Coming Soon
From PlantX.net
This page shows the features that are currently under development.
Contents |
Next Major Release
The following is a list of features that we are working on in June '08.
Crop Allocation Views and Controls
- (previously listed as "Supplies with Multiple Locations")
PlantX.net currently allows members to account for inventory at any number of locations. By design, PlantX.net requires that each supply (stock) be listed in specific locations, but when supplies are allocated to orders, at times the office staff may not know from where the supplies will be pulled. In this case, the field staff are responsible for pulling plant material for the order. Consequently, the office staff must record the supply locations after the order has been pulled. The solution is to have the office staff allocate the order from a supply listed in a generic location (i.e. "Anywhere"), and then later move the allocation to the actual location as specified by the field staff. Although PlantX.net supports the notion of an anonymous "Anywhere" location, moving allocations from the anonymous location to the final location can be tedious and error prone.
Therefore, this upgrade will add features that improve the Inventory Window supply view and stock adjustments. It also includes more features for the Order Load Manager to shift allocated supplies from location to location.
- Crop view of supplies so you can see at a glance the stock levels for each crop. This will make managing crops with a large number of locations easier to visualize and manage. It will also help reconcile any allocations that have not yet been moved from the anonymous "Anywhere" location to their actual location. Being able to see supplies grouped together by crop will make this much more intuitive.
- Drag-n-drop stock adjustments from one supply to another within the crop.
- Easily create new supplies should stock be moved to new locations (currently a two step process).
- Order Load Manager will move one or more allocations to a different location in a single step. This will play an import role in moving anonymous "Anywhere" allocations to their specific allocations, keeping the allocations in balance. This is currently done in two steps which makes it error prone.
The new crop view will require the development of an entirely new user control. The development of this new control stands to improve other portions of the system including the Orders Window and various accounting views.
Fax on Demand
This feature offers the ability to fax any report (PDF) from within PlantX.net. This feature has been under development since Fall 2007. We recently upgraded our phone system and are working out the details that should allow us to fax documents or broadcast fax availabilities to your customers. You will be able to select who should get the broadcast fax and when or how often. We are working on creating a unified tool to seamlessly integrate the fax and email features and the audits of who was sent what and when. There will be a nominal additional monthly fee for the fax on demand feature to cover line charges.
Update: The fax feature has been held up due to technical issues. Although fax machines are still heavily used today, especially in the nursery industry, in the tech world they are considered an older technology that is rapidly being replaced by email. Fax programming has largely been abandoned due to the growth of the Internet. We have pursued outsourcing the fax feature to other on-line fax services, but the cost per page is now where near cost effective. We are currently seeking a different, more fax friendly phone service that will give PlantX.net the control it needs to manage outbound faxes and do it economically.
More Custom Reports
Now that we have the ability to create reports with user customizable features, we will be converting existing reports to the new server reporting. Any new reports that are created will take advantage of the new report functions. Other areas of report development include:
- Improved user selectable sort orders
- Ability to export more reports in XLS format
- More report criteria that better describes the report content (for tabular reports)
Designs on the Future
The following list contains the features that are in the design phase.
Purchase Order
Although PlantX.net has purchase order features for the Consignment Edition, it does not have them for the Wholesale Edition. We will open access to the vendor feature to enter purchase orders. The purchase orders can then be used to create new supplies. When you pull up the inventory, you will see your purchased supplies along with the normal crop related supplies.
Production Cost
PlantX.net provides a feature where you can record the cost of a catalog item. Currently it is only one value and there is no audit on the cost. Instead of a single field, we propose to make a feature similar to recording stock adjustments, which will record changes in a supply's cost. This will be related to the purchase order feature by initializing the cost per item to the amount from the purchase order. Subsequent adustments due to additional labor or materials can be added to the cost, either to a specific supply, or all of the supplies at a location. PlantX.net will apply the costs to all supplies at a location pro rata.
