Product Update

June 11, 2005

1. Account-wide: Approval enhancements; show attachments in list views; maximum number of repeatable transactions increased.

2. Administrative: Proxy expiration; department-specific dashboard message; other administrative enhancements.

3. Reports: Share reports with assignment groups; new report values; other reporting enhancements.

4. Projects: Edit-only privilege for projects; other projects enhancements.

5. Timesheets: Administrators enabled to delete timesheets for other users; configure “New timesheet” form; other Timesheets enhancements.

6. Expenses: Require regular receipts to be in the envelope currency; control access to reimbursements; hide payment type on receipts.

7. Other module enhancements: Invoices; Opportunities; Resources; Workspaces.

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

9. Suggestions, problems or questions?


1. Account-wide: Approval enhancements; show attachments in list views; maximum number of repeatable transactions increased.

OpenAir has added some new features that appear across multiple modules. First, look for improvements to the approval process throughout OpenAir. Recently we introduced “Approve & Next”, allowing approvers to approve an item and go immediately to the next item waiting for approval. With this release, we have further refined this enhancement. We now provide “Approve”, “Skip” and “Reject” (“Quick approval”) buttons, so approvers can more easily page through items requiring approval. If the user selects “Reject”, a popup dialog will require them to enter a reason for the item’s rejection. These new “quick approval” buttons are now available everywhere in the product (exceptions are Authorizations and Deal booking requests). Please note that the “quick approval” buttons are only available from the "Waiting my approval" sub-tab in the Submitted list view. Items are brought up to the approver in the order in which they appear in the list view.

A second enhancement to approvals relates to approval by proxy. The approval history now reflects if an approval was performed by a proxy, rather than by the actual designated approver. To view the approval history, please go to the approved item and click Submit/Approve. Alternatively, run a detail report on the type of item approved (such as envelope, timesheet, booking request, purchase request, etc.) and include “Approval history” in the report layout.

Finally, [Self-approval] is now an option in the dropdowns for “[Timesheets |Expenses |Schedule requests | etc.] are approved by”. This saves a step when configuring self-approvals for new users.

A second account-wide enhancement is an “Attachment” column for any list where the items support document attachments (for example, envelopes, invoices, receipts, booking requests, proposals, events, etc.). This column will display a paper clip icon indicating the associated record has one or more attachments. To display the column, click the “customize” link at the bottom of the page and add “Attachment” to the list of selected items. To sort the list by attachment, click on the paper clip icon at the top of the column; to download the attachment(s), click on the hyperlinked record name, and then click the “Edit” link, to access any attachments.

Repeating transactions can be created for many items in OpenAir, such as timebills, receipts, bookings, project billing project rules, project tasks, revenue recognitions, etc. We have enhanced repeating transactions by increasing the maximum number of occurrences depending on the frequency: Daily=365 (1 year), Weekly=104 (2 years), Monthly=60 (5 years), Quarterly=20 (5 years), Yearly=5. This allows you, for instance, to create daily bookings for a full year, or weekly bookings for 2 full years.

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2. Administrative: Proxy expiration; department-specific dashboard message; other administrative enhancements.

Proxies now have an optional expiration date. The new expiration feature is controlled from My Account > Company > Settings > User proxying > "Proxies have expiration dates". If this box is checked, when creating proxies you can specify an expiration date for the proxy. There is also a new account switch "Default proxy expiration", which can be set to one day, one week, one month, etc, to create a default value of the expiration field. If the feature is enabled, when creating proxies (in My Account > Account > Users > [select user] > Proxy), the form provides a field to enter an expiration date. If you clear the expiration date field, the proxy will have no expiration. When a proxy expires, the proxy link in (My Account > My Options > Proxies) is disabled (similar to a proxy to an inactive user). For more information on proxies, please see the online help in My Account > Help > Users > Proxy.

A second new administrative feature allows the Dashboard message to be customized by department. There is a new company switch to enable this feature (My Account > Company > Settings > Optional features > "Allow the message board text to be customized by department"). If this feature is enabled, navigate to My Account > Account > Departments > [select a department] > Message to enter a department-specific dashboard message. Members of the department will see the department-specific message on Dashboard >Overview > Message Board. If a department does not have a particularized message, the default account message will be displayed.

Other administrative enhancements include:
    • The custom field list can be configured to show the custom field type. Go to My Account > Company > Custom fields. Use the “customize” link at the bottom of the list to show the custom field type.
    • The proxy list can be configured to display the role associated with the proxy (My Account > My Options > Proxies. Use the “customize” link at the bottom of the list).
    • The bulk user change wizard now includes “Manager” as a setting than can be copied. Select the manager for one user in the demographic form, and copy the manager setting to multiple users. To access the bulk user change wizard go to Dashboard > Overview > Wizards. For more information on using the wizard, please see My Account > Help > Dashboard tab > Wizards.
    • Ability to set a default payment type for new receipts and expense-type TimeBills. To set the default payment type, please go to My Account > Account > Expenses > Payment types > [select payment type]. Once a default is selected, new receipts and expense timebills will default to the selected payment type; users can select a different payment type if desired.

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3. Reports: Share reports with assignment groups; new report values; other reporting enhancements.

We introduce a number of reporting enhancements in the current release. First, you can now share reports with assignment groups. Instead of selecting individual users with whom to share a report, select an entire assignment group. To set up assignment groups, administrators and users with the required privilege navigate to My Account > Projects > Assignment groups. To share a report, go to Reports > Saved reports > My reports. Click the “share” icon for the report to be shared. Select users or assignment groups from the list of available items and click OK.

There are many new report values available in this release. First, we have added new FTE (Full-Time Equivalent) emphasized values. These values make it easy to quickly identify staffing shortfalls in summary reports. The emphasis, which appears in report results in red, occurs on the user/resource primary rows or subtotal rows for any FTE value greater than zero for a generic resource and any FTE value greater than one for a real resource. The available values are [Booked | Weighted Booked | Assigned] FTE (emphasized); [Booked | Assigned] FTE with actuals (emphasized); [Booked | Weighted Booked] FTE Forecast (emphasized).

Second, we’ve added a new series of weighted values in Account-wide and Resource Job Code summary reports. The weighting is based on probability of closing as entered in the project pricing scenario for each project:
      > Weighted Booked FTE - For the given Job code, this value is booked hours for all regular and generic resources multiplied by the project's probability of closing, all divided by workschedule hours for the default account workschedule.
      > Weighted Booked FTE Forecast - For the given Job code, this value is booked hours for all regular and generic resources multiplied by the project's probability of closing, all divided by workschedule hours for the one FTE generic resource for that job code.
      > Weighted Available FTE Forecast - Periodic quantity of real resources on staff in that job code minus the Weighted Booked FTE Forecast.
      > Weighted Booked FTE Utilization - For the given Job code, this value is booked hours for all regular and generic resources multiplied by the project's probability of closing, all divided by workschedule hours for all REAL resources in that job code.

Third, in Account-wide summary reports on Company, Job Code, User and Department, we provide new calculated values to show the number of hours a resource is available for booking or task assignments. The values are:
      > Resources - Available base work schedule hours for booking. (calculated as base hours minus booked hours).
      > Resources - Available work schedule hours for booking. (workschedule hours minus booked hours .
      >Projects - Available base work schedule hours for assignment. (base hours minus assigned hours).
      > Projects - Available work schedule hours for assignment. (workschedule hours minus assigned hours).

In our April release, we added options to display profit and margin figures from the project financial analysis report in the project detail report and as project detail fields in summary reports. With this release, we extend the range of available values from the analysis to include:
      > Total Incurred Costs.
      > Profit - Incurred cost vs. income %.
      > Profit - Incurred cost vs. income.
      > Deferred Revenue.

In summary reports, these values are available either for the selected period of the report, or for project inception to date.

Other reporting enhancements include:
    • The project detail report now has options to include worked hours, approved hours and gap hours (defined as planned hours minus worked hours). These fields are also available in summary reports as detail fields on the project.
    • The timebill detail report now has options to include the project billing rule name (from which the timebill was generated), as well as custom fields associated with the project billing rule.
    • An option to “hide empty row” on the financial and pricing analysis reports (Reports > Advanced > Projects).
    • All customer detail fields, including customer custom fields, are now available in the project detail report and as project detail fields in summary reports. The customer field values have “Customer-“ prepended to the field name for clarity.
    • The following Job Code values can be subtotaled by department (as well as user):
      >Quantity on staff (Periodic).
      >Available FTE forecast.
      >Booked FTE forecast.
    • When determining the periodic quantity on staff in various reports, we now respect any user or department filtering entered in the report configuration.
    • "Only display report total column". This option on the report configuration form suppresses all individual time period columns in the report results.


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4. Projects: Edit-only privilege for projects; other projects enhancements.

We have added a new role privilege to allow users to edit projects, but prevent them from creating new projects. To take advantage of this feature, administrators and users with the required privileges navigate to My Account > Account > Roles > [select role]. Under the General settings section, check the box “View and modify existing projects, but not create new projects” and save. Users with this role will be able to view and edit existing projects, but unable to create new projects.

Other project enhancements in this release include:
    • The ability to show inactive projects on the calendar. To activate this feature, please contact OpenAir support.
    • Probability of closing” from the pricing scenario can now be displayed on the project list view. From Projects > Projects, click the “customize” link at the bottom of the page.
    • Force selection of a probability of closing for project pricing scenarios. If enabled, the user will be required to select a percentage probability of closing when setting up a pricing analysis scenario. To activate this feature, please contact OpenAir support.

    • When running percent complete recognition rules, an end date can now be entered in the date range form. The end date limits approved hours to those with dates less than or equal to the end date entered.




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5. Timesheets: Administrators enabled to delete timesheets for other users; configure “New timesheet” form; other Timesheets enhancements.

OpenAir administrators can now delete timesheets for other users, without proxying in as the user who created the timesheet. To activate this feature, please contact OpenAir support.

The “New timesheet” form is configurable via a series of company settings. In My Account > Company > Settings > Timesheets options, check the desired boxes to enable/disable selection of defaults for time type, customer:project, service and/or payroll code.

Other enhancements to the Timesheets module include:
    • The ability to hide the time type dropdown completely. This feature is in My Account > Company > Settings > Timesheets options > Hide the time type drop down in the popup window. If the time type is not on the main timesheet, it appears in the popup blue/green dot window. This feature removes the time type dropdown completely from the timesheet. If you enable this feature, you should also remove the Time type default drop down from the “New Timesheet” form (see above).
    •When a timesheet is duplicated from another timesheet, all inactive or unassigned values and defaults are now removed from the new timesheet.
    •Require a timesheet on a per-user basis. The User demographic form now has a "Timesheet required" checkbox. Check the box to require a timesheet for the particular user. Copy the requirement to multiple users, via the bulk user change wizard on the dashboard. This checkbox can also be used as a filter in the late timesheet alerts (See Timesheets > Alerts) and in the “Missing timesheets” report (Reports > Advanced > Timesheets > Missing timesheets).
    •The timesheet auto-create option can be disabled on a per-user basis. If the timesheet auto-create option is turned on, a checkbox ("Do not auto-create a new timesheet") will be available on the user demographic form. Check the box to remove the user from the auto-create feature. The timesheet auto-create option is controlled from Timesheets > Options > Timesheet rules.



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6. Expenses: Require regular receipts to be in the envelope currency; control access to reimbursements; hide payment type on receipts.

To help OpenAir users enter expenses more accurately in multi-currency accounts, we have added an option to require regular receipts to be in the same currency as the envelope. If an expense is incurred in a different currency, the user still has the option (and is in fact forced) to create a foreign currency receipt. To activate this feature, please contact OpenAir support.This is an enhancement of a feature added in April, which requires both envelopes and regular receipts to be in the user’s default currency.

We have also added new role privileges to limit access to reimbursements in OpenAir. In My Account > Account > Roles > [select role ] > Expenses, select “View envelope reimbursements” or “View and modify envelope reimbursements”. If neither box is checked, users with this role will not see the Reimbursements tab. If the “View” option is checked, users will see the Reimbursements tab, and the Reimbursements link within an envelope, but will not be able to enter data on the form. Only users with the view/modify privilege will be able to enter reimbursements in OpenAir.

Finally, we have added an option to hide payment type on receipts. To enable this feature, please go to My Account > Company > Settings > Expenses options > Hide the payment type drop down on receipts.


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7. Other module enhancements: Invoices; Opportunities; Resources; Workspaces.

The Invoices module includes the following new features:
    • When creating an invoice, display TimeBill and Project Billing rule custom fields on the list of TimeBills to add to the invoice. Use the “customize” link at the bottom of the page to add fields to the view.
    • Invoice layout option to suppress sub-totaling when grouping. Go to Invoices > Options > Invoice layout options > [select layout] . Under “Invoice groupings”, check the box “Suppress sub-total by group” and save.
    • Show project custom fields for invoice line items. Go to Invoices > Options > Invoice layout options > [select layout]. In the “Invoice columns” section, project custom fields are listed as available columns.


In the Opportunities module, new features are:
    • Link a proposal to a deal. To activate this feature, please go to My Account > Company > Settings > Opportunities options. Check the box "Allow a proposal to be associated with a deal" and save. Select a deal and on the Edit form, choose a proposal to associate with the deal. The proposal appears as a hyperlink on the Deal > View.
    • Prohibit editing of a proposal after it has been sent (My Account > Company > Settings > Opportunities options > Disable editing of sent proposals).

In the Resources module, you can add custom text to the booking notification email received by the booked resource. To activate this feature, please contact OpenAir support.

In Workspaces, the search feature has been enhanced in two ways:
    • In Workspaces > Search, you can limit the search to Selected workspaces.
    • When searching across all workspaces, within a single workspace, or across all documents or discussions, the search results now show the source of the search result. Documents and discussions list the workspace for the results, and messages list the workspace and discussion.


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8. 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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9. 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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