Parts Tracker Revision History

3.0.8 (1 November 2008)

Enhancements

An order can now be copied to the clipboard for pasting into other applications (e.g. email) or exported to a file. Various formats are supported: plaint text, tab-separated, CSV, and OpenOffice Calc (with more to come). [Suggested by Mike from the UK].
The Stock Card functionality now supports "Transfer" stock transactions. These represent stock transfers between bowling or stock centres (you can set up centres in the Settings window). This is different to part loans (which are tracked separately and are able to be 'repaid'). [Suggested by KCR from Melbourne]
A new report has been added: Part Transfers. This lists stock transactions of type 'Transfer To' and 'Transfer From'.
The order number (in the Order window) is now editable. It still defaults to the auto-generated number (which is the month, year and order count for that month, e.g. Sep08-2), but you can change it. It must be unique - i.e. if you enter an order number that is already used, it displays a message and disallows the change. If you clear the order number, it resets back to the auto-generated number (e.g. Sep08-2).
The Print Copy and Price and Availability buttons in the Order window has been combined and replaced with a Print Order button. The Print Order button opens a window to select which Order-related report to print: the Order Form, the Price and Availability Request, or the Picking Sheet.
The trouble call types list (Settings window) now lets you enter a mnemonic for each trouble call type. You can type this in when selecting a trouble call type in the call logging window as a shortcut to pressing the appropriate button with the mouse. E.g. you can press Enter to start adding a call, press the lane number (e.g. 12), then press the call type mnemonic (e.g. P for pile up, or EL for elevator, etc, whatever you have configured), then press Enter to save the call (or type in comments, etc).
The trouble call types list (Settings window) now lets you specify which trouble call types allow entry of pins (e.g. for calls relating to specific pins/bins like pile ups, respots, etc). You can specify one or more pins when entering trouble calls in the Call Logging window by typing in the pin numbers (e.g. 2 6 10, or 123, or 4 7, etc). You can also specify "take away" pins by including a minus sign - e.g. -7 means remove the 7 pin, etc. The pin(s) specified appear in the call list print out (accessible from the Call Logging window).
The Trouble Call Weekly report now honours the "Include in Rating" and "Report" flags correctly (which are configured against the Trouble Call Types in the Settings window). A call type will only appear in the weekly report if the Report flag is ticked. Further, if a call type is included in the report, it will only be counted in the rated calls (and affect the rating) if the "Include in Rating" flag is also ticked. Call types which are included in the report but not included in the rating are shown in a separate section on the report (i.e. the report is now grouped into "rated" and "non-rated" calls).
The trouble call types list (Settings window) now lets you specify whether the call type applies to a pair. If it applies to a pair, then when that call type is selected, lane pairs will be listed instead of individual lanes. Note that calls logged against lane pairs will be shown in the weekly report and graphs against the odd lane. A future enhancement will be to report these evenly between the two machines (e.g. half each).
In the Trouble Call Weekly Report, a lighter colour font is now used for per-lane and per-type sub-totals which are zero.
The Open Order dialog box now includes counts next to each criteria option. E.g. if there are 2 uncommitted orders, then the caption is "Uncommitted (2)".

Bugs

Prices were not being populated on order form when using suggest parts for the first time immediately after creating an order, but only if no default supplier was set in Settings.
The Current Stock Report (Parts -> Reports -> Current Stock Report) no longer excludes parts which have no price or pack unit quantity (this criteria was erroneously included in the first place).
The bin drop down list in the stock card window is now sorted alphabetically.
For sites who were using the trouble call logging module (beta version) and had set up call types corresponding to pairs, an error would occur when changing between call types that applied to a pair. The error has been fixed.

3.0.7 (1 August 2008)

Enhancements

A report for miscellaneous account transactions has been added to the main menu under Finance -> Reports -> Misc Trans Detailed Report. This is the same report as shown/printed from with the Misc Transactions screen, but allows quick printing of all transactions by month or year (rather than going into the Misc Transactions screen, which doesn't support month-by-month filtering).
You can now enter a discount (percentage) against a supplier which will apply automatically to all parts ordered from that supplier. [Suggested by Nick from CT, USA].
Can now specify the sort order of the order screen, receive order screen, order print out, and price and availability print out. This can be configured by default in the Settings screen, and also overridden ad-hoc within the order and receive screens. [Suggested by KCR from Melbourne, Australia].
The 'Choose part pack size' window now sorts by price per unit (from best price to worst price).
Many companies who use non-calendar financial years (e.g. July to June) label their financial year based on the end date of the year - e.g. FY07/08 is labelled "2008". Parts Tracker now lets you configure this (by default Parts Tracker labels the year by the start of the year). [Suggested by Nick from CT, USA].
Parts Ordered Report now allows extra criteria options for which orders are included and which date (order date, received date, billing month) the date filtering is applied to.
Trouble call logging can now be performed in real time using the Trouble Call Log window. This is separate from the Trouble Call Grid window (which shows a per-machine-per-call-type view for one week), which is still supported. The Call Log window lets you log an individual call and includes extra information such as: the date/time, the user logging the call, a comment, the pin specification (for resets, etc). Calls logged this way automatically appear in the weekly grid window and the weekly report. You can still edit calls in the weekly grid, but note that calls added via the weekly grid appear as a single entry in the call log (which may comprise a call count greater than 1).
Call Log window - calls logged are listed in the Call Log window with option to select 'today', 'yesterday', 'this week', 'last week'. You can also search for and list calls logged by date, machine, type and user.
Call Log window - you can click the small padlock icon next to the date/time field to lock the date/time. This means you can make multiple entries in bulk for a past date without having to keep setting the date. This could be useful if you - for example - log the calls the following day (from a written log sheet), etc. Note that if you log calls on a weekly basis, you can still use Parts Tracker's traditional weekly grid-view for trouble call entry (where you just type the call count for each machine/call type for that week).
Call Log window - calls listed in any of the lists in the Call Log window can be printed using the Print button at the bottom of the list. This allows a fast way to print a filtered list of calls (e.g. calls from yesterday, or all calls this week, etc). [Suggested by Nick from CT, USA].
Call Log window - the call type buttons used in the Call Log window can be customised with respect to their colour. This helps the user find the right button quickly. The default 'rainbow' arrangement is just a sample. Press the Settings button to edit the button colours.
Call Log window - the Summary tab in the Call Log window lets you quickly see a summary of calls occurring on each shift (day versus night) for each day of the current week (or the selected week). [Suggested by Nick from CT, USA].
Call Log window - the Summary tab in the Call Log window lets you quickly see a list of repeat calls - i.e. if any machine has had the same fault (call type) more than once in the last seven days, it will apprear in this list. Double-clicking an entry takes you to the Search tab which lists the repeat calls on that machine.
Now that call logging is (optionally) in real time, a week number is automatically determined from the current date. This requires you to configure the system by which you define your week numbers in relation to the date (and the year). Use the Week Numbering settings in the Financial Year tab of the Settings window to control how week 1 is defined in relation to the start of the year. [Suggested by Nick from CT, USA].
Call Log window - the user can type lane numbers or trouble call type mnemonics to quickly select via the keyboard (saves mouse clicks).
There is now a button in the trouble call entry grid window which jumps to the current week.

Bugs

Event types/categories setup screen was not working in Office 2007.
A dialog was popping up unexpectedly to ask the user to save changes in Parts screen and Part List in Office 2007.
Trouble call grid and chart was not working in Office 2007 (patch previously release - now incorporated into Parts Tracker).
The picking sheet was sometimes not printing.
When ordering a part which had no preferred supplier, a warning message was erroneously displayed.
Bin drop down list in Parts screen and Parts list is now sorted.
Deleting a part with a picture caused an error unless picture was deleted first.
Fixed a bug in the Parts Usage Report which would occur if the same part was ordered twice on two orders on the same date (which affected the part of the report which shows the last price from orders for that part).
The default order shipping method option in the Settings window was not working (it was always empty and didn't let you select a shipping method).
Added more logging to help diagnose licencing issues.

3.0.6 (1 July 2007)

Enhancements

You can now check for Parts Tracker updates by going to: Main Menu -> Settings -> Check for Updates. In a later version, this process will be (optionally) automated (but for now, it is manual).
Category list in the Add Maintenance Event window is now alphabetical.
The fields shown at the top of the order form print out have been rearranged slightly to improve readability and layout.

Bugs

The way the centre logo is stored in the Parts Tracker data file has been modified due to reports of various problems with the logo not appearing or appearing incorrectly.
Creating a new part caused an error message to be displayed.
The phone number formatting applied to the centre and supplier phone and fax numbers on the order form print out was not always formatting correctly, so it has been disabled (the automatic formatting, that is). If you want certain formatting applied to your phone numbers (e.g. spaces or brackets) then you can do so manually in the My Centre or Suppliers tabs of the Parts Tracker Settings window.

3.0.5 (3 June 2007)

Enhancements

The Maintenance Event Log now allows you to enter a range of lanes and will automatically create an entry for each of those lanes. This saves time if you perform a task on a set of several machines. Supports both a range of individual lanes (e.g. lanes 5 through 10) or a range of pairs (e.g. 11/12 through 15/16). Note that it does note create a single log entry for the entire range, but instead multiple, individual entries for each lane (or pair) in the range. [Suggested on BowlTech.com by Doug from BC, Canada].
The price and availability request print out now includes a column for unit quantity, allowing the supplier to know which bag/package quantity is being requested (since obviously the prices would differ depending on bag quantity). This only matters when the part is supplied in unit quanities of more than one (for the relevant supplier).
The Miscellaneous Transactions screen now shows a total amount field (at the bottom of the list) for the listed transactions.
The list shown in the Miscellaneous Account Transactions screen can now be printed out using the Print This List button at the bottom of the screen.
Can now repeat the last parts search by a single click of a button in the Part Search window.
On the Maintenance Log screen, the Category now filters the Event Type drop-down list. You can also type in an event type partial name at any time and it will jump to that one automcatically. [Suggested by Nick from Connecticut, USA].
The settings screen in which the Maintenance Event Categories and Types are configured has been refactored to make it easier to use. There's also now a button on the Maintenance Log screen to jump quickly to the Settings screen.
A new report has been added: Parts -> Reports -> Part Usage Report. This displays part stock transactions for a selectable date period, including date, lane, part number/name, quantity used and the value of the part. [Suggested by Doug from BC, Canada].
You can now select a date range (year, month, specific dates, etc) for the machine stock usage chart (report). The report looks a little nicer now too. [Suggested by Doug from BC, Canada].
There is now a button in the Maintenance Events window to jump to the Maintenance Event configuration.
The supplier list is now sorted alphabetically in the Add Miscelaneous Transaction window.
Supplier drop-down-lists in Parts screen and Orders screen are now sorted alphabetically (and now show the supplier suburb next to the name).
Improved the visual indication of a part note in the Parts Window (it now shows in red and bold when there is a note).

Bugs

In the Miscellaneous Transactions screen, the Billing Month filter values and were matching the wrong year if a) you started your financial year in July and b) the current date was January or later. This is now fixed.
Criteria selectors on the Mainenance Log screen were not working in combination, 'latest for lane' checkbox was not working. Can now use combination of criteria. Also, can now filter by category by itself.
The parts list screen was not registering a stock transaction if the Units in Stock field was changed. Further, if Units in Stock field was being incorrectly reset if it had been changed in the parts list screen and another stock transaction was added (if no stocktake transaction had ever been entered). The behaviour has been corrected. Note that deleting stock entries now also affects the Units in Stock value. Stocktake entries will automatically be added if the Units in Stock value does not match the stock card transactions. This allows the stock transactions and current Units in Stock value to always be in synch.
Stock now balances (a stocktake transaction is added) when you change the Units in Stock quantity in the Parts List screen.
Previously, using a hyphen in a parts search (including on the order form) would cause Parts Tracker to not recognise the matching part. Typing numbers without hyphens worked fine. Now, if you type a hyphen, then Parts Tracker will do a hyphen-sensitive search; but if you don't include any hyphens, Parts Tracker will ignore hyphens for the search. Example: If a part is stored with hyphens as follows: 070-006-142, then following will match: 6142, 6-142, 70006, but the following will not match: 61-42, 0006-142, 070-006142 because the hyphens are not in the right places. In summary, Parts Tracker part number search will only care about hyphens if you include them in the search criteria. If you don't use hyphens in the search criteria, then Parts Tracker will ignore them in the search. NOTE: If your parts don't even have hyphens, then all of this is irrelevant to you (but don't try searching with hyphens since it won't match).

3.0.4 (4 December 2006)

Enhancements

There is now a 'Picking Sheet' function available from the Receive Order screen. Pressing the Picking Sheet button opens a report that lists the received order with details including the received qty and the Bin for each part. This can help with putting the parts away in the right bin (especially in shops with many bins). The report can be just shown on the screen, or you can also print it out if your computer is far from your parts storage. There is also space on the print-out to write in the current stock level so that you can enter that back into Parts Tracker for stock tracking purposes. [Suggested by Gary from Oaklands Park, Australia].
In the Add Maintenance Event dialog, you can now filter the list of event types by first selecting a category. If a category is selected, the list of event types will be filtered by that category. You can still select from the full list of event types by not selecting a category (then all types are listed). You can also type in the name (or partial name) of an event type at any time which will then jump to the correct category automatically. Basically this helps you if you have a lot of event types grouped by several categories. [Suggested by Nick from Connecticut, USA].

Bugs

The Finance Summary screen could not be printed due to an issue in Office XP SR2 or less. This did not affect Office XP SR3 or other versions of Office. It is now worked around in Parts Tracker (even in Office XP SR 2 or less if you still use those versions). [Thanks to Sean from Poole, UK for reporting this bug].

3.0.3 (10 October 2006)

Enhancements

You can now edit maintenance events. Use the Edit button, or double-click an event in the list to edit the details. [Suggested by Clinton from Geelong, Australia].
You can now enter an invoice number against orders and misc transactions. The invoice number is shown on the spending summary report. (Search by invoice number will be added later and is not yet supported).
You can now enter a 'default order note' against a supplier. When an order is committed, then note will appear automatically (which you can then change per order if required). Different suppliers can have different default notes (or no default at all) as required. [Suggested by Sean from Melbourne, Australia].
When an order is placed on hold, the bottom of the order screen now turns red (to make it more obvious). No functionality has changed - just the visual indication.

Bugs

The trouble call graph could not be printed after user upgraded to Office 2003 Service Pack 2. This is due to a change in implementation of a component of Office in that service pack. This has been resolved in Parts Tracker.
In Office 2000, the order receive form was not showing the correct order. It would always revert to the first order in your data file. This problem appeared to be confined to Office 2000. [Thanks to Liam from Leigh, UK for valuable assistance in troubleshooting this problem].

3.0.2 (16 July 2006)

Enhancements

With the inclusion of multiple prices per part, the unit price column had disappeared from the Parts List screen. This is now added back. It shows the price for the part's preferred supplier. It is also a drop-down list so you can quickly compare prices from other suppliers. Note: to edit the price, you need to switch to the single Part screen (but that is easy with the button in the toolbar).
When selecting a price/pack quantity for a part with multiple suppliers, all supplier prices are now listed in the Choose Pack Size dialog allowing quick comparison between supplier prices during ordering. [Suggested by Sean from Melbourne, Australia].

Bugs

Parts Tracker has been revised and modified to allow non-English date formats to be used without causing errors as was previously the case. [Fixed with testing assistance from Thomas from Sarpsborg, Norway].
The list in the Miscellaneous Transactions screen now updates a lot faster than previously when filtering by date.

3.0.1 (10 July 2006)

Enhancements

Parts Tracker now supports storing different part prices per supplier. You can also specify a different part number and/or description for different suppliers, which is then used on orders to that supplier.
Parts Tracker now supports ordering parts in different unit quantities. For example, a small part might come in bags of 10, but be ordered as a single item (per bag). If you order a quantity of 2, you actually receive 20 parts. Parts Tracker will apply the correct incoming quantity to your "units in stock". This allows you to order in different quantities while keeping the stock tracking under one part entry. Multiple pack quanties can be configured per supplier, per part. When ordering, if multiple pack quantities exist, a dialog will be displayed allowing you to choose. You can also assign a different part number and part description to each pack quanity (per supplier) - e.g. "BEARING (BAG OF 10)", and "070 006 142 BG", etc.
You can now import picture files into Parts Tracker for each part (multiple pictures per part). You can import, view, print, and export part picture via the Parts screen. Warning! Part picture data is stored in your Parts Tracker data file. The data file will increase by the total size of the picture files that you import. Use JPG or GIF picture file formats if possible (as they are compressed format which will keep the size minimal).
You can now add 'notes' to each part. This allows you to add extra textual information about a part not suited to the basic part description field (e.g. technical data, etc).
The maintenance log now records the person who performed the maintenance. It defaults to the person logged in, but can be changed (to any user). This is included in the filtered list in the Maintenance Log screen and on the list print out. [Suggested by Craig from Werribee, Australia].
You can now assign a default order quantity for each part. This means when you add the part to an order, it will automatically select the default quantity.
You can now assign search keywords to parts and search by those keywords. In previous versions you had to include search keywords in the part description to search by them. Description is no longer used for searching (which means you can now use the description field as a proper textual description). You now use the keywords field specifically for search terms. Example: all the respot cell parts could be given the keyword 'respot'. Then, when you want to list all the respot parts when searching, you just type in 'respot'.
The centre's email address can now be added (in the Centre Details screen: Settings menu -> Parts Tracker Settings -> My Centre Details). The email address is shown on the order and price and availability print outs.
The Supplier's email address can now be added (Settings menu -> Parts Tracker Settings -> Suppliers tab). The email address is shown on the order and price and availability print outs. Note that the email address is not used in the email report function (yet).
As per previous versions, when an order is received, part prices are automatically updated based on the prices in that order (which may have changed at receive time). In this version, the appropriate part price record according to unit qty and supplier will be updated, or added if it doesn't already exist. You can disable automatic updating/adding of part prices in the Settings screen (Main Menu -> Settings -> Parts Tracker Settings -> General tab).
Budgets screen now allows entry of a yearly budget, which is automatically split over each month. Saves you typing the same amount twelve times if you happen to have the same budget amount each month.
The Finance Summary calculations (used for the Finance Summary screen as well as the finance summary report) have been improved. The Accounts summary (showing each account for a particular month) is now around twice as fast. The 12-month summary (showing a single account broken down per month) is now around three times faster.
Made various changes to the Spending Summary Report. Most notable is that now the report includes all orders for the billing period (not just received ones as was the case previously) - except 'on hold' orders. Other changes include: the addition of sub-totals for orders vs misc transactions; display of supplier for misc transactions (where applicable); display of order date for orders.
Added a checkbox to specify whether uncommitted value is taken into consideration in the 'variance' figure on the finance summary screen.
Added a button to the Miscellaneous Account Transactions screen to allow opening the Finance Summary screen directly. [Suggested by Sean from Melbourne, Australia].
You can now open the receive order screen after you've received an order. This allows you to modify the receive quantities, prices and accounts for cases where you've received backorders, or in case you've made a mistake. Additional (or reduced) parts received will be updated into the stock cards against the current date (and kept separate to the original stock entries if any). Note that any changes to price amounts are recorded against the original billing month (which means if you bill an order to, say, June, modifiying it several months after it is received will still update June's accounts). If you want receive backorders against a differerent billing month, you should create a new order, add those backorder items to that order, mark it with the appropriate billing month; 'commit' it, and 'receive' it (all as you presumably do now because that was the only available Parts Tracker workflow). It will then count against that month's accounting. If you have alternate workflows that could be better automated by Parts Tracker, please let me know. [Suggested by Nick from Connecticut, USA].
The backorder request dialog (shown when you press the backorders button from the order screen) now only allows adding backorders where the supplier matches.
The format of reports (such as font, colour, lines, etc) have been revised and made more consistent across Parts Tracker.
The 'Parts Ordered To Date' report is now much faster (was taking up to 15 seconds to run even for little data). Is now basically instant (less than 1 second). You could chalk that up to ingenius programming now, or bad programming originally (actually, I would say it's somewhere in the middle ;-) ).
The Parts Tracker look and feel has been updated in various places. This makes it cleaner and in some cases easier to read/use.
For a received order, the 'Order Total' field at the top of the Order screen and the 'This Order' column in the account summary list (at the bottom of the Orders screen) used to show the original order total - that is, not taking into account backorders, but assuming all ordered parts were actually received. These fields now only include received parts. E.g. If you ordered $1000 worth of parts, but only received $900 worth due to limited stock/backorders, then the total fields will now show $900 (they would have previously shown $1000). You can still view the 'originally ordered' total (e.g. the $1000) by hovering the mouse over the Order Total field.
The Parts Screen now shows additional information about when a part was last ordered, and last used.
Can now use the up and down arrow keyboard buttons to move within the receive order screen (makes it easier to use).
When opening Parts List from the Parts screen, the current part will be selected, making it easier to use the two screens together.
The length of the Part Description field has been increased from 100 to 255.
The text of an order note shown in the Edit Order Note dialog is now larger (easier to read).
The order note printed on the order form now has a label ("Note:") to make it stand out more, and comes before the signature line.
Increased the list length of the Suppliers drop-down list in the Orders screen.
The Part Number field has been made larger on the order form, order print out and price and availability print out.

Bugs

Week From and Week To fields on trouble call graph screen were not working correctly.
Attempting to delete a part in the Parts Screen would not work if there were related stock card transactions. Deletion now works correctly (with suitable warning messages).
Maintenance event description was being truncated with no warning if longer than 255 characters. Now advises the user and does not let more than 255 characters be typed in the first place.

Revision History for Earlier Versions