepaid” for purposes of Accounts Payable. This can be done using the “Edit Purchase Order Terms” icon button on the header tab to the right of the Terms box. When a P/O is marked as Prepaid, it will cause the Stock Receipts Journal to mark the items received off this P/O as prepaid as well, meaning they will not show up on the Uninvoiced Receipts Report. But more importantly, when the P/O # is entered into A/P Invoice Entry, A/P will detect that the P/O was prepaid and will warn the operator against entering another invoice against this same P/O to hopefully prevent duplicate invoices on prepaid P/O’s such as those that must be paid for up front with a check, ACH or credit card. Note that it will still be necessary to enter both the P/O and an invoice in A/P and you can still reference the P/O # on the invoice even though it is likely you will not have received any items off the P/O at the time the invoice is being entered into A/P for pre-payment, so any warnings about no receipts will need to be bypassed. If you do not have an actual invoice number yet from the vendor, but yet want to enter an invoice into A/P to pre-pay, it is suggested you use the P/O #, keeping in mind that the invoice number can be changed later on if desired in A/P Invoice/Credit Memo Maintenance (from the File pull-down menu) such as when the actual invoice is received. If you check the Prepaid P/O box, you will also be allowed to enter the A/P Invoice Number that was used to pre-pay this P/O, assuming it has been entered or will be entered using this number. If you enter an invoice number in the prepaid invoice box that is not valid or is for an invoice that does not reference this same P/O number, you will receive a warning and must either correct your prepaid invoice number or agree to accept the number as entered and bypass the warning. Inquiries into the receipts details on invoices and purchase orders will also denote the P/O and Invoice were prepaid using a notation of (Ppd). The Answers on-line help also offers some explanations on this feature under the Purchase Order Entry topic and the Frequently Asked Questions link.

When entering line items on the purchase order, the Committed Orders icon will now allow clicking on View Order and editing the sales order for committed items

The Stocking Status of Inventory items (Stocked, Non-Stocked, Inactive, Discontinued) will now display along with quantities, Last Sale Date, Minimum P/O Quantity, P/O Carton Quantity and any Conversion Method and Factor in the frame below the detail line item entry grid in Purchase Order Entry.

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Version 4.9___________________________________________________________________________________

Order Processing

Users can now easily start a new Sales Return, Sales Order or Quote by searching for a prior Invoice #, Order #, Customer P/O #, or Reference Number/field.

They should first assign the next available order # to the Order, Return, or Quote as usual.

They can then click on SearchCreate Return from Prior Sales from the pull-down menu bar.

They are then given 4 choices to search as listed above.

Once the desired number is entered and matching search results are displayed, the user can select the desired transaction (if there is more than one).

The user is then taken to another search window listing all the line items on that transaction (invoice or sales order).

The user can then choose to copy all lines, only a single line, or multiple selected lines from the previous transaction into the new Order, Return, or Quote.

When this feature is used, not only are the line items copied into the new Order, Return, or Quote, but also relevant header information is copied such as customer, ship-to address, P/O #, salesman, authorization, freight mode, etc.

This is very similar to starting an Order, Return, or Quote and entering the header information manually and then using the search options from the Detail tab to copy or return items from previous invoices or sales orders. The advantage of this method is it will save steps and will also copy in relevant header information, especially when entering a return that is solely or primarily related to a single previous transaction, although other items could be added once started using this new feature, either manually or by searching from the Detail tab.

Order Entry will now show the Gross Margin % on each line to the right of the Unit and Extended Cost on each line item on the Detail tab, provided that the user is allowed to see costs. This is a read-only column and provides the same information as the Gross Margin Review window accessible from the Totals tab but is shown here for convenience of the user as they key in orders and quotes. Additionally, gross margin %’s above the minimum configured percentage will be shown in green while those below the minimum configured percentage will be shown in red similar to the Gross Margin Review window.

Order Entry will not accept negative freight amounts. This means on a Sales Return, a negative freight amount can be entered to decrease the amount of credit given and to charge the customer for freight charges. Negative freight can also be entered in Order Entry to decrease the sales order total/return when needed for items being returned and freight charges passed along to the customer.

Order Entry will determine the collect account # for Freight Collect orders and display it on the Order Header tab when the Order Entry screen is in the expanded view, larger size format. The collect account number will be shown beneath the Ship Complete options. If the sales order has a Freight Mode that is COL for collect, or the USPS or FedEx settings are Freight Collect, and the Carrier contains “UPS” or “FedEx” or “Fed Ex”, it will show the appropriate terminology, “UPS Collect Acct #” or “FedEx Collect Acct #”. It determines the Carrier by searching for UPS or FedEx or Fed Ex. Carrier codes can be edited in the Codes File Maintenance. Pick Tickets and Invoices and Order Acknowledgements will also print this at the beginning of the detail lines before standard comments.

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Version 4.9___________________________________________________________________________________ Order Entry now allows for viewing and searching for Alternate Vendors. Under the “Inventory” menu and right-click, the Alternate Vendors are now viewable for inventory items which have alternate vendors defined. When in the Vendor # field on a line item, items which have Alternate Vendors will now provide an Alternate Vendor # Search which will override the current cost, vendor #, and the vendor part # with the selected Alternate Vendor. There is also a button to “Default Vendor/Cost” if an Alternate Vendor is selected but then you wish to go back to the standard default vendor #, cost, and vendor part number.

You can now check a box that will instruct notes entered on orders, returns, quotes and warehouse transfers to pop-up automatically whenever that particular order, quote, return, or transfer is opened in the Order Entry program. This new check-box appears over top of the Notes entry box on the Orders Header tab of Order Entry when the window is enlarged enough vertically for notes to be seen. This new check-box is also available in the pop-up Order Notes window if you click on the toolbar icon or pull-down menu bar selection to access notes in that manner.

When creating/updating purchase orders and vendor returns from Order Entry, the list displayed at the end of the sales orders for editing, printing, and sending can now accommodate up to 90 items. Before, it accommodated 10. The items could be added to more than 10 purchase orders or vendor returns, but only the first 10 were displayed in the list. Now, up to 90 different purchase orders can be displayed on the list.

A configuration option has been added to prevent entering new orders for customers on Credit Review status. Normally, customers on Credit Review status can have orders entered, but the orders are placed on “Hold” status. This option will prevent the operator from entering orders for them at all.

Order Processing > Advanced Options > #22

The Unit Cost on stocked Kit Components can now be edited if the Kit item is set to ”Manual Costing”. Line items including kit items can be set to Manual Costing by right-clicking in the Unit Cost cell on the main kit line selecting “Find Unit Cost” and then checking the “Manual Cost” box. Kit items can also be set to Manual Costing under the “Edit” pull-down menu from within the Edit Kit/Components window. The Manual Costing option is not recommended on regular items nor kits. However, it is offered should a company decide they need it for isolated situations that may warrant it. Using the Manual Costing feature overrides the automatic costing and updating routines built into the system to keep costs as accurate as possible. Also note that placing a Kit item on Manual Costing keeps the entire kit (meaning all components) from having any costs updated automatically as it is processed throughout the system. However, there are isolated cases where it can be useful, such as if you are completely out of an item or a component and the costs in inventory are wrong and out-of-date. Entering in an updated cost to have copied over to the P/O can save a step. In such a situation where no existing inventory is on hand to value at a different cost and you are confident in the new cost you are entering, then you should not cause any improper discrepancies or erroneous gross margins to be shown, tracked, or reported.

An option has been added to allow for inserting a New Page when printing Quotes, Pick Tickets, Invoices, and WH Transfer tickets. A “new page” can be inserted by right-clicking on a line in Order Entry. Order Entry (and all the inquiries) will show a category of “C” and a description of “<NEW PAGE>” on the line that will start the next page. Even though this line is part of the sales order, it does not print this line, but will force the start of a new page when printed. For users who print tickets sorted by Aisle/Bin, it may be less desirable to use this option because the tickets are re-sorted when printed and the lines get moved around when sorted.

Special Charges have been updated to allow for setting up “surcharges” that can be computed for a line item or for total line items, similar to how restocking fees are computed for returned items. Special Charges Maintenance now has an option to allow selecting either a $ per item or a % of the total that will be computed when the special charge is selected. As with the restocking fees, when this special charge

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Version 4.9___________________________________________________________________________________is selected, Order Entry will prompt the user with the list of line items and allow you to select a single line, or the total of all lines to compute the charges on. Surcharges can be applied against returns or sales orders.

A Special Charge of “CCF” can be defined to allow for the automatic calculation of a credit card surcharge fee. Along with the creation of a special charge using the ID of CCF that is set to either a $ or % surcharge fee, the individual credit card terms codes must be flagged through Codes File Maintenance that credit card surcharges apply. This is a new checkbox found when editing the terms code in Codes File Maintenance. Order Entry and Order Return will check the terms codes and check to see if the CCF special charge exists, and if so, when totaling the order pop up the Special Charges Calculator window listing all the items and the total amount of surcharge to apply. The user can cancel out if they do not wish to apply the surcharge. On subsequent edits of the order, the window will only be shown if the credit card surcharge amount changes because items are added, removed, or quantities/prices changed, etc. Otherwise, the user may see the calculation window come up and then close if the totals have not changed. If the totals do change, the window will be displayed for the user to select the charge. A CCF line will be added to the order as the last line of the order with the charge.

Special Charges can now carry a cost along with a price. Special Charges Maintenance will now allow entering a default Unit Cost on records to be defaulted onto orders, quotes and in kits the same as it does for a default Unit Price. However, a default Unit Cost is not required when setting up a Special Charge as many Special Charges may still not have a direct cost that can be attributed to them. However, if you do plan on setting a default Unit Cost or entering/overriding the cost of the Special Charge on line items or within kits on orders and quotes, then you also need to assign the proper General Ledger Account numbers to be debited when sold such as a Cost of Goods Sold type account as well as an account to be credited when sold. The credit side would be similar to that of an Inventory Asset account for real items but is not likely to be an inventory account. Instead it will likely point to an account where the charges or expenses for this type of charge are posted when they are brought into the system such as thru Accounts Payable. Since Special Charges can now carry both a price and a cost when desired, you may want to re-think assigning these a product code if they have never had one before if you want to track them and have them included in Sales Analysis. One reason that Special Charges often had their product codes left blank in the past was because they could not really represent a true gross margin, thus possibly distorting some Sales Analysis totals. Now with the option to carry both a price and cost, you may want some Special Charges tracked in Sales Analysis, however this is not required, and the product code field can still be left blank/zero on Special Charges to keep them out of Sales Analysis.

The Stocking Status (Stocked, Non-Stocked, Inactive, Discontinued) of Inventory items will now display along with quantities, carton size, and substitute part number and quantity in the frame below the detail line item entry grid in Order Entry.

The Order Processing tab of the Software Configuration program now allows setting up a configuration option to be required to reinstate an “Original Back Order” back to an “open” status order. Due to the complexities involving back orders and the various scenarios that can result, some companies may wish to password protect this option now, similar to how you can protect reprinting of pick tickets, cancelling of orders, reinstating released or invoiced orders, etc. When a password is entered in the configuration, the prompt to reinstate an Original Back Order will then require entry of this password if the user replies Yes to prompt they receive upon trying to edit the order. If you setup a password for this option, you may want to stress to users that many changes to orders can still be made without reinstating the order back to an “open” order. They can change anything as long as they do not try to ship an item off an original back order to where the Original Back Order would end up with an Order Total amount. That is the only time it is necessary to reinstate an Original Back Order to an “open” status.

Order Processing > Standard Options > #50

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Version 4.9___________________________________________________________________________________

Accounts Receivable

The Invoice History tab and windows will now also show the Back Ordered quantity in addition to the Shipped quantity on each line. The Back Ordered quantity will show immediately to the right of the Shipped Quantity and before the Unit Price. Users may wish to adjust their window size horizontally if they had their previous window size for Customer Inquiry or Invoice History windows sized to where they could see certain fields desired upon initially view history without having to scroll. With the addition of this extra quantity B/O column, users may desire to make their invoice history windows a little larger if they want to continue seeing the very same columns they were in previous versions.

Customer Mass Maintenance will now allow selecting/filtering which customers to update with mass maintenance changes based on a city and/or state that are found in their address lines. The city and state are parsed according to the same rules as those used by other programs such as the Customer Export to Excel and Invoice History Export to Excel. These essentially mean that the city and state must appear on the last address line in use on a customer. The city and state can be entered on any of the 3 address lines, but simply must be the last one used on that customer. This will normally mean they will appear on address line 2 or 3. City and states should appear on the same line and be separated by a comma or a space or both. The state must be the last “word” on the last address line, with the city preceding it. The selection/filtering of city and states is case insensitive meaning that it will find the correct customers to update regardless of how you have your addresses entered on customers (all upper-case or a combination of upper and lower-case letters).

When selecting invoices to re-print/re-send in Customer Inquiry, Account Analysis and Account Analysis History, the system will keep a running total of the number and dollar amount of the invoices selected and will display this information out to the right of current push buttons and icons provided you have enlarged your window wide enough to be able to see this status message. If you cannot make your window wide enough to see this message or do not wish to, you can also right-click anywhere in the grid and the Number of Selected Invoices and Total Amount Selected will be shown at the top of the right-click menu.

The searches available in Customer Inquiry from the drop-down arrow have been modified to remember the last search criteria during that Customer Inquiry session. If you search by P/O #, or Check #, or for Miscellaneous Info, or any of the other searches, it will remember your settings when you return to the search. This will keep the user from having to re-enter their criteria if they chose the wrong customer to view in more detail. Once you exit Customer Inquiry, it will clear out all saved search criteria.

The Customer P/O # Search located on the drop-down arrow in Customer Inquiry has been modified to search across all customers and to be a partial search as well. A checkbox has been added to control whether the P/O # must match exact or can be a partial search. The P/O #’s will also be shown in the list box now, as they may only be a partial match of the search criteria.

An option has been added to the Account Analysis tab to show only “open” items. Users can click on the “Options” button and this will be a check-box available to sort and narrow down the list of items shown to only display the items with a balance remaining.

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Version 4.9___________________________________________________________________________________

Accounts Payable

The searches available in Vendor Inquiry from the drop-down arrow have been modified to remember the last search criteria during that Customer Inquiry session. If you search by Invoice #, P/O #, RMA #, Keywords, or for Miscellaneous Info, it will remember your settings when you return to the search. This will keep the user from having to re-enter their criteria if they chose the wrong vendor to view in more detail. Once you exit Vendor Inquiry, it will clear out all saved search criteria.

A/P Invoice Entry will now check the Purchase Order number entered on A/P Invoices against the P/O Header to see if the P/O has been flagged as “Prepaid”. If it has been checked as Prepaid, A/P Invoice Entry will warn the A/P operator of this fact and against entering another invoice for this same P/O. This feature is to prevent the entry of duplicate invoices for a prepaid as can often happen if one is entered up front in order to print a check, pay via ACH, or pay with a credit card, and then again when an actual invoice from the vendor comes in after the fact. P/O’s can now be marked as Prepaid using the “Edit Purchase Order Terms” icon button on the header tab in P/O Entry. Marking a P/O as Prepaid also flags the receipts accordingly so that they do not print on the Uninvoiced Receipts Report. Note that it will still be necessary to enter both the P/O and an invoice in A/P and you can still reference the P/O # on the invoice even though it is likely you will not have received any items off the P/O at the time the invoice is being entered into A/P for pre-payment, so any warnings about no receipts will need to be bypassed. If you do not have an actual invoice number yet from the vendor, but yet want to enter an invoice into A/P to pre-pay, it is suggested you use the P/O #, keeping in mind that the invoice number can be changed later on if desired in A/P Invoice/Credit Memo Maintenance (from the File pull-down menu) such as when the actual invoice is received. Inquiries into the receipts details on invoices and purchase orders will also denote the P/O and Invoice were prepaid using a notation of (Ppd).

An option has been added to the Account Analysis tab to show only “open” items. Users can click on the “Options” button and this will be a check-box available to sort and narrow down the list of items shown to only display the items with a balance remaining.

The Check Reprint program will now allow changing the option to reprint checks using the same check number as original or voiding the original check and reprinting them by assigning a new check number. In the past this was controlled solely by an A/P configuration option and could not be changed except in the A/P tab of the Software Configuration program. This configuration option will still control the default behavior of this program, however now a new check box is provided that will allow changing this setting at runtime as different situations dictate. When it is checked, the program will prompt for a new starting check number to be assigned to reprinted checks, thus voiding the old check numbers assigned on the original print. When un-checked, the checks are reprinted using the same numbers as assigned originally. Reprinting by assigning new check numbers is often now desirable if the original checks are ruined such as by printer jams, inserted into the printer wrong etc. as most companies and banks want check numbers pre-printed on the check forms these days. However, in other situations such as if the wrong printer or printer tray was selected or the view option was selected by mistake, then it may be desirable to reprint using the same check numbers as the original checks were not ever actually printed on.

Accounts Payable > Advanced Options > #7

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Version 4.9___________________________________________________________________________________

General Ledger

In G/L Account Maintenance, the Activity and History tabs now provide a [Reverse Entry] button that you can click on after clicking on an entry to high-light it, to create an entry that would be the reversal of the original entry. After you click on the "Reverse Entry" button, you will be taken to a Manual Journal Entry window with the same accounts and amounts already defaulted except that all debits and credits will be reversed. This feature provides an easy way to reverse entries in exact opposite as how they were made originally as well as an easy way to correct entries posted to wrong accounts, whether it be the Error Account 99999 or others posted in error.

The Source Code will not default as it is recommended you use something different for manual and reversing entries than automated entries created by the system.

The date will default to the original entry date but can be changed if desired.

The header comment will default from the first line but can be changed if needed. All line comments will default to the same as they were originally.

The Reversing Flag will default the same way in which the original entry was set.

While the account numbers will default to all the same accounts as on the original entry, they can be changed as needed. For example, if an entry was sent to the Error Account 99999 because of a configuration setting was missing or an interface entry not setup properly, you could create a reversing entry and leave the Error Account 99999 entry in place to zero it out, while changing the other account involved in the entry to the account that should have been on the entry to begin with.

Once the reversing entry is posted, you will be prompted if you want to view or print the Journal Entry Register just as if you were doing this entry manually.

If you get into the reversing entry and decide not to proceed with the entry, you can exit/cancel back out without affecting creating the reversing entry.

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Version 4.9___________________________________________________________________________________

Answers Enhancement Suggestions Guidelines

We are now accepting enhancement suggestions that you feel would be beneficial in a future release of Answers. These will be compiled and placed on an “Enhancement Ballot” that will be made available to all Answers users later this fall. You and fellow users will then have an opportunity to “vote” on a selected number of enhancements that would be the most beneficial.

It is to your advantage to explain your enhancements in enough detail so that other users will under-stand them and consider voting for them when they receive the Enhancement Ballot.

Enhancements must also be explained in a manner so that Data Resource’s developers can program the enhancement should it receive enough votes to be done.

We also limit suggestions to 5 per year per customer so that the Enhancement Ballot can remain a manageable size. Suggestions that are not explained adequately, those exceeding this limit, or those for features already available will be rejected.

The cut-off date for submitting your suggestions is Friday, November 9th, 2018 . We welcome your sug-gestions by either of the following methods prior to this date so we can include them on the Enhance-ment Ballot for next year’s release.

Email: [email protected] Web: http://www.drcanswers.com/software_enhancements_submit.htm

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http://www.drcanswers.com/software_enhancements_submit.htm

mailto:[email protected]?subject=Enhancement%20Suggestion

Documents

ANSWERSdrcanswers.com/ReleaseNotice2018.doc · Web viewPurchase Order Entry will now show the status of the P/O (Entered, Released, Printed, Faxed, Emailed, Processed) from the