Version 1.3.4 Released!

Changes to Literature Room Organizer include:

• New Feature: Inventory Automation...when you mark an item as ordered, it will add it to Inventory with all values at 0. This will help because now the item will appear on the Month Check-In form, so you don't have to enter it in manually.
• New Feature: Setting for a minimum threshold on the Suggested Stock Item Orders report.
• New Feature: Setting to Highlight negative values on the Mock S-28 Form.
• Added: Extra warning if refusing to do import of data on LRO upgrade.
• Added: Inventory Management...a "delete whole month" button.  Looks like a trash can.
• Added: Help information for the Annual Items ordering screen.
• Added: "*All Languages" and "*All Congregations" selections on Report filters...instead of just being blank selections.  Less confusing.
• Added: Reports...Publisher(tab)...the ability to filter by the "Stock" publisher.
• Added: Reports...Publisher(tab)...the ability to show ALL of a publisher's activity, regardless of Status.
• Added: Quick view date if Request Month is turned on. On all Order Management screens...hold down SHIFT on your keyboard and double-click on the Request Month field to see the Order Placed Date.
• Changed: If there is no "LRO_Backup.mdb", LRO will now always make a backup on close, regardless of if you went anywhere in the system.
• Changed: Wording on Mock S-28 Form's disclaimer to say "unless you are given permission to do so."
• Changed: Settings that are applied to all congregations are saved immediately...this will prevent any issues that may occur if LRO were to crash or exit improperly when you are on the Settings screen.
• Fixed: "Reset Filter" on Reports...Publisher(tab) did not reset the Order Status to a valid entry.
• Fixed: Annual Items grid entry no longer allows negative numbers.
• Fixed: Annual Items grid entry no longer submits orders for '0' quantity.
• Fixed: English languages show up on Suggested Stock Item Orders report, regardless of your language settings.
• Bug Fix: Access 2010 doesn't hide ribbon on load. Need to check registry for ribbon.
• Bug Fix: Error when exiting LRO while viewing any one of the Inventory Management reports.
• Bug Fix: Issues on Inventory Management when deleting an entire month (next/prev buttons not needed, no process month, can't go to last month after deleting latest when there are 2 left).
• Bug Fix: Bug with Reports...Request Month(tab)...the report was always looking for "Stock" publisher in calculation.
• Bug Fix: Inventory Automation issue with storing items as their Visible language...instead of the LanguageID.

With 2 new settings, the Settings screen changes again.  There is a new "Inventory Management" section, and the inventory management automation moved over there along with the 2 new settings.  Regarding the "Threshold" setting...from my testing, you may get many suggestions to order items you no longer keep in stock.  If that is the case, you have 2 options.  You can either turn OFF the Threshold option, or you can deactivate the items that you don't want to show up as suggested orders.

To Spanish & Russian users:

If you use the Inventory Management Automation setting...you may have encountered a bug that was fixed with this release.  This bug was only evident on the Inventory Management screen.  If you see "Español" or "Русский" being highlighted in blue, as if it wasn't your default language, then you have experienced this bug.  Or if you see "Español" or "Русский" as a choice of language twice, then you will have experienced this bug.  In this case, please send me an e-mail since you will need specific instructions on how to fix this bug.  Once fixed, you won't see it again because the cause of the bug has been fixed with 1.3.4.  Sorry for any inconveniences.

Thanks to all who submitted bugs & new feature requests.  I have had a few requests regarding separating Inventory Management by congregation.  This makes sense to me and will be done.  So...looks like 1.3.4 isn't the last update just yet.  I will have another release before I switch focus to more translations.

Thanks again for your support!  :-)

Regarding the poll...

Howdy all!

Regarding the last poll, about setting a minimum threshold for the Suggestion report, I decided to make it a Setting that you can configure.  It was quick and easy, and judging by the votes (and from what I experienced by turning it on), it looks like it might be a feature my users will want to select for themselves.  ;-)

So you can set it to 5, 10, or not at all.

Thanks for the feedback!  :-)

New Poll - Minimum threshold for suggested stock orders

Got a quick poll for everyone. With the Suggested Stock Item Orders report, I believe that there should be a minimum threshold...that way items that you might move 1 a month, or even 1 every other month, would be caught in time to resupply. Usually, such an item must not be that critical, if you are barely moving any of it. But I'm thinking along the lines of Reasoning books, Organized books, or Benefit from the TMS books. You usually want to keep 5-10 of them around, but they don't move a lot.

So the poll is:

Should I establish a minimum threshold for the Suggested Stock Item Orders report? If so, is 5 enough? Or 10?

This poll is now closed.

In other words...if the average movement of Reasoning books is 1/month, then the suggested threshold (with a sensitivity of Normal) would be 2. Obviously, you don't want to wait until it gets that low. So I can artifically make it 5 instead (or 10). It will never have a lower threshold.

In addition, there's no reason to make it different for Tracts, booklets, etc. If they're barely moving so that you're only moving about 1/month...then this will catch it. Otherwise, their average movement will be plenty. ;-)

Thanks!

PS - Version 1.3.4 on schedule for release this weekend! If anyone has any more suggestions (or found any bugs) please submit them soon!

The History of LRO

Were you there when LRO was started?  Did you watch it as it grew up?  If not, I invite you to take a trip down memory lane!  I created a page dedicated to the History of LRO:

The History of LRO page

Personally, I find seeing the changes (and how crazy it used to look) quite interesting!  Yes...that's right...I have screenshots!

Enjoy!  :-)

Watchtower Library as "Annual Item"

Howdy all!

There was a good suggestion about the Watchtower Library CDs being categorized as "Annual Items".  This is a good idea!

Unfortunately, I don't have the ability to push out this change through updates.  In addition, remember that YOUR literature list is preserved over updates.  So I can make this change on an update, but YOUR version of the CDs (which are categorized as "Computer Programs") will be what is preserved.

So if you would like to setup your WT Library CDs as "Annual Items", follow these directions:

1. Log into your congregation.
2. Visit the "Literature Items List" screen.
3. Filter for "Watchtower Library".  You will then see all of the WT Library CDs. 
4. Under "Type of Item", switch them all to "Annual Items".

Simple as pie!  But if anyone has any issue, let me know.  I can provide screenshots if needed.

NOTE: I made this change to LRO on one of the past few updates.  I just forgot to announce this good suggestion.  So some new users will notice this is already how their CDs are set.

Version 1.3.3 Released!

Changes to Literature Room Organizer include:

• Added: "Pending" field to Suggested Stock orders report. Also changed the "Order Placed" field to either be a blank checkbox, or show how much you actually ordered if you placed an order already for one of the suggested items.
• Changed: The detailed Pending Items report now sorts by "Type of Item" first, and then item number.
• Changed: Reports screen...Status dropdown now says "*All Active Orders" instead of just being blank.
• Changed: Inventory Management screen...you will now stay on same item when going to another month.
• Removed: Extraneous Report buttons.
• Fixed: Length of progress bar for Russian users.
• Fixed: After deleting a whole month from Inventory, if you click on "Prev. Month", it now successfully goes to the previous month, instead of jumping 2 months over.
• Fixed: Some of the font appears as cursive on Run-time only editions of Access.
• Fixed: Missing translated version of language "English" for Spanish & Russian users.
• Bug Fix: "Request Month" field was showing up on Unordered Items screen when "Date Placed" field was suppose to.
• Bug Fix: The filter for "Date Placed" on the Publisher Order Search screen was not working.
• Bug Fix: View All Orders screen...if you filter for a language & also are showing completed orders, then when you try to return to the Main Menu, an error occurs.
• Bug Fix: SendKeys "Permission Denied" issue on UAC enabled computers. SendKeys are used to hide the Ribbon (for Access 2007 & 2010 users), which simply fails. But when using the "Find" button on Inventory Management, it gives an "Permission Denied" error. Some users may still experience this under very specific circumstances.
• Bug Fix: "Invalid use of null" if there is an S-28 form update available after reloading data.
• Bug Fix: Inventory Management screen...error when trying to add a quick order for a new item (blank line). Now does nothing at all (instead of throwing up an error).
• Bug Fix: "Date Placed" filter would not work on all order screens if the user's computer had a system date for another region.
• Minor cosmetic changes.

LOTS of bug fixes on this one!  I had no idea I had so many bugs crawling around!  O_o

I hope y'all like the improvements to the Suggested Stock Item Orders report.  Instead of just showing a checkbox, which is checked when you placed an order for one of the suggested items already, it now shows the QUANTITY of how much you actually ordered.  But if you haven't ordered one of the suggested items yet, an empty checkbox is there (in case you want to print it out and check it off when you get around to ordering it).  Also added a "Pending" field...so you can see if you have any of the suggested item on the way already too!

As was mentioned in a previous post & poll, the "extra" report buttons found on the Order Form screen and the View All Orders screen have been removed.  The same reports can be found on the Reports screen by using the "Status" tab, selecting the appropriate status, and then checking off "Show Details".

**ATTENTION**

There is only ONE more update planned for LRO.  That being a fact, please submit any and all bugs you may find with this new release.  Any special requests should also be submitted as soon as possible.

After the release of 1.3.4, a more detailed instruction manual will be worked on...and more translations of LRO may also be developed, if there is interest.  English volunteers will be needed to supervise and "proofread" the translations.  More details will be provided later.

Of course...literature updates will always continue.  And new versions will be released as needed.  I'm not stopping my work with LRO...just changing focus from new features to more translations.  ;-)

Much thanks to everyone who has helped with this project!

Quick Poll - Change sorting of Detailed Pending report

Howdy all!

I have a quick poll in response to a comment from my previous post.

Currently, the detailed Pending items report is sorted purely by Item Number. Personally, I don't see the usefulness in that. A comment was made that when Annual Items remain pending, then paper is wasted by printing them out again and again. So to solve that, I can make the detailed Pending Items report sort by the Item Type first, and then all the Annual Items will be together. Then you could just leave out the pages with the annual items (to do this, go to "File" -> "Print" instead of using the Print button on the toolbar), thus saving paper.

Note how I emphasized only the detailed Pending Items report. The summary one (where similar items are added together) will remain sorted by Symbol so it will match the Packing List that comes with a shipment.

So the poll is...

Do you want me to change the sorting of the detailed Pending Items report?

This poll is now closed.

I don't expect any objections...but you never know. ;-) If anyone does disagree, please voice your concern in the comments as well.

Thanks!

Progress...or a change of direction

Howdy all!

Since I've had quite a bit of free time the past few days, I've been working on the Report enhancements. I'm at the point where this is turning out to be not only a major task for me, but also I see it as being a huge confusion for the end user.

For example:



Everything is driven by the Status of the orders. As you change the status, certain fields that you can group or sort by are disabled/enabled, since not all fields are on the report. And then, even the Start Date & End Date/Request Month fields are disabled in certain situations (why would you want to see Unordered items for a certain date range??).

To me, this is going to turn out to be a mess. Not only programmatically, but also from the perspective of understanding how it works by the end user. And based on the comment of a couple of users, I think the current design is plenty enough (where the Tabs are understood to be what you want the focus of your report to be based on).

If desired, I can add the ability to change the sort order to the existing design much more easily. Though I question if this is necessary. Is there anyone who would currently benefit from changing the sort order at this time? Because if the only reason for the feature is to keep up with the Society's changes, I can do that pretty quickly. ;-)

Please...use the comments section on this blog post to discuss this. I think this needs to be more than just a simple poll. Remember, you can submit comments annonymously...

Thanks!

New Items

Howdy all!

I got a couple of new items for English users:

• 6653: The Pathway to Peace and Happiness (for Buddhists)
• 9268: The Bible--What Is Its Message?--On DVD

Item #9268 is for American Sign Language only.