Feature 1: Onboarding services for extra support during setup
Impact area:
DEAR Subscription
Introduction:
Many of our customers want expert assistance getting started with their new DEAR subscription. And, DEAR has provided extra support to new customers for many years. Since we are frequently asked for these services, we are providing several options for our new customers to pick from. We also know that when customers effectively configure and learn DEAR, they are more successful and less likely to cancel their subscription.
We’re introducing 3 new implementation plans: Focused, Standard, and Comprehensive are shown on the DEAR pricing page in all regions except the US, as well as additional onboarding services for those customers who wish to use them.
Pre-conditions:
- None
Functionality:
- The onboarding service is available on the My Subscription page in your DEAR Account. Once the payment has been made the below actions will occur:
- An email with an invoice attached will be sent to the onboarding manager, who will contact the customer for the next steps.
- Invoice is added to the Payment History section in My Subscription page.
- An email is sent to the customer containing payment status information with an attached invoice.
- The onboarding manager will contact the customer to confirm the date and time of onboarding training.
More information:
Feature 2: Recommend and enforce FIFO/FEFO Batch/Serial numbers during barcode scanning and WMS picking
Impact area:
Sales module, WMS application
Introduction:
Currently DEAR web portal and WMS application allows pickers to scan and select any Batch/Serial Number while picking stock for sale order fulfillment, assembly orders, or stock transfers. While auto-pick actions choose stock in line with FIFO/FEFO costing methods, there is no check or validation performed to make sure that the item picked is the oldest/first to expire.
With this release, new settings and validation have been added to check that picked items are in line with FEFO/FIFO rules before authorising a pick. This applies to picking for all transactions which result in stock movements, i.e. sales, assembly, stock transfers. It does not apply to components for production however this is planned for a future release.
An additional setting has been added which allows users to exclude expired FEFO items from system actions like recommendations, auto-picking and auto-consuming of items.
Pre-conditions:
- WMS application
Functionality:
Two new settings have been added to Settings → General Settings → Product and measurement settings.
Recommend batch/serial no. for FIFO/FEFO: The following options are available:
- Don’t recommend: No warning or restrictions will be displayed if first in/first expired stock has not been selected.
- Recommend and warn: System will direct WMS picker to bins containing the first in/first expired stock. Upon pick authorisation, a warning message will display if stock picked from the bin is not first in/first expired according to product costing method, and the recommended batch/serial no. of first in/first expired stock. User can ignore the warning and pick selected stock, or remove picked items to pick first in/first expired stock.
- Recommend and enforce: System will direct WMS picker to bins containing the first in/first expired stock. Upon pick authorisation, a warning message will display if stock picked from the bin is not first in/first expired according to product costing method, and the recommended batch/serial no. of first in/first expired stock. User must remove picked items to pick first in/first expired stock.
Exclude expired batch/serial numbers: When enabled, auto-pick function and batch/serial no. recommendation will exclude any stock with expired batch/serial no. This will also affect MES auto-consume for production.
More information:
General Settings – Product and measurement settings
Costing methods – Recommend and enforce picking in FIFO/FEFO order
Feature 3: Additional attributes can be viewed in Product Availability Report
Impact area:
Reports module
Introduction:
This display shows the availability of products, including what has been allocated to sales and work orders and expected delivery date for on order stock. With this report, additional attributes assigned to the products can be viewed here. Additional attributes are not added to the display by default and must be added from the display settings.
Pre-conditions:
- Users will need the Inventory – Product Availability permission in order to view this screen.
Functionality:
- To view the Product Availability page, navigate to Inventory → Availability or to Reports → Inventory → Product Availability Report.
- Click the settings icon, the gear, to add/remove columns to the display, and check the Additional attributes box.
More information:
Feature 4: Production BOM CSV files are included in backups
Impact area:
Advanced manufacturing module, Automation module
Introduction:
Backups can be scheduled automatically from the Scheduled Reports module. Select which areas of data you wish to back up, the backup frequency, and a recipient to receive DEAR backup files via email. With this release, a fix has been added to make sure production BOMs are also exported as CSV as well as assembly BOMs.
Pre-conditions:
- Automation module subscription
- Set up Mailing Lists
- Full backup can only be scheduled by the Master User of the account.
Functionality:
- Navigate to Settings → Automation.
- Click Report Scheduling.
- On the Scheduled Reports page, click the + button on the top left to create a new report.
- In the New Scheduled Report wizard, toggle the Active button to Yes, then select Backups from the dropdown list. You can optionally give your backup a unique name to differentiate it from other backups with different settings. Click Next to continue.
- Select the areas to back up and the count of days to export, Bill of Materials will back up production and assembly BOMs. Click Next to continue.
- Select the date and time for the first backup, the backup frequency, and the recipient mailing list for the backup files. Save to complete the backup scheduling.
More information:
Feature 5: Production BOM cycle time can be specified in “days”
Impact area:
Advanced manufacturing module
Introduction:
A Production BOM defines each step of a production operation, its duration, and the components and resources required to complete each step. Previously to this release, cycle time for a production operation could be specified in seconds, minutes, or hours. With this release it now can also be specified in days.
Pre-conditions:
- Advanced Manufacturing module subscription
Functionality:
- Please see Production BOM documentation for detailed instructions.
More information:
Getting Started with the Advanced Manufacturing module
Feature 6: Notifications for RMA order and return order events
Impact area:
POS application, Integrations
Introduction:
You can set up notifications containing information about orders, sales, inventory, customers, suppliers and more from the Automation module. DEAR notifications can be delivered as alerts in the notification centre, and/or as emails intended for one or more recipients. External notifications can also be set up to send information to third-party applications. With this release, new notifications have been added for RMA order and return order events.
Pre-conditions:
- Automation module subscription
Functionality:
- Please see Notifications documentation for detailed instructions.
More information:
Feature 7: View capacity allocated to planned and released orders on Capacity Planner
Impact area:
Advanced Manufacturing module
Introduction:
For many businesses, resource (e.g. tools, machines, labour) capacity is the constraint when planning production runs. The capacity planner shows the capacity for a selected planning period, which resources are overallocated, and allows re-planning of capacity. With this release, two additional optional columns are available to add to the capacity planner display, showing capacity allocated to planned production orders and capacity added to released production orders separately.
Pre-conditions:
- Advanced Manufacturing module subscription
Functionality:
- Go to Production → Capacity Planner.
- Use the Settings icon (Gear) to select which columns are visible in the capacity planner layout.
- New columns Allocated Planned and Allocated Released have been added.
- The selected layout will be saved for the next time the user displays the capacity planner.
More information:
Feature 8: POS – Linkly Integration for payments
Impact area:
POS application, New integration
Introduction:
Linkly has supplied payment integration solutions to Australia for over 20 years. The ‘Linkly Cloud’ is a system developed by Linkly as a hosted payment integration system, allowing the PIN pad to connect to the merchant’s POS directly via internet connection instead of to the POS via serial or USB port and without requiring any software installation.
Pre-conditions:
- Linkly operates in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Brunei, Kenya, Nigeria, and Egypt.
- Users will need a PIN pad compatible with Linkly Cloud.
Functionality:
- Please see Process payments with Linkly documentation for detailed instructions.