Version Release Notes for Green Logic Systems version 2.00.08

Release Date: 27/09/2013

Please Note: This update may take several hours to complete, during which time Green Logic Systems will be un-usable on any computer. Once you have updated the first computer, the rest will have to be updated prior to using Green Logic Systems, but the install time should be a matter of minutes, rather than hours for these ones.
Please read and understand the installation instructions available to download with the latest version. Ring me if you have any questions.
Please see release notes for versions 2.00.06 and 2.00.07 which were not publicly released, but were issued as separate releases to aid development.

This update contains numerous new features, design changes and bug fixes. Some of the more major changes are listed below, but many others have also been implemented.
Let me know what other features and changes you'd like made and if you do find any bugs in this release, please accept my apologies and let me know imediately.

• Fixed bug when trying to import an item from the Itemstore database when no Label Printer is setup.
• Changed Item Stock Valuation Calculation to prevent mis-calculation where negative stock adjustments had higher prices than the original purchase cost, which would under-value the Item Stock.
• Equipment Sales History and Profitability Reporting - New Feature allowing users (with higher permission levels) to look back and see the sales history for any period, for Equipment Sales. Detail level can be changed to show profit on individual sales, or by equipment Model, Make, Type or Department.
• Add Equipment Details to a Counter Sales type invoice - New Feature. Using the new <-> button on Invoices, you can now add a link to equipment that a Customer owns to a Counter Sales Invoice. This feature has been added after dealers requested the ability to link spare parts sales to a particular item of equipment that the customer owns to make part ordering easier and to show a better history of customer spend on that equipment. Further changes to Customer Details, Equipment Owned reflect these changes along with further new features.
• Model Edit List has been re-done from scratch to inlcude information about Product Registration and Default Values for Department and VAT Rate Type. Now also highlights models with current stock and has better search facilities for find specific models. Sales Stock Line and Price fields, along with Requires Registration can now be edited directly in the list.
• PC User Log-out time can now be set to a custom time-out period on a per PC basis - see Admin Menu > Users & User Groups > Edit PC Default Settings to change the log-out times.
• Equipment Book In form - replacement form. Addressed known bugs in creating 'ghost records' whereby equipment levels show more stock in the Equipment List than they do when you view Equipment Details. Other changes include better book-in history and a change in the way serial numbers are added to allow the user to book in multiple items of the same equipment and then enter the serial numbers line by line afterwards.
• Equipment Stock List & Finding Equipment for Invoices and Sales Orders - changes to all these forms to give better search and find options. Please Note that the Equipment Stock List 'On Order' Quantity now includes Pending Orders (previously excluded).
• Equipment Effective Cost Price - New Feature - You can now alter the 'Effective Cost Price' of Equipment Sales at any point. You can use this to off-set PDI costs against the profitability of Sales, or use it as part of your accounting annual write-down. It's also used for the Hire Equipment Fleet to enable more accurate fleet valuation.
• Hire Section - New Feature - Entire new section for hiring out of equipment. Before adding equipment to the hire fleet, you must book it in as 'normal' New Equipment stock. After which, you can then add it to the hire fleet within the Hire Admin Menu. Then you can set the charge out rates and create barcodes or barcode sheets for each item on the hire fleet. These barcodes can then be scanned on invoices or you'll find a new button on the invoice to allow you to manually select hire equipment and set the hire duration and prices. Adding this feature also included options to take and return deposits on invoices. These changes are available to all types of invoice, not just hire ones.
• Equipment Details form - All new form showing greater detail on equipment in stock, sales history and purchase history. From here, you can also take advantage of the new features for Equipment Departments and changes to Effective Cost Prices.
• Equipment Departments now available - New Feature - You can create different departments for different sales lines all within equipment. This will give you a separate column in Income reporting for that department and will allow you to see greater detail in your revenue sources and profitability. Designed for those dealers that sell a diverse range of products and want to see more information on each department, e.g. if you sell Stoves, or Jacuzzi's or Quads alongside Power Equipment, you can now account for them separately. Two new departments have been created automatically during this update - New Equipment Sales and Used Equipment Sales, so you should be able to continue as you were without making any changes unless you want to.
• Product Registration - New Feature to allow you to record as and when equipment sales are registered with your supplier / manufacturer. Each Model has a field 'Model Requires Registration' and when you next book in equipment you will see a tick box asking if this equipment requires registration. If it does, you can tick this box. When the equipment is sold, it will then appear in a list of equipment requiring registration that can be found in the Equipment Admin Menu. From here, you can record when and who registered it, along with keeping an internal note of any registration number provided to you as you register it, or just a note for yourself.
• Itemstore Importing of Items - Changed coding so that green logic will atempt to match the supplier name entered during the price file import to a supplier name in green logic. If the names match, then the item import will create a link between the make and the supplier to make ordering of items easier. Please note that the supplier name used in the price file import will need to match EXACTLY the supplier name used in Green Logic.
• Expenditure Supplier Details, Admin Section - changed coding in the Admin tab. Now correctly pays off multilple invoices with multiple payments. Previously, it would over-pay the first invoice and under-pay subsequent ones, although the account balance was correct afterwards.
• Invoice by Status List - Exporting of the list now also shows Customer Account Number, as does the printed report.
• Workshop Job Types - Users can now create their own workshop Job Types via the Database Maintenance Menu > Edit Job Types.
• Customer Notes - Improved the Customer Notes form, with search facilities to find Notes by Customer and added filters to allow you to view Invoice and Sales Order Notes for the Customer alongside standard Customer Notes. The intention is to provide more functionality using notes to set reminders and 'to do' lists for users, please let me know what additional features you'd like added and how you like to be able to access / view the information.
• Itemstore Price File Importing - Manufacturers Barcodes are now imported correctly and numerous changes to ensure that the 'catch-all' values for Make, Department and Discount/Margin are applied to lines where the user doesn't enter this information.
  Please Note: The best way to prevent 'Data conversion errors' whilst importing is to insert a single line at the top of the price file spreadsheet, imediately below column headings (if present), but above all data lines containing the letter 'a' (without the punctuation marks) in each column. This will ensure that all data is imported as text and then converted as required by Green Logic. This is an easier work-around than some of you may already be using and seems to be the most efficient method to overcome the import limitations.
• Customer Find form - Changed coding so that you can select the top customer (or only customer if list only contains one) without having to either press 'Enter' twice or use the arrow keys to select the top line. It automatically selects the top line for you.
• Items, Editing Invoice Line - fixed bug whereby the Item Location was not being shown, despite their being a box called 'Location'.
• Dealer Names - Fixed bug wherein Dealer Names containng an apostrophe would prevent Invoices from printing.
• Credit Notes can now be viewed from 'Completed Invoices' within the Invoicing Menu and they now show a box on the left-hand side with the Invoice and Document Numbers of the Original Invoice they were Credited against.
• Payment Method on Invoices now shows more details, including any deposit received and outstanding balance.
• Customer Contacts - first contact added for a customer should now automatically be marked as the Primary Contact for that customer (which will then show their contact details on invoices).
• Mechanic Daysheet report - fixed bug whereby jobs 'on hold' were being listed.
• Expenditure Entry form - added ability to manually change the Payment Date if posting an entry that has already been paid. Previously, it defaulted to the Invoice date and you couldn't change it.
• Sales Orders - fixed bug wherein Removing a line from a Sales Order put up an additional message asking for confirmation of deletion of that line.
• Equipment Stock Valuation - changed the Exported spreadsheet to include a column 'Allocated' which shows any equipment on open invoices, not yet invoiced, along with the relevant Document Number.
• Added new feature to allow users to link Counter Sales type Invoices (once a Customer is selected) to Equipment that the selected customer owns via a new small button on the bottom of Invoices '<->'. Also allows you to create a new Equipment record for the selected customer - designed for tying spare part purchases to the equipment history and to aid identifying parts for ordering.
• Customer Equipment Owned, within Customer Details has been replaced with a new simplified list of equipment owned, which now links to another form showing more accurate and greater detail on the spend history for that model. Also new features to be able to merge duplicate equipment records together, along with feature to mark that the equipment has either a new owner or that it had a previous owner, to tie the same item of equipment to more than one customer if sold from one customer to another.
• Updated Customer Accounts form so that the Till / Cash Drawer will open if allowed for receipt of payments.
• Deposits - Changes have been made to how you can take Deposits and where. You can now take deposits against invoices that as yet have no value - see the new 'Deposits' button on Invoices. There is also a Deposits button in the Job Entry form which will allow you to open the till when taking cash deposits for workshop jobs. Sales Orders also have a Deposits button, which will post a payment to the customers account for you to use on any invoices you later raise to that customer. Please note that you will have to decide when and how much deposit to allocate to the invoices you raise. Lastly, there is also a Deposits button on the Completed Invoice form which will only become 'live' when there is a Deposit to Return to the customer. This has been added to allow you to return a Hire Deposit to a customer in case you forget to do it while the invoice is still live.
• Job Entry form - Added option to show a message with the newly created Job Number on it to appear whilst the jobcard is printing. If you wish to see the pop-up message with the Job Number, go into Admin Menu > Database Setup > Local System Variables and look for: 'Show pop-up message with Job Number on completing Job Entry' next to the Form Name 'Job Entry Form'. Change the (default) 0 to -1 in the 'Set Value' column on each PC.
• Sales Order Picking List - Fixed bug whereby Equipment Free Stock Quantities were including Deleted Equipment.
• Job Allocation List - fixed bug when trying to print a report after having selected a Job Type.
• Updated Edit Departments form to give more options for updating Gross Profit Margin on Value fields. Users can now back-date changes to Value Line Cost Prices to then export Income spreadsheets with more accurate 'Nett after Item Cost' values.
• Search Form - Changed coding when searching for Customer Contacts to exclude deleted contacts and deleted contact details.