What’s new in Zetadocs Expenses March 2022 update

Faster expense creation and Service-to-Service authentication

This article describes the new features and other improvements in the March 2022 update of the Zetadocs Expenses service.

Changes in this update

Feature enhancements

Automatic data entry from expense receipts

When you add a receipt to an expense, Zetadocs Expenses now analyzes the receipt to extract the vendor and expense amount, then sets these fields on the Expense form automatically.  This saves time for the submitter and reduces mistakes.

For countries such as the UK which can reclaim VAT (sales tax), Zetadocs Expenses will also extract the sales tax amount from the receipt and set this as reclaimable on the expense.

The analysis is done on the first receipt which is added, and ignores any fields which have already been set by the user.  It is supported on Plus Edition and Essentials Edition systems, and works with receipt photos and PDF files.

New Receipt button on dashboard

We have added a New Receipt button to the dashboard screen in the mobile app and desktop client.  This works with the new receipt OCR feature, making it quicker for a submitter to create a new expense from a receipt.

On the mobile app this button opens the camera to take a photo of the receipt then adds this to a new expense.  On the desktop app the button opens a file picker window to upload a receipt image file.

Azure Service-to-Service authentication with Business Central cloud systems

Service-to-Service authentication is a secure way to allow the Zetadocs Expenses service to connect to your Business Central cloud system.  It replaces the current web service access key mechanism which Microsoft have deprecated for cloud systems.

You can switch your system to Service-to-Service authentication simply by running the Zetadocs Expenses Assisted Setup in Business Central then using the Zetadocs Expenses admin site to change the authentication method on the Company Settings page.

Microsoft is removing support for web service access keys in Business Central cloud systems with Business Central 2022 release wave 1 (version 20).  This is due for release in early April, and existing Business Central cloud systems will be automatically upgraded to that release a few weeks after release. 

If you are using Zetadocs Expenses with a Business Central cloud system we recommend that you update the Zetadocs Expenses Extension and switch to Service-to-Service authentication before upgrading your Business Central system to Business Central 2022.

This feature is supported on Microsoft hosted Business Central systems, and requires the Extension for Business Central to be upgraded to the version included in this release.

Quality and performance improvements

This update includes a number of quality and performance improvements

Additional upgrade steps

Extension for Business Central

Customers using the extension with a Business Central public cloud system should update this from Microsoft AppSource.  Updates are typically published on AppSource within a few days of release for systems using the current version of Business Central.  Updates for older versions of Business Central may also be available, depending on the Microsoft support and update policy at the time of release.  You can check whether the update is available for your system by comparing the AppSource version number with the version number listed above.

Customers using the extension with a Business Central on-premises system can download the extension from the Equisys software updates page, as part of the Zetadocs Expenses Connector download package.

To upgrade from an older version of the extension please contact your Business Central reseller, or contact Equisys for further assistance if required.

This release is compatible with previous versions of the Extension for Business Central.

NAV Server Components

The NAV Server Components have not been updated in this release.

This release is compatible with previous versions of the NAV Server Components (versions 3.3.18178 and later).

Reporting Template

The PowerBI Reporting Template has not been updated in this release.

Mobile apps

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