ABM 2010

ABM 2010 Goals

Improving the user experience Increasing user productivity Expanding our job costing markets Addressing the wishes of our partners and users

ABM 2010 NEW FEATURES

IMPROVED GRIDS

Enhanced Grids improve the user interface

Master file and transaction lists now use a new grid control which gives users and channel partners enhanced capabilities.

Enhanced Grids improve the user interface

Data can be grouped and sub-grouped as well as subtotaled and totaled by dragging columns into the box at the top…just like Outlook.

Enhanced Grids improve the user interface

Additional filters are now available to view data selectively including filtering on several values at the same time (old version only allows one)

Enhanced Grids improve the user interface

And custom filters can be specified.For example, all products with “123” in the part number and group “ABC”

Enhanced Grids improve the user interface

The master file and transaction lists can also be customised by renaming the column headings to suit the user company and also the column alignment.

Enhanced Grids improve the user interface

There is a new list of estimates which can be sorted and filtered.

Enhanced Grids improve the user interface

Most transaction lists now offer several date range options and default to the last one selected.

IMPROVED VIEWER

Improved viewing of data in ABM

Say goodbye to the ABM viewer…..

Improved viewing of data in ABM

….and hello to the ABM Explorer. Doing away with tabs makes the viewer windows less cluttered.

The ABM Explorer

As its name suggests, the ABM Explorer uses the Internet Explorer style in allowing the user to move through pages of information by clicking on navigation buttons and selecting from a drop down page list.

Conference 2008 wish

The ABM Explorer

Clicking on a blue underlined link jumps directly to the window which lists the underlying data. For example, clicking on the customer orders link….

The ABM Explorer

Jumps to the viewer page which lists the underlying outstanding orders.

If you want to examine a particular order, click on its link ….

The ABM Explorer

And a new explorer page opens showing the order details.More links let the user jump to the customer, the sales analysis code or to other products.

The ABM Explorer

While we are here, note that you can now edit, delete, deliver, return, invoice or credit the order or quote direct from the view window or even create a new one.

The ABM Explorer

Similarly, you can click on a customer’s or supplier’s aged balance….

The ABM Explorer

And see the transactions which make up that balance

UPDATED REPORT ENGINE

Crystal 2008 is here!

ABM reports will now allow use of all Crystal 2008 features

What can you do with Crystal 2008?

Pictures can now be linked based on a file location in the database

What can you do with Crystal 2008?

Parameter panel to quickly change Crystal parameters

Flexible pagination – you can now have portrait and landscape pages within a single report

Built-in barcode support

Potential for advanced visualisations with Xcelsius and Adobe Flex integration

Flashing text on printed reports

And something to really cheer about….

In conjunction with the ABM Explorer…

Drill-across from reports!!!

NEW MAINTENANCE FUNCTIONALITY

Reduced data entry when adding master files

A new “paste” button is available when adding new customers, suppliers, products, jobs, etc. This allows users to open a similar record, click “copy”, add the new record and click “paste” to copy the data into all fields to save manual data entry.

More Productivity

Reduced data entry errors

When adding or editing customers and suppliers in Australia, the ABN is now checked using the Tax Dept. formula.

Quickly locating products in the warehouse

When viewing a product, a new tab allows users to see, at a glance, the warehouse bins where the product is located.

More Productivity

View a Product’s Quotes and Estimates at a Glance

The product viewer has been extended to show where that product has been included in quotes and in job estimates. Users considering price changes can therefore quickly review their outstanding commitments.

More Productivity

SALES

Multiple Delivery Addresses

Any number of delivery addresses can now be stored for each customer and are selected from a list by name

Multiple Delivery Addresses

Any number of delivery addresses can now be stored for each customer and are selected from a list by name. At the same time, the sales screen has been reorganised to make the delivery addresses more prominent.

Adding Special Price/Discounts on the Fly

If a new option is selected, the user can easily add a new special price or discount at the time of entering a sales quote, order, delivery or invoice.

When the user changes a price or discount, they are asked if the changes are to be saved for future use

BM Feature

Adding Special Price/Discounts on the Fly

The user then has an opportunity to specify the scope of the special price or discount and it is automatically added to the appropriate table. If no suitable table exists then it will be automatically created.

Quick access to a customer’s past purchases

A new button gives rapid access to the last three occasions when the customer purchased the selected product.

Default Sales Locations

You can now specify the usual stock location which applies to sales to each customer and ABM will now default to that location.

Other Sales Improvements

A visual warning and beep is now given if a customer exceeds their credit limit in the course of a sale.

When entering orders and using “Save & New”, the order number allocated shows on the screen so that it can be quoted to the customer.

If a customer’s terms are “Cash” and the invoice is not paid then it is immediately aged as outstanding in the age 4 column so that it gets attention.

When a deposit is taken on a sales order, the printed document now shows the deposit.

PURCHASES

Fast updating of delivery dates

A new option allows the delivery dates on all items in a purchase order to be updated in one step.

Other Purchases Improvements

The suggest order facility is now able to use sales projections six months and one year ahead.

Optional sequential references on receipts

A new facility in Tools/Options allows users to have receipt references increment automatically for tracking and audit purposes.

Optional sequential references on transfers

A new facility in Tools/Options allows users to have transfer references increment automatically for tracking and audit purposes.

Less data entry on purchase orders

Delivery addresses can now be stored for each stock location. This saves having to manually enter the delivery address each time a purchase order is raised.

STOCK REORDERING

Purchasing for Kit Manufacture

The reorder wizard has been extended to allow the user to select a kit and the quantity to be manufactured so that component shortages can be purchased.

The Reorder Wizard becomes more flexible

The reorder wizard defaults to the preferred supplier but now allows you to review the other suppliers, their minimum order quantities and buy prices, by means of an embedded drop list. You can then pick the one you wish to buy from.

The Reorder Wizard becomes more flexible

You can also now change the buying price on the fly and this will flow through to the purchase orders and the product records.

JOB COSTING

Parent Jobs for Job Costing

Jobs can now have Parent Jobs, to introduce an additional level of consolidation.

Better information

Parent Jobs for Job Costing

When viewing the parent job the user can choose whether to consolidate sub-jobs’ transactions, balances and other items with the parent job’s details.

Parent Jobs for Job Costing

Project Invoicing will allow related jobs to be billed together

Job reports will provide an option to include sub-jobs when reporting on parent jobs.

Transaction entry will remain unchanged

Additional Job Report Filters

New report filters are provided for

• Job Status

• Job Priority

• Job Account Manager

Additional Details for Job Management

Additional information can be stored on jobs for a site address and to better manage the contact information.

Improved Job Estimates

•Redesigned to be more like other transaction screens.•Customer reference can be specified•Estimate and Expiry dates•New type and status for better management

•Prices can be shown as GST inclusive

Improved Job Estimates

Details of supplier quotes for items can now be recorded for future reference.

Better Actual vs Estimate Reporting

Multiple estimates can now be “active” for comparative reporting purposes

Existing estimate transaction data will be upgraded to better match the structure of actual transactions

Reports

Standard reports comparing actuals with estimates will be updated to have better granularity and drilldowns

Custom reports comparing actuals with estimates will need to be adjusted to use the new data structure

Purchasing for Job Estimates

A new wizard for creating purchase orders from job estimates!

Step 1 – Select the job to order for (can include sub-jobs)

More Productivity

Purchasing for Job Estimates

Step 2 – Allocate the estimated items to suppliers

Purchasing for Job Estimates

Step 3 – Confirm the orders and add further details, then process

BUT WAIT THERE IS MORE

Better Control in Advanced Documents

Forms set up using Advanced Documents may now be set to apply to multiple selections…

And may also be set to not apply to multiple selections.

Eg. “All Customers, except “Cash Sales”

“All Suppliers in the Trade Suppliers and Sub-Contractors Groups, except Cable Supplies Ltd”

Reducing database size

If redundant data is removed from the database then datachecks and transaction processing speed can be improved and backups are smaller and quicker. A new option allows obsolete data to be removed but only by the System Administrator.

Conference 2008 wish

Security Improvements

Users now can’t use the Snapshot report writer to access data which they are not allowed to see.

Users can’t connect or disconnect databases unless they are authorised to change access rights

There is a new option which requires user names to be typed rather than selected from a list.

More Improvements

The list of quotes at the Business Today screen can now show the expiry dates of the listed quotes.

Embedded, but not leading, spaces are allowed again in product, customer, job, etc. codes.

A new CompanyRefs table reduces record locking delays on large sites with high transaction volumes.

When you view cashbook transactions, the bank statement on which it was presented is shown. The transactions seen in the bank reconciliation window can

now be exported to Excel. When cheque deposit details are entered at the time of receipt entry, ABM

will now ask if they are to be saved to the customer’s account for re-use next time.

Conference 2008 wish

Conference 2008 wish

And more improvements

Unit prices now available when viewing product transaction lists.

Run numbers now available at the Business Today sales lists.

An ability to have different window colours for different companies

And more …

The date can now be specified when assembling kits

Users are warned if they accidentally change a customer to a prospect

In the job explorer the cost analysis is now totalled.

The ledger datacheck is now faster

The datacheck now logs the completion of each task in the activity log.

The option of a date range has been added to several transaction lists.

The sales order lists can now include a run number column.

Totals have been added to the cost analysis page of the job viewer.

The unit price can now be seen on the invoice history list in products.

TransDetails custom fields can have formulae on text and date fields.

And yet more …

Supplier remittances can now be reprinted, displayed or emailed even if they had not been printed in the first place.

When the software is registered, the type of industry is now requested.

The trial balance now contains a warning message if it does not balance.

The GST detail report has been separated into sales and purchases.

Special prices can now be imported and exported.