OpenAir Enhancements

January 21, 2012

Overview

Global
Conditional dropdown custom fields
Limit the value selection of a second custom field based on the selection of the first custom field.

Details ...

Projects
Create portfolio and sub projects and share billing rule caps across multiple projects
Designate portfolio projects and sub projects. Share billing rules and caps across multiple projects.

Automatically add new users to assignment groups
Add newly created users to a designated assignment group.

New "Booking type" filter in revenue recognition rule
Filter on specific booking types in Incurred vs. forecast revenue recognition rule.

Details ...



Details

Global
Conditional dropdown custom fields
OpenAir's custom field functionality allows users to create user-defined fields specific to their company's needs. Custom fields with different associations can be created for fields that are not available in the application as a standard built-in field. Currently, custom fields on a form are independent of one another with no relational dependencies between two or more fields. With dropdown custom fields, users are able to select a value from a pre-defined list of options.

In this release, OpenAir has introduced the ability for users to create value selection dependencies between two dropdown custom fields. The value selected in the first custom field will be able to limit the values displayed within the second custom field. Once dependencies have been configured, the second custom field will dynamically appear on the form with the appropriate value choices. A single custom field can have dependencies with multiple custom fields.

In addition to creating conditional dependencies between two custom fields, a new value list editor is available. Leveraging drag and drop, users have the ability to move the position of values within a single list.

To enable conditional dropdown custom fields, please contact OpenAir Support.

How to leverage the advanced value list editor:

  1. Once enabled, users with the appropriate role privileges navigate to Administration > Global Settings > Custom fields.
  2. Create a new dropdown custom field or edit an existing one.
  3. Click inside the "Values" text area box.
  4. To add another value to the list, click on the "+" box and enter one or multiple values in the text box. Click OK.
  5. To modify the positioning of values in the list, drag and drop them to the appropriate position. Click OK.
  6. Click Save on the custom field edit form.
How to create conditional links between two dropdown custom fields:
  1. Once enabled, users with the appropriate role privileges navigate to Administration > Global Settings > Custom fields.
  2. Create a new dropdown custom field or edit an existing one.
  3. Under the "Edit custom field value dependencies for:" dropdown, select the custom field to create the dependencies for. Note: Existing dependency custom fields are denoted by "(edit)" and available custom fields are denoted as "(new)".
  4. Within the inline panel, the left side displays the value list of the first custom field and the right displays the value list of the second custom field.
  5. To create the dependencies, click on the value(s) on the right and drag and place them right below the appropriate value on the left.
  6. Click OK to close the inline panel and click Save on the custom field edit form.
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Projects
Create portfolio and sub projects and share billing rule caps across multiple projects
At times, companies may receive one contract from a client that may need to be divided between multiple projects. As work is being done on these projects, billing may need to draw down from that one contract amount to ensure that the agreed upon amount has not been exceeded. Currently, OpenAir's billing engine is applied on a per-project basis and cannot be shared across multiple projects.

In this release, OpenAir has introduced the ability for users to leverage customer POs and portfolio projects to apply one billing cap across multiple projects. Upon creation, a project can be designated as being a portfolio project. A portfolio project can contain multiple sub projects. When billing is run on a portfolio projects, the billing rules will automatically apply to all sub projects. For example, if a billing rule was configured at the portfolio level and a cap has been established, that cap will apply to all projects within that portfolio projects. Applicable rules include Time, Expense item, and Purchase item billing rules. This behavior will also apply to As billed, Expenses, Purchases, and Time project billing revenue recognition rules.

In addition, the customer PO functionality has been enhanced to include an Hours field. When creating a new customer PO, the existing Amount field and new Hours field are mutually exclusive.

With the enhanced customer PO functionality, companies that leverage customer POs to track contract amounts can now use the customer PO total (hours or money) as the cap on billing rules for portfolio projects. If portfolio projects are being used and the customer PO is being used as the cap, that cap will be applied across any subset of projects within that portfolio.

To enable the ability to share caps across multiple projects and designate portfolio and sub projects, please contact OpenAir Support.

Other notes:
  • On the Projects list view, a new column "Portfolio project" can be added. If viewing a sub project, a link to the portfolio project will be available in this column.
  • If portfolio projects are being leveraged, a new "Project" filter is available for billing rules configured at that level.
  • When billing is run at the portfolio level against any sub project, project billing transactions will display in both the portfolio project and sub project transactions list view. A new "Project" column can be added to identify which sub projects the transactions were generated from. This column is also available in the revenue recognition transactions list view.
  • If a project has at least one customer PO associated with it, those customer POs can be edited from within the project via Financials > Customer POs. The customer POs available for editing are limited to just those that are associated with the project.
  • A customer PO can only be used as the cap for one portfolio project at a time.
  • In the billing rules list view of a sub project, a note will indicate (if applicable) that there are billing rules configured at the portfolio level. A link to the billing rules will also be available. The same information will display for revenue recognition rules.

How to designate a project as a portfolio project:
  1. Once enabled, users with the appropriate role privileges navigate to Projects > Projects > New.
  2. On the project properties form under the "Portfolio designations" section, check the option "Is portfolio project".
How to designate a project as a sub project:
  1. Users with the appropriate role privileges navigate to Projects > Projects > [select a project].
  2. On the project properties form under the "Portfolio designations" section, check the option "Is subordinate project of" and then select the portfolio project that it should be a part of.
  3. Note: If creating a new project, the project will first have to be saved as "Is a project" and then can be designated as "Is subordinate project of".
How to use a customer PO as the cap on a billing rule:
  1. Users with the appropriate role privileges navigate to Projects > Projects > [select a portfolio project]. Note: Customer POs are only available as the cap on billing rules for portfolio projects.
  2. Financials > Billing > New, choose either a Time, Expense item, or Purchase item billing rule.
  3. Under the "Rule cap" section, check the option "Use customer PO cap". Once the rule has been saved, the customer PO total will populate the appropriate Cap field as read-only. Note: A customer PO needs to be selected first under the "Other" section.
  4. Note: If creating a new project, the project will first have to be saved as "Is a project" and then can be designated as "Is subordinate project of".

Automatically add new users to assignment groups
Companies that leverage assignment groups are able to assign a group of users to certain projects and tasks for time and expense entry. This is beneficial for assigning all employees in the company to internal projects such as time off or administrative projects. Currently, any new user that is created will have to be manually added to any applicable assignment groups.

With this release, OpenAir has introduced a more streamlined process for assigning newly created users to specified assignment groups. Specific assignment groups can be designated to automatically include any new user that has been created in the system. If a particular assignment group has been flagged, any new user that is created will automatically be added to that assignment group. This behavior only applies to newly created users and not existing users that have been updated.

To enable the ability to automatically add new users to a designated assignment group, please contact OpenAir Support.

How to designate an assignment group for newly created users:
  1. Once enabled, users with the appropriate role privileges navigate to Administration > Application Settings > Projects Settings > Assignment groups.
  2. Create a new assignment group or edit an existing one.
  3. Check the option "Automatically add new users to this assignment group" and click Save.

New "Booking type" filter in revenue recognition rule
OpenAir's flexible revenue recognition rules allow companies to recognize revenue on a per-project based on different rules and criteria. The Incurred vs. forecast rule allows revenue to be recognized based on how the project is progressing against the project plan. Revenue is recognized by dividing the incurred costs by the forecasted costs, multiplied by the revenue that is to be recognized. The incurred and forecast costs can include a combination of labor, expenses, bookings, or purchases.

In this release, OpenAir has introduced the ability to include a booking type filter is leveraging bookings in the forecasted cost calculation. This may be beneficial if the forecast option is configured to use "Approved and booked hours multiplied by user cost" option and would like to exclude bookings that have a booking type of "Tentative" from the calculation.

To enable the booking type filter in the Incurred vs. forecast rule, please contact OpenAir Support

How to select a booking type filter in the Incurred vs. forecast rule:
  1. Once enabled, users with the appropriate role privileges navigate to Projects > Projects > [select a project] > Financials > Recognition > New > Incurred vs. forecast rule.
  2. Under the "Recognition rule filters" section, click the "Create" link next to Booking type.
  3. Select the booing types to filter the rule on and click OK.
  4. Configure additional rule settings and click Save.
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Suggestions, problems, or questions?
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