Minor changes in 4.9.4 to 4.9.6

MYOB AccountRight Live Connect > Support for the 2016 releases. Additional support for changes to the MYOB API in the latest 2016.2 and 2016.2.1 MYOB AccountRight Live releases. Please note that if you have a cloud company file running the 2016.2 or 2016.2.1 releases of MYOB ARL that you will require to have upgraded to the Synergy 4.9.5 release to be compatible.

Reckon Accounts Connect (Quickbooks > Support for 2016 release. The new Reckon Accounts 2016 version is supported for use for sync-ing invoices and expenses from Synergy to Reckon after upgrading to the 4.9.5 release. Select this version in the Connect settings for QuickBooks (Reckon Accounts Premier).

Reckon Accounts Connect (Quickbooks) > Expenses. Synergy Connect has been updated to ensure that the correct tax code is sent with the expense to Reckon Accounts in the new 2016 release. This maps the tax free or tax applicable code from Synergy to the expense record created in Reckon Accounts by Connect. This is applicable if sync-ing expenses via Connect is enabled.

Alerts > Missing timesheets. The 'missing timesheets' alert has been corrected to show only missing timesheet entries after the date defined in System Settings > Alert > Missing Timesheets option.

Global search > Supplier expenses. A new search option has been added for 'Bills' to allow you to search for a Supplier Expense (Bill) and look for the 'invoice number' entered against the Synergy record.

My Synergy > Reminders. New button added to mark a reminder as 'complete'. This sets the reminder as inactive, and hides the item from the overdue reminders views. The completed (inactive) reminders can still be seen when using the other all reminders filters in my the My Reminders panel and Reminders list views.

My Synergy > Notes. Double click an item in the 'Linked To' panel on the note to open the record. This allows you to open the linked projects, sub project, contacts, contracts, or staff from an open note record.

Global search > Project for notes option. When a note is created and linked to multiple projects with similar project names, a correction has been made to allow the project notes to be shown in the global search results.

Cash expenses > Cash rate. Staff can select which cash rate will be applied to each cash expense. The cash control controls the markup of the expense within the project. Existing cash expense items will be allocated a 'cash' rate as part of the upgrade process.

Synergy Cloud Services > Cash expenses. The new 'cash rate' can be entered with staff cash expenses in the app area of Synergy Cloud Services.

Timesheets > <Office> transactions. Staff time or expenses (cash and travel) entered against the <Office> project and sub projects will be automatically written off, as the <Office> sub projects have been changed to be a 'no billing' fee type.

Cash expenses > Edit of note in cloud app. Staff cash expenses were not being correctly re-submitted for approval after the expense was edited in the cloud app. A correction has been made and the note can be updated and approval is allowed.

Timesheets > Scheduled task history row. When entering timesheets via a scheduled item shown in history (created by the add-on for Resource Management), the correct overtime rate is attached to the created transaction.

Project List > Budget Residual. The optional column for 'budget residual' now includes a total value for the column in the footer.

Project > Rates tab. Specific rates can be added for the new 'cash' rate type at a project or sub project level.

Project > Budgets tab. Amendment of a saved budget row is supported in the project budget tab and the sub project budget tab. Update the fields rate, task, staff, units / value as required on any saved project budget row. This allows you to easily switch any saved 'supplier' rate budget lines over to the new 'cash' rate type if required. Amendment of budget lines is supported when the 'show actuals' view is switched on.

Project > Budget tab. Add budgets for cash expenses using the new 'cash' rate type. Budget for each sub project to the estimated staff expense costs. If existing projects had budgets lines for the 'supplier (Default)' rate, these are not automatically changed to 'cash'. These budget lines need to be manually edited to the new cash rate type to monitor the actual results.

Projects > Work Breakdown > Cash rate type. Add work breakdown budget items for cash expenses using the new 'cash' rate type. Budget for each sub project for the estimated staff expense costs. If existing projects had budgets lines for the 'supplier (Default)' rate, these are not automatically changed to 'cash'. These budget work breakdown items need to be edited to the new cash rate type to monitor the actual results.

Project > Invoice create > Cash rates. When creating an hourly rate invoice, you can adjust which 'cash rate' is applied to the transaction on the invoice. The cash rate controls the markup % applied to the staff cash expense.

Projects > Expenses (Invoices / Bills) > Create. The Supplier expenses (Bills) form for creating and editing bills has been redesigned. The general and disbursements tabs have been combined into one screen. Additional fields have been added to allow entry of 'due date' and set if the bill should be 'exported to Connect'.

Projects > Expenses (Invoices / Bills) > Disbursements optional columns. Right click in the disbursements line table for a supplier bill, and select the new 'optional columns' feature. Add one or all of the optional columns to show in the disbursements table: Total (ex Tax), Budget, Budget residual, Agreed Fee, Residual, Sub Project Tax Rate, and Sub Project Fee Type.

Projects > Expenses (Invoices / Bills) > Tax codes exported for Bills. The tax code selected on the supplier bill disbursement line is used for the bill record when sent via Connect. The tax code from the sub project that was previously used by Connect, is now only used when on-charging the expense on a project invoice. This allows you to have both tax free and tax applicable disbursements linked to the same sub project, and still get the correct tax value shown in the bill / purchase record created by connect in your accounting system.

Projects > Expenses (Invoices / Bills) > Locked. After entering a new supplier bill set it to be 'locked & final' to stop any other users making changes to the record. Marking a supplier bill as locked allows it to be exported via the Connect interface. Synergy access levels of Director or higher can unlock a supplier bill and make changes when required. All access levels can still mark a bill as paid even when the record is locked.

Projects > Expenses (Invoices / Bills) > Columns and filters. New columns and filters have been added to Expenses (Invoices / Bills) list to support the new features in this release. New columns are: Due Date, Project #, Status, Locked, and Export. The project # and contact name columns have been made clickable to let you open the project or contact record when shown in green. New filter options are: Not Locked and Not Exported.

Projects > Expenses (Invoices / Bills) > Data migration. As part of the upgrade to this release, any undisbursed supplier expenses (bills) will automatically have a line created with the previous supplier bill 'total value' and tax rule selected on the previous supplier expense general tab. The disbursement line created will have a note of 'undisbursed cost' to make them easy to identify. This change was required as the general tab and the disbursements tab have been merged into one bill screen.

Projects > Expenses (Invoices / Bills) > <Office> transactions. Supplier Bills expenses disbursed against the <Office> project and sub projects will be automatically written off, as the <Office> sub projects have been changed to be a 'no billing' fee type.

Projects > Expenses (Invoices / Bills) > <Office> transactions. Office item expenses linked to the <Office> project and sub projects will be automatically written off, as the <Office> sub projects have been changed to be a 'no billing' fee type.

<Office> Timesheets or Expenses > Transactions are written off. The <Office> sub projects have been updated to use a 'No Billing' fee type in the background as part of this upgrade. As a result of this change all transactions linked to an <Office> sub project are written-off and the 'invoice value' column will show $0.00. The charge value column is unchanged.

Projects > Phase groupings and totals added to more tabs. When Phases is ON for a project the phase groupings are now also shown in the following project tabs: budget, forecast, WIP, financial summary, profitability, time and expenses. The phase row in each of these tabs and in the Sub Project tab shows totals for any value columns.

Project > Sorting when phases are shown. Click on a column in the tab to sort the data shown and keep the items within their phase groups. When the 'sub project' column is click the data is sorted in alphabetical order first by phases, then by sub projects. When any other column is sorted, it keeps the items in the original phase sort order, and sorts the rows within the phase group in ascending or descending order. This applies to the tabs sub project, budget, forecast, WIP, financial summary, profitability, and time and expenses.

Project > Phases and Sorting. When switching off project phases an additional warning has been added, to give the user a opportunity to cancel making that change. This was added to help users that clicked the phases off button in error.

Project > Phase filters on project tabs. Extra filters have been added to allow you to view the data shown on each tab with or without phase groupings. This applies to the tabs budget, forecast, WIP, financial summary, profitability, and time and expenses. Click the list filter in the top right corner of these tabs to find the new filter options available.

Projects > Profitability tab > Columns renamed. The existing column 'invoice markup' has been renamed to 'invoice writeup $', the 'budget residual $' column has been renamed to 'budget variance $', and the two columns labelled 'profit % have been renames to 'std gross profit %' and 'act gross profit %'.

Projects > Profitability > New columns. Two new optional columns have been added for 'standard markup % and 'act markup %'.

Projects > Time and expenses tab > New optional columns. New optional columns have been added to show the invoice writeup as a ratio in both $ and % format.

Projects > Time and expenses tab > Renamed column. The existing column 'invoice markup' has been renamed to 'invoice writeup $'.

Projects > Financial Summary tab > Renamed columns. The existing column 'invoice markup' has been renamed to 'invoice writeup $', and the 'budget residual $' has been renamed to 'budget variance $'.

Projects > Financial Summary tab > New optional columns. New optional columns have been added to show the invoice writeup as a ratio in both $ and % format.

Projects > Project List > Column renamed. The existing column 'budget residual $' has been renamed to 'budget variance $'.

Projects > Project List > Budget columns. The 'budget variance $' and 'budget %' complete columns now only include sub projects that are at active (all) or proposal (all) statues, and where at least one budget line exists. This applies only to the budget columns in Project List.

Projects > Project List > New optional columns. New optional columns added for 'invoice writeup $', 'invoice writeup ratio', and 'invoice writeup ratio %'.

Projects > Invoice create. View the residual fee value (fee less invoiced to date) when selecting the sub projects to add to the invoice, and when editing the linked transactions.

Projects > Net residual value. Add the new optional column 'Net Residual' value to Project List, Financial Summary tab, WIP tab, or the Profitability tab. This is calculated as the Fee - Invoiced - WIP.

Project Documents > Rename file option. A new button has been added in the Documents tab for 'rename file'. This feature was added to allow you to rename any file names that exceed the maximum MS Windows characters in a file name. The rename window shows you the supported number of characters for a file name, and the current used number of characters.

MS Outlook plugin > Saving emails to Synergy. The Synergy MS Outlook plugin has a warning shown if the email being saved to Synergy has an automatic created file name that exceeds the recommended number of characters. A red highlight is shown around the file name box when this issue occurs, showing the user the number of characters that the file name should be vs the current number of characters. This lets the user update the file names before saving to the Synergy document libraries.

Projects > Expenses (Invoices / Bills) > Duplicate invoice #. A warning message has been added to the bill creation process, to warn you if you enter the same invoice number against a bill. The warning is only shown on save if the invoice number already exists for the contact record selected.

Project > Budgets > Staff. The staff drop down in the project budget tab is ordered in alphabetical order, based on the first name of the staff member.

Synergy Cloud Services > Export Synergy Data to MS Excel®. Use the Excel export in Synergy Cloud Services along with the sample Synergy data file for Microsoft Power BI. View sample dashboards with your companies data using the business analytics tools like Power BI.

Synergy Cloud Services > Setup an OData feed for reporting on your Synergy data. Setup an OData feed using Synergy Cloud Services. Use this feed of your Synergy data in MS Excel® or MS Power BI, and many more third party applications. Easily refresh the reporting data using the Synergy OData feed.

Reports all types > Export to Excel faster. The process used to export data from Synergy to Excel has been optimised to allow the Excel file to be created faster. This speed improvement has been applied to all Excel export methods for reports within a list or report manager.

Transaction > Supplier expenses (bills). Add the new 'Expense #' column to your transaction reports to view the invoice number entered against the supplier expense in the output. The supplier contact on the bill can also be displayed in the report using the 'transaction name' column.

Practice > Invoice report. Updated to the 'invoice report' default columns to include the columns 'Adjusted (inc Tax)' and 'Owed (inc Tax)'. View the adjusted amount outstanding (including any credit note values). The column 'raised by' has been removed from the default layout, but can be added again from the list of available columns if required.

Transaction and timesheet reports > Filter by status. The 'status' for transactions now includes options in the filter for 'not submitted' and 'pending approval'. This allows the managers to report on each type of transaction that is not yet in WIP for a project, and replaces the previous 'pending' status option. These details can also be seen in the column report output.

Contact > Project contact reports > Role. New group of columns and filters to allow you to report on the 'project contact role (classification)' and if the contact is listed as a primary or invoice project contact.

Practice > Invoice detail report all. Additional columns available in the 'invoice detail report'. The 'invoice line' column group has columns to display the 'invoice line adjusted total' at a including or excluding tax value.

Transaction > Office location. An extra column has been added to transaction report for 'transaction staff primary office' location. For any staff transactions (time, cash, travel) this shows the primary office location from their staff record. For any non staff transactions (supplier bills, office items, pre-billing) this shows the office assigned to the project.

Transaction, Timesheet and Project budget reports > Cash rate. The new cash rate is available in reports as a column and filter. This is available where cash rates can be shown in project budget reports, transaction reports, and timesheet reports.

Contact > Supplier (Bills) reports. The new fields from bills and disbursements are available on reports - bills and disbursement level reports. These columns are 'locked', 'due date', and 'export to connect'.

Transactions and timesheet reports > Staff cost. View the staff actual cost as a monthly or annualised value in timesheet or transaction reports. The staff actual cost annualised is the (staff overhead cost x hours per year). The staff utilisation value has also been added as a column to these reports. Find these options in the staff group of columns.

Practice > Invoice reports. New columns have been added to the invoice reports to allow you to see the 'create date' and who the invoice / credit was 'created by'. There are also columns to show who an invoice / credit was 'updated by' and the 'updated date'. An invoice is updated when you use pre-billing, convert a draft invoice to final, or change an invoice number.

Project and Sub Project and Transaction reports > Invoice Writeup. Columns added to the reports for 'invoice writeup $', 'invoice writeup ratio', and 'invoice writeup ratio %'. The 'invoice markup $' column has been replaced by the 'invoice writeup column'.

Project and Sub Project reports > Net residual value. Add the new column 'Net Residual' value to Project or Sub Project level reports. The Net Residual is calculated as the Fee - Invoiced - WIP.

Project and Sub Project reports > Budget variance. The existing budget residual column has been renamed to budget variance.

Project and Sub Project reports > Profitability columns. Columns have been added as available in these reports for 'Std markup %', 'Act Markup %', 'Std Gross Profit %', and 'Act gross Profit %'.

Administration reports > Cash rates report. A new report has been added to allow you to print all the available cash rates setup in Synergy.

Contacts panel > Position column. The 'position' column has been added to the contacts panel on the General tab of an open contact. This is available as an optional column in this screen to allow you to see the job role the personnel completes for the company contact.

Contract > Progress claims > Totals. The progress claim create and edit window has the 'amount due' footer shown under the correct column in the totals panel in the footer of the screen.

MYOB AccountRight Live Connect > Supported versions. Additional support for changes to the MYOB API in the latest release 2016.1.1 and 2015.4 and 2015.4.1 MYOB AccountRight Live releases. Please note that if you have a cloud company file running the 2016.1.1 release of MYOB ARL that you will require to have upgraded to the Synergy 4.9.4 release to be compatible.

Connect (MYOB / XERO / RECKON) > Supplier (Bill) Due Date. The 'due date' field entered against the Supplier (Bill) in Synergy is now exported via Connect to MYOB V19 and AccountRight Live, Xero, and Reckon Accounts. In MYOB this is converted to a # of days before payment is due, and in Xero and Reckon Accounts this shows as the same date as is in Synergy. No settings need to be changed to use this new feature. This due date will be automatically exported the next time you sync supplier expenses with Connect after the upgrade.

Connect (MYOB / XERO / RECKON) > Supplier expenses (bill) tax code exported. The tax code exported with each supplier (bill) is now taken from the disbursement line. The tax code of the sub project the bill is disbursed against is no longer used by connect for supplier (bills). The tax code entered against the disbursement line will be used for all future exports after upgrading to this release for MYOB V19 and AccountRight Live, Xero, and Reckon Accounts Connect.

Connect (MYOB / XERO / RECKON) > Supplier expenses (bill) export restrictions. Supplier Bills have been updated to include two new flags 'export to connect' and 'locked'. Connect now only shows the bills in the preview tab that are marked as available to 'export to connect' and that are 'locked and final'. This change applies to MYOB V19 and AccountRight Live, Xero, and Reckon Accounts.

Xero and MYOB AccountRight Live Connect > Preview shows warning and error symbols. A new symbol for warnings '!' is shown at the top of a preview tab if a warning is shown on any rows in Connect Preview. Rows with warnings can still be sync'd via Connect, but it is recommended that you review and resolve these errors before running Connect. Error symbols can also be shown at the top of a Preview tab, if an error exists on any of the rows. Rows with errors cannot be sync'd and require to be resolved or skipped before running Connect.

Xero and MYOB AccountRight Live Connect > Supplier expenses export. The Connect interface has changed for both MYOB AccountRight Live and Xero Connect. Supplier Bills were previously matched based on the supplier 'invoice #' entered, and with this interface change the matching process is now completed on a 'unique ID' number. Items previously sent via Connect will show with a 'warning !' symbol to be reviewed. It is suggested that the warning bills be skipped in the preview window.

Xero Connect > Supplier expense payments import. The Connect interface for Xero Supplier Expense Payments import has changed. Any Supplier Bills exported without a unique ID cannot have a payment imported via Connect. The newly sync'd items after the upgrade that include a unique ID can have payments imported as normal. For this interim switch over period we have added an Edit > Supplier Expense option into the Preview Supplier Payments tab, to allow you to easily update the payment details into Synergy.

Reckon Accounts Connect > Settings > Tax. Setup the tax code mapping between Synergy and Reckon Accounts. Configure a tax applicable and tax free code to be used for invoices and another for expenses.

Xero Connect > Supplier expense (bill) payment import. The payments for supplier expenses can only be imported to Synergy from Xero if the bill is locked.

Xero Connect > Supplier expense notes setting. Enable the new supplier (bills) expenses export option to send the notes entered against the disbursement lines of the bill to Xero. The notes entered on disbursement lines will appear as a $0 line item in the Xero Purchase record.

Xero Connect > Staff expenses note setting. Enable the new staff expense export option to send the note entered on the staff cash or travel expense across to Xero. The note sent to Xero will appear as a $0 line item within the Xero Purchase record.

Xero Connect > Sync of <Office> expenses. Synergy Connect has been updated after Xero API changes to include support for sending <Office> expenses across and allow creation of a <Office> inventory item.

Rates > Cash rate. Create a new 'cash rate' to control the markup % applied to staff entered cash expenses. As part of the upgrade process a default cash rate is created called 'cash' with the markup % applied form the existing 'supplier (default)' rate.

Overtime Rates > Delete rate. When an overtime rate has been used it cannot be deleted. If a used overtime rate is attempted to be deleted the user will be prompted to change the rate to be inactive to stop future use of the item.

Staff records > Overtime rates. A clean-up of overtime rates is completed as part of this upgrade, to ensure that all overtime rate lines on staff records have a linked description.

System Requirements. The Synergy system requirements have been updated to add support for MYOB AccountRight Live 2015.4 and 2015.4.1, Windows 10, Office 2016, and SQL 2014 Express.

Logged in users > Remove users. Access level required to remove logged in users from Synergy has been changed to be System Administrator only. Other access levels can view the list of logged in users, they just cannot use the 'remove the logged in user' button.

Document templates > Fee detail table. The bookmark 'Expense Type' is available to add to the fee detail table. Add this into the 'body' section for hourly rates or capped rates billing methods, and this will show the expense type entered against any cash, travel, supplier expense / bills.

Document templates > Fee detail table. The invoice fee detail table allows you to add a new book 'Expense Number' into the rates body section. This allows you to show the supplier expense (bill) number on the invoice along with the supplier contact name.

Document templates > Contact Card ID. The bookmark for 'contact card ID' is now available to add to all document template types. This is available in the same location where the contact address bookmarks are located. This can be added for contact, primary contact, invoice contact, or transmittal contact.

Document templates > Invoice tables. The 'capped rate' fee type bookmarks 'cap used %' and 'cap available %' have been added to the fee detail table and the invoice claim lines table.

Document templates > New invoice table. Add the new table 'Summary of hours' to your invoice templates, which can be used to show a summary of the timesheets or expenses for hourly rate sub project fee types on the invoice. This table will print a summary of the number of hours and value of the timesheet transactions, or the value for each type of expense in a table on the invoice.

Tools > Financial Controls. The field 'target profit' has been renamed to 'target margin' to match the changes in the project profitability tab. The audit tab will show the word 'margin' instead of 'profit' for every change to this field after the 4.9.4 upgrade is completed. Any existing audit lines will not be amended.

Help > Open Team Viewer. When you require assistance from the Total Synergy support team, they are now using the tool 'Team Viewer'. The Synergy Help menu has been updated to have this as a support link. This replaces the link to LogMeIn Rescue that was previously in the help menu.