Development of Freeway continues from Development-X with another round of pre-release updates
Summary of New features and Changes for Ostendo Update 227 from Update 225
Freeway Warehousing
As outlined in the last pre-release notes Development-X have continued to add most of the remaining Warehousing functionality to Freeway and Ostendo. The operation of these new features follow the same basic logic as the Sales Delivery Picking (released in Update 225) with some exceptions: (Note: for all Picking, Receipting and Counting, the lines are live – that is, they are updated and displayed in real-time; the remaining data sheet contents are updated when the sheet is completed and synced back to Ostendo):
- Assembly Picking: Added the ability to select/scan Assembly Order lines. The process of picking is very much identical to Sales Picking with the exception of an Assembly Picking Tolerance, defined in the Employee Mobility Settings screen (the Expiry Date logic works as it does in Sales Picking). When defining a Style Template for Assembly Picking the Type is ‘ASSYPICKING’ for the Assembly Lines.
- Assembly Receipting: Added the ability to select/scan Assembly Order Receipted Items. The process of receipting is very close to that of the Picking logic, however for tracked products (serial numbers, batch number etc…) instead of selecting what’s in stock, the tracking characteristics are entered. When defining a Style Template for Assembly Receipting the Type is ‘ASSYRECEIPTING’ for the Receipt Lines.
- Purchase Receipting: Added the ability to select/scan Purchase Order Receipted Lines. The process of receipting is very close to the Picking logic, however for tracked products (serial numbers, batch number etc…) instead of selecting what’s in stock, the tracking characteristics are entered. When defining a Style Template for Purchase Receipting the Type is ‘PURCHASERECEIPTING’ – there’s also another optional Type called ‘PURCHASERECEIPTSLIP’ that will allow the entry of the Supplier’s Packing Slip number. You’ll also notice a new tab in the Employee Mobility Settings screen called ‘Purchases’ which allows restriction criteria and whether or not the Purchase Order list is live.
- Job Picking: Added the ability to select/scan Job Order lines. The process of picking is very much identical to Sales Picking with the exception of a Job Picking Tolerance that can be defined in the Employee Mobility Settings screen (the Expiry Date logic works as it does in Sales Picking). When defining a Style Template for Job Picking the Type is ‘JOBPICKING’ for the Job Lines.
- Inventory Counts: Added the ability to enter/scan Inventory Counts. Again the process is very similar to the other picking functions – however you can only count what has been stored against that Inventory Count at the time it was created. You’ll also notice a new tab in the Employee Mobility Settings screen called ‘Counts’, which allows for the definition of restriction criteria, whether or not the Inventory Count list is live, and an option to display the Stock On Hand quantity in Freeway for Count Lines.
Customer Hazards – Linking to Specific Address
- The ability to link a Customer Hazard directly to an ‘Address Name’ has been added. This applies when a Job is selected in Freeway (the Style Template requires that the Type called ‘HAZARDS’ has been included in the Template); the hazards linked to the Customer as a whole (with no Address Name), and any hazards linked to the specific address for the Job are then included in the Data Sheet.
Customer Assets – Warranty Information
- Added ‘Warranty Information’ fields to the Customer Asset screen. These are display only fields indicating whether the asset is currently covered by a valid warranty, the warranty has expired, or warranties don’t apply. The information is a summary view of any linked warranties to the asset, dynamically determining the status based on the current date and the warranty with the greatest expiry date (where there is more than one warranty for the asset).
Item Hazards – MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheets)
- Added the ability to link Hazard Codes or Groups directly to an Item Code. This can be used in Freeway to include any safety instructions/hazards that relate to that product when used in either Jobs or Assemblies. Again like the Customer Hazards, you will need to include the ‘HAZARDS’ type in the Style Template.
Job Types – Hazard Groups
- Added the ability to link a Hazard Group to the Job Type definition. This enables a list of hazards to automatically inserted into the Job Hazards screen on generation of a new Job. Useful if the hazards/instructions that are introduced/needed can be attributed the type of work that is being carried out. Again like the Customer Hazards & Item Hazards, you will need to include the ‘HAZARDS’ type in the Style Template definition.
Purchase Orders – Allocation Summary
- Added a display-only Allocation Summary field to the Purchase Lines grid. This provides a quick view of the specific allocation (order, inventory etc...) without having to drill down on the allocation tab for each line. Note: We have also added a new field in the Allocation tab to display either the Task or Step name, where the line is linked to a Job or Assembly.
Inquiry Pack – Highlight Colour
- Added the ability to define the colour used when highlighting a Scorecard Statistic/KPI. The colours available are (Blue, Red, Green & Yellow) – the idea is to provide a bit more meaning to the Highlight (i.e. Blue for neutral, Green for good, Yellow for caution, and Red for not so good).
Style Templates – Grouping and Images
- Added the ability to link a Template Group (defined in ‘Mobility-Settings-Template Groups’) to the each Style Template so that templates are then logically group and sequenced when displayed within Freeway.
- Added the ability to link an image/icon to each Style Temple, which in turn displays within Freeway. There are currently 20 available images to choose from.
Inventory Counts – Creation Improvements
There have been a number of enhancements to the creation criteria for Inventory Counts:
- Added the ability to select a Site. This will then condition the Items to be counted based on the warehouses linked to that Site.
- Added the ability to select a Location Group. This will then condition the items based on the locations that are linked to the Location Group.
- Added the ability to enter a range for Location Sequences. This will then condition the items based on the locations that fall with that sequence range (this can be used to allocating areas for different counting teams).
- Added the ability to select a Primary Supplier. This will then condition the items based on the Primary Supplier linked to each Item.
Inventory Counts – Mobility Restrictions
- Added the ability to restrict the Inventory Count to a specific Mobility Team – in other words if this is filled in, only members of that team will have that specific count available on Freeway.
- Added a checkbox to Prevent Mobility Editing. This is used where the count has been physically completed and the office is now vetting/checking the results before updating the count. If checked no changes can be made to the count via Freeway.
Update Database Status Checking
Development-X have enhanced the Database Update routine to detect if the database hasn’t been backed up and restored for a while – it will jump out of the update and log this in the DBUpdate###.log file that is automatically created every time a database is updated (found in the Ostendo Directory). This safeguard is to prevent issues with database integrity – there are internal limits as to how many times the structure of a database can be changed/altered before a backup and restore is required. It is always a good practice to do a validation, backup and restore before running an update.
Freeway App
From this update on, the Freeway App is both backward (and forward) compatible with future versions of Ostendo, and any standalone solutions created. The advantages of this are:
- Freeway will be able to connect to multiple versions of Ostendo at the same time. In other words, each solution can independently connect to different databases even when the databases have different structures (i.e. Update 227 and then say Update 230) – ideal for consultants / Customers Suppliers that might need to connect to multiple Ostendo databases from the one app.
- Standalone solutions that have been developed don’t need to be in-sync with the Freeway app, or with any Ostendo Database that Freeway is connected too.
Contact Us
If you require more information on any of these software changes please give us a call on 02 4928 8500.
