The principal enhancements in version 2021.07 include: new Smart Event functionality to support collaboration, notifications, further improvements to Statement of Accounts, support for HSBC Faster Payments and the ability to integrate 3rd party applications with the Purchase Invoice Matching process using a new set of Aqilla API features.
A new event User Notification feature has been added which extends the capability of Aqilla Smart Events. Users will now note the presence of a ‘Notification Bell’ icon at the top right-hand side of the browser window. The icon shows a count of the number of unread messages.
Clicking on the notification icon opens up the list of Smart Event notifications with the most recent at the top.
All the visible notifications will after a timed interval be automatically marked as read. However, moving the cursor over an individual notification provides options to toggle the message as being ‘marked’ as unread or read. Alternatively, the notification can be Dismissed to remove it immediately from the list.
Options at the top of the notifications list provide a toggle for the display of dismissed items (in effect the history), dismiss all notifications, and mark all notifications as read.
Initially, notifications are generated from the new form of Smart Events (see below), but later releases will include other types such as service notifications.
Whilst Smart Events have been a feature of Aqilla for many years, the functionality has been enhanced in two significant ways; allowing users to specify multiple recipients of notifications displayed in the Smart Events home screen gadget (and therefore now also the new Notification Bell feature) plus, AND also multiple notification recipients delivered via email.
Permission to allow someone to send notifications to other users in Aqilla is enabled by way of a new flag called “Can browse users” defined in the User Details view. This is to allow administrators to control the volume of notifications generated by members of staff, (for example) to limit such capability to those needing to inform or request action of others.
Users without this flag set can still generate their own Aqilla Smart Event which will appear in both the Home Screen gadget and Notification Bell as well as optionally send personal email reminders (a common requirement). When the flag has been enabled, a user can select from a list of other Aqilla users (as defined in Reference-Personnel) who are to receive the notification. Normal multiple select options such as row select, ctrl-A or ‘Select All’ are all supported. Note that the creator of the event always receives a notification.
Furthermore, for additional security, whilst the Smart Event notification is readable by all specified users, it is only editable/deletable by the user who initially created it. Users can no longer browse from the notification in the Home Screen gadget to the notification definition unless it is created by that particular user.
If no valid email address is available for a user (in most cases highly unlikely) such a condition is highlighted (in red):
A new setting is available in Instance Settings within the Miscellaneous section to control the way the aged totals are calculated at the bottom of a statement of account. The options are to calculate the aged totals by either the Transaction Date or the Due Date.
This new feature setting is independent of the Due Date in Statements setting (introduced in 2020.06), which controls whether the date selection in Statement of Accounts is based on the Transaction Date or Due Date.
The Select additional criteria option has been given greater emphasis and it is now possible to remove the additional criteria by choosing <Remove Selection>. Previously, the option ‘Not Applicable’ had to be selected, which can still be used when the selection is applicable for some accounts but not others and thus saving time re-selecting the additional criteria.
Further information about using the additional criteria can be found in the March 2019 release note https://www.aqilla.com/resources/release-1903/.
The HSBC BACS Faster Payments bank payment format is now supported in addition to the existing HSBC BACS standard payments format. This can be selected in Configuration-Company Edit-Payments Export Format.
A new API User Type is available when using Aqilla’s Smart AI.
API users have the same capability as Enterprise Pro users, subject to permissions, but are priced on a combination of a monthly connection fee and transaction volume. Details of pricing can be found at: https://www.aqilla.com/pricing/.
Note that API users cannot log into Aqilla through the web browser.
The Purchase Invoice Matching (PIM) document used to match invoices against Purchase Orders (PO) is now supported by the Aqilla REST API.
Note that, in line with its functionality within Aqilla, a new automatically created PIM is a snapshot of a specified PO, which can subsequently be updated with the invoiced details.