Product Update

April 23, 2005

1. Administrative: Copy roles and rate cards; set default start day of week at company level; filter set enhancements; other administrative features.

2. Reports: Booked/Assigned FTE values; display hierarchy data without subtotals; show projects to which users are assigned; other reporting enhancements.

3. Projects: Notification when new project is created.

4. Invoices: Shipping contacts for invoices; combine expense item timebills on invoices.

5. Expenses: Require current price on receipts; show price, rejection reason on expense report layout; restrict users to default currency for envelopes.

6. Other module enhancements: Timesheets; Resources; Opportunities; Purchases.

7. Would you like to see previous OpenAir product updates?

8. Suggestions, problems or questions?


1. Administrative: Copy roles and rate cards; set default start day of week at company level; filter set enhancements; other administrative features.

OpenAir adds several features in our April release to make account maintenance easier for administrators. First is an option to copy roles and rate cards. Roles in OpenAir govern the rights and privileges of users. Role configuration is extremely flexible; as a result the role has a multitude of selectable options. If an administrator wanted to configure a new role in the past, s/he would have to specify each individual setting. With the current release, you can clone a role that’s close to the new role you need to create, and tweak the specific rights and privileges that you want to change. To use this feature, go to My Account > Roles > [select the role to be copied]. In the Create dropdown on the right is a new option to "create role from this role". Create the new role, make changes as desired and save.

Similar functionality allows you to copy a rate card from an existing rate card. Rate cards are used in project billing rules, or in project pricing scenarios. They are based on job codes, with a billing rate associated with each job code. As with roles, rates cards are highly configurable. With our current release, if you want to create a new rate card where one particular job code has a different rate, you can copy a rate card from an existing rate card, and change the rate for that one job code, rather than setting up a new rate card from scratch. To use this feature, go to My Account > Rate cards > [select the rate card to be copied]. In the Create dropdown on the right is a new option to "create rate card from this rate card". Create the new rate card, make changes as desired and save.

We have also added a new feature that lets you set the default start day of the week for timesheets, company-wide. The default start day of the week for new OpenAir users is Monday. To change this in the past, administrators had to create the new user(s), then change the start day for each new user either individually or by using the bulk user change wizard. If your company’s week starts on a day other than Monday, we now allow you to set the default start day at the company level. To do this, administrators navigate to My Account > Company > Settings > Time settings. Select the default week start day and save. If a particular user has a different start day from the company norm, you can still modify the user, by going to the user demographic form and selecting from the “Week starts” dropdown.

Filter sets have also been enhanced in a few ways in the current release. Filter sets provide a powerful tool to limit the data that can be accessed by users to a subset of clients, projects, project stages, services, users, expense items, time types, timebill stages, and booking types. Filter sets should be reviewed for possible adjustment, whenever new objects of these types are added, and we have made this maintenance task easier for OpenAir administrators in two ways. First, you can now add timebill stages and project stages to existing filter sets, when adding or editing a timebill stage or project stage. (This was already the case with clients, projects, services, users, etc.) Second, it’s now possible to require a filter set selection when creating new objects. This means that the administrator doesn’t have to remember to modify the filter sets, but can be prompted to do so, when creating or editing new items. To enable this feature, please navigate to My Account > Company > Settings. Under “FilterSet options”, there is a new series of checkboxes to require selection of filter sets when adding new items such as customers, projects, services, users, etc. Check the boxes as desired and save. If you select all boxes, whenever you add a new client, project, project stage, service, user, expense item, time type, timebill stage, or booking type, you will be prompted to add the new item to the appropriate filter sets.

Other new administrative features in the current release include:
    • Custom fields are now incorporated into the audit trail. To access the audit trail, administrators and users with the required role privilege navigate to Reports > Detail. Select the item for which you wish to view the audit trail (such as users, clients, projects, project tasks, timesheets, envelopes, etc.). Click to edit the report layout, and add "Audit trail" to the list of selected items on the right. The report results will show who modified which records, including changes to custom fields, and when.
    • Custom fields can be associated with revenue recognition rules in the Projects module. To create custom fields, please navigate to My Account > Company > Custom fields. To view custom fields associated with revenue recognition rules, please navigate to Projects > [select a project] > Recognition > Recognition rules > [select a rule].
    • The proxy list now displays the role associated with the proxy. To see the proxy list, administrators and users with the required privilege navigate to My Acccount > My Options > Proxy.
    • Hide the Add-on services tab completely. Users access the Add-on services tab from My Account > Exchange. If you do not wish your users to have access to any of the OpenAir add-on services, such as OpenAir OffLine, OpenAir for Palm, OpenAir for Pocket PC, OpenAir for Blackberry, OpenAir Outlook Connector, or OpenAir Projects Connector, you can turn off the tab, instead of disabling the services on a per-user basis. To hide the add-on services tab, please contact OpenAir support.
    • Allow users access to all tasks, not just the ones they are assigned to. This feature can be helpful if you want to require a task on timesheets or expenses, but do not want to create task assignments for users. OpenAir’s default functionality provides that a user will not see the task dropdown on a timesheet unless he is assigned to a task, even if he can see the client:project. With this new switch, any user can record time against any task even without being assigned to the task. To activate this feature, please contact OpenAir support.


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2. Reports: Booked/Assigned FTE values; display hierarchy data without subtotals; show projects to which users are assigned; other reporting enhancements.

We introduce a number of reporting enhancements in the current release. First, summary reports on resources and projects (both module-specific and account-wide) now feature new values to show how many full-time equivalent (FTE) resources are booked or assigned to projects, based on the default account schedule. Booked and assigned FTE’s with actuals can also be included in these reports. The schedule used as the denominator in calculating the FTE values is the one designated in My Account > Company > Schedule as the default schedule for the account. FTE values were formerly dependent on using job codes, and were only available in job code summary reports. To access these values, administrators and users with the required role privilege navigate to Reports > Account-wide | Resources | Projects. Select any of the available reports (except for Account-wide > Vendors or Expense items). The new values include:
      > Booked FTE [All booked hours from the Resources module, divided by the workschedule hours for the default account schedule during that time range];
      > Booked FTE with actuals [All booked hours from the Resources module for the date at runtime and future dates, divided by the workschedule hours for the default account schedule during that time range. For dates prior to the date at runtime, the report uses all timesheet hours divided by workschedule hours];
      > Assigned FTE [All assigned hours from the Projects module divided by the workschedule hours for the default account schedule during that time range];
      > Assigned FTE with actuals [All assigned hours from the Projects module for the date at runtime and future dates, divided by the workschedule hours for the default account schedule during that time range. For dates prior to the date at runtime, the report uses all timesheet hours divided by workschedule hours.

We have also enhanced hierarchy reporting so that you can now view data at the hierarchy level, without displaying the individual components of the hierarchy. This option is available in module-specific and account-wide summary reports, as well as in advanced resource reports. In summary and advanced reports on users, customers or projects, check the box “Suppress customers | users | projects when displaying hierarchy”. Configure the remainder of the report as desired, including subtotals, filtering and detail fields, and run the report. Please note that if the suppression option is selected, you cannot include detail fields on the user, customer or project. Also, a PivotTable option will not be available unless at least one subtotal is specified. Files downloaded from the report results will also exclude data from the suppressed level.

Third, the user detail report has been enhanced to show the projects to which a user is assigned. In Reports > Detail > Users, configure the report layout to include “Projects assigned”. Apply filters if desired and run the report. The report will display any projects to which the user has been assigned a task, even if the task has no planned hours.

Other reporting enhancements include:
•     In summary reports on expenses, and in account-wide user summary reports, a new series of available values is based on envelope approval status and tax amounts. The available values include [Expenses]Open, Submitted, Rejected, and Approved, and Open, Submitted, Rejected, and Approved [receipts] excluding tax.

•     Profit and margin figures from the project financial analysis report are now available in the project detail report. These values are also available as detail fields in summary reports when the main entity being reported on or one of the selected subtotals is “project”. Please note the values are only presented if the user has role privileges to view the project financial analysis report, if the project analysis report layout is the standard layout and if at least one user has a loaded cost entered. The new available values are:
      > “Income vs. Budget” [taken from the project financial analysis report field called “Income vs. Budget” under the “Available” column, in the section headed “Budget Summary”];
      >“Income vs. Budget (% used) [taken from the project financial analysis report field called “Income vs. Budget (% used)”, under the “% Used” column, in the “Budget Summary” section];
      > “Profit Incurred cost vs. Budget” [taken from the project financial analysis report field called “Profit-Incurred cost vs. Budget”, under the “Total” column, in the section headed “Profits Summary”. This figure is calculated as (Budget minus Total incurred cost) divided by Budget];
    •   > “Profit Incurred cost vs. Budget (%)” [taken from the financial analysis report field called “Profit-Incurred cost vs. Budget” under the “Margin” column, in the section headed “Profits Summary”].

•     In Timesheet detail reports, the date a timesheet was archived is an available value. Go to Reports > Detail > Timesheets. Date archived is also available as a detail field in summary reports when subtotaling by timesheet.
•     In account-wide summary reports, we now provide the ability to subtotal by invoice, when timebill values are reported on. This was formerly limited to invoice summary reports.
•     In detail reports, we now provide the ability to filter on checkbox, dropdown/text and radio group custom fields, in addition to dropdown custom fields.
    • In summary reports, we have added a feature to subtotal by checkbox custom fields. The values are 'Yes' for checked and 'No' for unchecked. This is in addition to the dropdown, radio group, and dropdown/text custom fields which already support subtotaling.
    • In summary and utilization reports, we have also added the ability to subtotal by user and/or project controlled custom fields (such as checkbox, radio group, dropdown, dropdown/text) for selected values which allow subtotaling by user and/or project respectively. For example, "All booked hours" can be subtotaled by project. With this new feature, "All booked hours" can be subtotaled by any project controlled custom fields. Previously custom field subtotaling was limited to the custom fields on the transaction itself (bookings, in the above example).
•     For accounts that use the “actual/projected” layout for the project financial analysis report, the project task detail report has a new field "Projected hours for financial analysis". This field displays the hours per user upon which the calculation of projected "Employees time from Timesheets" is based.


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3. Projects: Notification when new project is created.

The Projects module has a feature that permits the project owner to be notified via email when a new project is added. On the Edit project form, if the option “Notify project owner when a change in ownership is made” has been enabled, the owner of a new project will receive an email notification upon creation of the project. With this release, we have added an option for an additional email address to be copied on the new project email. So, for instance, the finance department, in addition to the new project owner, can be notified that a new project has been added.



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4. Invoices: Shipping contacts for invoices; combine expense item timebills on invoices.

In the Invoices module, shipping contacts can now be associated with an invoice. To enable this feature, navigate to My Account > Company > Settings > Invoices options. Check the box “Enable shipping contacts” and save. If there are multiple contacts associated with a client, the Edit invoice form for the client will present a dropdown for “Shipping contact”, in addition to the existing “Billing contact” dropdown. The invoice view will display contact bill to, and contact ship to names and addresses, along with the From address, above the invoice details. If the feature to select a billing contact at the project level is turned on, you will also be able to select a shipping contact at the project level. Project level billing/shipping contacts are enabled in My Account > Company > Settings > Invoices options > Allow project over-ride of billing/shipping contact. Contacts can be marked as "Can be billed/shipped" if the internal company switch "Enable selecting if a contact can be a billing/shipping contact" is turned on. This limits the contacts that will show up in a billing or shipping contact selection dropdown. To activate this feature, please contact OpenAir support.

A second enhancement to Invoices this month allows combining of expense item timebills for different expense items on the invoice layout. This option can be helpful if you want to create an invoice that has a single line item for expenses. To activate this feature, please contact OpenAir support. Invoice layouts are configured in Invoices > Options > Invoice layout. Select a layout or create a new layout. Under “Combine timebills” section, check the box “Combine expense item TimeBills” and save. Timebills can be combined by period (Day/week/month), by rate and/or by user.



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5. Expenses: Require current price on receipts; show price, rejection reason on expense report layout; restrict users to default currency for envelopes.

Expense items now have a checkbox to "Require use of current price on receipts". This option can be beneficial for expense items such as mileage where the price per mile is fixed. If the option is checked, the receipt will generate an error when saved if the entered price does not match the price in the expense item. Foreign currency receipts are excluded from this check. To require receipts to match the expense item price, administrators navigate to My Account > Account > Expenses > Expense items. Select an expense item, enter a price, check the box "Require use of current price on receipts" and save.

Expense report layout has been enhanced with the current release. First, expense item price is now available as an option on the layout. Second, for accounts that use line item rejection of receipts, it's also now possible to add the rejection reason to the layout. In Expenses, administrators, and users with the role privilege to modify the expense report layout, navigate to Options > Expense report layout. Select "Price" and "Rejection reason" as columns to display on the expense report and save.

For multi-currency accounts, we have added a feature that restricts each user to creating envelopes and receipts in his/her own default currency, facilitating more accurate data entry. To activate this feature, please contact OpenAir support. If this switch is enabled, the user can still create foreign currency receipts in currencies other than his/her default currency. To designate the default currency for a user, navigate to My Account > Account > Users > [select a user] > Demographic. Select from the "Currency" dropdown (directly above "Email settings") and save.

6. Other module enhancements: Timesheets; Resources; Opportunities; Purchases.

In the Timesheets module, there are two new options. To activate either option, please contact OpenAir support.
•     The blue dot on the timesheet grid remains blue, unless and until the user enters data in the text or memo fields, at which point it turns green.
•     Exported timesheets can be unapproved.

In the Resources module, we have added two new features:
•     The starting day of the week for the booking grid can be set in My Account > Company > Settings > Resources options > "Weekly booking grids start on".
•     An administrator can adjust users loaded costs based on actual hours worked. To activate this feature, please contact OpenAir support. If enabled, when running the "Percent historical utilization" report from Reports > Advanced, a link in the hints at the bottom of the screen will popup a window that allows you to create historical loaded cost records for the users in the report. For each period in which a user has utilization, the current loaded cost is divided by the utilization and the resultant cost entered as an historical loaded cost record.

In Opportunities, the list of deals and the deal detail report can be configured to show the associated contacts. To configure the deal list view, click the "customize" link at the bottom of the list. In the deal detail report, edit the report layout and add "Contacts" to the list of selected items.
In Purchases, we have enhanced purchase request and purchase order layouts to include purchase request, purchase order and project custom fields. Please navigate to Purchases > Options > Purchase request Layout | PO Layout. See the new options for header custom fields and columns to display.




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7. Would you like to see previous OpenAir product updates?

Click here to browse previous product updates including all new features, modules and functionality.

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8. Suggestions, problems or questions?

As always, please contact us at support@openair.com or 888.367.1288 (outside the U.S. and Canada, call +1.617.351.0226). We pride ourselves on the outstanding care we give our customers. Please let us know how we can improve your experience with OpenAir.

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