June 2017 Invoice Standard Edition Admin Summary
Last Update: 7 July 2017
Purchase Requests and Purchase Orders
Purchase Request User Can Now Expand/Collapse Distribution Tab PanelsPurchase request users will now be able to expand and collapse the distributions tab panels on the purchase request details page.
Business Purpose / Client Benefit: This enhancement will make it easier for clients to select the view that best fits their needs.
Payment Request Creators Can Now Create Payment Requests from Their Own Purchase OrdersWith this release, payment request creators who need to create payment requests from their open purchase order list can now do so.
Business Purpose / Client Benefit: This enhancement will make it more efficient for clients to create payment requests manually based on their purchase orders.
Easier for Purchasing Admins to Identify Change RequestsBy changing the view on the Process Purchase Requests and Process Purchase Orders pages respectively, purchasing admins will now be able to more easily identify change requests.
Business Purpose / Client Benefit: This enhancement will make it easier for clients to find all their change requests.
New Central Receiver Permission RoleConcur has now created a new Central Receiver user permission role for users who, for example, receive goods for their company and need to be able to enter, update and delete receipt data without having the ability to transmit and process purchase orders or invoices.
Business Purpose / Client Benefit: This enhancement helps clients to be compliant with duty segregation best practices by separating the Central Receiver role from the Purchase Order Processor role.
Notes to Supplier Now Available for Purchase RequestsPreviously, purchase request users were able to add a note that applied to all purchase orders. With this release, purchase request users will be able to add a note to a supplier about a specific purchase request. This note to the supplier will appear on the corresponding purchase order as well.
Business Purpose / Client Benefit: This enhancement gives clients greater flexibility in customising notes to a supplier for a specific purchase order.
PO PDF Now Supports Accented International CharactersInvoice now supports accented international characters in the purchase order PDF.
Business Purpose / Client Benefit: This enhancement provides international clients whose language uses accented characters with more accurate information on the purchase order PDF.
Invoice
Expense Type Search EnhancementFor users, the Expense Type list is currently a type-ahead list only. With this release, Invoice will now support conditional searches within the list. This means that the user can type either "%" or "*" as part of the search criteria.
Business Purpose / Client Benefit: This enhancement also applies to the Expense Type lists for purchase requests and Capture Processing.
Business Purpose / Client Benefit: This enhancement will make it quicker and easier to find the relevant expense type; especially for clients who perform searches on large amounts of expense types.
The Date of Comments Will Now Reflect the Location of the UserInvoice users who open payment requests to view comments by clicking Details > Comments will now see the date of the comments in the Comment History window in their own time zone.
Business Purpose / Client Benefit: This enhancement makes it easier for clients to see the date the comment was made in their own time zone to better keep track of when comments were entered.
Accessibility Setting in ProfileCurrently, a client can elect to configure their Concur site to comply with current accessibility standards. Soon, the accessibility feature will no longer be optional. The feature will be defaulted to ON for all Concur sites and users will not be able to change it.
This process will take several months to complete. During this period, the accessibility setting that users see in Profile will be removed.
Single Click Concept Now Available on Payment Request PagesConcur has now implemented the single click concept on all payment request pages, apart from in Payment Manager, to open new pages.
The concept of a single click, instead of double-clicking, to open a new page will be familiar for Invoice users who also use Expense where it is already available. For Invoice-only users, this concept will provide navigational improvements and a smoother user experience whereby users just have to click once to open a new payment request page.
Business Purpose / Client Benefit: These enhancements help clients to navigate more efficiently in Invoice.
Supplier Manager
New Payment Method TypeTo accommodate clients who use third-party pay companies to handle their payment process, Concur has provided a new payment method type option, Payment Provider, for clients to select.
Business Purpose / Client Benefit: This enhancement allows clients to flag suppliers that they are using a payment provider from outside of Concur.
Setup
Save Button Added to Setup PagesConcur has added the Save button to a number of the pages in Setup. On these pages, the Save button allows clients to save changes to the page without having to navigate to another page. Changes made on Setup pages are still automatically saved when clients navigate away from the page, regardless of whether the Save button has been clicked.
Business Purpose / Client Benefit: This enhancement provides clients with a way to save changes to a Setup page without leaving the page.
Accounting Software List in Accounting UpdatedConcur has updated the Select your accounting software list on the Accounting page in Setup. A number of popular accounting software applications have been added to the list; some items in the list have been renamed and some have been removed.
Business Purpose / Client Benefit: This enhancement provides clients with an updated list of popular accounting software applications to choose from. For QuickBooks Connector customers, the accounting software list selection is used to drive whether the appropriate QuickBooks connector is displayed. For all other customers, the list selection is informational only.
Industry Field List in Cost Tracking UpdatedThe Most frequently used by your industry section on the Cost Tracking – Data To Track page in Setup has been updated to include the latest list of the three most commonly used fields for each industry. One of the most commonly used fields for all industries is the Department field, so the Department field was added to Most frequently used by your industry section for each industry.
Business Purpose / Client Benefit: This enhancement provides visibility and quick access to the fields clients are most likely to select for their industry.
Internet Browsers
Removal of Users by Browser Report FeatureIn earlier release notes, we announced that the Users by Browser report would be removed in June.
The decision has been made to keep the report. A replacement may become available in the future. An announcement will be made in future release notes.
Planned Changes
**Planned Changes** Enhanced Fiscal Calendar for Analysis/IntelligenceConcur is targeting to release the enhanced fiscal calendar for Analysis/Intelligence in July. A fiscal calendar allows organisations to define their accounting periods independent of the standard calendar year. Many organisations define their own calendars to model their financial reporting to reflect seasons in their business, to compare results with direct competitors and to avoid the busy year-end season in January.
The new fiscal calendar will be available in the Setup Wizard, which is accessed by clicking Administration > Invoice Settings (or Expense & Invoice Settings) > Reporting Configuration.
**Planned Changes** Quick Tips Section to be Removed from Concur Solutions PageThe Quick Tips section of the Concur Solutions home page (concursolutions.com) is targeted to be removed in the July service release.
Business Purpose / Client Benefit: This update simplifies the look-and-feel of the home page, making it easier to view and access the information on the page.
**Planned Changes** Country Packs to Handle VATBy introducing country packs in Invoice Standard, Concur will lay the grounds for a new way of providing clients with pre-configured Invoice features per country. This customisation will provide a more efficient way for clients to work with functions that meet their needs.
To start with, country packs will provide value-added tax (VAT) functionality based on the country specified. Tax handling varies from one country to the next and having dedicated fields to support each market’s needs is a critical function of Invoice Processing. When Concur has enabled one or more country packs for a client, the client admins can use the Setup Wizard to configure a number of steps in the Setup Wizard to enable clients to work with VAT. Clients will then be able to work with VAT at the header and line item level.
Business Purpose / Client Benefit: This feature provides clients in the US (net new clients), Canada, Japan, Australia and the UK with pre-configured VAT forms that are relevant to their specific needs and, thereby, make their work easier and more efficient.
**Planned Changes** Setup is Getting a New Look and Improved NavigationThe current Setup navigation links that appear on each of the Setup pages will be reorganised into a central Settings page containing tiles that provide access to each setup page. The tiles will be grouped by business purpose and will contain a brief description of the associated Setup feature to help administrators understand the purpose of the feature. On clicking a tile, for example Users, you would go to the existing Users page that you use today. A navigation breadcrumb provides a path back to the central Settings page.
In future releases, Concur will be making additional improvements to some of the Setup features. Additional information will be available in future release notes.
Business Purpose / Client Benefit: This enhancement will help improve the Setup navigation, and make it easier for new administrators to understand the Setup features and complete the Setup tasks.
**Planned Changes** Check for Missing Account Code Later in WorkflowEmployees will be able to save, submit and approve a payment request even if one or more account codes are missing for expenses in the payment request.
Currently, whenever an expense is saved, the system validates that an account code has been provided for the related expense type and adds that account code to the expense (a process not visible through the UI). If there is no account code associated with the expense, the expense cannot be saved.
With this update, the payment request can be submitted and approved. However, the system will block the expense data from being extracted or posted to your financial system until your Concur company administrator provides an account code mapping for the expense type in Setup.
Business Purpose / Client Benefit: Employees are no longer prevented from completing their payment requests when an account code is missing in the expense type configuration. Account codes are now populated at a single, consistent point in the workflow.
**Planned Changes** Microsoft IE v.10 Browser Support Ends 18 August 2017Support for Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) version 10 browsers under Concur products will end on 18 August 2017. Concur strongly advises clients using IE v.10 to update to the latest IE browser version before that date, or to install and work with another supported browser.
Users still using IE v.10 will see a banner.
**Planned Changes** Support for TLS v 1.0 Encryption Protocol to End – DATE MOVED FOR THE US DATA CENTREUPDATE: Please note these dates:
- EU datacentre: Completed on Tuesday, 4 April 2017
- US datacentre: MOVED TO Wednesday, 12 July 2017
Concur announces an End-of-Support cycle for version 1.0 of the TLS encryption protocol, continuing support for the more secure 1.1 and 1.2 versions of TLS. As background, the TLS protocol allows secure back and forth communications between a phone or computer and a cloud-based service.
Note that, since less than 1% of Concur users are logging in to Concur Solutions by using browsers or phones limited to version 1.0, a very small number of users are affected by this support discontinuation.
PLEASE NOTE NEW END DATE OF SUPPORT IS JULYWe have moved the date in order to give our clients ample time to understand and make the required manual changes to their browser's security settings. These changes will be detailed in an upcoming service release.
Business Purpose / Client Benefit: Concur is taking this step after careful consideration of both the client’s security and ease of upgrade to the newer, more secure 1.1 and 1.2 versions of TLS. This end-of-life plan for TLS v 1.0 ensures our clients are communicating with Concur services in a safe and secure manner using TLS v. 1.1 and later versions.
Client Notifications
Concur Non-Affiliated SubprocessorsThe list of non-affiliated subprocessors is available here: Concur Non-Affiliated Subprocessors (English Only)
Monthly Browser CertificationsMonthly browser certifications, both current and planned, are available with the other Concur monthly release notes, accessible from What's New - Standard Edition
