As of today, Exact Synergy Enterprise product update 247 is generally available. This marks the end of controlled release period which started in the end of August.

Based on customers’ feedback, we have focused on multiple developments in the following license roles: Exact Synergy user, Employee Self-Service, Incoming Invoice Register and users with CRM role (video). For the customers who make use of Exact Synergy Office Integration we have introduced calendar management that allows you to link your project, account and contact to your appointment you create in MS Outlook (video). Moreover, as of this product update quotations are now fully integrated with Exact Globe, so the item information can be retrieved from Exact Globe and you can now select a division to be linked to your quotation.

All Exact Synergy Enterprise users who work with the standard functionality can now switch to the new Exact Synergy design that includes new features, such as customizable dashboards and enhanced mega menus navigation. Furthermore, the Exact Synergy Enterprise PSA solution make it now possible to plan people against a deadline and register costs of approved hours and expenses in Exact Globe.

Exact Integration launched in August has now new features, such as supporting the batch update of items and restoring database. To follow earlier introduction of Central Master Data Management for accounts and items, as of this product update it is possible to centrally manage General Ledger accounts (video).

Based on a direct customer feedback, we have also implemented a number of small enhancements, among others:

• Directly set status of project during creation
• Set opportunity status from Won to Undecided
• Full name of users displayed in timestamp
• New criteria to search for opportunities 

A full overview of all new functionalities you can find in the release notes and some additional information on the Product Update News page. Please also refer to previous articles on the Product Blog.

We would like to thank all customers, partners and colleagues who contributed to this product update.

Should you have any questions regarding this announcement, please comment on this blog post.

It can be a challenge to control the access to and the costs of your Exact Synergy Enterprise environment, while each of your employees have different functional needs. To give you more flexibility, freedom and control over your Synergy Enterprise environment, the new role structure lets you assign specific roles to the users. In product update 247, which is currently in controlled release, we have made several changes to our software based on customers’ experience and feedback.

The main changes in this product update include:

• The monitor section in the personal resource card is now available for the Synergy User, so he can easily check his calendar, view personal documents such as payroll slips and access reports (release note)
• The user with the Employee Self-Service role can now access the HRM module, view the personal cards and requests of subordinates, and create and view vacancies for his cost center. This role is intended to facilitate the daily job of a people manager (release note) 
• Incoming Invoice Register Users are able to delegate and assign delegation to other users with only this role (release note)
• It is possible for users with the CRM role to view person-specific requests that are not defined in HRM settings (release note) 

Please watch the video below to see the improved license roles in action.

If you have any questions regarding the improvements in the license roles structure, do not hesitate to contact Sunil Girdhari (Product Manager) at sunil.girdhari@exact.com.

Usually the Finance and Administration department check and approve all incoming invoices manually. From product update 242 we have introduced the Incoming Invoice Register (IIR) module for Exact Synergy Enterprise. The IIR module allows you to easily structure and monitor the incoming invoice process. Each invoice is scanned and immediately linked to the appropriate register and responsible person(s). Authorization requests are generated automatically, appearing in the workflow of the person responsible for approving the invoice. The responsible person can approve or reject the invoice at any time, from any location.

In the coming product update (244), we extend the IIR functionality with a document previewer, which shows automatically a preview of the scanned invoice that is attached to the IIR request. The big advantage is that the resource does not need to click on the hyperlink to open the attached invoice. The document is already visible in the request and the resource can directly compare the content of the invoice with the financial transaction lines in the request.
This saves the user a lot of time.

If you have any questions regarding the IIR document previewer, please create a comment to this article below or let me know directly via vincent.henricks[at]exact.com.

Image credit for the header image: cybrgrl (from Flickr).

With the product update 242 of Exact Synergy Enterprise approaching general availability, here are top 5 highlights to whet your appetite.

Route incoming invoices from Exact Globe and follow up on them easily

Customers that use Exact Globe to register incoming invoices can now authorize or reject those invoices directly from Exact Synergy Enterprise.

Once an invoice is created in Globe, a request to approve it, complete with all payment details will arrive into the workflow of a designated employee with a sufficient purchasing limit. A scanned copy of the original invoice will be linked to the request as a regular Synergy Enterprise document.

Employees can use all flexibility of Synergy Enterprise workflow to process the incoming invoices  and resolve any arising questions.

Note, that this functionality was previously available for Exact Synergy only and is now also applied to Exact Synergy Enterprise.

View sales quotations from multiple Globe administrations directly from Synergy Enterprise

Existing Globe customers now get access from one location in Synergy Enterprise to key logistics reports per division. There are two important advantages that are delivered: The reports are available for multiple Globe administrations and the reports are delivered in real time.       

The following Globe reports become available:

• sales invoices;
• sales, service and purchase orders;
• item-balance lists;
• stock positions;
• quotations.

In addition to that, a user can enter hours into a Globe administration directly from Synergy Enterprise. With these reports available directly from Synergy Enterprise, many more users in the organization become updated with accurate back office information.

A colleague that you need to talk to becomes only one click away

Customers that already use Microsoft Office Communication Server can make collaboration between Synergy Enterprise users  easier and more spontaneous. Synergy Enterprise users immediately see which of their colleagues are now logged on, busy or available to talk.

One can start an instant chat, place a call or send an email just by clicking an Office Communicator presence icon next to a colleague’s name. The presence icon is an indication of the colleague’s availability and willingness to communicate and lets the others choose the time and the best means to contact him.

Integration with Office Communication Server allows a Synergy Enterprise user to contact the document editor directly from a document, a member of the project directly from a project card, an account manager directly from a card of a customer and a colleague that has a follow up action pending directly from the request.

Implement Synergy Enterprise faster and with less hassle

Consultants busy with Synergy Enterprise implementations can use a new tool to create best practice templates for typical customer cases.

Using the tool, a consultant can build start pages linked to documents and requests in one Synergy Enterprise environment and
save them into templates. He can import these templates into a customer’s Synergy Enterprise environment during the implementation and update the templates with new configuration data. Templates can also be shared with colleagues.

Additionally, the tool simplifies the job of internal IT staff that needs to migrate changes between separate development, test and production Synergy Enterprise environments.

The configuration tool is the foundation of Exact’s Business Made Easy offering.

Do less manual work when creating requests

To make the day-to-day work of a regular Synergy Enterprise user easier, two improvements have been added to requests:

It is now possible to attach files to a request without creating a document first. If a support desk employee wants to share a screenshot with a colleague, he only needs to create a task and attach an image directly to it.

Secondly, all fields are now duplicated when a copy of a request is created, including remarks and attachments. As a consequences, remarks in a sales cycle are accumulated and retained in each of the stages.

A typical Synergy Enterprise user usually creates a lot of requests. Now he save a few precious minutes every time he does it.

Photo credit: re-ality

This is the second article in a series on add-ons for Exact Globe. Add-ons are additional solutions that run on top of Exact Globe, in a fully integrated way. These add-ons are globally available for Exact customers, so not limited to 1 country or region.

The first one was Quality management, this article is about Incoming Invoice Register:

Ever paid an invoice incorrectly and then struggled to get your money back? With Exact you can proactively prevent incorrect invoices from being paid. No paper workflow is required. Instead, you have a digital, time-saving process that is structured, transparent and traceable. Now it is you who will decide whether and when to pay incoming invoices.

For more information, feel free to contact Marcia Vermeer at Exact Software. Click on the video for a brief explanation of the solution:

Photo credit: mknobil