2017.1 - JAN '17

Released January 16, 2017

Introduction

This document communicates the major new features and changes in the 2017.1 Enterprise Back Office Release.  It also references issues that were addressed during this release.

 

Release Highlights

The 2017.1 release includes substantive changes to improve the Enterprise Back Office user experience. A few of the release highlights for the Enterprise Back Office Desktop (EBO Desktop) and Enterprise Back Office Mobile (EBO Mobile) are detailed below. 

 

Highlights Include:

 

Forecast Events Manual Adjustment to use Business Day vs. Calendar Day

 

Background / Business Driver

In 2016.6, we started migrating the Forecast pages from using Calendar Day to Business Day. This task was to ensure Special Event Forecasts where a manual adjustment was made, would use the stores business day time range.

 

Functional Areas which were addressed:

 

• If the business day comes from MX (fixed) show the hours configured.
• If it comes from the POS, then provide the hours based on the forecast data.

 

 

Auto Populate Coins Config

 

Background / Business Driver

There are different business processes that take place between stores with an enterprise which are controlled by Configuration. It was identified that a specific configuration setting always applied globally to all stores and would not apply to a single configuration template.

 

Functional Areas which were addressed:

 

• The existing configuration setting 'Auto Populate Coin Amounts from Register Count' has been extended so that it can be applied globally to all stores or to a single configuration template.

 

Updated Sales Dashboard to use Store Calendar

 

Background / Business Driver

There are different business processes that take place between stores within an enterprise. One of the main differences may pertain to business calendars where some stores operate on a different business calendar  As a result, there are pages or reports in the application that by default represents the primary business calendar. This request was to update the Sales Dashboard to use the entity calendar if one exists for the selected store.

 

Functional Areas which were addressed:

 

• An update has been made to the Sales Dashboard (MMS_ops_dashsales.aspx) to reports on the selected week according to the calendar assigned to the store (MMS_admin_entity.aspx >> Trading Times Tab >> Calendar selection). If there is no entity calendar assigned to the store, then the primary business calendar will be used.

 

Labour Rule to include Leave Hours in Shift Hours

 

Background / Business Driver

According to a customer’s labour regulations, leave hours are to be included in some of the labour rule calculations (i.e. Min/Max hour per shift or per week). By adding leave to the labour rule calculations, the warning messages that apply on the scheduler and Time & Attendance page will be more accurate.

 

Functional Areas which were addressed:

 

• An enhancement has been made to the labour rules engine so that the ‘Work Restriction Rules’ allows a flag to exist on the Shift Hours measure to include leave hours in the rule calculation.
• On the Labour Law Configuration page (MMS_HO_RuleConfiguration.aspx), under the 'Work Restrictions' tab >> 'Work Restriction Rules' tab, a new flag exists on the Shift Hours measure in order to include leave hours in the rule calculation.

 

 

Show on scheduler page employees who have no leave entries and no work scheduled

 

Background / Business Driver

For labour regulation purposes, a customer wanted a way to see via the Scheduler which employees had no shifts AND no leave schedule for a specific day or week.

 

Functional Areas which were addressed:

 

• Extended the current "employee shifts" grid on the scheduling page to have an additional setting button which will have the following options in a drop down (or modal if required):
• Show Employee Type e.g. Part Time, Full Time

 

Note: There is already existing functionality in this section of the page to show unrostered employees and flag them in Red. This functionality will be displaying additional information to assist the manager when scheduling.

 

 

Sale Item Mirror Source/Target Logic Change

 

Background / Business Driver

The solution for this feature request is to enhance the existing Sales Item Mirroring and Store Mirroring tools. The enhancement should allow the scheduling of mirrors for future dates, where the “Source” and “Target” date ranges could be connected. For example, given a promotion runs for four weeks, a user should be able to schedule in advance for the actual sales of week 1 to be the forecast of week 2, even if week 1 is not completed.

 

Functional Areas which were addressed:

 

• The Sales Item Mirroring and Store Mirroring tools have been enhanced to allow more complex scheduling of Source and Target date ranges. There is no longer a 14-day gap required between the two date ranges for mirrors which are less than 14 days long. This allows a mirror to be scheduled with future Source dates immediately followed by corresponding Target dates.
• If the mirror is less than 2 weeks, then use the logic "Source End Date is at least one day prior to the Target Start Date." But if the mirror is more than 14 days, allow the source start date to be 14 days before the target start date.
• If the target date range is 4 days, then the source date can be selected within 4 days of the start of the target range as long as the start day matches e.g. Sunday 25th is the first date that can be selected if the Target is Sunday 1st Jan til 4th Jan. Previously, I could only select 2 weeks back from Jan 1st.
• If the target date range is 20 days, then the source date can be within 14 days of the start of the target range.

 

 

Ability to Disable UOMs at the Store Level

 

Background / Business Driver

The customer has requested a way for store users to be able to enable/disable units of measure for inventory counts using the travel path in MxConnect. The reason for this change is so that store employees are only able to enter count values for approved units of measure for items used at their store.

 

Functional Areas which were addressed:

 

• The travel path in MxConnect has been enhanced with an additional view. Users with appropriate security permissions can toggle from viewing “Count Frequencies” to viewing “Units of Measure”. When viewing “Units of Measure”, the user can enable or disable any assigned units. At least one unit per item must remain enabled.
• The Inventory Count screen has also been enhanced so that when a unit of measure is disabled for an item, users are unable to enter count quantities into the corresponding entry field(s).

 

 

Aloha POS Interface - Track Tax on Items and Combos

 

Background / Business Driver

A customer has identified that tax allocated to individual items (a la carte) and combos were not being reported correctly in Enterprise Back Office.

 

Functional Areas which were addressed:

 

• The Aloha POS Interface through LiveLink was enhanced to capture sales tax, associated with the appropriate Tax Code for both Combo Items and a la carte items.

 

Aloha POS Interface - Capture Revenue Centre

 

Background / Business Driver

The existing Aloha POS Interface through LiveLink for Enterprise Back Office referenced Revenue Centre for transactions based on the Aloha format for table-service customers. A customer has identified that Revenue Centre was not being recorded for their transactions. For proper reporting by Revenue Centre, this information needed to be captured in Enterprise Back Office.

 

Functional Areas which were addressed:

 

• The Aloha POS Interface through LiveLink was enhanced to obtain the appropriate Revenue Centre assigned to the transaction on the POS and transmit this to Enterprise Back Office.
• Custom reporting of Sales by Revenue Centre can then be developed through the RDS or Business Intelligence.

 

iOS 10 Smoke Test

 

Background / Business Driver

The Mobile application was tested against the latest iOS 10 operating system to confirm compatibility.  The test passed, and the application has been verified to be compatible with iOS 10.

 

Browser, Device and Cube Version Prerequisites

In order to deliver a best in-class software solution to our customer base, Enterprise Back Office relies on the latest updates and advances available from Web Browsers to ensure improved security, a richer feature set and heightened performance.

 

2017.1 Supported Browsers and Devices

The following browsers and devices are officially supported by Enterprise Back Office in the 2017.1 release:

 

• Enterprise Back Office Desktop Solution Supported Browsers are: Microsoft Edge, IE 9+, Chrome 34+, FireFox 28+, and Safari 7+
• Enterprise Back Office Mobile Solution Supported Browsers are: IE 9+, Chrome 34+, FireFox 28+, Safari 7+, iOS 7.04+, iOS 8, iOS 9, iOS10
• Mobile Device recommendations: iPad and IPad Mini
• Minimum recommended device display resolution of 1024px x 768px
• POS: MICROS 3700, NCR Aloha, NCR Compris, Panasonic PANo7700, Panasonic PARJournal, POSIXML, Radiant, SIGNATURE Signature, and XPIENT POLLO

 

Cube Version

Several areas of EBO Desktop have dependencies upon facts, measures, and other components in the cube. (Version dependency between EBO (Desktop & Mobile) and the OLAP cube.) This version compatibility is the minimum cube version that is compatible with an EBO Desktop version.

 

Note: The Cube is backwards compatible. Always upgrade to the latest version of the cube.

 

EBO Desktop & Mobile Version	Minimum Cube Version
2017.1	2016.1.38
2016.6	2016.1.37
2016.5	2016.1.35
2016.4	2016.1.34

 

Release Notes - EBO Desktop

 

Core:

The Enterprise Back Office Desktop Solution can help reduce costs through efficient supply chain management improving accuracy and efficiency through automation and electronic communications. Changes include:

 

General Release Notes:

 

• N/A

 

Financial:

The Enterprise Back Office Desktop Financial Solution provides revenue management of monetary transactions, settlements, and deposits. The functionality to account for and track the movement of cash and other trading types in a store. Financial changes include:

 

General Release Notes:

 

• A fix has been applied wherein the Deposit label(s) on the counting tabs of the MMS_Stores_Banking3.aspx page was not able to be localised via the MMS_System_CultureSetup.aspx page. (MX-29143)
• A fix has been applied wherein the Manual Check label on the Summary tab of the MMS_Stores_Banking3.aspx page was not able to be localized successfully. (MX-29047)
• This ticket addresses correct Float values and Skims on Cashier Closes when transactions are processed through ALOHA POS and re processed in LiveLink. (MX-28066)
• A fix has been applied wherein users of MMS_Stores_FloatCount3.aspx were receiving an invalid authorization message after attempting to authorize float counts with a Variance under certain settings. (MX-28379)
• The existing configuration setting 'Auto Populate Coin Amounts from Register Count' has been extended so that it can be applied globally to all stores or to a single configuration template. (MX-28815)
• The LiveLink Aloha interface has been enhanced to capture Voucher Overpayments, which can then be mapped to Cashier Settlements in Enterprise Back Office. (MX-27496)
• The Aloha POS Interface through LiveLink has been enhanced to capture the revenue center assigned to transactions. (MX-27175)
• The Aloha POS interface through LiveLink has been enhanced to capture sales tax on menu items and combos, where applicable. (MX-28126)

 

Inventory:

The Enterprise Back Office Desktop Inventory Solution can help reduce inventory holding costs through efficient supply chain management. It can improve purchasing accuracy and efficiency through automation and electronic communications. Inventory Ordering changes include:

 

General Release Notes:

 

• This ticket addresses the resolution to fix the Entity item data import so that it updates the order category if provided. (MX-29119)
• A fix has been applied wherein the MMS_Manage_recipes.aspx page was experiencing a Feature Unavailable when Chrome users would select an item from the Matching Items box while their browser was zoomed to a value besides 100%. (MX-29086)
• A fix has been made to ensure StockCount is calculated correctly when a Stock Count import is performed. (MX-28750)
• A fix has been made to ensure the Inventory Adjustment page is accessible when using a user with a culture from Menu option and from the Workflow the option. (MX-28990)
• A rounding issue has been resolved when submitting Credit Note for some quantities. (MX-28730)
• A fix has been applied wherein the "Save" and "Save and Proceed" buttons on the Inventory Wizard, Base Information tab and the "Delete" and "Proceed" buttons on the Set Stores tab were not displaying localisations entered via the MMS_System_Culturesetup.aspx page. (MX-28752)
• Sales Items are now able to be wasted if not from the Waste List (uncheck Waste List checkbox). (MX-28402)
• A fix has been applied wherein users were experiencing a Feature Unavailable notice when navigating to MMS_Manage_Recipes.aspx and selecting the Bill of Materials radio button. (MX-28360)
• This ticket addresses when cancelling an Order to set the VendorShippedQty back to the original quantity (minus the cancel order quantity). (MX-26908)
• Inventory Transfers in MMS has been enhanced to allow received transfers to be returned by users at the receiving store who have the appropriate security permission to do so. (MX-25716)

 

Workforce:

The workforce module allows users to setup labour laws and working restrictions, create schedules, manage Time and Attendance, employee availability & time off and more.

 

General Release Notes:

 

• A fix has been made to ensure a user is able to select and view details of employees from the Employee Management page with any errors. (MX-28790)
• An enhancement has been made to the labour rules engine so that the ‘Work Restriction Rules’ allows a flag to exist on the Shift Hours measure to include leave hours in the rule calculation.
  A new security permission has been created to prevent more than 1 leave entry on the same day that has the same Leave Reason i.e. Leave Type of Annual Leave. "Security Permission - Workforce -> Time & Attendance - Can Duplicate Leave Records"
  An enhancement has been made on the scheduler and T&A page to provide a warning message if any leave exists for the employee being scheduled
  The Employee section on the scheduler page has been enhanced to display employees leave hours and job type. (MX-27932)
• Fix to the labour schedule page to accurately reflect the data in the Mobile Forecasting tables. (MX-29023)

 

Loyalty:

The Loyalty Campaign module allows users to create and run ongoing campaigns through which their customers can earn and redeem benefits according to specific criteria. Loyalty changes include:

 

General Release Notes:

 

• N/A

 

Reporting:

 

General Release Notes:

 

• A fix has been applied to ensure that no duplicate rows were added when trying to generate the MP&C files. (MX-28741)
• A fix has been applied wherein the Cashup Reconciliation report generated from the Report button on the MMS_Stores_Cashup6.aspx page was failing to generate when a different-format date localisation was used. (MX-29483)
• The AM-MP&C report available on the MMS_Stores_Production.aspx page has had a fix applied wherein the column headers for a given item were not being displayed on all pages wherein that items statistics were displayed, only the first such page.MX-28363
• A fix has been applied wherein the Inventory Transfer Export (with Status Check) was not executing in response to a Transfer record being created via the MxConnect interface. (MX-28479
• A fix has been applied  so that a user is able to successfully generate Sales Summary 3 reports in pdf and HTML format. (MX-28128)
• Splash page should still be accessible via direct URL or Menu link if user has previously opted to not show Splash page message again. (MX-27930)
• An update has been made to the Sales Dashboard (MMS_ops_dashsales.aspx) to reports on the selected week according to the calendar assigned to the store (MMS_admin_entity.aspx >> Trading Times Tab >> Calendar selection). If there is no entity calendar assigned to the store, then the primary business calendar will be used. Prior to this change, the primary business calendar was always used. (MX-27823)
• A new Petty Cash Report has been created, Report ID: 1411 (Petty Cash (Incl. Last Updated fields) which shows the name of the user who last updated the record and the date the record was last updated. (MX-28412)
• A new General Crew Availability Report has been created to show employees availability for a particular store. (MX-27918)
• The ARTS export has been updated to include a Unique Order ID and order delivery information. (This information is obtainable from the Compris POS). (MX-27947)
• The Store Daily KPI report has been updated to display data based on the entity calendar set for a store. If there is no entity calendar assigned to the store, then the primary business calendar will be used.  Prior to this change, the primary business calendar was always used. (MX-27824)

 

Release Notes - EBO Mobile

Enterprise Back Office Mobile is designed for use on a mobile device so that you have constant access to your data in real time for Forecasting: Inventory Counts, Ordering, Transfers, and Waste; as well as Labor. The mobile inventory count enables users to perform an inventory count on a mobile-enabled device (for example, iPad), as well as manage the item’s travel path. Mobile ordering enables store managers to place inventory orders with their suppliers. Both EDI and email order creation are supported. Stores can create orders using the scheduled orders option or by creating an unscheduled new order. Users can also search the order history.

 

Core:

 

General Release Notes:

 

• MacromatiX Mobile Application supports iOS10 browser (MX-28194)

 

Inventory:

 

General Release Notes:

 

• MxConnect Travel Path has been enhanced to allow users with appropriate security permissions to enable/disable Units of Measure assigned to items for use in Inventory Counts. (MX-27271)
• Fixed an issue where it was possible to press the Submit button during Requested Transfer creation more than once, creating multiple records. At the same time, a fix was applied to the Confirm button on Transfer Approval, that was permitting multiple clicks. (MX-28996)
• Fixed an issue so that the Return Order Details page populates "Items in Delivery" and "Delivery Total" based on received quantity and value. (MX-28772)
• Fixed an issue whereby updating the receive quantities for an order on Mobile was not correctly reflected on MMS Invoice Reconciliation. (MX-28219)
• Fixed an issue whereby Requesting a Transfer via MxConnect was not presenting the Request-From location with a Notification that a transfer required their approval. Now, and inventory transfer notification that typically says "New transfer request needs approval" will be provided in this circumstance. (MX-28377)

 

Forecasting:

 

General Release Notes:

 

• When creating a special event profile for forecasting that is by Manual Adjustment, the intervals will now display based on business day rather than calendar day. This means if the business day data comes from MX (fixed business day), show the hours configured. If business day data, comes from the POS, then provide the hours based on the forecast data in the system. (MX-27525)
• The action menu no longer appears on the MX Connect Sales Item Mirror detail screen once the mirror has completed. (MX-27101)
• The Sales Item Mirroring and Store Mirroring tools have been enhanced to allow more complex scheduling of Source and Target date ranges. There is no longer a 14-day gap required between the two date ranges for mirrors which are less than 14 days long. This allows a mirror to be scheduled with future Source dates immediately followed by corresponding Target dates.  If the mirror is less than 2 weeks, then use the logic "Source End Date is at least one day prior to the Target Start Date." But if the mirror is more than 14 days, allow the source start date to be 14 days before the target start date. (MX-28846)
• A change was made to the forecast queue order: Given Monday last week has an event forecast and Monday this week has a mirror forecast, when forecast for Monday this week, the engine will do mirror forecast first and then do reverse event forecast. But in this case after mirroring forecast data has been replaced with new data from the source, there is no need to reverse out the new data.  The proposed change would be changing the process ordering so that the MirroringForecastAdjuster is done after ReverseEventSystemForecastAdjuster so the mirror will overwrite the reverse out data if needed. (MX-28003)
• Fixed an issue to render correct Forecasting metric filter names on IE9 and IE10. (MX-29141)
• Fixed an issue whereby Forecast event -100% interval adjustment was sometimes showing a negative forecast. (MX-29021)
• Fixed an issue whereby Day Parts were not being depicted properly on the chart or the Detail view of the MxConnect Sales Forecast functionality. (MX-29025)
• Fixed an issue whereby Forecast event -100% interval adjustment was sometimes showing a negative forecast. (MX-29330)
• Fixed an issue whereby the hover interval balloon was not showing for IE11 when looking at a forecast in an MMS iframe. (MX-29087)

 

Workforce:

 

General Release Notes:

 

• Fixed an issue whereby the My Time Off functionality within MxConnect was submitting Leave requests that contained an additional day when the All Day toggle was used to create the request. (MX-28786)

 

Release Notes - Reporting Data Store (RDS)

The Enterprise Back Office solution is a prolific collector of operational data. The Reporting Data Store (RDS) has been conceived in order to give users ownership and access to their own data. Users will have the ability to design and build their own reports and interrogate the database at will. Progress, for the feature, continues.  The following fields have been added to the Reporting Data Store:

 

General Release Notes:

 

• The following tables now support tracking for deletions:
• InventoryPurchaseReturn
• InventoryPurchaseReturnLine
• WeeklySaleBudget
• StoreSchedule
• StoreSettlement
• AccountInventoryMapping
• InventoryWaste
• TransactionSaleItemModifier
• TransactionDiscount
• FiscalCalendar
• TransactionSaleItemCombo
• StoreInventoryItemCost
• TransactionRefund
• TransactionSaleItemVoid
• TransactionServiceTime
• DailySaleBudget
• POSTranslationControlInformation
• POSTranslationRevenueCentre
• POSTranslationSaleItem
• POSTranslationSalesCategory
• Role
• Job
• TransactionTender
• WorkedShiftAdjustmentReason
• TransactionCoupon
• TransactionSaleItemCoupon
• StoreZone
• Store
• SaleItem
• InventoryItem