Cavallo for Business Central Release Notes

March 23, 2023 

The Business Central extension for this version of Cavallo can be found here (Version 1.0.602.0).  If you use PayFabric in Business Central, the latest version of the PayFabric extension for Cavallo can be found here (Version 1.0.0.21). Make sure to load these versions of the extension in your environment to use these new features!  Instructions for installing the latest version of the extension can be found here.

Cavallo Allocations in Business Central

In a fast paced distribution environment, it’s critical to understand how much inventory is actually available to sell at any given moment.  To help with this, the latest version of Cavallo takes our Cavallo Allocation logic and integrates it more tightly with Business Central’s Native UI!


On orders, we’ve added a new “Allocation” action to the Cavallo menu which allows users to quickly and easily allocate inventory to the selected order, preventing it from being sold on future orders and painting a clear picture of inventory availability.


Furthermore, we’ve also added support for our Cavallo allocations to the inventory requisition worksheet.  By enabling the “Enforce Cavallo Allocations” setting in the Cavallo Allocation Configuration menu, the requisition worksheet will take Cavallo’s allocation quantities into account when calculating how much should be purchased via the requisition worksheet.  This will allow users to combine Cavallo’s allocations with the functionality they’re already using for purchasing inside of Business Central.

Other Updates

In addition to building out support for BC On-Premises, we also made a number of small updates and fixes throughout the rest of the application!  See below for a full list.

• Added the ability to take actions on documents from the document search screen.
• Added the ability to change customers on a sales document.
• Added the ability to search by PO number on archived sales documents
• Added a final confirmation when changing the responsibility center
• Fixed an issue where the column chooser would expand to the full length of the page
• Established activity logs for prints and email actions.
• Created a column to see “On a PO” quantities for any specific item
• Created activity logs for business rule submissions, approvals and rejections
• Resolved an issue where opening the context menu would cause a blank screen.
• Fixed an error that would reload a document with a blank screen.
• Resolved an issue in Mission Control where the first workflow queue wouldn't calculate it’s total document count or total properly.
• Bolstered our filtering capabilities with the addition of item variants, locations and UofMs.
  
  

March 8, 2023 

The Business Central extension for this version of Cavallo can be found here (Version 1.0.550.0).  If you use PayFabric in Business Central, the latest version of the PayFabric extension for Cavallo can be found here (Version 1.0.0.21). Make sure to load these versions of the extension in your environment to use these new features!  Instructions for installing the latest version of the extension can be found here.

Before installing this version of the extension, please uninstall any versions of the previous "Distribution Cloud" environment that are still installed in the Business Central environment.

This version of Cavallo includes many improvements across the application, including the following:

• Added “Partially Received” and “Received” statuses for tracking receipts on Purchase Orders related to Sales Orders
• Added the ability to set the Item Variant being used on a Variant item
• Added the ability to route documents in workflow via several new fields including purchasing code and responsibility center.
• Resolved an application crash in certain circumstances while editing sales documents
• Resolved an issue where date fields would be a 1 day behind when an order is released
• Resolved an issue where the vendor field couldn’t be cleared
• Added the ability to edit discounts on the sales header
• Added the “Responsibility Center” field throughout the application
• Resolved an issue where the quantity couldn’t be edited for a manual shipment/invoice
• Added the ability to view Cavallo statuses in the Business Central fast tabs both on orders and the sales order search
• Created SOP to POP visibility/linkage into Business Central with addition of 2 new fields
• Created 3 Cavallo specific permission sets in Business Central.

February 22, 2023

The Business Central extension for this version of Cavallo can be found here (Version 1.0.455.0).  If you use PayFabric in Business Central, the latest version of the PayFabric extension for Cavallo can be found here (Version 1.0.0.21). Make sure to load these versions of the extension in your environment to use these new features!  Instructions for installing the latest version of the extension can be found here.

Business Central On-Prem Support

We are excited to announce that our latest version of Cavallo includes support for Business Central On Premises!  While Cavallo has supported cloud deployments of Business Central since the beginning, our latest update adds long-awaited support for connecting our powerful workflow and order entry solutions to self-hosted or locally hosted Business Central environments!

Other Changes
In addition to building out support for BC On-Premises, we also made a number of small updates and fixes throughout the rest of the application!  See below for a full list.

• Added  the ability to edit the document posting date
• Added routing support for additional product and item fields.
• Added a PO number field to Sales Lines allowing direct linking to related Purchase Orders
• Resolved an issue with our percentage fields where users would have to input decimals instead of whole numbers.
• Added a setting to concrol default purchasing quantity
• Added a security for printing and emailing sales documents and purchase orders.
• Resolved redirect issues for users who had improper security settings.
• Resolved issues around searching for notes where only part of the list would show.
• Resolved several issues around business rules that were causing the system to error.
• Resolved issues around screen reloading that would cause the screen to go blank.
• Resolved an issue with the submit button not reloading after business rule approval
• Resolved issues around sales lines being added to BC when documents were created in Cavallo.
• Fixed an issue where menus didn’t match between mission control and document line select.

February 8, 2023 

The Business Central extension for this version of Cavallo can be found here (Version 1.0.427.0).  If you use PayFabric in Business Central, the latest version of the PayFabric extension for Cavallo can be found here (Version 1.0.0.20). Make sure to load these versions of the extension in your environment to use these new features!  Instructions for installing the latest version of the extension can be found here.

Settings
The latest version of Cavallo comes packed with a variety of new security settings to allow organizations to carefully fine tune the access each of their users has to different parts of Cavallo.

From changing price on items being sold to moving documents through the workflow, every major action that can be taken by a user can be enabled or disabled based on that user’s user group.  This allows every organization the power to create the exact experience that will empower their users to be most effective, and ensure that sensitive actions are restricted.

Other Changes

In addition to building out our security settings, we also made a number of small updates and fixes throughout the rest of the application!  See below for a full list.

• Resolved an issue with the wrong quantity to invoice being shown when generating invoices in some flows
• Improved the messaging around where a document will go when submitted to the workflow
• Improved the arrangement of “Totals” fields on the Sales Document screen.
• Resolved some issues with the wrong cursor being used on certain buttons when data is loading
• Resolved a UI issue with some columns overlapping others in mission control in some scenarios
• Improved error handling for a document at the end of its lifecycle
• Resolved rapid editing issues that resulted in inconsistencies on orders
• Resolved error handling for rapid edits
  
  

January 25, 2023 

The Business Central extension for this version of Cavallo can be found here (Version 1.0.378.0).  If you use PayFabric in Business Central, the latest version of the PayFabric extension for Cavallo can be found here (1.0.0.19, no update from previous version). Make sure to load these versions of the extension in your environment to use these new features!  Instructions for installing the latest version of the extension can be found here.

This version of Cavallo contains a number of smaller updates focused on improving various parts of the application.

• Pending Prepayment documents are now styled to indicate that they can't be edited
• Documents in Mission Control can now be filtered by how prepaid they are
• Corrected an issue that could prevent workflow changes from being saved under certain circumstances
• Improved styling for the "Submit to Workflow" button on the Sales Document screen
• Corrected an issue where the number of documents in a queue wasn't going down when a document was deleted
• Updated the organization of settings on the user group settings page
• Activity logs are now created for documents being transferred between doc types
• Documents can now be routed based on shipping code and agent in workflow
• Added the ability to open Cavallo pages and cards from Business Central
• Added the ability to style and format text on notes
• Added an option to select a default purchase value for the create purchase modal
• Improved the styling of percent fields throughout the application

January 11, 2023

The Business Central extension for this version of Cavallo can be found here.  If you use PayFabric in Business Central, the latest version of the PayFabric extension for Cavallo can be found here. Make sure to load these versions of the extension in your environment to use these new features!  Instructions for installing the latest version of the extension can be found here.

Cavallo Workflow In Business Central

One of the most powerful tools Cavallo has to offer is our workflow engine. It's crucial for every organization to reduce motion waste wherever possible while maintaining order accuracy and enforcing order guardrails regardless of what platform that order is being entered on.  This is exactly why in the latest version of Cavallo, we have integrated our workflow engine directly into the Business Central User Interface. Users will have the ability to move documents through Cavallo’s workflow to evaluate document routing, enforce business rules and have direct links between Business Central pages and Cavallo.



As depicted in the screenshot above, we have added the ability to open a document in Cavallo, and move your documents through the Cavallo workflow engine or approve/reject business rules. When submitted, the document will be checked against the company's Cavallo workflow and business rules to maintain 100% order accuracy. In the event there is a broken business rule, Cavallo will notify the user in Business Central via a banner at the top of the document that will allow a permissioned user to approve or reject directly from within Business Central (More in the screenshot below). If there are no broken rules, the order will progress, the actions will run and the “workflow queue” field will be populated with the new queue the order is in.



For users who need to remain in Business Central, we have created a filter that will allow a user to view only documents that are breaking Cavallo business rules. From the actions menu, the user will have the ability to approve or reject that document from the sales orders page in Business Central.  The image below demonstrates exactly how a user can use the window to approve and reject these documents appears within Business Central. Users can select the rules for approval/rejection as well as comment on the reasoning for their decision. Once approved or rejected, there will be a confirmation on the screen and the document will be unlocked to proceed in the workflow or remain blocked.



Lastly, we have created linking between customer pages and Item pages in Cavallo and Business Central via the “Open in Cavallo” option. This option exists on high level pages such as customer and sales document search and allows a user to open the corresponding screen in Cavallo. This deeper integration to Business Central will allow our users to maintain efficiency and accuracy no matter which platform they chose to use at any given time by providing them a direct path to Cavallo when needed.

Prepayments
Prepayment invoices are a useful structure for recording deposits and other prepayment scenarios on orders prior to the order being invoiced.  Our latest version of Cavallo adds several useful fields and statuses for recording what prepayment needs to be taken on an order, how paid those prepayments are, and what remains to be paid.



We’ve also added a number of statuses related to the prepayment state of a document.  These statuses allow users to quickly filter documents that need to have a prepayment sent, have a pending prepayment invoice, or that have been completely paid.  These statuses can also be used to route documents in workflow, ensuring each document follows the standard process.

Other Updates

We've also made a number of other changes and improvements throughout the rest of the app!  See below for a full list:

• We updated the purchase modal to automatically sort lines without a purchase code or vendor to the top along with a few other small UI changes
• We added the ability to print and email purchase orders manually from a sales document
• We added the ability to view a customer's notes on each of their sales documents
• We updated the actions bar for sales line items to allow for smoother order navigation.
• We have added activity log support for comments
• We added the ability to purchase service items on sales documents
• We have prevented blocked items from being added to orders.
• We have made a minor UI change to our sorting arrows to point the correct direction
• We have resolved an issue with Automated Action Date Conditions
• We added the ability to search Automated Actions Logs
• We corrected an issue that prevented users from changing workflow queue in Business Central
• We resolved general errors that would occur during allocations and shipping.
  
  

December 15, 2022

This version of Cavallo requires a migration of data from our Distribution Cloud extension to our new Cavallo extension. The instructions for this migration can be found here. Moving forward, Distribution Cloud will be known as Cavallo for Business Central. 

The new Cavallo Business Central extension for this version of our app can be found here.

The latest version of the PayFabric extension can be found here.

Demand Based Purchasing

One of the most important tasks an organization has is generating purchase orders and tracking those purchase orders in relation to their linked sales orders. The overall generation of these purchase orders must be simple, quick, and accurate in order to be effective and keep internal processes running smoothly. In the latest release of Cavallo, we have added the ability to generate purchase orders within the application both manually on the sales document and automatically via workflow movements.


In the above image, we have added the “Vendor” column that will allow the user to select where they would like to purchase this item from, while defaulting any pre-set preferred vendors on the sales line. In addition, we have added the ability to select your purchasing codes in Cavallo to ensure this process will give the user an “all in one” experience. Finally, we have added the option in our dropdown menu to generate the purchase order manually which when selected will open a window for the user to select their purchase lines as seen below:


The second way to generate a purchase order within Cavallo is via our workflow engine. We have added specific conditions into our backend workflow engine to recognize the vendors and purchasing codes set on the line items and on submit, send an email containing that PO out to those vendors to reduce manual touch points and reduce time of entry.. Using the rule below as an example, POs can be generated as a part of any process in your workflow:



When a purchase order is generated, we will link them to the corresponding sales order and allow the users to open the linked purchase order in Business Central. By creating the sales order to purchase order link, we are providing the organization full visibility into their order and allowing them to maintain a single source of truth:

Notes

Losing track of information related to orders and accounts is costly, and it’s critical to have a good system for tracking notes about both.   Notes like these are an efficient way to communicate internally about specific situations or customer requirements that may come up in the sales cycle. Additionally, these notes will last the entire lifetime of a customer or document while creating points of reference that teams can utilize to double check their work. In the latest release of Cavallo, we have added internal notes both on the sales documents as well as the customer card to assist with keeping a single source of truth and providing cross team communication.



From the sales document level, there are two main areas of focus in this initial release. In the above screenshot, we have added a section on sales documents to create internal notes. As notes are created, a user will be able to see all the document notes on the left hand side and when a note is selected, the main portion of the screen will display the text of the note with the ability to delete or edit the note. In the screenshot below, in order to keep track of who added a note and when, we have added a few new entries to the activity logs so that we can account for when notes are added, edited or deleted. Overall, the addition of notes will create an efficient form of communication that will be a reference point for organizations when they are looking for details on what actions have or should have been taken on sales documents.

In addition to the notes on sales documents, we are also releasing the ability to add a note to any of your customers. As seen in the screenshot below, we have created a tab on each customer card that will allow a user to add a note to a customer. These notes will have the same format as our document notes which will provide consistency for users when attempting to add a note. With the addition of notes within Cavallo, our users will be able to take the guesswork out of many situations and have a central place where they can check for relevant information.

Other Updates

In addition to the above additions, we've also made a number of other improvements around the app!  See below for a full list.

• We added "Posted Invoices" and "Archived Documents" tabs to the products card, and also to the details view for products on orders
• We added activity logs for comments added/removed/edited on a document
• We added the ability to build workflow conditions to check if any of a group of statuses are on a document
• We added the ability to build workflow conditions that check if a text value "does not contain" another value, or "is not" another value.
• We added the ability to build workflow conditions that check if a date "is not" another date
• We added "Quote Valid To" as a field on quotes
• We added the ability to view Prepayment Invoices related to orders
• We made some general improvements to our error messaging
• We improved the behavior of the "submit" button in communicating what will happen to a document when it is submitted through the workflow.

November 30, 2022

The Business Central extension for this version of Distribution Cloud can be found here.  If you use PayFabric in Business Central, the latest version of the PayFabric extension for Distribution Cloud can be found here. Make sure to load these versions of the extension in your environment to use these new features!  Instructions for installing the latest version of the extension can be found here.

Automatic Workflow Actions
For many companies, there are steps in the business process where sales documents need to wait for some work to be done or some external action to happen before they can proceed.  Often this involves people responsible for that queue of documents monitoring the queue and waiting for some condition to become true for each document, then move them along to the next step in the process.  While this works, this process can be pretty manual, and require a lot of time and thought from that person.  The newest version of Cavallo aims to simplify and improve this process with our new addition of Automated Actions.

Automated Actions is a tool set up in workflow that allows users to build out a Automated Action which watches a set of workflow queues, periodically checks if a condition is true for each document in the queue, and if it is, moves that document on through the workflow.  This is powerful because moving that document through the workflow will trigger any conditional routing or actions configured there, allowing the document to be pushed to the place it needs to be and trigger whatever actions (emailing, invoicing, shipping, etc) that need to happen.



In the example above, we can see an automated action named “Invoice Shipped Documents”, which has been configured to check for documents in the “Shipping” queue every 15 minutes and move any that have the status “Shipped” on to the next step of the workflow, where any business rules/approvals can be checked, any emails/confirmations can be sent, and eventually the document can be invoiced when ready.

Other Updates

While working on Automated Actions and our upcoming Purchasing functionality (more on that next release!), we've also made a number of other updates and fixes throughout the app!  See below for a full list of changes.

• We added the ability to view and edit tracking number on sales orders
• We added activity logs for payments taken on orders
• We added the ability to configure the journal batch used for cash and check payments on orders
• We made the placeholder text of search boxes more consistent
• Regions that have provinces instead of states now have a “Province” field on addresses instead of a “State” field
• We corrected an issue that could prevent the same line from being picked multiple times (on an order, when creating a warehouse pick document)
• We improved loading state of tables
• We improved spacing of the items in the line item grid
• We prevented an issue where certain documents lacking a customer wouldn’t load
• We added the ability to create sales documents from the documents list
• We improved the messaging for users when no results are found when searching for a product
• We added the ability to route on Item Number of sales line items in workflow
• We resolved a UI issue with custom named sections
• We resolved an issue with deleting certain workflow actions
• The Products count/hover now only shows products, not comments and other line types
• We fixed an issue where generating documents didn’t refresh mission control
• We corrected an issue where the business rule tooltip were showing “undefined” text for some conditions

November 2, 2022

The Business Central extension for this version of Distribution Cloud can be found here.  If you use PayFabric in Business Central, the latest version of the PayFabric extension for Distribution Cloud can be found here. Make sure to load these versions of the extension in your environment to use these new features!  Instructions for installing the latest version of the extension can be found here.

Margin Information for Historical Product Sales

For most organizations, when making a sale, it’s important to understand how the products being sold have been priced in the past, along with the profitability of those sales.  Accurate knowledge here can help maximize profit for future sales and ensure that customer pricing is honored.

In the latest version of Cavallo, we’ve added a number of indicators of margin for historical sales throughout the app to make these sorts of information much easier to know.  On the Customer Card, the Products tab now shows margin amount and percent at the product level for the most recent sale.  Expanding any of the products reveals all the posted invoices for this product for this customer, showing the margin amount and percent for each sale.



This information is also visible on the Product level.  On the Product Card, the Historical Sales tab will show the margin amount and percent for each time this product was invoiced across all customers.

Track Picking Statuses at the Line Level
For many users, it can be difficult to understand how far a document and its lines have progressed in their process without digging through a few screens or comparing different fields. In the newest version of Cavallo, we’ve added a few more line item statuses to our Document Entry screen to make this information easier to find and understand for our users,  eliminating guesswork and providing meaningful information as to where line items stand in their process.


In the new version of Cavallo, we’ve added three new line item statuses that relate specifically to fulfillment called “Open Pick”, “Partially Picked” and “Picked” to bring this information to the surface. This will provide cross company visibility into where each line item is at in its individual fulfillment life cycle. In the application, these can be seen on each sales document's line items if the new statuses are applicable to that line items fulfillment.

Other Updates

In addition to the above features, we've made a number of other updates and fixes throughout the rest of the app!  See the full list of changes below:

• Added a confirmation message on a successful payment on an order
• Added the ability for each document type to have it’s own layout of fields
• Added the ability to view a log of payments taken on orders
• Added open orders to the list of related documents for quotes
• Resolved an issue with blank columns appearing in the Documents Search Column Chooser
• Prevented an issue which caused the incorrect document to be opened in BC when selecting an Archived Order in Related Documents
• Resolved an issue where certain columns couldn’t be sorted in various lists
• Resolved an issue that could prevent saving changes to workflow
• Removed certain non-searchable columns from mission control and other search screens
• Prevented an issue where sales representative wasn’t visible on new documents until the sales representative list was opened
• Prevented some issues that could prevent creating a customer if certain contact fields weren’t set
• Resolved some styling issues with the date chooser in workflow configuration
• Resolved an issue that prevented workflow conditions from being created against the “Line Type” field

October 19, 2022

The Business Central extension for this version of Distribution Cloud can be found here. Make sure to load this version of the extension in your environment to use these new features!  Instructions for installing the latest version of the extension can be found here.

Adding Comments to Sales Documents

Often times it can be important to convey more about the products being sold on a quote/order than just the quantities of the price of those items.  To help with this, we've added the ability to add "Comments" to orders in the latest version of Cavallo Order Entry!

To add a comment to an order, click the comment icon at the right side of any line on the order.  This will add a new comment line below the current line, which will allow users to enter more details about what is being sold, tracking information, or anything else that needs to be communicated to the end customer!

Comments added to documents will be automatically visible on any printed forms - making it easy to convey those comments to the customer when sending the documents out in email, fax, or etc!

Deleting Sales Documents

Sometimes a document is created in error, or is no longer needed.  Other times, a quote has been declined, an order cancelled, or for some other reason a document needs to be archived.  In Cavallo Order Entry, deleting or archiving documents is as simple as selecting the "Delete" option in a list of documents, or clicking on the delete icon on a document card.

Once clicking any of these options, users will be prompted to confirm if they want to delete or archive their document, based on their settings configured in Business Central.

We recommend using the "archive" option in most cases, to enable viewing these documents in the new Archived Documents tab on Customers, which we'll cover next!

Posted Invoices and Archived Documents

A common challenge we hear from sales and operations teams is having difficulty understanding their sales history for a customer.  In particular, finding old quotes and orders and tracing their relations to other documents can be hard.  Our new "Posted Invoices" and "Archived Documents" tabs

As their names indicate, Posted Invoices will show any completed, posted invoices for the current customer, and Archived Documents will show any Quotes, Orders, and Invoices which have been Archived - either manually by users or as part of transferring those documents (Quote to Order, or Order to Invoice).

Of particular use on these tabs is the "Related Documents" column, which just like it's version in Mission Control will tell users the number of documents related to the current document, and by hovering over this number, users can review all the other documents related to this one.  This can be very useful when tracking down whether a quote was made into an order, finding the quote for an invoice, or tracking down how an order was shipped.

Other Updates

In addition to the above additions, we've also made a number of other additions and fixes to the app!  See below for a full list.

• We added the ability to edit contacts and addresses on a customer
• We added support for a few new fields throughout the app
  • Sales Rep was added to Mission Control
  • Created On Date was added to Mission Control and workflow routing
  • Added Billing/Shipping/Selling Address fields for workflow routing
  • Document Date in Mission Control
• We added the ability to view lot custom fields on the lots tab of products
• We added the ability to secure editing and viewing workflow to certain groups
• We corrected an issue which could cause the wrong number of open documents to be shown for a customer
• We fixed UI issues while creating a new document where the wrong screen would be briefly shown
• We corrected some issues where buttons were behaving oddly while actions were running
• We resolved an issue where queues in workflow configuration weren't showing the right queue number
• We resolved an issue where the wrong contacts could be shown for a customer
• We fixed an issue where an error could occurr when creating a customer from a template if that template included address information
• We corrected various UI issues around buttons overlaying eachother incorrectly
• We improved the user experience when editing prices on line items
• We resolved an issue where a fully paid order that was paid across two payments would show as partially paid instead of fully paid
• We resolved an odd UI state that could occurr when searching on any page but the first on any of the search screens
• We resolved an issue where Customer Name could overlap other fields in Mission Control

October 5, 2022

The Business Central extension for this version of Distribution Cloud can be found here. Make sure to load this version of the extension in your environment to use these new features!  Instructions for installing the latest version of the extension can be found here.

Related Documents

Some common questions about orders often amount to, "Is this what we quoted?", "Has this been shipped yet?",  "Are we picking this yet?".  Answering these questions can often be a cumbersometask, requiring digging around to find links between these different types of documents.  

To make answering these and other questions easier, the newest version of Cavallo contains some useful screens and functions for viewing the documents related to the one you're currently looking at.   On the document entry screen, we've added a new "Related Documents" tab, which will contain quotes, invoices, shipments, and pick documents related to the current order, along with showing the line items on each of those documents

This same information is also available from Mission Control in our "Related Documents" column.  This can be particularly useful to view these documents without having to drill into a specific document!

Custom Fields for Sales Line Items

Continuing our efforts to make it easier to work with the data you value most, the latest version of Cavallo has added support for adding BC Extended Fields when working with Line Items on Orders, Quotes, and other Sales Documents!

Other Updates and Improvements

In addition to the above features, our team has been hard at work adding a number of other smaller updates throughout the app.  Check out the list below to see what else was added!

• You can now choose to immediately print/email an invoice after generating it from an order
• We added more columns to the Customer/Product Documents tabs, making it easier to find the info you're looking for
• We added the field "Your Reference" for searching/editing/workflow routing to Sales Documents.  This field can be useful for tracking variety of information - including fraud detection when integrated with some ecom platforms.
• We added the Requested and Promised Delivery Date fields for searching/editing/workflow routing on sales Documents.
• We standardized the naming/functionality of the Customer PO Number column across multiple screens
• We corrected some issues viewing certain customers in Business Central from our app
• We resolved some UI issues when creating customers
• We corrected some issues with UI elements appearing behind others
• We fixed and issue where sometimes date selectors wouldn't save their changes
• We fixed and issue where certain workflow conditions couldn't be built against number fields
• We corrected some mislabeled Quantity Allocated/Available fields in the inventory drawer on the document edit screen

September 21, 2022

The Business Central extension for this version of Distribution Cloud can be found here. Make sure to load this version of the extension in your environment to use these new features!  Instructions for installing the latest version of the extension can be found here.

Create Customers From Templates
Most organizations have many data points they track about their customers, which can make creating new customer records a time consuming process.  To make this setup of new customers a bit easier, we've added support for Customer Templates when creating new customers!

Making use of these templates greatly simplifies the process of creating customers by allowing users to pre-define a set of fields that should be defaulted onto any new customers created with the template.  Organizations can define multiple templates for different types of customers they serve, so that it's easy to choose a template that most closely represents the new customer when it's being created!

Order Entry Improvements
It's part of our mission to make entering quotes, orders, and invoices as easy as possible for our users, so that they can get more done and be more profitable.  To further this goal, we're continuously looking for ways to improve our order entry experience, and we've added several improvements in this version!

First, we've added the ability to quickly edit any address on an order, without having to re-enter the address from scratch!  This can be particularly useful when trying to make a quick change to an address like adding an "ATTN".

Secondly, we've built out the ability to more easily edit a line item's description.  Some items have longer descriptions, including details about the products being sold or services rendered, which can be hard to work with in a table.  To help with this, users can now click on an "expand" icon to open up a larger window for editing the item's description.

Finally, we've added the ability to adjust the "Document Date" field on an order.  This is critical for back or future dating sales, and our date editor makes it quick and easy to choose the correct date for your document.

Support for Business Central Extended Fields
ERP and accounting systems contain a multitude of fields on customers, products, and documents, but many businesses will find that they need to track more data about each of these than their system supports.  To help support this, we're continuing to build out our support for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Extended Fields in our application.  In this release, we've introduced support for viewing extended fields on Customers and Products in lists, setting them on new customers, and routing on both in workflow.

Workflow routing based on extended fields in particular can be valuable for organizations as it allows organizations to define more personalized criteria on which they can control their process.  Combining workflow and extended fields is key to optimizing your organizations workflow!

Other Updates

• We corrected an issue that prevented saving workflow conditions involving default credit cards
• We made some changes to prevent negative order balances from being calculated
• We corrected some styling issues when building out Business Rules

September 8, 2022

The Business Central extension for this version of Distribution Cloud can be found here. Make sure to load this version of the extension in your environment to use these new features!  Instructions for installing the latest version of the extension can be found here.

Workflow Improvements

In the latest version of Distribution Cloud, we've made more additions to make workflow more flexible and powerful.  In particular, we've expanded our workflow condition builder to allow users to build out conditions checking against fields from the product on one of the line items on the document.  This can be useful for building out conditions that ensure fields on the line items match their products, or that certain quantities are available, on hand, or backordered.  For example, the condition below would allow the user to route a document to a certain queue if the quantity available for one of the line item's products was below the quantity being sold.

We've also greatly expanded the kinds of conditions users can build against dates, allowing more complex comparisons like dates being in certain ranges relative to the current date, or in relation to other dates on the Document, Lines, Customer, or Products.

Cash and Check Payments

Also in our new version we've added the ability to take cash or check payments on orders in Distribution Cloud!  Just like Credit Card Payments, these can be taken on orders anywhere in the app, and can generate cash receipts either at the time of invoicing, or when the payment is taken.

View Documents in their Currency

Many users operate in multiple currencies based on the locations of the customers on each of their orders.  We've added the ability to view documents in Distribution Cloud in the currency they were entered in!

Generating Warehouse Picks

After allocating and reserving inventory for an order, and once it's ready to be shipped out, the logical next step for many organizations is to send that document to the warehouse to be picked and shipped.  In the newest version of Distribution Cloud, users can generate Warehouse Pick (and related ship) documents from orders, either manually or via workflow!

These documents can then be picked up by warehouse teams operating using the tools inside of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, or any compatible Warehouse Management System!

View Product Details while Entering Orders

Oftentimes while entering or reviewing an order, it can be important to cross reference other information about the products being sold, such as past sales or general inventory availability.  In Distribution Cloud, users can review this quickly and easily by opening the "Product Information Drawer" by clicking on the Item Number of any product on an order!

Other Additions, Fixes, and Improvements

Besides the features above, we've also been hard at work adding a number of smaller updates and making fixes and improvements elsewhere in the application!

• Users can now choose a custom layout when printing or emailing document reports
• Users can now build workflow conditions checking if a text field is empty, containing no text at all
• We've taken a pass to improve error messages throughough the app to make it easier for users to understand what's happening if an issue does happen
• We prevented an issue that could cause the UI for modal windows to behave oddly if the user scrolls
• We improved the alignment of the "Cost" and "Total" summaries in Mission Control
• We corrected an issue that could prevent saving workflow changes
• We corrected an issue with date editors off the screen

August 10, 2022

The Business Central extension for this version of Distribution Cloud can be found here. Make sure to load this version of the extension in your environment to use these new features!  Instructions for installing the latest version of the extension can be found here.

Create Customers

For some organizations, it's common for CSRs and sales reps to create new customer records as part of their order entry process.  To make this process easier, the latest version of Distribution Cloud has added the ability for users to create new customers without leaving the app!

To create a new customer, click the white plus button in the navigation bar, and select the "New Customer" option from the list that appears.

Clicking this button will open the "Add New Customer" page, where users can enter all the information they need to define a new customer record.  Information about the Primary Address and Contact for the customer can also be entered, allowing users to save time by entering it all at once instead of entering them afterwards.

Once finished, the user can click "Create Customer" to save that customer.  Just like Orders, Quotes, and Invoices, Distribution Cloud stores the customers it creates directly in Business Central, so users in both systems will be able to make use of the new record!

Enter Orders from Anywhere in the App

Running a Distribution Organization is busy work, and it can be difficult for users to pause what they're doing to enter a new order when a call comes in.  To make this process just a bit easier, the latest version of Distribution Cloud has added the ability to create a new sales document from anywhere in the app!  To do so, first click the white plus button at the top of the screen, and choose one of the doc type options (Quote, Order, Invoice, and Return).

After clicking one of these options, the user will be able to choose a customer they want to create the order for, then be brought directly to the order entry screen.

Extended Workflow Routing

Workflow in Distribution Cloud is a powerful tool for automating repetitive work and routing documents to where they need to be.  In order to keep building out what workflow can do, the latest version of Distribution Cloud has added more ways to build conditions around documents.

Distribution Cloud now allows conditions to be built comparing one field to another, as long as they're the same "type" of field (text, number, date, and etc).  For example, the below condition will be true if the "Unit Price" for any of the line items is less than the "Unit Cost".

The latest version of Distribution Cloud has also added the ability to build out workflow conditions checking against fields on Customers, in addition to the fields on documents and their line items.  For example, the below conditions will be true if the sales person on the customer is different than the sales person on the order, and if the State on the order is Michigan.

These new conditions make it easier for users to build a workflow that matches their process, and allows them to minimize mistakes and time spent managing orders.  In future releases, we'll continue to expand on this functionality!

Process Payments via Workflow

The last version of Distribution Cloud included a multitude of new features around taking authorizations and payments via credit cards, managing customer wallets, and generally working with Payments.  In our new version, we've continued down this path by integrating our Credit Card functionality into Workflow!

This new functionality takes the form of three new workflow actions for Orders - "Authorize Credit Card Payment", "Capture Credit Card Payment", and "Take a Sale on a Credit Card".  All three of these allow the workflow to process credit card payments in different ways - taking and capturing auths, or doing both at once as a "Sale".

Taking auths and payments via workflow can save users time and reduce mistakes, as manual processes are replaced by automatic actions.

Other Fixes and Improvements

Besides the larger features above, our team has been busy making various fixes and additions to the rest of the app!  Here's a list of some of the fixes and improvements we've made throughout the rest of the app!

• We've improved the loading experience while entering orders - while a document is being saved, or lines are being added to the document, the user will be shown a loading indicator so they know that the system is processing.
• We added the ability to "Test" your PayFabric credentials in the payments setup screen, so users can be sure they've been entered correctly.
• We made entering a zip code on an address easier by allowing users to enter one manually instead of only being able to select one
• We corrected an issue which could cause the filter modal to get cut off on some screens.
• We corrected an issue that caused it to be difficult to click on certain parts of the workflow config screen when actions were in their "collapsed" state.
• We improved the user experience while entering email addresses when sending an email, making it easier to select an email with the "tab" key.
• We fixed an issue which caused the shipment date to be written as a dollar value on the document screen.
• We fixed some misaligned columns for quantities allocated, available, and backordered.
• We corrected an issue which caused custom fields to no longer show up on the document entry screen.
• We removed a mysterious blank column from the products grid.
• We resolved some issues when switching between payment types in the payment entry screen.
• We corrected a problem that caused new credit cards created in Distrubiton Cloud to not appear in Business Central.
• We corrected some issues that could cause users saved layouts to be lost.
• We added some validation to stop users from entering payments for zero dollars.

July 13, 2022

The Business Central extension for this version of Distribution Cloud can be found here. Make sure to load this version of the extension in your environment to use these new features!  Instructions for installing the latest version of the extension can be found here.

Payments

A critical part of any sales process is collecting payment.  For many businesses, it's necessary to capture some or all of the payments needed for the document prior to invoicing.  This can be because the business doesn't operate on terms, or simply to take a deposit before all of the work is done.

To help with this need, in the new version of Distribution Cloud we've added support for taking Credit Card payments on orders via an integration with Nodus PayFabric!  Users can take Auths and Sales on any order, making use of cards saved to that customer's wallet, or entering a new card at the time of payment.

Take a payment on an order quickly using stored card information

To support quick entry of payments for repeat customers, we've made it easy to manage a customer's wallet of saved cards.  One of the cards in a customer's wallet can be marked as the default card, allowing it to be chosen by default when taking payment.

Manage a customer's wallet, adding new cards, choosing a default card, or removing old cards

In the next few versions of Distribution Cloud, we'll be expanding our workflow functionality around payments - allowing credit card payments to be authorized or captured as a part of the order workflow!

Allocations and Backorders

When making a sale to a customer, it's critical to know what's available to be sold, as selling what's not in stock could lead to delays and unhappy customers.  Once a sale has been made, it's also important to ensure the inventory for that order is kept from being used elsewhere.

The newest version of Distribution Cloud makes these problems easy by building out concepts of Allocation and Backorders for products on orders, and allows tracking them across items and warehouses to build a clear picture of inventory availability.

View how much inventory has been allocated to each line on this order, while keeping an eye on overall availability of that item

Quantity allocated represents how much inventory has been set aside for this product on this order.  Using this quantity allocated across orders, we can subtract this from the quantity on hand stored in BC to produce a quick and accurate view of quantity available.  This information is visible anywhere in the app where product inventory is shown.

View quantity on hand, allocated, and available by product and warehouse

Setting quantity allocated by hand is easy, but the true power of allocations comes when they're automated.  In workflow configuration, workflow actions can be configured to automatically allocated inventory to the lines on orders whenever certain conditions are met, or whenever a document is moving to or from a certain queue.  This allows admins to ensure that inventory is always being allocated according to process, and further routing can be done based on how allocated a doc was to inform purchasing decisions.

Configure workflow to manage inventory allocations automatically

Another important concept related to allocations and availability is backorders.  In Distribution Cloud, the quantity backordered for a line represents what wasn't able to be allocated, and is a signal for what may need to be purchased, redistributed, or otherwise replenished.  The quantity backorder field is available on each line on orders, and will be calculated at when allocations are set based on admin configured settings.

Choose the backorder setting that meets suits business needs/processes

In the next release, we'll be adding more robust visibility into quantity backordered across products and warehouses, in all the same places we show quantities allocated/available!

Creating Orders from Quotes

Also new in the latest version of Distribution Cloud, we've added the ability to generate orders from quotes from the quote page or from Mission Control!  This will allow users to quickly take a finalized quote and change it into an Order, allowing it to be processed through their order workflow.

Generate an order for a finalized quote

In coming sprints, we'll be adding support for generating orders automatically from quotes as part of workflow!

Other fixes and updates

In addition to the features above, we've also made a number of smaller fixes and tweaks in this version!

• We made some changes to prevent an error when trying to release a document that has no lines on it.
• We made some changes to the customer card to improve styling on smaller screens.
• We corrected an issue that prevented filtering on decimal values in Mission Control.
• We prevented an issue which made it impossible to edit Unit Cost on order lines.
• We resolved an error which could stop users from transferring an order to an invoice.
• We resolved a UI issue when trying to transfer an order to invoice if no products were on the order.
• We resolved a UI issue where the "All Products" tab  in the inventory drawer was sometimes truncated.

June 29, 2022

The Business Central extension for this version of Distribution Cloud can be found here. Make sure to load this version of the extension in your environment to use these new features!  Instructions for installing the latest version of the extension can be found here.

View Margin on Products

 
In order to make sure quotes and orders are profitable, it's important to be able to understand the margin you're making on each of the products being sold.  In order to make this easier, we've added columns for tracking margin amount and percent on each product on a sales document.

Clearly understand the margin of each item on an order, with negative margins rendered in red.

In addition to visibility, these fields are also available when building conditions for workflow routing and business rules, making it even easier to automate the management of order margin.  Never let a low margin order/product slip through the process again!

Other Tweaks

We've also been busy resolving a number of issues around the application, and making various improvements.  See below for a list of what we've updated!

• We've fixed an issue where deleted workflow queues would still appear in Mission Control.
• We've resolved a bug where users weren't able to enter a price for an item where the cents value of the price was below 10 cents.
• We've fixed an issue where a workflow couldn't be saved/published if there were not yet any sales documents in that company.

June 2, 2022

The Business Central extension for this version of Distribution Cloud can be found here. Make sure to load this version of the extension in your environment to use these new features!  Instructions for installing the latest version of the extension can be found here.

Sales Document Activity Logs

Through the lifecycle of a sale, it's likely that many different users will interact with a document, and it often is hard to tell who did what, when.  The new Activity tab on Sales Documents in Distribution Cloud allows users to see a detailed history of changes made to a document, presented in a simple, visually understandable way!

In the coming weeks, we'll be expanding this functionality to include logs for many other events, such as items being added/removed to an order, reports being printed, and etc.

Support for Released Documents

Marking a document as "Released" is an important step in the lifecycle of a document, so that you can signify that entry is complete and it is ready for processing/to be sent to the cusomer.  The latest version of Distribution Cloud includes support for displaying to users if a document is in a "Released" state, so that users can better understand what's ready for processing (and thus can't be further edited).

Documents can also be released or re-opened manually, or via workflow.  This will allow users to define that documents will be Open in the first few steps of a workflow, and then automatically "Release" the document when it's ready to be sent out/into the warehouse.

Customizing Fields

We know that every business is unique, and may have a different set of fields that are important to view, edit, and work with on their documents.  To support this, we've added the ability to customize the layout of the fields on the documents card!

By clicking on the "Choose Columns" option on the top right of any of the sections on the document card, the user can choose which fields are visible in that section, and the order they appear in!  The user can also customize the name of the section to better signify what the included data means to them.

View Product Details

Knowing the history of your Products is essential to understanding their sales performance, and informing how they should be sold and managed in the future.  To facilitate this, we've added a Product Details Card which can be accessed  by selecting any of the items in the product Search!

The Products Card contains several key information sets about the chosen product - including Sales History and Inventory levels across warehouses.  This visibility can allow users to quickly and easily understand how they've sold this product in the past, and what they have in their warehouses to sell in the future.

Other Updates

As always, we've also made a variety of other fixes and improvements to the rest of the system!  These are some of the updates we made in this release:

May 18, 2022

The Business Central extension for this version of Distribution Cloud can be found here. Make sure to load this version of the extension in your environment to use these new features!  Instructions for installing the latest version of the extension can be found here.

Manage Access and Security with User Groups

For many organizations, it's important to control users access to certain data.  In the latest version of Distribution Cloud, administrative users can build user groups that allow them to control the visibility of certain fields and screens in the application.  

The Sales group can manage settings, but cannot view Cost and Margin

In our initial version, we've started with two security settings - "Can View Cost & Margin" and "Can Manage Settings".  Users without "Can View Cost & Margin" cannot view Cost or Margin information anywhere in the app, and only users with the "Can Manage Settings" security can access the screens for configuring user groups and their access.

Send Emails via Workflow

Ever want to make sure a Sales Confirmation always goes out when orders are released, or ensure that the pick list is always printed when a document is ready?  Distribution Cloud now allows workflows to be configured to send out Business Central printed forms when certain conditions are met!

An email action is configured to send a Sales Confirmation to the Shipping Address on the Order.

Other Fixes and Improvements

• To make workflow configuration more flexible, we added several new date fields to the available fields for routing documents via workflow, including Requested Delivery Date, Promised Ship Date, Shipment Date, Planned Delivery Date, Planned Shipment Date, and Shipment Date.
• We enhanced our comments on Business Rules, allowing multiple to be shown for each rule if it is rejected/sent back to review multiple times.
• We corrected an issue which caused Sales Reps without profile images to display in odd ways.
• We corrected an issue that caused Mission Control to sometimes prevent columns from being rearranged.