No Expiry
No Expiry lets you mark Customers whose certification for exemption does not expire.
To manage tax status, you need to track which customers have expiring resale numbers. Expiry lets you enter a date, to include on Exempt Expiry report or Customers search.
No Expiry lets you mark Customers whose exempt status does not expire. This removes the Expiry date and they no longer appear on the Exempt Expiry report.
Using Inactive
Inactive has a new system setting so it is enabled automatically. It is on automatically.
Prior to this change, Inactive was a feature set you would enable when you were ready. These setttings still work perfectly; just the System Setting has changed to be enabled.
Inactive shows the Inactive checkbox, lets you Add(+) the Inactive column in Searches, click to toggle, requires Inactive privilege on Employee Access, or can be Disabled, too.
Locked Alert
Locked Alert has been added to Mark, Closed to let you know some orders are locked.
While an Order is open on someone's screen, it is locked from being marked as Closed. To find out whose, double-click to open the order then click on the Locked icon to see.
Solutions Carousel
Solutions are these entries in online help, which are continually organized in chapters.
Ideally, you would click an Info [i] button in BigBusiness to open one and read about. For context, you should find a Chapter button, and a Next button to show you more.
Carousel is the construct you see everywhere to flip through pages, photos, or blurbs. Its magic is that it goes around. Start mid-chapter and keep going till you come around.
New Database
BigBusiness 15 uses a new database that improves graphics, security, and expansion.
The goal is to make best use of available technology, like the Microsoft Surface laptop with OLED display, or countless online offerings you might connect in or build upon.
BigBusiness plays a central role, drawing your data from its sources, mostly people, but also services, and combining your results for accounting and inventory done easily.
Customer or Contact Tags
Customer or Contact Tags can help you find and report Quotes, Orders, and Invoices.
Add a Tag to Customers, or to Contacts used as Ship To's, and you can then find their Quotes, Orders, or Invoices using new Find choices for Customer Tag or Contact Tag.
The Find dialog with these menu choices appears for any Report with a Quote Search, Order Search, or Invoice Search, such as Items on Orders, Sorted By Item (Summary).
Tags
Tags let you create groups of records, like Customers by assigning a Tag like "Green".
A Tag is a word you enter to describe your new group. Add a new Tag in the Master Tags List and then assign it to one Customer, or to many at once in Customers Search.
Tags are available throughout BigBusiness and the same Tag, like "Green", can be used for Customers, Contacts, Vendors, Items, and by all users, so please use considerately.
Customer As Quoted
As Quoted lets you automatically use pricing from quotes on new Orders or Invoices.
Settings in the Customer Prefs determine if the Quote Expiry Date or Quantity is used.
Settings for when to use quoted price are Never, Always, and Ask Each Time.
Click the As Quoted checkbox on Customer card, History tab to skip Ask Each Time. You may also Search, Add a column for, and Update the As Quoted in Customers list.
Library Update
Library Update helps with text handling by updating Unicode libraries and re-indexing.
This change is seamless and notable only for automatically re-indexing your Data File. This is a reason why an update might unexectedly perform indexing on your Data File.
Mac Backup
Mac Backup lets you leave BigBusiness Server running and make valid backup copies.
To automate, use Built-In Backup to have BigBusiness Server make its backup copies. Then use manual backup or automated backup, or cloud backup of those files to finish.
This makes backups on the same computer for instant access and offsite backups, too.
BigBusiness Database
BigBusiness Database helps keeps your data safe and scalable and instantly accessible.
New Big Business versions use the newest Database, updated for the newest systems. Keep your installed software for years and leap forward when you get new computers.
Pay once for your version and get it working in every detail to maximize productivity. Then bide your time until new computers offer a new level of power you cannot resist.
Dark Mode Backgrounds
Dark Mode automatically switches the background file you have selected in My Prefs.
Dark Mode Currencies
Currencies let you toggle between your own currency and a foreign currency in color.
Chapter 149 Dark Mode Admin
Dark Mode on macOS is automatically supported in Big Business and needed changes.
This chapter lists changes so you know what to expect and can identify any problems.
Line Numbers on Imports
Line Numbers are automatically added on Imports such as Quote, Order, and Invoice.
Updated imports include Bill Line Items, Invoice Line Items, Purchase Order Line Items, Quote Line Items, and Sales Order Line Items.
On Hold
On Hold helps you manage orders by keeping the order safe without having any effect.
Saving an Order, you choose whether it is Placed or On Hold. You might put an order On Hold if it is waiting for a PO from the customer and is therefore not yet committed.
Once the order is Placed it updates inventory to show allocated items and components. For planning, you may want to put an order back On Hold if it is delayed or uncertain.
Chapter 194 Order Admin
Order Admin helps you manage sales orders by using Statuses and Ship Dates to plan.
By choosing settings in Big Business, you elevate inventory tracking from very manual to highly automated to help with purchasing, planning, and fulfillment to grow volume.
When you save an order as Placed, you can see immediately how it affects purchasing. This works for built items and their components, automatically, with the right settings.
Order Status
Order Status helps you track customer orders and inventory availability automatically.
Basic order statuses include Placed, Partial, and Filled, which change when you invoice. An order which is Placed can be invoiced in full or partially to become Filled or Partial.
Additional order statuses include On Hold and Closed to handle delay and cancellation. Optional order statuses include Released, Picked, and Shipped, to see work in process.
Custom Forms, Item Adjustments, Item Fields
Custom Forms for Item Adjustments let you include Item fields on printouts of builds.
Create a custom form to send to the warehouse to pick, pull, assemble the components for your planned build and include helpful details such as an item Vendor Part Number.
Go to Reporting toolbar, Forms, Add New, and select any Item Adjustment template. Double-click a field and choose Item, Vendor Part #. Close the form to name and Save.
Your new form will appear in Print Options when you click Print in Item Adjustment.
Custom Forms for Item Adjustments
Item Adjustments help you build or correct inventory when a change needs recording.
To build, Item Adjustment removes components and adds the built item to inventory. To correct, Item Adjustment adds or removes items to adjust to your inventory count.
Custom Forms for Item Adjustments let you create forms to show your warehouse the components to assemble for planned builds and record any changes they need to make.
Going Infinite
Big Business handles infinite values in various ways, mostly by replacing with a zero.
This is our April Fool's joke for 2024, Add Infinite Changes. It is no laughing matter, though, as changes were needed for divide-by-zero to transfer to MySQL or Postgres.
Big Business 14 adds filtering of infinite values when sending to MySQL or Postgres. Additionally, values such as Landed Cost Percentage have new filters to save as zero.