What’s new in Zetadocs Expenses – May 2017 update

Business mileage

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

Changes in this update

Feature enhancements

Vehicle Reports

We have released the Vehicle Reports feature which was previously in preview.  This includes the following changes:

• A new Vehicle Types screen has been added to the system settings, replacing the previous Mileage Rates screen.  This enables you to configure additional settings for each vehicle type, including the vehicle category (company car or personal car), and the reimbursement method (mileage or fuel).

• We have added a new report type, called a Vehicle Report, for use with company cars.  This behaves like an Expense Report, but includes additional fields like the start and end mileage required by the finance team.  If the category for a vehicle type is set to Company Car, users submit mileage and fuel expenses using a Vehicle Report instead of an Expense Report.

This update contains several changes since the previous preview release, including:

• Two-person approval of each Vehicle Report (manager and finance processor)

• Vehicle Reports included on the client status screen

• New Vehicle Summary option when exporting reports to a CSV file from the status screen.  This is used to export personal mileage details and other header information from one or more Vehicle Reports

• Export reimbursable expenses from Vehicle Report to NAV on approval

• Simplification of Edit Vehicle Type system settings UI

Fuel expenses

We have released the Fuel Expenses feature which was previously in preview.  This adds a new expense type which is used to record fuel bought for a vehicle.  This is used when the fuel will be reimbursed by the company, or for cars where fuel is not reimbursed but the finance team require the fuel receipts for tax purposes. 

Fuel Expenses are identified by the expense type category.  To enable Fuel Expenses on an existing account, follow these steps:

• Edit the expense type used for recording fuel payments (or create a new expense type for this), and set the category to PAYMENT-FUEL

• To record non-reimbursable fuel payments for a vehicle, edit the vehicle type and select Use Fuel Expenses

• To reimburse fuel payments for a vehicle (rather than mileage), create a new vehicle type and set the reimbursement method to Reimburse Fuel.

Dual band mileage rates

We have added support for dual band mileage rates, where the mileage rate for business travel reduces once a given level is reached during the year.  The mileage rates, mileage boundary and year start are configurable, and you can also enter a starting mileage if you switch from an existing system part-way through the tax year.

Support for HTTPS NAV web services

The Zetadocs Expenses Connector now supports NAV web services using HTTPS or HTTP.  This means that it can be used with a NAV server which is configured to publish web services as HTTPS, without having to configure a second NAV server instance to give HTTP web service support.

To configure the connector to use HTTPS web services, just enter the full web service URL including the “https://” prefix.

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

Import HSBC and American Express (US) transaction files

The system will now import credit card transactions for HSBC and American Express (US) credit cards, using their standard CSV file format.  The card type is specified using the Edit Payment Card system settings screen.

Set sales tax fields in NAV North American databases

Zetadocs Expenses can now be configured to set the Tax Area Code and Tax Group Code fields in the NAV record when exporting to a NAV North American database.  The values depend on the Sales Tax Rate selected, and are configured on the Edit Sales Tax Rate settings screen.  If the values are not configured (left blank), the system will leave any default value set by NAV unchanged, matching previous behavior.

This helps with use on customized NAV systems which require the sales tax fields to be set for reporting or other purposes, removing the need to use the Zetadocs Expenses Connector with custom integration code to achieve this.

This feature is currently supported with NAV 2013 and later.

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

Improved UI for setting NAV export details

We have made further improvements to the entry of NAV-specific export settings, extending the changes which were included in the previous release.  On systems which are integrated with NAV, all configuration screens include the NAV terms for the export details, simplifying configuration and reducing the risk of configuration errors.

Hide disabled users in system settings list

We have added an option on all system settings pages to hide or show disabled items.  This simplifies administration on accounts which have been used for an extended period and systems with large numbers of users.

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 and simplifies the integration process for new implementations.

This feature is supported with NAV 2015 and later.

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.

NAV Jobs and Tasks

This preview feature adds the capability 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.

Quality and performance improvements

This update includes a number of 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

Set sales tax fields in NAV North American databases

Setting North American sales tax fields is not currently supported with NAV 2009 R2 systems.  Entering values in the export fields for a Sales Rate will cause the export process to fail.  Sites using NAV 2009 R2 with a NAV North American database must therefore ensure that the export fields for all sales rates are left blank.

Known issues with preview features

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 exported 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.