RELEASE NOTES IMS Utility Billing Version 6.281 11:22AM Jan/29/2013 Spreadsheet Create Utility Added: --------------------------------- A billing spreadsheet may now be created from the UB database using the utility at Activities, Make Spreadsheet, Billing. Included is a query utility that allows filtering the results based on any field in the files used. PDF Bill Form Changed: ---------------------- The PDF bill form now includes the mail-in payment stub as used on the printed bill forms. The form is now identical to the standard Letter Laser 6 form. Email Address Added To Reports: ------------------------------- The customer email address is now an available field in several standard reports, including billing, consumption, cash receipts, refunds, current balance, current deposits and work orders. Deposit Refund Issues Resolved: ------------------------------- If a certain combination of settings existed when refunding deposits without printing checks the amounts refunded could be incorrect despite the pending refunds report indicating the correct refund amounts. Also, when refunding without printing checks the check register would contain a zero dollar check for each refund. Bill Printing Anomaly Corrected: -------------------------------- When bills are printed with the PDF file option selected, the PDF file will contain images of all bills generated, whether printed or emailed. Previous PDF Bill Files Now Retained: ------------------------------------- If the option to generate PDF bills is checked, each PDF bill file includes the date the bill was generated, allowing all prior PDF bills to be retained. When the View Bill button on the Transactions tab is pressed, if there is only the most recent bill present it will be displayed as in previous releases. If previous PDF bills exist for the customer, a browse window will display a list of the bills with the most recent at the top. Any bill may be viewed by selecting it and double clicking or pressing the view button. PostNet Barcode Support Changed: -------------------------------- The Four Part Laser 7 bill form now partially supports using the PostNet barcode option. If the zip code does not include the +4 digits the barcode will be printed if the option is enabled. Because the bill form is not wide enough to hold the full PostNet code (which includes the +4 digits and digits from the house number), the barcode will not be printed for addresses that have more than the basic 5 digit zipcode. Installation: ------------- If this version is to be installed on a Vista or Windows 7 system where UAC will be used, the following procedure is recommended: Before installing this version, start UB and go to Setup, Configuration and set Data File Path to where the data files are currently located, even if it is currently the same folder as where the programs reside. (If the programs and data are in the same folder the Data Path will probably be blank.) Click on OK and exit UB. Install this version of UB to the directory where the UB data files are located so the data can be converted. Once Utility Billing has been started and the data files converted, you may exit from UB and move programs and/or data as required to adhere to the requirements for UAC, including copying ub.ini from the Windows directory to c:\Users\Public\Public Documents\IMS\UB. Future versions of install packages will address the dual location issue so the post-installation moving of files will not be required. If installing to a Windows XP system or if UAC is disabled none of the above procedures are necessary. Install as for previous versions. Transfers from this version of Utility Billing will require General Ledger version 4.506 or later. All UB data files that have been changed since the version being replaced will be automatically converted from any version back to 6.14. Be aware that the space required by the database tends to grow with subsequent versions, and that prior versions of changed data files are saved from each subsequent version. Be sure there is enough free disk space before starting UB. This release requires the Pervasive SQL database. Compatibility Requirements: --------------------------- General Ledger: 4.506 or later. Inventory Work Order: 2.210 or later.