Major Features
This is a list of the major changes made in the
To review the list of specific changes in this release, see the Change Log. To see how the changes work, see the Release Details for Version 21.
Application-Wide Update
B-101553 - Spruce Scaling has been Revised.
We have modified Spruce Scaling to give you more control over how you manage text display in the application. See Using Windows Scaling to Manage Text Size in your Application.
UPDATE: After discussing this change with customers during the beta process, we have concluded that we should instead make changes to the Spruce Scaling features. We have updated the original content to reflect these changes. You can still use the instructions for Windows Scaling if you choose to configure your application text using this method.
Point of Sale Features
E-12487 – Quick Tender Selection Added to Point of Sale.
If you would like to process your transactions faster, check out the new Quick Tender feature in Point of Sale. For more about this popular RockSolid Classic cross-over feature, see Quick Tender Feature Improves Point of Sale Transactions.
E-12580 – Application Form Resize Continues.
We have almost completed the application form resize work. This release focused on Point of Sale pop-ups and Utility forms. This project has aimed to ensure that our forms and combination boxes display the appropriate financial data required, regardless of region. See Application Resize Focuses on POS and Utility Forms.
We have added a new, very flexible tool, the Aggregator, that provides a new way to quantify your inventory and create SKU’s based on those calculations. We have initially envisioned it for managing delivery/cartage costs, but you may find other uses for it as well. When you need to deliver the products your customers buy, quantifying that delivery charge can be a real challenge, and “showing your work” is important to your customer. We have defined a new way to determine those charges based on the type and quantity of materials purchased and the type of delivery needed, which we call the Aggregator. The setup process lets you evaluate inventory based on your own standard criteria and then link that inventory to an Aggregator type and a method that handles the delivery you are making. When you add those items to a Point of Sale transaction with the appropriate aggregator SKU, the application does the heavy lifting to arrive at a price you can confidently show your customer. For more on the setup and implementation of this feature, see Using the Aggregator to Calculate Delivery (Cartage) Values. For its application in Point of Sale, see Adding Delivery/Cartage Fees to Point of Sale Transactions.
General Ledger Enhancements
E-12575 – New: General Ledger Inventory Reconciliation Report.
To better understand your business's profitability, we have created a new General Ledger Inventory Reconciliation report, to help you quantify the value of your current inventory and to show setup conflicts that may cause discrepancies in your results. See GL Inventory Reconciliation Report: A Snapshot of Inventory Valuation.
Inventory Features
E-12277 – Timber/Lumber Unit/Pack Item Types Added To Inventory Options.
The goal of this feature is to provide customers with a way to price products with various lengths but fixed length and width measurements. Additionally these customers need ways to break these items down into smaller units and packs to meet the needs of their customers (both metric and imperial measurements). These features have been added to this release. See Timber/Lumber Unit/Pack Inventory Type Added.
E-12390 – Item Records Display Tax-Included/Tax Excluded Pricing (VAT/GST).
In response to customer requests, we have updated the Item Maintenance, and Item Inquiry forms Branch Pricing tabs to display item pricing with or without branch taxes. Now it will be easy to see the item-level pricing for every item in your inventory without guessing whether the prices include or exclude the appropriate taxes. See Including/Excluding Taxes on Items for VAT/GST Regions.
Price Management Updates
E-12297 – Convenience Fee Options Added for Credit Card Payments on Accounts.
Charge account customers who pay their balances using credit cards can hurt your bottom line. We have added a convenience fee option to help you recover those card processing fee costs. See Account Payment Convenience Fees Made Easy.
E-12638 – Job-Specific Pricing Helps You Manage Costs and Profitability.
We have created a new price group level that you can set by job rather than by account. This allows your business to create job-specific pricing that is sustainable and competitive in your market. See Creating Job-Level Price Groups to Manage Competitive Bids.
Regional Features
E-11725 – Supporting Taxable Discounts in Regions with VAT/GST Tax Systems.
When your vendor gives you a discount for on-time payments, those discounts also apply to the tax amount. We have added support for tracking that tax discount and ensuring it does not affect your EOD Report. See Managing VAT/GST Discounts in Payables.
E-12223 – Update to Support Clover Point of Sale Devices (UK).
The Clover Mini and Flex are some of the UK's most popular Point of Sale devices. Now you can use the Clover API to process payments through the application. See Payment Integration using Clover Devices (UK).
E-12367 – Expanded Support for Landscape Style A4 Point of Sale Documents.
Businesses, particularly in VAT regions, have asked us to expand the use of landscape documents in Point of Sale to reduce the number of pages required to produce orders and quotes. See Landscape Format Update for Tax Document Styles (VAT/GST).
E-12653 – Zero Decimal Currency Support Completed.
We have completed work on the support for zero-decimal currency in our application. See Support for Zero-Decimal Currencies Complete for details.
Reports Update
B-81887 – Upgrade from ActiveReports 3 to ActiveReports 15.
We have upgraded the ActiveReports version we use in the application from version 3 to version 15. This required an upgrade to the Windows Framework 4.8, which is also necessary for platforms that run version 20 of the application. ECI will be focusing on maintaining ActiveReports® templates in the future, and we will update these templates as our applications evolve as part of your support plan. Customizations of any Active Report templates are also available from ECI as a billable service. Contact us at ECI Support to discuss your business needs. For more ActiveReports upgrades, see Reports Updates.
Note: Current ECI applications support the existing Crystal Reports® templates, which are still available through the ECI Support team. However, ECI will not update Crystal Reports templates based on changes or issues that arise in our applications after the 20.0 release. We recommend you test your Crystal Reports templates after each release upgrade to verify they still work the way you expect. Contact ECI Support to discuss your business needs, and we will work with you to create or update Crystal Reports templates you need as a billable service.
Security Updates
E-12522 – You can learn more about the security enhancements and product updates we completed at the request of our customers in the Security Updates and Corrections sections.