Release Notes for Version 1.3
Important
Page Index
- Roster Management
- 'Generate Roster' function defaults
- New Roster Validation
- Automatic scrolling in the Roster Canvas (graphical view)
- Roster Canvas (graphical view) timeline driven off the regional settings
- Ability to go to the beginning or end of a roster
- Available Resources List constrained
- Available Resource List display customizable
- Roster Grid View column names and display
- Reports
- Resources
- General
- Roster Editor
- Reports
- General
- Before Installing SchedulerLite Version 1.3
Details
- Roster Management
- when dragging a slot or group of slots to the top, bottom, left or right margins of the viewable area;
- when a slot is resized at the margins of the viewable area;
- when doing a rubber band selection and the selection is at a margin of the viewable area;
- to display a new slot, when it has been dragged and dropped from the Available Resource List, and the resource was not in the viewable area.
When using this feature to create a new roster the default start date and time for the new roster are now derived from the latest end date and time of the existing rosters for a Roster Type. The new roster's duration is derived from the duration of the roster being copied.
The new roster validation enables resource balancing across rosters by reporting on conflicting commitments.
The presentation of errors has been made consistent for the four types of validation (i.e. roster boundaries, resource constraints, resource commitments, resource availability). A report detailing the errors can be printed.
Automatic scrolling has been added to the Roster Canvas to make rostering / scheduling quicker and easier. Automatic scrolling now happens:
The date format used for the timeline along the top of a roster in the Roster Canvas is now determined by the regional setting on the PC.
Two new buttons have been added to the toolbar that will position you either at the beginning or end of the rosterable period of a roster in the Roster Canvas.
The list of resources available for rostering can now be restricted to those that belong to a Workgroup. A Workgroup needs to be specified for the resources and the Roster Type and the flag set to constrain by Workgroup.
The resources displayed in the Available Resources List are now restricted to those that are available at least some of the time during the roster. This is determined by their Employment Start/End or Acquisition/Disposal dates. This prevents the list from being cluttered with previous employees /assets whilst allowing a historical record of past rosters to be kept.
The columns, their sequence, sorting and 'group by' can be specified for the Available Resource List for each Roster Type. Use the dropdown menu (Right Hand Mouse button) in the Available Resource List to tailor the display. This makes it much more efficient when rostering large numbers of employees / assets.
Column names have been made consistent with the rest of SchedulerLite.
Resource has been set as the default first column. Some columns have been hidden to make the grid easier to read. These can be added back in as necessary.
A dropdown menu has been added for the right hand mouse click.
- Reports
The Timesheet report can now be accessed from within the Roster editor. This saves having to exit a roster to print timesheets.
The list of resources presented in the Timesheet report is now restricted to the resources rostered on in the roster. This makes it easier and quicker to print out individual timesheets.
When the Roster Report or Timesheet Report are run in the Roster editor the roster that is open is used as the default roster for these reports.
The process of selecting the roster for a report has been broken into two steps. First selecting the name then the period. This means that for customers with large numbers of rosters the selection process is quicker and easier.
For commercial license owners a header and footer can be specified for reports (e.g. company name, contact phone number).
For unlicensed and non-commercial licenses the header and footer contain SchedulerLite branding (e.g. logo).
HTML versions of the Timesheet and Resource Hours reports are now available.
A print date is now included at the bottom of reports.
- Resources
The ability to record a rate and time unit for the rate for a resource has been added.
Note that this in preparation for the development of the costing module. The rate's currency is derived from the PCs Regional Settings.
- General
Database shortcuts can now be created to individual databases so that SchedulerLite starts with the database open.
A number of label changes have been made to use more general terms. This reflects the fact that SchedulerLite is general purpose employee rostering and scheduling software. The changes are 'Stand In' to 'Alternate Resource', 'Business Unit' to 'Workgroup' and 'Copy Roster' to 'Generate Roster').
The mechanism for registering ownership of a SchedulerLite license has been changed. It is now file based and supports two license types, commercial and non-commercial. The software is still trialware and is distributed in an unlicensed state.
From the user's perspective there is virtually no functional difference between unlicensed, non-commercial and commercially licensed software.
A nag has been added which cuts in at 30 days and the software is disabled after 60 days if a license is not obtained. In addition the reports produced by the unlicensed and non-commercially licensed software are branded (e.g. SchedulerLite logo, website address).
The reports produced by a commercially licensed copy are unbranded and allow a user defined header and footer.
There is no longer a requirement to enter an e-mail address and installation code during installation making installation quicker and easier.
The method of clearing a value from a 'dropdown combo list' (e.g. Roster Status in the Roster Editor) has been simplified by the inclusion of (none) in the dropdown list. By selecting (none) the entry in one of these fields is cleared. Previously it was necessary to get the value in focus (i.e. highlighted in blue) then use the delete key.
Windows Installer has been removed from the download file. This has significantly reduced the download file size.
- Roster Editor
- Reports
Previously reports were not scaling to paper sizes other than A4. This has been fixed in this version (i.e. 1.3). If you wish to continue using version 1.2 a patch for this bug is available for download from the SchedulerLite FAQ page.
In previous releases if the number of pages specified was large then SchedulerLite would abort. This bug was restricted to the Print Preview. Printing worked.
The 'Collapse' checkbox on the Roster Report parameter form is now disabled if Limit Hours have not been specified for the roster.
The descriptive fields at the top of the reports (e.g. Roster Name) have been made consistent across all reports.
The value for the Resource Type field on the Resource Hours report is no longer truncated from 30 to 26 characters.
- General
Previously if the 12 hour clock, with AM/PM flag, was used and a value was keyed in it caused the PM to change to AM. This occurred if either the hours or minutes were changed.
The Date Picker now defaults to today's date.
The year '00 now means 2000 in the Date Picker. Previously it was interpreted as 1900.
Tables are now imported in the correct sequence. A single run of the import now imports all of the data. Previously it was necessary to run the import three times to import all the data.
A friendly message is now displayed if the Help file cannot be found. It suggests visiting the SchedulerLite FAQ page for details on how to resolve this issue.
In previous releases if a language other than English was specified for non-Unicode programs then the database creation would fail. See the SchedulerLite FAQ page for further details.
A minor bug affecting the shading of resource rows has been fixed.
The field labels on this form are now consistent with the rest of SchedulerLite.
Previously the vertical page scroll on the scroll bar only scrolled a resource row at a time. It now scrolls a whole page.
Previously there was a temporary display problem which could be provoked by turning the Limit Hours on and off. This has been fixed.
- Before Installing SchedulerLite Version 1.3
If you have used a previous version of SchedulerLite (i.e. 1.0, 1.1 or 1.2) you will need to convert the databases you were using previously to the new format. A data conversion tool is provided for this.
Note: If you have been using the 'example.db' database for your rosters and wish to keep the data that you have entered in it then you must export and then import this data before installing SchedulerLite version 1.3 . This is because the installation process will replace the example.db database with a later version and any data you have entered into it will therefore be lost. We recommend that you create your own databases for your rosters and do not use the example.db for managing your rosters.
Conversion of 1.0, 1.1 and 1.2 databases you have created does not need to be done prior to installing SchedulerLite version 1.3. The installation process does not affect these databases.
Note: It is good practice to back up databases before converting them. We recommend that you do this in addition to your normal back up process. The back up utility in SchedulerLite can be used to do this. We recommend that you back up to another computer or to removable media (i.e. CD).
To convert your databases either use the 'Database Upgrade Utility', found on the SchedulerLite menu in the Programs Menu or simply open the database in SchedulerLite and it will be automatically converted.
- Overview of steps
- Export and import 'example.db' database (only if you have used it for your own rosters and wish to keep the data)
- Uninstall SchedulerLite
- Remove file 'example.log'
- Install SchedulerLite 1.3
- Back up database(s)
- Convert database(s)
- Uninstall SchedulerLite
- Remove file 'example.log'
- Install SchedulerLite 1.3
- Install SchedulerLite 1.3
The following steps are suggested if you are upgrading from SchedulerLite version 1.0, 1.1 or 1.2 to 1.3 and wish to keep your data:
The following steps are suggested if you are upgrading from SchedulerLite version 1.0, 1.1 or 1.2 to 1.3 and do not wish to keep any data:
The following step is suggested if you have never previously installed SchedulerLite:
Each step is described in further detail below.
- Export and import 'example.db' database
This step is only necessary if you have entered data into the 'example.db' database and wish to keep it. In which case you must perform this step before installing SchedulerLite 1.3
Ignore this step if you have not used the 'example.db' database for your rosters.
Open the 'example.db' database in SchedulerLite. Select the Import/Export option under the File menu and export to a new directory.
Close the 'example.db' database.
Create a new database with a unique name that you will import the data back into.
Select the Import/Export option under the File menu and import the files from the directory you created for the exported files. Note that you will need to click on Import three times for all the files to be imported. Check that the data has been imported. This new database will need converting but this conversion does not need to be done before installing SchedulerLite 1.3
It is recommended that you uninstall the version of SchedulerLite that you have before installing version 1.3 . The uninstall program will not delete SchedulerLite databases you have created but it will remove the 'example.db' database that came with the previous version of SchedulerLite. If you have entered data into the 'example.db' database and wish to keep it please ensure that you have performed the "Export and import 'example.db' database" step described above before installing version 1.3 .
Delete the 'example.log' file from the directory that you had previously installed SchedulerLite in.
If you do not delete it then you will get the following error if you select the 'Example' option in the SchedulerLite program group in the Windows Start menu:
"[Sybase][ODBC Driver][Adaptive Server Anywhere]Unable to connect to database server: specified database is invalid".
This message simply means that the 'example' database that comes with SchedulerLite 1.3 doesn't match the log file for the 'example' database that came with version of SchedulerLite that you had previously installed. Simply delete the 'example.log' file then open the 'example' database in SchedulerLite. Note that by opening the database a new and matching 'example.log' file is created.
Double-click on the 'slsetup.exe'. This will start the InstallShield installation. Follow the prompts to complete the installation.
It is good practice to back up your databases prior to converting them. You can use the SchedulerLite back up facility or copy the database file (i.e. '.db' files) with another utility (e.g. Windows Explorer).
Convert the databases you created with the previous version of SchedulerLite using the 'Database Upgrade Utility' (slconvert.exe) provided with SchedulerLite 1.3 . This utility is located in the SchedulerLite program group in the Windows Start menu. It enables you to select the databases to convert by browsing directories.
Alternatively simply open each database in SchedulerLite and it will be automatically upgraded to the latest version.
Note for SchedulerLite Version 1.1 users: Use the 'Database Upgrade Utility' located in the SchedulerLite program group in the Windows Start menu to convert your version 1.1 databases. Opening a 1.1 database in SchedulerLite does not work and provokes an error. To clear the error simply use the 'Database Upgrade Utility' to convert the database.
Note for Windows 95 users: If your operating system is Windows 95 it is necessary to have both SchedulerLite 1.2 running and a database open (e.g. 'example.db') for the conversion utility to work. This is not a requirement for later Microsoft operating systems (e.g. Windows 98). Windows 95 users will get the following error message if SchedulerLite 1.2 is not running and a database not open:
"[Sybase][ODBC Driver][Adaptive Server Anywhere]Unable to connect to database server: Unable to start database engine."
If you get this error message click on the 'OK' button and start SchedulerLite. Ensure that a database is also open before trying to convert another database.