News & Events

ABM 7 Features - Released March 2012
Making Systems more efficient
-  All transactions will process faster.
-  ABM servers can now process transactions from different workstations with a higher degree of concurrency. This should greatly reduce transaction processing delays on large sites doing lots of invoicing.

Enhanced Security Options
-  Viewing ledger account lists but not the account details.
-  Maintenance and viewing of: Customer groups, Sales analysis, Supplier groups, Product groups, Job groups, Production locations, Staff records, Labour rates, Cost centres and Exchange rates.
-  Export and Send to Excel of Customers, Suppliers, Ledger accounts, Products and Jobs.

Improving the User Interface
-  Filters, alignment changing and renaming of headers are extended to transaction lists.
-  Implementing the improved grid in data entry areas like currency changes.

Advanced Find is Improved
-  Resizable to show more data.
-  Easy global searches by module with Explorer Links.

Outlook Style List Searches
-  The Find Button has been replaced with an Outlook style search facility which scans all columns.

Suppliers
-  A new page in the Supplier viewer shows recent purchases.
-  A new page in the Supplier viewer shows their products.

Customers
-  One click to send the customer's current statement to the printer, the fax, the display or e-mail.
-  One click to send selected invoices and credits to the printer, the fax, the display or e-mail.

Sales Quote
-  A customer reference can now be entered and maintained on sales quotes.

Products - Special Prices & Discounts
-  The full list can now be sorted, searched and filtered at the Business Today screen and also maintained.
-  Special discounts can be set to apply to a specific unit only or the equivalent quantity of other units.

Products - Units of Measure
-  The units of measure and ratios can now be selected from a maintained list.

Structured Stock
-  Whole rows and columns can now be selected in the sub product matrix. Extra colours, sizes, etc can be allocated on the fly.

Job Costing
-  Users can now rapidly make a copy of existing estimates.
-  The copied estimate can be used to create a new estimate or to add to an existing one. Options are provided to update prices, etc.
-  New estimate template type which can be used as a starting point for other estimates.

Stocktake Improvements
-  The main stocktake program now offers improved control, import facilities and recalculation.
-  The "Start from Zero" option has been replaced.
-  Show current quantities.
-  Full or Partial stocktake (similar to PDE Import).
-  Option for an Imported Stocktake.
-  PDE Stocktake Import now more integrated. The date and time counted can now be included in the import file, to enable spot counting.
-  Ability to Recalculate Starting quantities, to allow correct variance reporting prior to processing the stocktake.

SMTP for sending Email
-  You can now choose to send email via SMTP directly rather than Outlook. DocServer will only send via SMTP.
-  Emails that are previewed will still use Outlook.
-  Using SMTP will allow control over the From, Reply to and BCC addresses.

Groups, Staff, Rates, etc. can be made Inactive
-  All of the Groups, Analysis Codes, Cost Centres, Staff, Rates and Locations can all now be made inactive.

Credit Card Administration Fees
-  On debit and credit card accounts, the user can now specify that an administrative fee is to be charged.
-  On receipts the fee is added and is posted to the clearing account where it will be offset by the actual fees.

Cash Payment Flexibility
-  Cash payments can now be made from cash on hand (which will be deposited at the bank) or elsewhere.
-  Receipts and payments can be redirected to the correct bank account when you make a mistake.

Controlling Back Posting of Transactions
-  Users can now stop the posting of debtors and/or creditors transactions into the prior period.

Period Filter Easier to Use
-  The Period Filter for reports now scrolls from the current period, making prior periods easier to select.

Enhanced Credit Control
-  When upgraded to ABM 7 the customer viewer will have more credit control options.
-  Credit policies are now available to simplify and control the maintenance of customer accounts and to automatically apply credit control actins when accounts exceed specified limits.
-  In Tools/Options, the user is able to set up credit policies which determine how they deal with their customers. The terms and default credit limit, prompt payment discount and overdue interest can be specified.
-  Each policy allows the user to choose what credit control actions are to occur when specified events occur in the customer's account. These credit policies can then be rolled out to selected customers using the Apply Policy Button.
-  A button is provided to update the credit control of all relevant customers based on the current status of their accounts. This is also done automatically each day when the first user logs in.

Other Features
-  Job rate titles are increased to 40 characters to facilitate upgrades from another product.
-  The GST/VAT fields now handle more than $10 million per period.
-  Project Credits can now credit individual lines, not just the whole invoice.

ABM 2010 Features - LATEST RELEASE
Goals
-  Improving the user experience
-  Increasing user productivity
-  Expanding our job costing markets
-  Addressing the wishes of our partners and users.

Enhanced Grids Improve the User Interface
-  Master file and transaction lists now use a new grid control  which gives users and channel partners enhanced capabilities.
-  Data can be grouped and sub-grouped as well as subtotaled and totaled by dragging columns into the box at the top�just like Outlook.
-  Additional filters are now available to view data selectively including filtering on several values at the same time (old version only allows one)
-  And custom filters can be specified. For example, all products with �123� in the part number and group �ABC�
-  The master file and transaction lists can also be customised by renaming the column headings to suit the user company and also the column alignment.

Improved viewing of data in ABM
-  Say goodbye to the ABM Viewer�.and hello to the ABM Explorer. Doing away with tabs makes the viewer windows less cluttered.

The ABM Explorer
-  As its name suggests, the ABM Explorer uses the Internet Explorer style in allowing the user to move through pages of information by
    clicking on navigation buttons and selecting from a drop down page list.
-  Clicking on a blue underlined link jumps directly to the window which lists the underlying data. For example, clicking on the customer orders link�.
-  Jumps to the viewer page which lists the underlying outstanding orders. If you want to examine a particular order, click on its link �.
-  And a new explorer page opens showing the order details. More links let the user jump to the customer, the sales analysis code or to other products.
-  While we are here, note that you can now edit, delete, deliver, return, invoice or credit the order or quote direct from the view window or even create a new one.
-  Similarly, you can click on a customer�s or supplier�s aged balance�. And see the transactions which make up that balance.

Updated Report Engine
-  ABM reports will now allow use of all Crystal 2008 features.
-  Pictures can now be linked based on a file location in the database.
-  What can you do with Crystal 2008?
      .  In-report sorting and filtering, without the need to refresh
      .  Parameter panel to quickly change Crystal parameters
      .  Flexible pagination � you can now have portrait and landscape pages within a single report
      .  Built-in barcode support.
      .  Potential for advanced visualisations with Xcelsius and Adobe Flex integration
      .  Flashing text on printed reports
      .  And something to really cheer about�. Drill-across from reports.

New Maintenance Functionality
-  A new �paste� button is available when adding new customers, suppliers, products, jobs, etc. This allows users to open a similar
   record, click �copy�, add the new record and click �paste� to copy the data into all fields to save manual data entry.
-  When adding or editing customers and suppliers in Australia, the ABN is now checked using the Tax Dept. formula.
-  When viewing a product, a new tab allows users to see, at a glance, the warehouse bins where the product is located.
-  The product viewer has been extended to show where that product has been included in quotes and in job estimates.
-  Users considering price changes can therefore quickly review their outstanding commitments.

Sales
-  Any number of delivery addresses can now be stored for each customer and are selected from a list by name. At the same time,
   the sales screen has been reorganised to make the delivery addresses more prominent.
-  If a new option is selected, the user can easily add a new special price or discount at the time of entering a sales quote, order, delivery or invoice.
-  When the user changes a price or discount, they are asked if the changes are to be saved for future use.
-  The user then has an opportunity to specify the scope of the special price or discount and it is automatically added to the appropriate table.
    If no suitable table exists then it will be automatically created.
-  A new button gives rapid access to the last three occasions when the customer purchased the selected product. 
-  You can now specify the usual stock location which applies to sales to each customer and ABM will now default to that location.
-  Other Sales Improvements:
       .  A visual warning and beep is now given if a customer exceeds their credit limit in the course of a sale.
       .   When entering orders and using �Save & New�, the order number allocated shows on the screen so that it can be quoted to the customer.
       .   If a customer�s terms are �Cash� and the invoice is not paid then it is immediately aged as outstanding in the age 4 column so that it gets attention.
       .   When a deposit is taken on a sales order, the printed document now shows the deposit.

Purchases
-  A new option allows the delivery dates on all items in a purchase order to be updated in one step.
-  The suggest order facility is now able to use sales projections six months and one year ahead.
-  A new facility  in  Tools/Options allows users to have receipt references increment automatically for tracking and audit purposes.
-  A new facility in Tools/Options allows users to have transfer references increment automatically for tracking and audit purposes.
-  Delivery addresses can now be stored for each stock location. This saves having to manually enter the delivery address each time  a purchase order is raised.

Stock Reordering
-  The reorder wizard has been extended to allow the user to select a kit and the quantity to be manufactured so that component shortages can be purchased.
-  The reorder wizard defaults to the preferred supplier but now allows you to review the other suppliers, their minimum order quantities and buy prices,
    by means of an embedded drop list. You can then pick the one you wish to buy from.
-  You can also now change the buying price on the fly and this will flow through to the purchase orders and the product records.

Job Costing
-  Jobs can now have Parent Jobs, to introduce an additional level of consolidation.
-  When viewing the parent job the user can choose whether to consolidate sub-jobs� transactions, balances and other items with the parent job�s details.
-  Project Invoicing will allow related jobs to be billed together.
-  Job reports will provide an option to include sub-jobs when reporting on parent jobs.
-  Transaction entry will remain unchanged.
-  New report filters will be provided for
     �        Job Status
     �        Job Priority
     �        Job Account Manager
-  Additional information can be stored on jobs for a site address and to better manage the contact information.
-  Improved Job Estimates - Redesigned to be more like other transaction screens.
     �       Customer reference can be specified
     �       Estimate and Expiry dates
     �       New type and status for better management
     �       Prices can be shown as GST inclusive
     �       Details of supplier quotes for items can now be recorded for future reference.
-  Multiple estimates can now be �active� for comparative reporting purposes.
-  Existing estimate transaction data will be upgraded to better match the structure of actual transactions.
-  Reports
    �       Standard reports comparing actuals with estimates will be updated to have better granularity and drilldowns
    �       Custom reports comparing actuals with estimates will need to be adjusted to use the new data structure
-  A new wizard for creating purchase orders from job estimates!

Better control in Advanced Documents
-  Forms set up using Advanced Documents may now be set to apply to multiple selections�
-  And may also be set to not apply to multiple selections. Eg. �All Customers, except �Cash Sales�
-  �All Suppliers in the Trade Suppliers and Sub-Contractors Groups, except Cable Supplies Ltd�

Reducing Database Size
-  If redundant data is removed from the database then datachecks and transaction processing speed can be improved
    and backups are smaller and quicker. A new option allows obsolete data to be removed but only by the System Administrator.

Security Improvements
-  Users now can�t use the Snapshot report writer to access data which they are not allowed to see.
-  Users can�t connect or disconnect databases unless they are authorised to change access rights
-  There is a new option which requires user names to be typed rather than selected from a list.

Other Improvements
-  The list of quotes at the Business Today screen can now show the expiry dates of the listed quotes.
-  Embedded, but not leading, spaces are allowed again in product, customer, job, etc. codes.
-  A new CompanyRefs table reduces record locking delays on large sites with high transaction volumes.
-  When you view cashbook transactions, the bank statement on which it was presented is shown.
-  The transactions seen in the bank reconciliation window can now be exported to Excel.
-  When cheque deposit details are entered at the time of receipt entry, ABM will now ask if they are to be saved to
   the customer�s account for re-use next time.
-  Unit prices now available when viewing product transaction lists.
-  Run numbers now available at the Business Today sales lists. 
-  An ability to have different window colours for different companies.
-  The date can now be specified when assembling kits.
-  Users are warned if they accidentally change a customer to a prospect.
-  In the job explorer the cost analysis is now totaled.
-  The ledger datacheck is now faster.
-  The datacheck now logs the completion of each task in the activity log.
-  The option of a date range has been added to several transaction lists.
-  The sales order lists can now include a run number column.
-  Totals have been added to the cost analysis page of the job viewer.
-  The unit price can now be seen on the invoice history list in products.
-  TransDetails custom fields can have formulae on text and date fields.

For More Information Contact: C.S. Packages - Tel:  (Int) + 61 + 7 3381 0888 - Fax: (Int) + 61 + 7 3105 7465