In This Release… [Click here for a video overview of all the new features]
Accounting Updates
New Cash Flow Report
We are excited to announce the arrival of the Cash Flow Report in Striven! The purpose of this report is to provide a detailed picture of the activity of a company’s cash during a specified period of time, known as the Accounting Period. This information demonstrates an organization’s ability to operate in both the short and long term, based on how much cash is flowing in and out of the business.
A Statement of Cash Flow is typically broken down into three (3) sections: Operating, Investing, and Financing activities. By default, Cash Flow is classified into these three (3) sections by Account Type, as follows:
While these are the default classification settings, you can change the classifications individually for each Account as desired.
These settings can be accessed from the Chart of Accounts page by clicking on the Classify Cash button.
From the Classify Cash page, you can filter for different Account Types and specific Accounts. The results will display on the page in a TreeView format so Accounts nested beneath another Account will display accordingly by clicking on the arrow next to the “parent” Account.
On the right side of the page you will find the Edit button which will allow you to change the Activity setting and whether a positive amount means an increase or decrease to the Account.
If you make any changes to the default settings of your Accounts, a Customized label will appear to indicate that the settings have been modified. You can also easily reset all Accounts to their default settings by clicking on the Reset to Default button in the top right corner of the page.
To view the Cash Flow Report, navigate to Reports → Financials → Cash Flow.
- Note: This Cash Flow Report will only be available to users with “Cash Flow - View” permission included in their User Role.
At the top of the page you will see the default settings for the report filters. The report will automatically display the Date Period for This Month, but this can be changed using the Search option. The filter options available in the Search feature include Date Period, Date Range, and Class.
The report results are broken into the same three (3) sections of activity as mentioned previously: Operating Activities, Investing Activities, and Financing Activities.
Net Income will be the initial entry under the Operating Activities section of the report. The subsequent entries are accounts categorized under the three (3) sections based on their classification.
To determine the values for these accounts, Striven pulls the values from the beginning and end of the period and calculates the difference. Depending on whether the computed amount is positive or negative, and based on the specified settings (i.e. negative indicates an increase and positive indicates a decrease, or vice versa), the report will display a positive or negative amount accordingly. The Activities sections will each have a Cash Flow total for all the Accounts in the section.
Below the three (3) Activities sections, the report will display the Net Cash, which will be the sum of the Cash Flow for all three (3) sections.
Next, we have Cash at Beginning of Period and Cash at End of Period totals calculated for all bank accounts, plus the account that is configured as Undeposited Funds account.
The last row on the report is the Net Cash again, which is calculated as the difference between the two (2) preceding lines representing the Cash at Beginning of Period and the Cash at End of Period. The computed difference will be noted as the Net Cash value in the report.
Inventory Asset Type Update
To work along with the new Cash Flow Report, we ran a one-time database update to change the Inventory Asset account type from a “Other Asset” to a “Other Current Asset” type. This movement of the Inventory Asset type will fit best with our Cash Flows Report, allowing us to more accurately calculate Cash Flows in a GAAP compliant manner.
Other Liability Type Update
The “Other Liability” label on the Balance Sheet and Balance Sheet by Class has been renamed to “Other Current Liability”.
New Postings Report
Striven has a new accounting report called the Postings Report which will gather all transactions Posting Journal data based on the filter criteria of the report and lists them. This new report can be located by navigating to Accounting → Postings.
There are two (2) new User Role permissions related to this new report:
- “Postings Report - View” : This permission will be required in order to view the Postings Report in Striven.
- “Postings Report - Export” : This permission will be required to export the report to Excel.
There are a variety of search filters options available from the Search popup on the Postings Report page to narrow down the results of your report, as seen in the image below:
Users will also be able to save searches from this popup for future use.
*Note:
- The Debit Amount filter includes an amount operator control with Greater Than or Equal To, Less Than or Equal To, and Equal To options.
- This search option also includes an amount input field that works with the operator field.
- The Credit Amount filter includes an amount operator control with Greater Than or Equal To, Less Than or Equal To, and Equal To options)
- This search option also includes an amount input field that works with the operator field.
- The Include Foreign Debit/Credit checkbox will append the exchange rate currency symbol and the foreign debit/credit columns to the report.
The available columns on this report include Account, Type, Transaction #, Date, Customer/Vendor, Item/Location, Debit, and Credit.
- Note: If the Foreign Currency checkbox is checked, the exchange rate currency symbol and Foreign Debit/Credit columns will also display.
This report also includes multiple sorting options, such as Date, Type, Debit Amount, and Credit Amount.
New Customer P&L Comparison Report
There’s a new report in Striven that will provide the ability to easily identify key financial differences when comparing one time period to another in order to spot significant changes. This feature also facilitates the identification of potential changes in profit, such as missing invoices or incorrect reductions in invoice levels, helping you maintain accurate records. Furthermore, it empowers you to recognize and plan for notable trends, allowing for effective resource planning.
There are two (2) new User Role permissions related to this new report:
- “Customer P&L Comparison Report - View” : This permission will be required in order to view the report in Striven.
- “Customer P&L Comparison Report - Export” : This permission will be required to export the report to Excel.
This report can be located by navigating to Reports → Income & Receivables → Customer P&L Comparison.
There are two (2) parts to this report: the summary report and the details report. The summary part will display the report data by using core filters for Date Period and Comparison Date Period, with other filter options as displayed in the image below:
This Search menu also offers a Saved Search option to remember your filters for future use.
The summary report will display the following columns:
- Customer/Vendor Name
- Date Period: displays the Date Period selected or Date Range when that filter option is utilized.
- Comparison Period: displays the Comparison Date Period selected or Comparison Date Range when that filter option is utilized.
- Difference: displays the profit amount difference between the two (2) periods. This value is obtained by subtracting the Comparison Period amount from the Date Period amount.
- Difference %: displays the profit percentage difference between the two (2) periods. This value is calculated as the result of subtracting the Comparison Period amount from the Date Period amount, divided by the Comparison Period amount.
- Note: If the Comparison Period amount is zero (0), then the percentage will be displayed as zero (0).
On the summary report, the final row of the Date Period and Comparison Date Period columns will present the totals for all the listed results within those columns. These totals are derived from the Posting Journals, specifically for Customer-related transactions that can affect profit, such as Invoices, Credit Memos, and Sales Receipts.
It’s important to note that these calculations solely incorporate Postings associated with Income, Expense, and COGS account types, which are categorized as Profit and Loss (P&L) types. All other Postings outside of these categories are not considered in these calculations.
The details report can be accessed for each amount by clicking on the amount link within the summary report columns. The link will list all transactions included in the calculation for that amount. You can view these individual transactions by clicking on the hyperlinked values in the details report. You can also utilize the search function on the details report to narrow down the results.
Upgrade to Item Selection Function on Transactions
We have created a new Item selection function for use on transactions and other areas of the system. The biggest reason for upgrading this control is to help subscribers who have a large number of Items in their Striven systems.
Prior to this release, the selection function was a tree structure with Categories. To find an Item, you would click the Plus button to expand the Category, which could be tedious if there were a lot of nested Categories. As you typed, it filtered down results either by Item name or Category name, but again there was a lot of clicking involved if the Item was deeply nested in Categories. If the transaction page had a lot of custom columns, there was limited width space left, which then required some horizontal scrolling to view the full Item names.
This new Item selection function addresses all of the limitations of the prior functionality. Here are some highlights of the upgrade:
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The transaction page will load the first fifty (50) Items, along with an option to Load More.
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The Item name is displayed at the top and the Categories are displayed beneath the Item name, in-line instead of in a TreeView.
- If the Category is deeply nested, the Category name will be truncated so that you will not see the top level parent Categories, but there will be an ellipsis you can click on to display the full Category hierarchy in-line.
- You can search by Item name or Category name and the matching text will be highlighted in the results.
- If the transaction page has a large number of custom columns, the width of the Item selection list is larger to make it easier to read the Item names.
Flag Tax Agencies as Unselectable
We’ve added a new feature to prevent a user from selecting certain Tax Agencies when creating a new Sales Order or any A/R transaction, such as an Invoice, Credit Memo, or Sales Receipt. This new feature will enable you to flag a component Tax Agency as unselectable, as they are meant to be used internally within a Tax Group.
On the Tax Info page, there is a new option for Do not allow to be selected individually with a checkbox to toggle on/off. Next to the option is an Info icon explaining how the feature works.
Toggling this option on will only be effective going forward and all existing transactions that use Tax Agencies that are flagged to not be used individually would not change and will continue to display with that configuration.
The following areas of the system will be affected by this update:
- Account Location Info Page
- If a Tax Agency is already designated and is then flagged to not be selected, it will continue to use that agency setting.
- If you create a new Location, a Tax Agency flagged to not allow selection would not even appear in the drop-down list as an option to be selected.
- Sales Order Info Page (or any AR transaction info page):
- For an existing transaction or Sales Order, if the Tax Code used is one of those flagged to not be selected, it will still be attached to the transaction and will calculate the taxes according to that setting.
- When copying existing transactions or creating a new Sales Order by selecting a Customer, if the Customer has the Ship To Location defaulted to a Location that has a “do not select” Tax Code, that Tax Code will not be selected on the transaction. Instead, the default Tax Code will be selected.
This feature is not applicable to Invoices or Credit Memos that are automatically generated by the nightly job or those that are configured to periodically recur.
Skip Final Invoice Generation
There is a new option to allow marking Sales Orders as Completed without generating the final Invoice for one-time contract managed Sales Orders that have On Completion invoicing or progress invoicing that has an On Completion threshold configured. This is useful for situations where users want to skip generating an invoice altogether, or create it manually later if needed.
The User Role permission required for using this option is “Sales Orders - Allow Skipping Final Invoice Generation”.
When a Sales Order is marked as Completed, Striven will analyze if an Invoice will be generated or not based on the invoicing configuration of the Sales Order. If an Invoice is going to be generated, based on the user permission, the checkbox for Do Not Generate Final Invoice will display in the Change Status popup.
If the box is checked, Striven will skip creating the final Invoice and will create a related Audit Log entry for the Sales Order. Also, in the Action menu the Invoice option will display for selection to allow the user to manually create the final Invoice.
New Merge Fields in Price Update Tool
We’ve added two (2) new merge fields to the Recurring Sales Orders: Price Update tool. Now, you will be able to select Last Invoiced Amount and Last Invoiced Price Difference as merge fields to include in the body section of the page.
Core Settings Updates
Unsaved Page Warning
We’re implementing a new feature that will hopefully save users from lost work or edits while working in Striven. This feature will check to ensure any changes or edits to data on the page is saved before navigating away from the page.
For example, we’re introducing this feature on the Division Info page within the Core Settings of Striven.
You can view this page (provided your User Role has the necessary permissions) by navigating to Company → Settings → Company → Divisions.
If you select a Division and make edits to the fields, then try to click the X button to close the page, a warning will display letting you know you have unsaved changes and will confirm you want to close the page. The choices available are to click Don’t Save, which will close out the page without saving the changes, or click Cancel, which will allow you to return and save the changes before closing out the page.
Additionally, a warning message will appear when modifications are made to the Division Info page and then you attempt to click away to another settings page in Striven without saving. By the same token, if you try to view a different area of the system (outside of the settings), or attempt to close the browser tab without saving your changes, a similar warning will display to notify you that changes may not be saved if you proceed and will ask if you wish to leave the page.
Please be aware that certain functionality may be affected when using iOS-powered mobile devices due to their lack of compatibility with the framework.
So, if you have user access to the Divisions Info page, please feel free to test out this new element of Striven. We plan on launching this feature on other areas of the system in future releases.
FullScreen Feature
Striven is committed to providing a user-friendly experience, regardless of the device you are using. To that end, we have introduced a new fullscreen toggle option that allows users to expand the content area of the page. This is especially helpful for users with smaller screens, who may find that the header, menu, favorites, and other elements take up too much screen space.
To use the fullscreen toggle, simply click on the Fullscreen icon in the top right corner of the screen. This will switch the page to fullscreen mode, which will give you more space to view the content.
To return to the regular view, simply click on the icon again.
Attachment File Extensions
There has been an update to the available file extensions allowed for Hub and other areas of the system that allow file attachments. The new extensions include .edrw and .pages file types.
Upgraded PDF Service
Typically, generating a PDF is a fairly resource-intensive process which can affect system performance. The amount of resources needed to generate a PDF is higher when more users are utilizing this feature, which can cause a general bottleneck that intermittently slows the entire system down for all users, regardless of what area of the system they’re using at the time.
To remedy this, we’ve created a new PDF service whose sole responsibility will be to generate PDFs. This will reside on its own server and should no longer slow the web server performance for general system usage, thereby improving productivity and enabling users to operate Striven more effectively.
Customer Asset Updates
Related Assets Status
Customer Assets that have Related Assets listed will now display the Related Asset’s status on the Asset Info page.
Employee Updates
New Search Filters for the Time Off Adjustment Page
Striven now has three (3) new search filters on the Time Off Adjustment page. These new filters will allow you to filter results by Location, Division, and Manager. We’ve also included an Export option in the drop-down menu at the bottom of the search box.
Portal Updates
Account Lockout Feature in Portal
To enhance the security of the Customer/Vendor Portal, we have introduced an Account Lockout feature. If a user enters the wrong password five (5) times in a row, their Portal Account will be automatically locked.
When the Portal Account is locked, an email will be sent to the user with a link to unlock it.
Clicking on the link will unlock the Portal Account and display a page with the latest failed login attempts.
The email will also provide a Reset Password link that the user can use to change their password. This will help to prevent unauthorized access to the Portal Account.
Assigning Tasks to Pools
There’s a new setting for the Customer/Vendor Portal to allow Contacts to assign Tasks to Pools that are made visible on the Portal and are assigned to the Customer.
Projects Updates
Copy Task Statuses when Copying from Project
We have added the ability to copy Task Statuses when copying from an existing Project. This additional option is located in the Add New Project page after selecting the Project you wish to copy.
Show Order Status on Orders List within a Project
We have added the Order Status to the Orders List when viewing from a Project.
Workflow Updates
Merge Field Links in Emails
There’s been an update made related to the merge fields in Workflow emails. This update has only been made for the Send Email Action Type, but will apply to all supported entities, such as Tasks, Sales Orders, Opportunities, Projects, and Customers/Vendors.
Merge field entities will now display in Workflow emails as hyperlinks to those entities noted in the email, depending on who the recipient is.
In other words, for Employees, the link will direct the user to the related entity within the Striven system. For Customers/Vendors/Contacts, the link will direct the user to the entity in the Portal, taking roles and permissions into consideration, of course.
Workflow Queue Update
We’ve made an update to the Workflow Queue page. On the far right side of the page next to the Status column, there is an option to view the Action that is queued. Prior to the release, this link to the Action was displayed as “Message”. We’ve updated this link to display as “Preview” for clarity as to what the purpose is of the link.
Subject Names for Workflow Actions
Send Email type Actions will now display the Subject Line in Workflows. When you view the Actions listed for a Trigger, the Send Email type Actions will display the email’s Subject Line to more easily distinguish between other emails that may be related to the Trigger.
New Search Filter for Workflow Queue
We have added a From search filter to the Workflow Queue page. This new filter will allow you to search for a particular Workflow record based upon who the designated sender is for the Action.
Ability to Specify Trigger Processing to Exclude Weekends
Trigger Processing Time Settings will now have the option to Send Only on Weekdays for the Send Email or Send Text type Actions set to be sent automatically on a Day Number specified.
If the Send Only on Weekdays option is selected:
- If a message is supposed to be sent on a weekend based on the Day Number specified, it will be sent on the following Monday along with all other messages that are supposed to be sent that day.
- If a message was supposed to be queued, it will still be queued on the correct day.
API Additions/Updates
The following API additions/updates have been added with this release:
- Added Primary Address to the “POST /v1/customers/create” operation
For more information about our APIs, visit our API Reference Page.
Added Column to API Call Log Report
There’s a new column on the API Call Log Report for Data Set Name. When a call is related to a custom report, this column will conveniently identify the name of the Data Set used in the report.
