C9 is about to reach a new milestone : it's 300th released version. Since November 2009 we have averaged two versions a week. Now seems as good a time as any to measure velocity of change in the product and to discuss why this is occurring.

Firstly, measuring changes by measuring 'function points'.  In c9 a 'function point' typically represents a single window, a report etc.  It mostly only measures things end users directly interact with; so it is not a complete measure of everything in the c9 product. But it provides a fairly consistent way to measure the number of end-user features in c9 and how that has changed over time.

A few observations.  C9 today has increased amount of functionality in the DMS by 70%.  At our current velocity, c9 will have literally twice as many features in it as the old c8 in 18 months from now. Or approx 5 years since development stopped on c8.

Next rate of change month to month on existing functionality appears to be increasing. Though not enough data yet exists to be certain.  A pattern, if any, will become more obvious in another 6 months or so I think.

Why all this change?  The change is driven substantially by users of c9 responding to changes across the business domain and opportunities that increased computing power and the evolution of the Internet provides.  We suspect that change is self reinforcing.  Users see changes, and those changes inspire new ideas, open up new opportunities to utilise computing power and build upon  newly created facilities further to improve productivity, efficiency and ultimately profitability.  Change is a positive feedback loop.

Largely because of inter-connectivity enhancements thanks to the public Internet, and modern approaches to writing and managing computer software, it is possible aggressively pursue a strategy of rapid, continual improvement to such a degree that we are able to provide an increasingly rich and sophisticated product.  This is the main reason why we modified our billing model with advent of c9; to optimize our business to focus on growing and improving the c9 product.

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

• Workshop
• Workshop : track new field. Customer order number.  Visible/settable on most workshop forms and printed on most workshop printouts, including job card and tax invoice.
• Pickup job. Option to allow you to pickup multiple jobs in one go for a single customer.
• Workshop invoice. Printing of payment method values was dodgy for cash invoices involving prepaid workshop jobs where prepaid amount exceeded invoice and customer is to receive reimbursement for difference. Modified so it only prints cash handled at point of invoice. i.e. normally balance remaining to be paid, or in case where deposit is too much, then indication of deposit refunded.
• Pickup warranty job.  Handle situation where warranty job has prepaid deposit. i.e. refund deposit when job is invoiced.
• Invoice classifications
• Under some circumstances classification would not be recorded against invoice. Fixed
• Do not ask for classification for factory unit purchases. (System will ask to classify customer purchases)
• Order unit : allow user to specify a customer order number
• Customers - add new flag 'Must supply order number'.  When an invoice is raised on such a customer and order number field is blank (or notes field in case of a unit sale), c9 warns you that the customer normally requires tracking of their own order numbers for invoicing.  You can click through the warning and proceed anyway.
• Ad hoc stock adjustment report. Option to filter on miscellaneous adjustments or stock taking adjustments.

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

• Include basic facility to order units for floor or for customers.
  
• Placement of orders is done via Units - > Sales - > Order
• Sending and receiving orders reuses existing spares ordering facility. i.e. Spares -> Spares -> Orders
• Currently receiving orders just prints out a receive report. You still need to manually receive units and sell them via Unit Sales.
• Added ability to organize and flag key transactions based on a classification. i.e. whether the sale was in response to a newspaper ad, or customer is a walkin customer. Or customer is existing trade customer.
• currently on spares sale, unit sale/purchase, workshop pickup and gift card sale only
• Configure list via Setup -> Browse Setup Tables -> Sales Classifications
• Classification is visible in Business -> Activity
• Classification is a new entity within miner; for reporting
• Bugfix tweak with new order book. Save tab not working correctly
• Customer -> View/Modify. You can now search the list via query. i.e. find customer whose name starts with 'ANDREW'.  Similar to existing select customer behaviour.
  
• Export Spare Orders. Increase path size from 30 chars to 128. Add a button to open file browser to select path.  Makes export easier to use on unix type systems, such as MacOS and Linux, where paths tend to be alot longer than on Windows machines.
• F11 order in point of sale. Make it obvious that part will not be placed on order until sale is completed and invoice is raised.
• Receive order : add new part onto stock . Default maxqty to zero if default maxqty configured in setup is zero, otherwise default maxqty to qty received
• Orders : tweaked some screens devoted to ad-hoc order manipulation adding text and warning screens to try and discourage users from using these functions for typical day to day functions.
• Ad Hoc Order : include option to either add order item onto existing sent order or create a new sent order
  

• You can now print more detailed fine print on bottom of spares, units and workshop invoices.  The fine print can be setup to be different depending on whether sale is an account or cash sale.  To configure fine print goto Setup, Browse setup tables, dealership details and select the tab 'invoice fine print'.  Rest should be self explanatory
• Sell gift cards : for systems where clerk keys are disabled selling gift card (or refunding a gift card) would still ask for a clerk key. Now fixed.
• Workshop printouts : repair authority, job card and job in progress card.  If workshop job has 'select unit later' checked these printouts will now print out a 'slot' with blank unit details. Allows techs to write in information on printout for later data entry.
• Order spares.  If spare part in question has a zero list price, then assume cost price of item on order is lastincost (only works for stocked items ).
• Miner
• Customer query now provides finer grained control over bulk email/sms marketing filter. So you can select customers for following:
• List customers who have explicitly requested to opt out of email/SMS promotions
• List customers who are opted in but c9 does not have either an email address or mobile phone number on file for them
• Improved performance/load time of certain miner queries. Particularly filter conditions which in query window are setup as radio buttons. e.g. Workshop status filter.

• Print Workshop invoice : would print unit custom fields on jobs where there is no unit.  Fixed.
• Orderbook - find/find next feature was busted. Now fixed
• New command line option /orderbook allows you to have a desktop icon that opens up immediately on the order book
• Customer statements: option to only print the outstanding balance, not aged trial balance.  To 'guide' customers to the correct amount they should be paying : i.e. their total balance.
• Cash till report : more tab order tweaks. Reorganized gold/silver and modified calculation to move focus of print summary button as soon as till balances
• New Suzuki EPC Online system, part list saved locally is slightly different to part list saved from old CD based EPC.  Modified c9 to cope with both
• Harley Davidson reporting changes
• Obsolete parts take stocked part creation date into account. i.e. do not consider parts obsolete that where only recently added into stock and not yet ever sold
• Accessory inventory and merchant inventory selectors not working correctly.  Fixed

Note: 4.294 broke cash till print summary. 4.295 fixes this break.

Bugfix : recent changes to handle different Honda EPC export partlist file format broke c9's ability to import previously supported format.  Obscure bug relating to how certain file types are handled ( binary file driver not clearing error flag on successful open file).

C9 should now be able to successfully handle 2 different file format types with this version.

• Spares Order Book : more work on building out this new feature. Should be usable now as an alternative mechanism for managing spares orders.  More work is underway, at this stage only small visual/usability enhancements.
• Change part
• Re-added change part function : under utilities
• When you press F2 c9 memorizes previously successfully modified part, and positions browse at that part
• Add Stocked Parts
• Default Stk Qty and Max Reorder Qty can now be changed via setup
• If you add a stocked part with an initial qty greater than zero, c9 will now store a separate stock adjustment record for that initial qty creation
• EPC diagrams
  • Embedded latest listing of Australian Suzuki models.  Used more reliable method of generating the list than previously.  (Previous list generated from frame listing pdf file).
  • Include option to export EPC meta data as a CSV export file
• Bug fixes & Tweaks
• Import parts from Honda EPC into Point of Sale:  it appears as though Honda EPC export partlist file format has changed and c9 cannot cope with newer format. Modified import so it can cope with current format or older format
• Shared File Copy Tool : bugfix with file selector. Would not open file browser and c9 would lock up requiring you to force exit c9 to continue. Bug introduced with recent addition of image preview on file browse. Now fixed.
• Dead stock report.  Analyzing sales history was not taking into account when the item was initially added into inventory so it would list stocked items recently added but as yet never sold. Now corrected.
• Cash Till Report : correct keyboard/tab focus order

I just rebuild and installed a new version of c9 remote access java client/applet.  A few minor fixes and tweaks included; such as proper handling of Escape key on Mac OSX clients.

Bugfix : When you f6 a part with intention of modifying qty on hand, under some circumstances the changes are not saved but a record of the adjustment is created.  Now fixed.

Specifically : this will happen if you press f7 while in the f6 screen.  Trying to save the part after this would open error window 'part xxx could not be updated'.  But an adjustment record would of been created.  Problem is two small bugs working in concert.  Both bugs now fixed.

C9 now permits integration into bikesales.com.au.

When the integration is in place, any units you nominate on your floor stock will be synchronized to bikesales.  If you sell or otherwise remove the units from the floor, the listing will be removed off bikesales.

Synchronization happens each night. Listing changes should propagate shortly after 5 am.  C9 will send you an email overnight advising you on synchronization status.

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