On behalf of the Product Management team, I am pleased to announce that Exact Globe product update 401 is in controlled release. This new product update is planned to be generally available at the end of May 2011.

 A large group of customers are already lined up to participate in the controlled release and start using it. On top of that all of Exacts partners/resellers are able to download the 401 product update as well.

With our users’ needs in mind, we have added in this product update new functionalities that are important to our customers’ operation and will facilitate their business. Among others, we have enhanced Exact Globe with the following features:

• Central Master Data Management for Items is in extended controlled release
• B2B E-commerce Portal that facilitates wholesale trade and manufacturing companies in their need for optimizing electronic ordering process in a Business-to-business  environment 
• Handling of bounced and refunded collections in cash flow management
• For the Dutch customers of Exact Globe we introduce Rabobank Online. This solution offers online integration and automatic exchange of local bank payment files, bank collection files and bank statements with the help of the Exact Online platform.
• To better support manufacturing companies several improvements in production order entry, BOM and logistics have been implemented

Moreover in this product update we have further extended and improved support legal as well as banking requirements.

Based on direct customer feedback, we continuously improve our products. In this product update you will find among others the following enhancements: 

• Multilingual unit description supported in logistics
• Ability to fulfill Sales orders in combination with underpaid pre-payment invoices
• Update purchase prices based on sales prices

Additionally, the Word merge functionality in Exact Globe is now fully supported with MS Word 2010 thanks to the Content Controls solution.

More about this product update soon!

Picture credits

I already posted a few articles on specific functionalities in the new design of Synergy. Every feature we are adding to the product is the result of creative development processes and research. In this blog post I would like to inform you about the development of the new Synergy design.

The foundation of the new design is the great diversity of possibilities that Synergy offers. The look and feel is only part of the overall development process. To really grasp design is to intuit what you as our customer want. We intend to offer the new design of Synergy Enterprise based on needs in your daily work and to help you to make your work easier and more comfortable. We collect information via workshops in which we zoom in on certain specific elements of our product. Obviously the responses we receive via the Exact product blog are also very valuable for our development process.

The next step after we have collected all the information is to create wireframes. Wireframes are simple, schematic representations of undeveloped pages. We usually test our ideas with end users during one-on-one interviews, when we also present these wireframes. This often results in an interactive session. It is possible that we repeat the process if it happens that the wireframes need to be drastically changed. In general we have a good and clear idea of how you are using our software and as a result we are often on the right track. And that is what makes our job so interesting every single day.

One of the processes we are using in the Project team is User–centered design (UCD). UCD is a process in which the needs, wants, and limitations of end users are given extensive attention at each stage of the design process.

In this process, we also take the suggestions and ideas – which we receive from you via the feedback button in the software – into account for further development. As you probably already noticed there is also a feedback button in the preview version of the new design in Product update 245. Your feedback is always welcome! Please do not hesitate to contact us through ux@exact.com or comment on this post.

On behalf of the Product Management team, I am pleased to inform you that as of January 6 Exact Globe product update 400 is generally available.

In this product update, next to the small enhancements based on feedback received from customers, we have focused on the year-end adjustments in the regional legislation and therefore we have included new functionalities that are crucial to your operations and will facilitate your business. Moreover, as of this product update Exact Globe supports SEPA direct debit schemes, so you can easily generate B2C and B2B national and cross-border euro direct debits in compliance with SEPA rules.

Additionally, we would like to inform you that the Central Master Data Management, which supports companies with multiple divisions in centrally maintaining information, is currently in the extended controlled release.

If you would like to find out more about above themes, check our Product Update News.

We look forward to receiving feedback or questions regarding this new product update.

On behalf of the Product Management team, I am pleased to announce that Exact Globe product update 400 is in controlled release. This new product update is planned to be generally available first week of January.

More than 30 customers are already lined up to participate in the controlled release and start using it. On top of that all of Exacts partners/resellers are able to download the 400 product update as well.

Taking into consideration the end year adjustments in your regional legislation, we have added in this product update new functionalities that are crucial to your operation and will facilitate your business. We have added among others the following features:

• Generating XML files to support online VAT returns according to the HMRC requirements (British legislation)
• XBRL functionality that facilitates electronic communication of business and financial data for German taxonomy
• Supplying an electronic signature for sales documents (applicable for the Portuguese legislation)

Thanks to the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) initiative customers can make euro payments to anyone located in the euro area using a single bank account and a single set of payment instruments. As of this product update Exact Globe supports the national and cross-border euro direct debits throughout the SEPA area. As a result you are able to generate B2C and B2B national and cross-border euro direct debits in compliance with SEPA rules for banks in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Austria.   

Based on your feedback and suggestions, we continuously improve our products. In this product update you will find among others the following expansions:

• Log reports to keep track of information changed by a user for better realization of the existing security infrastructure
• Adjusting invoice screen for an easier selection of multiple invoices to print or process

 More about this product update soon!

 Picture credits

Ever been in the situation where you wanted to create a task or something else in Synergy Enterprise which requires, for example, a mandatory account. You just viewed this account, document, project or person and want to setup a meeting with them but when you enter the meeting request can’t seem to find it? Who created it? Who is the manager? What was it exactly called again? The Synergy Enterprise search dialogs don’t have the same possibilities as, for example, the document, project or account search function. And there you go, opening a new window in your browser to start a new session in Synergy to get to the account search function and find that required account, copy the account id number, paste it again in the first browser window in the mandatory account field. Boy, that can be pretty time consuming, especially when in a hurry it looks like it takes ages, lets submit it, What? Why did they made the project mandatory to…..  

Exact Synergy Enterprise 244 find in demo

To address this limitation we upgraded the search dialogs with a ‘find in’ option in Exact Synergy Enterprise release 244. This option allows us to quickly filter on “Recently viewed”, “My” and “All” Documents, Accounts, Projects and Persons (resources). Making everybody’s life easier, hopefully you enjoy it to!  

This topic and demo covers the search for existing document, Accounts, Projects and Persons, wondering how you can easily work with new documents in these cases? See ‘Nothing Gonna Break My Stride’  

Feedback is highly appreciated.

As described in my previous post Feedback on enabling OCS Presence within Synergy Enterprise, we are currently working on enabling presence with OCS within Exact Synergy Enterprise.

OCS (Office Communications Server) is a Unified Communications (UC) platform and helps you to make intelligent decision about how and whom to contact. Exact Synergy Enterprise is the central work environment within an organization, and enabling presence strengthens this position.

Enabling OCS presence within Exact Synergy Enterprise, can limit delays in your day to day work. Because you can easily see who is available and how you can reach him. Communication becomes much faster and will enhance collaboration.

To give you an impression on what it will look like, we offer you this preview. This preview briefly shows you what we want to offer our customers. This functionality is expected to be available Q4 2009.

Photo credit: Mugley

As of today, product update 394 of Exact Globe and Exact Synergy is in controlled release. That means this release is now available for resellers as well as all controlled release customers that participate in the controlled release of product update 394.

This product update is the 3rd already in 2009, see also our recent post on the release planning, and  offers lots of new functionality. First of all, there is the introduction of a new module: E-Charges & discounts.This new Exact Globe module offers functionality to automatically add discounts or charges; a certain fee on top of the normal sales price to cover order costs, legal obligations like environmental taxes or fees for certain transportation packaging (like pallets, wrap paper, plastic etc).

Product update 394 also offers enhancements to Exact Globe in the field of blanket sales orders, as well as an interface with  Dun & Bradstreet to retrieve D&B’s address data or risk profiles. Moreover, a new connectivity layer between Exact Globe and Pervasive Data Integrator (PDI), marks the first step for Exact Globe towards increased connectivity via PDI as well as a first step in creating a successor for the current integrated scenario of Exact Globe and Exact Synergy.

To further strengthen the offering of Exact Globe’s for the American market, several new functionalities have been introduced like a new module E-Shipping Manifest/Starship, Support for Credit card processing and enhanced EDI integration.

For an overview of all other big and small enhancements of product update 394, please have a look at the release notes.

For both Exact Globe and Exact Synergy, all timely reported high and urgent bug reports as well as a number of medium bug reports is fixed.

For more information, please leave a comment or contact Ronald Voets