Rebates release notes
Find out what's new and changed in each version of Rebates. This page lists all the releases in the last year, with the most recent release items at the top.
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Find out what's new and changed in each version of Rebates. This page lists all the releases in the last year, with the most recent release items at the top.
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Continuing from recent releases where we introduced the quarterly and monthly options, you can now calculate rebates on a yearly basis and for a whole rule period. These additional options give you greater flexibility when it comes to choosing the period of calculation in the rule setup Amounts per setting.
We're delighted to announce two exciting items...
Upgrades and services form
A new form, available in the side navigation in Phocas, makes it easy for you to request upgrades and services from within your Phocas site. Your email address is automatically inserted into the form, and you can select from a list of common requests. For example, you might need additional user licenses or databases, or service work, such as ERP migration or training. If you don't see the request you need, simply select the Other option. Then give us some brief information and submit the form. We'll get back to you within a few days with a quote, and then we can get started on your upgrade or service!
New user documentation site
If you're reading this note, you're looking at our new user documentation site! We've moved our user documentation to this new platform and given it a fresh look with enhanced content display and search functionality, along with an easy-to-remember URL: docs.phocassoftware.com
Please update any bookmarks you have to the old site, which will be retiring soon.
Continuing from the last release where we introduced the quarterly option, you can now calculate rebates on a monthly basis. The other options are coming soon.
You can now calculate rebates on a quarterly basis. Of the many variations of calculating rebates, a primary differentiator is the period of calculation and payout. Up to now, you could calculate for a period of a year or the calculation period. We are introducing more period options to allow you to calculate in smaller intervals within a period of a year. We’re starting with quarters but soon, we’ll introduce options for months and a fiscal year. The new Quarters option is being rolled out to customers in stages, so you should see it in your rule setups soon.
Phocas On-Premise: End of support notice for SQL Server 2014
Microsoft announced in July 2024 that SQL Server 2014 is no longer a supported product. Phocas will end support for SQL Server 2014 from November 2024.
After the end-of-support, you can continue to use Phocas; however, you won't be able to upgrade to newer versions. Some features and functionality may no longer function as expected.
Phocas encourages users to upgrade to a supported version of Microsoft SQL Server (2016 at least) or to contact us to learn about the benefits of moving to Phocas cloud to automatically access to new features and functionality.
We added more retrospective options in the rule setup, giving you flexibility in calculating retrospective rebates. Watch the video for a quick overview, or read the user documentation.
You can now calculate a rebate for a period of a year across calendar years. Previously, the calculation could only be performed within the calendar year, even if the cumulative year spanned across two calendar years. In the rule setup, when Amounts per = Year, instead of limiting calculations to within one calendar year (01 January to 31 December), the validation now limits the calculations to within one cumulative year, where a year starts from the That occur from date in a cumulative year. The cumulative total calculation will reset to zero at the start of the next cumulative period.
We fixed an issue with the Transaction Range = Custom setting on the rule schedule that occurred when you switched between a fixed and offset date range. The scheduled calculations now produce the expected results.
We redesigned the Brackets section of the rule setup screen to make it quicker to edit bracket parameters and add and remove brackets. We also added some validations, so you will receive messages helping you to correct any errors and prevent issues later.
We made the following small changes in the Rule setup window:
We removed the blue borders that were displayed around some settings with dropdown lists. Blue borders should only display when you hover over or open such a list.
We removed the red borders that were displayed around some inactive settings. Red borders signify an error state, but this is not applicable in inactive settings.
In the Results tab when unposted results are displayed:
We removed the checkboxes from the grid. The checkboxes were redundant because you can must post or delete all unposted transactions at the same time; you can’t select individual rows to post or delete.
You can now select cells in the grid and see the average, count, and sum displayed underneath. You can also copy these values and paste them elsewhere.
We made the following small changes:
Zero rows, which are result rows that contain zero (0.00) values, will now display in the Results tab of the project, highlighted in green. While you can click these rows to open the rule setup screen, there’ll be no results to view.
We resolved an issue with the rule validity date picker in the rule setup screen. The date was not displaying in the user’s desired format. The date picker now uses the user’s Language setting to determine their location and therefore, the applicable date format to use. We also changed the example dates to make the selected date more clear. For example, either 15/01/2024 (day/month/year) or 01/15/2024 (month/day/year).
We made some enhancements to the rule setup screen:
In the Comments section, we introduced a maximum character limit to comments, so you can no longer post comments that have more than 1,000 characters. We also improved the messages that display when comment validation errors occur.
We updated the View Matching Transactions functionality to honor the Based on dimension setting, even when no specific entities have been excluded or included.
We added checkboxes to the Rebates grids to make them more consistent with the grids in other modules and make it easier for you to select individual rows, and quickly select or deselect all rows. The screenshots in the user documentation will be updated progressively over time.
We made the following design changes to the homepage to reduce the need to scroll horizontally across the page:
The Last Calculated and Calculation Status columns are combined into one column called Last Calculated, in which colored dots represent the status of the build.
The Modified By and Modified On columns are combined into one column called Last Modified.
The Scheduled column used to show text but now shows a check mark or X mark instead.
We made changes to the process of viewing the results for a project, to better reflect your expected outcome and improve your user experience:
On the Results tab of a project, you can filter the list to view either posted or unposted results. If you select the Posted filter option, and then click a rule link to view the results, the rule setup screen now displays the posted results, as expected. Previously, the unposted results were displayed. Similarly, if you open a rule from the unposted results list, the rule setup screen displays the unposted results.
Continuing with the process above, now when you close the rule setup screen, you return to the Results tab from which you started, as expected. Previously, you landed on the Rules tab.
We added validation to the New Project window to prevent you from creating a project that has the same name as an existing project.
We implemented new technology that displays the options in dropdown lists faster.
We fixed a SQL conversion error that occurred when running a calculation.
We made a change in Phocas Designer (typically available to administrators only) to prevent you from deleting any columns that are used in Rebates projects or rules, to avoid calculation failures. Now if you try to delete such a column, an error message will display, explaining which design elements are being referenced by Rebates.
In the rule setup, we continue with the incremental release of our new user-friendly designs:
We updated the design of the Categorization section.
We made two changes to the Description setting:
We moved the rule Description setting from the Name & Scope section down into the Categorization section. As the description is not required for the rule calculation, it does not need to be in such a prominent position.
Brief descriptions are now automatically generated for you, based on selections you make in the Based on, Include and Exclude sections. You can overwrite these descriptions as required.
We continue with the incremental release of our new user-friendly designs for the Rebates setup screens:
In the rule setup, we moved the settings in the Based On section up into the Name and Scope section.
In the project setup, we added a heading (General) to the first batch of settings.
When a database element that is mapped to either a project or rule is removed from the database, it causes Rebate calculations to fail. We made some changes to how we deal with such an event - you are now notified earlier and supplied with a clear message of the name and type of missing elements.
Homepage enhancements
Now when you apply one or more filters and sort orders to the grid on your homepage, your selections are retained. This means the next time you view your homepage, it'll look exactly as you left it. This effectively lets you set up your homepage to always display only the items you're interested in.
In addition:
We introduced a Clear filters option to simultaneously clear all the filters you've applied.
We changed the filtering behavior, so fewer clicks are required to get the results you're looking for. Now if no options are selected, this is equivalent to all options being selected.
We changed the style of the tab filter buttons above the grid to make them easier to see.
We now display the description of items in the grid, where available, so you can quickly determine their contents.
New navigation now turned on for all users
In September 2023, we launched a new navigation menu on the left side of Phocas. Recently, we identified that some users were still using the old navigation method, so we migrated them to the new navigation today. If you’re one of those users, you’ll notice the visual difference. The new navigation brings the following benefits:
Easier movement between the different Phocas products and sections.
Resource Centre: Easy access to in-product help and news, new user documentation site, and other learning resources. The old navigation pointed to the old user documentation site, which is no longer being updated.
Upgrades and service request form: Quick way to contact us about making additions to your site.
Product feedback form: Tell the development team what you like about Phocas.
