October 2011 - Posts

• Method CRM Updates - October 22 - October 24, 2011

  The following indicates which accounting application(s) the release note(s) apply to. QBD = QuickBooks Desktop QBO = QuickBooks Online Edit Case New - we’ve added a new field to the cases table IsEmailCaseNotificationToContact and made the “Email Case notification to contact when saving?” a bound field.  This way if the preference is enabled/disabled, it will save that preference for that Case. (QBO & QBD) Improved - when attempting to add a new contact from the “Activity Contact” or “Follow-up Contact” dropdown lists, we now check to make sure that a main contact for the case is assigned.  If the case does not have a contact assigned, a message will appear at the top of the screen. (QBO & QBD) Fixed - the miURL link being sent to the contact associated with the case was not automatically prompting for the email address.  This was because the Entity.RecordID was not being provided passed in the actions.  This is now fixed. (QBD & QBO) Fixed - email being sent for activity did not have a default tab group setup for the miURL action.  Changed this to “CRM”. (QBD & QBO) Fixed - email being sent for case did not have a default tab group setup for the miURL action.  Changed this to “CRM”. (QBD & QBO) Fixed - email being sent for follow-up activity did not have a default tab group setup for the miURL action.  Changed this to “CRM”. (QBD & QBO) New Case New - now you can add a new contact for the lead/customer/vendor associated with the case by clicking the dropdown list for “Activity Contact” or “Follow-up Contact” and selecting < Add New >.  We also now verify that a main contact for the case is selected in the “Contact” dropdown list before attempting to add a new contact. (QBO & QBD) New - we’ve added a new field to the cases table IsEmailCaseNotificationToContact and made the “Email Case notification to contact when saving?” a bound field.  This way if the preference is enabled/disabled, it will save that preference for that Case. (QBO & QBD) New - now when creating a new case, Method will check to see if the user logged in has their default preference set to email the contact associated with the case if any option other than “none” is selected. (QBO & QBD) Improved - now when a different contact is selected from the “Contact” dropdown list, the “Activity Contact” and “Follow-up Contact” dropdowns get pre-filled automatically with the name in the “Contact” dropdown.  The name, phone number and email also get pre-filled. (QBO & QBD) Improved - the “Activity Contact” and “Follow-up Contact” dropdown lists now display the contacts phone number for the second column and email address for the thrid column.  Since we already know the company and entity type, its more useful to have these fields displayed here as additional columns. (QBO & QBD) Improved - updated the radio button option for “Existing Customer/Vendor” to “Existing Lead/Customer/Vendor/Employee”. (QBO & QBD) Improved - made the “Contact” field a required field.  This prevents the chance that a blank contact entry will be created. (QBD) Improved - made the “First Name” field a required field.  This prevents the chance that a blank contact entry will be created. (QBO) Improved - the section header for existing contact has now been changed to “Existing Lead / Customer / Vendor / Employee”. (QBO & QBD) Improved - the Activity Contact and Follow-up Contact fields only appear if the “Existing Lead/Customer/Vendor/Employee” radio option is selected.  he reason we’ve done this is to avoid confusion with these fields appearing blank before the entity is actually saved. (QBO & QBD) Improved - when un-checking the “New Activity?” checkbox, the section for “Schedule a Follow-up” will now hide automatically. (QBO & QBD) Fixed - all images were updated to now use https vs. http. (QBO & QBD) Fixed - the text for “Contact Assigned To” was the wrong size.  Matched this to the other fields to keep a consistent look. (QBO) Fixed - the miURL link being sent to the contact associated with the case was not automatically prompting for the email address.  This was because the Entity.RecordID was not being provided passed in the actions.  This is now fixed. (QBO & QBD) Fixed - email being sent for activity did not have a default tab group setup for the miURL action.  Changed this to “CRM”. (QBO & QBD) Fixed - email being sent for case did not have a default tab group setup for the miURL action.  Changed this to “CRM”. (QBO & QBD) Fixed - email being sent for follow-up activity did not have a default tab group setup for the miURL action.  Changed this to “CRM”. (QBO & QBD) Special thanks to Judy Syms for providing some great feedback on some of the changes that were implemented in this release.   Cheers, Danny   Posted Oct 24 2011, 08:07 AM by Anonymous with no comments

• Method CRM Updates - October 18 - October 21, 2011

  The following indicates which accounting application(s) the release note(s) apply to. QBD = QuickBooks Desktop QBO = QuickBooks Online My CRM Preferences New - this is a new screen used to track CRM preferences for the logged in user. (QBD & QBO) New - added a checkbox that indicates if the user would like new cases to automatically check the checkbox for “Email Case notification to contact when saving?”. (QBD & QBO) Small update today but we’re planning on releasing a couple updates to the cases screen soon.   Cheers, Danny   Posted Oct 21 2011, 03:51 PM by Anonymous with no comments

• Method CRM Updates - October 16 - October 17, 2011

  The following indicates which accounting application(s) the release note(s) apply to. QBD = QuickBooks Desktop QBO = QuickBooks Online Edit Lead Improved - the caption for “Customer Name” was changed to “Lead Name”.  Keeps it consistent with the New Lead screen. (QBD & QBO) Improved - the “First Name” field has now been made a required field to be entered in. (QBO) Improved - the “Contact” field has now been made a required field to be entered in. (QBD) Improved - add the following two columns in the dropdown for “Campaign”. (QBD & QBO) Campaign Type - 2nd column in dropdown Campaign Status - 3rd column in dropdown New Customer New - you can now add a new QuickBooks Sales Rep by clicking the < Add New > option under the Sales Rep dropdown List. (QBD) Improved - the “Contact” field has now been made a required field to be entered in.  Why?  This avoids problems down the road if you’re trying to add a new activity/opportunity/case and are unable to locate the lead because the contact name is empty. (QBD) Improved - the “First Name” field has now been made a required field to be entered in.  Why?  This avoids problems down the road if you’re trying to add a new activity/opportunity/case and are unable to locate the lead because the contact name was empty. (QBO) Improved - added the following two columns in the dropdown list for “Sales Rep”. (QBD) Sales Rep Name - 2nd column in dropdown Entity Type - 3rd column in dropdown Edit Customer Improved - the “First Name” field has now been made a required field to be entered in. (QBO) Improved - the “Contact” field has now been made a required field to be entered in. (QBD) Improved - add the following two columns in the dropdown for “Campaign”. (QBD & QBO) Campaign Type - 2nd column in dropdown Campaign Status - 3rd column in dropdown Improved - the “Campaign” dropdown list now only shows active campaigns. (QBD) Cheers, Danny   Posted Oct 17 2011, 08:51 AM by Anonymous with no comments

• Method Platform Updates - September 8 to October 15, 2011

  Enhancements Knowledge Base Beta - We have entered into a beta for a new "Knowledge Base" feature that lets you to link to a public, searchable and index-able knowledge base (or FAQ). It takes the solution articles you write in Method, and creates a public help document. As you make changes to solutions in Method, your knowledge base is updated automatically. We are currently using this to build our own knowledge base for Method. You can check out the work in progress at http://www.methodintegration.com/method/kb.aspx?folder=methodcrm. You can create your knowledge base under Customize > Integration Tools > Knowledge Base. Keep your eyes on our blog as we'll soon be giving you a step-by-step guide on how it works. (Geeky) Performance enhancement - methodcdn.com. We finished the project of moving images, style sheets and javascript files to methodcdn.com. This CDN (content delivery network) enables your browser to download these files faster, and therefore your pages load faster. As a side note, this created a number of problems that were live for a few days before getting resolved, this included: Fixed: Changing styles under Customize > Display sometimes took several minutes before taking effect. Fixed: The Method login screen sometimes would show a broken image. Fixed: The customer portal login screen sometimes would show a broken image. Fixed: Changing your company logo would sometimes show a broken image. (Geeky) Performance enhancement - Sprites! Instead of have each image in its own file, "Sprites" are an optimization concept where many images are combined in a single file called a Sprite and then when the image is displayed, only a small portion of the Sprite is used. To you it looks the same as before, but it means fewer images get downloaded, which makes pages load faster. With all great new things, there can be side effects. The following issues have been now resolved: Fixed: The Move Up and Move Down arrows were scrunched on the Actions screen and Customize > Tabs > Tab Links screen. (Geeky) .NET 4.0 - Method is now running under Microsoft .NET 4.0. This allows us to take advantage of some new server-side performance capabilities, which include better memory management during peak times of the day. And yes.....there were side effects that are now resolved: Fixed: "Invalid ViewState" error message would show occasionally, mainly on the calendar and on the designer screens. Fixed: Designer broken in FireFox and Chrome. Editing actions causes pop-up screen to jump to bottom. (Geeky) Database connection pooling - Another major project has completed that was ongoing for many months. The ambition was to minimize the number of database connections Method makes. Connections have been cut in 1/2 during peak times from when the project started, despite a solid growth in Method's total user base. The result is that during peak hours, Method servers can handle more traffic without a noticeable performance hit. Fixes and other improvements Improved: Import / Export, conflicts are given only after an import completes, instead of during the import - giving you the chance to abort if you are seeing too many conflicts. Fixed: Able to enter alpha characters into decimal and integer fields for existing fields on grids. Fixed: Creating Item Groups in Method does not work if the sync engine is running. Fixed: HTML editor cutting off very long text without giving a warning. Fixed: Call another action set not working from grid actions after update is clicked. Fixed: Lose focus actions not always firing on grid after update is clicked. Fixed: Arrowing down on grid not working when going from existing lines to new lines. Fixed: Tabbing around grid quickly while actions are firing in the background can sometimes cause updates to occur in wrong row. Improved: Grids still show data when filter fields missing. In situations where you built a grid in the past and created filters for the grid based on values from fields on the screen, and those fields were since deleted, we previously ignored the filter and continued. For your added security, we now show no data, and require you to fix your filters. Fixed: Down arrow doesn't work in multi-line text field. For large text fields in grids, such as the Description field on an invoice, you can now arrow up and down between rows in the column. Improved: Paging in grids on new rows. Previously, when adding new rows to a grid that has multiple pages, you would stay on the same page as before. Now, you'll go to the page that shows the last record added. Fixed: Roles on buttons don't work if a button is used in a tab section. Fixed: Setting Default Time for DatePicker not working. Fixed: The security update that limits what type of HTML can be displayed on the screen needed to accommodate more situations where emails were copied and pasted from Gmail. Previously, copy and pastes from Gmail into an Activity's Comments caused ugly HTML to be displayed on the screen. Fixed: QB Online, issue with Bill To info on Invoice reverting to Customer Bill To Info after being saved in Method. Fixed: QB Online, non-taxable customers being saved in Method are being switched to taxable. Fixed: Issue with constant flickering happening on Chrome when more than 2 HTML editors are placed onto the same screen. Enjoy, Paul Posted Oct 16 2011, 08:26 AM by Method_Paul with no comments

• Method CRM Updates - October 8 - October 15, 2011

  The following indicates which accounting application(s) the release note(s) apply to. QBD = QuickBooks Desktop QBO = QuickBooks Online New Lead New - if a lead is related to a campaign, you can now select that campaign using the “Campaign” dropdown list.  Only active campaigns will appear in this dropdown. (QBD & QBO)   New - you can now add a new QuickBooks Sales Rep by clicking the < Add New > option under the Sales Rep dropdown List. (QBD) Improved - the “Lead Rating” dropdown list now defaults to “Hot”.  Previously this dropdown was blank until a value was assigned.  (QBD & QBO) Improved - the caption for “Customer Name” was changed to “Lead Name”.  After all, we are adding a lead not a customer. ;-)  (QBD & QBO) Improved - the “Contact” field has now been made a required field to be entered in.  Why?  This avoids problems down the road if you’re trying to add a new activity/opportunity/case and are unable to locate the lead because the contact name is empty. (QBD) Improved - the “First Name” field has now been made a required field to be entered in.  Why?  This avoids problems down the road if you’re trying to add a new activity/opportunity/case and are unable to locate the lead because the contact name was empty. (QBO) Improved - when checking or un-checking the “Add Additional Info” checkbox, the cursor wasn’t jumping to the “Terms” dropdown automatically. (QBO) Improved - added the following two columns in the dropdown list for “Sales Rep”. (QBD) Sales Rep Name - 2nd column in dropdown Entity Type - 3rd column in dropdown Opportunities List Fix - when clicking on the date in the “Next Activity” column, the record ID of the activity was not getting passed.  This resulted in a blank activity appearing.  Yuck!  We’ve now fixed it so the associated activity appears. Special thanks to Mark Crews for bringing this to our attention. (QBD) Cheers, Danny =)   Posted Oct 14 2011, 07:44 AM by Anonymous with no comments

• Method CRM Updates - October 5 - October 7, 2011

  The following indicates which accounting application(s) the release note(s) apply to. QBD = QuickBooks Desktop QBO = QuickBooks Online Edit Case New - you can now launch the edit contact screen from any of the tab sections by clicking More actions... > Edit Contact... Of course a contact would need to be selected from the Contact dropdown list at the top of the screen for this to work. (QBD & QBO)   New - the “Activity Contact” and “Follow-up Contact” dropdown lists located under the Case Dialog & New / Edit Activity tab have been updated to only show contacts that belong to the lead/customer/vendor associated with the case.  This makes it much easier to locate a specific contact at the company when adding an activity from this screen. (QBD & QBO) New - now you can add a new contact for the lead/customer/vendor associated with the case by clicking the dropdown list for “Activity Contact” or “Follow-up Contact” and selecting < Add New >. (QBD & QBO) New - added a new option to delete an activity from this screen by clicking More actions... > Delete Activity under the New/Edit Activity tab. (QBD & QBO) New - the ( … ) and < Add New > options were added to the following dropdown lists.  This will make things easier for adding/editing values to the dropdowns. (QBD & QBO) Activity Type Activity Priority Follow-up Type Follow-up Status Follow-up Priority Improved - now when a different contact is selected from the “Contact” dropdown list, the “Activity Contact” and “Follow-up Contact” dropdowns get pre-filled automatically with the name in the “Contact” dropdown. (QBD & QBO) Improved - the “Activity Contact” and “Follow-up Contact” dropdown lists now display the contacts phone number for the second column and email address for the thrid column.  Since we already know the company and entity type, its more useful to have these fields displayed here as additional columns. (QBD & QBO) Improved - removed the “Complete, Save & New Activity” button from the screen.  After some feedback from the community and our own internal team, we’ve integrated this into the “Save”, “Save & Back” and “Save & Close” buttons. (QBD & QBO) Improved - the “Save” button now has 2 options when clicked. (QBD & QBO) Save Case - which simply saves the case. Save Case, Complete Activity & New Activity - which saves the case, completes the activity and then clears the screen for a new activity to be added.   Improved - the “Save & Back” button now has 2 options when clicked. (QBD & QBO) Save Case & Back - which simply saves the case and returns you back to your last known location. Save Case, Complete Activity & Back - which saves the case, completes the activity and returns you back to your last known location. Improved - the “Save & Close” button now has 2 options when clicked. (QBD & QBO) Save Case & Close - which simply saves the case and closes the pop-up window. Save Case, Complete Activity & Close - which saves the case, completes the activity and closes the pop-up window. Improved - updated filter views for Existing Activities for this Case to us the new “Activity Status Type” field.  This way if someone changes the name of the activity status, it will not cause any problems with the way activities are displayed in the grid. (QBD & QBO) Fix - when navigating to the Edit Case screen from the Activities List if the Go Back button was clicked, you would be taken back to the Activities List screen.  However if you went back to the Cases tab, the screen would appear with no selected tab link.  Now this tab will be taken back to the Cases List tab link. (QBD & QBO) Fix - all images on screen have now been updated to use https. (QBD & QBO) Fix - when selecting a different contact for the case an error message regarding sales rep appeared.  This has now been updated to reflect the assigned to field instead. (QBO) Contacts Fix - all images on screen have now been updated to use https. (QBD & QBO) Thanks for all the great feedback and interaction, Danny   Posted Oct 07 2011, 09:19 AM by Anonymous with no comments

• Method CRM Updates - October 4, 2011

  The following indicates which accounting application(s) the release note(s) apply to. QBD = QuickBooks Desktop QBO = QuickBooks Online Customer and Contacts List Fix - changed the balance field to support 12 digits before the decimal place. (QBD & QBO) Small one for today but we’ve got more coming! =) Cheers, Danny   Posted Oct 05 2011, 08:24 AM by Anonymous with no comments

• Method CRM Updates - September 25 - October 3, 2011

  The following indicates which accounting application(s) the release note(s) apply to. QBD = QuickBooks Desktop QBO = QuickBooks Online Edit Opportunity New - the “Activity Contact” and “Follow-up Contact” dropdown lists located under the New / Edit Activity tab have been updated to only show contacts that belong to the lead or customer associated with the opportunity.  This makes it much easier to locate a specific contact at the company when adding an activity from this screen. (QBD & QBO) New - now you can add a new contact for the lead/customer associated with the opportunity by clicking the dropdown list for “Activity Contact” or “Follow-up Contact” and selecting < Add New >. (QBD & QBO)   New - added a new option to delete an activity from this screen by clicking More actions... > Delete Activity under the New/Edit Activity tab. (QBD & QBO)   Improved - now when a different contact is selected from the “Contact” dropdown list, the “Activity Contact” and “Follow-up Contact” dropdowns get pre-filled automatically with the name in the “Contact” dropdown. (QBD & QBO) Improved - the “Activity Contact” and “Follow-up Contact” dropdown lists now display the contacts phone number for the second column and email address for the thrid column.  Since we already knew the company and entity type, its more useful to have these fields displayed here as additional columns. (QBD & QBO) Improved - removed the “Save & New Activity” button from the screen.  After some feedback from the community and our own internal team, we’ve integrated this into the “Save”, “Save & Back” and “Save & Close” buttons. (QBD & QBO) Improved - the “Save” button now has 2 options when clicked. (QBD & QBO) Save Opportunity - which simply saves the opportunity. Save Opportunity, Activity & New Activity - which saves the opportunity and the activity and then clears the screen for a new activity to be added.     Improved - the “Save & Back” button now has 2 options when clicked. (QBD & QBO) Save Opportunity & Back - which simply saves the opportunity and returns you back to your last known location. Save Opportunity, Activity & Back - which saves the opportunity and the activity and returns you back to your last known location. Improved - the “Save & Close” button now has 2 options when clicked. (QBD & QBO) Save Opportunity & Close - which simply saves the opportunity and closes the pop-up window. Save Opportunity, Activity & Close - which saves the opportunity and the activity and closes the pop-up window. Improved - changed the “Name” field to “Opportunity Name”.  This was done to make a clear up any potential confusion with the Lead/Customer Name. (QBD & QBO) Fix - the help note located under the Existing Activities for this Opportunity tab was updated to reflect the changes in this release note. (QBD & QBO) Fix - when navigating to the Edit Opportunity screen from the Activities List if the Go Back button was clicked, you would be taken back to the Activities List screen.  However if you went back to the Opportunities tab, the screen would appear with no selected tab link.  Now this tab will be taken back to the Opportunities List tab link. (QBD & QBO) Fix - when clicking the “Duplicate Opportunity” an error was appearing regarding the contacts.  This has now been resolved. (QBD & QBO) Contacts New - the Name field has now been made a required field.  If a contact is edited, you’ll now need to make sure that the Name field is filled in. (QBD & QBO) New - set width of section to 940 pixels to match other screen designs. (QBD & QBO) Sales Orders Fix - the Item and Tax columns in the items grid did not have the first column specified. (QBD) Cheers, Danny   Posted Oct 04 2011, 08:00 AM by Anonymous with no comments