Release notes: 2017
Release: November 22nd, 2017
Timeclock App - Clock into Project Task - A third tab has been added that lets you select a Project, then Phase, then Task. It will only show Projects/Phases that have incomplete Tasks. If the current employee has one or more Departments in their Department Filter then it will only show Projects/Phases that have incomplete Tasks associated with those Departments.
Notify on Task Completion for single instance - You can open Task Details for a single instance of a Task and add an employee/role/email that will be notified when the Task has been completed.
Qty of Phase Markers - Increased from 10 to 20
Qty of Phase Dates - Increased from 15 to 30
Brother Label Printer Integration with Manifest Actions - If using a Brother label printer you can use the P-Touch label designer to design your label and have it print when an Action is checked off the Manifest. Under Settings-->Options-->Manifests, double-click a record in the Actions table and store the file path to a Brother label file (*.lbx). You will need to install the Brother SDK b-PAC client component on the PC where the printing is happening.
Added Key Contacts & Businesses to Task Overview - New Column selections have been added so you can include Key Contacts and Businesses.
Project UDCText and UDCBit Fields - Added new UDC Fields to the Project Table. When configured, these fields will show up on an Additional Info table on the General Tab on the Project form.
Error Reporting - Modified the Error popup message so that when the Send option is used it will send in the background using a web service instead of using the user's email client. The email will still be sent to support@crowsnestsoftware.com using the logged in users email as the sender, which should create a ticket with the help desk. A screenshot will also automatically be included.
Employee Timeoff - A new button has been added to the Timeclock Form on the main desktop app and on the Summary tab on the Timecock desktop app. Clicking this button will display the current qty of available timeoff hours for the selected employee.
Search Project Notes - The bottom half of the Notes tab on the Project form has a table that will load the Notes from all the Project and all child objects of the Project (i.e. Tasks, Phases, Drawings, RFIs, etc.) and Tasks of child objects and allow you search through them.
Filter Contact Selection by Label - When the Select a Contact window opens there is a new field to filter by Label. Also the label name is searchable, so if you have a Contact Label named 'Vendor' and you type 'vendor' into the Search window it will match any Contacts that have that label.
Part Category added to MR Queue - Added the Category column to show the Category for the selected Part.
Bug Fix: Email to Group in Outlook - When emailing to an email Group, addresses were separated by a comma instead of a semi-colon.
Default Task Variation - Variation has been added to the Task Definition form to set the default variation for new instances of the Task.
Task Notes on Timeclock - Tasks on the Timeclock app have new columns indicating if Notes have been added to the Task and can be clicked to view the notes.
MR Queue Assign - You can highlight one or more items in the MR Queue and right-click and select 'Assign' to assign those items to an individual.
MR Queue Filters - On the left hand side of the MR Queue on the PO Form, it will display a tree-view showing each unique item in the Queue grouped by MR, Assigned and Part Category.
MR Queue Lock Items - You can right-click an item in the Filter or directly on the list of items in the MR Queue and Lock or Unlock items. If an item has been locked, it can't be edited unless the employee has the new permission turned named "Can Edit MR Locked Items". Using this method, you can turn on the permission to "Can Edit MR Submitted Items" so users can edit items even after they've submitted them until they've been Locked.
RFI Days - A new field has been added to Projects on the RFI tab for the default qty of days used to calculate the Need By Date for new RFIs. You can modify the default value for new projects in Options. When new RFIs are created and this value is greater than zero, it will set the Need By Date by adding this qty of days to today's date.
Task Filter Options for Assigned/Unassigned - New options have been added to Task Filters so you can choose wheter to display Assigned or Unassigned tasks. This can help to view all Unassigned Tasks.
Manifest Item Description Field - Increased character length from 255 to 500
Query Form Field Information - Hovering the mouse over a field in the list of tables will show the field type and size.
Release: October 22nd, 2017
Estimating - Use Scope Items to turn on Options - Right-click a Scope item in the Saved Items list and you can configure one or more Options for the selected Scope Items. When the Scope Item is added to the Included list, it will automatically add the configured Options to the current Group. If the item is moved to the Exclusions or back to the Library it will automatically remove the configured Options from the current group.
Auto-Refresh Option on Manifest Form - A new option titled 'Auto-Refresh on Scan' has been added so you can enable/disable the auto-refresh behavior when a scan is made. When this is on, if the value of an Action has been changed since the form has been loaded, it will automatically reload the list of items. This is handy when you're scanning items and you want the screen to automatically refresh, but if you're trying to read through the list while somebody else is scanning or you are reading through and manually scanning items, the auto-refresh will reload the list jumping to the top each time. The auto-refresh affects both the Selected Manifest and Summary tabs.
Business Accounting ID - A new field titled Accounting ID has been added to Businesses to store the ID from your Accounting system to be used when importing/exporting data.
Tiered Vendor Pricing - A new field titled "Qty Tier" is added to Vendor Pricing records allowing you to store tiered pricing. Enter the 'floor' or minimum qty that would qualify the pricing on the record. For example, if your vendor gave you a price break at qty 50 and 100, you could have one record with a Qty Tier of 0 at $1.00, a record with Qty Tier of 50 at $0.90 and another record with a Qty Tier of 100 at $0.80
Links for Project Colors and Samples - The Samples list has a new column that can be used to link Samples to Project Colors. A new Status column has been added to the Project Colors table. New settings have been added to Options to define which Project Color Status should be automatically set when a linked Sample is Approved or Rejected. If a linked sample is unchecked as Approved or Rejected, it will change the Project Color status back to the default status.
Assign Role during Task Trigger - When tasks are triggered that are assigned to a Project Role that is not assigned, prompts will offer to assign the Role prior to opening the Task Trigger window. If a Role is assigned, and there are incomplete tasks that should be assigned to the Role, it will offer to reassign the tasks. This is the same behavior when a Role is changed on the project.
Reports Tab on Project Form - A new tab titled 'Reports' has been added to the Project form. Load custom reports with the prefix 'CN_PROJECT_' to have them appear on this tab. To scope the report to the current project, include a Hidden parameter named @ProjectID in the report definition and use it to filter the report data as needed.
Alerts on General Tab - A new Alert has been added titled 'Late Tasks' on the Alert section on the General tab of the Project Form. The Alerts are now clickable and clicking on an Alert will jump to the corresponding tab for the current project.
Alias for MR and Change Order - New Alias options have been added so you can rename MR and Change Order.
Inventory Locations - Inventory can now be Moved to Locations. Locations is a customizable list of physical locations such as "Warehouse A", "Panel Saw" or "Aisle 5, Shelf 2, Bin A". On each Inventory Record you can select the Default Location that will be used when Receiving a PO Item. Wherever you have an Inventory Detail view, a new right-click menu option titled "Move Location" will allow you to move all or part of the inventory to another Location. Inventory detail functions have also been added to the Mobile App for iOS and Android. New options have been added to the PO and Inventory forms allowing you to have it Prompt for a Location when using Receive Remaining. When this options is turned on, and you use Receive Remaining, it will prompt you for a Location and then apply the selected Location to all of the new Receiving records.
Import Vendors from Quickbooks - On the Quickbooks PO Transfer form a new option has been added to Import Vendors from Quickbooks.
My Tasks - The 'My Tasks' area on the bottom of the main form has been modified so it works exactly like the Task Overview form giving you complete control over what data is shown and how it is sorted. In the Default view it will show all Tasks assigned to the currently logged in employee and show a few basic columns. To load a custom view, click the 'My Tasks' header above the list of Tasks and select from Filters that have been created under My Filters on the Task Overview form.
Manifest Import Changes - When importing a CSV with a Header Row, the Header text is used to identify the Columns. You can put the in any order. The header text must match the name of the database column name. For UDC columns, you can either use the database column name, or the alias for the column. You cannot use the alias for columns configured as N/A however you can still import values to the column if you use the database column name. Do not use aliases if you have the same alias for multiple UDC columns. Importing from ODBC or Access will work will work the same and the column names in the data returned from the query will work the same way as the column headers from the CSV. Importing a CSV without a header row works the same as before this update but is not recommended and will be unsupported in future versions.
Release: September 25th, 2017
Part and Part List Mods - New functions have been added to the Parts and Part Lists form to aid in bulk inserting of Inventory. On the Parts form, you can right-click any number of rows and select "Change Category" to change the category for multiple parts. The "Add to Part List" has been fixed so it won't add a Part to a List if it already has been added. On the Part Lists form you highlight a cell in one or more rows, then right-click and select "Populate Vendor Pricing" to fill in the Vendor and Price column from the vendor pricing tables. To insert bulk adjustments to Inventory, or to convert a manually counted item to an inventory item, you can fill in the Current column with the quantity you want to add to inventory, then select a cell in one or more rows, then right-click and select "Add Current Qty to Inventory". The line item will be added to Inventory if it's not there already, and a new Manual Adjustment Transaction will be added using the Price and Qty from the row on the Part List.
Date Formula Budget Hours Mods - Custom Formulas for dates can now reference the budget for an Operation by appending a colon and the Operation name to the Department name (i.e. BudgetHours). Project Date formulas can now reference Budget Hours as well.
Bug Fix: Lunch Period - There was a scenario where if you clocked out at exactly the end of the lunch period, it would not adjust the record for lunch. If you set up rounding of time punches, than it is far more likely this may occur.
Add Phase Tasks from Template - A new right-click option has been added to the Phase list on the Project form. Select a cell in one or more rows, right-click and select 'Add Tasks from Template', then select a Phase Template and click OK. All of the Tasks from the selected Template will be added to the selected Phases.
Bug Fix: License Seats Used - After a recent release, the View License Seats used window was not working when opened from the Login window.
Bug Fix: Drawing Status Notification - An error occurred if the user answered yes to adding an additional note to the status change notification.
Employee Permissions Mods - New Permissions have been added. The Permissions have been rearranged. You can right-click permissions and copy to or from another employee.
Project Date Formulated from Phase Dates - When setting a formula for a Project Date you can select a Min or Max Phase Date as the Origin Date.
Phase Date Formulated from Project Dates - When setting a formula for a Project Date you can select Project Date as the Origin Date.
Quickbooks QBFC Upgrade to Latest Version - On PCs that have Quickbooks installed and are doing direct integration from CN to Quickbooks, intsalling QBFC is required. We've upgraded to using QBFC 13.0. The QBFC 13.0 installer can be downloaded from our web site under Customer Support then Customer Downloads.
Edit Amount Done on SOV - You can now edit the Amount Done to auto-calculate the Percent Done instead of only editing the Percent Done.
Immediate Windows on Query Form - There is a new immediate tab on the upper right corner of the Query form where you can enter queries and run them without first creating a query record to store the query.
Inventory Filter for Project and Phase - New filters for Project and Phase have been added to the Inventory form. When this filter is used, it will only display items that have a non-zero qty allocated to the filtered Project or Phase.
Release: August 31st, 2017
Filter Project by Requirement - The filter below the Project list on the Project form now has a filter for Requirements
Xero PO Export Mod - Modified the code to show error information returned from the Xero API for troubleshooting.
DB Utility Timeout - Increased the Timeout period to 5 minutes while running a Database Update using the DB Utility to facilitate slower servers.
Bug Fix: Adding Tasks on Task Trigger Window - After the August 1st Release, adding a new Task to the Task Trigger window after it loads caused an error and the task did not get added. The error indicated a NULL value could not be saved in the AutoFill_TaskBudget column.
Phase Budget Labor Rates - When editing the Bugdet Records on a Phase Detail window, it will display the Labor Rate for each row and when the amount of Hours is changed it will automatically update the Amount. The Labor Rate will be checked for in this order Project Department Rate Override, Project Category Rate Override, Category Default Rate, Default Rate. The Project Rate Overrides can be configured on the Project Cost form. The Default Rate and Category Rates can be configured on the Labor tab under Settings-->Options.
Phase Detail Navigation - Two new buttons at the top of of the Phase Detail button have been added so you can cycle through the Phases on a Project without closing the form.
Added _Logoff Table - A new table named _Logoff has been added to the database. Using SQL to insert records to this table will force a logoff from either a Specific User, or on a Specific PC. Insert a record with a PCName and any clients logged in on that PC will logout and will get an "Update in Progress" message and will not be able to login until the record is removed. Insert a record with a LoginID to do the same per employee.
Complete Task when Checklist is Completed - When the Task Detail form is opened and there are Checklist items and the last one is Completed, it will prompt the user to Complete the Task.
Save Default Markup for Estimates - Next to the Labor and Material Default Markup on the Estimate form are links that will allow you to save the displayed value for either the current Project or for all Projects that haven't had a value saved.
Calendar form Completed Phase Option - This option is now 'sticky' and will remember the previous value per employee.
Release: August 25th, 2017
Bug Fix: Custom Formulas and VBSCript - In the August 24th release, any Date Formulas using "Custom Formula" and processing a VBScript stopped working. This is fixed in this release.
Release: August 24th, 2017
Bug Fix: Inventory - After a recent update, when receiving PO items, it was not linking the PO Receiving Record to the Inventory Transaction record. The Inventory Transaction would show "PO Item: DELETED" in the Reference column. This bug shoudl be fixed, but you may have records that need to be cleaned up. Please contact customer support to help with this.
Project Role Columns added to Task Overview - Each Project Role is available as a data column on the Task Overview form.
Added Business and Contact fields to Transmittal - There are new fields where you can select a Business and Contact to address the Transmittal to. If you've already imported the previous Canned Report for Transmittals, re-import from the Reports folder where Crows Nest is installed and the revised report will use these selections in the header.
Project & Phase Filters added to Manifest Summary - Filter the Manifest Summary by Project and Phase
Added UDC Text fields to MRs - Configure UDC fields that appear above the MR Items list.
Added a Category Filter to the Select a Part window - Select a Part Category to limit the list of Parts.
Double-click to Preview Report on MR Queue - Double-clicking an item in the MR Queue on the PO Form will select the Print Preview shortcut.
Added a Labor Rates table to the Project Cost form - On the Project Cost form you can customize labor rates per project so that when you're entering Labor Hours it will calculate the cost using the customized rates if present.
New Notifictions Added for Drawing Added and Drawing Status Change - Configure these on the Notifications tab under Settings-->Options.
Added Business Folders - There is a setting on the Folders tab in Settings-->Options where you can designate a folder where Business files should be kept. On the Business form, there is a new Folder tab. When the Folder tab is selected it will attempt to find or create a subfolder using the Business name in the designated folder.
Import Bluebeam Markups to Estimates - Export Markups in Bluebeam using XML and them import them by right-clicking the Group tree on an Estimate. The 'Subject' field from the Markup will be matched up with a Product in the Crows Nest Product Library. If none is found, it will create a new Product with a Type of 'Added During Import' that can be edited after import.
Add 'Required' Option on Phase Templates for Dates, Qty and UDC - On the Phase Template editor, there are new options for "Required" to designate certain fields that must be filled out when creating a new Phase.
Added Export PO Form - A new form has been added to Export PO data. Open the form from the menu Export-->Purchase Orders. The Method list will populate from records in the ExportConfig table with a value of 2 in the Type column. The ExportConfig record will contain an SQL Query to format the exported data and a name for the export. Contact customer support if you would like to export your Purchase Order data. A new column titled Exported has been added to the PO table to indidate the PO was exported. This date is only visible on the Export PO form..
Release: August 10th, 2017
RFI Attachment Links - A new checkbox on the Links sub-tab for RFIs allows you to designate a Link as an attachment. When an RFI is emailed from the CN interface, it will also attach the file from any links marked as an attachment.
Sortable Link Lists - The various lists of Links through the app have new column headers allowing you to sort the links by description.
Export Invoice Form - A new form has been added to Export Invoice data. Open the form from the menu Export-->Invoices. The Method list will populate from records in the ExportConfig table with a value of 1 in the Type column. The ExportConfig record will contain an SQL Query to format the exported data and a name for the export. Contact customer support if you would like to export your Invoice data. A new column titled Exported has been added to the Invoice list under Projects to show the date that the Invoice was exported.
MR Item Rejection Mods - When MR Items are rejected, it will log who rejected it and when, and store the note entered by the user who rejected the item. A new column on the MR table titled "Rejected" will show the note, and hovering the mouse over the error icon will display who rejected it and when. An option has been added to the Notification tab in Settings-->Options titled "MR Item Rejection - Notify Author" that will let you turn on/off the email notification that is sent to the author of the MR for the item that was rejected.
Bug Fix: Task Schedule - When adding records to create a scheduled Task, certain configurations were not working properly. This has been fixed in this release.
Added Show/Hide Columns to Materials Ordered - Columns can be rearranged by selecting a column header and then dragging the column header. Column visibility can be controlled by right-clicking the list of items and selecting Show/Hide Columns.
Added Transmittals Area - A new tab has been added to the Project form for creating Transmittals. The left hand side of the tab will list all of the Transmittals created on the current project. Right-click the list of Transmittals for options such as Add/Delete, Print, Save to PDF and Email. After selecting a Transmittal in the list, the tab to the right titled Selected Manifest will show the information for the selected Transmittal. Typical items such as Notes, Links, Folder and Pic are present and work the same as other areas of Crows Nest. The Items tab lets you add one or more items to the the Transmittal. You can also add Items that linked to a Sample from the Samples list. If an item is linked to a Transmittal, then editing the Approved, Rejected or Returned field on either the Sample or Transmittal item will be synced. If you edit the Date Sent on a Transmittal it will update the Date Sent on a Sample, but editing the Sent Date on a single Sample will not update the Date Sent for an entire Transmital. A column titled Linked Sample will indicate if an Item is linked to a Sample. The Details tab lets you enter values for all of the UDCs (User Defined Columns) configured in Options. New options have been added for Folders to control subfolder creation for new Transmtitals. Two canned reports named 'Letter of Transmittal' and 'Sample Labels' have been included. The All Items tab to the right of the list of Transmittals will list all Items for all Transmittals on the current project. On the All Items list you can only edit the fields Approved, Rejected, Date Sent and Date Returned. To edit other fields go to the specific Transmittal and edit the list of Items.
Release: August 1st, 2017
Drawing Status Mods - You can color code the Drawing Status records the same way you can for a Project Status. The 'Default Status' setting has been removed from options and setting a default status is now done the same way as it is for Projects by right-clicking the status in the status selection pop-up window. If you set colors for a status, all drawing rows with that status will use the configured Fore and Back color for that status. You can no longer set the Status of a drawing to None. If no Default Drawing Status was configured prior to this update, it will add a new status named 'Default' and assign it to all drawings without a status.
Drawing Miscellaneous Mods - Added a Sum tool to the drawing log, select more than one cell and it will display the sum total of the selected cells above the drawing log. The current row is highlighted with a black rectangle. Revision records can be deleted by right-clicking them. UDC Text fields for drawings increased from 5 to 10.
Date Formula Mods - A new option has been added for for calculating the Modifier for a Custom Formula. The Custom Formula option will allow you to enter in either an expression or a script that will be evaluated as VBScript. Also, the Custom Formula will allow specific variables including Qty fields and Budget Hours from the parent record. On the popup window to edit a Date Formula, click the Help button on the upper right for more information.
Auto-Fill Task Budget Hours - On the Task Definition form and the Hours tab of the Task Details form there is a new option titled "Auto-Fill Budget Hours". If this is checked, the Budget Hours for a task will be updated and capacity dates for the task recalculated when the Budget Hours has been modified on a Project or Phase. If you set this as the Task Definition level, it will automatically be turned on for new Tasks of this type. It will also offer to change this setting to match the definition for all existing tasks using the definition. This option can be turned on/off on each instance of a Task on the Hours tab of the Task Details form. The budget hours will be populated based on the Labor Department and Operation selected on the Task Definition. If a Department only is selected on a Task Definition, it will load the total amount of Hours for that Department in the Project Budget. If an Operation is also selected on the Task Definition, it will load the total amount of Hours for that Operation in the Project Budget. If the Task is a Project task, it will included hours from the budget for the entire project. If the Task is a Phase task, it will include hours from the budget for only that Phase.
Save Product Customizations to Library - Right-click a line-item in a take-off in Estimating and there are new options to jump to the product library so you can edit the product on the current line, or to save any modifications on the current line back to the product library.
Stored Material Value on SOV - A new column is added to the SOV to indicate the current stored material value. This is a manual field that stores a currency value. A new canned report is included for Invoices to populate data to be used for AIA payment application forms.
MR Items, Show/Hide Columns - A right-click option to Show/Hide Columns has been added to the MR Item table.
Display Root Project Folders - A new option has been added to Options-->Folders titled "Display Root Folders". If this option is turned on, the Root Project Folder will be displayed on the Folders tab on the Project form. If it's turned off, the Root folder will be hidden and only Project Sub Folders will be displayed. If you are using Project Folder 2, then when this option is turned off, the sub folders for Folder 1 & 2 will be merged.
Inventory option default setting for New Parts - A new setting titled "Turn Inventory on by Default for New Parts" has been added to the "Inventory/Parts" tab under Settings-->Options.
Inventory Option Added - On the Inventory a new option has been added titled "Clear Filters Automatically to Locate Inventory" to disable the behavior where the filters are automatically cleared so that a recently added or modified item can be reselected after a refresh.
Add n number of Manifest Items - Added a right-click option when adding items to a manifest to add n number of blank items at once.
Quickbooks Integration Improvements - The way Crows Nest syncs with Quickbooks objects has been redesigned to use an incremental sync method to work a lot faster. It will also recognize Employees, Projects and Vendors automatically using the following method without having to manually map the Additional fields in Quickbooks. For Employees, it will look for a match of First, Middle and Last name first, if none are found it will look for match of First and Last. This is not case-sensitive. For Projects, it will look for a Customer or Job in that starts with the Crows Nest Project ID followed by a space. For Vendors, it will look match the Vendor name to the Crows Nest Business Name or Abbreviated Name. If the names don't match between Crows Nest and Quickbooks, you can still use the Additional fields in Quickbooks to force a connection between objects that don't match. To do this, add Additional fields in Quickbooks named "CN Employee ID", "CN Project ID" and "CN Vendor ID". Entering the database ID number from a corresponding item in Crows Nest will map a connection between the two objects.
Release: July 12, 2017
Invoice Form Mods - Invoice form has been modified to show the correct amount when Taxes are added to an invoice. New columns are added to show the amounts for Discount, Retention and Tax. A new right-click option is available to Add a Payment directly from the Invoice form without going to the Invoice on the Project form.
Fix: Scheduled Task w/ Checklist - When a Task was created based on a schedule, it was not adding the predefined checklist. The new version of the Email Service in this install fixes this issue. If you're running a previous version of the Email Service named "Crows Nest Email Server", you should uninstall prior to installing the latest version. After installation, open the Crows Nest Email Service Interface and Start the Service.
Release: July 11, 2017
Drawing Revision Mods - A new field has been added and the flow of revisions has been modified. There is a new column named "Revision Note" that is used to store a note for the current drawing record. When a new revision is created, the value of this column will be stored on the Revision record in the Revisions sub table, and the user will be prompted to enter the Revision Note for the new revision instead of entering a note to be saved with the previous revision. In addition, the Revisions sub table will display the current revision as well as previous revisions. The row showing the current revision will be linked to the parent drawing record and editing either one will edit the data in both places. Also added in the right-click menu for the Revisions sub-table is the ability to show/hide columns on the Revisions table and also to edit the revision note.
Release: July 7, 2017
PO Tax Rate Defaults – You can now set a tax rate on a PO that will affect all line items on the PO. Setting a Tax Rate on a PO Item will override the Tax Rate on the PO. The Tax Rate setting is near the Shipping and Payment terms for the vendor. You can also set a default tax rate per vendor on the Business form on the Vendor tab. This rate will be automatically filled in on the PO when the PO is first created.
Release: June 13, 2017
Phase Import – Right-click the list of Phases to import a list of Phases from CSV. The column order in the CSV is as follows: Template, Description, LongDescription, Priority, Shipment, Qty Columns, Date Columns, Marker Columns, UDC Columns. For Qty, Date, Marker and UDC Columns, list them in numerical order and do not include columns for fields omitted in settings by naming them “N/A”.
VBScript for Report Parameter – VBScript expressions can be used for the Default Date argument of Date Parameters in Custom Reports
Fixed Invoice Retention Bug – Fixed a bug that calculated Retention incorrectly when mixing SOV and Custom items on the same Invoice. To fix projects affected by this, edit an Invoice Retention item and save it to have it recalculate the retention for invoices on the project.
Updated Report Viewer – The Report Viewer control has been updated to the latest version so you can now use the 2016 version of Report Builder 3.0 to edit report definitions.
Migrated to .NET 4.5 – This new version targets .NET 4.5, which is not available on Windows XP or Server 2003, so it will not run on those operating systems.