SYSPRO 8 Highlights

The user-interface includes the following improvements for a more intuitive and engaging user experience:

• GeoLocation support

  When working with address fields in a web view, you can now use the Resolve Address feature to ensure that the customer or shipping address is correct, or the Map Directions feature to get directions using Google Maps.

  You can configure how GeoLocation works within SYSPRO Avanti using the Setup Options program (Setup Options > System Setup > System-Wide Personalization).

• Multimedia object inclusion

  Using the Visual Designer or Customize Application programs you can now select the Multimedia button to add multimedia objects (e.g. images, documents, etc.) associated with key fields.

• Multiple web page handling

  The SYSPRO Avanti infrastructure has been enhanced to allow for a new browser tab to be opened for a given URL.

• Simplified interface customization

  When adding a custom form field using the Customize Application program, you can now select to automatically add the field to the web view, without having to use the Visual Designer.

• Easier program navigation by role

  A Program List card that mimics the functionality of the Avanti Program List in the hamburger menu has been added to the Visual Designer to allow easier navigation of programs by certain user roles.

• Program name and version visibility

  For improved debugging purposes, you can now access the (Admin Shift+F7 System Information) program from the Gear menu to view the name and version of a program in SYSPRO Avanti.

• Quicker grid entry

  Editable grids in SYSPRO Avanti that support the notion of automatically adding rows now enable you to paste the contents of your clipboard directly into the grid.

• Help popups & group headings on forms

  To assist you when configuring new or existing setup options within the Setup Options program, form fields now include descriptive group headings and you can hover over fields to view Help text for each option.

The SYSPRO 8 Avanti Initialization Service has been enhanced to improve performance and enable more concurrent SYSPRO Avanti user sessions.

A number of enhancements have been made to increase stability and reduce memory consumption, including:

• The ability to limit the number of SYSPRO Avanti instances.

• Improved support for comments in cells.

• Minimal CPU consumption when idle.

• Decreased memory usage per user upon initial login to the home page.

• Increased robustness when handling rapid data entry in data grids (specifically to prevent data corruption in grid rows).

The footprint on the file system has been reduced by moving non-static data (e.g. setting files) to the SQL database.

When you enable the Persist operator UI settings to SQL setup option (Setup Options > System Setup > System-Wide Personalization) the ADMPRO.DAT indexed file is converted to the AdmProControl table in the system-wide database and thereafter any records are stored in this table. The ADMPRO.DAT file contains information about custom fields, table master and scripted fields that have been added to forms.

An App Store plugin has been developed that allows you to activate or deactivate SYSPRO applications in SYSPRO Avanti. The SYSPRO.AvantiAppStore.Avanti.Plugin.dll plugin is accessible from the hamburger menu.

The previous release outlined the consolidation of all the options from the System-wide Personalization program to the Setup Options program.

At the time, you could still run a standalone version of the System-wide Personalization program (i.e. IMPFRB) from the SYSPRO Ribbon bar or using the Run a Program function (Ctrl+R).

From the SYSPRO 8 2021 R1 release, this program is no longer available and all settings must be managed from within the Setup Options program (SYSPRO Ribbon bar > Setup > Setup Options > System Setup):

SYSPRO Avanti lets you customize applications (such as adding scripts to change the behavior of form fields or grid data) or extend the capabilities of any application to display more information, either from the SYSPRO database or from any external application.

All applications in SYSPRO Avanti or SYSPRO generally comprise grids, form fields, charts, notepads and toolbar buttons. You can also add user-defined customized panes to any application which can contain a grid, form or a number of other types of controls.

To customize aspects of the SYSPRO application in the core product, you would previously right-click on a form field, toolbar, grid column header or docking pane window title, which enabled you to access the VBScript Editor, add a customized pane or to generally access customization capabilities.

All customization capabilities in SYSPRO Avanti are controlled by a single program: Customize Application which you can access from the Settings icon in any application. The program is only available if the VBScript security option is enabled and are not logged in as a role.

The program provides the following capabilities:

• List views

  • Add a custom column

  • Edit a VBScript

  • Apply conditional formatting

  • Add or remove a grid column's visibility

  • Remove a custom column

• Form fields

  • Edit a script for a form or form field in the application

  • Add or remove a field’s visibility in SYSPRO

  • Remove a custom form field

• Toolbar buttons

  • Edit a script for any toolbar button used in the application

• Custom form fields

  • Create or modify a custom form field

  • Add a custom form field to the application

  • Add a field from an associated master table to a form

  • Add a scripted field to a form

• Additional components

  • Create your own customized pane or component

  • Add a pre-built component to the application

• Customized panes

  • Edit or remove any existing customized panes

  • Reset the layout for the application

Considerations:

• You can also access the Customize Application program with identical capabilities from the gear icon in core SYSPRO..

• In SYSPRO Avanti, it is typically a two-stage process for a web view to be enhanced with new content or controls:

  1. Customize the application to add capabilities.
  2. Modify the web view using the Visual Designer to position the new controls or content.

Individual operators can define the following personal preferences in SYSPRO Avanti by selecting the Personal Settings option from the icon (Settings) on the home page:

• Define the company date for all operators, or temporarily for the current run of SYSPRO Avanti.

  This is dependent on the operator having the correct security access.

• Reset the saved settings for window positions and grid layouts.

  SYSPRO Avanti automatically saves window positions and changes to grid layouts by operator. However, you can now reset these to their default values using the links provided.

• Configure your own Office 365 credentials.

You can modify the contents of any SYSPRO Avanti grid by using the following capabilities:

• Conditional formatting

  This lets apply formatting against any column in the grid based on simple rules.

• Custom columns

  You can add columns to the grid based either on custom form fields or from master table data.

  The custom columns that can be added are determined by the keys that are available in the grid columns.

• Column sum | Column average | Row count

  You can select any numeric column to be either summed or averaged.

  If you select to display a row count, this is then displayed in the grid footer for the first column in the grid.

• Edit a macro

  You can create a script to execute against the grid for various events, such as when the grid is populated with content, or when a grid's contents are about to be submitted to the database.

You can add toolbar items to a web view using the Visual Designer.

Select the Add toolbar item option from the left or right-hand side of the Visual Designer to add items to the left or right-hand side of your web view.

You can configure SYSPRO Avanti to automatically run a program when you log into the system. Open the browser URL and append a question mark, followed by startup parameters using the following syntax:

?StartupParameters=/prog=xxxxxx /link=y

where xxxxxx indicates the name of the program and y indicates the entry to be used in the program.

The login page is displayed first if you haven't enabled the Keep me signed in option on the login page. The program defined in the startup parameter is then launched once you are successfully authenticated.

You can now create a series of tasks (i.e. programs) in SYSPRO Avanti that can be executed sequentially by selecting the Task Automation workspace option from the icon (Settings) on the home page.

A task item can run a program or report and can be scheduled to run on a certain day and, optionally, recur daily, weekly or monthly. Programs can also be automated so that they apply specific values to form fields.

When a task group has completed, the executed tasks are then displayed in the Task Messages grid.

Applications in SYSPRO Avanti are designed to display most information in a single page and, where appropriate, the use of pop-up windows enables additional information to be surfaced.

Lists such as these are displayed by default in pop-up windows that can be re-sized and repositioned in the browser. However, you can change this behavior using the Visual Designer to make these lists appear in the single page.

Some windows are displayed as modal, meaning that you can't click behind the window and that you must first complete the task within the current window before returning to the previous screen.

You can now move and re-size these modal windows as required. The position and size of the window is then automatically remembered so that it is repositioned to the same location when the window is displayed again.

SYSPRO Avanti now supports Multi-Factor Authentication (i.e. the process of identifying a user by validating two or more methods of authentication from independent credential categories).

• Reports can be processed and viewed immediately.

  1. Select Process report and preview to view the report as PDF in your default PDF viewer.
  2. Select Add to print queue to print the report.
  Both options also add the report to the report queue for later viewing.

• Reports can be archived using the Report Archive program.

  Archived reports can be viewed as PDFs and purged using this program.

• Report data can be exported to additional formats (e.g. xls, csv, txt and xml).

• Reports with Crystal Report parameters can be processed.

This lets you create customized cards based on business objects or XML files.

• Design a card from various layout types (e.g. tabs, section headings, carousels, accordions and tables).

• Map XML fields from SYSPRO business objects (or other XML files) to populate fields.

• Define and customize values of XMLIn fields.

The look and feel of SYSPRO Avanti can be changed by applying a theme.

1. Select the Themes option from the User name field to use a theme.

A Keep me signed in option was added to the SYSPRO Avanti Sign in window which lets users access SYSPRO Avanti without needing to supply login credentials.

All the options from the System Setup program have been moved to the Setup Options program.

Review the System Setup options moved to Single Setup program highlight under the Simplified Administration banner for more details.

The VBScript Editor program has been restructured to provide a simpler and streamlined look.

Loading the program takes you straight to the workspace area (previously you were presented with a window from which you first needed to select the field or form level event).

The Variables and Field Properties panes default to being docked together on the right-hand side of the screen (but can re-positioned as required).

From the Variables pane, you can access the Events hyperlink to quickly insert a field-level event.

The Code Generation drop-down combines various existing functions (e.g. call business objects, send push notifications, execute workflows, launch programs, and customize toolbar buttons).

The View drop-down lets you show or hide the Sample Code Window, the VBS Modules Window, and the Notepad.

The SYSPRO Supply Chain Portal allows users beyond a SYSPRO site to connect, interact and transact using the SYSPRO Avanti HTML5 user interface.

Adding Portal users to your SYSPRO configuration provides external user access to specific functionality (using a dedicated user interface and menu system) based on the portal features available.

Features currently available from the SYSPRO Supply Chain Portal:

• Request for Quote System:

  This lets you collaborate with your suppliers by automating the quote process and enabling suppliers to action an RFQ.

HTM version PDF version

All fields in SYSPRO Avanti can be translated into a different language (with the exception of the logon screen).

This is applied when the language is configured within the System Setup program of the SYSPRO core product.

Notepads that have been built into a SYSPRO application (or Customized Panes that use the notepad control) can now be added to a web view to be surfaced in SYSPRO Avanti. There are two types of notepads: simple text notepads and Rich Text Format (RTF) notepads.

The rich text notepad displays a special toolbar with all the formatting options. This toolbar does not appear for a notepad that only supports simple text (e.g. the Additional Notes in the Customer Query program).

Considerations:

• In SYSPRO, all complex notepads are stored in RTF format. Because this format is not supported in a web browser, it needs to be converted to HTML format for rendering in SYSPRO Avanti. The converse is also true - when saving notes entered in SYSPRO Avanti, the system must convert the HTML format to RTF format.
• If the notepad in SYSPRO includes a Save button, then this will also be shown in the notepad toolbar of SYSPRO Avanti.
• As in SYSPRO, notes in SYSPRO Avanti are automatically saved where appropriate (e.g. there is no Save button in SYSPRO's main menu notepad because any notes entered are automatically saved when you exit SYSPRO.

You can now design web views by role in SYSPRO Avanti. From within a SYSPRO Avanti program, select Design Web View by Role from the Customize icon and then specify the role for which you would like to design the web view.

Toolbar buttons for Customized Panes are now surfaced in the Visual Designer and can be added to a web view.

You can now add Gantt, Pie and Funnel charts to visually represent data in SYSPRO Avanti.

The SYSPRO Online Help can be accessed by pressing F1 in SYSPRO Avanti.

The Forgot Password functionality (which allows operators to reset their SYSPRO passwords without administrator assistance) is now available for SYSPRO Avanti.

You can define multiple workspaces in the home menu, when it is not associated with a role.

Although VBScript provides functions and sub-routines, basic date/time and string manipulation, math functions, user interaction, error handling, and regular expressions, additional functionality can be added using ActiveX technologies.

The following VBScript functions are now supported for grids in SYSPRO Avanti:

• OnPopulate
• OnSubmit
• OnRowSelected
• OnDblClick
• OnLinkClicked
• OnAfterChange

Additionally, the OnDELPressed and OnChecked functions are now supported for customized pane list views.

The BOT infrastructure and technology (available as an early adopter product for the past few SYSPRO 8 releases) is now a purchasable, licensed module.

The following modules are now available for licensing to run in SYSPRO Avanti and the core SYSPRO 8 product:

• Avalara Tax Connector

• Vertex Tax Connector

When the SYSPRO Run Time System (RTS) detects a problem, diagnostic files are now written to the \Work\Diagnostics folder using a naming convention that includes the date and time. The current contents of the black box are also appended to the existing log, providing a trace of the events leading up to the RTS error.

A single log file per exception or message is written to the \Work\Diagnostics folder instead of all exceptions or messages being concatenated into a single file. This simplifies the SQL Server handling of log files on an individual basis and improves the performance during the upload process. It also lets you check each exception or message as an individual record in the AdmDiagDetail table.

If an unexpected error occurs in the underlying run time when you log into SYSPRO, the system first verifies whether the mfdebug.log file exists in the \Base folder before moving it to the \Work\Diagnostics folder. The system then creates the new mfdebug.log file for the current unhandled exception in the \Base folder.

This effectively retains a record of all exceptions instead of just the last example (previously, the original file was overwritten by a subsequent unexpected error).

As part of the effort to decrease SYSPRO's footprint on the file system, you can enable the new Persist operator UI settings to SQL setup option (Setup Options > System Setup > System-Wide Personalization) to store all operator UI settings files in the SysSettings table of the system-wide database (usually stored in the \Base\Settings folder).

From SYSPRO 8 2020 R2 the License Manager is used to select and import a provided license. The license information resides in the AdmSystemLicense table of your system-wide database in Microsoft SQL Server.

From SYSPRO 8 2020 R2 all software that requires the license will automatically locate the current license in the system wide database.

If you are using the SYSPRO Cloud ERP environment, the license import is applied automatically.

From SYSPRO 8 2020 R2, enhancements to SRS architecture cater for the migration of content to the system-wide database:

• Document and report printing
• Report archiving
• Report scheduling
• Report customization

The custom reports and documents mentioned above are automatically uploaded to Microsoft SQL Server during the minor database upgrade to SYSPRO 8 2020 R2

All future custom reports and documents, archived reports and documents and other SRS-related files will be stored in Microsoft SQL Server.

In addition, the document archiving architecture has been changed to save the archived documents to the company database when SYSPRO is run in a SYSPRO Cloud ERP environment.

The following table will help you navigate the transition of System Setup options to the Setup Options program by indicating where the new options are now located.

The process of importing SYSPRO licenses and applying them to one or more companies has been simplified with the License Manager program.

This new licensing platform (available from within the Company Setup program) enables the following:

• View current license information.

• Apply a new or current license across all existing companies.

• Apply a new or current license to a single company.

• Apply a new or current license to multiple selected companies.

• Change a company name to one of the licensed names.

One of the key benefits of the new License Manager is when you have any changes to your system-related license parameters (e.g. the number of Concurrent users, Point of Sale users, Espresso seats, Licensed Workflows, Analytics seats, Portal seats or other system-wide settings).

In addition, the process of applying an updated annual license is greatly simplified.

All Licence.xml files are saved with a unique file name in the \Work\license.sav folder, and are recorded in theAdmSystemLicense table of the system-wide database.

This provides a history of all licenses that have been selected.

This describes a technique of configuring SYSPRO and Microsoft SQL Server so that all communication between the two is encrypted. Now data encryption can enabled from the client, instead of only controlling encryption within the Microsoft SQL Server instance.

The following data is encrypted when using this type of configuration:

• Initial connection information
• SQL statements issued
• Actual data passed to and from Microsoft SQL Server

The following two articles provide more detailed information:

• SYSPRO and SQL Server Encryption Overview

  This document provides an overview of data encryption relating to SYSPRO and Microsoft SQL Server, detailing the two technologies known as Data Encryption at Rest (TDE) and Data Encryption in Motion (TLS).

  It also provides benchmarking information to demonstrate the minimal overhead when using these encryption technologies.

• SYSPRO and SQL Server Encryption Configuration

  This document contains detailed technical information about how to configure SYSPRO, Microsoft SQL Server and your Windows Server operating system to use Data Encryption at Rest and Data Encryption in Motion technologies.

• DFM Document Queue Query

  • A Workflow path column (displaying the last successful step in the workflow) helps administrators establish where and why a document failed. This lets an administrator fix the error and resubmit the previously failed document for processing.
  • A Resubmit action is displayed in the Action column if a queue item fails and the system allows you to resubmit the file.
  • The Date and time indicates when the file was placed in the queue.

• DFM Service Maintenance

  You can define the interval in which 0KB files should be deleted (at the File delete interval column).

The ability to kill associated processes when logging out users resolves the issue of unknown SYSPRO processes on the application server with no information about the process or the user to whom it relates.

The Logout function ends process option has been standardized across the following programs and lets an administrator kill the associated SYSPRO process when logging out a user:

• Display Users Logged in

• View Users

Enabling the option applies for the current run of either program, so administrators can log out multiple users (as well as end the associated SYSPRO processes) without having to reselect the option.

A new Unknown process details pane in the View Users program provides an administrator with insight into unknown processes resulting from a user being logged out.

It details the process information that was recorded in the AdmPidHistory table when the user was logged out without ending the process (i.e. with the Logout function ends process option disabled).

When you enable the Optimize print option and are batch printing in a server-side environment, the XML file that is generated for each batch is now only generated once, resulting in improved performance (i.e. a document can be sent to the print queue as soon as the data is extracted and the previous document has completed).

Using the Document Printing API architecture, this XML file is now generated from the core program instead of the applicable document printing program (e.g. Statement Print) and is then sent to the SYSPRO 8 Reporting Host Service to produce the document.

When you enable the Optimize print option and are printing in a server-side environment that requires document archiving, the process is now simplified by combining the process of printing and archiving (i.e. you don't need to split your archiving into multiple batches).

When you enable the Optimize print option, it applies only to the following document types:

• A/R Statement Print

• Purchase Orders – Foreign

• Purchase Orders – Local

• Quotation - Multiple Column

• Quotation - Multiple Line

• Quotation – Single

• Delivery note

• Dispatch note

• Invoice

• Order acknowledgment

• Factory Documentation

Balance functions in certain modules were either tied together with month-ends, which are de-coupled, or form part of a 'day-end, week-end or month-end' function. Moving the checking of imbalances to the SQL Health Check Service removes the need to run the balance function in the module.

In addition, if an imbalance is identified, the out-of-balance correction function can be run to specifically target only the issues encountered.

Benefits:

• This is a SQL-only facility. By targeting SQL, we can vastly reduce the current time taken to perform this function - in some instances from hours and minutes to seconds - thus greatly improving system availability.

Benefits:

• Improved memory handling and scalability with 64-bit architecture.

The SYSPRO Bot set of skills now lets you query purchase order balances, GRN details and ledger balances.

These new skills include:

• PO Balance Query

  This skill lets you view purchase order balance details.

• PO GRN Query

  This skill lets you view summary purchase order details and GRN information.

• PO GRN Detail Query

  This skill lets you view detailed purchase order details and GRN information.

• GRN Query

  This skill lets you view GRN details.

• General Ledger

  This skill provides the new General Ledger menu within the SYSPRO Bot.

• GL Query

  This skill lets you view ledger details.

• GL Balance Summary Query

  This skill lets you view the module, ledger control and recalculated difference information.

New custom searches are available to the Skill.GLBalanceSummaryQuery skill that lets you query the ledger for a specific module and period without having to enter this information manually.

• GLModule
• GLModulePeriod

The usability of the SYSPRO Rules Engine has been extended to include the following actions within the Rules Administrator of SYSPRO Avanti:

The new SYSPRO Bot Customization program in SYSPRO Avanti lets you modify various permission aspects of the SYSPRO Bot.

Things you can do in this program include:

• Configure the SYSPRO Bot skills available at role or operator level

• Customize the action buttons associated with each SYSPRO Bot skill

• Customize the skills available on the SYSPRO Bot main menu for specific roles or operators

The following SYSPRO Bot format settings can be defined system-wide, by company, by role or by operator (in the Espresso Custom Configuration program against the SYSPROBotDocumentFormatOptionsParameter entry located under the XML Parameters folder):

• Order Acknowledgments
• Delivery notes
• Invoices
• Quotes
• Purchase Orders

The following new skills are available with the SYSPRO Bot to let you create quotes that are not customer-specific:

• Add Quote Line Menu
• Add Quote Comment Line
• Change Quote Line
• Confirm Quote
• Delete Quote Line

The following new custom search is available with the SYSPRO Bot:

• QuoteChangeLineItem

The Rules Administrator lets you create and maintain rules within SYSPRO Avanti.

You can define the following parts for rules:

You can now use predictions supplied by the SYSPRO 8 Machine Learning service within any part of a rule.

A number of new actions can now be executed by the SYSPRO 8 Rules Engine Service:

A number of sample rules have been added to the Rules Administrator:

LCT shipment might arrive late

Description	Notifies an operator that a shipment might arrive more than 10 days late.
Actions	Sends an Avanti notification Posts a Harmony beat
Uses	Sample Machine Learning model LctDaysLate.

Job status rule

Description	Notifies an operator if a new job will be Late or On time.
Actions	Sends an Avanti Notification.
Uses	Sample Machine Learning model JobStatus.

New stock code added

Description	Notifies an operator when a new stock code is added to the inventory list.
Actions	Posts a Harmony beat Sends the SYSPRO Bot a proactive message Sends an Avanti notification

WIP Material Cost

Description	Notifies an operator when the actual material cost exceeds the expected material cost.
Actions	Posts a Harmony beat Sends the SYSPRO Bot a proactive message Sends an Espresso notification Sends an Avanti notification

AR Invoice Late Payment Predicted

Description	Notifies an operator when a late invoice payment is predicted for a customer.
Actions	Posts a Harmony beat Sends an Avanti notification
Uses	Sample Machine Learning model CustomerInvoicePayDays

Sales order return reason

Description	Notifies an operator why sales orders over a certain value might be returned.
Actions	Sends an Avanti notification.
Uses	Sample Machine Learning model LostSaleReason

Predict supplier payment

Description	Predict supplier payments.
Actions	Sends an Avanti notification
Uses	Sample Machine Learning model ApInvoicePayment.

The Administration UI program within SYSPRO Avanti has been enhanced to allow you to :

• Activate a selected project that you require to be used for all predictions.
• De-activate active projects when they are not required.
• Delete a de-activated project that is no longer required.

The Administration UI program within SYSPRO Avanti has been enhanced to allow you to download and import projects (i.e. you can now download a selected project in the project tree list using the browser and import it at another site).

This is particularly helpful when a SYSPRO partner builds a project off-site as they can now easily import it to the customer's machine.

For regression models, AI tiles can now use gauges to display a predicted value, indicating whether it is positive or negative (tile type: MLGauge).

You can use the Insight Tile KPI Definition program (core SYSPRO) to define a KPI for your tile. SYSPRO Avanti will use this KPI to render the AI tiles.

The following anomaly project samples have been added to the Administration UI program in SYSPRO Avanti:

• Purchase Order Line Anomaly
• Sales Order Line Anomaly

Additional sample business scenarios are now available using predictive and exception machine learning and artificial intelligence:

• PO receipting process and scrap
• Predicted supplier performance
• LCT expected delivery
• Chance of a machine producing a fault
• Sales of stock codes by location
• Payment of invoices by customer
• Lost sales reason predicted

You now have access to a development platform that enables the development, testing and deployment of Bot skills, customized to situational requirements.

You can now create rules via the Bot or within the Rules Administrator that activates any of the trained skills and which can trigger the Bot to initiate a conversation.

The following new skills are now available with the SYSPRO BOT:

• Delete Alert Rule
• Disable Alert Rule
• Enable Alert Rule
• Statement Print
• Print Purchase Order
• Print Quote
• Reprint Quote
• Reprint Purchase Order
• Pricing
• Standard Price Query
• Set Price Alert
• Query Purchase Order
• Purchase Order Menu
• Quotes
• Add Non-stocked Code
• Add Non-Stocked Quote Line
• Add Quote Line
• Cancel Quote
• Confirm Quote
• Create Non-Stocked Quote
• Requisitions
• My Alerts
• Bank Query
• Create purchase order
• Customer Quotes
• Inventory Query
• Add Purchase Order Line
• Predictions
• Create RMA
• Create Requisition
• Add Requisition line
• Requisition Query
• Requisition routing
• RMA Query
• Update Purchase Order Header
• Supplier Invoices
• Supplier Query
• Supplier receipts
• Requisition Approval

As with social media, Harmony users can follow, post and collaborate within the organization network using real-time information from the SYSPRO database. Using the data generated from these interactions, the system intelligently pushes pertinent information to the user using familiar interfaces.

This provides a more personalized working platform for users, allowing them to create their own profile, follow and track key data, take action and provide and share insights relevant to both internal and external stakeholders, all from a single view.

Harmony is a collaborative, user-friendly social platform at the core of ERP that gives users a familiar interface through which to interact with the SYSPRO ecosystem and conduct their daily business.

Data Sentiment enables a complete spectrum picture of customer opinion about your services or products for informed and strategic decision making. Visual ques (the equivalent of emoticons) help alert users by attaching sentiment to specific items.

Key notes attached to these items are detected to reveal the tone in terms of the state of an event, customer or component which tracks potential future issues regarding customer service and happiness before they arise.

Most social media applications (like Twitter or LinkedIn) use intelligent machine learning algorithms to detect trends from the messages posted and then surfaces that information to the user according to relevance.

Similarly, Harmony uses predictive analytics to reveal trends that provide actionable insight. The difference is that not only does Harmony process machine learning and trend detection on conversations, it also processes these on the core SYSPRO database.

Harmony identifies transactions on the SYSPRO database, the key fields against which these transactions are being processed and then performs trend detection and aggregation on the data. It presents this information in chart form to reflect what is currently trending in the SYSPRO database.

This highlights critical information without you having to request it or consolidate reports across the different modules.

You can add columns to customize the grid view of the Espresso Xpress Cart (e.g. to display the information you deem important). You can use the Espresso Application Builder program in the core SYSPRO product and the Espresso Xpress Cart in SYSPRO Espresso to customize the search to display these columns.

SYSPRO Espresso supports client certificates installed on devices to assist with validation at the time of logging in.

This adds additional security and prevents unauthorized devices from accessing SYSPRO Espresso.

The Forgot Password functionality (that lets operators reset their SYSPRO passwords without administrator assistance) is now available in SYSPRO Espresso.

• Requirements Calculation

  The feature is disabled by default so that existing systems work unchanged. To enable the new MRP SQL Optimization, you must uncheck the new processing option: Run calculation in legacy mode.

  If you are retaining the legacy processing method, then ensure that the snapshot folder still exists.

  When using the new MRP SQL Optimization process, the progress bar only displays the text: Processing Requirements Calculation during the entire process.

• MRP Requirements Calculation object

  The MRP Requirements Calculation Business object: MRPTRC business object takes advantage of this feature to perform the MRP calculation.

Read more...

• WIP Nest Processing

  The Unit of measure field was added to the Issue Materials pane. This lets you select the unit of measure when issuing materials to the job nest.

• Purchase Order Receipts
• Purchase Order Inspection
• Shipment Receipt
• Bins, Lots & Serial Capture
• WIP Inspection Document Print
• Job Receipts
• WIP Inspection
• WIP Inspection Accept into Stock
• Job Receipts
• Factory Documentation Format

Access and maintenance of recorded dates are included in and controlled by the following eSignatures:

• WIP Stocked job receipts
• WIP Stocked job receipts e.net
• PO Apportion quantity receipt
• WIP Inspection (accept)
• WIP Inspection (accept) e.net
• Inv Receipt
• Inv Receipt e.net

The Include function has a new Product recall selection option that lets you include product recalls when archiving files.

A Product Recall Archive Details section has been added that lets you specify criteria according to which you want to archive product recall details. Options include:

This is a new program that lets you print a detailed report of product recall information.

This is a new program that lets you print a summary report of the most essential product recall data.

SYSPRO's Manufacturing Operations Management solution helps manufacturers measure performance in a drive towards world-class standard of operations for overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), total effective equipment performance (TEEP) and overall labor effectiveness (OLE).

It increases productivity and lowers costs by minimizing loss within the business. Operational efficiencies are optimized through better workflow of core manufacturing activities (e.g. schedule, publish, collect, track, analyze and improve).

It facilitates the connection of machines and other devices to digitize the factory (Industry 4.0) and gain competitive advantage.

Benefits:

• Deliver to customers faster.
• Control labor and machine costs.
• Reduce downtime and bottlenecks.
• Measure and improve product quality.
• Increase productivity and output.
• Reduce cost to compete.

Any Device, Anywhere

Makes use of the latest technologies to provide intuitive mobile and browser-based UIs via Smartphones, PDAs, Tablets, Bar code scanners and PCs. Extensive online views make it easy for you and your team to gain visibility over any stage of the process, from any device.

Advanced Planning and Scheduling

Incorporates an advanced, finite capacity-based planning and scheduling (APS) system, allowing you to quickly and accurately schedule while minimizing downtime.

• Visual Planning Board - define your resources and their available capacity via the shifts that they operate. Create, optimize and share your production schedules online. Publish job lists to your resources for easy data collection.
• Dashboard - balance equipment utilization and order fulfillment to maximize factory output. View your most/least utilized resources, top orders by value and popular products by volume.
• Production Plan - view the agreed production plan. List and/or print shop packets. Review progress, including hours reported, quantities produced and issues logged to expedite and/or provide delivery information.
• Equipment Plan - review the impact of the production plan on your equipment. Drill down into each equipment card to view loading detail and expected daily output.
• Production Status - review open jobs to check their status. Use progress bars to gain visibility of hours booked, materials issued and overall progress at a glance. Drill down to view specific job details, including attached documents and production issues.
• Job Lists - view job and material lists by resource groups for today or this week designed for use with mobile and/or tablet devices.
• Production History - view activity history in relation to both open and closed jobs.

Shop Floor Data Collection and Tracking

Incorporates shop floor data collection (SFDC) from your employees and equipment with options to automatically connect your machines in order to read data without manual inputs.

• Workbench - collect data in real time both on and off the shop floor from your employees or equipment using a stopwatch style of recording for accuracy. Data recorded here is used to support the calculations of overall labor effectiveness (OLE) and overall equipment effectiveness (OEE).
• Connect equipment - digitize your factory by collecting data from your machines and other devices automatically.
• Dashboard - high-level view of your orders, products, employees and equipment. Select specific employees and equipment to view status and performance for a selected time period.
• Employee status - at-a-glance live view of your employees… their current status, what they are working on, and how they are performing during their shift. Drill down into each employee card for a detailed view. Use status indicators to access their workbench to help with clocking and other management issues.
• Equipment status - at-a-glance live view of your equipment… the current status, what jobs they are running, and how they are performing during the shift. Drill down into each equipment card for a detailed view. Use status indicators to access the equipment workbench for management purposes.
• Job status - review open jobs to check their status. Use progress bars to gain visibility of hours booked, materials issued and overall progress at a glance. Drill down to view specific job details, including attached documents and productions issues.

• Transaction review - review (edit, delete, add) and/or approve all transactions generated via the workbench or entered from timesheets. Automate the scheduled posting of approved transactions to SYSPRO for financial analysis. Manual 'sync now' option also available. Export to payroll systems (optional).

• Equipment performance - detailed analysis of an individual equipment performance with supporting detail, including audit trails and a record of the issues encountered.
• Employee performance - detailed analysis of an individual employee performance with supporting detail, including audit trails, daily clocked-hours reconciliation and a record of the issues encountered.

• Management reports - analytics associated with employee availability (uptime/downtime) for management purposes. Includes daily clock-hours reconciliation and option to create custom management reports using pivot tables.

Factory Digitization

Allows you to connect machines measuring equipment and other devices. You can automatically connect with machines to read data without manual inputs.

Gain real time visibility of:

• Start/stop and downtime.
• Job assignment.
• Operation status (e.g. operation completed).
• Machine status (e.g. warming up; idle; running; down).
• Parts count (total, good and bad).
• Component count (total, good and bad).
• Performance issues (e.g. slow running; equipment wear; component jam).
• Custom values (e.g. temperature; pressure; spindle speed).

Factory Performance and Loss Management

Provides out-of-the-box factory performance and loss analytics to allow your organization to drive to world-class standards for overall labor effectiveness (OLE), overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) and total effective equipment performance (TEEP).

Utilizes Six Big Loss analysis to identify, classify and quantify your loss, enabling you to determine counter measures to reduce them.

• Loss Management - dashboard realization of loss across your manufacturing operations with every loss identified, classified (Six Big Loss) and quantified to allow for countermeasures to be applied and continuous improvements to be made.
• Dashboard - factory-level analytics of your equipment showing both OEE and TEEP key performance indicators. Drill down to supporting metrics and measurement of Loading, Availability, Performance and Quality.
• Employee Analysis - detailed analysis of your employee performance. Filter by individual employees or analyze performance for a specific group of employees. Further analyze by date or diversion.
• Equipment Analysis - detailed analysis of your equipment performance. Filter by individual equipment or analyze performance for a specific group of equipment. Further analyze by date or diversion.
• Product Analysis - output and quality analysis for your products by employee and/or equipment.
• Loading - detailed analysis of the loading position of your resources with comparisons to last month and/or quarter to understand trends.
• Availability - detailed analysis of the availability of your employees or equipment with comparisons to last month and/or quarter to understand trends.
• Performance - detailed analysis of the performance of your employees or equipment with comparisons to last month and/or quarter to understand trends.
• Quality - detailed analysis of the quality output from your employees or equipment with comparisons to last month and/or quarter to understand trends.

Lean Manufacturing and Continuous Improvement

Helps to drive Lean Six Sigma continuous improvement initiatives with management alerts, issue logging and workflow, online documents and more.

• Management Alerts - receive performance management alerts to improve efficiencies and prevent issues becoming problems.
• Messaging - send and view messages to and from the shop floor.
• Issue Workflow - view, assign and resolve custom and/or performance-related production issues.
• Paperless Shop - manage and maintain static attachments or online forms related to jobs, operations, employees, equipment. Add hyperlinks to videos and/or document management systems where audit trail or document versioning control is required.
• Anytime, Anywhere - access mission-critical information whenever and wherever you need it via tablet and/or mobile devices.
• Safe and Secure - sign-in authentication with full organizational control to restrict information that can be viewed by workgroup or individual.
• Quality Assured - the solution has been formed around IEC62264, the globally recognized standard for manufacturing operations management - providing the tools and analytics essential for effective manufacturing operations management to help you compete in today's market.

The existing access control in SYSPRO Point of Sale has been extended in the Manage Orders program so that you can control an operator's access to the Invoice function, regardless of the order's type or status.

Previously, this function was accessible except when working with deposit or suspended orders. You can now hide or disable the Invoice button by configuring your requirements within the Access Control Setup program (available from the Setup menu).

The search capability in SYSPRO Point of Sale has been extended to barcodes when searching for stock items.

In addition, when you use the Add/Edit Line screen of the Manage Orders program, you can now add stock items using a stock code, serial number or barcode (normal or integrated). Previously, this was only possible using stock codes.

You can also define your preferences as follows:

• Default filter options for the Manage Orders program can now be defined by barcode or serial number within the Search Defaults screens of the Branch Settings program.

• Default filter options for the Search program can now be defined by barcode within the Search Defaults screen of the Manage Users program.

To simplify the debugging process and reduce the persistence of files to the file system, SQL logging within SYSPRO Point of Sale is now recorded within the SQL database.

Previously, each query logged was output to a unique file on disk. From SYSPRO 8 2021 R1, it is now logged to the SQLQueryLogging database table to ensure that all information relevant to debugging is centralized and located at a single point for reference.

To simplify the fault-finding process when SQL Query Logging is enabled, SYSPRO Point of Sale and its SystemConfig.exe file have been altered to limit the logging of SQL queries executed, to functional queries only.

Previously, when SQL logging was enabled, multiple miscellaneous queries were logged which increased the size of the log file and made it difficult to identify queries.

From SYSPRO 8 2021 R1, a standard exclusions list is now included in the SystemConfig.exe file and allows for the exclusion of certain SQL queries by name. A new XML node <SQLQueryLoggingExclusions> has been implemented at parent level and the ChildNodes are named <QueryNameToExclude>.

Although you can add further queries to the list if required, the following SQL queries are now excluded by default:

• BranchSqlConnectionForBranchSelect

• OfflineService

• PoSTransactionListToProcessSelect

• SystemSettingsSelect

• UserSessionsCurrentUserStatusSelect

Each query included in the new exclusions list of the SystemConfig.exe file is not logged when the <OutputSqlQueries> element is set to TRUE.

The assigning of receipt numbers within the Account Payments program has been extended to the Account Payment Reallocations program.

From SYSPRO 8 2021 R1, receipt numbers are assigned (using the same numbering method as account payments) to both the reversal payment and new payment when you process an account payment reallocation in SYSPRO Point of Sale.

In addition, the receipts related to these transactions are now available to view, print or reprint within the Account Payment Query program.

To improve governance around account payment re-allocations, you can now enable supervisor authorization for these transactions by configuring the Allow Account Payment Reallocation option within the Branch Settings program.

The SYSPRO Avanti framework for SYSPRO Point of Sale has been enhanced to cater for providing data directly to SYSPRO Avanti.

This removes the need to first save data to disk - improving the grid layout and data binding speed when running SYSPRO Point of Sale in SYSPRO Avanti.

The Inventory Stock Take Tickets Query Business object: INVQ62 business object generates stock take tickets for items you are counting within a warehouse and prints the report using the Stock Take Tickets program.

The Inventory Label Print Report Business object: INVQLP business object generates and prints up to 9999 labels for every selected stock code using the Inventory Label Print program.

The Sales Order Label Print Report Business object: SORQLA business object generates and prints up to 9999 labels for every selected sales order or dispatch note using the SO Label Print program.

SYSPRO Point of Sale capabilities have been extended so that customers can now process credits against all kit type items directly in SYSPRO Point of Sale (previously this would have to be performed manually in the core SYSPRO product).

Kit types can now be credited either from the original invoice, or manually in the Credit Note program (available from the Store menu) or Manage Credit Notes program (available from the Store Management menu).

Requirements:

• Default bins must be defined in SYSPRO for parent and component lines for the warehouse.
• The ShowKitComponentLines element in the SystemConfig.xml file must be enabled (i.e. its value must be defined as true).

Limitations:

• This doesn't apply to the Point of Sale, Manage Quotes and Exchanges programs (available from the Store menu).
• Lot, bin and serialized items in kits are not supported. Therefore, this does not apply if the Multiple bins option is enabled.
• Kit type F is not supported, so you cannot enable the Ship from default bin option in SYSPRO Point of Sale.

The print template design process in SYSPRO Point of Sale has been simplified to use SYSPRO Reporting Services to support custom documents. This replaces the previous printing designer (Stimulsoft).

SYSPRO Point of Sale lets you monitor, control and report on all petty cash transactions to improve governance at branch level.

Petty Cash Query

The new Petty Cash Query program (accessible from the Query menu) lets you query, review and reprint petty cash transactions. You can search petty cash transactions by branch, document number, or date range.

Petty Cash Transactions

The existing Petty Cash transaction screen improves traceability for petty cash transactions by including petty cash document numbers for all petty cash transaction types.

Petty Cash Report

The existing Petty Cash Report caters for petty cash document numbers, as well as a reprint capability.

To enable the printing of the new receipt numbers, you need to update the petty cash template with the latest default template or dictionary and add the field onto the existing report.

Branch Settings

New options were added to the Petty Cash tab of the Branch Settings program that let you define transaction limits for petty cash expenditure and receipts, as well as configure whether supervisor authorization is required when limits are exceeded. The options are disabled by default:

• Enforce Petty Cash Expenditure
• Petty Cash Expenditure Limit
• Enforce Petty Cash Receipt Limit
• Petty Cash Receipt Limit

The existing access control within SYSPRO Point of Sale lets administrators more closely control various aspects of supply chain transfer functionality to improve governance at store level.

The following functions within the Manage SCT's program can now be controlled at Branch, Role, User and Device level:

• Add Item
• Edit Item
• Add Other
• Delete Item
• Allocate B/O
• Release B/O
• Invoice SCT
• Cancel SCT
• Update Header

Access Control

The new Access Control program (available from the Setup menu) serves as the interface for all newly added or existing access control items that have been enhanced. It lets administrators define the following types of visibility and/or functionality where relevant:

• Visibility

  These options let administrators define what functions (i.e. controls) are visible to operators, by selecting one of the following permission levels:

  • Collapsed: The function is hidden from the operator.
  • Visible: The function is visible to the operator.
  • Inherit: The system must check higher up in the access control hierarchy to determine the function’s visibility.

  All current controls default to Visible, but any new controls added in future will default to Collapsed.

• Functionality

  These options let administrators define the functionality available to operators, by selecting one of the following permission types:

  • Deny: The function is disabled.
  • Allow: The function is enabled and requires no supervisor authorization to proceed.
  • Allow (Auth req): The function is enabled but requires supervisor authorization to proceed.
  • Inherit: The system must check higher up in the access control hierarchy to determine the function's accessibility.

  All current controls default to Allow, but any new controls added in future will default to Deny.

The following programs in SYSPRO Point of Sale have been enhanced to assist operators to quickly identify stock availability and bin locations when adding a sales order or quote:

• Manage Orders (available from the Store Management menu)
• Point of Sale (available from the Store menu)
• Manage Quotes (available from the Store menu)
• Exchanges (available from the Store menu)

Administrators can now define an operator's visibility access (within the Access Control program) for the following display fields when adding sales orders or quotes:

• Quantity on hand
• Default bin

This increased visibility provides operators with vital information when they need it.

Improved transaction tracking and governance has been included in SYSPRO Point of Sale by providing an audit trail of all data changes relating to transaction processing and printing. You can now monitor, control, and report on key functions (e.g. granting of discounts).

You can configure which audit trails you require in the new Audit Trail Setup tab of the System Settings program. The new audit trail reports (available from the new Audit Trails menu tab in SYSPRO Point of Sale) include:

Supervisor authorizations

Two new programs (Header Authorization Audit Trail and Detail Authorization Audit Trail) detail all occurrences where a supervisor authorization has been applied to a sales order or quote header change (e.g. tax override, credit notes, price margin, etc.).

Detail line deletions

A new Line Delete Audit Trail program details all occurrences where a line has been deleted from a quote or sales order.

Special Discounts

A new Price And Discount Audit Trail program details any change made to a price or discount on sales order or quote lines in the Point of Sale or Manage Quotes programs (available from the Store menu).

The report also indicates whether a supervisor authorization was applied, including the details that were applied.

Document Printing

A new Print Audit Trail program provides an audit trail of any printing or reprinting of sales invoices and quotes performed in SYSPRO Point of Sale.

Changes to Ship methods

A new Ship Method Audit Trail report provides an audit trail of any changes made to the ship method on quotes and sales orders in the Point of Sale or Manage Quotes programs (available from the Store menu).

The report also indicates whether a supervisor authorization was applied, including the details that were applied.

Tax Code Changes

A new Tax Code Audit Trail report details any changes made to tax codes on quotes and sales orders in the Point of Sale or Manage Quotes programs (available from the Store menu).

Considerations:

• The EnableAuditTrailLogging element in the SystemConfig.xml file can be enabled or disabled per site.

• The new audit trail database (SysproComp_POS_AuditTrails) contains the following new tables:

  • _SystemAuditTrailPrinting

    This stores an audit trail of any prints performed.

  • _SystemAuditTrail

    This stores audit trail-specific information.

Limitations:

• Supply Chain Transfers are not included in the audit trail reports as SYSPRO Point of Sale posts SCT-related information directly to SYSPRO in real time. However, you can access SCT information directly from the SorAdditions, SorChanges and SorCancelled tables.
• Transactional data is not replicated in the SYSPRO company database to offline branches.

You can now automatically apply the discounts given on the original sales order when processing an exchange or cross shipment of an RMA.

When adding RMA cross shipment details, the discounts from the original invoice are displayed by default at header or line level, as per the original sales order. If the RMA is not linked to an invoice, the discounts set up against the customer are displayed by default. These can then be accepted or updated when generating the sales order for replacement goods.

When an item was returned, and the sales order is created for the replacement goods, the discounts from the original invoice are applied to sales order by default. The discounts can then be accepted or changed.

New eSignatures can be applied to RMA transactions to improve governance and control. These let you manage and secure the RMA process and cover adding and changing RMA's as well as adding, changing, receipting and crediting RMA lines.

• The Expiry date wording was changed to Closing date. The supplier can submit a quote on or before the closing date of the RFQ and a quote can only be accepted after the closing date.

• The supplier cannot change the pricing unit of measure (i.e. the supplier must quote in the unit of measure provided).

• Only requisitions of type Normal can be accepted for RFQs using the Requisition Entry program.

  The Accept for RFQ tool is disabled if the requisition type is Issue or Transfer, as these are used for stock and/or warehouse management.

• SO Quotes
• Document Print
• Sales Order Entry
• Sales Order Query
• AR Branch Maintenance
• SO Document Formats

• Warehouse Maintenance

  The Accounting for shortages option lets you select whether you want to process stock shortfalls as an adjustment against the warehouse or place the missing stock items in a separate warehouse.

• Sales Order Entry

  When stock can't be picked because of shortages, the quantity on the sales order is not adjusted, as the stock quantity is placed in back order.

• Pick Maintenance
• Pick Review

• Lost and Found Warehouse Review

  This program lets you view and manage the stock items placed in a lost-and-found warehouse during order picking and cycle counting.

• Cycle Count Review and Confirm

  You can review and transfer surplus stock by selecting the Review link in the Lost and Found warehouse/Increasing column. The selected stock will be transferred from the lost and found warehouse to the bin that was counted during cycle counting using the Lost and Found Warehouse Review program.

  The Review link is only displayed if surplus stock was captured for the cycle count.

• Browse on Cycle Counts

  You can capture counted quantities by selecting the Action link at the Functions column and choosing Capture a cycle count. The Cycle Count Capture program is displayed.

• Inventory Lost and Found Warehouse Query

  This new business object lets you view all items in the lost and found warehouse.

The Hook-On-Line-Level Assembly custom integration for third party developers within SYSPRO Point of Sale has been enhanced to allow for operator input.

Third party developers now have access to an external assembly that enables a prompt for operator input while processing a sale, credit, exchange or quote in SYSPRO Point of Sale.

The following options are now available:

• Notify operator of order changes

  This sends a message to operators each time they perform an action that intercepted by the external assembly, notifying them that the transaction has been modified by the custom integration.

• Allow operator override with authorization

  This allows an operator to bypass the interception with supervisor authority, so that the transaction behaves as it normally would (i.e. the external assembly is not used).

This external assembly is stored within the C:\inetpub\wwwroot\SYSPRO8POS_EDU1\SYSPROPOS\ExternalAssemblies folder.

You can configure this within the Hook on Line Level Assembly tab of the General Settings program (available from the Setup > System Settings menu in SYSPRO Point of Sale).

The name of the external assembly (SysproPointOfSaleHookAtLineLevel.dll) is inserted and you can select the test option to confirm that SYSPRO Point of Sale can read the assembly.

The SYSPRO Point of Sale software suite is now completely available on the SYSPRO Avanti platform.

Benefits:

• Cloud-related functionality (e.g. web interface).
• Screen customization and full use of SYSPRO custom form fields.
• The availability of Point of Sale on Cloud type devices (e.g. tablets).

The SYSPRO Point of Sale architecture has been enhanced to enable you to create your own custom dashboards, based on your specific business needs.

These dashboards make use of SYSPRO's Business Insights technology and can provide key information regarding the sales and performance of a Point of Sale branch.

To create a dashboard, simply use the Visual Designer when designing your home screen in SYSPRO Avanti. SYSPRO provides 2 samples which you can use to get you started.

An example of what can be done using this new functionality, would be a sales dashboard:

Statistics regarding the intensity of a Point of Sale branch’s performance can be highlighted, down to hourly trading, enabling you to actively monitor and manage your sales.

Trends that can be highlighted include the following:

• Sales Value

  This indicates the net value of sales, after all discounts, and excluding any sales tax.

• Footfall

  This indicates the number of transactions (i.e. sales invoices generated).

  SCT's and other non-revenue related inventory movements are excluded.

• Average Purchase Value

  This indicates the average value of sales to customers.

  This is determined by dividing the Sales Value by the Footfall for a specified time period.

You can now define negative stock capacity at warehouse level for SYSPRO Point of Sale transactions.

Allowing negative stock for a specified warehouse utilized by a branch solves the problem of having a customer at the till with goods in hand, but the till operator not being able to process the sale due to the system showing no stock on hand.

This configuration is available on the Warehouse 2 tab of the Branch Settings program within SYSPRO Point of Sale. From here you can also indicate if a warning must be displayed when a transaction will cause a negative stock situation.

SYSPRO Point of Sale now supports the same level of password control as SYSPRO and provides the following capabilities:

• Automatically expire user passwords after a defined period of time.
• Enforce rules regarding the construction of a password to ensure greater security.

Therefore, when a user changes their password in SYSPRO Point of Sale for any reason, it will be validated against these setup options to ensure the password meets the minimum requirements.

This configuration is available on the Password Settings tab of the System Settings program in SYSPRO Point of Sale.

The management and governance of deposits at branch level has been improved with new trial balance and audit trail capabilities.

The Deposits Trial Balance produces a deposit payment trial balance of all unapplied deposit liabilities recorded in SYSPRO Point of Sale for improved governance:

• All deposit values are listed by customer.

• Information is derived from the ArInvoicePay table, and is subtotaled by customer.

• The report is branch specific.

• Zero value balances are excluded by default, with an option for inclusion.

• The report defaults to the current system date, with an option to change the date to an earlier date. If you select an earlier date then the report excludes all entries subsequent to the selected date.

The Deposits Audit Trail provides an audit trail of deposits taken for sales orders in SYSPRO Point of Sale:

• New deposits, deposit applications against sales and deposit refunds are identified separately.

• All deposit transactions processed in SYSPRO Point of Sale are included, as recorded in the ArInvoicePay table.

• The report is branch specific and provides for financial period and date range selections.

These new programs are both available from the Query program in SYSPRO Point of Sale.

SYSPRO Point of Sale governance regarding the management and control of account payments has been enhanced.

The system now retains a list of receipt numbers and allocates a unique document number for all account payments received and processed at a Point of Sale store.

This occurs for both online and offline processing to prevent duplicate receipt numbers when the system is back online.

In addition, the new Account Payments program (available from the Query menu) provides Point of Sale administrators a view of all account payment processing for their store. By default, access to this program is only assigned to the Admin role.

Things you can do in this program include:

• View an audit trail report of all account payments.
• Query account payments by your preferred selection criteria.
• Reprint an account payment.

This significantly improves the management of and governance over account payment transactions processed through SYSPRO Point of Sale.

SYSPRO Point of Sale administrators can now control various aspects of supply chain transfer functionality at a more granular level, improving the governance and security over SCTs.

The new Access Control program (available from the Setup menu) includes the following capabilities at branch, role, user or device level:

• Visibility

  This pane enables you to define whether or not the option is available to the operator.

• Functionality

  This pane enables you to define an operator's access to various functions as follows:

  • Denied
  • Allowed without supervisor authorization
  • Allowed with supervisor authorization
  • Inherit access control according to hierarchy

You can therefore use this program to define the following abilities of a user for SCT transactions:

• Add item
• Edit item
• Add other
• Delete item
• Allocate back order
• Release back order
• Invoice SCT
• Cancel SCT
• Update header

Governance regarding the delivery of goods to customers has been improved, with new security in terms of a user's ability to change shipping methods in the Manage Orders and Manage Quotes programs of SYSPRO Point of Sale.

The new Access Control program (available from the Setup menu) enables you to define an operator's access to various functions (at branch, role, user or device level) as follows:

• Denied
• Allowed without supervisor authorization
• Allowed with supervisor authorization
• Inherit access control according to hierarchy

You can therefore use this program to define a users access rights for changing shipping methods on new or existing orders in SYSPRO Point of Sale.

The new SO Change Dispatch Status Business object: SORTDS business object lets you change the status of dispatch notes.

The new SO Consolidate Dispatch Invoice Calculation Business object: SORTCC business object lets you post invoices against consolidated dispatch notes.

The Dispatch Note Consolidation program creates the consolidation records against the invoice. When the invoice is posted, all required transactions and calculations are processed and saved to the SYSPRO database.

A copy of the invoice information is stored and can be printed/reprinted using the SO Consolidated Dispatch Inv Doc Query Business object: SORQCD business object or the Document Print program.

The new SO Dispatch Note Maintenance Business object: SORTDM business object lets you reduce the dispatch quantity for a stocked or non-stocked sales order line.

When the dispatch quantity is reduced, the back order quantity against the sales order line is automatically increased.

Allocations for traceable or serialized stock items must be de-allocated in the stocking unit of measure. Stock allocations against the dispatch line can be reduced or deleted, but can't be changed to a different lot, bin or serial.

The SYSPRO Point of Sale software suite is being converted to the SYSPRO Avanti platform.

Benefits:

• Cloud-related functionality (e.g. web interface).
• Screen customization and full use of SYSPRO custom form fields.
• The availability of Point of Sale on Cloud type devices (e.g. tablets).

A new dashboard provides key information regarding the sales and performance of a Point of Sale branch.

Benefits:

• Key statistics regarding the intensity of a Point of Sale branch's performance are highlighted.
• Point of Sale branches can set their own targets (over-and-above corporate budgets) to monitor their performance.
• Trends are highlighted for sales values, footfall and average purchase values.

SYSPRO Point of Sale now caters for kit type K in the Manage Orders program, demonstrating the products' awareness of grouped components that are typically purchased together.

Generally used for special offers, you can now process kits where the kit grouping or parent part is notational only and the components of the kit are separately detailed (pricing is at parent level).

The ability to remove optional items from a kit is also provided.

SYSPRO Point of Sale now caters for the partial crediting of a kit and you can process a credit for an item that was sold as part of a special offer, via a kit.

• Sales Orders now allow for tax codes to be applied by line item.
• The Quotes search now includes the originating operator.
• The Customer Query now displays Contacts as recorded in Contact Management.
• The Take Payments program now allows operators to review payments before finalizing a transaction.
• A security option has been added to request operator validation before taking payment.
• The Inventory Query program now displays defined custom form fields against stock items.

Invoice numbers and Quotation numbers can now be recorded separately as Point of Sale transactions.

Benefits:

• Supports governance requirements for Sales Tax Reporting
• Ensures sequential POS invoice numbering

SYSPRO's suite of tax programs has been bolstered by functionality that lets you generate, print, reprint and submit a 9-box-grid UK VAT return.

Affected Programs

• Tax Return

  This program lets you generate a report that consolidates sales tax information for ease of submitting tax returns to authorities.

  The report is designed to meet the MTD tax requirement as set out by UK legislation.

  The printing and/or reprinting option was enhanced to facilitate the following:

  • Print unprinted transactions.
  • Reprint all transactions.
  • Reprint non-submitted transactions.
  • Reprint and submit non-submitted transactions.

• Tax Return Status

  This program lets you generate a report displaying the total number of tax return transactions that haven't yet been printed; that have been printed but not submitted; and that have been printed and submitted according to the defined tax years and periods.

  Because you now have a record of the status of tax return submissions, you can make informed decisions regarding the criteria for which you would like to generate the Tax Return report.

• SYSPRO's Executive View includes two new customized panes:

  • Tax Return Status (Summary)

    This customized pane lets you view the total number of tax return transactions that have not yet been printed; printed but not submitted; and printed and submitted according to the defined tax years and periods.

  • Tax Return Status (Detail)

    This customized pane lets you view details of transactions that have not been printed and not submitted, for the range specified. Information such as Journal, Invoice Reference, Tax value and Status, could be required for query purposes.

    As with the Summary view, you can view the total number of tax return transactions which have not been printed, submitted and not yet submitted.

  These panes let you check the submission status without running the reports.

  The data displayed (extracted from the AdmTaxReturn table) is only for the current and previous two periods.

Accumulated tax amounts on deposits and withdrawals can now be defined by ledger code or by tax code (by selecting the GL code by tax code option at the Default tax code setup option (Setup Options > Tax > Cash Book)).

You must define the ledger codes and descriptions per tax code, using the Tax Code Setup program.

When the deposit or withdrawal transaction is posted, the ledger codes and tax amounts can be viewed in the following programs:

• Tax Return
• Cash Book Journal
• Cash Book Tax Report
• Cash Book Print

The Tax on Settlement Discount feature lets you distribute the tax portion across multiple tax codes associated with the original invoice. This is controlled by the Determine tax based on invoice paid setup option.

All programs in the Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable modules handle withholding tax and tax on settlement discount concurrently, depending on the configuration settings.

Affected Programs

The following programs in the Accounts Payable module were enhanced to calculate the tax amounts per tax code:

• Payment Cycle Maintenance
• AP Release Invoices to Pay by Review
• AP Automatic Release of Invoices to Pay
• Execute AP Payment Run
• AP Manual Check Entry

SYSPRO's suite of tax programs has been bolstered by the addition of the Tax Transaction by GL Allocation Account report program.

This report lets you generate a tax return breakdown by ledger code, indicating those accounts to which tax-related transactions have been posted for electronic or manual submission to tax authorities.

It gives tax authorities extra assurance that returns have been accurately completed.

The following setup options must be enabled to apply this feature:

Calculation for terms discount

(Setup Options > Preferences > Financials > Accounts Receivable)

• Determine tax based on invoice paid
• Include tax
• Credit and/or debit notes

• AR Payments and Adjustments
• AR Period End
• Cash Posting Worksheet
• AR Post Permanent Entries
• AR Finance Charge Calculation
• AR Initial Invoice Capture
• AR Currency Conversion
• AR Customer Code Conversion
• AR Collector Run Maintenance
• AR Post Dated Check Status
• AR Payment Run
• AR Credit Checking
• Master Sub-accounts
• AR Initial Invoice Capture
• AR Master/Sub Account Maintenance
• AR Invoice Posting
• AR Payment Run
• AR Payments Import
• Customers
• Cash Posting Worksheet
• Tax Return
• Document Print
• SO Counter Sales
• Customer-Supplier Contra
• Interface Import
• AR Payments and Adjustments business object
• Post Accounts Receivable Setup Options
• Query Accounts Receivable Setup Options