Recent Software Developments
Listed below are a number of the key enhancements that have been added to axis diplomat and axis payroll.
Kernel (Core) Software
Improved Usability of Monitors
Available to axis diplomat 2018 Software Assurance customers
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.
Sales Ledger, CRM & Sales Order Processing
Additional information in Recent Sales dialog
Available to axis diplomat 2018 Software Assurance customers
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
- Discountinued?
- 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:
Allow Deletion of Customer Contacts
Available to axis diplomat 2018 Software Assurance customers
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:
Search added for Delivery Addresses in Sales Order Maintenance
Available to axis diplomat 2018 Software Assurance customers
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.
Purchase Ledger & Purchase Order Processing
Purchase Order Due Dates
Available to axis diplomat 2018 Software Assurance customers with 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.
Purchase Order Attachments shown in Supplier Enquiry
Available to axis diplomat 2018 Software Assurance customers
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.
Purchase Requirements and Back-to-Back Orders
Available to axis diplomat 2018 Software Assurance customers with 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.
Stock Ledger, Bill of Materials & MRP
Stock Record Block Amendment and Cost Type
Available to all axis diplomat 2016 customers with the Bill of Materials module
Release Date: 06/01/2020
Stock Record Block Amendment now allows you to change the Cost Type for a selection of stock records.
Cost Type may be set to one of the following:
- Material
- Labour
- Sub-contract
The Cost Type is used to sub-divide cost analysis within Bill of Materials reporting.
Stock Control Monitor
Available to axis diplomat 2018 Software Assurance customers
Release Date: 04/12/2019
Two additional columns have been added to the Stock Control Monitor. These columns indicate whether the items are Discontinued and Available for Purchasing.
Filter Aged Stock Valuation Report for Discontinued Items
Available to all axis diplomat 2016 customers
Release Date: 03/12/2019
The Aged Stock Valuation Report can now be filtered to only show Discontinued Items or, conversely, to exclude them:
Warehouse Management
Improved performance when printing Delivery Notes
Available to axis diplomat 2018 Software Assurance customers with 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.