February release items

Wow - that was a seriously busy month! We had not one, but TWO significant releases of new and improved functionality.

Firstly we released 'Charts and Graphs'. On many report pages you will now see a new 'Charts' button alongside the 'Details' and 'Summary' buttons, which allows access to a graphical view specific to the report in question. As with the 'Details' and 'Summary' views of your reports, you can easily export these charts, via the 'Export' menu, to a printable version or a PDF download.

• Budget Monitor variance chart: Perhaps the most useful chart in the day-to-day management of your budget will be this birds-eye view of your Budget Monitor. It shows how the Budget Monitor’s Projected Year End figure varies from your initial allocated budget
• Balance chart: An easy-to-understand line chart which shows your bottom line across the duration of your budget. Available on the 'Summary' report as well as each of your 'Analysis Tag' reports.
• Revenue Expenditure donut chart: Shows your total Revenue expenditure, broken down into practical categories such as 'Premises', 'Curriculum' and 'Supplies and Services'. The 'Staffing' category is further broken down by financial reporting code
• Revenue Expenditure bar chart, by year: Allows you to see changes in your expenditure, by category, over the duration of your budget.
• Revenue Expenditure Staffing vs Income bar chart: Shows your yearly staffing expenditure against your total Revenue income, allowing you to see at a glance how much of your income is spent on staffing costs
• Staff by Year Report Service Term breakdown: Shows a summary of all staffing contract expenditure for the selected year, grouped by financial reporting code and stacked by Service Term.

A note on browser compatibility: users of Internet Explorer version 8 and older will not have access to the graphs and charts. We recommend that you upgrade Internet Explorer to version 11, or install the excellent and free browser Chrome, which should take only two to three minutes.

Secondly, we had a more discreet release. We reviewed and adjusted a number of the default screen after actions. Rather than being directed to a summary screen following a create or edit action, there will now be a screen confirmation appear and fade out, whilst being returned to the most logical page for your next action. This was the result of listening to our customers and finance consultants and therefore, as a result we expect this to significantly improve the user experience.

What Next?: Custom Maternity Calculators...

Our significant piece of work for March will be the development of 2014/15 maternity calculators and the ability for users to create their own maternity calculation tables.

The new 2014/15 tables will allow you to build your new budget with confidence. We will be releasing both SMP and OMP tables, available at a budget level from within your budget settings.

As with all new releases, full details will be offered in the home screen with updated interactive help articles.