Release Notes: What's New in 2024.1

Welcome to the 2024.1 What's New! Updates are organized into three sections:

• New: This section highlights the major feature updates for this release.
  
  • Online Space Booking: Booking Roles
  • Online Space Booking: Book on Behalf Of
• Changed: Critical changes in behavior which you need to be aware of.
  • Access Privilege Retired
  • New Organization Parameter
• Improved: All the details about the rest of the enhancements to the software, grouped by module.
  • Access Privileges
  • Financials
  • Global Behavior
  • Manage Events Across Time Zones
  • Payment Portal
  • API

New

Online Space Booking: Booking Roles

We are thrilled to announce the latest enhancement to Online Space Booking (OSB): Booking Roles. This feature offers more flexibility and control over who can book specific spaces via Online Space Booking. Booking Roles will also restrict the OSB portals available to a public-facing user in the Account Portal. 

Each Booking Role will have:

• Contacts to define who the role applies to.
• OSB Configurations to define where these roles are enforced.
• Space Classes to define which spaces contacts can book. You will create Space Classes and assign them to the relevant spaces. This allows you to select a space class for the booking role rather than selecting each space individually. Space Classes could include Faculty Spaces, Student Spaces, Executive Spaces, Outdoor Spaces, and so on.
• A Booking Role Type, such as Faculty, Staff, Student, and so on. These types allow you to filter and segment your booking roles to make managing them easier. You will create these types before creating your Booking Roles.

For all the details about configuring and using Online Space Booking Booking Roles, please see Booking Roles and Space Classes.

Online Space Booking: Book on Behalf Of

In Online Space Booking, you are now able to allow a public-facing user to book on behalf of another account or contact, such as an administrator booking for other employees or an executive assistant booking for the executive.

To use this feature, you'll need to update the OSB Configuration, including specifying the Relationship Type which allows a user to book on behalf of another user. For configuration specifics, please see Book on Behalf of.

When a user with the specific relationship type logs in to the OSB portal with Book on Behalf of enabled, they will choose whether they are booking for themselves or for someone else. The logged in user will be saved as the Main Account/Contact on the event and the user the event was booked on behalf of will be listed in the Requestor field.

+These articles have been updated to include these changes:

• Online Space Booking Overview
• Online Space Booking Configuration

Changed

Access Privilege Retired

The Access Privilege Allow Entry of PO Items not on Requisitions has been retired. This privilege was not being actively checked in prior versions; there will be no change to users who may have been previously assigned. Purchasing Access Privileges has been updated to reflect this change.

+New Organization Parameter

In preparation for the release of Guest Room Flows in the 2024.2 release, a new organization parameter has been added. If you are currently using the legacy Room Flow section on Event Opportunities, set CM 257 value to Y to continue using the feature. 

Improved

Access Privileges

A new system access privilege, Ability to Change/Reset Another User's Password, has been added. This explicit access privilege grants access to the change and reset password processes accessed from the Users page in Enterprise. Prior to this change, users had to be members of an administration role to have access to these processes. 

+Change or Forgot a User Password has been updated to reflect this change.

Financials

• The Account Specific Payment Method field (assigned to the account in A/R Demographics) has been added as a column and filter on both the Invoices and Payment Plan Invoicing pages. In addition to viewing the information, you can sort by the Account Specific Payment Method column and also filter to view invoices and payments by the account's payment method. This will allow you to more easily manage communications with your customers.
• The ability to delete a payment transaction has been added, making it easier for back-office accounting users to correct errors made when entering payments. In order to delete a payment transaction, a user must have the new explicit access privilege Payment/AR Transaction Delete Access. There are also strict criteria around this action:
  • The transaction type must be Payment, Adjustment or Deposit.
  • The transaction cannot have originated via Electronic means (Credit Card Gateway).
  • The transaction cannot have related transactions for XAPs, FCAs, Credit Card Surcharges, or AR Vouchers.
  • The transaction cannot be part of a control or cash entry batch.
  • The transaction cannot be posted to the GL.
  • The transaction date must be in an open or active AR period.
  Please see Delete Payments for step-by-step instructions.
• Organizations using GL Dimensions are now able to use Budget Checks. Budget Checks ensure budget accuracy on purchase orders and requisition approvals. Budget Checks can be accessed two ways:
  • Manually access Budget Checks on a Purchase Order or Requisition (View > View Budget Details).
  • To automatically open Budget Details window during the Approve process, set Organization Parameter PO020* to Y. The window will open if the remaining budget amount for any GL account for any period affected by the current PO/Requisition distribution results is negative.

Global Behavior

New formula types, such as TEXTBEFORE and TEXTAFTER, are now available to be used in custom formula fields with the upgrade of the application used for formula fields from 6.8.6 to 7.19.1. For all new features added with this upgrade, please see the application's release notes on their site. 

*Manage Events Across Time Zones

We continue to expand the Manage Events Across Time Zones feature to ensure clarity for users on accounts with spaces in more than one time zone. These improvements include:

• In Mobile Work Orders, all times will include the user's time zone.
• The Space Start Time, Space End Time, and Time Zone - Space fields available in other areas of the application are also now available in My Activities and Activities. These fields must be added via Edit Layout. The existing start and end dates/time fields will display in the user's time zone.
• In Online Space Booking, the time zone of the space will be visible when adding or editing orders to events.
• *In Online Event Ordering, there is a new time zone field to indicate which time zone the ordered catering/services are for. The selected time zone will display throughout the application and align with the hours of operations. 

The Events Across Time Zones license is required for these features.

+These articles have been updated to reflect these changes:

• Events Across Time Zones
• Online Event Ordering Configuration

Payment Portal

We have made several enhancements to the Customer Payment Portal (version 2). These improvements will make it easier to transition from Version 1 Payment Portals as we move towards their retirement in Q4 2024 (see the announcement).

• Administrators are now able to specify the display of the Billing History tab in the Customer Payment Portal (version 2). These options are available:
  • Show Payment History: All payments, deposits, and adjustments which are not flagged as internal will display.
  • Show Charges History: All invoices and credit invoices which are not flagged as internal will display.
  • If neither is checked, the Billing History section will not display.
• The Customer Payment Portal (version 2) now offers more self-service to help improve collection times:
  • Improved real-time reporting allowing customers who need multiple report formats the ability to configure as many reports as needed per Subject (Invoices, Order types, Payment Plans). These new reporting options will be available for the E-Payment Application as well.
  • An improved email confirmation section allowing the payer to input two email addresses for sending payment confirmations.
  • The ability to allow credit notes to appear on the portal and be applied to open invoices to reduce the overall amount paid.
• New version 1 Payment Portal configurations can no longer be created. There is an exception for those licensed to ESC and EXP.
• Payment Applications and Configuration has been updated to reflect these changes.

API

• API Endpoints added for Space External IDs
• API Endpoints added for Accounts Receivable Vouchers