What’s new in Zetadocs Expenses – April 2017 update

Credit card refunds

This article describes the new features and other improvements in the April 2017 release of the Zetadocs Expenses service.

Changes in this update

Feature enhancements

Refund expenses

We have added support for refund expenses.  These are created automatically when a company credit card statement includes a refund, but can also be created by a user manually if required – eg if a user is reimbursed for an item which they subsequently return.

A Refund Expense behaves like a Payment Expense with a negative value, and needs to be approved along with other types of expenses using an Expense Report or Payment Card Report as normal.  To create a Refund Expense, you display the Expense main screen in the app then tap on the “three dots” action menu.

Short ID for users

We have added an option to set a short ID for each user.  This is included in the description when exporting using OData integration (preview feature), and is also included in exported CSV files.

The short ID is intended for finance teams in larger companies who wish to identify users with a payroll number or other identifier rather than using their full name.

Simplified installation of Connector for NAV

We have simplified the process for installing the Expenses Connector for NAV, removing the requirement to install the Zetadocs Capture software in NAV before installing the connector codeunits.

This does not affect product pricing, and all customers are still required to purchase Zetadocs Capture as part of the overall solution.  However, removing the requirement to install that reduces installation time and complexity for a site which does not require Zetadocs Capture functionality, and enables use by companies using older versions of Zetadocs Capture.

Reduce need for mobile app upgrade

The mobile app now checks which preview features are enabled when determining whether it must be upgraded to a newer version.  This removes the need to force all users to upgrade when an update includes a preview feature which is not compatible with older client versions. 

This means that, for most users, app upgrades will happen automatically without the user being required to upgrade manually.

Preview features

The following enhancements are enabled on selected accounts only.  This allows channel partners and other users to understand the feature and to give feedback on its use before general release.  Please contact Equisys if you wish to use any of these preview features.

NAV OData integration

This preview feature adds an option to export to NAV using standard OData integration instead of using the Zetadocs Expenses Connector for NAV and NAV codeunits.  This reduces the need to update the NAV system to make new features or other improvements available, improves support for multi-tenant hosted NAV systems, and simplifies the integration process for new implementations.  This currently supports NAV 2015 and later.

In this update we have added support for NAV North American (NA) databases.

Vehicle Reports

This preview feature adds a new report type, called a Vehicle Report.  This enables a company car user to send details about their car usage to the finance team, typically monthly.  The Vehicle Report includes details of the total mileage and business mileage, so that the finance team can use this in their existing processes – eg to recharge the user for personal use or to reclaim VAT on mileage allowances.

In this update we have added support for non-reimbursable fuel or mileage expenses.

• Non-reimbursable fuel expenses are used by UK company car users who are reimbursed for business mileage using a fixed mileage rate.  They give the finance processor details of the VAT (sales tax) paid by the user so the company can reclaim VAT on the mileage payment.
• Non-reimbursable mileage expenses are used by company car users when the company pays for business fuel, or where the company pays for all fuel but the taxable benefit depends on the proportion of business mileage.  They give the finance processor details of the business mileage during the report period.

We have also added approval of the vehicle report by the finance processor, including approval of any non-reimbursable expenses.

Exporting as NAV journals

This preview feature adds an option to export transactions on a company credit card as NAV journal lines, rather than a NAV purchase invoice.

Credit card expenses can now be exported to two new NAV account types – G/L and Bank – for companies who wish to use control accounts rather than vendor accounts for  card transactions.  This is supported with OData and the Zetadocs Expenses Connector for NAV, and is configured independently for each payment card.

We have also extended support for creating journals to include NAV 2009 R2.

This feature requires the Zetadocs Expenses Connector for NAV to be upgraded on sites which are using this integration method with NAV.

NAV Jobs and Tasks

We have added a new preview feature to set NAV job fields when exporting expenses to NAV.  This enables companies to track expenditure on a project basis and recharge to their customers simply if required using standard NAV functionality.

The feature uses custom fields to specify the job, job task, and job line type on each expenses.  You configure three custom fields with the values for job, job task and job line to match the values you would enter in NAV.  The name of the custom fields and display names for the job line options can be chosen to match your existing expense process to help user migration.

The job task is only set if a job is specified, and the job line is only set if the job and job task are both specified.  If your company uses a single setting for the job task or job line value for staff expenses, then this behavior means you can specify these as default values without showing the custom field to your users, simplifying expense entry.

In this initial release the job and task lists are independent. The feature is therefore most suitable for companies which use a standard list of tasks for expenses on all jobs.

This feature requires the Zetadocs Expenses Connector for NAV to be upgraded on sites which are using this integration method with NAV.

Quality and performance improvements

This update includes various quality and performance improvements.

Additional upgrade steps

Zetadocs Expenses Connector for NAV

This release is compatible with older versions of the Zetadocs Expenses Connector and NAV codeunits.

Some features in this release require the Zetadocs Expenses Connector and NAV codeunits to be upgraded.  This is noted against each feature above.  Please contact Equisys for further information.

Mobile apps

Installed mobile apps will be updated automatically on mobile devices where this is enabled.

Known issues with released features

Entering export code

Export codes and the Export Type setting are configured using the admin site.  They are used to specify details about where to store exported items in NAV - eg the NAV vendor number corresponding to each user.

With this release, if your system is integrated with NAV then you must enable ERP integration on the Export Settings screen before you enter export codes.  This ensures that the Export Type is set to the correct value for NAV (eg NAV Vendor Number).  Otherwise the Export Type will be shown as Custom, and the export code may be ignored.

If the Export Type for an item you have created is shown as Custom, you can change this to a NAV value by enabling ERP integration and then selecting they correct type from the dropdown list.

This behaviour will be improved in the next release.

Known issues with preview features

NAV OData integration preview

This feature is currently supported with NAV 2015 and later only.  Customers using earlier versions of NAV must use the Zetadocs Expenses Connector for NAV to integrate with their NAV system.

Exporting NAV journal lines with OData integration

When exporting as journals using OData integration, the journal batch and journal template configuration settings in the Expenses admin site are ignored.  Instead the NAV default batch and template are used.

Setting jobs and tasks on export expenses is not supported when exporting to NAV journals using OData integration.  Any job settings on exported expenses will be ignored if using this combination.