Spire 2.1 was released officially on June 1st, and it includes some great features that all users will find useful, leading to increased productivity and profitability.

If you prefer to watch a video versus reading about the enhancements, please click on this video link (9 minutes).

This release also includes the add-on module Service Manager, which has a few enhancements over the BVEssentials version. Follow this link to see the video (9 minutes)

1.  Sales Order – Detail List Screen

Similar to Sales History, the Sales Order screen now has an Orders tab as well as a Details tab. The Orders tab shows the header type information that you are used to such as the customer, salesperson and required date. The new Details tab provides item level information such as selling price, cost, margin, quantity ordered, committed and backordered.

You will be able to see what your margin is BEFORE you invoice, catching issues such as 0 selling prices or lower than expected margins. If you set a filter to catch issues such as these, you can check the data quickly and as often as you like.

If you have to allocate stock between customers, you will be able to sort the list by part number and quickly see which customer orders have the item committed verses on back order so you can make appropriate shipping decisions.

2.  Purchase Order – Detail List Screen

Similar to Sales Orders, the PO details are now on their own tab. Sorting the list by item will tell you how many PO’s exist for one item, and when the shipments are due in. Also, you can quickly follow up on items not yet received that are beyond their required date.

3.  Vendor Code Change

Joining Customer and Inventory Code Change, Vendor Code Change has been added in Spire 2.1. This will make looking up vendor information much easier since you will no longer have to remember the old vendor code before that vendor was bought or merged into another company.

4.  Receipts Tab in Purchase Order Screen

When there are multiple receipts against one Purchase Order, it is helpful to know when the goods were received and at what cost. This is all now laid out in a new Receipts tab on the open Purchase Order.

5.  General Ledger Improvements

• The last transaction number that you posted will now appear in the bottom right corner of your screen so that you can note it on documents that you are processing. This shows that you entered the data and it provides a helpful reference for future investigations.
• The journal entry screen will remain open, helpful for when you are posting multiple journal entries at once.
• A Create Transaction button is now available on the face of the General Ledger screen for quick access.

6.  Sales Taxes for PO’s

Sales taxes for PO’s have been overhauled to better apply taxes when supplier goods are being shipped between provinces, particularly if vendor goods are being shipped to a warehouse in a different province. Click here to see the 5 minute video.

7.  Log in Date Updated

If you logged into Spire one day with the default login date and forgot to log out at the end of the day, the processing date will now advance to the next day automatically. If you specifically selected a date however, such as the month end date, it will not update.

Please feel free to contact me at rita.bloem@rogers.com if you have any questions or would like my help in switching to Spire. I look forward to hearing from you!