Not yet released. In a week or so

Includes DB changes. You need to log all terminals out during upgrade

Security changes to c9 remote access

In last 12 months we have received a couple of reports of inappropriate remote access to c9 from ex staff at the impacted dealerships.  To minimize risks this presents we have added a number of controls to help identify and deter such activity.

Part of this change all remote access requires SMS based 2FA verification. Remote access requires providing a valid Australian mobile number and then inputting a resulting security code sent to that number.  Note this requirement only applies to accessing c9 remotely only. In store access does not change with this update.

Specifics:

• Every access attempt generates a access report in spares -> utilities -> system reports, containing identifying information such as IP address, mobile number etc
• Remote access triggers alerts warning of monitoring
• Post login remote access requires an additional mobile # and resulting access code to be fed into c9
• Future : c9 will provide a daily report alerting dealers of recorded remote access activity

 

Other Tweaks and fixes

• Unit rego input : force to uppercase on key screens
• Spares Return. Disable access to import as import result is inverted to a return; it is possible to land on return screen and not immediately realise you are processing a return.
• Internally taxed coded gl entries do not actually post onto the GL. Modify their status so it is obvious they are internal and not active.
• Open Floorplan report
  • New option to organise report by  trust provider
  • New option to sort report by trust receipt
• Import price file. disable all import methods for franchises where pricefile was imported from the c9 repo.  Too many issues caused by dealers sideloading price files and stuffing it up. This change is intended to force workflows we require: if a repo is out of date, let us know/ let supplier know to get it resolved correctly.
• Subtle bug with create new deal. New deal would invisibly inherit the registered owner of the last deal user looked at. Now fixed.
• Browse deals : added column for sales rep
• Subtle bug with unit sales. Some sales cannot be rolled back if original sale was performed with very specific conditions ( sale contains some spare parts and during processing of sale, sale originally failed / aborted such as no ORC supplier selected, the error repaired and sale retried without closing sale screen). Fixed now. Any historical txns affected by this bug are also repaired and can be rolled back once this version of c9 is running.
• Subtle bug with select unit. If you modify unit within select screen and change its reference when you bounce back to prior screen it can appear that unit has been duplicated but if you close out and come back in you'll only see the one unit. Fixed now to remove the appearance of duplication.
• Multi Purchase Order Record. Wouldn't allow you input P/O's whose total value >999.99.  Now fixed.
• Select unit for a dealership unit (such as for internal workshop job),  the 'deal unit' button at the bottom previously did nothing : now it toggles filter to units on deal

Low level changes

• Some internal reworking as part of v5.3 (around stock valuation changes mostly). Main functional gain here for 5.2 is pricefile importing / specifically supers updates should be a touch quicker.

 

Tweaks and fixes

• More fixes to troubled changes on deals screen. Add deal would trigger an annoying 'could not fetch' error but add would still work. Now tidied
• Add transaction / view transactions.  Add some colour to make it more obvious it working on ar / ap or deposits.

Includes DB changes you need to log all terminals out during upgrade

• Tweaks and fixes
  • Last version broke the finished tab in deals. Would not show sell unit particulars; would show double entries for tradein deals. Could potentially strobe / flash and refresh weirdly. Now fixed
  • View Job / Modify Job : memorize width of columns on the costs tab

Includes DB changes, you need to log all terminals out during upgrade

Tweaks and fixes

• Bugfix with print tradein deal with customer paid encumbrance when customer doesn't have any other units. The pro forma wouldn't correctly tally in the liability. IT worked fine once deal is converted into a sale. Now fixed in both cases.
• Today Clocked : color coding of effort warnings, 70%/ 90% can now be edited.
  
• Select transactions : add a Refresh button to easily pickup any concurrent tweaks happening on a separate terminal/copy of c9
• Clock on / Off : display effort on job being clocked onto/off
• Old email attachments, older than 6 months could not be viewed / saved. Changes made last year to archive old assets in cloud. This is supposed to work seamlessly / invisibly, but wasn't implemented correctly on the view attachment screen. now fixed.
•  Estimates
  • Setup option to organise estimates by reference by default
  • estimate reference, the database would allow references upto 20 characters but a typo in c9 limited it to 10 in many cases. Now fixed.
  • Clone estimate, would fail for estimates where reference string length is >=10 . Now fixed
• Warranty : button to access posted journal on finalized warranties to help with diagnosing stuffups like selecting wrong creditor.
• Purchase units, Add similar unit : make sure blank out engine number on the cloned unit
• Browse Notifications : for some systems screen could throw a record not found error. Root cause is missing customer records. Fixed. Fix should also make this screen a bit faster
• Deals : Receive unit on order : make sure get a clerk key. Previously would log receive without a clerk
• Tax Invoices : options to print additional Terms and Conditions, for either invoices or quotes / pro forma style invoices. Similar and in additon to recent privacy statement inclusions. To configure got setup -> other settings -> dealership details.
  
• Paperwork
  • Vic - Primary Producer Concession - updated to latest
  • WA - Bulk Registration.  Leave Permit # blank, this isn't necessarily the same thing as dealer licence #
• Unit deals: add button to access private notes. This change forced some complex changes to browse deals screen, this screen should now load/refresh slightly faster because of  those changes
• Magician : mcleods inventory check working with new portal
• Triumph EPC quote files : can now be imported into Point of Sale via F7 -> import from catalogue software
• View Contact : provide a tab that shows linked Loyalty Cards
• TillPay token based payments : would not pop an error message in event of an error, so operator would have no idea why a debit request failed. Now fixed to alert to reason for failure.
• Browse Dealer Units : show start date
• Pay Slips : print staff type next to classification. If not set then hide this entirely
• Workshop Browser : select by customer.  Rename elements on customer select screen to align with current conventions for cash/acc customer.

More technical changes

• Update to underlying txn store as part of 5.3.  Mostly for 5.3 but several wins from this for 5.2. Mostly around performance.

 

This version of c9 fixes serious issues with 5.2.136 which can make all terminals unable to start c9. Requiring reinstall of c9 on affected terminals

It also includes fixes to Honda API integration. C9 is working with Honda actively to migrate API to a different system they prefer. The work isn't complete yet but part of that work was incorrectly included in last weeks recent c9 updates; meaning Honda API was effectively broken.

Yesterdays version of c9 broke ability to generate unit sale contracts; and probably some other report and report save related issues. Now fixed.

Includes DB changes. You need to log all terminals out during upgrade

Tweaks and fixes

• Yamaha Magician : alternative source of data since Yamaha moved dealer portal to a multifactor based system.
• Print preview : save as PDF / save as CSV would say successful even if save failed because of for example permission error / invalid file name. Now fixed
• Print order : include dealer spare parts email addr on printout
• Spares invoice : suppress 'Fax' if no fax # configured
• Web content UX fixes
  • Image gallery selection broken for simple images
  • lots of little niggles with picking/managing images on spec sheets, assessing valid/invalid images and unnamed images. Also image gallery broken here. Now fixed

Web order processing:  include some quality of life tweaks to order screen to help deal with till/paypal orders

• Display funds clearing : funds collected but not yet allocated
• Display deposit captured : funds earmarked for spares deposits. Often, funds clearing just moves to deposit.
• Colour code lines in progress in green
• Colour code completed web orders in red where there is a non zero deposit or funds clearing figure
• Provide a button to quickly refund excesss funds clearing which can be quickly accessed if the overall weborder is finished

Other:

• fixed a very narrow performance issue which would kill c9 in very specific circumstances : new system where we migrated data from a competitor and in that data we migrated an invalid invoice:zero number spares invoice; the new system now has web order processing. This special combination of events can trigger database lockups at key points; such as receive spares.  Fixed but added a guardrail at a key point in c9 to contend with this very precise scenario. Non code repair involved just deleting the invalid migrated Spares:0 invoice number.

Some small bugs quickly fixed within an hour of release:

5.2.133 : performance issue with changes to web order browse screen

5.2.134 : view invoice button on web order screen was broken

Unscheduled bugfix release

Recent low level changes caused two known issues fixed here

• c9 Remote access was broken : some screens with checkboxes and radio buttons will not show correct settings. For example, edit login user permssion checkboxes
• Workshop checklist merging/presets from job types broken for new jobs.

This version also includes some changes with recent gl cache algorithm.  Closer inspection gl cache in c9 is working as designed, the issue is when cache check is done when database is offline, c9 was mis reporting this back to us as a cache failure.  Improved messengers ability to handle offline databases (where gl cache sweep is implemented)

 

Includes DB changes, you need to log terminals out during upgrade

Label Printing

This version of c9 includes alot of work to help with getting label printing working alot easier; targeting specifically QL 700 printing and various paper options.  In print config the option to force paper to a certain size is now the preferred way to express any / all paper layout designs.

e.g. a 90x28 label which feeds with short edge aligned with the cutter.

Or 62 x 29 with long edge aligned with the cutter

Unit Profit reporting is changing

PD cost passing was reported in a really ugly and unintuitive way and probably was done that way to help save some reporting space for report period. From now one, c9 unit profit report figures:

• Workshop costs will no longer include PD figures
• line margin will strictly be margin on deal only invoice (duty+non duty) lines added : Dealer fees etc
• PD will report a new line : PD variance. This is  variation on pd job value vs value passed onto the deal. Generally should always be zero

 

Other tweaks and fixes

• units on floor show currently configured base sale price.
• New version of rustdesk to accommodate a planned license change  we need to make
• for read only systems, make sure force reallocate for linked AR/AP txns doesn't incorrectly trigger a tax code lock
• reconcile test : only do reconcile test if we are directly modifying a txn. Force reallocate linked AR/AP should not trigger a tax code lock
• Edit existing debit txn, would incorrectly retag txn as an invoice on edit. Now fixed.
• txn details : audit : expand list of txns that match an audit so if a txn is forced linked then show this in audit list
• receive parts for deals. C9 is supposed to lock deal , but there is a bug in code that prevented this from working correctly. Now fixed
• miner : save export as xlsx
• eftpos journal : sort by date/time. At moment screen is a mess
• generic bank txn : tweak used gl code for interest earned (4-5030)
• tillpay terminal : cope with scenario where terminal txn is stuck in processing state. There is a known issue in till infrastructure where terminal will finish but it never signals c9. C9 will be stuck in a forever state waiting for that signal.  In this change you can click close a couple of times to finally force closure
• BAS locks : was not applying BAS locks to floorplan payouts. So it was possible to backdate a payout and for BAS guardrails to not prevent the txn. Now fixed
• wa paperwork - updated VL1A - Bulk Registration form to latest
• nsw paperwork tweak - form 7, cash price under section 2 needs to be price of bike itself only, not inclusive of accessories/ on roads etc
• surcharge input - display / allow final surcharge includes price to be also keyed in. Also refine when % figure is visually printed : so if $ is inputted the invoice doesn't show %
• f2 find part : include new filter option to only show stocked items where qty on hand >0
• option to make booking reminder SMS replyable, disabled by default
• option to make service due/recall reminder SMS replyable, disabled by default
• More stihl warranty reg tweaks from their legal
• Select customer by txn amount : close window button on this screen was not working. Now fixed.
• below RRP screen : make obvious in header what filter conditions are as these are important and often overlooked
• pay slips emailed from admin email addr
• Select customer via point of sale etc; would allow you to create and select a supplier. Now tighten up.
• Job card : include spot to get mechanic signature
• Receive spares / finalize return : highlight in red when credit supplier is ticked but not supplier is selected

System Level - memory usage

This version of c9 includes a two significant changes to improve memory utilisation. Firstly relates to image caching, c9 implements a image cache but the cache never expires and just keeps getting bigger so over time c9 runs out of memory as you do image type stuff like browse EPC.  Made the cache smarter. The other change, more impactful is too complex to describe here but relates to how strings (e.g. names, descriptions etc) are internally encoded. Switched from old school clarion model of padded strings which is very memory inefficient.

System Level - txnengine

Mostly v5.3 stuff but included here so non functional. includes a couple of things to support above changes : tax code lock changes, reconcile test changes and audit tracking changes.

System Level - gl-cache

Still seeing a couple of gl_cache errors by extremely rare, includes more logging to help us narrow in on root cause. Suspect errors are during cache sweep which means they are effectively non functional but include more info to help fine root cause and eliminate entirely

Unscheduled bugfix release to fix a single bug

Cash till, if you try and modify a previously saved cash till result and change a previously banked figure to zero the save will fail misreporting some sort of simultaneous change.

Bug was introduced with cash till changes in 5.2.127 to improve cash till journalling ; fixed here.

There was a workaround but workaround is difficult to do so in this case best / most safely handled with an unscheduled update