April 22, 2006

1. Reports: New User login and Role privilege reporting options; other Reporting enhancements.

2. Projects: Set defaults for revenue recognition auto-run; new task grid options; other Projects enhancements.

3. Workspaces: Duplicate folder structure from existing workspace; document download enhancements; other Workspaces enhancements.

4. Invoices: Copy invoice layouts; other Invoices enhancements.

5. Other module enhancements: Resources; Timesheets; Expenses; Purchases; Account-wide; Administrative features.

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

7. Suggestions, problems or questions?




1. Reports: New User login and Role privilege reporting options; other Reporting enhancements.

Two significant new additions to OpenAir’s reporting features have been rolled out this month. First, there is a new detail report available, User logins, which tracks when each user logs in, password failures, and inactive user login attempts (includes source IP address). Users with required privileges should navigate to the Account-wide section of My Account > Reports > Detail reports, and click on the "User logins" link, which brings up the "User logins detail report options" form. Select the date range (the default is "all"); configure the report layout using the "Report layout" picker list, then choose from the "User filter" picker list the user or users whose logins you wish to track. You can then choose from among several option checkboxes regularly associated with detail reports—e.g., "Exclude transactions associated with inactive entities," "Run the report in the background," and "Save this report as…" (with an associated text field in which to indicate the name of the report). You can also choose to "Make this report available in project-specific situations" by clicking on the checkbox. Finally, you can choose to save, reset, or run the report.

To allow users access to this report, account administrators need to enable the new role privilege associated with this report, "View the user login detail report," by navigating to My Account > Account > Roles, and clicking on the "User" or other non-administrator roles to which this privilege should be added. Check the box marked "View the user login detail report," located roughly in the middle of the "General settings" section of the "Edit roles" form, and then click on "Save."

There is also a new Advanced report available, "Role privileges," which displays to users with required privileges a list showing each privilege and whether or not each role has that privilege enabled. Users have the ability to filter which roles to include in the report. Go to My Account > Reports > Advanced reports, and click on "Role privileges" in the Account-wide section.

Other reporting enhancements in the current release include:

    • Users with required privileges can now share saved reports with "[All Users]." Go to the selected module's Reports tab, click on the "Saved reports" sub-tab, and then on the "My reports" link. Click the "share" icon on the left-hand side of the Saved reports list. The "[All Users]" option will appear as the very first choice in the pop-up picker list. Select "[All Users"] and then click on "OK." This option ensures that all users, including new users created after the report was first generated, will see the shared report. Reports shared with [All Users] will have no effect on users without the proper role privileges to see the Reports subtab. Furthermore, you can share a report with specific users and [All Users] even though it is redundant. Doing so allows you to temporarily share a report with everyone in the company. Then you can remove the [All Users] option and it will fall back to the original shared users.

    • Administrators will want to take note that there is a new account-wide switch in the Reporting Options section of the My Account > Company > Settings form, the "In historical utilization calculations, the project_task for filtering, subtotaling and detailing is sourced from the project_task instead of the task" checkbox. When enabled, this feature has the effect of basing historical utilization on the project-task's current project-task-type, rather than on the project-task-type of the project-task when the initial time entry for a task was first entered on a timesheet.

Detail Reports:

    •You can add the new "Task non-billable" field to the Timesheets module's Time entries detail reports in the "Report layout" picker list, found by navigating to the My Account > Reports > Detail reports > Timesheets section > Time entries link.

    • You can add the new "Book by" field and the “Resource Department” field to the Resources module's Booking, and Booking request detail reports in the Report layout picker list, found by navigating to the My Account > Reports > Detail reports > Resources: Booking / Booking request link(s). For more information on the “Book by” field, please see the section on Resources enhancements below.

Advanced reports:

    • Custom fields can now be chosen and displayed in the Project overview report. Navigate to the Projects section in the My Account > Reports > Advanced reports field, click on "Project overview," and then on "Report layout." Select the desired custom fields from the picker list popup, and then click on "OK."

    • Custom fields can now be chosen and displayed in the Timesheet status report. Navigate to the Timesheets section in the My Account > Reports > Advanced reports field, click on "Timesheet status," and then on "User custom fields." Select the desired custom fields from the picker list popup, and then click on "OK."





2. Projects: Set defaults for revenue recognition auto-run; new task grid options; other Projects enhancements.

With this release, users with required privileges will find a new tab under Projects > Options called "Recognition options," in which you can set the default auto-run settings for revenue recognition for new projects. (Please note that these new options will not change the recognition settings for any previously existing projects.) Choices in the "Recognitions options" form include "Do not auto-run" (the default setting), "Run recognition, do not create recognition transaction," and "Run recognition and create recognition transaction." You can automatically send the results of each auto-run to users you select in the "Email the results of the auto-run to:" picker list; you can also check the box "Suppress the email if there is nothing to recognize." Finally, you select the day and time of the auto-run (12 a.m. Monday is the default; note that all times will be U.S. Eastern Time).

There are three new column choices in Task grid options (also found in Projects > Options): Task Type, Service, and Cost Center. If a user chooses one or more of these options, the task grid will display the item(s) in specific drop-down on the grids (please note that you will have had to create one or more Task Types, Services, or Cost Centers for these to be useful).

In addition, the Task grid options now also include any custom fields associated with tasks (except for multi-select picker type custom fields).

Other enhancements to the Projects module in the current release include:

    • Users with required privileges now can send task notifications to users other than the assignees on a per-project basis. Once you click on the name of the project, then on "edit project," you will see a new popup picker list link in the Notifications section: "Users to cc: on task assignment notifications." In addition to selecting individual users, there are also four special values: [Project owner], [Customer owner], [Assignee's manager], [Assignee's manager's manager]. These are dynamic values so as the project owner or the user's manager changes, the notifications will be routed properly. Note: If you select assignee's manager and 5 of your direct reports are assigned to a task, you will get 5 individual emails, since you will be cc'd on each one sent.

    • Project stages can now be configured to send notifications. Users with required privileges click on the Account tab and then the “Project stages” link (under the “Projects” heading). When you create a new project stage, or when you access the project stage form by clicking on the name of an existing project stage, you will see a new checkbox, "Send notification when projects change to this project stage," and a popup picker window in which to specify "Users to notify." In addition to selecting individual users, there are also two special values: [Project owner] and [Customer owner]. These are dynamic values so as the project/customer owner changes, the notifications will be routed properly.

    • Users with required privileges can now go to the My Account > Company > Settings form and check the new box, "Closing a phase will close all sub-phases and sub-tasks within a phase."





3. Workspaces: Duplicate folder structure from existing workspace; document download enhancements; other Workspaces enhancements.

Users can now duplicate the folder structure from an existing workspace by choosing "Create workspace from another workspace" in the "Create…" drop-down menu in the Workspaces tab.

"Download all documents" now has options to preserve the folder structure and include document revisions. When you select a workspace in the Workspaces module dashboard, you can then click on "download all documents." This will bring up a dialog that will allow you to choose to "include folders" (the folder/document structure will be preserved) and/or "include document revisions" (revisions for each document will be placed in a sub-folder).

There is now an option to assign a workspace to all users. To do so, navigate to the Workspaces tab, click on the name of the Workspace, then on its Members link, and select the "[All Users]" option. Newly-created users will automatically get access to these workspaces. User permissions for the selected workspace can be configured per usual for All users (i.e., read-only, read/write, administrator).





4. Invoices: Copy invoice layouts; other Invoices enhancements.

This release features several enhancements to Invoice Layout, including the ability to create an invoice layout from another invoice layout. To configure invoice layouts, if you are a user with the required privileges, navigate to the Options tab, click on the Invoice Layout tab, and then use the "Create…" drop-down menu and select "invoice layout from another invoice layout." Select the invoice layout you wish to copy, specify a new name for the new layout, and all settings (including the logo) from the original layout will be duplicated in the new.

For all other enhancements to invoice layouts, navigate to the Invoice Layouts form in the Invoices module by clicking on the Options tab, then on Invoice Layout, and then either "Create a new invoice layout," or edit an existing layout by clicking on its name in the layout list. New layout options include the ability to:

    • Add "Job code" to the invoice layout (this choice is now found in the columns and groupings picker lists).

    • Specify the format of hours as "One decimal place if possible" by selecting this new radio button. in the invoice layout. The "if possible" means that if the number has more than one decimal place, i.e., "2.25," it will display at full precision.

    • Suppress cents on invoices if they are zero by selecting the new "Suppress cents when possible" checkbox.

The "Change Timebills" page has two improvements to speed up the operation of editing timebills already on an invoice, or removing them from an invoice. To access the "Change timebills" page, users with required privileges click on an invoice, then on the "Change timebills" link. Checkboxes and a "remove" button allow you to select and remove multiple timebills in one operation. To add timebills to an invoice, you can select from a list of available timebills instead of from a drop-down; this allows multiple timebills to be added at once.





5. Other module enhancements: Resources; Timesheets; Expenses; Purchases; Account-wide; Administrative features.

Resources:

    • You can now specify that all bookings are made by hours or by percentage. Users with required role privileges navigate to My Account > Company > Settings > Resources options. The default setting is “Any ‘book by’ allowed”. Other options are “Percentage of time”, and “Number of hours”. The Booking and Booking request lists have a new customizable column to show the "Book by” value; this value can also be shown in the related detail reports.

    • "Resource department" values can now be added to the booking/booking request list and detail reports. To add this value, you can either navigate to the booking or booking request list and use the "Customize" link in the bottom gray bar, and then select "Resource department" in the picker list, or you can go to the Reports tab, click on the Detail reports sub-tab, and then choose "Resource department" from the picker list. Please note that you will need to have created one or more Resource departments for this value to appear in either the list or the report.

Timesheets:

    • "Cost center" is now available to add to timesheet report layouts. Users with required privileges should navigate to Options > Timesheet Report Layout, and then select the "Cost center" option in the appropriate Columns picker list.

    • Time entries for bookings can now be created automatically when you create a timesheet. Users with required privileges can activate this feature by going to the My Account > Company > Settings form, scrolling down to the "Timesheets options" section, and checking the "When creating a timesheet, automatically create time entries for bookings" box.

Expenses: The expense report layout has a couple of new options. Users with required privileges navigate to Options > Expense Report Layout.

    • Custom fields for envelopes are now supported in the expense report header. In the expense report layout configuration form, click on "Envelope custom fields" Create button. Select the custom fields (and their order) from the "Expense report header custom fields" picker list, and click on "OK." If a selected envelope has a value for that custom field, it will appear in the expense report header.

    • Receipts or documents attached at the envelope level can be made accessible to project-level expense approvers. The expense report layout now has an option to "Show link to envelope attachments." When enabled, a link to view envelope-level attachments appears on the expense report.

Purchases:

    • The content of the emails for Purchase request submittals and approvals now includes the customer, project and description from the purchase request.

    • Also, "purchase request" is now available as a column in the PO layout. Users with the required privileges navigate to Purchases > Options > PO layout, and select "purchase request" in the "Columns to display for each purchase item on the PO" picker list, reordering as necessary.

Account-wide:

    • PDF versions of reports throughout the various modules in OpenAir have a new layout option to "Expand the page width to fit the report". This prevents the problem encountered by some users with information being cut off on the right margin of the report. To activate this feature for expense reports for example, users with required role privileges navigate to Expenses > Options > Expense Report Layout. In the “Adobe Acrobat PDF settings” section, check the box to “Expand the page width to fit the expense report”, and save. Users will also need to configure their Acrobat Reader preferences to include the “scale to fit” option. The same feature is available in the OpenAir layout options for booking requests, invoices, proposals, purchase orders, purchase requests, schedule requests, and timesheets). The expanded page width feature will apply whether the PDF is generated individually from the report, or in bulk, using the “run an action” column of checkboxes from the list view.

    • New date format available: Users can choose to use a new long date format, "Day, mm/dd/yyyy," (as in "Saturday, 4/22/2006"), which will be available in all report layouts where it is possible to override the default date format (e.g., booking request, envelope, invoice, purchase order, purchase request, schedule request, timesheet).

    • Hierarchies: Duplicating levels/nodes from another hierarchy is now supported when you create a new hierarchy. Although the levels/nodes will be empty (i.e., have no records), you will preserve the structure of the hierarchy. (This is useful if you have, for example, a geography hierarchy for projects, from which you can clone the hierarchy for another type of record, such as user.) When you go to the Account tab and select "Create a new hierarchy," you will see a new drop-down menu at the bottom of the form, "Duplicate levels and nodes from this hierarchy," which will allow you to select the hierarchy whose structure you wish to duplicate.

    • Locations: There are four new, specific "location" entities available to users with the requisite privileges. Two of these, Customer locations and User locations are found in the "Account data" section of the My Account > Account tab display. The other two account location entities are Project locations, found in the Projects section of the My Account > Account tab display, and F.O.B. locations, found in the Purchases section of the My Account > Account tab display.

Once you click on the desired link in the Account tab display for any of these new entities, you will be taken to its list page, where you can then input location data by using the "Create…" drop-down menu. Simply fill out the name of the location, enter any relevant notes, and click on "Save," or "Save & create another user location." To edit existing entries, click on the name of the User, Customer, Project, or F.O.B. location in their respective lists to access the form, make your changes, and then save.

Once you have created these locations, you can assign them to the different entities using a new drop-down menu that will show up in the associated forms as follows: User locations show up in the My Account > Users > Demographic form; Customer locations show up in the My Account > Customers > Demographic form; and Project locations show up in a the My Account > Account > Projects form. F.O.B. locations come into play when creating a purchase order in the Purchases module.

Please note that there are now four new detail reports associated with the new account entities (Customer locations, User locations, Project locations, and F.O.B. locations) mentioned above. If you have the required report-running privileges, and you wish to run a report which utilizes the data from these entities, click on the My Account > Reports tab, and then on the "Detail" sub-tab. Then click on the link for the desired account entity, which will bring up the "[Entity name] locations detail report options" dialog. Use the "Report layout" picker list to choose what items to include in your report, and their order in the report, and then click on "OK." If you wish to filter your list of possible choices, use the "[Entity name] location filter" picker list, and click on "OK." Under the "Other" header, choose whether or not you wish to "Exclude transactions associated with inactive entities" and/or "Run the report in the background," and if you wish to "Save this report as…"(you will need to enter a name for your saved report if you choose this option). You can also choose to "Make this report available in project-specific situations" by checking the box at the bottom. Then click on "Save the report," "Reset the report," or "Run the report."

Administrative features: To enable the following new features, please contact OpenAir support:

    • "Administrators can delete users’ schedule requests" in the Timesheets module.

    • "Administrators can delete users’ envelope" in the Expenses module.

    • "Update percent complete as approved hours divided by planned hours". If enabled, the task percent complete will be updated whenever a timesheet is approved or the planned hours are changed for a task. The maintenance job to update percent complete and recalculate the project will also update the percent complete. Note: The project percent complete is calculated from the task percent complete, so if there are any approved hours that are not assigned to a task, the project percent complete will not equal the project planned/approved hours. Please be aware also that this feature is mutually exclusive with the company setting to enable “hours remaining”. If “hours remaining” are enabled, the estimated hours figure drives the percent complete calculations.

    • "Enable checkbox on task list for closing tasks": when this feature is enabled, the project task list in the Projects module will display checkboxes for the "closed" field.

    • "Maximum number of rows to load on the task list view," which allows task values to be set to a lower value than the default of 2000, to speed up unfiltered displays in the all tasks lists. The loaded tasks will now be displayed as well.

    • "Always clear the hours when creating a timesheet from another timesheet".

    • "Un-export timesheets when they are un-approved".

    • "The 'Company paid' payment type is always non-reimbursable in the Expenses module.



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

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





7. 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.