EXPANSION: DEAR INVENTORY LANDS IN CHINA
Greetings from DEAR Systems in China!
DEAR Inventory has officially landed in the Chinese market as of June 2020. It is hosted on the local Microsoft Azure server and the firewall settings are optimised for security, speed and stability. The software offers an English/Chinese interface. Key features have been successfully localized to meet China’s unique business environment.
DEAR has paired up with local service partners who have many years of experience implementing ERP systems for foreign companies in the fields of manufacturing, wholesaling, retailing and eCommerce in China.
Start on your journey to China with DEAR at www.dearsystems.com.cn
New Features
Feature 1: Automated workflows – Can be created for purchase processes, Create user tasks during workflow automation, attach an image to an automated email via direct link
Impact area: DEAR Automation Module.
Introduction: DEAR’s workflow automation module allows setting up events and actions that trigger automatically once certain conditions are achieved. This is supported by a tasks submodule which assigns tasks to organisation members once trigger conditions are met. The DEAR development team is working to improve and expand automation features for our users.
Pre-conditions: Upgrade subscription to enable Automation module.
Functionality:
- Automated workflows can now be created for purchase processes.
- Additional options of Create Task and Task workflows are now available as an action in response to workflow events (e.g. sale order authorisation, payment of a purchase).
- Additional options of Create Task and Task workflows are now available as an action in response to workflow events (e.g. sale order authorisation, payment of a purchase).
More information:
- Using the Automation module
- Tasks Module: Using Notifications & Tasks to Create Workflows
- Managing Workflow Automation in DEAR
- Attaching a Document to an Email Template Used in a Workflow
Feature 2: G-suite Integration, Sign into DEAR account with Google
Impact area: All.
Introduction: DEAR now supports integration with G-Suite and signing in with Google. Customers that use Google’s business suite can use DEAR G Suite integration to link files directly from Google Drive, export DEAR contacts, and export report data to Google Sheets.
Pre-conditions: G-Suite account.
Functionality:
- On the login and registration page, there is now an option to Sign in with Google. Once logged in with Google, the user can confirm the information that they will be sharing with DEAR. If the user already has a DEAR account, logging in with their Google account will associate the Google account with their DEAR account. If the user doesn’t have an active DEAR account, upon successful login with their Google Account, they will be redirected back to the DEAR Registration page.
- Go to Integrations → G Suites and click Connect to begin.
More information:
Feature 3: DEAR POS – Users can return items via DEAR POS system when products were sold on other sales channels (e.g. Shopify), Add attachments and images to sale order
Impact area: DEAR POS.
Introduction: Improvements to the DEAR POS module provide the ability for users to make a sale in one sale channel (Eg: Shopify) and return the product to a different location through DEAR POS system. The ability to add attachments and images to a sale order through POS has also been added.
Pre-conditions: Active DEAR POS connection.
Functionality:
- New permission POS – View all Sales has been added to Settings > Users & Roles. This permission must be enabled in order to enable returning the sales channel sale product through POS.
- When viewing POS Sale History, the user should toggle All Sales. This enables searching of sales from other sales channels by sale order number, invoice number or customer name.
- User can click on a sales record to display the prompt Would you like to return this item?
- When the user confirms, the sale is converted into a POS Sal and the return is processed. The sale items will be restocked and transferred in the system to the POS location, and the customer will be refunded.
- A new attachment icon has been added to each sale order line in the Sales History page. Documents and images can be attached to the sale orders.
Feature 4: DEAR POS – Create quotes via POS
Impact area: DEAR POS.
Introduction: Improvements to the DEAR POS module provide the ability for the user to create Quotes via DEAR POS and later convert them into POS sales. Quotes can be printed or emailed to the customer via DEAR POS.
Pre-conditions: Active DEAR POS connection.
Functionality:
- On the Checkout screen of a POS order, the user now has the option to Email or Print a quote.
- Quotes are not imported from DEAR POS to DEAR until the customer confirms to proceed with the order.
Feature 5: LoyaltyLion Integration for DEAR POS
Impact area: DEAR POS.
Introduction: DEAR POS provides a free Loyalty system where your customers earn dollars to spend in your store every time they make a purchase. It is now possible to integrate with LoyaltyLion, a third-party loyalty engagement platform which allows for increased customisation and analytics features.
Pre-conditions: LoyaltyLion account
Functionality:
Follow the detailed instructions below to connect to LoyaltyLion, set rewards and configure point earning activities.
More information:
Feature 6: DEAR POS – Optional availability check setting
Impact area: DEAR POS.
Introduction: When Check Availability on Checkout is turned on, DEAR will perform an availability check during the checkout process. A confirmation message will appear informing the user if the item is no longer in stock. When turned off, no check is performed.
Pre-conditions: Active DEAR POS connection.
Functionality:Go to Integrations → DEAR POS. On the setup tab, enable Check Availability on Checkout.
Feature 7: Access for support personnel to login to client system with authorisation
Impact area: DEAR Support.
Introduction: Previously, DEAR support were able to access the client’s system during support calls via being invited as a user to the client organisation or sharing of passwords. Now support personnel can request access to the client’s organisation for support purposes.
Pre-conditions: None.
Functionality: Support personnel can request access to the client environment for support purposes. The master user of the client account will receive an email request with the option to allow or deny access to the DEAR support agent.
Feature 8: Production Module improvement – Allocate non-integer numbers of resources, Production orders can be consolidated when in planned status
Impact area: DEAR Production Module.
Introduction: The Production module is aimed at addressing the needs of the production process. New production features will provide our current customers with powerful, logical manufacturing solutions to add to their inventory solution. Following on from our most recent releases, we are continuing to improve the Production module functionality and add features.
Pre-conditions: None.
Functionality:
- Resource quantity in Production BOM can now be specified in non-integer quantities to two decimal places.
- Planned Production Orders can now be consolidated. (Previously, only draft orders could be consolidated.).
More information:
Feature 9: ShipStation – Option to leave “Ship to Company” blank on shipping label
Impact area: ShipStation integration.
Introduction: When labels are printed in Shipstation, Ship to Company and Ship to Contact are passed with the sale order. If Ship to Company is left blank, previously Customer name is printed instead. This new feature gives users the option to leave the field blank on the ShipStation shipping label.
Pre-conditions: Active ShipStation integration.
Functionality: In Integrations → ShipStation → Setup, set When Ship to Company is not specified to Leave field blank.
More information:
Feature 10: Shopify – Process orders as draft
Impact area: Shopify integration.
Introduction: When pending Shopify orders are processed by DEAR, new sale tasks are created.
Previously DEAR settings allowed creation of sale tasks with Auto-Pick, Pack and Ship – now it is also possible to download sale tasks in draft state.
Pre-conditions: Active Shopify integration.
Functionality: In Integrations → Shopify → Setup, set Pick, Pack and Ship process mode for online sales to Draft Order.
More information:
Feature 11: WooCommerce – Change active shop credentials
Impact area: WooCommerce integration.
Introduction: DEAR now allows changing your active WooCommerce store without disconnecting and reconnecting from the WooCommerce integration.
Pre-conditions: Active WooCommerce integration.
Functionality: In Integrations → WooCommerce → Setup, click Change Credentials to open a pop up window and enter the new WooCommerce credentials.
More information:
Feature 12: B2B – Remove script tags from product description
Impact area: DEAR B2B.
Introduction: Active B2B integration.
Functionality: Previously, HTML tags in the product description or product family description were rendered as is, even if they contain scripts. With this release, DEAR will remove script tags automatically to increase security and avoid potential issues.
Feature 13: Matrix and list view for product family sales/purchases
Impact area: Sales module, Purchase module.
Introduction: Adding a product family to a sale order or purchase order now takes place via two user-friendly options: Matrix view and list view. Quantities of each product variant to purchase/sell are entered into the new matrix/list fields.
Pre-conditions: None.
