OpenAir Enhancements

May 12, 2012


Overview

Invoices
Split expense and flat rate charges and associated originating transactions
Split expense and flat rate charges on the new invoice creation form.

Details ...

Projects
Select different currencies for loaded cost overrides
Override default currencies for project and task loaded costs overrides.

Details ...

Timesheets
Hide Gap hours summary on timesheets on a per-role basis
Prevent visibility into Gap hours summary on timesheet report layout.

Details ...

Administration
Enhancement to OpenAir Offline
Conditionally require fields leveraging form permission rules.

Details ...

API
New OpenAir Admin Guide
OpenAir Admin Guide available for download.

Details ...



Details

Invoices
Split expense and flat rate charges and associated originating transactions
As employees perform work on different projects, expenses are typically incurred if work is being performed in a different location. At times, a cap may be enforced by the client on the amount that can be spent per day. However, the user's employer may also have a policy that ensures reimbursement for the full amount. In order to be able to invoice the client the capped amount and reimburse users for the full amount, as well as keeping the association of the originating transactions, it is helpful for users to be able to split the resulting charge into two charges as well as the associated originating transactions (e.g. receipt).

In this release, OpenAir has added the ability to split the charge directly on the new invoice creation form. Once a split has occurred, the associated originating transactions will also be split as well to ensure that there is a one-to-one mapping between charge and originating transaction. From the new invoice creation form, users will be able to select one or more charges to split. Once charges have been selected, the amount to retain for each charge can be defined and a specific charge stage can be designated for the remaining charge to be placed in.

Notes:
  • Project billing transactions will also be split.
  • For expense charges, the method to which the amounts on the originating receipts are split is determined by the account's setting on how receipts are adjusted (price or quantity) when the caps are reached on billing rules.
  • If there is an associated tax amount on the charge or receipt, the tax will split in percentage to the amount that was deducted on the charge.
  • Additional fields on the originating charge, project billing transaction, and receipt will carry over to the newly created records post-split. However, the receipt tracking will not be carried over. The new post-split receipt will be assigned the next highest tracking number in its respective envelope.
  • A note "Split from receipt id" will be available in the Description field of the newly split receipt.
  • Any import/export records will be copied to ensure that the additional amount is not exported after the original amount has already been exported.
To enable the ability to split expense and flat rate charges, please contact OpenAir Support.

How to split a charge from the new invoice creation form:
  1. User with the appropriate role privileges navigate to Invoices > New invoice.
  2. Select the appropriate Customer: Project.
  3. From the list of charges, select the charges to split (must be of expense or flat rate type).
  4. In the invoice footer, click the "Run" button under the Split charges action.
  5. In the "Retain" box, enter the amount to retain for each charge. The amount will apply to each individual charge that is selected.
  6. Select the appropriate charges stage that the remaining charge should be placed in.
  7. Click Split.
Up
Projects
Select different currencies for loaded cost overrides
OpenAir's flexible costing capabilities allows for companies to accurately report on a project's profitability based on a user's loaded cost value. Because a user's cost value may vary based on the project or task being worked on, loaded cost overrides can be established at the project or task level. Currently, when overriding the cost at the project or task level, the currency of the cost value is driven by the project's currency. At times, it may be beneficial for the currency of the user's cost value override to be different than the project's currency.

With this release, OpenAir has added the ability to override the currency value for loaded cost overrides at the project and task levels. This allows for more accurate profitability reporting based on the loaded cost currency on a per-project or per-task basis. The default setting for the currency value is set to "[Use Project Currency]" unless modified to a different selection. However, please note that if the project's currency changes, it does not dynamically update the currency value to the project's new currency.

To enable the ability designate different currencies for loaded cost overrides, please contact OpenAir Support.

How to select a different currency for project loaded cost overrides:
  1. User with the appropriate role privileges navigate to Projects > Projects > [select a project] > Properties.
  2. In the "Loaded hourly cost" section, for each assigned user, enter the hourly cost value and under the "Currency" dropdown, select the appropriate currency.
  3. Click Save.
How to select a different currency for task loaded cost overrides:
  1. User with the appropriate role privileges navigate to Projects > Projects > [select a project] > Phases/Tasks > Outline view > [select a task].
  2. In the "Assignments" section, for each assigned user, enter the hourly cost value and under the "Currency" dropdown, select the appropriate currency.
  3. Click Save.
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Timesheets
Hide Gap hours summary on timesheets on a per-role basis
Companies often leverage the ability to display a user's gap hours summary by task on their timesheet reports. This is beneficial for approvers and managers to assess the progress of each task for users that are assigned. The gap hours represent the number of planned hours minus the number of worked hours. Often times, administrators will choose to allow approvers to view the gap hours on the timesheet, however, in certain instance when the approver is the actual client, administrators may not want clients to view the gap hours. With this release, OpenAir has added the ability to hide the gap hours on timesheets on a per-role basis.

To display the gap hours summary on timesheet report, administrations navigate to Administration > Application Settings > Timesheets Settings > Timesheet report layout. In the "Other" section, check the option "Show gap hour summary by task".

To restrict access for a specific role from viewing the gap hour summary on the timesheet report, administrators navigate to Administration > Global Settings > Users > Roles > [select a role]. Uncheck the option "View gap hour summary on Timesheet report layout".

Note: The new role privilege "View gap hour summary on Timesheet report layout" will be defaulted to checked to retain existing behavior.
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Administration
Enhancement to OpenAir Offline
With OpenAir's Offline client, users have the ability to enter time and expenses without Internet access. Once connected, users can then sync their time and expenses entered offline to the web application. With this release, OpenAir is pleased to announce a significant enhancement to the Offline tool that will greater facilitate offline time and expense entry.

Administrators will now be able to conditionally require fields leveraging form permission rules. Custom fields or standard built-in fields can be used as either part of the condition. For example, a form permission rule can be configured such that if the expense item is equal to "Hotel", then a custom field "Hotel name" can be flagged as being required. With this new release, the actions of Hide and Clear, or Show are not yet available.

Note: Currently, field lookups are not available for the conditional part when configuring the form permission rules. For example, currently users will not be able to configure a condition of "If User-Department equals Implementation, then require field X".

For a complete list of enhancements, please view the Readme text found in the Offline application.

To download OpenAir Offline:
  1. Navigate to Administration > Global Settings > Account > Integration: Add-on services. Click on the download link.
To enable or disable access to this app for a user, please navigate to Administration > Users and select a User ID. Click Access control > Exchange Access. Select "OpenAir Offline" click "Add selected items" and Save.
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API
New OpenAir Admin Guide
A new OpenAir Admin Guide is now available. The OpenAir Admin Guide, created for System Administrators, provides application configuration options, business and operational processes, as well as best practices for the different applications. Its content was developed in partnership with TOP Step Consulting. You can access this guide under Support > Application Guides.
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Suggestions, problems, or questions?
To contact our support team, please create a support ticket. We take pride in the outstanding care we give our customers. Please let us know how can we improve your experience with OpenAir.