v24b1 Release Notes (July 2024)

Updated

Overview

Info: These release notes may be updated periodically for corrections and additions.

This patch release builds upon the last version releases. We have provided additional system feature enhancements as well as squashed a few inconveniences. System enhancements and new features are ongoing with your Pacific Solutions’ management systems.
It is important to establish an internal education administrator who can constantly stay current on software release information and conduct internal education on system enhancements when necessary.  

Review Previous Release Notes

Alert: When updating to v24 and skipping over several releases, please review all release notes for the releases and patch releases that your update is bypassing.
*Note: your system version is located on the Admin screen in the lower right corner.

Successful Updating Guide

System enhancements and new features are ongoing with your Pacific Solutions’ management systems. It is important to establish an internal education administrator who can constantly stay current on software release information and conduct internal education on system enhancements when necessary.  
For a successful system update, we suggest your internal education administrator follow these steps before updating your management system: 

  1. Read through the release notes and highlight significant changes that might affect your day-to-day workflow. 
  2. Depending on how many update cycles you are updating through, be sure to review all the release notes since your previous version.
  3. Watch all available videos to learn the design and intent of each system enhancement and feature.
  4. Schedule time with department heads to discuss any enhancements/changes that directly affect their day-to-day processes. Departments can then adjust any internal documentation for staff.
  5. Be sure to follow all instructions provided by Pacific Solutions before performing any update on your management system. Once the update is complete, *Review the Personnel Access Levels in Admin* for new settings.  

V24 System Release Items

Cyncly Pay Integrated Credit Card Processing

Integrated credit card processing is now available. Currently called Cyncly Pay, this functionality offers the ability to send a payment request link through email and receive payments through the link sent to the customer.
It also provides in-person terminal processing of payments as well as pre-authorizations and refunds/cancellations when necessary.

To learn more about the benefits and advantages of Cyncly Pay, please watch this brief Cyncly Pay Video.

If you are interested in discovering the costs and fee rates, please fill out this Cyncly Pay Contact Form to get started.

There are several things that are new on the Accounting Tab of the Customer/Contact record. We want to highlight these items here even though a couple of them have been introduced without much attention.

Customer Account Tab

Statement Email Settings

1. Use Default Email Option (and gear icon) – this option will pull the main email on the phone tab into the email field for customer statements. This is so that you do not have to re-enter email data. The gear icon lets you set a minimum statement balance and minimum credit balance for auto sending statements.

2. Send Statements Option- Choose which kind of statement you want to send this particular customer when the automated scheduled event for sending statements goes out.

3. Send Credit Statements Option – Choose this option if you also want negative totals on statements to go out.

4. Email Field – This is the email used in sending customer statements from the customer screen and the automated scheduled events process.

Invoice Email Settings

1. Use Default Email Option - this option will pull the main email on the phone tab into the email field for sending both payment request links in email and emailing out AR invoices from the invoices file.

2. Email Field – this is the email the system will use as default when sending an email for a payment request with Cyncly Pay and for emailing invoices from the AR Invoices module.

Cyncly Pay Settings

1. Disallow Stored Credit Cards Option – use this for customer records where they do not want their credit card tokens to be stored.

2. Clear Payment Methods Button – use this button to clear stored credit card tokens for a particular customer.

Admin Defaults - Account Tab Defaults

New Customer Defaults

The settings in this area control the information that automatically populates in the mapped fields when the New button is used to create a new customer. There are a couple of new options in here that relate to integrated payments, so we thought we would point them out.

Require Email Address To Accept Option – you can require email address to be filled in on the phone tab before the customer record is accepted.

Disallow Stored Credit Cards Option – Use this to set this option as a default for every new customer created.

Installer Notes at Workorder Transfer Screen

The installer notes field is now visible at the workorder transfer screen.
You will be able to see these notes while you make selections for creating a workorder.
This is helpful when there are cuts listed, finish IDs listed from takeoff imports, and other information that needs to be known while creating the workorders.

Labor Discounts

Once the update completes, the Group Discounts area in the Admin space will produce two tabs to replace the single screen of discounts.
Where there was one single group discounts screen, there will be two tabs: Material and Labor. The two discount columns have simply been split into two separate tabs.
There is no modification or reorganizing to do on your part, just know that when you arrive in the Group Discounts area, you'll now see two tabs instead of one single screen.
You will notice that the new labor discount tab does have additional icons and functions. These are explained in the Help Center article.

Labor Catalog
The labor catalog will be displaying the group discount information established in the Group Discounts Admin area. This is similar to how the material discounts are displayed in the product catalog.
When you navigate to the labor catalog and open the labor type category, you'll see this information on the look up tab and on the setup tab.
You will notice that the labor catalog setup tab does have additional icons and functions. These are explained in the Help Center article.

Email OAuth Requirements

All system users will be required to use email OAuth security with Outlook and Gmail. Please contact support for instructions on how to activate and use the new OAuth security process.
This requires users to login with tokens for higher security. You may want to check the email settings area for any changes to user names/emails and passwords that may have been done recently to your email clients.

Gmail will deprecate older methods of email integration for security reasons. You will need to convert to the oAuth security for Gmail to continue using your email functionality.

Microsoft Office 365 will deprecate older methods of email integration for security reasons. You will need to convert to the oAuth security for Outlook 365 to continue using your email functionality.
Please use the information in the Help Center to setup oAuth for your email connectivity.

Estimation Takeoff Integration with Measure

Measure is becoming the premier estimation application. The integration between RFMS Measure takeoff software and JobRunner/FloorManager has expanded to include file attachments and tighter relationships with line items.

  1. Measure and JobRunner/FloorManager now integrate with these new functions
  2. Import client, produce and service data from JobRunner/FloorManager.
  3. Attach takeoff files automatically when importing into JobRunner/FloorManager.
  4. Perform a direct or offline export to JobRunner/FloorManager.
  5. Load FloorRight projects (takeoffs) directly in Measure.
  6. Some other things Measure does that you might not know:
  7. Import product data from CSV files generated by Spec-ID.
  8. New wall grid option for clarity on wall rendering.
  9. Select whish report to include in an export.
  10. Create customer keyboard shortcuts.

If you are currently an RFMS Measure client, This Pacific Solutions Integrations page lists all the help center articles related to the PacSol and Measure relationship.

If you are not currently using Measure and are interested in the product and the integration, please use this link to see all Measure offers and to schedule a demo.

You may also reach out to your CSM for more information as well. View the CSM Territory Map.

 

Critical Enhancements that you may have missed in the previous patch releases since 2023

  1. Customer Payments has a new workflow
  2. The new sales and use tax report will be activated as part of the update
  3. Estimation imports can be imported repeatedly into proposals that have not been transferred to a sales order.
  4. A new required GL will be automatically created as part of the update.
  5. QuickSale payment options have been cleaned up to display the credit card payment option as one button.
  6. All Web Help buttons now take you to the Help Center.
  7. Discounts and setting the GPM has a correlated alert message added.
  8. Project invoice and invoice custom has new options when selecting the pencil icon for remaining button.
  9. Purchase order header contains a new column of information.
  10. Installer workorders that are negative will now work like positive work orders.
  11. JobRunner: be sure to review the JobRunner Project Controls article to make sure you are up to speed on the enhancements made to this functionality. 

Miscellaneous tweaks and fixes in v24

  1. Minor enhancements were made to the new tax report and the paid tax report to bring better clarity to the calculations.
  2. Attention to the billing worksheet report resolved an issue some clients experienced with closed jobs not dropping from the report.
  3. We addressed an issue in the sales analysis written report where some clients were experiencing calculation issues.

 

System versions below v22b1 are outdated and support is limited to these older versions. Notifications will go out when we sunset support on these older versions.
FileMaker has sunset support on versions FM17 and lower. Systems running FileMaker versions below 19 will need to be updated to a current version of FileMaker.

Why would I Update?

Updating refers to maintaining a current version of JobRunner or FloorManager. 
JobRunner and FloorManager are the two business solutions offered by Pacific Solutions. JobRunner is the commercial business solution and FloorManager is the retail business solution. These solutions are constantly improving based on user feedback, industry trends and technology improvements. Maintaining your business solution to the most currently available version is the best way to ensure you are using the most advanced business solution we offer. Delaying an update to JobRunner or FloorManager can set a company back years in the industry trends as well as orphan the company from proper system support. 

Upgrading refers to maintaining a current version of FileMaker. 
FileMaker is the engine in which Pacific Solutions writes the code for JobRunner and FloorManager. As FileMaker Inc. releases new versions, we must comply to the new engine specifications, convert our code, and move forward with the current technology. This is beneficial to development and our users. New FileMaker versions mean better diagnostic tools, better code tools, and industry-forward technologies to better our user experience and interface environment. 

There are several components to maintaining your JobRunner/FloorManager version and your FileMaker version. Some of these include although not limited to; servers, workstations, network infrastructure, education, and mobile devices just to name a few. Attempts to move forward with management and FileMaker versions without compatible equipment/infrastructure can be catastrophic. Please consult our support department to inquire about current requirements for the latest version of JobRunner/FloorManager and FileMaker. 

Technology moves forward and older technology becomes obsolete. 
All of the applications we use on a day-to-day basis eventually have updates. The longer we stay in outdated technology the harder updating becomes. Companies that make computer programs will render old versions obsolete and no longer provide support for those older versions. This is called a lifecycle. As of January 2020, Microsoft will no longer support Windows 7 and older operating systems.  https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsforbusiness/end-of-windows-7-support Microsoft issues a Windows life cycle fact sheet regularly to keep consumers informed: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/13853/windows-lifecycle-fact-sheet. Why is this important? Because this is the world of software and computers. Pacific Solutions is a software company. We too will be ending lifecycles on versions of JobRunner and FloorManager. Older versions of our business solutions are simply incompatible with current technologies (Windows, FileMaker, Printers, etc.).  

ReleaseNotes-v23b8.2.2-202407/30/2024BG-KB

Was this article helpful?
0 out of 0 found this helpful