Introduction

This document contains information about the new features that have been added to Iptor IP1 V7.9, along with the enhancements and other major changes made since the previous release. These features and enhancements are focused on extending some of the key functionalities of Iptor IP1 to meet the needs of the publishers and distributors with both print and digital businesses.

AddressMaster

Iptor IP1 now uses AddressMaster suit of programs which allows both interactive and batch Delivery Point Verification (DPV) of addresses via Melissa Data for US addresses. This enables the system to notify the user on any errors it encounters on verification and allowing any correction. It also attempts to correct invalid addresses where applicable by proposing a modified address.

AP – GST input report

Allows reporting by date range and output to excel.

AP expense amortization

When a major account that is registered for expense amortization is used in AP, the system will prompt for the number of months to fully amortize the expense and the actual expense account. Each month a pro-rated amount (based on the number of months) will be transferred to the expense provisional account until the expense is fully amortized. The amortization progress can be viewed by Expense Amortization Inquiry – GLI040.

AP payment cycle process enhancements

The AP Payment Cycle process has been enhanced with the introduction of company group and payment run number for payment cycles. More flexible and complex payment selection is now possible for a corporate group of companies with multiple currencies, for example you can have a single payment run for a group of companies in the Asia Pacific region with different currencies.

AR EDI batch maintenance & update

Enhancements to AR EDI maintenance program (ARM310) include the following.

• Allows you to remove errors after error checking
• Batch totals can be recalculated after removing errors
• Ability to remove an entire batch if required
• Function to show only open EDI batches or all EDI batches

On EDI batch process update if the invoice number is not provided or the invoice is not found in AR then warning messages will be issued and the payment amount will be left as unallocated.

Auto allocate over payment

New AR rule (TMSDS/CM-CLS with AR rule ‘2’) will auto allocate new payment to old invoices (AR groups in debit) if the new payment is overpayment of particular invoice, or is initially unallocated. Exemptions to this include any linked claims and any outstanding linked transactions.       

AR overdue summary report

This is a new inquiry to display overdue customers in descending overdue amount sequence. Control file TMSAR/ARI060 determines which debtors to filter out from the report.

Auto despatch on re-invoicing (Direct to invoice orders)

The system can allow automatic despatch when direct to invoicing orders are re-invoiced. Control file TMSDS/WH-DSPRI must be set for the relevant warehouses. If no entry is defined for the warehouse then the system will check TMSDS/WH-DSPCH as per normal order process.

Automatic PO generation for dropship orders

The system can be configured to automatically generate purchase orders for dropship orders when generating backorders.

Bank reconciliation using payment reference

Bank reconciliation for multiple creditor payments by EFT has been enhanced with the entry of payment reference number for each payment within a payment cycle. New bank reconciliation program now lists the outstanding bank transactions for a given date range, thus allowing the user to match the outstanding transactions that appear on the bank statement. Bank charges and transactions that are not in Iptor IP1 can still be entered manually.

BP – amortization rules at company level

Amortization formulas and definitions can now be defined at company level. Two new fields for ‘Company’ and ‘Country of Origin’ has been added to the Amortization GL definition. The logic is changed to validate if a company and / or Country of Origin has been specified within the amortization formula and / or definition rules and apply the rules at a company level for the ISBN instead of generically across all companies.

Carrier alpha search

A scan data function has been added to Carrier Alpha search inquiry screen. This combined with a naming standard, would enable the users to search for and find the relevant carriers for their region or specific carriers.

Cash/journal entry receipting currency

AR Cash/journal entry will now accept receipt currencies other than receipting currency of the bank. Customer’s invoices & debtor statement will still be in their trading currency.

Comment for an item by region

An additional option (Item Comment) has been added to Item masterfile to allow free form text or extended comment for an item.

Credit generation by PN

New program; generates credit note by creating a mirror image of original invoice.

Customer masterfile inquiry

New function key ‘Customer class’ added to inquire on customer class (DSI390).

CyberSource compliance changes

The following additional pre-authorised data fields are now being passed to support compliance initiatives for Visa, Mastercard and Discover credit cards. 

• Subsequent authorisation 
• Subsequent authorisation reason 
• Subsequent authorisation original amount 
• Subsequent authorisation transaction ID 

Deferred revenue enhancements

Iptor IP1 previously catered for deferment of sales revenue, now the associated cost of sales can also be deferred and recognised when the revenue is recognised. For digital product subscriptions it will incur the cost when the product is activated. This ensures that the financial reports give a true recognition of the earned revenue.

Deferred revenue recognition can now be applied to different school/university semester periods as specified in the formula definitions. Semester start and end periods must be specified for the semester driven recognition. Within the semester period, if the invoice period falls before the actual semester, no recognition will occur until the actual start of the semester. If it falls within the actual semester, then recognition will occur immediately.

Deferred revenue account definition now holds 2 additional accounts for both sales and cost, for the current year and next year. This allows recognition of the revenue and the cost to be posted to different General Ledger accounts for the current year and next year.

Direct mail

Contact templates based on external user file can be used for web users to generate contact records. This is to include templates to allow web users to view or change their personal data protection preference on CRM contact attribute. A user can select to opt out their personal information and provided they do not have any outstanding transactions their personal information would be removed at EOM process in accordance with GDPR laws.

Email notification on out of print

In order to keep the customer informed during every aspect of the order processing, from entry through to delivery, customers can now be notified when a book/item goes out of print/production. An email can be automatically issued to the recipient as setup in control files.

Enhancements to digital processing

Enhancements to Digital Processing now enables access codes for digital products to be easily tracked in the system. Digital products are now defined as stockable or non stockable. Stockable digital items are purchased and stocked and can be sold only up to available stock. The access codes for the stockable digital are supplied on purchase and stored within Iptor IP1. However not all stockable digital items are required to have access codes as part of the inventory. The system can be configured to identify product lines that do not have access codes e.g. product lines supplied by external suppliers. Access codes can be printed by item level and classification.

Non stockable digital items are not purchased or stocked and the access codes for these are generated on sale.

Digital products can be sold as a single item or in a bundle (Pack, System or Mixture). When making a pack with digital items (via a work order) the system allows access codes to be printed on a card (or a label) to be packed and supplied with the physical item. The cards can be printed either internally or externally depending on the warehouse for the work order.

Enhancements to debtor payment import via excel

Added functionalities allow the user to search for the upload file in the defined location and view the contents. Thus any changes to the incoming data can be made before the actual upload.

Extended payment term by customer classification

The system can be configured to override payment due date for certain customers. This enhancement will cater for customers that get charged only a certain number of times in a year. The process will review and override due date at invoice time. Pending check will ensure these orders do not pend. This change will affect payment due date only, customer payment terms code in the order will remain as customer default and will not be recalculated. 

External COA in GL

With the storage of external chart of account codes in Iptor IP1, business with General Ledger interface to external systems can easily view the external codes and their descriptions in Iptor IP1.

External invoice numbers

External invoice numbers can be allocated to transactions (invoices/credit notes) if required. When activated, IP1 will automatically allocate the external document number from the range setup in control number DS-GINXX. These external document numbers will be printed on the invoice/credit note along with the internal IP1 document number. The external document number can be viewed in the transaction inquiry.

F1 help

F1 help facility with Iptor IP1 XT UI 4.1+ allows you to access IP1 product documentation online from within the XT panel. When you press F1 on your current XT panel, it activates the URL to the related documentation in Knowledge Portal. You must be setup as a user in Knowledge Portal to access the documentation.

Faster shipping accounting EOD process

A much more efficient and faster EOD shipping accounting process selects only open orders for the specified period for EOD journals.

GDPR (Global data protection regulation)

Personal Information Management system has been written in Iptor IP1 to comply with The European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).  Under the new data protection requirements, the conditions of consent has been strengthened, so the consents in standard terms and conditions is no longer applicable. It includes certain rights of individuals such as the ‘right of erasure’, whereby a person has the right to request removal of personal data.

IP1 Personal Information Management system allows customers, contacts and creditors to have their personal data removed on consent. The personal data constitutes any information related to a person that can be used to identify that person. The system allows entities to request for personal data removal, with an approval process if required. Relevant related transactions/information is displayed within pending approval to help with the approval process. Diagnostics checks are performed before actual update (removal of personal data) by the EOM process. Controls within the system allows you to identify which personal data can be removed and when.

General inquires

Document inquiry by status – Additional reason codes as to why an order is suspended is available. When selecting by status ‘S'(suspend), you can use sub-status field to filter by suspend reason code.

Outstanding customer order inquiry – can view customer reference or our reference via function key toggle.

Forwarding agent search now includes address detail.

Company selection has been added to the following inquiries.

• OS orders inquiry by item (DSI085)
• Sales transaction by item inquiry (DSI060)

GL interface changes

The following changes have been made to GL interface.

• GL interface definition for multi company – GL interface definitions can be setup by multiple companies and currencies; this is very beneficial for companies that share the same chart of accounts.
• GL interface post to current or next G/L period – GL interface journal posting period, which defaults to current GL period has now been opened for input and allows entry of current or next period only. The system will validate to current or next period.
• GL interface reset – new program clears out all GL interface data and reverses posted GL transactions for the current month.

Inclusion of dropship order values in credit balance

A new file has been created to keep track of dropship order values, which is now included in the accumulation of credit balance for credit checks. Reservation orders can also be included in credit balance (setup in control file TMSDS/TR-ODT).

Inter-company claims

Inter-company claim will pend with new pending code (BB) if there is no valid inter-company invoice for it. The pended inter-company credit claim can be approved on claim pending review if the pending code is flagged for approval on TMSAR/PEND-DSC.  

Inter-company invoice price

Inter-company (IC) sales invoice program has been changed to use the exact original cost for IC invoice price if IC price is to be set from cost (as per control file (TMSDS-ICS-DFT).

Invoice split based on a pre-set limit

Billing accounts in Iptor IP1 can be setup with maximum invoice limits to enable an invoice to be split into multiple invoices if it exceeds the predefined limit. The limit is tied to customer classification that’s linked to the billing account. The invoice split will be after the order has been picked, just before invoicing so all short picks are taken into consideration.

Iptor exchange

• Base mapping completed for US (ANSI x 12) 
• Base mapping completed for APAC (BISAC) 
• Purchase order number traceability with the addition of a log file

Item transfer from EBP to Distribution

Additional resources from Editorial & Book Production can now be transferred to Distribution system on item transfer. Selection of resources is dependent on the setup in control file TMSBP/BS-RESC.

Limit number orders per invoice

New customer class types has been added to TMSDS/INVLL-CT to limit the number of lines or orders per invoice.

Live environment identifier

A new data area has been created to hold the live data library; this is primarily to determine which environment is live when there is multiple environments running on a system.

Locked freight charges

For an order with freight charge lock turned on (as per config in  TMSDS/FRT-LOCK), the system will lock the freight charge calculated at order entry and the order will be updated with the text type ‘FLK=freight lock’  (TMSDS/TR-TXT).

Making tax digital (MTD – UK)

Handles UK governments requirement to streamline their tax system so all  VAT reporting can be submitted digitally via API/bridging software.

Multi region item management

Iptor IP1 now handles multi region item management where you can specify the owner of a product and has an approval/adoption process for owner/adopter and their various departments. Region specific data can be specified with the ability to limit access and the usage of the item.

Order based bonus rewards enhancements

The following enhancements to Order based bonus functionality will allow greater flexibility in setting selection criteria  and facilitate easier management of bonus rewards and promotional deals.

• Deals will apply based on original order quantities and values rather than invoice quantities and values.
• Automatic application of coupons to orders.
• Multiple reward options can be combined for a single deal.
• Ability to override payment terms.
• New reward option type will override discount on an existing order line.
• Ability to override sales rep code on some bonus line items.
• Pending exceptions will ensure payment term overrides and discount overrides from order based rules do not pend for approval.
• Orders will merge regardless of order based bonus rules except for freight related bonus override.
• Allows charge back for freight bonus.
• New text type ‘OBD=Order bonus/Discount info’ to indicate which order bonus rule or discount rule is applied to the order line.

Order entry by fulfillment

This new process is designed to locate stock for a user’s order. The user can upload their original order and allow the system to apply the primary supply logic and load the suggestion onto a screen, thus allowing the user to look for related items, search using option for general P&A and item stocks.  User may choose to split the order line further, fulfilling the order with different combinations of related items and warehouses. An order can then be created (using Order Entry) and delivery details updated and actual price and availability can be checked.  At any point of entry of an order, the user can cancel the order, come back to the planning screen and rearrange the supply again.

Order text processing

Multiple order header and detail text can now be entered for an order. The system can be configured (TMSDS/TR-TXT) to have different text types maintainable at header or detail level with preset templates, if required. Templates can be defined using UDFs (user defined fields). If templates are defined, Text Order Entry will pre-populate the text screen for those text types. Line text entry can be configured to be mandatory by item class/text type. If an order item is applicable, Order Entry will call text entry automatically and make sure at least one text line is entered. Order text inquiry will display the text for the given line number/text type.

Pending check for dropship orders & proformas

Pending check for price and discount overrides for dropship orders and proformas can be set by company. Proformas can be entered as normal sales order to take advantage of the existing pending logics.  A new document type (AP=pend enabled OS order) will enable pending on outstanding order.

Pending exception by warehouse

Pending check has been changed to allow pending exception by warehouse. The control file TMSDS/PEND-EXO has been extended to have new a column for warehouse. 

Pick confirmation – short picks

When a component of a system is short picked, the whole system is invoiced to the customer, and a credit and backorder is created to cover only the item which has been short picked. 

PO creation for merged O/S order

This has been enhanced with the new option to split PO by order header reference. Multiple order lines for the same item is consolidated into a single PO line.

Price & tax retrieval

If the system cannot find a price that is x months old for a claim without an invoice, it will obtain the oldest price that it can find instead of no price at all. 

Promotion conditions validation on web orders

When a promotion ID is entered on a web order and the condition is not met, the system will recalculate price/discounts and issue a warning. The web site would then relay this warning back to the consumer, who will have the option to alter the order to meet the criteria or accept the order without the promotional incentive. 

Putaways for consignment returns

A putaway label can be printed when each item/container is added, if setup accordingly in TMSWH/PTWY-LAB. It will allow for a 2 step putaway process using container, but will generate putaway and print item/location label as soon as item/container has been confirmed rather than waiting till container is closed.

Quick search

Quick search, now available with Iptor IP1 XT UI 4.2+ does a search as you key in information. It presents results in a dropdown box as you type, allowing you to select from the filtered list. The filtered list will narrow down as each character is typed. It is significantly faster and more efficient search facility in comparison to F4 search. Quick search is currently available for customers, creditors and items.

The Quick search is enabled using Aperīo. The values from panels are used as parameters and sent to Aperīo function and the response from the function is shown in the Aperīo view. The links between the panels and the Aperīo function are defined in a configuration file.

Restricted item linkage

When selecting linked items, the system will exclude linking to items restricted in control file TMSDS/TM-RSTG. However these restricted items will be able to link to other linked items. 

Royalties, rights & permissions

A major enhancement in version 7.9 release is the modification to the existing Royalties system to include the functionalities of Rightsmaster. Instead of having an external .NET application to process contracts, royalties, rights and permissions, these functionalities are now included in IP1 system. These enhancements include the following.

• Royalty contracts are re-structured to link to multiple works instead of a sole item
• Works database has been extended to support full works management
• Contract search by works or items
• Multiple returns provision rules by items in a contract
• User access is by company, company group and royalty group
• Flexible account set definition with expense & payment split
• New sales movement type to support GDM & CAL payments
• New CAL process to manage upload, validation & posting of CAL transactions
• Milestone management process to manage advances and 3rd party payments
• Most royalty reports are in Excel
• Royalty cost deferment and amortization.
• Collections contracts for sub-rights exploitation.
• Immediate invoice generation for one off charges against a collection contract.
• Excel upload of Collection sales data
• Collections invoice generation
• Collection paythrough processing via payment contract
• Templates for the sub rights. 
• Royalty statement finish in excel. 
• Automatic generation of sub rights based on rule-based templates. 
• Automatic generation of works when ISBNS are created. 
• Tracking of company revenue on sub rights. 
• New option to view agent information on Payee share maintenance. 
• Collection reminders can be an excel report or a reminder letter that can be run as part of end of month process. It can be run to automatically include or exclude one-off-charges. Due date for the collection can be specified or left as default (one month from the date of the report). 
• New end of month process for Collection contracts – allows invoice generation, payee balance update, paythrough, collection reminder and collection balance update to be run collectively if required.
• A subright can be linked to multiple payment contracts, each with its own pay through rate and status. The pay through percentages for all the linked contracts can not exceed 100%.
• One-off charges for Collection contracts are invoiced by invoice period i.e. invoice period must be specified before invoicing any charges.
• Stepped royalty rates can now also apply to Collections contracts; sales (usage) charges are based on historical accumulated sales.
• Collection contract royalty rate can vary by territory (movement types can be setup by territories) and sales upload by territories

Sales tax re-structure & VAT processing

Sales tax process has been restructured to cater for more complex tax structures of different countries. Multiple taxes can be set up, to be charged at central government, state or local levels for different regions, along with taxes levied on services (service tax). Overrides can be setup for customers and items whereby customers are charged tax at parent level for packs. Base, trading and local currency can be printed on the invoice.

VAT processing changes include the following.

• VAT GL journals can be manually generated with the option to generate a VAT excel  report for checking before posting. There is also an option to generate an excel listing for all or posted journals by company/group, period and document date range.
• Tax rate increased to 4 decimal places for VAT.
• New facility available to override item tax code by company.
• VAT reporting has been updated to satisfy legislative reporting requirements for Europe.

Serial number tracking

Enhancements to serial number tracking allows for serial numbers to be captured for each item/quantity on all stock movements in and out of warehouses, e.g. receipts, sales, transfers and adjustments. Item classifications in the system must be set up appropriately to allow serial number tracking on dispatch and receipt as required. Serial numbers for Already delivered/charge only orders are captured during order entry. An order will pend with pending code ‘BX’ if serial numbers are missing for items in the order that require serial numbers.

Shipping account definition by vendor

Supplier code has been added to shipping accounting definition to allow shipping financial reporting by vendor.

Stock allocation

The system now allows orders to flow through to the warehouse for picking for nominated items even if not enough stock is available. Control file TMSDS/WH-SNEG has been extended to define by warehouse selection code and location. 
If a physical warehouse is entered, a location must be entered or the program will not allow the stock to go negative. It will generate a picking request from the nominated location when there is no stock available to pick.

Stock receipt quantity control

Receipt quantity tolerance can now be set by warehouse. This will provide greater flexibility to businesses with different requirements in terms of excess percentage allowed within each of their warehouses.

Subscription order reversal

The last activity on a subscription order can be reversed if required. The reversing process will reverse the selected transactions based on transaction status.

• For C or I status, credit will be generated and any backorders from original order will be cancelled. The generated credit will be linked to the subscription and show in the Subscription Transaction inquiry.
• For E, P or K status, the order will be rejected.

Suspended order reasons

When an order is suspended on order entry, suspend reason codes can be captured to efficiently identify the reason for the order getting suspended. New transaction text type ‘SPN’ will hold the suspend reason code and any text that is captured against the suspend reason code. Document inquiry by status can be filtered by suspend reason codes (sub-status).

Update AP GST total dynamically

The total tax on Invoice/Credit Note now gets updated from the detail tax when the invoice/credit note is approved. This is to ensure the header and the detail tax balance, especially in instances where the tax rate is different for different line items (e.g. in Europe).

US tax process

This US Tax process is for customers who receive tax files from Iptor, on how to download and update BNA masterfiles with the relevant tax data. Allows for tax exemption by local county, city and local city 

Virtual exchange rates

Iptor IP1 can be configured to allow specific exchange rate tables to retrieve rates from another exchange table (base table). This rule is applicable only when transaction period is equal to or greater than the effective period defined against the table. If transaction period is before the effective period for the table, system will use the original table rather than the base table.

Warehouse interface claims

•  Allows consignment returns by customer/reference on the assumption that one customer will only have one consignment.
• Allows returns stock to be updated in a non-location control warehouse. It will require the following setup.
  • Transaction reason to be flagged as ‘update stock’ in TMSDS/TR-RSN.
  • TMSWH/WI-CLDFT to be set by the logical warehouse (non-loc ctl wh)
  • Claim reason in TMSWH/WI-CLDFT to be ‘non-physical returns’ (TMSAR/CL-REAS).

Working with AR batches

Batch numbers for web and e-commerce application is now determined by AR location. When creating or retrieving batch numbers for web payments (or batch payments), A/R location is determined from the company of the sales transaction. When working with AR batches, the system will check if the user has access to the company for the AR batch and restrict the user if there is no access.

Work order for pack disassembly

Iptor IP1 V7.9 allows work order for pack disassembly; when there is a request for a pack disassembly and it is set to do via work order, system will generate a work order to pick and disassemble the pack item.