New Features in axis diplomat 2018

Listed below are a number of the key enhancements that have been added in axis diplomat 2018, including those released under Software Assurance to subscribers with axis diplomat 2016

Showing 205 enhancements covering:

• Kernel (Core) Software
• Nominal Ledger & General Accounts
• Sales Ledger, CRM & Sales Order Processing
• Purchase Ledger & Purchase Order Processing
• Stock Ledger, Bill of Materials & MRP
• Warehouse Management
• Office Products
• eBusiness
• Hire Management
• Service Contract Management
• axis payroll

Kernel (Core) Software

Import from Excel

Available to all customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 01/10/2018

A number of the import functions within axis diplomat have been extended to support import from native Microsoft Excel ™.xlsx files as an alternative to comma-separated (CSV) text files.

Importing from Excel-format files is not only more convenient, as it eliminates the need to save the file as a CSV file first, but also helps avoid some of the issues caused when Excel applies its own formatting rules to data when saving as a CSV text file.

The functions that now support direct import from native .xlsx files include:

• Date & Time Specific Pricing
• Supplier Price Lists
• Nominal Budgets
• Custom Data
• Sales Order Items
• Purchase Delivery Advice (for those with the Purchase Delivery Advice module)
• Assembly Details (for those with the Bill of Materials module)
• Customer Assets & Customer Asset Warranty Packs (for those with the Customer Assets module)

It is planned that, during the life of axis diplomat 2018, further imports will be up-rated to add support for imports from Excel so this list is subject to change.

Add Custom Monitors to Favourites

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above

Release Date: 12/03/2018

The ability to create custom monitors is a powerful feature of axis diplomat, providing you with your own unique view of the data that is important to you. We have now enhanced axis diplomat to allow you to add individual custom monitors directly to your Favourites, giving you instant access to the monitor. Simply right-click on any monitor in the "My Monitors" list and select "Add to Favourites".

In this example, we have created a custom monitor called "Books", which lists all of the book-related stock items, any outstanding sales orders that include books and any outstanding quotes for books. By adding the "Books" monitor to our Favourites, we now have direct access to that information.

A further benefit is that those users who are configured to see Favourites only may now have custom monitors added for their use.

Improved Usability of Monitors

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 27/12/2019

A significant improvement to the usability of monitors has been released. The periodic refresh of the list of items is now done in the background, meaning that it is still possible to interact with the items shown during the process. The only indication that the monitor is refreshing is a change to the status shown below the tab title and, in general, the user will be unaware that this is happening.

The ability to continue using the monitor whilst it is refreshing will be particularly useful when using monitors that are listing a large amount of data or for those using monitors across a network, where reloading the data can take noticeably longer than when running in a 'thin client' environment.

When not refreshing, the status line indicates the time that the last refresh occurred, giving an indication of how fresh the data shown is.

Monitor Tab Notes

Available to all customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 01/10/2018

You can now add your own notes and descriptions to individual tabs within monitors.

This can be useful as a reminder of the information that the tab is showing. When F1 Prompt Help! is enabled, the description also appears as a tooltip when hovering over the monitor tab.

Text Entry in Monitor Filters

Available to all customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 01/10/2018

When amending Monitor filters, for items that typically include long lists of items to choose from (such as Nominal Accounts, Calls and Campaigns), you can now enter the code of the item that you wish to add to the filter list directly.

If you know the codes of the items that you wish to filter by, this can be much quicker and easier than locating them in a long list.

Audit Trails for Amending Company Parameters

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 27/03/2020

Audit Trail events are now created every time someone makes a change to axis diplomat's configuration via any of the "Amend Company Parameters" functions on the Supervisor Functions menu.

Each of the Maintain Parameters functions now includes an additional tab to show the Audit Trail and events can also be found using the Audit Trail Search function.

Date Filtering in Scrolling Data Lists

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above

Release Date: 11/09/2017

Setting filters on Scrolling Data Lists is now aware of when a column contains dates and sorts the list of dates into chronological order instead of alphabetical order.

Previously. all column filter lists were treated as text and sorted accordingly - meaning that the list above would have started with 09/11/2016 and ended with 14/12/2016.

Date Selection Filters

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above

Release Date: 28/03/2017

The list of data selections available when filtering a monitor tab by date has been extended from Single Date and Date Range to include a host of pre-defined selections, including last week, last month, this year and last year.

ODBC Interface now supports SFTP

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 06/05/2020

The ability to have User SQL Scripts that create custom tables that are automatically uploaded as CSV files to an FTP server has been extended to support SFTP.

SFTP is a secure file transfer protocol that uses SSH encryption to ensure that data is protected in transit. In this respect, this is similar to using https instead of http to access a website.

An additional tick box in the User SQL Script's Properties dialog specifies that the connection should use SFTP instead of FTP.

Please note that the server that you are uploading to must also support SFTP connections.

Filters for Current User and Current Group

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above

Release Date: 13/10/2016

On monitor tabs that allow filtering by axis diplomat user and/or group (such as CRM Calls and User Activity), it is now possible to specify "Current User" and "Current Group" as selections. When monitors are shared, these filters will then use the ID or Group of the user viewing the monitor at the time.

This enhancement makes it easier to create shared monitors with, for example, a "My Calls" tab. Previously you would have needed to create separate tabs for each user (or each user would have needed their own custom monitor).

Configurable Email Subject by Variant

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above

Release Date: 27/02/2017

For those using document variants, such as on systems with the Trading Identities module, it is now possible to configure different email subjects for each variant.

Audit Trail Search

Available to all customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 01/10/2018

A new function has been added to allow you to search the Audit Trail database. You can search between selected dates, for specific types of update (for example, all changes to customer accounts) and/or filter to updates by a specific user.

As well as being of benefit in general administration, the function can also be useful for GDPR or ISO27001 compliance, in determining who has updated what parts of the system, and when.

Nominal Ledger & General Accounts

Postponed VAT

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 08/07/2021

In the past, in order to record Postponed Import VAT in axis diplomat, you woud have needed to enter both an adjustment to Input VAT and an adjustment to Output VAT.

This new function now allows you to create the necessary adjustments using a single function.

To use, you simply provide the VAT Registration (if multiple VAT Registrations are active), Output Adjustment Type, Input Adjustment Type, Adjustment Value Type (defaults to increase), Date, Reference, VAT Code/Rate and VAT Amount.

Nominal Account Details added to Sales Invoice Enquiry

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above

Release Date: 02/01/2019

The Document Lines tab of Sales Invoice Enquiry has been extended to include details of the Nominal Account (columns include account number, short name and description) for each item.

Custom Nominal Account Data

Available to all customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 01/10/2018

You can now define any number of additional data fields that you wish against your Nominal Accounts. These fields may be used to store whatever additional information that you need and may be of a variety of data types, including simple text fields, longer notes, boolean (yes/no), numeric, dates or URLs (web addresses).

As with Custom Data in other areas of the system (such as Customers, Suppliers and Stock), you can assign groups of data fields to "Schemas" and assign a specific Schema to different Nominal Accounts.

For example, if you maintain a separate Nominal Liability Account for each vehicle in your fleet, then you may choose to create a Schema specifically to hold additional vehicle-related information so that it is always at hand when looking at those Nominal Accounts.

Period End Audit Trail

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 20/04/2020

A new Audit Trail tab has been added to the Period End Status Enquiry function.

This shows the date, time and User ID for each period end, for each ledger, that has been run on the system.

Standing Order Accruals and Prepayments

Available to all customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 01/10/2018

New functions have been added to allow you to configure accruals and prepayments that are scheduled over a number of months. You specify the frequency (normally Monthly) and a total number of releases; the appropriate journals are then made for you at each release.

This greatly reduces the time spent each month in managing your accruals and prepayments since, once configured, everything is taken care of by the Release Standing Orders function at the same time that it is creating other recurring transactions (such as bank account payments and simple journals).

Add Notes to Nominal Accounts, Departments & Cost Centres

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 28/12/2018

It is now possible to add Notes to Nominal Accounts, Departments and Cost Centres. This is ideal for recording useful information on what particular codes are to be used for.

Bank Transfer Function

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above

Release Date: 09/07/2018

A new function, Bank Transfer, has been added to allow simple recording of movements between bank accounts.

This new function makes it much easier and quicker to record transfers between your bank accounts, eliminating the need to use traditional journal booking functions.

For more information:

https://www.axisfirst.co.uk/documentation/Bank-Transfer/article/114697

Nominal Goods Received Not Invoiced (GRNI) Monitor

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018 and the Integrated Stock Ledger module

Release Date: 01/05/2020

A new monitor tab has been made available for those using the Integrated Stock Ledger called "Nominal GRNI".

This tab is designed to assist with the calculations for a Nominal Ledger accrual for Goods Received Not Invoiced. It reports the value of differences between the quantities of a stock item received from a supplier and the quantity invoiced as at a period end.

The difference between the Purchase GRNI monitor and the Nominal GNRI monitor is that the Purchase GRNI analyses the balance of the quantities only, whereas the Nominal GRNI analyses the transaction values.

A variety of filter options exist, allowing the creation of a custom monitor with a number of separate tabs, such as one showing under-invoiced receipts and one showing those that been over-invoiced.

New Cash Account Enquiry Function

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above

Release Date: 27/09/2017

The previous Cash Account Enquiry has been replaced with a new interactive enquiry, providing access to all of the information relating to the Cash Account across a number of tabs. This includes access to Attachments, Graphs and the ability to drill-down into transactions. As with other similar functions within the system, it also provides the ability to export transaction data to a CSV text file or to a Microsoft Excel™ spreadsheet.

For those who still want to produce the report-style enquiry offered by the previous function, this is provided via the Print Preview button.

VAT Groups

Available to all customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 01/10/2018

With the release of axis diplomat 2018, VAT Groups have been made standard; these were previously only available to those with Multiple VAT Registrations.

VAT Groups are used to control the VAT rates applied to individual stock items instead of taking the VAT rate from the Sales Group.

Not only does this make it easier to manage the varying VAT rates associated with different products and services but also allows you greater freedom in how you use Sales Groups since they can now be used purely for sales analysis purposes. For example, you can now have a single Sales Group for "Clothing", which can encompass both Adult and Children's clothing, despite the fact that their VAT rates differ.

A stock item's VAT Group is configured within Maintain Stock Details but is also supported by Stock Record Block Amendment and Import Stock Details.

For those with the Service Contract Management module, a second VAT Group is recorded against the stock item for use when a contract includes that item.

Domestic Reverse Charge VAT on Purchases

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above

Release Date: 30/05/2017

For those axis diplomat users who purchase goods or services that fall under the rules of Domestic Reverse Charge VAT (including, for example, mobile phones, subject to certain de minimis limits), Purchase Order Invoice Booking has now been extended to support this.

When booking a supplier's invoice via Purchase Order Invoice Booking, you now have the option to specify (for Standard UK suppliers) VAT treatment as "Domestic Reverse Charge".

In these cases, the VAT is not added to the invoice value but is recorded; axis diplomat then reports the VAT amount as both Output Tax and Input Tax. The goods value is reported in Total Inputs but not Total Outputs.

For more information:

https://www.axisfirst.co.uk/documentation/VAT/articles/14038

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vat-notice-735-vat-reverse-charge-on-specified-goods-and-services/vat-notice-735-vat-reverse-charge-on-specified-goods-and-services

Multi-User Previous Period Adjustments

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above

Release Date: 24/03/2017

The Nominal Ledger function "Previous Period Adjustments" has been reworked to allow operation in multi-user mode.

The function allows adjustment journals to be entered for any completed accounting period within the current year or either of the two preceding years.

The function has also been extended to allow adjustments to be posted to previously unused years. This is particularly useful when correcting errors brought forward from legacy accounting systems when implementing a new axis diplomat system.

Improved Performance when Posting Transactions

Available to all customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 01/10/2018

A new Nominal Ledger parameter has been added to suppress real time posting of Nominal Ledger transactions. This has a significant impact on the general performance of the system, particularly when filing sales and purchase transactions.

This improvement is particularly noticeable when running with "split periods", when the Sales Ledger (and possibly Purchase Ledger) periods have been closed but the previous Nominal Ledger period remains open. For many businesses, this may account for as much as half of every month.

Automatically Update Revised Budget during Period End

Available to all customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 01/10/2018

The Nominal Period End now offers the option to update your Revised Budget with actual figures. This updates the figures for all completed periods in the current year and so includes any previous period adjustments that may have been made since the previous period end.

This removes the need to manually run the Update Revised Budget with Actual function.

A new function, Clear Revised Budget, has also been added which allows you to clear out the revised budget figures at the start of the year.

Sales Ledger, CRM & Sales Order Processing

Transaction Reference for Sales Document Manual Payments

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 04/12/2020

When entering a manual payment against a Sales Order, it is now possible to provide your own payment reference, which may be of assistance when reconciling bank accounts:

Manual Credit Hold status added to Customer Receipts

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 02/10/2020

The Customer Receipts function has been modified to show a Credit status of "On Manual Credit Hold" for those accounts that are on hold.

This will help alert the operator to the fact that, having received a payment from the customer, their credit status may need to be reviewed.

Restrict Delivery Methods by Delivery Address Type

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above and the Delivery Methods & Charges module

Release Date: 13/06/2019

Certain Delivery Service Providers (carriers) will only deliver to business addresses or, conversely, only to residential addresses. For these situations, you are now able to restrict specific delivery methods by address type:

Option to Suppress Order Emails

Available to all customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 15/02/2019

If a customer does not wish to receive any order emails from axis diplomat, such as order acknowledgements and despatch notifications, a new parameter on customer accounts allows these to be suppressed.

Configurable Advice/Packing Note Sequence

Available to all customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 04/02/2019

A new system parameter allows you to control the sequence of items listed on an Advice/Packing Note. This allows Advice/Packing Notes to be printed with the items listed in the sequence that they were entered onto the order, in Stock Reference order or in Bin Reference order. The Bin Reference sequence is particularly useful for those using the Advice/Packing Note for paper-based picking in a warehouse.

When printing a single Advice/Packing Note, such as on filing as Sales Order or from a right-click option in a Sales Order Monitor, the system will automatically use this sequence. When printing via the dedicated Print Advice/Packing Notes function, the system will default to the System Parameter's current setting but this can be changed if required:

Automatically Lock Calls when adding Attachments

Available to all customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 30/01/2019

Many users choose to open CRM and SRM Calls in an unlocked state by default and only lock them as and when they wish to make an update. In such situations, adding events or links to a call will automatically lock the call first.

The system has now been extended to also attempt to lock the call when dragging a file onto the Attachments tab of an unlocked call.

Delivery Number column added to Transaction History

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above and the Despatch & Delivery Management module

Release Date: 28/01/2019

The Customer Enquiry function's Transaction History tab has been extended to include an additional column for the Delivery Number.

This reference will be present when the invoice appearing on the Transaction History tab relates to a single delivery (the column will be blank for consolidated invoices).

Colour Coding added to Customers Function

Available to all customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 18/01/2019

The Customers function has been enhanced to use colour coding within the search results to identify the account type.

Normal accounts are shown in black whilst prospects are listed in orange and closed accounts in grey.

Copy to Clipboard icon added to Events dialog

Available to all customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 16/01/2019

An additional icon has been added to the Event dialog within CRM to copy the whole of the event text to the clipboard.

This makes it quicker and easier to copy text from an event into, for example, an email than the alternative of highlighting all of the text manually and then using the right-click Copy option.

Supplier Stock added to Sales Order Item monitor tabs

Available to all customers with axis diplomat 2018 and the Supplier Price Feed Foundation module

Release Date: 16/01/2019

An additional column has been made available within Sales Order Items monitor tabs to show the Total Supplier Stock On Hand. This uses the same logic as is applied to the figure shown within Sales Order Maintenance (ignoring supplier's stock figures that have not been recently updated).

Custom Customer Data

Available to all customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 01/10/2018

You can now define any number of additional data fields that you wish against your customer accounts. These fields may be used to store whatever additional information that you need and may be of a variety of data types, including simple text fields, longer notes, boolean (yes/no), numeric, dates or URLs (web addresses).

For example, if you grant an additional discount to customers who are members of a trade association, you may wish to record the fact, along with their membership number and the date when that membership is due for renewal.

Reschedule Sales Order Line

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 08/09/2020

It is now possible to change the due date on an individual sales order line via a right-click option within any of the following functions:

• Sales Order Line monitor tabs
• Customer Enquiry's Outstanding Order Items tab
• Stock Enquiry's Transactions tab

Agent's Commission Module now standard

Available to all customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 01/10/2018

The Agent's Commission module, which was previously an optional addition, is now standard on all axis diplomat 2018 systems.

This module calculates and reports commission payments to agents or sales reps based on sales by order source.

Each order source code can hold up to 5 commission rates depending on the profit margin.

Specific stock items can be excluded from commission calculation (typical examples include delivery or handling charges).

Specific customers may also be excluded from commission calculation.

Back-to-Back Ordering now standard

Available to all customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 01/10/2018

This module, previously available as an extra-cost option, is now provided as standard.

It enables purchase orders to be created as items are added to a sales order, with the option of delivery direct to the customer.

Sales Order document templates may include a column showing the linked purchase order number and as goods are received into stock, the operator is notified that there is a linked sales order waiting for the stock.

For those using Despatch Quantity Recording, the process to allocate stock is aware of the receipts for back-to-back orders and will ensure that stock is assigned to the correct sales orders.

As individual items are added to the order, simply tick the "Order this item" box; you can also choose the delivery address - either direct to the customer, to your own address (typically for consolidation with items that you are supplying from stock) or to another location

Upon filing the order, the system identifies the preferred supplier for each back-to-back item (based on the supplier price list) and you may choose to change suppliers at this stage; purchase orders are then created

Customer Receipts and Allocations

Available to all customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 01/10/2018

It is now possible to allocate credits (such as unallocated receipts and credit notes) on a customer account from the Statement tab of Customer Enquiry. The Enter Payment function has been extended to allow the allocation of existing credits without needing to enter a new payment at the same time.

Order Item Import by GTIN-13 (EAN-13) Reference

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 07/05/2019

The Order Item Import feature when entering a sales order allows you to import a file (comma, tab or pipe separated) containing items and quantities. This is often used when customers supply a spreadsheet of the items that they wish to order.

This has now been extended to allow files to be imported that specify the items to be ordered by quoting their GTIN-13 (EAN-13) reference rather than your own stock reference or alternative stock reference.

Import Customer Remittance Advice from Spreadsheet

Available to all customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 01/10/2018

It is now possible to import a Customer's Remittance Advice from a spreadsheet. This is particularly useful where customers have a large number of invoices, such as when you are drop-shipping individual orders direct to their customers, as it both saves time and reduces human error in allocating payments to the correct invoices.

The Customer Receipt dialog now features an Import Receipts button

The function allows you to import a Remittance Advice from a CSV text file or from a native Microsoft Excel .xlsx file. The file can be in any format provided that it contains a column for the payment amount and, to allow automated allocation, a column for the Invoice Number. Once you have mapped the columns in the supplied file to the fields required by axis diplomat, you can save that mapping for future use. This is ideal in situations where regular customers supply their Remittance Advices in the same format every month, as it means that the mapping process only needs to be done once for a particular customer.

Transfer Customer Payments

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above

Release Date: 11/07/2018

axis diplomat now has the ability to easily transfer unallocated cash payments from one customer account to another. The function can be accessed via a simple right-click option on the specific cash transaction within Customer Enquiry (when in Edit mode) and then specifying the destination customer account.

This is ideal for correcting operator errors where cash has been allocated to the wrong account, perhaps because the customer names are very similar or the cash was received with no remittance advice and the user assumed the wrong account.

Improved handling of Settlement Discount

Available to all customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 01/10/2018

The Customer Receipts function within the Cash Book and the Enter Payment function (from the Statement tab in Customer Enquiry) have been modified to assist with the recording of settlement discount allowed when customers pay invoices in full (less the settlement discount) within the settlement terms.

In addition, the system will now also create the required credit notes to enable the VAT portion of the settlement discount to be reclaimed when payment is made within the settlement terms.

Improved Maintenance of Customer Price Lists

Available to all customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 01/10/2018

It is now possible to add, amend and delete Customer Price List entries from within both Maintain Customer Details and Maintain Stock Details. This simplifies the maintenance of customer-specific pricing, regardless of whether you want to update pricing for a number of stock items for a single customer or pricing for a number of customers for a single stock item.

As a result, the function "Maintain Customer Price Lists" is no longer required.

Default Special Instructions by Delivery Address

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 18/03/2019

It is now possible to define separate Default Special Instructions for each additional Delivery Address held against a Customer Account.

These Special Instructions are then used when entering a Sales Order for that Delivery Address but they may then be subsequently amended for that specific Sales Order.

Customer Price List Updates

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above

Release Date: 18/10/2016

It is now possible to create new customer price list entries for items being added to Sales Orders. Previously, it was only possible to update existing entries.

System parameters exist to enable or disable this functionality and to set the default value. These can be found on the Prompt Suppression and Prompt Defaults tabs of the Maintain SOP Parameters function respectively.

Urgent Quotation Notes

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 01/08/2019

It is now possible to flag Document Notes on Quotations as Urgent.

As with other items that support Urgent Notes, opening a quotation that has Document Notes marked as Urgent will automatically display the notes to the operator.

Collection Notes

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above

Release Date: 18/09/2017

The Customer Returns module, introduced with axis diplomat 2016, now allows the production of a Collection Note.

This Document Designer-based document will be particularly useful to those using their own vans to collect items from customers. As well as documenting the items to be collected, the Collection Note can also be designed to incorporate a signature box to be left with the customer as a receipt for the collected goods.

It is also possible to print Collection Notes from within a Customer Returns monitor:

Allow Deletion of Customer Contacts

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 02/01/2020

It is now possible to permanently delete unused Customer Account Contacts rather than mark them as left.

This is ideal for situations where contacts have been added in error - for example, after adding a contact for "Jim Brown" before realising that this is the same person as the existing "James Brown" contact.

You will be able to delete contacts only if the contact:

• Has not been used as the document, "invoice to" or "deliver to" contact on a sales order, quotation or service contract.
• Is not the call contact for any outstanding or completed CRM call.
• Is not a member of a Campaign.
• Is not the owner or user of a Customer Asset.

The ability to delete contacts is controlled by Security Permissions and so can be removed on a user, group or system-wide basis:

Default Department in Customer Searches

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above

Release Date: 14/03/2018

For those who use hold a default Department Code against customers, Customer search results now include columns for the default Department (code and description).

In addition to searches using the Customers function, searches within other functions, such as Enter Sales Order, also include these columns:

The ability to record a default Department against customers, is controlled via a system parameter (on the "Customer Maintenance" tab of "Maintain Sales Ledger Parameters").

Automatically Adjust VAT on Delivery

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 08/11/2019

axis diplomat is now able to automatically adjust the VAT rate on delivery charges, changing the VAT rate to 0% when all of the items on the order are zero-rated.

The functionality is enabled via a Sales Ledger Parameter:

Once enabled, an additional tick box appears on stock records to indicate that they are a Delivery Charge item and that their VAT rate should be adjusted, depending on the other items on the shipment.

For more information:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vat-notice-70024-postage-and-delivery-charges/vat-notice-70024-postage-delivery-charges-and-direct-marketing

Account Types in Customer List by Turnover

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above

Release Date: 28/04/2017

The Customer List by Turnover report has been modified to allow reporting of just live accounts, just closed accounts or both.

Additional Information shown for Contacts in Customer Enquiry

Available to all customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 01/10/2018

The Quotations and Sales Orders tabs and, for those with the Service Contracts Management module, the Service Contracts tab in Customer Enquiry now show, for each document contact, the Job Title in brackets. In addition, if the contact has been marked as Left, this is also shown in brackets.

Enforce Delivery Contact's Email or Mobile Number

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above

Release Date: 13/12/2017

It is now possible to configure your system to enforce email and/or mobile numbers for your delivery contacts. This is particularly useful where you are using carriers who need contact details to confirm delivery.

These may be optional, mandatory or you can choose to be warned if you attempt to file a sales order using a contact with a blank email or mobile number but still allowed to file the order.

When mandatory, you receive an error message if you attempt to file an order for a contact without this information:

You may then choose to update the contact details for the customer (using the SmartLink icon at the top of the function) or update the delivery contact details just for this order using the Edit Contact icon:

Search added for Delivery Addresses in Sales Order Maintenance

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 23/12/2019

A search facility has been added to the Enter/Amend Sales Order functions, as well as those for Quotation and Service Contract maintenance, when the "Deliver to" option is set to "Account Address".

When clicking the Search icon, a full search dialog is offered, making it much easier to find the appropriate account.

This also provides the ability to create a new account for the delivery from within the document maintenance function.

Postcode column added to Customer List by Turnover

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above

Release Date: 25/06/2018

The Customer List by Turnover Report has been modified to optionally include an additional column for each customer's postcode.

Enhancements to Amend Payment Due Date

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 27/11/2019

Two enhancements have been released to the function Amend Payment Due Date. The initial dialog now includes a tick box to allow you to select Outstanding transactions only:

Secondly, two additional columns have been added to the list of transactions, showing the Allocated and Outstanding values for each transaction:

Monthly Cost of Sales Reports

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above

Release Date: 21/02/2018

Three new Monthly Cost of Sales Reports have been added to the system, giving a simple breakdown by Customer Group, Order Source or Sales Group.

Each report shows the sales and cost of sales, along with the margin amount and percentage for the last complete nominal period, all of the preceding periods of the current year as well as the preceding twelve periods.

Minimum Statement Amount

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 22/11/2019

The Print Sales Ledger Statements function has been extended to allow you to specify a Minimum Statement Value. Statements below this value are ignored.

This avoids sending statements to customers whose balance is only a few pence (perhaps because they have paid the incorrect amount previously).

Customer Requested Delivery Date

Available to all customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 01/10/2018

An additional date can now be recorded against individual sales order lines, to indicate the date that the customer has requested for delivery.

This is designed to allow you to compare the actual delivery date that you achieved with the original date requested by the customer and so analyse your achievement rates.

The function Reschedule Sales Order allows you to optionally update the Customer Requested Delivery Date (for situations where the customer has themselves asked for a date change).

The date appears as an additional column on Sales Order Items-type monitors and, on Sales Order-type monitors, the earliest date is shown.

Suppress Statements for Specific Customers

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 23/01/2019

If you have specific customer accounts that do not require statements to be generated, you are now able to set the "Deliver statements by" option to "None".

This setting can be imported from a CSV file using the "Import Customer Records" function and so, if you have a range of accounts for whom you wish to suppress statements, you are able to prepare the list as a spreadsheet.

For users of the axis portal, these customers are still able to access statements online.

Exclude Items from Repricing

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above

Release Date: 11/01/2018

axis diplomat 2016 introduced the ability to reprice sales orders and quotations with a single click. It is now possible to mark specific stock and product items as being excluded from such repricing operations:

This is controlled via a simple tick box on the Pricing and Costing tab of Maintain Stock Details, as shown above. This is ideal, for example, when dealing with discount, surcharge or miscellaneous product codes that have no default value where these would otherwise be repriced to zero.

Override Document Delivery Method for Debtors Letters

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 25/03/2020

When using the Print Debtors Letters function to send Debtors Letters (from either Document Designer or Microsoft Word templates), you can now override the customer's default document delivery method and force the letters to be printed.

This is ideal if, for example, you want to email your 30 and 60 day letters but send 90 day letters by post. In this case, you could first run the function, selecting up to 1 period overdue and up to 2 periods overdue and choosing a document delivery method of Customer default. You then run the function a second time, selecting only accounts with debts over 2 periods overdue and choosing a document delivery method of Post (print):

Selected Line Values in Sales Order Monitor

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above

Release Date: 05/09/2017

It has previously been possible to filter Sales Order monitor tabs to show just those orders containing certain products but a new column, Selected Items Total Value, has now been added to show the order value of just those selected products.

For example, this Sales Order monitor tab has been filtered to only include Sales Orders including lawn mowers:

The monitor has also been filtered to show all orders from last year (including those that are complete). From this monitor, we can now see that the total value of orders that included Lawn Mowers was £287,623, of which £63,132 was made up of the Lawn Mowers themselves:

PDF Tab added to Sales Invoice Enquiry

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 28/07/2020

For convenience, an additional tab has been added to the Sales Invoice Enquiry function, showing a preview of the PDF version of the invoice, as it was originally generated.

Buttons allow the original PDF to be opened, printed or re-generated. Particularly useful, is the Copy button, which will copy the PDF to the clipboard, allowing you to paste the document elsewhere (on your Desktop or directly into an email, for example).

This was possible previously but would have included a number of additional steps, including opening the PDF from the Audit trail and using Save As in the Adobe's PDF Viewer).

Configure "Return Goods into Stock" Behaviour

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above

Release Date: 08/09/2017

Additional parameters have been added to axis diplomat's "User and Group Maintenance" function to allow you to configure, on a user-by-user basis, the action for returning goods into stock when raising credits.

Normally, when raising Sales Ledger credits (either via a credit note or a negative line on a Sales Order), you can choose whether or not the item(s) being credited should be returned into stock. The default action is determined by a system-wide parameter.

Additional settings on each user account now allow you to vary that behaviour for an individual.

You are now able to indicate that the default action for a particular user differs to the overall system. Furthermore, you are also able to prevent the user from changing that behaviour. The user above, for example, will always return goods into stock when raising a credit note and will be unable to change that setting.

Sales Group Details added to Sales Invoice Enquiry

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 04/01/2019

The Document Lines tab of Sales Invoice Enquiry has been extended to include details of the Sales Group for each item. Separate columns are included for the Sales Group Code and Description, allowing convenient sorting and filtering of the invoice lines.

Campaign Calls

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above

Release Date: 20/03/2017

When using Campaigns to manage regular outbound telesales and an order is entered on the system, you now have the option of leaving the call open. Calls would previously have been automatically completed when an order was placed.

Contact Details added to Customer Price List Report

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 14/01/2019

The Customer Price List Report has been extended to optionally report each customer's contact details (company name and address, main contact's name and telephone numbers) at the head of the report.

The information can be included by ticking the "Report contact information" box on the Presentation Options tab:

Improved Performance when searching Calls

Available to all customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 01/10/2018

The "Calls" function has been re-engineered to achieve a massive performance improvement when searching calls, particularly when searching within individual call events.

Previously, the function would quickly identify calls where the search term existed within the subject text but would take much longer to identify matches within events.

Product Group details in Sales Order Maintenance

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 01/11/2019

The Sales Order, Quotation and Service Contract Maintenance and Enquiry functions have been extended to include columns showing the Product Group Code and Product Group Description.

This is particularly useful when working with large documents since it allows the lines to be sorted or filtered to find a particular range of products on the document.

Filter Quotation Monitors by Stock

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above

Release Date: 25/05/2018

It is now possible to filter Quotation monitor tabs to show just quotations that contains certain types of stock item.

The example below shows a Quotations monitor being filtered to just those quotes that contain any item from five different product groups:

It would be equally possible, for example, to produce a Quotations monitor showing just those outstanding quotes that include any item that has been discontinued.

Exclude Prospect and/or Closed Accounts from Customer Price List Report

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 04/11/2019

Additional options have been added to the Selection Criteria for the Customer Price List Report to optionally include price list entries for Closed and/or Prospect accounts. By default, these are not included.

This can make the report easier to read by excluding unnecessary information.

Non-Resaleable Products in Keyword Search

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above

Release Date: 27/03/2017

A new system parameter has been added to allow you to see non-resaleable items in keyword search results when adding items to sales orders. When set, non-resaleable items will appear within the search results and will be greyed out. They may not be added to the order but are shown for information only.

The parameter to enable this functionality can be found on the Prompt Defaults tab within the Maintain SOP Parameters function.

Additional information in Recent Sales dialog

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 21/01/2020

A number of additional columns have been added to the Recent Sales dialog in Sales Order Maintenance, providing a wealth of information that is particularly useful in a telesales environment:

• Location Stock on Hand
• Location Free Stock
• Case Quantity
• Next Purchase Order Due Date
• Next Purchase Order Quantity
• Discontinued?
• Available for Purchasing?

To keep the information shown as concise as possible, these additional columns are not enabled by default - to enable them, simply right-click on the header and enable just the additional columns that are relevant to the way that you work:

The Recent Sales option is ideal for users who take frequent repeat orders from customers as it allows the operator to prompt the customer for items they may have forgotten to order. It is accessed from the "Insert Item" dialog:

More Configuration Options over Sending Call Shortcuts

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above

Release Date: 11/12/2017

Additional configurability has been added to control when Call Shortcuts are automatically emailed to users. Each user can now be configured with one of three options:

• Always - whenever a call is assigned to this user's responsibility, a call shortcut email will be automatically sent to them
• Optional - when a call is assigned to this user's responsibility, the operator us asked whether they want to send a call shortcut
• Never - the system does not send a call shortcut and does not ask; call shortcuts can still be manually sent using the "Send" button

Additional Columns added to Customer Monitor tabs

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 10/02/2020

Customer monitor tabs now include additional columns for the default contact's details:

• Name
• Email address
• Telephone Number
• Mobile Number

Filter Call and Call Event Monitors by Linked Call

Available to all customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 01/10/2018

It is now possible to include linked calls within the list of calls shown in a monitor of Calls or Call Events.

When creating the filters for a call-related monitor, a new tab, "CRM Call (Linked)", allows you to specify that linked calls are to be included. You can further filter the type of linked calls that are included.

This example shows a monitor filtered to show just calls that have a status of "R&D Project" and any other calls that are directly linked to those calls (irrespective of whether they are R&D Project calls)

Delivery Charge Information in Sales Order Monitor

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 04/08/2020

Sales Order monitor tabs now feature four additional columns to add clarity to the delivery charge element of sales orders.

These columns show

• Order Value (excluding delivery)
• Outstanding Order Value (excluding delivery)
• Delivery Charge
• Outstanding Delivery Charge

This relies on the delivery charge being identified as one of the following:

• A delivery charge associated with an imported order where the source identifies the delivery separately.
• A charge associated with a delivery method (for users of the Delivery Charges by Delivery Method module).
• A product item flagged as being a delivery charge.

The ability to flag individual product items as being a delivery charge was introduced as part of the development to allow VAT on delivery charges to be adjusted - https://www.axisfirst.co.uk/software/recent/automatically-adjust-vat-on-delivery/235

Watch Linked Calls

Available to all customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 01/10/2018

Call watching is a powerful tool within the CRM facilities of axis diplomat in which you can elect to receive an email notification whenever a call has been updated (or if it has not been updated in a 24-hour period).

This has now been extended to allow you to watch not only a specific call but any calls that are linked to it as well.

This can be useful, for example, if a number of linked calls represent various invoice queries or perhaps a number of linked R&D calls collectively form a complete project.

Delivery Charges by Cost

Available to all customers with axis diplomat 2018 and the Delivery Service Provider Interfaces Foundation module

Release Date: 01/10/2018

axis diplomat can now calculate the delivery charge to your customer based on your own estimated delivery costs. Once it has determined the delivery charge to you from your carrier's rate card, it can apply a pre-determined mark-up to derive the charge to your customer.

Sales Group Selection added to Invoice Items by Invoice Report

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 09/01/2019

The Invoice Items by Invoice report has been extended to allow selection by a range of Sales Groups.

eBusiness Customer Selection in Customer Block Amendment

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above and the eBusiness module

Release Date: 11/06/2018

Customer Record Block Amendment has been extended to allow the range of customers to be amended to be filtered to just eBusiness customers or to only those accounts that are not flagged as eBusiness:

Additional Options for Goods on Account Monitor

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018 and the Goods on Account module

Release Date: 19/11/2018

Monitor tabs for Goods on Account Bookings now have additional right-click options to Amend Booking Details and to Print Goods on Account Delivery Notes.

Exceptional Sales Customer Accounts

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above and the Demand Forecasting module

Release Date: 23/11/2016

For users of the Demand Forecasting module, it is now possible to flag individual customer accounts as "Exceptional Sales". All sales for such customers will then be marked as exceptional sales and therefore excluded from the Demand Forecasting calculation.

Create Serial Numbers during Sales Order Release

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above and the Stock Transaction Traceability module

Release Date: 13/07/2018

A new parameter has been added to the system to allow serial number creation as part of the process of releasing a credit line on a sales order.

Normally, you can only return a serialised item into stock where that serial number has previously been issued. This new development, however, is ideal for situations where you have previously sold an item prior to marking it as serialised.

The parameter can be found on the Order Release tab within Maintain SOP Parameters.

Larger Email Addresses on Customer Contacts

Available to all customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 01/10/2018

The length of email addresses held against customer contacts, including invoice to/deliver to contacts on sales documents, has been extended from 50 to 100 characters.

Valid Discount Groups by Customer

Available to all customers with axis diplomat 2018 and the Customer Group/Product Group Discount Matrix module

Release Date: 01/10/2018

You are now able to restrict, on a customer-by-customer basis, which alternative discount groups may be used when entering a sales order.

Once enabled, a user is only able to change the discount group when entering a sales order to one of that has been allowed for that particular customer.

The functionality is enabled via a Sales Ledger Parameter:

SagePay ePOS Payment Processing

Available to purchase for all customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 01/10/2018

A new module is now available for axis diplomat 2018 to provide the ability to interface with SagePay Payment Terminals.

Designed for use in point-of-sale and trade counter applications, SagePay's payment terminals allow chip-and-pin transactions to be processed with the customer present. The transaction value is automatically passed to the terminal by axis diplomat whilst a unique transaction reference is returned to axis diplomat following a successful payment, simplifying statement reconciliation.

For more information:

https://www.axisfirst.co.uk/software/axisdiplomat/modules/Sage-Pay-ePOS-Payment-Processing/16841

Amazon Seller Fulfilled Prime

Available to purchase for all customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 01/10/2018

A new module is available for axis diplomat 2018 to support Seller Fulfilled Prime as a Delivery Service Provider (DSP).

Seller Fulfilled Prime is Amazon's fulfilment programme that allows merchants to make direct deliveries to Prime customers from their own warehouse.

By joining the Seller Fulfilled Prime programme, you are able to supply products directly from your own warehouse but still have the Prime badge on your product listings on Amazon. Shipments from your warehouse can be made using either Amazon shipping services (who arrange collection of the orders from your warehouse) or your own delivery services.

As with other Delivery Service Provider interfaces, axis diplomat uses information it has already obtained as a part of the sales order and picking processes to provide consignment information directly to Amazon's system making the despatch process quick, simple and less prone to error.

For more information:

https://services.amazon.co.uk/services/seller-fulfilled-prime/how-it-works.html

Purchase Ledger & Purchase Order Processing

Supplier Category and Status added to Purchase Requirements

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above and the Purchase Requirements module

Release Date: 11/06/2019

When using the Maintain Purchase Requirements function, the list of items now includes additional columns for Supplier Category and Supplier Status.

50,000 Supplier Accounts

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 11/11/2019

The maximum number of supplier accounts has now been increased to 50,000.

To increase the number of Supplier Accounts available on your system, simply use the "Amend Data File Sizes" Kernel Function.

For systems with Multiple Purchase Ledgers, you are now able to manage up to 50,000 Supplier Accounts per ledger.

Custom Supplier Data

Available to all customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 01/10/2018

You can now define any number of additional data fields that you wish against your suppliers. These fields may be used to store whatever additional information that you need and may be of a variety of data types, including simple text fields, longer notes, boolean (yes/no), numeric, dates or URLs (web addresses).

For example, if you require certain types of supplier to have particular certifications or registrations (or having such simply makes them a preferred supplier), you may wish to record the fact, along with their registration details and the date when that membership is due for renewal.

Prospective Supplier Accounts

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 01/02/2019

It is now possible to create Prospective Supplier Accounts.

The system will prevent you from entering Purchase Orders for Prospective Suppliers and Purchase Requirements will ignore Prospective Suppliers when identifying the best suppliers to fulfil demand.

Monitor tabs that allow filtering by Supplier can now also be filtered to only show prospective Suppliers or, conversely, to only show live Suppliers.

Supplier Relationship Management (SRM)

Available to all customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 01/10/2018

Whilst axis diplomat has, for some time, allowed Customer (CRM) calls to be linked to suppliers, axis diplomat 2018 now features a full Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) module.

You are now able to create calls against suppliers in their own right and have access to many of the same capabilities that will be familiar to any user used to using CRM. You may allocate SRM Calls to other's responsibility, send them shortcuts to those calls via email, watch calls (to be notified via email whenever they are updated) and link calls, either to other SRM or CRM calls or to documents, such as Supplier Invoices or Credit Notes.

Whilst the example above shows an SRM call being used to track a discussion relating to an Accounts query, SRM calls can be used to manage many aspects of your relationship with your suppliers, including tracking fault reports and service calls, commercial discussions and R&D projects.

Closed Supplier Accounts

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 06/02/2019

It is now possible to mark supplier accounts as "Closed".

As with Prospective accounts, the system will prevent you from entering Purchase Orders for Closed Supplier Accounts and Purchase Requirements will ignore them when identifying the best suppliers to fulfil demand.

Monitor tabs supporting filtering by Supplier will also allow lists to be limited to just Closed Supplier Accounts or to exclude them and Monitors will show Closed accounts in grey.

Edit from Purchase Order Enquiry

Available to all customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 01/10/2018

The Purchase Order Enquiry now features an Edit button (subject to the user having the appropriate security permissions), allowing the Purchase Order to be amended without needing to load a separate function.

The Item Details dialog has also been amended to include all of the information from the Supplier Price List on the main Item Details tab, eliminating the need for a separate Supplier Details tab, making more information immediately accessible.

This change is also apparent when entering and amending Purchase Orders.

Negative Purchase Order Lines

Available to all customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 01/10/2018

You are now able to enter negative (credit) items on Purchase Orders. This new capability is ideal for recording ad-hoc discounts, rebates and refunds on your purchase orders.

You are able to enter negative quantities for any product (non-stocked) item and so you can create a range of different codes to allow detailed analysis of these items.

Purchase Invoice Discounts

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above

Release Date: 22/12/2016

Purchase Order Invoice Booking has been extended to allow ad hoc discount lines to be added to a purchase invoice. This is ideal for use where discounts have been applied that do not relate to specific items on the order.

Update Purchase Ledger Archive Analysis Codes

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 13/02/2019

A new Supervisor Function has been added to the system to update analysis codes on purchase archive transactions. For selected suppliers, this function will update all historical transactions with the current default codes from the supplier accounts. This allows Purchase Business Intelligence and other reports to use current codes for historical analysis.

The codes that may be updated are:

• Supplier Group Code
• Department Code
• Cost Centre

Record Supplier's IBAN and BIC Codes

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above

Release Date: 05/07/2018

You are now able to record the IBAN number and BIC code for any suppliers whose payment method is "Auto -other".

For more information:

https://www.axisfirst.co.uk/documentation/International-Bank-Account-Identifiers-IBAN-and-BIC/articles/15489

Verify Supplier's VAT Number in Purchase Order Invoice/Credit Note Booking

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 25/03/2019

The recent modification to allow a supplier's Account Classification to be overridden in Purchase Order Invoice Booking and Purchase Order Credit Note Booking has been extended, for axis diplomat 2018 customers with Software Assurance to include the ability to verify an EC VAT Registration Number using VIES (VAT Information Exchange System).

Approve Supplier Invoices from Supplier Enquiry

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above

Release Date: 09/03/2018

It is now possible to change the approval status (from Unapproved to Approved or vice versa) of a supplier's invoice by a simple right-click from within Supplier Enquiry (in Edit mode).

The ability to do this is, of course, controlled by Security Permissions so that you can decide which users are allowed to approve invoices:

Security Permissions on Supplier Payment Details

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 11/07/2019

You are now able to restrict the ability for operators to change a supplier's payment details whilst allowing them to change other aspects of a supplier account.

Previously, it was necessary to block all amendment of supplier accounts to prevent the bank details being changed.

One scenario this protects against is a malicious attempt to divert supplier payments to a different bank account by a rogue employee.

Force entry of Supplier's Order Reference

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above

Release Date: 13/08/2018

Two new parameters have been added to Purchase Order Processing to force entry of a Supplier's Order Reference and to disallow references that contain spaces.

Supplier Case Quantity

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 30/10/2019

It is now possible to record a Supplier's Case Quantity against an individual Supplier Price List entry. You can also indicate whether you should always order in multiples of the case quantity.

When raising a Purchase Order for a Supplier where the price list entry indicates that there is a case quantity, the quantity defaults to the case quantity. If the supplier price list entry has been marked as "Order whole cases" then you may still place an order for other quantities but you will be warned:

This functionality is enabled via a parameter within "Maintain POP Parameters":

Supplier Category in Supplier Price List Search

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above

Release Date: 15/12/2017

The Supplier Price List search, as used within Purchase Requirements when choosing a supplier, has been modified to include an additional column for the Supplier Category:

Purchase Requirements and Back-to-Back Orders

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018 and the Back to Back Ordering module

Release Date: 02/12/2019

The function Create Requirements from Stock File has been extended to allow back-to-back orders to be ignored when calculating On Order quantities.

When this option is selected, back-to-back purchase orders, sales orders and any associated receipts are excluded. This helps to avoid situations where, for example, stock destined for a specific order is included in the calculated 'On Order' quantity because the purchase order falls within the selected date range but the sales order does not.

Suppress option to print Goods Received Notes

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above

Release Date: 10/08/2018

As fewer users now opt to print Goods Received Notes (GRNs) when receiving deliveries from suppliers, there is now a parameter to suppress the option, streamlining the goods received process.

Update Payment Due Date on all Supplier Transactions

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 08/04/2020

The Purchase Ledger function Amend Purchase Invoice/Credit Note Status has been updated to include an additional option, "Update due date".

This allows you to update all outstanding transactions with a new due date, based on the current Credit terms from the Supplier account.

This is ideal for use where new payment terms are agreed with a supplier and these are to be applied retrospectively to outstanding transactions - for example, when a supplier changes payment terms from 30 days to 60 days.

This Invoice Value in Purchase Order Invoice Booking

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above

Release Date: 05/04/2018

Purchase Invoice Booking now shows an additional column for "This Invoice Value".

This can be particularly useful in trying to identify errors, when the analysed value differs from the target value, whether as a result of keying errors or where the supplier's calculations (for example, when applying discount) differ from what is expected.

Purchase Order Attachments shown in Supplier Enquiry

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 18/12/2019

The Purchase Orders tab in Supplier Enquiry now includes an additional column to indicate whether the purchase order includes attachments.

Additional Customs Data on Imports

Available to all customers with axis diplomat 2018 and the Purchase Delivery Advice module

Release Date: 01/10/2018

The system is now capable of recording additional information on imported goods being shipped from suppliers for customs purposes.

Delivery Methods may now be used for shipments that you are receiving as well as for those that you are despatching; each Delivery Method may now have a Mode of Transport:

Purchase Delivery Advices associated with a Delivery Method having a Mode of Transport of either Shipping or Air can now also record the Port of Origin, the Destination Port and the Vessel:

This information is also shown on Purchase Delivery Advice monitor tabs:

Additional Columns added to Maintain Purchase Requirements

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 08/08/2019

Additional columns have been added to the Maintain Purchase Requirements dialog to show the Supplier's Minimum Order Quantity and the Supplier's Order Quantity Multiple.

For example, the illustration above shows an item for which the chosen supplier has a minimum order quantity of 24 and must be ordered in multiples of 6.

This additional information allows buyers to make better informed decisions when choosing the right supplier.

Larger Email Addresses on Supplier Contacts

Available to all customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 01/10/2018

The length of email addresses held against supplier contacts, including contacts on purchase orders, has been extended from 50 to 100 characters.

Exclude Unposted Allocations from Alphabetic Purchase Ledger Report

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 06/02/2020

The Alphabetic Purchase Ledger Report now allows you to exclude unposted allocations. This is particularly useful when the Purchase Ledger Period End has not yet been run but payments have already been made in the current period, as it allows the report to be produced as at the end of the previous period.

Purchase Order Due Dates

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018 and the Purchase Order Acknowledged Receipt Date module

Release Date: 20/12/2019

The Transactions tab within Stock Enquiry has been extended to include a column showing the Original Due Date for Purchase Orders.

If this is overdue then it is shown in red.

Approval Status now shown in Purchase Invoice Enquiry

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 13/05/2020

The General Details tab of Purchase Invoice Enquiry now includes an additional field, showing the approval status of the invoice.

Purchase Order Delivery Methods

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 28/06/2019

You are now able to assign a delivery method to purchase orders. The available delivery methods include all of those defined as being applicable to arrivals.

Document designer has been extended to allow the selected delivery method to be shown on the purchase order and, for those using the Order Processing Assistant module, supplier delivery charges can be dependent on the delivery method selected:

Purchase Invoice Booking by Delivery Advice

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018 and the Purchase Delivery Advice module

Release Date: 11/01/2019

For situations where you have entered (or received via EDI) a Purchase Delivery Advice in advance of receiving a delivery from a supplier, it is now possible to book a supplier's invoice against that Delivery Advice rather than against the original purchase order(s).

This can be very convenient and speed up the invoice booking process since a single delivery can include partial shipments and/or items from multiple purchase orders and an invoice may more closely match the Delivery Advice than the original Purchase Orders.

Once a Delivery Advice has been selected, individual items may be excluded or additional items added, for situations where the Invoice does not exactly match the Delivery Advice. You may also select additional Delivery Advices if a single invoice is a consolidation of multiple deliveries.

Document Notes added to Purchase Delivery Advice

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018 and the Purchase Delivery Advice module

Release Date: 22/05/2020

A Document Notes tab has been added to Purchase Delivery Advice maintenance functions (both when adding a new Purchase Delivery Advice and using Edit mode from Purchase Delivery Advice Enquiry).

This plain text area allows you to record any additional information that may be relevant to the expected delivery, such as arrangements with haulage and freight forwarding companies.

For more information:

https://www.axisfirst.co.uk/software/axisdiplomat/modules/Purchase-Delivery-Advice/16705

Supplier Delivery Charge by Sales Group

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018 and the Order Processing Assistant module

Release Date: 16/06/2020

Sales Group selection has been added to the list of criteria that can be used when defining a supplier's delivery charge.

This is designed for situations where a supplier has a different delivery charge for certain types of products because, for example, they need special handling. Typical examples might include furniture or large format printers that require a two person delivery team.

Stock Ledger, Bill of Materials & MRP

New Stock Valuation By Location KPI added to Business Intelligence

Available to all customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 17/04/2020

A new KPI has been added to those KPIs available as standard, for Stock Valuation by Location using Actual Cost.

This allows you to define targets for the optimal stock holding for a specific location (or range of locations) and to add elements to Business Intelligence Dashboards to show the current position.

Net Prices shown in Supplier Price Lists

Available to all customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 30/05/2019

Supplier Price List tabs (as found in Stock Enquiry and Supplier Enquiry functions) now show an additional column for the Net Price (after discounts have been applied).

In addition, for those with the Foreign Currency module, net prices are shown in both the Supplier's currency and the base currency.

Custom Stock Data now standard

Available to all customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 01/10/2018

The Custom Stock Data module, previously an extra-cost option, is now provided as standard.

The module allows you to extend the data that you hold for products to include all of the additional specifications and attributes that you wish. This data is ideal for publishing to a website as well as providing your own staff with easy access to more detailed product data.

Each field that is defined can have a range of pre-set options (where the user then chooses from a list) or be a free-typed field. The types of data supported include text, numbers, dates and notes.

Any number of fields can be created and grouped in many combinations, for different types of product.

Multi-Location Stock now standard

Available to all customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 01/10/2018

The Multi-Location Stock Module, previously an extra-cost option, is now provided as standard.

This module allows stock to be held at a number of distinct locations - either separate physical locations (such as branches or warehouses) or logically separated stock (such as quarantine stock or stock awaiting repair).

Stock is issued from, received at, and transferred between locations, so that accurate stock-on-hand figures at each location are maintained.

Additional information about stock at each location is also recorded, including Stock on hand, Stock on order from suppliers, Stock on order by customers, Re-order level (minimum stock), Re-order quantity, Maximum stock quantity and Bin location

Daily Schedule added to Stock Enquiry

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above

Release Date: 06/12/2017

A new option has been added to the Transactions tab of Stock Enquiry to provide a simple overview of the forecast stock position over time.

The Daily Schedule displays a chronological view of when stock is expected to be received and issued, based on the due dates of sales orders and purchase orders.

This option provides an overview of when stock is likely to be available and, equally importantly, if and when you are expected to run out.

The same schedule can also be viewed from within Enter/Amend Sales Order when adding or amending items.

Re-Arrange Items within Assemblies

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018 and the Bill of Materials module

Release Date: 06/08/2019

You can now re-order the items within a Bill of Materials' Assembly or Kit.

For many, the sequence of the components or sub-assemblies within a Bill of Materials Assembly or Kit is important because it may, for example, indicate the order in which the items are required or used.

Within Assembly Structure Maintenance, you can now move an item up or down in the list by:

• right-click on the item and choosing Move Item Up or Move Item Down from the context menu
• highlighting the item and using the Move Item Up or Move Item Down buttons at the bottom of the dialog

Commodity Codes added to Stock Function

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above

Release Date: 18/12/2017

The Stock function has been extended to include an additional column showing the Commodity Code.

For more information:

https://www.axisfirst.co.uk/software/axisdiplomat/modules/Intrastat/15159

Print Stock Labels by Item, by Supplier Case or by Receipt

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above

Release Date: 17/10/2017

You are now able to determine, on a stock item-by-stock item basis, whether the quantity of labels printed at the goods receipt stage is based on a specific number per item, the number of supplier cases being received or the total receipt quantity.

The setting is configured on the General Details tab of Maintain Stock Details:

Setting the number of labels to "Supplier Case" will instruct the Goods Received function to divide the received quantity by the Case Quantity from the Supplier Price List entry. This is useful when the goods are shipped by the supplier in a carton that does not get unpacked immediately, allowing you to place one label on each carton.

Restrict User Access to Stock by Department

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above

Release Date: 29/06/2018

For systems configured to allow Departmental and Cost Centre analysis by sales invoice line, the Security Permissions within axis diplomat have been extended to allow or deny access to stock by its default department.

For users that operate solely within a single department, for example, this allows you to restrict the range of stock items that they see (such as when searching or adding items to a sales order) to just the relevant items.

This not only has a security benefit but also makes the system easier for them to use.

For more information:

https://www.axisfirst.co.uk/documentation/Department-Cost-Centre-by-Sales-Invoice-Line/articles/14216

Hide Specific Stock Locations from Stock Figures

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above

Release Date: 06/06/2017

It is now possible to exclude stock at specific locations from the overall stock figures shown by the system.

An additional tick box has been added to Maintain Stock Locations to specify that a location's stock figures are to be excluded:

Functions within axis diplomat which then show overall stock figures for items will then exclude the stock at such locations:

The example above shows the Stock function indicating a Free Stock figure of 14, which includes the stock at Main Depot, Greenton and Littletown but does not include the stock at the Quarantine location.

This facility is ideal for those wanting to ensure that users (especially those in sales and customer services departments who may quote stock availability to customers) do not include stock that is not generally available. This might not only include a Quarantine location as shown in the example above but could also include consignment stock held on a customer's site, demonstration stock or stock held by particular members of staff (such as in an engineer's car or van).

Hide Overall Stock Figures

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above

Release Date: 20/06/2017

It is now possible to hide the Overall Stock Levels group from the Stock Enquiry function. It was already possible to hide specific stock figures (such as the On Hand figure) but this enhancement now means that the entire section can be hidden.

One possible use for this could be on systems with the Multi-Location Stock module if you wish to force operators to look at the stock figures by location rather than making assumptions on stock availability by looking at the overall figures.

The presence of the Overall Stock Levels section is controlled via a checkbox within the Maintain Stock Ledger Parameters function:

Stock Enquiry showing Overall Stock Levels

Equivalent Stock Enquiry with Overall Stock Levels hidden

Export Archived Stock Transaction Details

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 29/11/2019

The function Export Stock Transaction Details has been extended to allow inclusion of archived stock transactions:

Department and Cost Centre added to Stock Search Results

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above

Release Date: 21/06/2018

On systems that are configured to allow Departmental and Cost Centre analysis by sales invoice line, where the default department and cost centre codes are recorded against each stock item, these are now shown in stock search results.

For more information:

https://www.axisfirst.co.uk/documentation/Department-Cost-Centre-by-Sales-Invoice-Line/articles/14216

Change Works Order Planned Status from Works Order Monitor

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018 and the Compact MRP module

Release Date: 18/11/2019

It is now possible to change a Works Order from Unplanned to Planned, or from Planned to Unplanned, by a simple right-click option in Works Order Monitor.

Catalogue Page Numbers in Stock Control Monitor

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above

Release Date: 19/04/2017

An additional column has been added to the Stock Control Monitor to show the Catalogue Page Number(s):

Calculate New Rolled Up Weight

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018 and the Bill of Materials module

Release Date: 19/02/2020

A new function has been added to the system, Calculate New Rolled Up Weight:

This function will update the Unit Weight on Assembly items by accumulating all of the weights of the components (down to the lowest level), multiplying by the component quantities.

The function can also produce a verbose report at the end of the operation, detailing how each rolled up weight has been derived:

As an additional safeguard, a Stock Ledger Parameter allows you to configure the system to not update the weight on assemblies where any component has a zero weight:

Additional Information on Stock Traceability Details

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above and the Stock Transaction Traceability module

Release Date: 09/10/2017

The Traceability tab within Stock Enquiry has been extended to add columns showing the date that a given item was first received and the date that it was last issued.

BY showing the dates of the first receipt and the last issue, this covers situations where a particular item was, for example, sold, returned and sold again.

Stock Control Monitor

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 04/12/2019

Two additional columns have been added to the Stock Control Monitor. These columns indicate 'Discontinued' and 'Available for Purchasing'.

Customer-Specific Stock Labels

Available to all customers with axis diplomat 2018 and the Bartender Bar Code Labels module

Release Date: 01/10/2018

For those using the third-party application BarTender to produce stock labels, in conjunction with the axis diplomat BarTender Interface module, it is now possible to override the standard stock label templates with customer-specific templates.

This is particularly useful where particular customers have their own requirements, such as including their logo or simply having a specific layout.

Filter Stock Monitor Tabs by Custom Data Schema

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018

Release Date: 14/02/2020

The filter options available on Stock Item monitor tabs have been extended to allow the list of stock items to be filtered by the Stock Custom Data Schemas assigned to them.

An additional column has also been added to the monitor, showing the Custom Data Schema:

It is also possible to filter the monitor list to show items that have not been assigned to a custom data schema:

The example above shows a Stock Items Monitor tab that has been filtered to show only stock items within the various Product Groups for power tools that have not yet been assigned to a Custom Data Schema. In this way, the monitor can be used to identify those products in need of updating.

Unit Price displayed in Supplier Price Lists

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above

Release Date: 22/11/2016

The Supplier Price List tab in Stock Enquiry now includes an additional column for the equivalent unit price. This now makes it much easier to compare supplier prices where different suppliers provide the same product but in different pack sizes and priced by the pack.

The equivalent unit price is calculated to six decimal places to provide meaningful comparisons between suppliers even when the individual items are of very small value or the pack sizes are very large.

Over Issue Components from Handheld Works Order Picking

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018 and the Warehouse Handheld Works Order Picking module

Release Date: 09/04/2020

The function Handheld Pick Works Order has been modified to allow you to pick additional quantities of components, over and above the quantity originally specified in the works order.

This is ideal for situations where the manufacturing or assembly process can incur wastage or damage to components that then need to be replaced.

Location prompt added to Handheld Works Order Picking

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018 and the Warehouse Handheld Works Order Picking module

Release Date: 21/05/2019

The Handheld Pick Works Orders function now includes a location prompt. This is ideal for those pickers who frequently pick orders from more than one physical location and want to filter the list of orders shown to just those works orders at their current location.

Works Order Status Codes

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above and the Compact MRP module

Release Date: 14/09/2017

For users of the Compact MRP module, Document Status codes have now been extended to apply to Works Orders.

Document status codes were introduced in axis diplomat 2010 to allow user-defined statuses against sales orders and quotations. Since then, they have also been extended to apply to contracts and contract requests, for users of the Service Contract Management module.

By extending document status codes to Works Orders, you are now able to define your own states for Works Orders. For example, a works order might be "Awaiting Scheduling", "Awaiting Components", "In Production" or "In QC".

Furthermore, you can also indicate that certain status codes should trigger an email to the customer at the point a works order is changed to that status - this might, for example, be an email to explain that the order has now entered production and should be ready for despatch within one week.

Auto feed Handheld Works Order Picking

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018 and the Warehouse Handheld Works Order Picking module

Release Date: 22/11/2019

A new MRP Parameter has been added to enable auto feed to Handheld Pick Works Orders.

This option causes the next pickable works order (excluding those already assigned to a picker) to be automatically offered to the picker.

Amend Document Status Code from Works Order Monitor

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above and the Compact MRP module

Release Date: 04/10/2017

It is now possible to amend a Works Order's Document Status Code simply by a right-click option within the Works Order Monitor.

Component Costs within Works Order Enquiry

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above and the Compact MRP module

Release Date: 03/01/2017

Additional columns have been added to the Components tab of Works Order Enquiry to show Estimated Cost and, for components that have been issued, Actual Cost.

The appearance of these columns is subject to the user having the appropriate security permissions.

Build Works Order

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above and the Build Assembly module

Release Date: 07/03/2018

A new menu option has been added for users of the Build Assembly module called Build Works Order. This function, designed to be used from a handheld PDA but also suitable for use on your desktop, allows the components for a works order to be picked, and the finished goods received, in one easy operation. The function can also be accessed via a right-click menu option within Works Order Monitor.

Default Quantities on Custom Builds

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above and the Custom Build Assemblies module

Release Date: 15/06/2017

For those users with the Custom Build Assemblies module, it is now possible to specify a default quantity against each item in an option list:

The default quantity is then used when adding the Custom Build to a Sales Order or Quotation:

The addition of a default quantities can make Custom Build items much easier to add to orders. For example, a chair can now default to having two standard arms whilst still allowing the operator to specify different arms or no arms at all. The minimum and maximum quantities specified would still prevent the configuration of a chair with, for example, four arms. Similarly, a PC could be configured with a standard hard drive but a larger, smaller or faster alternative could be chosen if required.

For more information:

https://www.axisfirst.co.uk/software/axisdiplomat/modules/Custom-Build-Assemblies/15181

Warehouse Management

Picked and Unpicked Quantities added to Handheld Functions

Available to all customers with axis diplomat 2018 with Warehouse Management

Release Date: 12/11/2018

The Handheld Stock Enquiry function has been extended to show columns for Picked and Unpicked quantities on the Bins tab.

These quantities have also been added to the Handheld Bin Enquiry.

Print Invoices at Despatch

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above and the Despatch & Delivery Management module

Release Date: 08/08/2018

For those using the Despatch & Delivery Management module, you are now able to mark specific customers to automatically create and print invoices at the point of consigning a delivery.

As well as configuring individual customers via Maintain Customer Details, the option can also be set for a selection of customers by using Customer Record Block Amendment or from a CSV file using Import Customer Records.

Net Unit Volume

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018 and the Despatch & Delivery Management module

Release Date: 26/03/2020

The Net Unit Volume on stock records is now standard on all systems with Despatch & Delivery Management.

Suppress Partial Kit Release

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above and the Bill of Materials module

Release Date: 27/06/2017

For those using handheld sales order picking in conjunction with kits, it is now possible to configure axis diplomat to prevent the partial picking of kits.

This allows you to set despatch quantities for partial kits (to ensure that stock is reserved) whilst preventing those incomplete kits from being inadvertently sent to the customer.

Improved performance when printing Delivery Notes

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018 and the Despatch & Delivery Management module

Release Date: 30/12/2019

Production of Delivery Notes as part of the Consignment process is now handled by a background process. By eliminating the need to reload the function and process the document templates each time a Delivery Note is generated, much of the overhead of document production is eliminated.

In tests, some users have reported that the time taken to generate a Delivery Note during Consignment is reduced to just 5% of the time previously taken. The actual time saving will vary from system to system but should, for all users, provide a significant improvement. Those with more complex templates, involving multiple document variants, will benefit even more.

Document Status Codes allow Orders to be suppressed from Picking

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above with Warehouse Management

Release Date: 23/02/2018

Users with the Warehouse Paper-based Sales Order Picking module can now create Document Status Codes that suppress orders with those statuses from being included in the creation of provisional deliveries.

This is ideal, for example, where certain orders require special processing before they can be picked, such as embroidery or printing.

Handheld Purchase Requirements

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above with Warehouse Management

Release Date: 08/11/2016

A new function has been added to allow Purchase Requirements to be created using a handheld unit.

This now makes it easy to walk around your warehouse or shop, adding items to an ordering list by simply scanning barcodes and confirming quantities.

Having selected an item, its Re-Order Quantity, Maximum Quantity, Re-Order Level and Case Quantity are displayed to assist in deciding on the appropriate quantity to order.

As well as scanning barcodes, items can be added to the "shopping list" by entering part codes or by searching - this is useful, not only for items that are not barcoded, but when items are completely out of stock and the shelves are not labelled with barcodes.

Default Bin by Stock Location

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018 and the Multi Location Multi Bin Stock module

Release Date: 06/11/2019

It is now possible to define a Default Bin against each stock location, to be used when creating new stock records.

This is particularly useful when those creating new stock items do so before the appropriate space has been allocated in the warehouse or are not responsible for warehouse management. For example, a temporary bin location can be created to which all new items default - allowing the Warehouse Manager to review and allocate bins as and when appropriate.

'Pick All' option for Back-to-Back Orders

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above with Warehouse Management

Release Date: 14/06/2017

It is now possible to automatically pick items when receiving goods against a back-to-back purchase order.

This functionality is enabled by a Purchase Order Processing parameter

Customs Data

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018 and the Despatch & Delivery Management module

Release Date: 07/10/2019

As part of preparations for Brexit, systems with both the Despatch and Delivery Management and Purchase Delivery Advice modules (which together also form part of Warehouse Management) now benefit from additional fields on the Purchase Delivery Advice in which to record additional customs data including:

• Delivery Method - this links to a list of delivery methods that are flagged as in use for ‘Arrivals’. Each delivery method will have the ‘Mode of Transport’ defined against it.
• Number of packages.
• Total Weight (Kgs) - this defaults to the sum of the weight of the items received based on the stock record weight.
• Total Volume (m³) - defaults to the volume based on the sum of the volumes calculated by the stock record’s dimensions.

Where the Delivery Method is configured with a ‘Mode of Transport’ set to ‘Sea’ or ‘Air’, the following additional fields will be presented:

• Port (Origin).
• Port (Destination).
• Vessel (ship or plane on which the delivery was transported).

Handheld Stock Label Printing

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above with Warehouse Management

Release Date: 07/11/2017

The Handheld Stock Enquiry function has been extended to allow printing of labels for stock items:

The parameters used (such as the format and the number of labels to print) are taken from the stock record, as found on the General Details tab of Stock Enquiry:

Check for Best Delivery Method when Consigning a Delivery

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018 with Warehouse Management

Release Date: 12/12/2019

When consigning or amending a delivery, the system can now re-check whether the selected method still offers the best delivery option. This helps ensure that the optimal delivery method is being used, particularly when orders are split across multiple deliveries.

This can be suppressed via an SOP parameter.

Greater Flexibility with Customer Delivery Charges

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above and the Despatch & Delivery Management module

Release Date: 26/03/2018

Sales Order Maintenance has been modified to allow you to override the Delivery Charge option specified on the Customer Account for this particular order.

New Options for Bin Picking Sequence

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above with Warehouse Management

Release Date: 22/08/2018

It is now possible to configure individual users to invert the bin sequence when determining which bins to choose for picking. This would, for example, result in them being sent to Bin ZZ99 first and Bin AA00 last.

This is ideal in situations where some pickers are based at the opposite end of your warehouse to others, in which case picking for them can be biased towards the bins closest to them.

To further support this method of operation, an additional Sales Order Processing parameter has been added to indicate whether reverse picking should function within the category (i.e. Category A is still preferred over Category Z) or whether the categories themselves are reversed.

Stock Bins tab in Stock Enquiry

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018 and the Multi Location Multi Bin Stock module

Release Date: 29/11/2019

A new tab, Stock Bins, has been added to Stock Enquiry to show a list of the bins holding the item across all of the stock locations.

This additional tab provides a quick and easy way of locating stock that is potentially spread across a number of different bins in each location.

Handheld Stock Enquiry Current Stock Tab

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018 and the Multi Location Multi Bin Stock module

Release Date: 06/04/2020

A new tab has been added to Handheld Stock Enquiry showing, for the selected location, all of the bins currently holding stock of the chosen item.

Bin Quantities in Goods Received from Supplier

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018 and the Multi Location Multi Bin Stock module

Release Date: 07/08/2020

When receiving stock using the function Goods Received from Supplier, a new information icon adjacent to the bin prompt will show, when clicked, a list of suggested bins to contain the item.

The suggested bins will include any bin that currently has that item in it or, if there no bins currently holding the item, any bin that has held that item in the preceding 60 days.

Allow users to flag deliveries as consigned

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018 and the Delivery Service Provider Interfaces Foundation module

Release Date: 25/03/2019

A new flag has been added to the user defaults to specify whether the user is able to flag deliveries as consigned, by-passing any communication with the Delivery Service Provider.

Support for Carriers offering Extended Liability

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018 and the Despatch & Delivery Management module

Release Date: 09/12/2019

For those using DPD or Royal Mail as Delivery Service Providers, support has now been added for services offering extended liability or consequential loss insurance.

On services defined as allowing extended liability, the consignment process will request extended liability cover and pass the cost value of the delivery to the delivery service provider.

Office Products

Support for Vow ePremium Product Files

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above with Office Products

Release Date: 05/01/2017

The Import VOW Product File function has been extended to support the XML format product files supplied by Vow to subscribers to their ePremium service. axis vMerchant already offers support for ePremium rich data.

Processing Back Orders through Online Order Processing

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above and the EDI Purchasing Foundation module

Release Date: 26/02/2018

A new option has been introduced within the Online Order Processing function (available to users of EDI Purchasing) to change the way in which back orders are processed. The new option allows the balance of any items left outstanding from the original order to be automatically received on receipt of the invoice.

Excluding Specific Suppliers from Automatic Price Feeds

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above with Office Products

Release Date: 20/02/2017

A new setting has been added to suppliers supporting price feeds to allow you to exclude them from the automatic background feed process. Options have also been added to the Amend Scheduled Processing Settings function to allow you to configure start and end times for the automatic feed processes.

Price Feed Type added to Supplier search results

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above and the Supplier Price Feed Foundation module

Release Date: 15/02/2018

For customers with one or more Supplier Price Feeds, the Suppliers function has been extended to include a column in the search results indicating the type of price feed associated with each supplier account listed.

EDI with CTS Toner Supplies

Available to purchase for all customers with axis diplomat 2018 and the EDI Purchasing Foundation module

Release Date: 01/10/2018

A new module is now available as an option for axis diplomat 2018 to support EDI ordering with CTS Toner Supplies. This module is available in addition to the existing price feed module.

eBusiness

Payment Reconciliation added for trademe.nz Payments

Available to all customers with axis diplomat 2018 and the Cloudhub 247 Interface module

Release Date: 15/11/2019

The support for the trademe.nz marketplace, announced earlier this year for users of the CloudHub 247 Interface module, has been extended to support automated reconciliation from their payment files.

Support added for trademe.nz

Available to all customers with axis diplomat 2018 and the Cloudhub 247 Interface module

Release Date: 06/06/2019

For those using the CloudHub 247 Interface to trade on a variety of marketplaces such as eBay and Amazon, this module now also supports an additional marketplace, trademe.nz.

trademe.nz describe themselves as "the leading online marketplace and classified advertising platform in New Zealand. This includes auctions and fixed-priced sales for new and used goods."

Since sales via trademe.nz will be in New Zealand Dollars, the Foreign Currency module in also required in order to trade via this marketplace.

Support added for Microdata

Available to all customers with axis diplomat 2018 and the axis vMerchant module

Release Date: 01/10/2018

All axis vMerchant websites are now capable of including Microdata on product pages. This includes both template-based and bespoke websites, irrespective of age.

Microdata provides a more structured representation of the product, invisible to the visitor but which helps search engines to better understand the content of the page and provide more relevant results to users.

Enabling and configuring Microdata is done simply via a new tab within the Maintain Sites function.

Each possible Microdata field can be mapped to the matching field for the stock records and the Microdata is then automatically generated on every product page.

For more information:

https://developers.google.com/search/docs/guides/intro-structured-data

First Published Date

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018 and the axis vMerchant module

Release Date: 21/01/2019

The "Maintain e-Business Catalogue" function has been extended to include an additional column on the Stock View tab showing the date an item was first published to the website.

eBusiness Mailing List module made standard

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above and the axis vMerchant module

Release Date: 02/03/2018

To better equip axis diplomat users to handle the requirements of GDPR, the eBusiness Mailing List module has now been made standard on systems with links to axis vMerchant-based websites.

The module allows you to configure a pseudo customer account to hold details of people who use your website to subscribe to, or unsubscribe from, your marketing emails or newsletters without purchasing on your site.

If one of these subscribers subsequently places an order on your website, their details are moved to an actual customer account so that, at any point in time, the pseudo account only holds details of those who have subscribed but not yet purchased.

For those with template-based websites, subscribe and unsubscribe pages already exist. Bespoke axis vMerchant websites will need the appropriate pages creating.

For more information:

https://www.axisfirst.co.uk/software/axisdiplomat/modules/ebusiness/eBusiness-Mailing-List/15205

Minimum Stock Feed Levels by Product Group

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018 with eBusiness

Release Date: 31/12/2018

It is now possible to define, for a given product group, the minimum available stock to report when uploading stock figures to websites. This is supported for both axis vMerchant websites and links to third party eCommerce solutions such as Channel Advisor and CloudHub.

For those using the "Customer Price Feed Delivery" module, customer price feed files will also report the minimum stock level where appropriate.

This is ideal for situations where products can be made on demand, or intangible items, such as software licences, that can be issued as required yet are to appear as normal stocked items to your customers.

Attribute Value Ordering for Website

Available to all customers with axis diplomat 2018 and the axis vMerchant module

Release Date: 01/10/2018

It is now possible to control the sequence in which attributes are offered on your axis vMerchant website.

Previously, attributes would have to be ordered numerically by their Attribute ID or alphabetically by their description. The ability to manually override the sequence is particularly useful when there is a definite order required that does not suit alphabetical ordering and it is not possible to arrange the attribute IDs in the desired order (such as when adding a new option into an existing list).

This example shows clothing sizes where the sequence has been set to ensure that sizes are shown in the correct order from smallest (XXS) to largest (XXL).

Re-ordering can be achieved easily - either by simply keying the correct sequence number against a given value or by using keyboard shortcuts in the list view (shown above) or via right-click options to move up/move down.

Easier Website Management with Stock Monitors

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018 with eBusiness

Release Date: 11/02/2019

Enhancements to the options available on "Stock Items" Monitor tabs now make it much easier to manage your online products.

The Tab Options dialog now allows you to add in information on one or more eBusiness sites.

For each site, a number of additional columns are then added to the Monitor, including

• eBusiness Group
• Published
• Special Offer, Featured Item and Best Seller
• eBusiness Discount
• Site Specific Short Description, Long Description and Notes
• First Published Date

In addition, it is now also possible to filter the products shown by their eBusiness parameters.

These enhancements would allow you, for example, to produce a dedicated Website Management Monitor with separate tabs including:

• All items published to the site
• All items not published to the site
• All Special Offer items
• All Featured items
• All Best Sellers
• Published items without Site-Specific Notes

The Filter options for these tabs would be, respectively:

Inter-Company EDI

Available to all customers with axis diplomat 2018 and the Axis2Axis XML Ordering module

Release Date: 01/10/2018

The Axis2Axis XML Ordering module is designed to allow two businesses, both using axis diplomat, to trade electronically by sending purchase orders from one system to be imported as sales orders on the other. Originally designed for use by totally separate organisations, running on separate networks, documents were exchanged over the Internet using FTP (File Transfer Protocol). This required one of the organisations to operate an FTP Server to facilitate the transfer.

Axis2Axis XML Ordering has now been extended to allow documents to be exchanged via a local folder instead, making the module easier to install and maintain when used for trading between multiple companies running on the same server. It can also eliminate the cost of running an FTP server.

For more information:

https://www.axisfirst.co.uk/documentation/Axis2Axis-XML-Ordering/articles/15850

eBusiness Site added to Sales Order Monitor

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018 with eBusiness

Release Date: 17/02/2020

An additional column has been added to the Sales Order Monitor (and when adding additional Sales Order type tabs to 'My Monitors') showing the eBusiness Site from which each order was imported:

It is also possible to filter the orders shown to just those from a specific eBusiness Site:

Handling eBusiness Orders with Address Validation Issues

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above and the eBusiness module

Release Date: 19/03/2018

A new parameter has been added for those who have configured their system to perform address validation when importing sales orders. Any orders that have an unrecognisable address may now be either

• Automatically imported but placed on hold
• Not automatically imported

When an order with an addressing issue is not imported automatically, the address can be checked and updated by running Import eBusiness Orders manually.

A further parameter has been added for those using Despatch Quantity Recording to determine whether orders that are imported and placed on hold have Despatch Quantities set:

Additional Marketplaces via Channel Advisor

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above and the Channel Advisor Interface module

Release Date: 28/05/2018

For users of the axis diplomat Channel Advisor Interface module, a number of additional marketplaces are now supported:

• SKU Cloud
• Shop.com
• Tesco

Amazon Invoice Upload

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018 and the Amazon Seller Central Interface module

Release Date: 23/04/2020

axis diplomat can now upload PDFs of invoices to Amazon via the Seller Central API.

Once enabled (by a simple tickbox within the Supervisor Function Maintain Sites), the process is completely automated and requires no user intervention. The invoice generation function will recognise invoices for orders received via the Amazon interface and upload invoices as a matter of course.

Hire Management

Additional Description Lines on Hires

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above with Hire Management

Release Date: 25/04/2019

The axis diplomat Hire module has been enhanced to allow Additional Description Lines to be added to Hires, mirroring the facility offered with Sales and Purchase documents such as Sales Orders, Invoices and Purchase Orders.

This development allows you to add unlimited narrative to your hire documents and Additional Description lines may be inserted at any point within the document lines, allowing you to sub-divide the hire into sections, if you wish.

Each Additional Description line may, optionally, be printed on:

• Hire Notes
• Picking Notes
• Delivery Notes
• Collection Notes
• Returns Notes
• Invoices

Provisional Future Hires

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018 with Hire Management

Release Date: 23/04/2019

The Hire module has been extended to allow unconfirmed or provisional forward-dated hires to be recorded.

When entering a forward-dated hire, you are now able to specify whether the hire is confirmed or unconfirmed.

The Hire Schedule Monitor has also been enhanced to identify unconfirmed forward dated hires by extending the colour-coding used - confirmed hires are shown in dark blue whilst unconfirmed hires are shown in light blue. Similarly, items that are forecast to be over-allocated at a particular date due to confirmed hires are shown in red whilst over-allocations due to unconfirmed hires are shown in amber.

This development allows more accurate forecasts of the likely availability of hire items as well as providing a means of recording hire quotations.

Closing Forward-Dated Hires

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above with Hire Management

Release Date: 28/02/2018

The Hire Schedule Monitor has been enhanced to allow forward-dated bookings to be closed. This allows you to retain the details of the booking for future reference whilst removing the allocations of the hire items.

Audit Trail on Hires

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018 with Hire Management

Release Date: 28/06/2019

The Hire module now maintains a detailed audit trail of events for each hire. This can be seen on the Audit Trail tab in Hire Enquiry:

Service Contract Management

Service Contract Groups

Available to all customers with axis diplomat 2018 with Service Contract Management

Release Date: 01/10/2018

You can now define a number of Service Contract Groups to help you analyse your contracts, contract requests and service calls.

Service Contract Types

Available to all customers with axis diplomat 2018 with Service Contract Management

Release Date: 01/10/2018

In addition to Service Contract Groups, you can also define a number of Service Contract Types. Each Contract Type is assigned to a Contract Group. Individual Service Contracts and Service Contract Requests are assigned to a specific Contract Type; its associated Contract Group is derived automatically from the assigned Type, providing two levels of analysis.

In addition, each Service Contract Type can dictate a number of aspects of the behaviour of contracts of that type, including the Minimum Term of the contract (the number of months that it has been active before it can be cancelled), the Termination Notice Period (the number of days beyond the date that the contract is marked as cancelled before it actually ceases) and whether it is allowed to associate service calls with that type of contract.

Finally, you can define a number of Service Level Objectives (SLOs) with each contract to allow analysis of the number of Service CRM calls that meet those SLOs.

Contract Item Start and End Date

Available to all customers with axis diplomat 2018 with Service Contract Management

Release Date: 01/10/2018

It is now possible to record the start and end dates for individual items on a Service Contract. When generating Invoices for Service Contracts, the system will detect if the start or end date is part-way through the invoicing period and, if so, pro rata the charge.

Recalculate Pricing in Service Contract Maintenance

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2018 with Service Contract Management

Release Date: 19/08/2020

A new button has been added to Service Contract and Contract Request amendment functions to reprice all of the items on the contract using current pricing.

When used in conjunction with date and time specific contract pricing, this will automatically use the pricing as at the next due date for each item.

Date & Time-Specific Contract Pricing

Available to all customers with axis diplomat 2018 with Service Contract Management

Release Date: 01/10/2018

With the release of axis diplomat 2018, Date and Time-Specific Pricing and Discounting has been extended to encompass Contract Pricing.

It is now possible to define future pricing and discounting for contract items whilst also defining other future changes, such as whether customer discounts may be applied when the item appears on a contract.

It is also possible to define pricing as a percentage of the retail price. For example, the cost of maintaining an item could be set as 2% of the item's selling price per month; in this way, not only do you eliminate the need to calculate the maintenance cost but, if the selling price changes, the maintenance charge will change in line with it.

This example shows an item whose monthly maintenance charge increases from £3.00 per month to £3.40 per month from 1st January 2019

Default Service Contract Payment Method

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis diplomat 2016 or above and the Direct Debits module

Release Date: 01/06/2017

When entering a Service Contract, a Request for Service or converting a Request to a Contract, the system will now check the customer's account to see if a Direct Debit Mandate has been received. If it has, the Payment Method now defaults to Direct Debit, rather than the account's Default Payment Method.

This helps to avoid errors when the customer's default is "On Account" but Direct Debits are usually used for contracts.

Default Payment Frequency by Contract Type

Available to all customers with axis diplomat 2018 with Service Contract Management

Release Date: 01/10/2018

It is now possible to define, for each Contract Type, the default Payment Frequency. For example, maintenance contracts could default to monthly, whilst extended warranties could default to annual.

axis payroll

Support for NEST Pension Schemes

Available to all customers with axis payroll 2018

Release Date: 01/10/2018

The government introduced the Nest (National Employment Savings Trust) workplace pension scheme to support automatic enrolment. Whilst it was set up by the government, it is run as a trust.

As Nest is very popular with SMEs, support has been added to axis payroll 2018 as standard and made available to axis payroll 2016 customers through Software Assurance.

For those using other workplace pension schemes, optional modules are also available to link with a number of providers, including Peoples Pension, Scottish Widows, Legal & General and Aviva AME.

Plain Paper P45 and P60 Print

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis payroll 2018

Release Date: 23/07/2020

axis payroll now offers plain paper A4 printing for both P45 and P60 documents.

For more information:

https://www.axisfirst.co.uk/news/hmrc-to-discontinue-p45-stationery-from-august/8/1339

Automatic Workplace Pension Assessment

Available to all customers with axis payroll 2018

Release Date: 01/10/2018

A new system parameter has been added to enable automatic workplace pension assessment. A second parameter allows you to specify the deferral period (0-3 months) for new employees.

With this parameter set, whenever an employee start date is changed, the system will automatically set the assessment due date (based on the start date and deferral period) if the assessment due date falls before or within the current payroll period. A new "Calculate" button will automatically determine the employee's category.

In addition, the "Calculate Gross Pay" function checks that employees are correctly categorised.

Additional Columns added to HR and Employee Monitors

Available to Software Assurance customers with axis payroll 2018

Release Date: 20/03/2019

Two additional columns have been added to both the HR Monitor and the Employee Monitor:

• Address Postcode
• Driving Licence Next Check Due Date