Includes database changes.  You will be forced to logout during upgrade

This version represents a significant overhaul on how unit sales are managed.  In terms of unit sales a number of key things have been delivered

• The ability to construct a deal over time.  A deal remains open and tracks details of the deal over an extended period of time. Possibly weeks or months.  So instead of having to feed in a sale into c9 all in one go, you can slowly build up a deal over time, from expression of interest to final closure.
• Proper costing of line items on sold units.  So you can more accurately track profit on things such as passed on/discounted/waived  pre-delivery costs, document/inspection fees etc.
• The ability, via deals to track and manage deposits taken on individual units.
• The ability to record encumbrances owing on purchased units at point of sale (or on a deal)

Other changes in this version

• Gift card bug fix.  Certain rare sequence of operations will damage a gift card and render it unusable. Workaround is to cancel card and create a new one.
• New price file importer : John Deere.
• Note : John Deere file contains a huge number of supercession (4oo k) records that mostly fail (mainly dead chains). C9's current supercession resolver on import is not terribly efficient, nor in the past was it necessary for it to be efficient.  But with John Deere file it takes about 30 minutes to trace busted supercessions.  TODO : modify import to use a more optimized supercession check.  I have a tested solution in play, that is at least x10 faster, but will not be part of this release due to time constraints. Next one probably.
• Import price file : remove MCS from list. MCS now publish an Excel price file
• Suggested max/restocking rule. Redesigned window so visually more intuitive.  i.e. do not allow user to tweak rules unless last stock order for franchise in question used historical analysis method of reordering. Also fixed a NPE crash bug.
• Workshop job screen.  A glitched network error while trying to modify job record could cause the job record to be damaged effectively deleting it.  Improved error checking logic associated with workshop screen so network problems are handled more gracefully (and non destructively)

This version includes database changes and will force you to log all terminals out during upgrade

• Spares - includes ability to calculate discount to arrive at a desired total invoice goal. i.e. parts = $30.80, customer wants to pay $25, work out discount $ and % to get there
• Spares - key in discount $.  C9 will now 'goal seek' to discover % that arrives at requested $
• Workshop discount. You can now discount the entire job, not just spare parts. i.e. 10% workshop jobs for loyalty card holders.
• Suzuki Warehouse Qty Check : was not able to login for a specific Suzuki dealer because their username/passwords are a mess for Suzuki suite of websites.  Tweaked to allow them to use the service.
• Units print paperwork :  initial versions of a few VicRoads documents.

• Prior version broke some functionality.  Under certain conditions emailing a report or saving a report as a PDF would crash c9.  Trying to email an invoice where there is no dealer logo setup on invoice would trigger the problem.  Generally any pdf containing a 'missing' image would falter. Now fixed.
• Dead stock report : you can now 'blank' the not sold since date field and the report will work like it used to, i.e. list stocked spares where max and min qtys are zero.
• Historical Stock analysis : recommend qtys to stock rounded to nearest economical reorder qty
• Historical stock analysis : minor redesign of the visual screen to remove/hide a confusing option.
• Some tweaks to Victorian Contract of sale.  Added in VicRoads forms, but not filled them in yet.  Next week.

• Workshop add labour : if you don't set hours c9 will back calculate them for you
• Unit costs : do not include workshop jobs billed to someone other than they dealer. (i.e. back to the supplier for warranty)
• BMW Price file : price is ex GST, not inc GST. Now fixed
• Paperwork printing : major internal workings and tweakings.  Hopefully Vic Contract of Sale should now print on Windows computers.

Bug with new stock take feature added in last version 4.308.  Consider a price file import involving a part and a part that superceeds to that part.

What was happening is that the qty is first updated to 1 and then it is updated to 2.  But typically what this means is that stock take did a stock take on 3 parts and considered them to be two different part numbers.  On file these need to be added together.

Change in this version will treat stocked items that are duplicated such as supercessions as adjustments. So inventory is initially adjusted to 1 and then adjusted by an additional +2.  Making final inventory 3 in above example.

4.310 - another bug, this time with handling of 'full' stock take.  Under some well defined circumstances, full would zero out stock listed in the import file. Specifically : if the qty on the import file already matched what was on stock file, then full directive would zero this out. Now fixed.

Includes database changes. You will be forced to log all terminals out during upgrade

• Miner/Customer Query. You can now filter/selection first/middle/last name etc and filter on company vs individual entities
• Edit Customer : new ergonomic button to switch from individual to company would not work under certain button click sequence. Now fixed.
• Now support electronic stock taking. Merge in results of a stocktake tracked in a CSV/Excel file into c9.  More on how to use this feature in a separate post below.

Includes database changes. You will be forced to log all terminals out during upgrade

• Remove spare parts locking.  Two different terminals can view and sell the same part at the same time.  If 2nd terminal to sell part discovers it does not have sufficient stock, the sale will abort and parts will be automatically modified ready for ordering ready for a second attempt
• New Victorian Contract of sale documents.
• Multi payment method : remove no cash option (option is still there in single method mode. Under multi method mode user experience is confusing and error prone, so just removed it).
• Tweaks to Workshop invoice to print full VIN and rego as separate fields
• Select spares quote : display customer order number
• Phone book : tab to show suppliers only
• Keystroke ergonomics on modify customer, setting personal vs company customer
• BMW price file importing
• Access gift cards in spares
• Track whether or not spare parts were forced sold.  No functional behaviour yet, simply data gathering. Later versions of c9 intend to make use of  this information,  but precise usages are not yet defined.  One obvious one is to provide an additional metric on the 'quality' of inventory.  Other obvious usages exist, but they have non obvious negative consequences that need to be thought through properly before considering further.
• Bug fix : do not include predelivery workshop jobs in unit cost. Assume costs will be passed onto customer.
• Bug fix : convert unit quote into sale. Sale would not ask to use cash customer deposit on converted quote.  Now fixed.
• Bug fix: Fix displayed unit purchase confirm status when purchasing units not on system.
• Import KTM fiche. Remove confusing customize list option
• Overnight clockoff, do not allow user to modify date

• Changes to Add/Modify Account
• Version 4.305 removed the ability to independently set Contact. Now reinstated this feature
• Contact will default to Capitalized version of first name, but you can override this
• In setup is a new option : naming convention.  When you update c9, if more than 95% of your customer's names are in upper case, then the convention 'Upper' is initially enabled.  You can disable it and revert to original behaviour via setup
• If Upper convention is enabled, then name details are forced in upper case and contact is capitalized.
• Print Gift card : now goes to print preview screen on new gift card.  This will allow you to then email the gift card.
• Workshop tender amount.  Was not factoring in any payment method surcharges.  Now fixed.

Requires Database Changes. You will be forced to log all terminals out during upgrade.

• Messenger improvements.  On some dealers, messenger can be problematic with combination of slow network links and high traffic volumes, i.e. emailing and backing up monthly statement email send outs.  This version includes a number of changes to address this.
• Smaller PDF attachments :  pdf files are now aggressively compressed
• Logo in PDF. Previously each page would re-code the business logo. So 10 page pdf would have the same imaged coded into it 10 times. PDF allows you to code a image once and have if appear on multiple pages, resulting in much smaller pdf files. Now in place
• Network watchdog timer on client side is now sensitive to work load. previously it could cause link to restart even though it was in active use, due to buffering delays caused by existing workload. Now it does not run when network pipe is in active use
• Online backup retransmission  : was far too aggressive, retransmitting on 5 seconds by default.  Large blocks of data such as pdf attachments cannot possibly RTT in <5secs.  Added configurable threshold multiplier.  So by default first retransmit attempt will not occur for 60 seconds.
• Low level network fixes.  Threadrace conditions on outbound compress sockets; racing close and write operations.  Decoding of p2p messages not handling end of stream properly; yielding nulls instead of end of stream in some circumstances.
• Initial deployment to support unit sale paperwork.  Vic only. Just a few initial documents to get the ball rolling. (Contract of Sale)
• Customers - Ability to break down and track customer name into individual fields. i.e. [Mr] [Andrew] [Charles] [Barnham].  This allows for intuitive discrimination between incorporated bodies and individuals.
• Units - ability to track a finance deal.  Tracking finance company involved and balance owing from finance company as a debtor
• Workshop - cash sale using a payment method which is not configured as a tendered method (e.g. Eft/Card) will erroneously print 'outstanding' on the invoice.  Now fixed.
• Spares pack quantity. For suppliers that provide price files with pack pricing, or expect order qtys to reflect # of packs, not # of items c9 now has some mechanisms in place.
• Add/Edit part. Ability to set a pack value.  Ecordqty must be divisable by this figure.  They can be different. i.e. 6 in a pack, it is economical to order 3 packs at a time.  Pack value can only be set if either following two settings are configured:
• Edit franchise - ability to indicate if price file is pack pricing. If set then import price file will divide list price by pack value
• Edit franchise - ability to indicate if order must show pack quantities. if set then quantity transmitted to supplier on print order or export order is divided by pack quantity (rounded up).
• To try and keep things as simple as possible, in c9, c9 always consistently refers to things by their individual quantities and their individual prices.  It is only at the point of interface with a supplier, when sending an order and when processing a price file do these new rules and behaviours apply.  So for example on receive order, the data you input into c9 was, is, and will likely to remain, individual items and prices only.

• Added ability to query spares availability from supplier Kawasaki via F12 'Magician Lookup'
• Merge reserve/order parts onto existing invoice : added some advanced options to allow you to reprint the invoice to merge onto, and additionally print all parts or just list of newly merged parts