BUILD2WIN Lab 2.6. What s New in BUILD2WIN?

Transcription

1 BUILD2WIN Lab 2.6 What s New in BUILD2WIN? Please Note: Please do not remove lab binders or handouts from the Software Solutions Center. Electronic copies of all lab documentation are available for download at Your feedback is valuable to us! Please be sure to complete an evaluation form for this Lab. Evaluation forms have been distributed to all lab workstations, and are also available at the Lab Reception Area.

2 Lab Contents Lab 2.6: What s New in BUILD2WIN? : Enhancements to Field Log Check Wizard : Ability to Hide Job Material Costs : New Employee Timecard Report : Enhanced Add Dialog : Enhanced Trucking Units of Measure : Import Resources Wizard : Mobile Workstation Auto-Update Post-Lab Steps Page 1

3 Lab 2.6: What s New in BUILD2WIN? Lab Objective In this lab, we ll introduce you to some of the most requested new features introduced in the latest version of BUILD2WIN, version 2.3: 1. Enhancements to Field Log Check Wizard 2. Ability to Hide Job Material Costs 3. New Employee Timecard Report 4. Enhanced Add Dialog 5. Enhanced Trucking Units of Measure 6. Import Resources Wizard 7. Mobile Workstation Auto Update Pre-Lab Steps Before beginning this lab, you must first reset the BID2WIN and BUILD2WIN databases on your lab workstation. Please complete the following steps prior to beginning this lab: On your workstation desktop, double-click the Reset Lab Databases icon and wait for the DOS window to appear. This step returns the BID2WIN database to its original state, wiping out changes made by the previous user. Page 2

4 1: Enhancements to Field Log Check Wizard Several new field log checks have been added to the warnings dialog which appears when saving or approving field logs. These new warnings include checks for zero quantities on subcontracted work, trucking, and materials. Exercise 1: Enhancements to Field Log Check Wizard A. To launch BUILD2WIN, double-click the BUILD2WIN icon on the desktop of your lab workstation. The BUILD2WIN Home Page appears. B. From your BUILD2WIN Home Page, click the Setup tab near the top of the screen. C. When the Setup area appears, click Business Units. When the Business Unit Listing page appears, click the business unit called ABC Construction, and then click the Field Log Settings tab. D. Click the Edit Field Log Settings button near the top of your screen, and review the various conditions found within the Field Log Checks area, as shown below: Page 3

5 E. Take a moment to review the list of conditions, as well as the three behaviors that you may select. To review, your three options for each individual condition are as follows: a. Ignore the Condition The condition will NOT be brought to the user s attention in any way, and the field log will be saved. b. Require Correction Before Saving When attempting to submit or approve a field log where the condition exists, the user will see an error message, letting them know the condition must be resolved before the field log may be saved. c. Display a Warning When attempting to save or approve a field log where the condition exists, the user will see a warning message, and will have the option of correcting the condition. If they choose NOT to correct the issue, BUILD2WIN will still let them save the field log. F. It s worth mentioning at this point that the settings you ve been exploring during this exercise are business unit specific. In other words, if your company uses multiple business units, each business unit may have its own unique field log settings, if so desired. G. At this point, please feel free to ask any questions you may have. After the brief question and answer period, please return to the BUILD2WIN Home Page in preparation for the next exercise. Page 4

6 2: Ability to Hide Job Material Costs BUILD2WIN s security roles area includes settings to help clients who wish to keep their costs hidden from view within the field logs area, and now also from the Jobs area. These settings allow you to protect sensitive information when the application is accessed from workstations in the field. Exercise 2: Ability to Hide Job Material Costs A. From your BUILD2WIN Home Page, click the Setup tab, and then click the Security Roles area. The Security Role Listing page appears. B. Click the security role called User Conference Users. The Security Role View page appears, as shown below: C. The new permission setting is highlighted in the above screenshot. In very oversimplified terms, the solid green symbol next to these two permissions means yes, members of this security role can do this. D. Click the Edit button, remove the permission, and then click Save to save your changes. Page 5

7 E. Because the user account you re currently using belongs to the security role you just edited, we can demonstrate the effect of removing this permission immediately. Navigate to the Jobs area and open the job called New Parking Lot Construction. F. Click the Materials tab. Notice how no material unit costs appear on the material list, as shown below. Notice too how the typical Edit button is also missing. This is because the only editable information about a Job Material is the unit cost. G. Click any material on the list. On the Material View page, notice how no unit cost is present. Page 6

8 H. And that s it! In this example, members of the User Conference Users security role no longer have the ability to view material unit costs within the Jobs area. I. At this point, please feel free to ask any questions you may have. After the brief question and answer period, please return to the BUILD2WIN Home Page in preparation for the next exercise. Page 7

9 3: New Employee Timecard Report Brand-new Employee Timecard Reports have been added to provide quick visibility into how a given work-week is progressing. Exercise 3: New Employee Timecard Report A. From your BUILD2WIN Home Page, click the Reports tab. The new reports will appear as shown below: B. Click the Employee Hours Detail report, and then click View Report. Your instructor will now identify some of the key values within this report, and lead you through a few common examples of filtering options. Page 8

10 C. Click the Reports tab to return to the main report listing page, and then click Employee Hours Weekly Summary. Your instructor will tell you which start date to enter; at that point you may click View Report. Once again, your instructor will now identify some of the key values within this report, and lead you through a few common examples of filtering options. Page 9

11 D. Finally, click any of the hours values listed within an employee row to view the breakdown of these hours, as shown below: J. At this point, please feel free to ask any questions you may have. After the brief question and answer period, please return to the BUILD2WIN Home Page in preparation for the next exercise. Page 10

12 4: Enhanced Add Dialog When adding components to a field log, you ll now notice that the Add Dialog now includes a new field labeled ID to Select. This field is very useful when you know the exact ID of the employee, equipment, or other component that you wish to add to your field log. In this fashion, you can rapidly enter a long series of ID's without ever touching your mouse. This is especially handy in the field, where external mice are less common. Exercise 4: Enhanced Add Dialog A. From your BUILD2WIN Home Page, click the Field Logs tab. On the Field Log Listing page, click the Edit button next to the very first field log on the list. The Field Log Edit page appears. B. On the Field Log Edit page, click the Add Employees button. Notice the new field in the upper right corner of the Add dialog, called ID to Select. Simply enter the ID try and tap ENTER on your keyboard. BUILD2WIN automatically locates and selects the component with a matching ID. Note that the ID you enter must be the exact match of one and only one record for BUILD2WIN to auto-select the record. C. Take a moment to repeat these steps, this time added some equipment records to your field log. D. At this point, please feel free to ask any questions you may have. After the brief question and answer period, please return to the BUILD2WIN Home Page in preparation for the next exercise. Page 11

13 5: Enhanced Trucking Units of Measure In addition to tracking your trucking costs by the hour, BUILD2WIN now also allows you to track trucking costs by any other unit of measure you specify. In this fashion, trucking can be tracked and costed by the ton, the cubic yard, load, or other UM of your choosing. You may even select a default unit of measure to be automatically used within your field logs until you specify otherwise. Exercise 5: Enhancements to Field Log Check Wizard A. From your BUILD2WIN Home Page, click the Setup tab near the top of the screen. B. Click the ABC Construction Business Unit and then navigate to the Field Log Settings page and click Edit Field Log Settings, as shown below: Page 12

14 C. Scroll down to the Trucking section, and then select TON for your default unit of measure, as shown below: D. Scroll back up to the top of the page and save your changes. Now click the Field Logs tab. On the Field Log Listing tab, click the Edit button next to the first field log on the list. E. Scroll down the Trucking area, and add one or more trucking subcontractors to your field log, as shown below: Page 13

15 F. After you ve added your trucking subcontractor, scroll down to the Trucking area again. At this point you should see your default trucking unit of measure, as shown below. The unit cost you enter represents the trucking cost per this UM. Notice that you are allowed to change this unit of measure if this field log calls for something other than the default UM. G. At this point, please feel free to ask any questions you may have. After the brief question and answer period, please return to the BUILD2WIN Home Page in preparation for the next exercise. Page 14

16 6: Import Resources Wizard BUILD2WIN now allows you to import resources from external data sources. This is a terrific way to quickly add new resources to your BUILD2WIN database, or quickly update information for existing resources. New resources such as employees, equipment, materials, organizations and accounts may now be imported from CSV files. Information pertaining to existing resources may now be updated via CSV import. Viewpoint accounting clients will also be pleased to learn that new resources may now be imported via web services, directly from a Viewpoint accounting database. (Interaction with other accounting applications will be added in future releases of BUILD2WIN.) For this exercise, we ll demonstrate the process of importing new equipment resources from a CSV file. Exercise 6: Importing Resources A. Before we begin the import process, let s take a look at some of the settings which determine some of the behavior of the CSV import process. From your BUILD2WIN Home Page, click the Setup tab near the top of the screen, and then click Add-ins. B. Click the Comma Separated Value (CSV) Resources Import add-in listing. The Add-in View page appears, as shown below: C. The Settings area contains configuration settings which determine important behavior for the CSV import process. Your instructor will explain some of these settings to you. Once this part of the discussion is finished, return to the BUILD2WIN Home Page. (You don t need to make any changes to these settings at this time.) Page 15

17 D. Now to import some resources! Navigate to the Resources tab and then click Import Resources as shown below. The Import Resources Wizard appears. E. On the Select Add-in page, choose the CSV format and then click Next to continue. Note that your add-in choices are limited to your installed add-ins of type "Resources Import". F. On the Select Resource Type to Import page, select the type of resource you wish to import (choose equipment for this exercise) and then click Next. G. On the Import Settings page, click Browse and then browse to and select the file called New Equipment Records.CSV. This file is located under My Documents on your lab workstation. Below is an image of the contents of the sample CSV file, for reference: Page 16

18 H. Also on the Import Settings page, select the type of import you wish to perform. Your choices are Update Records Only, Update & Add Records, and Add Records Only. For this example, choose Update & Add Records, as shown below: I. On the Import Mappings page, configure your settings exactly as shown below, and then click Next. Page 17

19 J. On the Import Summary page, review the list of actions to occur, and then click Import to begin the import process. K. BUILD2WIN will present a message confirming the import process is complete. (If there were any problems with the import process, BUILD2WIN would bullet them for you on screen, and offer to show you a log file with more information about the problems.) L. Click View Resources to return to the Resources area, and then click Equipment to view the Equipment List. You should now see your newly imported equipment, as shown below: M. At this point, please feel free to ask any questions you may have. After the brief question and answer period, please return to the BUILD2WIN Home Page in preparation for the next exercise. Page 18

20 6: Mobile Workstation Auto-Update Since the actual mobile update process is tricky to demonstrate in a classroom situation, this lab will be more of a discussion than an exercise. BUILD2WIN Mobile is a key component of BUILD2WIN Field, allowing field personnel to keep their data up to date without having to rely on an Internet connection at all times. As BUILD2WIN Mobile typically resides on laptops, it is independent of the BUILD2WIN server at the application level while sharing a common database structure. Therefore, potential compatibility issues arise when your BUILD2WIN server is updated to a newer version of BUILD2WIN than that which is currently installed on your fleet of mobile workstations. Simply stated, mobile workstations are unable to synchronize data to a server that has been updated to a newer version of BUILD2WIN. The BUILD2WIN Mobile Workstation Automatic Update feature addresses this challenge by informing the mobile workstation when an update is available and allows the user to update their mobile workstation without having to take it back into the office. This ensures that the mobile workstation is always in sync with the server, allows easier field deployment of updates, and minimizes mobile downtime. The following section describes the auto-update experience, as well as the process of configuring a mobile workstation to automatically receive program updates from the BUILD2WIN server to which it connects. The End-User Experience When a mobile user attempts to synchronize their mobile workstation with a BUILD2WIN server that has been updated to a newer version of BUILD2WIN, they will see a yellow banner near the top of their BUILD2WIN Home Page which alerts them to the fact that their mobile workstation must be updated to the same version as the server. To begin the automatic process of updating their mobile workstation, the user clicks the link titled Update the workstation within the yellow banner. At this point, the Mobile Workstation Update page appears. If the update process does not begin automatically, the user has the option to click a link titled Start Download. BUILD2WIN then prompts the user to run a small executable which updates their mobile workstation to the same version as the BUILD2WIN server. Note that this installation is performed in silent mode, i.e. the user is not asked to make any choices or perform any further actions. The update process simply preserves the existing configuration settings already present within the local web.config file on the mobile workstation. Specifically, the values retrieved from the local web.config file include the following: Location of local program files Local Reporting Services path Local Database path Page 19

21 Local Reports path Local SMTP configuration Network Server URL for mobile web service If the user wishes to update their mobile workstation at a later time, they may simply click the link titled Return to the BUILD2WIN Home Page. They may then continue creating field logs, though they will not be able to synchronize with the BUILD2WIN server until they update their mobile workstation. Server Configuration The update file that is automatically downloaded to mobile workstations during the auto-update process is located within the default BUILD2WIN program folder on your application server. Specifically, the path to the mobileupdate.exe file is as follows: $\BUILD2WIN\Web\MobileUpdate\MobileUpdate.exe Note that it is possible to change the location of this executable by editing the BUILD2WIN web.config file located within the application server s BUILD2WIN\Web folder. During the automatic update process, this package is saved to and is run from a temporary folder on the mobile workstation. Please be aware that in order for the update process to complete successfully, the user must belong to a windows security group which gives them the ability to run executable program updates, such as the local Administrators or Power Users group. Mobile Workstation Configuration Each mobile workstation you install creates a Mobile Workstation entity within the Setup area of your server s BUILD2WIN database. As a system administrator, you have the ability to specify which of these mobile workstations are allowed to receive automatic updates. When a mobile workstation that is not allowed to receive mobile updates attempts to synchronize with a server running a newer version of BUILD2WIN, the user of the mobile workstation is presented with a message which informs them that they are unable to perform the automatic update. A message instructs them to contact their system administrator before they may perform their next synchronization. At this point the user may continue to use BUILD2WIN Mobile, but may not synchronize with the server until their local installation has been updated to the same version as that of the server. Follow these steps to specify which of your mobile workstations may receive automatic program updates: 1. Connect to your BUILD2WIN server URL and log in to BUILD2WIN as an administrative user; specifically a user account which belongs to a security role that has permission to edit mobile workstations. 2. Click the Setup tab, and then click Mobile Workstations. Page 20

22 3. Click the Edit button for the mobile workstation whose auto-update ability you wish to edit. 4. As shown below, place a checkmark in the Allow Mobile Update checkbox to allow this workstation to receive automatic updates, or remove the checkmark to prevent this workstation from receiving automatic updates. Page 21

23 Post-Lab Steps Shutting Down BID2WIN and BUILD2WIN Close any open BID2WIN and or BUILD2WIN windows, and any other open applications. On the desktop of your lab workstation, double-click the Reset Lab Databases icon and wait for the DOS window to disappear. This step returns your databases to their original states, resetting the workstation for the next user. Lab Summary In this lab, you learned about the following new features: Enhancements to Field Log Check Wizard Ability to Hide Job Material Costs New Employee Timecard Report Enhanced Add Dialog Enhanced Trucking Units of Measure Import Resources Wizard Mobile Workstation Auto Update Please Note: Please do not remove lab binders or handouts from the Software Solutions Center. Electronic copies of all lab documentation are available for download at Your feedback is valuable to us! Please be sure to complete an evaluation form for this Lab. Evaluation forms have been distributed to all lab workstations, and are also available at the Lab Reception Area. Page 22