Workbench Release Notes

New Features

Stock

Enhancements have been made in various areas of the stock module, mainly to simplify and standardise the way stock is costed, and particularly to make it clear how the Average Cost is derived. There are no significant changes to the processing itself.

Period Average costing method

Previously the Period Average cost was calculated for each item on the month end stock closeout, and then that cost rate was used for all the following month. But this approach sometimes gave rise to anomalies, where there were large receipts of stock early in the month at significantly increased prices. In this case subsequent stock issues in the month were undercosted.

So the Period Average costing method has been changed so that it is recalculated automatically whenever items are received into stock, or stock value adjustments or inwards transfers are entered.

The calculation is:

[Value of Stock at the start of the period] + [Value of Receipts] + [Value of Stock Value Adjustments] + [Value of Inwards Transfers]

divided by

[Quantity of Stock at the start of the period] + [Quantity of Receipts] + [Quantity of Inwards Transfers]

Last Cost

Previously the Last Cost on stock items and item/locations was updated from the cost on the PO line when the stock was receipted with Inwards Goods. Now the Last Cost updated from the actual costs recorded on AP Invoices which include purchases for stock. This happens as soon as the AP Invoice is approved.

FC Stock Purchases

When a stock receipt cost accrual (JobTransactions) record is created from an inwards goods, where the PO was raised in a foreign currency, the LC Cost is calculated from the FC Cost using the current currency exchange rate.

The exception is where the PO line being receipted is from a PO with a fixed exchange rate, in which case the conversion is at the PO exchange rate.

Stock Returns

The Cost Rate on Stock Returns is now editable. When entering stock returns, display the unit cost as currently, but allow it to be edited. This is to enable the return to be made for the same value as the original issue and avoid leaving a residual balance on the job.

Standard Cost Import

A new import function enables standard costs, by item or item / location, to be populated from an import spreadsheet.

Recosting Utility

A wbUpdateAllStockCosts utility is provided to recalculate and repopulate the Last and Average Cost Rates on all stock items and locations. It should not need to be used in normal circumstances as these rates are updated in real-time as transactions are entered.

Purchasing

• Purchasing Catalogues automatic Cost rate updates:
  If you want your POs to always have an up-to-date cost (from the last approved AP Invoice) there is a new optional flag on Purchasing Catalogues to update catalogue lines with this last cost.
  This will work for both types of Catalogues, those that are supplier-specific, or generic catalogues.
  

  

Administration

• Multi-file Attachments:
  Users can now attach multiple files simultaneously, either using Drag&Drop or selecting the files from the file location.
  The x can remove a file if you change your mind before the final upload.
  The attachment attributes will be used for all files attached at the same time.

  

Feature Revisions

Jobs

• Budgets - Inherit Sell option on Revenue lines:
  We have added the new option 'Inherit Sell' to calculate a Sell value on Revenue lines (on RCE budget type), same as we did on a Quote’s Cost Sheets on the last release.
  

  

Purchasing

• Purchase Orders

  • Numbering source on Purchase Orders - Location or Profit Centre?
    In an effort to clarify where the PO number is derived from and remove complexity from the PO, we have made some enhancements, that hide or show the Location or Profit Centre options from a PO Header based on the PO Numbering source setup.
    
    The control parameter "PO Numbering Source" can have one of these 3 possible values: Location, Profit Centre, Job Profit Centre.
    
    The rules are as follows based on the Control Parameter value:
    Location

    1. Numbering - uses Location on setting “Next Purchase Order Number” (or next number by Finco or Global, if By Location is not set)

    2. Only the Location combo is displayed on PO header.

    3. PO Profit Centre = User’s Profit Centre (not visible from the UI)

    4. Note that the Setting "PO Location Default" is applied where a default is set on the User creating the PO.
       

       

    Profit Centre or Job Profit Centre

  • Numbering - uses Profit Centre on setting “Next Purchase Order Number” (or next number by Finco or Global, if not set for the Profit Centre)

  • Only the Profit Centre combo is displayed in the PO Header.

  • PO Location = Profit Centre’s Location (not visible from the UI)
    

    

  • Line Refernce in PO lines:
    Line Reference value appeared not to save, but it was saved in the database and not displayed. This has been fixed.
    

• AP Vouchers:

  • AP Vouchers functionality to add a PDF as the Invoice image has been restored. When loading an attachment, if there is no invoice image the system prompts ‘Is this attachment the invoice image?'.
    

Stock

• Inwards Goods error:
  We fixed an error that was coming up when creating Inwards goods for a line that had either no item code or an item code purchased against a normal Job (not a Stock Location Job).
  

• BOM Import:
  A new option to import Bill Of Materials (BOM) is available, and we hope this simplifies the ongoing maintenance of BOMs (wbImportBillOfMaterialsWeb).
  It can insert new BOM headers and lines, and update existing headers and lines. It will not handle deleting.

  • It assumes that the required BOM item exists as a Stock Item.
    

    

    
    

Subcontracts

• Subcontractor Insurances report:
  It has been reviewed to make sure all included companies are Subcontractors (flagged in the Company as Subcontractor and not just a supplier)
  

• Work Order - Work centre and Description defaulting:
  The Work Centre was not defaulting based on the rule set up in the Activity Group when the Activity changed on the WO line. This has been rectified.
  

• Work Order - Job Site address:
  The Job site address was not being populated on the WO when using Structured addresses. This has been rectified.
  

• Subcontract Claims - New Claim Attachment popup, attachments not working:
  When creating a new subcontract claim via +New Claim Attachment, after clicking the button "New Claim" the file Attachments were not working. This has been rectified.
  

• Subcontract All in one report (wbSubcontractClaim005):
  When a subcontract has a Retention Trust Account (RTA), the Payment Certificate report (Subcontract All in one) had an extra blank page between page 1 and page 2. This has been rectified.
  

Timesheets

• Time Off In Lieu - TOIL in Timesheets:
  We have made a small change on the Timesheet screen when TOIL is enabled: The text describing how to enter TOIL quantities has been removed and it now only shows on hover over the Toil Job.
  

  

Billing

• Reporting Error on Final Invoice:
  Clicking on Final Invoice button caused an error mentioning ReportViewer/security. It only happened when no report had been manually rendered in Workbench since the application was restarted. This is a very rare scenario and has been fixed.
  

• The Cancel button on Job Invoices was not working (oops) and is now back!
  

Service Desk

• Purchase Orders - defaulting LogNo when created from a Log:
  When raising a PO from a Log, the system now auto-populates the Job & LogNo on each new PO line.

Month End

• Temporary Utility for the migration of LogNumber from the header to the lines on AP Invoices and AP Vouchers:
  This is only there for our Support Team or Consultants to execute if needed. Do not execute this without being advised to do so or having discussed this with Workbench.

  

• FC change on Job Adjustments Batch:
  When changing the currency on a Job Adjustment Batch, the FC rate was not being updated. This has been rectified.
  

Administration

• Invalid error when creating a New User:
  In some cases when creating a new user an unhandled error “Sequence contains no matching element.” was preventing users from saving it. The workaround was not to assign licences via the Application Access tab in the User, and instead saving it with no licence and assigning the licences via Licence Matrix. We have fixed this issue.
  

Integration

SAP B1

We have made changes that affect the SAP B1 Integration. Make sure you have the latest version of the SAP Agent for the integration to continue to run smoothly.

Wiise & Business Central

When exporting AR Invoices and AR Credits, the Job Code can be exported as the “Your Reference“ field in Wiise and Business Central. A new option is available on the Business Central Integration screen in Workbench: Pass JobCode to Your Reference

Custom extension version 1.24.0.0 must be installed in the client’s BC instance to support this function. The extension can be downloaded here.