Online Advantage 2006 First Edition — now available
As a browser based application, Online Advantage is already offering new ways to make the most of a feature rich business solution. The 2006 Release, First Edition seeks to make this experience more widely and reliably available and even more "user friendly." Along with the highlights of this release, we have also redeveloped over 60 forms and reports to take advantage of these new features. Highlights of the 2006 First Edition include:
- Transaction Commit/Rollback
- Internet Speed Optimized
- New Main Menu
- Data Selector
- Wizards
- New Report Designer
- E-Commerce Suite
Transaction Commit/Rollback
This is an extremely important enhancement to the Online Advantage application because it maintains the integrity of your business information. We have created Transaction Boundaries around all the Browser Based forms that perform database updating. In the event of an interruption to the save process, partial updating and therefore corruption of Online's data files will be prevented. This means that when a user takes a "Save" option to update the data they have changed or entered in a given Online form, none of the changes will be saved to the database unless all of the changes can be saved to the database.
Internet Speed Optimized
Whenever screens need refreshing or data needs to be exchanged it always seems that we have a "slow connection" and this situation is even further exacerbated over slower network links such as internet links, VPN, remote mobile computing technologies and low bandwidth Wide Area Network (WAN) links. By modifying elements such as the Main Menu and introducing a Wizards based approach to forms design we have significantly enhanced the performance resulting in a speed improvement of up to 10 times when running Online Advantage over the internet. This has made a reality the ability to access and run Online applications from anywhere, anytime.
New Main Menu
The New Main Menu for Online is easier to navigate now that you can use either keyboard or mouse to make your selection. Modifications that have been made to optimize Internet speed ensure that the New Main Menu runs quicker over the Internet and/or slower Wide Area Network links. This new menu is best seen from our sample application at http://www.onlineadvantage.com.au/demos. Hover your mouse over the image to view a larger image.
Data Selector
A new utility in this release is the Data Selector. We predict that this tool will be used extensively as it allows you to view and omit and/or include data in a process. For instance, say you batch print your Invoices, with the Data Selector you can put in you "selection criteria" and then view the resulting orders that are due for invoicing before sending them to print. Since there may be orders that you do not want to print the invoice for, we give you a simple "check-box" facility to include/exclude items from the list.
Wizards
Release 2006 introduces the new and improved method for data entry and data maintenance forms via a "Wizard" style navigation. Not only does this method of forms design operate quicker over differing lines speeds, it offers much easier and intuitive navigation for the user. Tasks are broken into discrete and related sections and each one is setup as a step in the wizard. The information entered at each step determines your progress through the form. Some responses will enable you to automatically skip steps, thereby saving time and the Wizard will not allow you to progress through the form until all data required has been entered thereby minimizing errors. Another benefit of the Wizard approach is the ability for us to program the forms with greater keyboard navigation facilities thus reducing the reliance on the mouse.
New Report Designer
A new graphical Report Designer has been introduced in this release of Online Advantage. This tool can be used to develop or adjust Forms (such as Invoices, Credit Notes, Debtors Statements, Delivery Labels etc.) as well as to develop and adjust Online Reports. To date we have used it to create over 20 standard Online Advantage forms and more than 30 new reports such as Creditors Ledger reports and General Ledger Profit and Loss and Balance Sheet statements. It is a Drag and Drop style tool which means that images, labels, Online data, formatting etc can all be performed by simply dragging an element from a list (or pallet) of available elements and dropping or placing it on the page. The tool provides the following features:
- Pictures/Logos/Images
- Bar Codes of any Online Data in multiple bar code formats
- Graphics, shapes/line drawing
- Font, Pitch, Font Size and Co lour selection
- Unlimited Group sections with Header and Footer sections for each
- Sub-Totaling within any section
- Grand Totals, Running Totals and Page Totals
- Background colours and watermarks
E-Commerce Suite
The E-Commerce suite has been completely re-worked to utilize Cascading Style Sheets (.css files) for the visual elements of the E-commerce sites. This means that E-Commerce B2B and B2C sites can be easily tailored to a customers needs by updating the style sheets rather than modifying the software. The key customizable elements include fonts, colours, images, and (in most cases) the position of the visual elements.
One key new E-commerce feature is the Product Promotion tool that can be used on either B2C or B2B sites to focus attention on new products, products on promotion, or any special events or news. This is a great way to create some focus with your clients. The promotions can be changed as often as you require simply by updating product details in the Online Advantage backend database.
For more information on Online E-Commerce, visit our web site for a demonstration site at
http://www.onlineadvantage.com.au/demos/OnlineB2C/Online/Ecommerce.aspx or http://www.onlineadvantage.com.au/demos/OnlineB2B/Online/Ecommerce.aspx
You can log in to the B2B demo site using the following user code and password. Feel free to browse the site and place orders etc.
User code = DEMO Password = GUEST (note the uppercase)
Browser requirements for the 2006 First Edition are: Internet Explorer 6+, Firefox 1.0.6 +, Netscape 7+, Opera 7.5+ (NOTE: no support for Internet Explorer 5.x)
Recommended minimum screen resolution: 1024 x 768 or higher (Partial support only for 800 x 600)
For a complete list of new Forms and Reports that have been implemented in this release or to get a copy of the Release Notes for Release 2006 or other releases, call us on +61 2 9966 5544.