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Sunday, September 26, 2010

Version 1.3.2 has been released!

Changes to Literature Room Organizer include:

  • Added: The "Order Placed" field to the Suggested Stock Item Orders report. This shows if you already placed an order for a suggested item.
  • Changed: Inventory Month Check-In form was only using Initial Quantity to display your current inventory quantity. Now it is using Initial Quantity + Received.
  • Changed: LRO's default backup system doesn't make a new backup when all you did was just open LRO. You must navigate to the Main Menu or go to the Congregation List screen before LRO will do a backup.
  • Fixed: Suggested Stock Item Orders was not handling items in multiple languages correctly.
  • Fixed: Suggested Stock Item Orders was using the "Moved" column to calculate your current Stock Quantity. That might work for some people...however using Initial Quantity + Received will work even better, which is what it is now using.
  • Fixed: If you just turned the automatic update checking system back on, and the last check was a failure, LRO will say that the update check has failed for the last month. Now...turning the auto-update check system on/off will reset the month calculation.
  • Fixed: Manually doing an update (outside of the Update Management screen) will now be recorded so LRO won't prompt you again that there is an update available.

This update is mainly about some fixes.  There is a new field on the Suggested Stock Item Orders report.  This field is a box that you can use to check off (if you print out the report).  Otherwise...it will check it off automatically if you already have an order for the item that is suggested.  If you have an order that is either Unordered or Pending, then you will see that LRO will check off this field for you.  This is to help you see that you've already taken the suggestion and placed an order.

Also, if you noticed, I was using the "Moved" column to calculate your current Stock Quantity for the Suggested Stock Item Orders report.  Yeah I know...what was I thinking?  Well, "Moved" always accurately showed the total we have in stock (until I update the Stock EOM)...but I wasn't thinking about my users who might have automatic inventory management turned on.  Their numbers would be different.  So...it has been adjusted.  ;-)

Improvements to reports are next...unless someone can point out a few bugs I missed.  ETA is 2 months.  Yeah...time for a break.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

New Items

Howdy all!

Got some new items for English and Russian users.  Russian users will get the following:

  • 4410 - Ежегодник Свидетелей Иеговы 2010 (CD)
  • 5232 - Божье слово к нам через Иеремию 
  • 6653 - Путь к миру и счастью (для буддистов)
  • 6654 - Была ли жизнь создана?
  • 6655 - У истоков жизни. Пять вопросов, которые требуют ответа
  • 9263 - Свидетели Иеговы — вера в действии. Часть 1. Из тьмы (DVD)
  • 9416 - Христианские Греческие Писания - перевод нового мира (MP3)
  • 9510 - Ежегодник Свидетелей Иеговы 2010 (MP3)

English users will get the following:

  • 2412 - Sing to Jehovah--Vocal Renditions--On Compact Disc, Disc 2

Also, you will see 1 spelling fix.  Item 2411 will be renamed to match the wording of the new item above.


Version 1.3.2 should be released next week, if all goes well.  I have a few minor improvements I want to roll out quickly, as well as fix an issue with the new Suggested Stock Item Orders system.  It is not handling items that are in multiple languages properly.

You may also notice that the Update Management system will throw a few errors when it opens.  However, if you use the "Download Now" button, it will work just fine.  It appears that when I corrected the wording to say "S-28" instead of "S-14", I didn't quite change it everywhere.  So the auto-update for the S-28 form is broke, but that's the only piece of that is.  Yet another thing that I want to quickly fix for 1.3.2. ;-)

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Version 1.3.1 Released!

Changes to Literature Room Organizer include:

  • New Feature: When opening the mock S-28 form, LRO checks to make sure there are no "erroneous" links.
  • New Feature: When opening the mock S-28 form, LRO checks to make sure all inventory items have a link to one of the S-28 fields.
  • New Feature: Inventory Management has a new report called "Suggested Stock Item Orders". Based on your monthly movement of literature, LRO will try to predict what you will run out of soon, and how much you should order of it.
  • Added: Inventory Management...unavailable items are now highlighted in yellow.
  • Added: "Search for Literature" (accessed via the Order Form screen) now has the ability to show "inactive" items. If you select an "inactive" item, you can actually re-activate it from this screen too!
  • Added: Mock S-28 Form Builder...new button to clear everything in the Mock S-28 Builder.
  • Added: Mock S-28 Form Builder...new button to export all of the Mock S-28 Builder settings.
  • Added: Mock S-28 Form Builder...new report to show all of the current links
  • Added: Duplicate order warning now shows you the status of the duplicated order.
  • Changed: Mock S-28 Form Builder...will now clean up "orphaned" links upon opening, even though such "orphaned" links should never happen.
  • Changed: Mock S-28 Form Builder...doesn't clear a NEW entry if there is a conflicting sort order.
  • Changed: Mock S-28 Form Builder...Missing links report now groups by item type.
  • Changed: Inventory Management...sort order. New sort order is 1.Item Type, 2.S-28 Sort Order, 3.Item Number. This 100% matches the "Inventory Month Check-in" form and will allow you to easily go down the list with that form.
  • Changed: "Search for Literature" (accessed via the Order Form screen) now maximizes.
  • Changed: Duplicate order warning now shows the Request Month, if you are using the Request Month.
  • Fixed: Inventory Management...can no longer place a quick order for an item that is unavailable.
  • Fixed: Inventory Check-In form did not include "Item Number" when sorting. Now it does.
  • Fixed: Less flickering when moving from maximized screens to non-maximized screens.
  • Fixed: Inventory Management "Find" button did not work correctly for non-English users. Changed SendKey commands to use tabbing instead of shortcut keys.
  • Fixed: LRO's Update Management mislabeled S-28 form as "S-14" form.
  • Bug Fix: The computer's Num Lock turns off due to SendKeys commands.
  • Minor cosmetic changes (removed background pictures for some screens to reduce flickering).

Wow, a lot of changes again!  Inventory Management really got an overhaul...lots of improvements to help you ensure you are getting an accurate report of all your inventory.  And then, with the new "Suggested Stock Item Orders" report, hopefully LRO will help you to ensure you never run out of your stock literature!!  :-)

NOTE: The report for suggested stock orders will ignore "inactive" literature, as well as any literature that belongs to an S-28 field with an asterisk (*) in the name.  This should filter out special request items.

Also, English users got 3 new items:

  • 6656: Real Faith - Your Key to a Happy Life
  • 4116: 'Bearing Thorough Witness' About God's Kingdom--On Compact Disc
  • 4411: 2011 Yearbook - On CD

If you do not upgrade to 1.3.1, you can still use the "Download Updates" button on the Literature Items List and get these new items.

Friday, September 10, 2010

New Algorithm (again)

Howdy all!

Once again, I've changed the algorithm of the new feature (soon to be released) that will predict what you need to order for inventory. After further testing, I determined that it could be influenced by a mass movement way too much.

I now focus mainly on the Average movement. However, I do still take Standard Deviation into account. If there is a huge standard deviation (most likely a mass movement of literature), LRO will scale down the calculation of the average. So it will not be thrown way off. For those interested, here is the actual formula simplified:

Threshold = Avg * Calc

Calc =
If StDev > Avg Then
-----If Avg/StDev < .7 Then
----------Calc = Avg/StDev
-----Else
----------Calc = 1
-----End If
Else
-----Calc = 1
End If

StDev will be greater than the Avg on mass movements. Avg/StDev will determine just how large of a deviation it was. The closer to .5 it is, the larger the deviation from the average. If it is below .7, then the Avg is multiplied by it, thus reducing the Avg accoring to how large of a deviation it was.

Average is muliplied by the sensitivity (Low=1, Normal=2, High=3) so it can be used to look ahead up to 3 months. Sensitivity also changes the .7 value (Low) to .65 (normal) and .6 (High). This means that higher sensitivity will allow the deviation to affect the average more (it will be less likely to reduce the avg due to Standard Deviation). From my tests, this algorithm is even more accurate.

I hope I didn't hurt anyone's head with all this! ;-)

PS - Testing is going well!

New EULA (End User License Agreement)

Howdy all!

With the new release of 1.3.1 (hopefully this Sunday), LRO will fall under a new EULA. The previous one was a generic EULA from Microsoft. This new EULA covers more, and more accurately describes my position & feelings regarding my product.

You can read the entire EULA here, or it can be found in the link in the navigation menu to the right.

To summarize:
  • LRO is 100% free and shall always remain so.
  • You are free to copy & distribute LRO, but only in its original form
  • LRO shall never be reverse-engineered, unless explicit written consent is given by me.
  • Parts of LRO's code shall never be distributed, unless explicit written consent is given by me.
  • I offer no guarantees and am not liable for any damages caused by LRO. It is provided "as is". NOTE: This is just a "safety" for me. I will always do thorough testing before releasing an update for LRO. :-)

It's always better to err on the side of caution, hence the stronger wording & restrictions of the new EULA. If there are any questions about this change, please let me know.

Monday, September 6, 2010

Delays

Howdy all!

During my testing, I discovered a few issues and worked with a brother to get them resolved.  There is still some testing left to do, and one more fix left to work on.

In addition, I have a talk I need to work on for this Thursday.  So the release of 1.3.1 has been delayed until next weekend.

Thank you for your understanding.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Changes to algorithm of new feature

After futher testing of the new feature that predicts what you need to order, I've made changes to the algorithm. I think the default calculation needed to be 2 months in advance, because of the order of events. I don't know how it is for everyone, but for us, we wait for last month's shipment to come in first before taking a count of our inventory, which is usually after we must place our orders.

I've updated my previous post to reflect the changes I made.