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Visual Solutions is proud to announce the release of SFSD Procurement Solutions version 8.1.8! We have taken our User Requests seriously and hope you enjoy the results. Current Users may udate their existing installations by clicking HERE.

Version 8.1.8 (7/15/2010) (version 8.1.7 was never released publically)

Inventory Management - Inventory Base File List

  • Corrected a problem where items edited after/while using the Quick Find feature were not updated, or did not hold the settings. Users may now use the Quick Find feature and edit records without Updating between operations.

All Modules - Quick Find Feature Optimization

  • Modified the logic used by the Quick Find feature in all screens to make the process much more efficient, and thus, faster.

Version 8.1.6 (5/28/2010)

Inventory Management

  • Added Database Checking to remove any duplicates in the Inventory Base File for sites.

Version 8.1.5 (4/29/2010)

Warehouse Management

  • Modified the Ship Ticket (report) to sort based on the Display Order established under Product Setup/Storage Location. This feature is ony useful when the preference is set to not Split on Storage Location for Ship Tickets. An example for making this work might be to set the display order so that the Ship Ticket always prints in this order: Frozen, Refrigerated, Dry Goods, Bin 1, Bin 2, etc.

Version 8.1.4 (4/29/2010)

Inventory Management

  • Corrected a runtime error (Overflow) when the number of Inventory Log records exceeds 32,767. This error was corrected for the initial load of the screen on 4/24/2010. The latest update also corrected the issue when utilizing the Quick Find feature.

Version 8.1.3 (4/14/2010)

Warehouse Management

  • Added a screen to check for and remove duplicated warehouse orders that may occur when a network error prevents the completion of the order transfer process.

Version 8.1.2 (3/23/2010)

Inventory Management

  • Corrected a possible runtime error when opening the Add to Inventory screen. (Invalid use of Null) 

Version 8.1.1 (3/5/2010)

Warehouse Management

  • Corrected an issue that caused the grid to go blank when deleting an item in the Ship Ticket Printing screen.
  • Added the logic to prompt user for verification when all schools and all orders are selected in the Ship Ticket Printing screen. This was added after a user accidently printed all tickets with the Delete From Inventory option selected.

Support - Special Utilities

  • Corrected a problem where item prices were being set incorrectly using the Check Database for Errors menu option.

Version 8.0.9 (1/5/2010)

Purchasing Module - Corrected a rare runtime error (Division by Zero) when receiving vendor orders.

Version 8.0.8 (11/17/2009)

Product Setup Module - Corrected an issue where a new item added by a Warehouse Level user did not get added to any Warehouse Level sites in the Inventory software. Previously, all users adding new product were District Level users.

Inventory Management Module - This update corrects an issue that may cause the software to crash when opening the Add to Inventory screen.

Discrepancy and Vendor Credits Reports - This update corrects an issue that causes the Vendor Credit report and the Order Discrepancy report to incorecctly display the Delivery Date and Item Numbers as blanks.

Version 8.0.7 (10/26/2009)

Warehouse Module - Corrected an issue in the Warehouse Orders screen where the screen did not load correctly for a school level user, or when a school had been selected in the Cost Center drop-box on the Launch Pad or main screen.

Reporting Component Library Check - This update corrects a minor issue that may occur when the SFSD Procurement Solution software is installed before the NFSMI FUNDamentals software on a new computer. The issue causes numbers in reports, like item numbers, to be formatted with a comma, even when the report has been designed to leave the commas out.

Version 8.0.6 (7/1/2009)

General Program Maintenance - Corrected an issue for SQL Server users where the creation of a new table may be created with an incorrect table ownership.

Reports

Formatting on the following reports:

  • Current Inventory 
  • Inventory Log Summary 

Version 8.0.5 (5/27/2009)

Reports

  • Formatting on the following reports:
    • Product Quantities by Month
    • Approved Products List
    • Distribution Reports (Warehouse Management)
    • Order History

Warehouse Management Module

  • Ship Ticket Printing Screen - Corrected a runtime error that would occur when changing quantities and printing the ship ticket. The error was caused by the previous work on the screen that greatly improved the processing speed of orders.

Version 8.0.4

 Warehouse Management Module 

  • Ship Ticket Printing Screen - Improved Auto-Cycle selections for Delivery Date and Cost Center drop down selections. This let's you start at the top and cycles automatically to the next delivery date and/or cost center.
  • Site Transfers Screen has been modified to deal correctly with items being transferred to the Warehouse from a School that have different shelf units at the sites. For instance, a school orders  bleach by the Case (4-1 Gallon, $10.00) but receives it and counts it (shelf units) by the Each ($2.50). When transferring this bleach from a school to the warehouse, the units transferred must constitute a full shelf unit for the warehouse. In the instance of the bleach mentioned above, this means that a multiple of 4 units is required to transfer the bleach back to the Warehouse. A transfer of 1 case of bleach equals 4 Each as the transfer quantity and will be recorded in the sending site as 4 Gallons of Bleach at $2.50 transferred out and will be recorded for the warehouse as 1 Case Bleach at $10.00 transferred in.

Reports

  • Product Specifications with Brand Detail - Reworked this report to reduce the number of pages required by around 1/3.

Version 8.0.3

 Purchasing/Receive Orders 

  • Added a Substitution button to the Receive Orders screen providing the ability to substitute printed vendor orders. When vendors provide a list of subsitutions before delivery, this gives the operator the ability to add new items to the system as approved products, and change the subbed items to the new items. This way, when the orders are actually received, either by the warehouse operator, or by the managers, the items match the invoice.

Special Utilities

  •  FUNDamentals Exports and other Special Utilities
    • Added screens for Export functions and several other special utilities that previously operated from from just a menu. This allows the use of more user control over the operations and a clearer definition and understanding of the purpose of the function. All screen utilize progress bars where these operations may take an extended period of time to complete.

Version 8.0.2

Warehouse Management

  • Quick Order Entry and the Warehouse Order (Catalog) Screens
    •  The first non-default warehouse or school is now automatically selected for you. If the user is a school level user, then their school will be the only school in the Ship To drop box.
    • Delivery dates may now be filtered for the selected delivery site based on the weekdays selected under the Purchasing/Purchasing Utilities/Site Delivery Schedules screen. This option may be overridden to display all weekdays.
  • Site Transfers - Users may now set a Transfer Date on intersite transfers.

Inventory Management - Inventory Utilities

  • The Create Inventory Base File function has been completely reworked to significantly shorten the amount of time for this process to complete. Within the next couple of versions, this process will be be put into a screen of it's own complete with progress bars and control over which Inventory Base File actually gets created or rebuilt.

Version 8.0.1

Launch Pad Changes (Very Cool!!!)

  • New Automatic Date Selection Option - You may never have to manually change the date on the Launch Pad again. This new feature allows you to set an interval that will set the ending date automatically based on the current date. For example, if the current date is 10/16/2008, and the date options selected are 2 Week(s) Through Friday, the ending date is set to 10/31/2008.
  • New Support Menu Option - Documentation Center - Procurement, Inventory, Bid Evaluation, and Warehouse Management are pretty complicated processes now matter how you slice and dice it. Visual Solutions is in the process of improving documentation for all modules including User's Guides for all modules and Strategy Guides. The Documentation Center will also contain links to other support options and resources.
  • The Exit menu is here to stay...The Exit menu option is now always available, even under the sub-menus.
  • Getting back to the Main Menu may now be accomplished by clicking the orange banner at the top of the launch pad.

All Screens - New and Improved Help Files

  • We are moving to a web-based solution for providing help documentation. This means that clicking a Help button in the program will now start a web browser and try to connect to the specific help resource on our website. This assures that you are always getting the most current help information about all screens.

Warehouse Management - Transfer Ticket

  • Corrected an issue where the date on the Transfer Ticket report was not accurate.

Purchasing - Receive Orders screen

  • Added a Vendor drop down selection box for easier filtering.
  • Added an Auto-Cyle function that automatically selects the first available Order Dates and Vendors for outstanding orders in the system. After clicking the Receive button to receive the displayed order, the system automatically moves to the next vendor for the selected date. If no more vendors exists for the selected date, the date moves to the next available date and the process repeats until no orders are left. This makes it possible to enter each invoice # and simple hit the Enter key on the keyboard to move to the next order.

Product Setup - Storage Types

  • Storage Type screen now supports the deletion of multiple rows at the same time.
  • New screen for transferring all products from selected storage types to any other storage type.

Inventory Base Groups

  • New Feature!!! Assign schools to Inventory Base groups for easier maintenance of Inventory Base Files. Groupings should be established based on commonly available items. Copying inventory base files just got easier with the new option added to automatically select the destination sites by group association.

Version 7.1.11

All Modules

  • The entire software application has been scrutinized for efficiency and performance in an effort to improve load times for all screens.
    • Security checking on form level and user level has been greatly improved. In addition, all screens and functions are now available for security management.
    • The progress bar and update label on the main launch pad have been removed improving performance.
    • Many changes were made under the hood to 'trim the fat' by removing code that was not needed.
    • Site Management screens have been redesigned to only provide options relevant to the operation of the Inventory, Purchasing, and Warehouse Management modules.

Version 7.1.10

All Modules

  • Added an internal auditing mechanism to track the source of unwanted price changes. At least one customer is reporting that the system is randomly chaning prices on awarded items. This mechanism will help Ken to identify where and when these changes are taking place.

Version 7.1.9

Purchasing Module - Minimum On-Hand Order Screen

  • Modified the calculation for suggested ordering amounts.

Version 7.1.8

Purchasing Module - Minimum On-Hand Order Screen

  • Removed an internal stop statement that was accidentally left in during the last build.

Version 7.1.7

Purchasing Module - Minimum On-Hand Order Screen

  • Reworked logic for this screen to calculate suggested order amounts as follows:
    • Minimum Setting - Existing Vendor Orders - (Amount In Warehouse Inventory - Warehouse Orders waiting to be filled)
    • eg. 20 - 0 - (8 - 10) = 22 as the suggested order amount

Warehouse Module - Shipment Verification Screen

  • Corrected an error that was excluding inventory subtractions in the calculation of shortages.

Version 7.1.6

Purchasing and Warehouse Modules - Item Substitutions

  • Added a new button to the Purchasing /Order Approval screen and the Warehouse/Issue Shipments screen that allows for the substitution of any item that has been ordered.
  • The substitution process uses a new program option (under Preferences) that determines whether a Warehouse Order can be changed back to a regular Vendor Order.

Version 7.1.5

Warehouse Module - Site Transfers

  • Added the option to preview and print a Transfer Ticket when transferring items from school to school, or from school to warehouse.

Version 7.1.4

Product Setup - Approved Products

  • Corrected a run-time error 'Invalid use of null' after entering a new product. This issue was isolated to one district.

Version 7.1.3

Inventory Management - Reports

  • Added new report - Inventory Usage (specific to Web Orders users) to calculate monthly inventory values based on manager data entry in the web module.

 Version 7.1.2

Product Setup - Categories

  • Corrected a run-time error that would occur when adding a new category.

 Version 7.1.1

Application Version Checking (for workgroups)

  • Modified the startup logic for FUNDamentals to check the database version against the current application version. If the application version does not match, then the user is prompted to update the software. This is important only in workgroups in which the application files are not shared.

 Version 7.0.10

General Application Maintenance

  • Modified the startup logic to check for the existence of special database connection configuration files used when upgrading from the Access database environment to SQL Server. The software now checks the application directory and the Access database directory to see if a new connection is available. This is useful for workgroups needing to switch where the application files are not shared.

 Version 7.0.9

Purchasing Module - Catalog and Minimum On-Hand Order Screens

  • Corrected a runtime error that would occur when using the filter and sort functions on the Vendor column in the Catalog Order and Minimum On-Hand Order screens. A previous update introduced a new vendor selection drop-box as an enhancement. This update now allow for the use of either vendor selection methods.

General Application Database Maintenance

  • In preparation for the upcoming new year, several outdated database tables and fields were removed in an effort to reduce the file size and overhead. In addition, database error checking on startup has been streamlined resulting in quicker start times for the application.

 Version 7.0.8

Product Specifications List

  • Corrected an issue that defaulted items added directly as Approved Products were defaulted to the first Bid Group in the system. The Bid Group is only used in the Bid Evaluation module for Awarding vendor submitted items by line, or by group, however, it did not make sense to simply assign new non-bidded items to a bid group in this way. Therefore, a new drop-down selection box has been added to the Awarded Product Detail screen that allows users to set or modify the bid group associated with a new or current product.
  • It was also discovered that specifications may have become orphaned when a category was deleted at some time in the past. The program checks for orphans, then reassigns a valid category making it possible to edit the specifications.

Multiple User Environments and Locally Installed Applications

  • Starting with version 7.0.8, the program will check the executable version number against the database version number. If the executable version number is lower than the database version number, then this means that another user has performed an update and the database has already been updated. If this is the case, the program will display the Update Wizard and allow the user to update to the current version.

 Version 7.0.7

Minor Database Update Issues

  • Corrected a rare issue that may occur for customers updating from much older versions such as 5.x.x

 Version 7.0.6

Improved Troubleshooting and Support Tools

  • Reworked the database viewer, used for troubleshooting and support issues.

 Version 7.0.5

Warehouse Module/Ship Ticket Printing

  • Reformatted to display item prices greater than or equal to $100.00.

***New*** - Financial and Inventory Exports to FUNDamentals

  • Commodity Revenues/Expenditure Export - This utility is used to overwrite existing records in the FUNDamentals software with monthly totals for commodity expense and/or revenue based on items shipped from the default warehouse during a specified date range.
  • Non-Commodity Revenues/Expenditure Export - This utility is used to overwrite existing records in the FUNDamentals software with monthly totals for non-commodity revenues and expenditures for all orders received during a specified date range.
  • Inventory Export - This utility is used to overwrite existing records in the FUNDamentals software with monthly ending inventory values for Food, Commodities, and Supplies based on the inventory log records.

 Version 7.0.4

Warehouse Module/Ship Ticket Printing

  • Fixed a runtime error that may occur when printing the last cost center in the cost center drop box.
  • Fixed a crystal report error that may occur when printing the Availability report.

 Version 7.0.3

All Reports

  • The reporting components have been updated to the same version that is installed with FUNDamentals. All reports now open in a standard windows form, and utilize the Group Tree for quick navigation.

 Version 7.0.2

Inventory Management/Current Inventory Screen

  • Corrected an issue that may prevent the Current Inventory Screen from opening.

Purchasing/Purchase Order Printing

  • Corrected an issue that may group item types incorrectly.

 Version 7.0.1

Major Update/Upgrade for all SFSD Procurement Modules

  • All Reports have been scrutinized and reworked with an eye towards , accuracy, clarity, and conciseness.
  • New Grouping Options for many reports allows for the viewing and summarizing of information in many different ways. Users may even select the grouping order on selected reports.
  • Change of drop box filtering functions on many screens. The ALL option for Item Type now exists for all screens where inventory items are displayed. The Category Group and Category drop boxes have been removed from most screens, and have been replaced with more relevent drop boxes...e.g. The Purchasing Module/Orders screen now has a drop box for quickly filtering on Vendors. Also, a Cost Center drop box now appears in most screens providing the option of switching between schools or warehouses without closing the screen, saving you time.
  • Elimination of Delivery Schedules means one less thing to worry about for a year end rollover. Also, it is no longer necessary to create a delivery schedule when a new item type is created.
  • Simplified item grouping to two levels, Category and Item Type. Previously, inventory items were grouped to four levels:
    • Category
    • Category Group
    • Item Group
    • Item Type
  • Intense testing has been done through all processes to ensure that all new features are working correctly. Testing has also indicated that the simplification has resulted in an unexpected improvement in speed, meaning, faster loading screens and reports.

 Version 6.0.10

Inventory Management/Reports/Current Inventory Report

  • Corrected an issue that reported incorrect Current Unit Pricing information when the site selected is the distributing warehouse. The formula has been modified when reporting on the Default Warehouse to show Bulk Price / Warehouse Shelf Units. For schools the formula is Bulk Price / Warehouse Shelf Units / Local Shelf Units.

 Version 6.0.9

Special Utilities / Financial Update / Inventory Values Update

  • Corrected an issue that prevented the Inventory Values Update for FUNDamentals from working correctly. This procedure is used to calculate the ending values of inventory for each month for the FUNDamentals software.

 Version 6.0.8

Purchasing Module - Order Approval Screen

  • Corrected an issue where the cost center drop box may fail to reload after changing vendors.

Product Setup - Reports

  • Modified Approved Product List Report for improved sorting when 'by Item Type' is selecting as the grouping option. This was only an issue where the Session Order fields have not been set, or are the same.
  • The Category List report has been renamed to 'Categories to FUNDamentals Expenditure Map' to more accurately describe the intended purpose of the report. The data flow to the FUNDamentals software is handled by mapping inventory categories to revenue or expenditure detail accounts.

 Version 6.0.7

Historical Reporting for all modules

  • Added the ability in the reports screen to report on historical data.

 Version 6.0.6

Product Setup - Approved Products Detail Screen

  • Corrected a runtime error that would occur when changing the packaging breakdowns in the Approved Products Detail Screen. The error would only occur if the user chose to update the packaging breakdowns in existing warehouse orders and inventory log files. This functionality is useful for product that has been received into inventory with an incorrect packaging setup, and will adjust inventory log unit prices and log units automatically. After using this function, it is wise to check the inventory logs for the item changed.

 Version 6.0.5

Purchasing Module - Order Approval Screen

  • Added Vendor drop box for easy vendor selection.
  • Reworked auto selection functions for Delivery Date, Vendor, and Cost Center drop boxes.
  • Made the Approved button the default button for this screen. Hitting the Enter or Return key is the same as clicking the button with the mouse. This makes it possible to use the keyboard to enter the approval number desired and hit Enter to approve the order and move on to the next vendor or delivery date without taking your hands off the keyboard.

 Version 6.0.4

Purchasing Module - Approved Orders Screen

  • Added a column to flag ordered items as Commodities.

Purchasing Module - Receive Orders Screen

  • Reworked the writing of financial records to the FUNDamentals system.
    • Date written to system changed to order delivery date instead of the computer date.
    • Commodity items received now creates a journal entry for commodity revenue as a direct offset to commodity expense for those items flagged as commodity products.

General - Launch Pad Cost Center Drop Box Setting

  • Fixed a problem that may occur for districts with multiple warehouses or prep sites. When logging in at the district level, the drop box will now always default to the default warehouse.

 Version 6.0.3

Warehouse Module - Ship Ticket Printing Screen

  • Corrected an issue where Warehouse Orders may be duplicated on the printed Ship Ticket.

 Version 6.0.2

Warehouse Module - Issue Shipments Screen

  • Improved logic for this process. This screen is now driven by the Delivery Date drop box. Initially, all delivery dates and delivery sites are displayed. By selecting a delivery date from the drop box, the delivery sites having orders due for that date will be cycled automatically.
  • The Issue Shipment button has been made the default button for this screen. This means that after typing in the ship ticket approval code, all that needs to be done to issue the ship ticket displayed is clicking the Enter key. Your fingers never have to leave the keyboard! In other words, clicking Enter on this screen is the same as clicking the Issue Shipment button.
  • Improved screen load time.
  • Corrected runtime error on sorting and filtering functions.

***We have been discussing the idea of automatically generating the approval codes for ship tickets using a new user-defined identifier for each site and the delivery date. For example, Central Elementary School has an order against the warehouse for delivery on 9/20/2007. The program might suggest the following as an approval code for this order: Central-09/20/07. Tell us if you think this would be handy.

Warehouse Module - Ship Ticket Printing Screen

  • Clarification of Ship Ticket Viewing and Reprinting options. The viewing options at the top of this screen have been changed to more clearly define each viewing option:
    • View Open Shipments - These are approved ship tickets issued against warehouse inventory that have neither been printed nor depleted from the warehouse inventory.
    • View Printed Shipments (not sent) - These are approved ship tickets issued against warehouse inventory that have been printed but have not been depleted from the warehouse inventory.
    • View Printed Shipments (sent) - These are approved ship tickets issued against warehouse inventory that have been printed and depleted from the warehouse inventory.

Version 6.0.1

Order Conversion Screen (Purchasing - Convert Site Vendor Orders)

  • Corrected a run-time error that occurrs under the Access database environment.

Database Connections Wizard

  • Improved error descriptions and reduced setup requirements
  • Test Connection function added, now required before update is allowed
  • New database troubleshooting tools (password protected feature)
    • Table Viewer with right click filtering, sorting, and export functions
    • Database Query Tool allows support personnel to fix problems immediately or perform mass changes per customer request

Program Update Method

  • We have changed the way the SFSD Procurement and Inventory software updates are delivered. Users may now review available update details before deciding to update their program. Users may now update the software with a single button click.

 Version 5.0.13 and 5.0.12

Ship Ticket Printing and Vendor Order Reprinting

  • Version 5.0.13 addresses an issue where printed vendor orders may not be available for reprinting.
  • Version 5.0.12 addresses an issue with the Warehouse Module Ship Ticket Printing screen. A run-time error may occur under a SQL database environment when reprinting warehouse ship tickets.

 Version 5.0.11

SY 2007-2008 Internal Modifications

  • In the quest for faster loading screens, we made quite a few internal program changes that should result in faster and more reliable database responses, which results in more productivity. These changes were rolled out starting with version 5.0.6. Versions 5.0.7 through 5.0.10 were very minor changes released in rapid succession in response to customer needs and requirements.
  • Version 5.0.11 addresses a runtime error under the Access database environment. Customers may receive a runtime error when using the new 'Zero-Out Inventories by Month' option located under the Inventory Management/Inventory Utilities/Preferences menu.

 Version 5.0.5

New Screen to Zero Out School and Warehouse Inventories

  • We have added the ability to zero out school and warehouse inventories. This may be applied to any number of sites and item types for any date. This does not override any records for which monthly inventory counts have been entered.

New Track Inventory Option in Site Demographics Screens

  • Users may now select whether or not to track any cost center in the inventory application. If a site is not checked to Track Inventory, this site will not be loaded into the Cost Center drop box on the Launch Pad. This option will be used more extensively in future releases.

Faster Load Times

  • Database versioning has been implemented to improve the initial load time for the software. This will be apparent on successive logins following new updates.

Version 5.0.4

Runtime Error resolved in Purchasing Module

  • Current update addresses a run-time error when receiving orders with discrepancies. All customers are advised to update to this version.

Version 5.0.3

Financial Update to FUNDamentals Function Added

  • This function calculates the value of inventory for food and non-food by cost center and automatically imports this data into the FUNDamentals program. This function relies on accurate inventory counts for each month. These counts may be entered by cost center in the local SFSD Inventory software application or through the optional web based ordering system.

Version 5.0.2

Auto Adjustment to existing Inventory Log entries on Packaging Breakdown Change

  • The program now automatically adjusts the log units in or out when the packaging breakdown changes. Specifically, if the distribution quantity or size , or the local shelf quantity or size changes then the per unit price and log units are adjusted for existing records. While the practice of changing these values in the middle of a school year is not advised, it happens. This change should at least help to keep the books straight.

Faster Loading of the Warehouse Module - Ship Ticket Printing screen

  • The program now uses a preference for determining which drop box should drive the other selections. This results in much quicker loading of the screen. The preference is located under the Special Utilities/Preferences menu option. The new options are grouped in the Ship Ticket Printing section.
    • List Orders by Site - The Cost Center drop box drives the screen. By selecting a specific cost center, the Delivery Date drop box will only be loaded with valid delivery dates for the selected site, and the Ship Tickets drop box will only be loaded with valid Ship Ticket Numbers for the selected site. The grid will only contain approved orders for the selected site.
    • List Orders by Delivery Date - The Delivery Date drop box drives the screen. By selecting a specific delivery date, the Cost Center drop box will only be loaded with valid delivery sites with approved orders for the selected date, and the Ship Tickets drop box will only be loaded with valid Ship Ticket Numbers for the selected date. The grid will only contain approved orders for the selected date.

New Security Measures are in place

  • Visual Solutions, the developer of SFSD Procurement has been granted a security certificate from Thawte Security Authority. All downloaded and installed executable files for the SFSD Procurement software application will now have our security certificate embedded. This assures the end user that the files being downloaded and installed are genuine and do not pose a security risk.

Version 4.0.13

Better Handling of Vendor Discrepancies 

  • We have added the new discrepancy type of Overage so that orders where more is accepted than ordered will show up as an Overage instead of a negative shortage.
  • Vendor Discrepancies are now noted in the Order History report giving a more accurate total for invoices.
  • The Vendor Credits screen has been renamed to Vendor Discrepancies.
  • The Vendor Discrepancy Report printed from this screen has been reformatted for clarity.

Improved Inventory Log Reports

  • The Inventory Log Reports have been updated at last! The new reports are much more concise and have a new drill down feature that lets you find what you're looking for very quickly.