New Features
Update PO Line Items via PO Import
It is now possible to update the unit price and budget code of a line item in a Purchase Order updated via PO Import. This can only be performed on POs that have not been invoiced yet and only by users with appropriate user permissions. Please see this document to learn more about editing a PO via PO Import.
Supplier Code added to Available Order Items document in PO shipment workflow
This change is visible to users when they choose to “ship from PO.” Most packing lists have the supplier’s SKU instead of the receiving organization’s SKU. Therefore, we have added the supplier code to the downloadable file “Available Order Items”. When this file is downloaded, a new column “Supplier Code” is visible on the far right. For more information on Shipping from PO and downloading the document, please click here.
New and Improved Reports
Amount Outstanding Report
A new report is available for Procurement users. Under Reporting, an Amount Outstanding Report is now available. This is a CSV report where users can see what value of Purchase Orders have not been invoiced, and the shipment status of those lines. This will be helpful when those expenses hit their budget. Please see the Amount Outstanding Report for more detailed information on this report.
Request Details Report - Added Unit Price
For the CSV download version of the Request Details Report, the unit price of products has been added. We can see the unit price after the product name.
Purchase List Report – Download Orders
We have added a new report that can be downloaded from the PO list page. More information on navigating through the PO list page can be found here.
In addition to the “Download Order line details”, we can now also “Download orders”.
Download Orders downloads a CSV file that includes the Order information visible on the OpenBoxes screen. The file only includes the columns that are shown on the PO list page. Any filters applied on the list page are also applied to the downloaded file. This allows users to analyze the summarized view of the Order lines on their desktop.
Download Order line details is an existing function that downloads a CSV file with additional columns than just the ones displayed on the screen.
Feature Improvements
Simplified View of Stock History
In stock history, the display of Putaway and Transfer Orders transactions has been simplified. The transactions will now be shown in one single line instead of two separate lines of “transfer in” and “transfer out”. This will also help minimize confusion since these transactions make no change to the ending balance for an item. Instead of using “+” and “-“, this icon will represent a change or movement transaction:
The screenshot below shows a Putaway transaction. Notice how it is displayed only in one line.
As we can see above, the line shows the original bin location and the new bin location (R-053XRM > zone1CUB2C). We also have a link to the distinct transfer in and transfer out transactions.
Improvements to the Purchase Order Pages
Based on user feedback, we have added several features on the Purchase Order pages.
- The status description, in green status tags, is now visible for line items in the Summary and Item Status tab. As seen in the screenshot above, “Pending” is in green status tags. These statuses were incorrect before but should be correct now. Please notify the OpenBoxes team if you see any inaccuracies.
Please see below for descriptions of the different PO statuses:
a. Pending: The PO is in progress and has not been finalized.
b. Placed: The PO has been finalized and submitted.
c. Receiving: Some of the PO items have been received. Other shipments with items from this order are yet to be received.
d. Shipped: At least one item on the PO has been shipped out.
e. Received: The items in the PO have been received by the receiver.
f. Completed: The PO has been shipped and received. Related purchase invoices have been posted.
- The handling icons have now been added to these Purchase Order tabs: Summary, Status, and Details. Handling Icons are very important and helpful in packing, receiving, and shipping products. Here are the handling icons we currently use in OpenBoxes.
Controlled substance, Cold Chain
, Hazardous material
, and Reconditioned
.
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Users will also see a notification icon on the Comments tab to not miss any important notes on the PO. The notification icon will display the number of comments present for the PO, as you can see in the screenshot above.
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Users can filter by product code on PO tabs. The filter function has been added to these tabs: Summary, Item Details, Item Status, and Edit page.
Shipment Documents
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In the Inbound Packing list (the downloadable excel file), columns have been added for Supplier Code and Manufacturer Code as they would have been shown on the physical boxes.
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Based on user request, columns for Manufacturer and Origin have been added to the Commercial Invoice document. If a product has an associated product supplier, it will be shown under manufacturer. The Origin field will be left blank to be entered by hand.
Improvements on the Stock Movement pages
- Handling Icons are also very important and helpful in packing, receiving, and shipping products.
We can now see these icons on the following pages to help make decisions on receipt, packing, and storage:
a. Inbound shipment packing list
b. Outbound shipment packing list
c. Outbound Shipment request
d. Return view page
e. Receiving workflow screens
- When receiving a shipment, users will not have to input a Recipient. If a Recipient was entered when the outbound shipment was created, that will display automatically. If a Recipient was not entered when the outbound shipment was created, it will appear blank. Making it non-editable reduces the distractions on this page and allows users to focus on the quantities.
- This change is for locations that have to enter the Pack Level information when creating Outbound Shipments. When creating the Outbound Shipment, if no Pack Level (Pack level 1 and Pack Level 2) information is entered, the Pack Level columns will not be displayed on the final page of the workflow. Instead, the product name will be expanded.
Outbound Returns
- For sites that use the Outbound Return function, we have added the transaction to be displayed in reports accessible through the dashboard indicators:
· Your In Progress Shipments
· Outgoing Stock Movement in Progress
Clicking on the indicators will direct users to the respective reports, where outbound reports will also be displayed. To learn more about Outbound Returns, please click here.
Permissions
Changes have been made for role-specific actions.
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Managers and Admins can now delete pending purchase orders (placed orders must be rolled back by an approver before deletion)
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Admins can now remove documents from a shipment or purchase order
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Managers can now delete pending shipments and items on pending shipments
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Managers with invoice user permissions can now delete items from invoices
Configuration
To access documents related to configuration as an admin, please see the OpenBoxes Knowledge Base.
- Product Supplier Records can now be marked as active or inactive. Deactivating the record removes it from the Purchase Order create/edit screen, and the product sources tab in an electronic stock card.
To deactivate product supplier records, go to Product > Product Sources > uncheck the Active check box.
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Budget Codes can now be marked as Active or Inactive. Codes not marked as Active will be removed from the Purchase Order create/edit screen.
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Person records can now be marked as Active or Inactive. A person marked as inactive will not be available to choose as a receiver
- Organization records can now be marked as Active or Inactive. If an organization is marked inactive, its associated locations will also be inactive. It will not be available as a supplier or destination location.
Bug Fixes
· In the Outbound Stock Movement process, the “Reason code” field is disabled when the user clicks on “Undo” for substitution. This allows the user to proceed with the process without having to enter a reason code when it is not needed.
· Fixed error regarding product unit prices. A bug was recently identified where when a user without financial user permission runs a consumption report, it deletes unit prices for products in OpenBoxes. This caused issues in reporting and transactions. This bug has been resolved. When a user without financial user permission runs a consumption report, the product prices will not be overwritten or deleted.
· Product Balance error resolved in Transaction Report. The Transaction Report in OpenBoxes allows us to look at transactions (such as transfer in, transfer out, and stock count) performed on products within a selected time frame. When we click on a product in a report, a product dialog box appears. Previously, the balance was blank in the dialog box. Now, the product balance dialog box displays the ending balance related to each transaction for a product.
· Can move through the Pick page on the Outbound Shipment workflow. Some users were getting bugs where they were not able to move through the Outbound Shipment workflow. During the Pick part of the process, they would resolve issues with item quantities, and enter valid reason codes but an error stating “invalid reason code” would pop up. This issue has been resolved and users can move through the pick page if all item issues are resolved.
· Recall a lot: An error experienced where users with appropriate permissions were not able to recall a lot has been fixed.
· Faster download time for US PO Template: Users reported an issue where downloading a US PO Template was taking a long time, especially if the PO had multiple line items. This issue has now been resolved and the download time for the US PO template is considerably faster.
· Filtering error in Invoice List page now resolved. On the Invoice list page, once a user selects filters and clicks on the “Search” button, the list was not getting filtered. This has now been fixed and the list should only display invoices based on the filters. Note: Only users with invoice user permission are able to see the invoices.
· Prepayment Invoice now generated even when all line items are canceled. When all line items on a PO with prepayment were canceled, the “Generate Invoice” button was visible but not clickable. Now, the users can generate invoices even if all the items in a Prepaid PO are canceled. A final invoice should still be created to refund the prepaid amount.
· Putaway Bin not reverted to Preferred bin during the Putaway Process. During the Putaway process, if a user entered a Putaway bin that is different from the Preferred bin and clicked on “Generate Putaway list”, the new Putaway bin reverted back to the Preferred bin on the screen. This issue is now resolved. The user entered Putaway bin is not changed and reflected correctly in OpenBoxes and the generated Putaway list.
Much easyer to figure out what changed :)!