Notes for Release 5.0.01.0

hpCommerce Orion Release Notes


Build 5.0.01.0

Released March 28, 2018


New Features and Functionality

  • New Release Notification System - Orion now has a system for alerting you when there is a new release of Orion.  Every Monday Orion will check to see if your current release of Orion is the most up to date one.  If it is not it will alert you.  You can also manually check to see if you are on the current release of Orion by using [F1-E].
  • Push Notification System - Orion now has a push notification system to alert you of important information from hpCommerce Software.  We can use this system to alert you of important information like new release information, new help video postings, documentation updates, webinars and special events.  Once a day Orion will automatically check for any new notifications.  If there are any a window will pop-up with this information.
  • New Orion Update System - You can now update Orion on your own.  Future releases of Orion will have the ability for you to update your system on your own.  The New Release Notification System will alert you that there is a new update to Orion.  You will be taken to a webpage with update instructions and with an option to download the new release of Orion.  The new update system has many features built into it to help you achieve a flawless update on your own.  The system will automatically update you valuable Orion data before it will start updating your system as a safeguard.  The system also logs all update activity so that if need be this log can be consulted by hpCommerce Software's support group.  This is just great news for you because you will now be able to stay up to date with the latest releases of Orion as soon as they become available.
  • New Quick Sale Feature - An optional super fast POS system is now available in Orion.  Couple this feature with barcode scanning and you have a super fast invoicing system to use at high velocity events like trackside sales and swap meets.  We have streamlined the process to only contain the bare minimum required to create an invoice while giving you access to all tools as needed.  Here are some notes:
    • The Quick Sale feature is accessed by using:
      • [Q] from the Main Menu
      • [M-G-Q] from the Invoice Menu
      • [A-F12] from the Sales Order form
    • Quick Sale will open the Scan Mode dialog for you to scan items onto an order.  The Scan Mode dialog has been dramatically enhanced.  Here are the new features:
      • A visual and audible warning will now fire when a bad scan is done.  This will keep you from making the mistake of giving parts away to your customer.
      • The Last Scan information can now be seen while you do the next scan.
      • By pressing F1 the Last Scan can be Changed / Edited.
      • By pressing F4 the Last Scan can be Deleted.
      • By pressing F5 the Header Page for the order is opened and the customer information can be changed.
    • When a Quick Sale order is started the customer selected with be the default house account.
    • Options are available via [S-F7] to control if duplicate scans of the same item should add new lines to an order of just increment the quantity sold of an existing item.
    • Options are available on [S-F7] to specify the default Payment Type so if most payments on invoices are of Check for instance the system can automatically default to that payment type when accepting payments.
    • Options on [S-F2] can be set to automatically close the print preview window after an invoice is emailed.
    • After a Quick Sale Invoice is cashed out the system automatically starts a new order for the house account and gives the user the Scan Mode window so that items can immediately be scanned onto the order.
  • Receipt Printer now supported - Orion now supports an Epson TM-T20II receipt printer for printing an invoice.  This printer prints a 3" wide receipt.  Coupling this printer with the new Quick Sale feature makes for a super fast POS experience.  The Epson printer is the only printer supported.  Options have been added to [S-F7] to control how printing to the Epson printer is done.  For instance you could choose to have all invoice printouts go to that printer or to have the system ask you each time you print an invoice.  This would allow you to print some invoices to the receipt printer and some to a regular printer.
  • Workstation Invoice Printing Defaults can now be set - You can now set invoice printing defaults for each individual workstation on your network.  For each workstation you can specify the default "sheet" printer for printing an invoice.  You can set the default receipt printer.  And you can set the default invoice format.  These settings are accessed via [M-W].  These settings allow you to streamline invoice production and printing.  You can send your invoices to a different sheet printer than your default printer for your workstation.


Improvements to existing Features

  • Enhanced Email Subject Lines - the auto generated subject line of emails has been enhanced.  For invoices, sales orders, quotes and purchase orders the subject line will list the document name and the document number.  For other documents the subject line will list the document name.
  • Cash Amount Tendered and Change Given now appears on invoices, sales orders and receipts.  When the payment type is Cash this information will now appear as "Cash Tendered = $20.23 / Change Given = $2.00".  This provides an excellent record of what happened with each cash transaction.
  • Deposit Date now shows on Sales Orders and Invoices.  On the deposit lines on these documents the date of the deposit is now shown.  This provides excellent documentation of when these events occurred.