OpenAir Enhancements

November 21, 2009

Overview

Timesheets
Limit time off requests to specific projects, tasks, and time types
Restrict the projects, tasks, and time types that appear on the time off request form

Approve or reject multiple time entries on a timesheet in one action
Select multiple time entries to approve or reject via radio button.

Default form field values for new timesheets
Set form default values when creating new timesheets.

Details ...

Account-wide
Additional flexibility when creating conditional form permission rules
Create conditional form permission rules leveraging other tables related to existing fields on the form.

Allow for multi-week scheduling
Specify a different number of hours to work per week for multiple weeks.

Additional "clear filters" options in list views
Allow users to clear column filters and advanced filters separately in list views.

Details ...

Reports
Enhanced reporting on proxy usage for timesheets and expenses
Identify proxy users for approvals and submissions for time and expenses.

Report on more than 31 days when reporting on daily time periods
Extend the limit of the number of days when reporting on daily period in summary reports.

Additional date option for currency conversions in detail reports
Select 'Today' as foreign currency conversion date in detail reports.

Details ...



Details

Timesheets
Limit time off requests to specific projects, tasks, and time types
Time off requests can be logged in different ways, depending on corporate policy. Typically, an internal project and/or task is created specifically for selection when creating the time off request. All projects and tasks available for a user to select when completing a timesheet would also be available for requesting time off. With this release, specific projects and tasks can now be designated specifically for time off requests. This ensures that employees create PTO requests against the correct internal projects (and not billable projects). If necessary, time types may also be restricted. Once a project or task has been selected, users will only see only these items on the time off request form.

How to select specific projects, tasks, or time types for time off requests:

  1. Users with the appropriate role privileges navigate to Administration > Application Settings > Timesheets Settings > Time off request layout.
  2. Under the "Limit lists that appear on form" section, specify the projects, tasks, and/or time types that should appear when users create a new PTO request.
  3. Click Save.
Approve or reject multiple time entries on a timesheet in one action
Managers must review for approval many timesheets on a daily basis. OpenAir has enhanced the approval and rejection process by allowing approvers to select multiple entries at once to approve or reject via a radio button. Within the timesheet report of a submitted timesheet, "approve" and "reject" radio buttons are now displayed next to each time entry. The "approve" radio button is always selected as the default. If the "reject" button is selected for any entry, a text field labeled "Reason:" will display prompting the approver to provide the reason for rejection. Once the appropriate selections have been made for each time entry, the actions can be applied to all entries in one action by clicking on the "Approve/Reject Items" button. To enable this feature, please contact OpenAir Support.

How to approve or reject multiple time entries at once:
  1. Navigate to Timesheets > Timesheets > Submitted > [select a submitted timesheet] > Timesheet report.
  2. Select the appropriate actions for each time entry. If selecting "reject", provide the rejection reason in the "Reason:" text box.
  3. Click the "Approve/Reject Items" button to apply all the selections in one action.
Default form field values for new timesheets
In the March 2008 release, OpenAir first introduced the ability to set form defaults for new projects and tasks. In this release, we have enhanced this functionality to include the ability to set default form values for new timesheets. Default values can be set for a defined role or applied to all roles. Default timesheet information for specific fields including custom fields can be established.

How to set form defaults for new timesheets:
  1. Users with the appropriate role privileges click on the "Set form default values" link in the tips section at the bottom of the New timesheet form.
  2. Use the dropdown to select a role.
  3. Enter the default information. Click Save.
  4. Once default values are defined, users will see them when creating new timesheets.
Up
Account-wide
Additional flexibility when creating conditional form permission rules
OpenAir first introduced the ability to create conditional form permission rules in the March 2009 release to allow administrators to configure forms to dynamically change the information that is captured on a form based on specific selections made by a user. We have further enhanced this functionality to allow these conditional form rules to draw from other tables related to the fields that the user selects on the current form. For example, there may be special requirements for expenses that are incurred against projects that are still in the sales pipeline. Users may be required to enter notes only if the expenses logged are associated with one of these projects (perhaps in the "Proposed" project stage). Company policy may dictate that any expenses entered against these proposed projects be accompanied by corresponding notes.

For additional information on this feature or to enable conditional form permission rules, please contact OpenAir Support.

Using the example above, form permission rules can be established as follows: How to configure conditional form permission rules for a receipt:
  1. Navigate to Expenses > Envelopes > Open. Select an Envelope and New > Receipt. In the "Hints" section, click on the "Modify the form permissions" link.
  2. Scroll down to "Permission rules" and click "Create." "Create a new rule" pop-up window displays.
  3. Type a "Rule name."
  4. Define the conditions. Using the example above, in the Define conditions section, select "Project: Project stage" in the first dropdown, "equal to" in the second, and "Proposed" in the third.
  5. Select the "Perform action." In this example, select "Require".
  6. Select the fields to require from the "Available fields" drop-down list and click "Add selected items." In this example, select "Notes/Guests" and click Save.
Allow for multi-week scheduling
In the September 2009 release, OpenAir introduced the ability to specify a different number of hours to work per day. With this release, we have added the ability to set different hours to work per week for multiple weeks. For example, certain users may belong to a schedule that dictates they have every other Friday off. User availability will be reflected based on the number of hours to be worked during that specific week. The ability to configure flexible work schedules for specific users allows resource managers to effectively and accurately staff employees to projects based on their availability.

To enable the varying work schedule hours feature, navigate to Administration > Global Settings > Account > Optional features. Select the option "Enable distinct work hours per day on work schedule, e.g. 8 hours Monday, 4 hours Tuesday, etc." and click Save.

To enable the multi-week scheduling feature, navigate to Administration > Global Settings > Account > Optional features. Under the option "Enable multi-week work schedule. Maximum number of weeks", select the number of weeks. The maximum number of weeks can be set to 4. Click Save.

How to configure different work hours to work for multiple weeks:
  1. Navigate to Administration > Global Settings > Organization > Work schedules. Select a work schedule or create a new one.
  2. If necessary, in the Work hours per day section, enter the appropriate number of hours for each day.
  3. To add a week, click on the "Add week" link. Enter the appropriate number of hours for that week. Enter a sample date to identify an example week that is affected by this weekly schedule. This date will be used to designate which weeks will be associated with what week in the schedule.
  4. Add additional weeks if necessary.
  5. To associate this work schedule with a user, navigate to Administration > Global Settings > Users > [select a user] > Schedule.
  6. Select this work schedule under the "This user is associated with the following company work schedule" dropdown and Save.
How to configure different work hours to work for multiple weeks for individual users:
  1. Navigate to Administration > Global Settings > Users > [select a user] > Schedule.
  2. Select the radio button "Use this user-specific work schedule:", check the appropriate work days, and specify the number of hours to work per day.
  3. To add a week, click on the "Add week" link. Enter the appropriate number of hours for that week.
  4. Add additional weeks if necessary.
  5. Click Save.
Additional "clear filters" options in list views
Users will often leverage multiple column filters as well as an Advanced filter to filter list view results. When multiple filters (on different columns as well as the advanced filter in the upper left) are being used in any list view, users previously had the option to clear all list filters with one click by selecting the "Clear all list filters" link located in the hints section.

In addition to the "Clear all list filters" link, we have added the ability for users to clear just column filters or clear the Advanced filter. Two new filtering options have been added, "Clear column filters" and "Clear advanced filters" that appear in the hints section.

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Reports
Enhanced reporting on proxy usage for timesheets and expenses
Companies often configure proxies to allow users to log in as another user to either submit or approve a timesheet/expense report on behalf of that user. When a proxy occurs, it is important to gain visibility to the proxy (and the user that proxied in as another user) in one report. OpenAir has added four new values to the timesheets detail report and expense report detail report to identify the original approvers, who proxied in to approve, who proxied in to submit, and the original user level approver's email address.

How to report on proxy usage in timesheets and expense report detail reports:
  1. Users with the appropriate role privileges navigate to Reports > Detail > Timesheets or Expense reports.
  2. Select the Date range.
  3. Under "Options" for "Report layout," click "Create."
  4. Highlight selections for "Approved by", "Proxy approver", "Proxy submitter", "Standard approver", and "Standard approver email address".
  5. Click "Add selected items" and click OK.
  6. Run the report.
  7. Note: There is a one-to-one relationship between the name displayed in the Approved by column and the name displayed in the Proxy approver column. A blank space in the Proxy approver column signifies that a proxy did not occur for that line of approval.
Report on more than 31 days when reporting on daily time periods
For companies that run summary reports with daily time periods, the actual number of periods can now be extended. Previously, the limit was 31 days. In this release, users can choose to report up to either 60 or 90 days. This enhancement allows users to display report values in a daily view for multiple months at a time. To enable this feature, please contact OpenAir Support.

Additional date option for currency conversion in detail reports
In the September 2009 release, OpenAir added the ability for users to select which date to use for foreign currency conversions of report values. With this release, we have added the meta-value "Today" as a date option. If selected, the current day's exchange rate will be used when reporting on values involving currency conversions.

How to select to use today's date for foreign exchange currency conversions:
  1. Navigate to Reports > Details. Select a report that contains at least one money report value (i.e. Invoices detail report, charge detail report, etc.).
  2. In the "Date to use" dropdown, select 'Today'. Any report value that requires a foreign exchange conversion will use that date as the exchange rate date. This date will also dictate the date used for the currency conversion of user loaded costs for any cost reporting value.
  3. Configure the rest of the report and Run the report.
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Contact us at support@openair.com or 888.367.1288 (outside the U.S. and Canada, call 617-351-0226). We take pride in the outstanding care we give our customers. Please let us know how can we improve your experience with OpenAir.