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

This verison introduces a global stolen vehicle database that is triggered from VIN numbers.  At key points in c9 (purchase unit, start new workshop job, add a unit) c9 in the background will interrogate stolen database list and alert you if the bike is flagged as stolen and which dealership flagged it.

To flag a unit as stolen so that other dealerships can also see this, goto modify unit and tick the checkbox that says 'Stolen Vehicle

Other changes

• Spares
  • Export Price file : include option to export as CSV file (instead of just OPEA)
•  Workshop
  • Timesheet report would not work while running c9 remotely. Now fixed.
• Bugfixes/misc
  • Increased max chars on SMTP server from 40 to 60
  • Paypal integration.  Under some rare circumstances c9 would incorrectly track amount of money collected from paypal so far resulting in errors when closing out a paypal sale.  (Cause: pointofsale screen did not drop till objects if left open, so subsequent sales would rewrite wopayment on an unrelated invoice, resulting in c9s tracking of paypal ops being incorrect. There might be impacts also for eftpos integration with this bug as well, likely eftpos journals being duplicated in the database.)
  • Includes a possible fix for long running issues that impacts a couple of c9 users who have dual monitors and relatively modern computers.  (Possible low level defect in java's RepaintManager causing VolatileImage objects it serves up to be somehow broken making screen refresh wig out repainting incorrect buffer sizes.  Resetting buffer settings on RepaintManager at critical points seems to of  fixed it. One identified trigger point is transition of add labour and message window that pops up that says 'labour added'.  Suspect issue is video driver buffer has some sort of race-condition associated with switching in new OS level windows. Instrumented c9 code using decorated RepaintMaanger suggests c9 is honouring AWT thread contract and keeping everything on AWT dispatch thread, so race, if it indeed is a race, is unlikely to be caused by c9 code. ).

• Spares
  • Suzuki EPC import. Cope with importing  some old models where there is no yearcode, i.e. RM250X - 1999 and RM250X - 1981
  • Edit Franchise : Honda APIKey/Honda dealercode changes were not being saved in this screen (was working in order setup screen so possible to workaround)
  • Import OPEA price file : new optional to optionally import packqty data from OPEA file. Useful for new Kawasaki price files.  Still need to tell c9 what to do with this data (edit franchise : pack order tab)
  • Export KTM/Husky order file.  Option to split order file into multiple files because their website cannot cope with order files with more than 200 line items or so.  Split size is configurable, defaults to 200.
  • Place some constraints on activity records on spares that can be deleted (original constraints relaxed in July 2015, reintroducing some of these constraints to prevent incorrect deletion of deposits added on account. sales activity can still be deleted/undeleted).
• Units
  • paperwork.  Obscure bug with printing paperwork would show incorrect figures in situations where presales jobs are modified after the unit sale was processed, incorrectly picking up new line items from presales workshop jobs which were not actually included in the unit tax invoice.
  • paperwork. Included following wording with a checkbox on all CoS cover letters. "I, the purchaser confirm I have received a copy of the terms and conditions of this contract (Purchaser to tick)"
• Miner tweaks and fixes
  • bugfix with report tallies crashing sometims (due to improperly rewritten clarion picture defs)
  • improve count tally so it is possible to show  a count for numeric/date & time fields.
  • Bugfix with rendering min and max dates aggregates
  • Report screen not rendering properly and running slowly under some circumstances when trying to change aggregate function, now fixed
•  Misc
  • Profit summary : rebate components incorrectly calculated. Now fixed.
  • Visual tweaks to C9 DMS and help about web buttons so it is visually obvious you can click on these
  • C9's internal CSV decoder (used for importing generic) was handling backslash as an escape char. Though some CSV files do this, generally it isn't the standard. Realigned with standard. System now imports Kawasaki price file accurately with this change (previously would mess up a couple of parts).
  • New startup option on command line, allows you to fine tune first screen that opens when you login to c9, so you can have differeent icons on your computer opening different parts of c9.  This is done using command line setting start=<location>.  Location is based on top + left menu bar option (doesn't work with old school menu system). For example spares/orders/advanced/browseactive opens the Browse Active option under orders / advanced in spares section of c9.  Name is exactly as you see it in c9. Some examples:
    

    startup.exe start=spares/orderbook
    startup.exe start=spares/orders/advanced/browseactive
    startup.exe start=workshop/scheduler
    startup.exe start=contacts/reports/agedtrialbalance

Important regression changes

New backdating functionality alters the way pre-existing backdating on unit sales and debtor/creditor payments behaves. If you change the date you must provide a clerk key that has "can change date" option set.  See below.  With new version of c9 you will not be able to change dates on unit sales/account records until this new option is explicitly enabled.

• Workshop
  • New Setup option to default new jobs to received
  • New setup option to default new job status to unset. Forces user to select a status during create new job
  • Import vicroads vehicle details : import rego expiry was broken. Should be working again
• General
  • Ability to backdate/forward date invocices for spare parts, workshop jobs and deposits
  • New clerk key security option which disables redating invoices by default unless enabled. Like no-cash collected, the option is forced on and cannot be turned off. All staff that have permission to access this function need to have a clerk key and the option set.  (Setup -> Other Settings -> Staff)
    
• Website
  • Added Yamaha YSHOP parts/image importing
  • Bugfix with mapping parts to webstructure. Stopped working after attributes on stock file change a couple of months back.  Now working again
• Orderbook
  • filter orderbook based on accessory supplier not working (broken for about a year, only just noticed). Now fixed.
  • orderbook would not display if a orderbook item had a duplicated note against it. Now fixed.
• Tyro/PC-EFTPOS integration
  • Provide user option to close out open txns. (Open txns will happen due to system error. Timeout on EFTPOS equipment or equipment/network failure etc)
• Unit Paperwork
  • Vic Form5 : print dealer address line #2
  • Add ability to print paperwork from view unit. Initially only allows you to print Vic Form 5, but other forms will be included as needed
•  Tweaks/Fixes/Other
  • Spares profit report : option to filter based on clerk key.
  • Deals Bugifx : under some fiddly conditions it was possible to end up deleting/modifying a completely different, previously finished deal not the one you've actually highlighted. Now fixed

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

• Workshop
  • Ability to add -ve spare parts to allow for substitutions on workshop jobs. Can only be accessed via add labour/modify job in workshop section. Not accessible via normal point of sale
• Customers
  • Long standing bug fix.  C9 was supposed to allow you to search for either short or long code versions of phone numbers for customers in same state as you. i.e. 03 5422-2255 also matches 5422-2255 for Victorian dealerships. This never actually worked :(.  Now fixed 🙂
  • New standard miner report, which you can use now without upgrading (works better once above mentioned bug fix is installed),  :  'Customers with same phone #'
    
•  Spares
  • Magician query for moto national. Will reply with either Yes or No if motonat reckon they have item in stock
  • Point of sale import parts, such as web orders.  If operator manages to close/abort the import partway through warn the user and reset the parts list
• EFTPOS integration
  • This version includes technical changes to integrate into Tyro payments platform.  Function is not yet actually ready for use, pending certification from Tyro.
•  Misc
  • Data miner : allow querying/filtering of customers default discount
  • Website content : provide copy/paste options in text/images management. Useful for copying spec sheets etc
  • Cash till : was not tallying cash takings on purchased units in summary screen. Now fixed.
  • Vicroads bike query :  changes to vicroads website broke query. Now working again. specifics:
    • also grab engine capacity if available
    • check stolen vehicle status, alert operator if vehicle is flagged as stolen
    • importing of basic bike particulars (year,make, model, colour) has changed. May not be quite as accurate as before due to changes on vicroads website.

• Code-128 Barcode support
  • Allow Code-128 barcodes to be printed on labels. To enable just change barcode font to Code 128 in configure/calibrate label. (See screenshot below). Generally want font size to be around 24. Depending on how good your printer/scanners are you might be able to get away with smaller font size than this.  Code-128 are generally alot more compact than 3of9 barcodes so will print on smaller label sizes. Tall barcode config option is probably no longer needed either as barcodes are by default are pretty decent here.
    
  • New setup option under Printers to preferentially use Code 128 barcodes. Affects giftcards, job cards, receive order printouts,  parts reserve printouts and stock take sheets
• Victoria Paperwork
  • Added new version of dealer authority to register
  • Added a Form 5 template
• Tweaks and fixes
  • Spares - > View change part. Provide screen calculators for daily and stock buy prices, so operator can now key in either as % discount or as final $ figure.
  • Workshop -> modify job.  If deposit > value of job, show -ve deposit owing and show works 'Deposit to Refund'.
  •  Miner
    • allow specification of 's' in sort term to ignore whitespace variations when sorting miner results. i.e. [1s]
    • allow sort terms like this [1w].  w means fuzzy word match, useful for sorting things like unit models, sorting based on runs of model codes and sizes. So CBR-500 first, then CBR-1000-RR
  • NPE Bugfix with beta fiche import

• Fiche
  • Got Ducati import importing again
  • Tweaks to Beta import to also emit a price file and process superceded parts better
  • Fitment. Option to view diagram a part fits
• Receive Orders - C9 saves orders on the fly. If you accidently exit or c9 is killed and you come back in you have the option to reload and continue from where you left off. The reload isn't perfect, but it will be close enough to save alot of time and effort
• Tweaks and fixes
  • A couple of dealers are reporting issues with graphics drawing in c9 flipping out after an intermittent period of usage. I think it might be related to an old java 6 hack to fix a bug with screens going to sleep killing memory in java : which I fixed years ago (Aug 2010).  The hack might be interfering with later versions of java that don't have this bug. Tweaked c9 so the hack is only applied if java version is 6.
  • Modify job.  Warn user if they are about to exit the job card with unsaved changes. Currently will just bail without asking you if you want to save changes.
  • SMS/Email.  Only send sms/email if sms/email date exactly matches current date. Previously would send if date was today or in the future. Could result if lots of old undelivered email/sms being sent if system clock on computer is wound back to a date in the distant past.
• Email tweaks
  • Web order email. Include details of dealership at bottom 'footer' of email. In web order email config, provide option to allow templates to be reset to defaults
  • Email sent via dealers own mail server : email content was not being reformatted to keep preserve style changes in a way that gmail and a couple of other mail clients like. (Email routed via c9 was working this way)
    

Includes database changes, you'll need to log all terminals out during upgrade.

• Spares
  • Edit discount calculation aids did not factor in line based discounts correctly. Now fixed
  • Pricing on UOM items, did not round line total correctly on spares or workshop invoices. Now fixed.
• Tweaks and fixes
  • Order export. For alternative orders (i.e. road freight) selecting export method would return an empty list of supported methods. Now fixed
  • bikesales.com.au : allow flagging of bikes with no price set
  • View/Moditfy job : disable P & L tab if 'Profit' privilege is not set for the currently logged in user
  • Unit rollback sale.  Screen was allowing user to key in a dealer #, and making a mess of rolling it back.  Modified screen to constrain it to invoice # only, do not allow rollback of a deal.
• KTM/Husky ongoing battles
  • Magician query.  If query fails and part looks like it might be a piston kit, retry this time adding a space into query at necessary point
  • Magician query. Allow entry of a second set of login credentials. If first set yields zero qty for part, try second login credentials.  Useful for flushing out presense of parts gathewring dust in a Husky bin for KTM dealers, and vice versa back at the warehouse.
  • Order export.  If part number looks like it is a piston kit, stick a space into right spot to make the order import happy.
• Honda integration.  Some really cool Honda integration stuff is included in this release. Will include a separate post on what it can do and how to set it up. Specific changes in this release:
  • Remove 'experimental' status on key entry points
  • add/modify franchise. Add a new tab to permit configuration of integration settings

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

• Contacts
  • Transaction list report. Include option to show all txns of a certain type. Debtor/Creditor or depositor txns.
  • Unpaid bills, option to sort by either supplier or due date.
• Spares
  • Parts history on a stocked item, show total YTD
• Bug fixes and tweaks
  • Workshop. Trying to invoice a fixed price job using credit card that is configured with % surcharge would flip out trying to add the % to the fixed price. Now working.
  • Unit sale. Add a GST exempt unit line item. If you clicked GST exempt without first setting base price, c9 would automatically untick it. You had to set base price first. Tweaked to work either way
  • KTM/Husky part enquiry , slight performance speedup
• Fiche images
  • Tweaked image import post-processing to include automatic contrast optimisation. Diagrams that previously may look washed out and difficult to read should now look a heap better
  • Some initial, experimental work on importing Beta Motorcycles diagrams

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

• Spare parts
  • Import spares quote. Also import discount settings from original quote
  • Edit discount : provide calculators that factor in freight, to permit Inc. Freight pricing without having to bust out the calculator
• Workshop estimates
  • Include a reference field which you can make things like 'WHEELFIT' etc , allows for easier usage of standard estimates, instead of searching by estimate number, you can search by reference
• Contacts
  • Allow definiton of a standard order number that prepopulates into workshop and point of sale. Useful for councils/government bodies etc that operate off order number schemes.
• Vicroads forms changes
  • Remove serial number from transfer form
  • Add rego number to contract of sale particulars
• Systems integration
  • API Changes to Honda get invoice function now implemented in c9
  • Changed KTM parts query from old system to new system. (Now requires login to work)
  • Yamaha parts Query :  got it to work with web based VPN mechanism
• Data Miner
  • Loyal customer spares profit query field would fail and generate a system error. Now fixed.
•  System/Display
  • Screen font size behaviour works better and resizes main screen buttons and side bar too. Becoming increasingly important for high DPI monitors etc
  • Ability to change images c9 uses on screen such as customer icons. Make them rude icons and satisfy your inner adolescent.  Needs to be setup on a per terminal basis. To make it happen you need to create a folder path under c:\c9, like this c:\c9\resources\images\   in this folder you need to drop in files with exactly the right filename.
  • For account icons is needs to be any of following:
    • c:\c9\resources\images\acc1.png
    • c:\c9\resources\images\acc2.png
    • c:\c9\resources\images\acc3.png
    • c:\c9\resources\images\acc4.png
    • c:\c9\resources\images\acc5.png
    • c:\c9\resources\images\acc6.png
    • c:\c9\resources\images\acc7.png
    • c:\c9\resources\images\acc8.png
  • Similar deal with workshop icons
    • c:\c9\resources\images\job1.png
    • c:\c9\resources\images\job2.png
    • c:\c9\resources\images\job3.png
    • c:\c9\resources\images\job4.png
    • c:\c9\resources\images\job5.png
    • c:\c9\resources\images\job6.png
    • c:\c9\resources\images\job7.png
    • c:\c9\resources\images\job8.png
    • c:\c9\resources\images\job9.png
    • c:\c9\resources\images\job10.png
  • All these display changes impact c9 remote access client, a new client will need to be installed and downloaded for sizing to work.

Important note: This release coincides with the day AHG may (or may not) go live with new IT systems and KTM portal.  F12 may still work but it will be returning old and soon to be out of date results from their old system. I hope to have it working with new system by next week.  To send orders into their new systems see this post on Husqvarana, process should be the same. (http://c8software.com.au/wp/2016/08/husky-order-export/)

•  Ficeda
  • Include new price file import method that supports YDC for Ficeda.
  • Added Magician support for Ficeda. For info on how to setup, see yamaha page. Process is the same. (Yamaha Magician Setup)
• Miscellaneous
  • Workshop -> Browser. Include option to allow merging of duplicated customer units. Is a copy of units -> Sales function, but for dealers who do not have access to c9 units
  • Add Contact transaction. New option to print + email.
  • KTM parts images import broken due to dealernet website changes. Now working again.
• Spare parts fiche - new report that prints all parts you have in stock for a given model.  Works for both locally installed and remote fiche diagrams. To access click on Fiche, select diagram and push new button 'Print Parts We Stock'
  
• Vic Roads paperwork - now will print GST component on TAC fees, but requires a bit of config to get it spot on.
  • Example output
    
  • To get this working you need to configure GST component on TAC zones correctly. C9 now allows GST specification on after invoice costs if you setup TAC this way. Example, where TAC Stamp duty component is calculated separately as a formula (Units - > Sales -> Sale Costs)
    
  • Alternatively, if you include Stamp Duty in TAC config and not use stamp duty formula, you need to config GST and components spot on.