What’s new in Zetadocs Expenses – February 2017 update

Custom fields

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

Changes in this update

Feature enhancements

Setting NAV Dimensions on export

The server will now set one or more NAV Dimensions on each exported expense using custom property values.  This is supported on systems using either the NAV connector or ODATA to integrate with NAV.

Previously setting NAV Dimensions was only supported with the NAV connector, and required custom integration code on each system.  Adding this as a standard option reduces the need for custom integration code, and increases the number of sites which can use the simpler ODATA integration option.

You enable this feature from the custom property settings screen, by entering the dimension number and name in the export code field in the following format:

dimensionnumber | dimensionname

For systems using the NAV connector, the custom property must be set as required to use this feature.  Support for blank values will be added in the next update.

This feature requires the Zetadocs Expenses Connector for NAV to be updated on systems which are using this integration method.

Purchase invoice adjustment lines

This update includes two enhancements for UK customers to minimize adjustment lines which are added to NAV purchase invoices to handle VAT rounding differences. 

Firstly any adjustments caused by cumulative rounding errors are now added as a single line at the end of the exported purchase invoice.  Previously these were added after each line (expense) if needed which could result in multiple lines being added.

Secondly the server now detects the version of the Connector for NAV which is installed, and uses this to enable the VAT adjustment improvements which were included in the January 2017 release.  This means the improvements will be enabled automatically after upgrading to the connector version in this release, and will only need to be enabled by Equisys for accounts using the January 2017 connector release (version 3.3.17011).

Show owner on view expense screen

The view expense screen now shows the owner for expenses created by another person.  This helps the finance processor when using search to view another user’s expense, or when viewing an expense attached to a Payment Card Report.

Changes to filters on main expenses list screen

The expenses list screen in the client app includes a set of filters to display expenses at different stages of the approval process.  This has been modified to simplify the display for users with company credit cards.

The Pending filter has been removed.  Instead the Draft filter now shows all expenses which have not yet been submitted for approval, including expenses which have been attached to a draft Expense Report.

Improved help display in mobile app

The mobile app now uses the default browser on the device (system browse) to display help, rather than displaying the help within the application.  This improves usability on Android devices by removing the need to press the back key to return to the app, and makes it easier to look at screens in the app while reading a help topic.

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.

Credit card transaction matching

This preview feature adds support for importing transactions from a credit card statement, matching expenses to these transactions, then exporting the matched transactions to NAV.  It helps finance teams reconcile and categorize the transactions, and reduces work needed to get supporting documentation from the cardholder.

For company credit cards which are configured to use Payment Card Reports, the finance manager can now specify whether payments on that card require approval by a manager.  This option is set independently for each payment card, enabling different policies to be applied for senior staff to match company policy.

• If the option is set to Expense Report, the expenses will need to be approved by a manager using an Expense Report in the same way as cash expenses.  The cardholder will still be able to add the expenses to a Payment Card Report to ensure the amounts are correct before approval, but will not be able to submit the Payment Card Report until the Expense Report has been approved.

   

• If the option is set to Payment Card Report, expenses will be approved by the finance processor only on approving the Payment Card Report, without requiring the cardholder to submit them to the manager first.  This option is better suited for senior staff or smaller companies.  Note that this option currently requires the finance processor to be assigned the approver role.

These options enable the finance manager to specify company policy which is then applied automatically by the system, rather than relying on the finance processor to manage this manually, and simplifies the approval process for the cardholder and finance processor.

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.

The feature currently supports NAV GB databases, for use by UK customers.

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

Mobile which have already been installed will be updated automatically.

Known issues

There are no key issues with this release.