July 23, 2005
1. Invoices: Track billing and revenue against Customer Purchase Orders, Agreements; other Invoices features.
2. Data Exchange: salesforce.com integration enhanced; view, modify export status of invoices, envelopes and timesheets.
3. Projects: Forecast revenue to be recognized; project pricing analysis enhancement; other Projects features.
4. Reports: Revenue forecast reports; new available values; other Reporting features.
5. Resources: New booking chart options; shift bookings in bulk; other Resources features.
6. Administrative: Open/closed periods for time and expense entry; envelopes with duration; approval enhancements; bulk user change wizard includes inactive users.
7. Other module enhancements: Timesheets; Expenses; Dashboard Calendar.
8. Would you like to see previous OpenAir product updates?
9. Suggestions, problems or questions?
1. Invoices: Track billing and revenue against Customer Purchase Orders, Agreements; other Invoices features.
OpenAir now allows you to track billing and revenue compared to purchase orders received from, or other agreements with, your clients. There are two new features in the Invoices module called “Customer POs” and “Agreements”, which can be associated with client projects. The features operate in an identical manner and can be used separately or together. The description below refers to Customer POs for illustration, but Agreements work in exactly the same way. Please note that custom fields can be associated with Customer POs and Agreements in My Account > Company > Custom fields. The terminology for both items can be changed in My Account > Company > Terminology.
If a client gives you a PO for $10,000, for example, you can track, by project, where your billings and revenue are relative to that PO amount if you follow these steps:
a) Create the Customer PO. Administrators and users who have role privileges to view/modify Customer PO’s create a Customer PO from My Account > Account > Invoices > Customer POs > Create a Customer PO.
b) Associate the Customer PO with a project by going to Projects > [select a project] > Edit. Click the Create/Edit button to the right of Customer POs (located under the “Invoice notes” field). Note that a single project can be associated with multiple Customer POs and multiple POs can be associated with a single project.
c) Configure project billing rules and revenue recognition rules with a Customer PO. This creates an association between a particular Customer PO and billing/recognition transactions and timebills A dropdown on the rule edit form contains any Customer PO that is associated with the current project. To create or modify billing or recognition rules, administrators and users with the required privilege select a project, then the Billing or Recognition link.
d) On the invoicing side, Customer POs can be displayed on invoices (using invoice layout options). If you use the feature to bulk create invoices, you can elect to create a new invoice for each separate Customer PO. If an invoice has only one Customer PO associated with it, the PO name will display in the invoice header. If the user is an administrator, or has the required role privilege, s/he can modify the Customer PO associated with a timebill in Invoices > Timebills > [select a timebill] > Edit.
e) To report on Customer POs, run a detail report (Reports > Detail > Invoices > Customer POs) to show the total amount of the Customer PO, how much has been used and how much is remaining in relation to billing and/or revenue transactions and actual timebills. This report can help alert managers if it’s necessary to go back to the client to request a new PO. Account-wide, Project and Invoice summary reports also allow reporting on Customer POs. Summary reports on invoices, timebills, project billing and recognition transactions and projections can be filtered, subtotaled and detailed on Customer POs.
Other Invoices module enhancements in the current release include:
• A new option allowing administrators to require a timebill description and/or a service when creating timebills. Navigate to My Account > Company > Settings > Invoices options. Check “Require a description on TimeBills” and/or “Require a service on TimeBills” and save.
• Ability to display custom fields relating to timebills and project billing rules on the list of timebills to be included when creating a new invoice. Click the “customize” link at the bottom of the invoice creation screen and add the desired custom fields.
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2. Data Exchange: salesforce.com integration enhanced; view, modify export status of invoices, envelopes and timesheets.
OpenAir users enjoy seamless import of accounts and opportunities from salesforce.com into OpenAir’s Projects module with its project profitability reports, scheduling and other tools. We have improved our salesforce.com integration with the current release in a couple of ways:
• We enable you to create a custom OpenAir application within salesforce.com, with tabs that allow the user to jump from salesforce into various parts of OpenAir. For information on setting up a custom OpenAir application within salesforce.com, please contact OpenAir support.
• We have also streamlined the integration so that if a user clicks a web link in salesforce.com they will be prompted to login to OpenAir, if not already logged in.
For OpenAir users who export data using our Integration Manager tool, the list view for timesheets, envelopes and invoices can be configured to display the export status of the various items. Administrators can also empower designated users to un-mark selected items as exported, by using the bulk action checkboxes. To enable these features, please contact OpenAir support.
3. Projects: Forecast revenue to be recognized; project pricing analysis enhancement; other Projects features.
With this release, OpenAir has added the ability to forecast revenue to be recognized under project recognition rules, based on projections or on actual hours worked. To take advantage of this powerful new feature, administrators or users with the required privilege navigate to Projects > Options > TimeBill projections. In the Settings section, select whether projections are to be based on project task assignments, resource bookings, timesheets approved hours or worked hours. Enter a date range for the projections. There is a new Recognition section on the form; check the box to “Create recognition projections.” You can run TimeBill projections on an ad-hoc basis or configure them to run automatically on a set schedule. Whenever projections are run, the data (on hours and money that would be generated from running of the billing/recognition rules) are updated based on the current bookings, assignments, or timesheets hours, and the appropriate rules. See the section below on Reports, for information on how to access the results of the recognition projections.
The project pricing scenario has a new option to let you target a margin over costs for each project. To enable this feature, please contact OpenAir support. Once enabled, a checkbox and margin entry field will appear in the revenue section of the project pricing scenario. If the checkbox is checked and a margin between 0 and 100 entered, the other revenue fields will be ignored and the revenue will be calculated to hit the target margin. The project pricing scenario is available by selecting a project, and clicking on Pricing > Scenario. To view the pricing results, click the Pricing > Analysis link within a particular project, or go to Reports > Advanced > Projects > Project pricing.
Other enhancements to the Projects module this month include:
• For project accounting managers who use the “as billed” method of revenue recognition, lets you specify that the revenue calculation is to be based on invoiced (rather than open) timebills. There is also an option to specify that the recognition transactions should carry the invoice (rather than the timebill) date. To enable these options, please contact OpenAir support.
• When duplicating a project from another project, the start and FNLT (Finish No Later Than) dates on tasks are shifted by the difference between the start dates of the two projects.
• A new option allows administrators to require a timebill description and/or a service on project billing rules. Navigate to My Account > Company > Settings > Projects options. Check the options to “Require a TimeBill description on billing rules” and/or “Require a TimeBill service on billing rules” and save.
4. Reports: Revenue forecast reports; new available values; other Reporting features.
OpenAir’s reporting capabilities are extended in several ways in this release. First, we now support reporting on projected revenue recognition across your projects. Please see the Projects section above for information on creating the recognition projections.
To access the results of recognition projections, please go to Reports > Summary. Select the desired report, under either the Account-wide or Projects headings. From the list of available values, select one of the new options:
• "Projected revenue [rules]". Calculated by taking the number of hours (from assigned, booked, worked or approved hours as specified in the timebill projections in Projects > Options), running them through the recognition rule engine to arrive at a forecasted revenue amount for the period specified in the report.
• "Projected revenue margin [rules]". Calculated as: Projected revenue [rules] minus Projected cost [rules].
• "Projected deferred revenue [rules]". Calculated as: Projected billing [rules] minus Projected revenue [rules].
There is also a new detail report to view recognition projection transactions (Reports > Detail > Projects > Recognition projections).
We also continue our effort to enhance project reporting (both summary and detail) by providing options to include values from the project financial analysis report in the project detail report and as project detail fields in summary reports. Values added this month include:
> Total income - Selected Period
> Total income - Inception to date
> Total incurred costs - Inception to date
> Profit - Incurred cost vs. Income - Inception to date
> Profit - Incurred cost vs Income (%) - Inception to date
Finally, there is a new value, “Booked/Assigned hours differential” which expresses the difference between users’ booked and assigned hours. The value is calculated as Booked hours minus Assigned hours; it is available in Reports > Summary > Account-wide > [User | Department | Job code | Account | Customer | Project].
Other reporting enhancements include:
• An option on the Timesheet status report to include only those users who are required to fill out timesheets (as designated in the user demographic form). Navigate to Reports > Advanced > Timesheets > Timesheet status.
5. Resources: New booking chart options; shift bookings in bulk; other Resources features.
Resource managers can take advantage of a new booking chart variety that displays users’ time coded by color. In Resources > Bookings > Chart, select "Color coded by time" from the dropdown on the chart view. Select whether to view the data on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. The chart displays time with the following color coding:
•Booked time – blue
•Time off - yellow (from user schedule exceptions)
· •Holiday time - green (from company schedule exceptions)
•Available time – red (this is time not already accounted for by booked, time off or holiday)
•Unavailable time - gray (from company schedule, days which are not workdays)
Other hints on the new chart view:
• If the sum of booked, time-off and holiday exceed a user’s available time, a blue arrow appears on the top of the bar. The available time is considered to be the greater of the account workschedule time or the user workschedule time.
•Clicking any bar will display the list of bookings for that user, during that time period.
•Hovering the cursor over a bar will display (in the browser status bar) the actual breakdown in number of hours for each of the possible times, e.g. "Available: 2 Booked: 0, Timeoff:0 Holiday: 6, Unavailable: 0 Total quantity: 8 of 8. [Please note: this may require some browser settings, e.g., in Firefox, make sure that Tools > Options > Web Features > Advanced JavaScript has "Change status bar text" checked.]
•Configure the chart settings from Resources > Bookings > Chart > Settings.
•The resource name appears in the “Detail” column as the first item in the dropdown. (The “Detail” column is a required column.)
•To view all bookings for a specific resource, select the “Bookings” option from the dropdown in the “Detail” column. To create a booking for a specific resource the “Create booking” option from the dropdown in the “Detail column.
•The Profile, Calendar, Engagement and Job code can be viewed from the dropdown in the “Detail” column, provided they are enabled on the chart settings form.
• Currently, the data can only be displayed as "Percentage of time".
The ability to move bookings in bulk has also been enhanced with this release. Previously, you could select multiple booking and, using the “run an action” feature, change the start date for the selected bookings. Now, “run an action” provides an additional option to move the selected bookings by a specified number of days. The days can be either positive to move bookings forward, or negative to move them back. This allows you to easily move bookings that might have different start dates within a project. To take advantage of the new feature, use the “run an action” column of checkboxes to select the bookings to be moved. Click the circling arrows to run the action. Click the radio button “Move the selected bookings” and enter a number of days to move the bookings. Click OK.
Other enhancements to the Resources module include:
•The ability to transfer notes from approved booking request to the automatically generated booking. To enable this feature, administrators navigate to My Account > Company > Settings > Resources Options > Copy the approved booking request notes to the automatically generated booking.
•An option to show booking request custom fields on the booking request view (both HTML and PDF versions). To enable this feature, administrators navigate to Resources > Options > Booking request layout. (The same option applies to deal booking requests.)
6. Administrative: Open/closed periods for time and expense entry; envelopes with duration; approval enhancements; bulk user change wizard includes inactive users.
OpenAir gives administrators a new option to restrict the periods for which users can enter time and/or expenses. This feature helps both to assure accurate data entry and to enhance company controls. To activate this feature, please contact OpenAir support. If enabled, the administrator enters a date range for open periods in My Account > Company > Settings > Timesheets options | Expenses options. If specific users need additional periods available, the administrator can add periods on a per-user basis in the user demographic form. Users will be able to create timesheets/envelopes only for dates within the allowed open periods. The "Timesheet open periods" user setting is available in the bulk user change wizard so that it can be copied to other users and/or departments. Closed periods are read-only, unless the user has the role privileges to "Modify closed period timesheets" or "Modify closed period envelopes". The timesheet and envelope list views and detail reports have a new value available "Open period" (Yes/No).
A second administrative feature similar to the above lets you configure envelopes or expense reports with a fixed duration. This feature was added a while ago, but is significantly enhanced in this release. With the duration feature enabled, when a user creates a new envelope, only receipts with dates that fall within the period of the envelope can be entered into the envelope. With the current release:
• You can specify one or more grace periods for a receipt that would not otherwise be within the envelope duration. If, for example you have envelopes configured with a monthly duration, you can set a grace period of 1, which would allow a receipt with a date of either the previous or the following month to be entered into the envelope.
• There is an option to allow receipts outside the envelope duration and any grace periods, if the receipt is explicitly approved. With this switch enabled, a user could enter a receipt that was beyond the envelope duration and outside any grace periods, and submit the envelope. The approver will be presented with a checkbox to approve specifically any such receipts.
• When using envelopes with duration, the envelope date defaults to the start date of the period; users do not see the date field when creating a new envelope.
• New receipts default to the start date of the envelope period (rather than to today’s date).
To enable the duration feature for envelopes, grace periods, or approval exceptions to the duration, please contact OpenAir support.
Approvals have been enhanced in several ways in this release:
• If an administrator or manager is both a project approver and a final approver of a user’s timesheets or expense reports, there is an option to allow the approver to see and approve all items in the timesheet or envelope during the project phase of the approval process. To enable this feature, please contact OpenAir support.
• If a user is designated as an approver by virtue of being a [Manager], the user now sees the timesheets and expense reports of the user for whom they approve. Previously, an approver had to be specifically named as the approver, in order to see the timesheets and expense reports for users for whom they approved.
• You can turn off email notification that a timesheet has been approved. To enable this feature, please contact OpenAir support.
Finally, the bulk user change wizard now has a check-box, permitting you to include inactive users in the list of users to whom selected settings will be copied. To access the wizard, please go to Dashboard > Overview > Wizards.
7. Other module enhancements: Timesheets; Expenses; Dashboard Calendar.
In Timesheets, the “create timesheet from another timesheet” functionality now removes any inactive, unassigned or filtered values and defaults from the new timesheet.
Enhancements to the Expenses module include:
• An optional project filter on the expense report view. If the option is enabled, a dropdown permits filtering the expense report to show the receipts associated with the selected project. To enable this feature, please contact OpenAir support.
• When editing receipts, display a “Save and create another receipt” button. To enable this feature, please go to My Account > Company > Settings > Expenses options > Always display the "Save and create another" button on receipts. Previously, the “Save and create another” button was only available if the user was in the process of creating a new receipt.
The Dashboard Calendar can be configured to display the booking type and custom fields associated with bookings. Enable the options in My Account > Company > Settings > Display options. There are options to display the booking custom fields at both the summary and detail level of the calendar; booking type can only be displayed at the summary level. These are account-wide settings.
8. Would you like to see previous OpenAir product updates?
Click here to browse previous product updates including all new features, modules and functionality.
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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