December 2017 Release
This release has been approved by eTASK for use in production environments. You can download the release now and install it on your server.
Please read the following notes carefully before installation:
Important Note for Users of the eTASK App for Windows
With the release of this version, an updated version of the eTASK app has also been released in the Microsoft Store. Please note that this latest app version is compatible exclusively with the current release version of the portal; that is, both the portal AND all connected mobile devices must be updated.
The renaming of eTASK to eTASK Immobilien Software GmbH has now also been completed in the Microsoft Store. Microsoft’s guidelines require that you uninstall the app on all devices with this update and then reinstall it from the Store. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
Therefore, please update your mobile devices only if you also plan to update your portal to the current release at the same time. If this is not desired or possible, please disable the automatic installation of updates for the eTASK app on your devices. Please note, however, that after a previous update to your portal, you must subsequently update your devices to the current app version as well.
Important note for users of eTASK.PropertyManagement, eTASK.Rental, eTASK.CostRecording, and eTASK.OperatingCosts
As announced in the GoBD workshop, this release is only suitable for customers who have already completed the migration from the eTASK.FM client to the eTASK.FM portal. If you have not yet completed this migration, please refrain from installing this update.
Announcement: Support for Microsoft SQL Server 2008 is being discontinued
Please note that starting with the first release issued on or after January 1, 2018, the 2008 version of Microsoft SQL Server will no longer be officially supported by eTASK. Please contact your eTASK representative as soon as possible if you are still using Microsoft SQL Server 2008.
eTASK.DeskSharing
New Feature: New Calendar for Displaying Workstation Bookings
When booking workstations, a new calendar now displays their availability. For selected workstations, their equipment is also shown via icons. This makes it immediately clear what type of workstation it is and whether it is equipped with a phone, PC, or monitor.
eTASK.Demand Planning
Highlight: Automatically generated visual demand model in REVIT
With eTASK.Requirements Planning, you can determine in detail the requirements for new buildings to be constructed in order to generate a structured requirements specification, e.g., for an architectural competition. It is now possible to automatically generate a visual BIM model from the data in the requirements specification, which includes the space requirements for the building in the form of cuboids. The volume boxes are arranged into groups according to specific criteria. This "block model" serves as the basis for the architect’s design planning of the building and reflects the client’s fundamental space requirements, which must be taken into account during the design process. The automated generation of the block model is currently performed via the eTASK add-in for REVIT, which has been enhanced for this purpose. However, there are plans to generate the block model directly from eTASK as an IFC file, independent of the architectural software. Are you planning a construction project and would like to use eTASK.Requirement Planning to define your requirements for the building? Let your eTASK consultant advise you on how to use requirement planning for your construction project.
Outgoing Invoice Workflow Basic
Improvement: Automatic printing of a cancellation invoice for canceled outgoing invoices
The outgoing invoice workflow now automatically generates a cancellation invoice when switching to the "Cancel" step, which is attached to the invoice form as a PDF document.
eTASK.BIM
Improvement: Optimized operation and new icons in the BIM Explorer
The display of the BIM Explorer has been redesigned, and its usability has been optimized in many areas. New control icons are now available for operating the BIM Explorer. The number of control elements has been reduced to a minimum. The BIM Explorer has also been optimized for mobile use via a touchscreen monitor. Here, you can use the browser’s scroll function to enlarge or reduce the size of the control icons. This allows you to customize the interface to suit your specific application.
eTASK.Resource Booking
Improvement: Better selection of start and end times for resource bookings
Due to logical dependencies regarding the start and end times of a resource booking (the booking end time cannot precede the booking start time), it was sometimes no longer possible to subsequently change the start time to a later hour. This is now possible in all cases. If the new start time is after the already set end time, the latter is automatically set to one hour after the start time. The end time can, of course, be further modified.
Expanded HSE organization with coordinator level
Improvement: Consideration of the agent’s check-out date when reporting a move
For agents for whom a date has already been set under "Deregistered on," a relocation notification is no longer sent to the coordinator if the relocation occurs after the deregistration date.
Improvement: Optimizations in HSE reports for a better overview
Various optimizations have been made to the HSE management reports so that, for example, representatives who have already been deregistered are no longer listed, or to provide a quicker overview of the current situation regarding area coverage by representatives.
Improvement: HSE Representative Overview with Floor-Based Display
The "HSE Representative Overview" has been adapted to a floor-based display and now lists the floors for which a representative is responsible.
eTASK.Operator Responsibility Suite
Improvement: "Recurring Services Current Year" tile changed to calendar year
The tile displays all planned and ongoing operator responsibility/maintenance tasks for the current calendar year. This is now shown more clearly in the tile.
eTASK.Payment Transactions
Bug fix: Automatic assignment of direct debits to bank statement items
Direct debits are now also assigned during the automatic assignment of bank statement items.
Bug fix: Transferring credit notes from operating cost statements to the payment run
Operating cost statements that show a positive balance for a customer result in an outgoing invoice that is posted as a credit note. If the customer lacks bank details at the time the credit note is created, the outgoing invoice is now still created in such a way that it can be transferred to a payment run later, as soon as the data is added. The outgoing invoice includes a note regarding the missing bank details.
Bug Fix: No More Balanced Debit Entries When Assigning Rent Payments
When manually assigning rent payments, debit balances that have already been cleared are no longer suggested.
Improvement: Instant overview of bank statements with traffic light graphics
The account statement overview (Property Management / Payment Transactions / Account Statements) has been expanded to include a column showing the total of all allocations to the account statement. In addition, account statements now feature a traffic light display that immediately shows whether all relevant entries have already been assigned to an account statement (green), some entries have been assigned (yellow), or no entries have been assigned yet (red).
Improvement: Correct bank details even for old invoices
For invoices that have remained unpaid in the payment run for an extended period, the bank details of the creditor and debtor may have changed in the meantime and may no longer be up to date. Therefore, during the payment run, the system now checks at the time of the transfer whether the bank accounts belong to the creditor/debtor and have not expired, whether the IBANs are correct, and whether the payment amounts are not greater than the amount of the open invoice or credit memo. This ensures that correct bank details are used even if an invoice is modified later.
Improvement: The "Bank Statements" view now also displays manually created bank statements
The "Bank Statements" view now also displays bank statements without bank entries, so that manually created bank statements that initially contain no entries are also shown in the view.
Improvement: Automatic payment assignment to bank statement items for direct debits
Even when a credit invoice is collected via direct debit, payments are now automatically assigned to the bank statement items.
Improvement: Support for the extended SEPA format CAMT53
With this update, eTASK supports the extended CAMT53 format for SEPA transactions. If your bank provides account statements in this extended format, eTASK will automatically process them correctly.
Improvement: Automatic reconciliation of €0.00 items in the bank statement
When reconciling bank statements, the system now always checks whether the total balance of the bank statement is balanced. Individual entries transferred by the bank with a value of €0.00 are automatically considered balanced.
eTASK.Financial Planning
Bug fix: Changes to already closed variants are no longer possible
Variants that have already been closed can no longer be modified. The Add and Edit buttons are disabled.
eTASK.Personnel Reporting System
Paid Feature: New App for Emergency Situations
In parallel with the implementation of the app for check-in, transfer, and check-out in the personnel reporting system, the previous client function of the "Alarm List" has also been implemented as a Windows app. In the event of an alarm, you can use the app on-site at the assembly point to immediately get an overview of the people still registered in the reporting areas and check them out of those areas.
Paid feature: New app for mobile check-in, re-registration, and check-out at registration terminals
A new Windows app has been developed for mobile check-in, re-registration, and check-out in the people registration system. The mobile application for the personnel registration system has thus been fully modernized for use on Windows 10. At the same time, the app’s functions have been significantly expanded. For example, the app now supports the use of both “Mifare” and “Legic” RFID technologies. Legic chips, in particular, are used in many employee ID cards or access cards, which can now be used in parallel for the personnel registration system. This eliminates the need for an additional card. Furthermore, the "graphical zone registration" function can now be configured in the portal, allowing graphical registration zones to be defined centrally without requiring access to the mobile registration terminals. This simplifies the implementation of graphical registration zones and also streamlines support for the registration terminals.
eTASK.Area Billing
New Feature: New Area Billing Profile Available
A new profile is available for the allocation and billing of your areas, through which people and cost centers in the room are billed equally (in the other standard profiles, one of the two is always prioritized). In this profile, the areas can also be allocated to building groups instead of just the building in which the area is located. This allows, for example, a cafeteria or a central reception area to be allocated across multiple buildings or a single location.
eTASK.Operating Cost Billing
Bug Fix: Inclusion of Direct Costs When Printing the Tenant Invoice
When printing the "tenant invoice" in the operating cost statement, the total costs now also include the tenant’s direct costs.
Improvement: New copy function for cost allocation formulas
The system settings for operating cost billing now offer a copy function that allows you to apply all "cost allocation formulas" from one year to another (new) year with a single click. You can find the copy function for cost allocation formulas in the "Configuration Manager," which you can access in the menu under "System Settings - Property Management - Operating Cost Statement - Operating Cost Statement Profiles."
eTASK.Cost Entry
Bug Fix: Expansion of assignment rules for account items to prevent incorrect assignments
Once an account item was saved with a vendor or customer, that vendor/customer was automatically assigned to future account items. Since this was factually incorrect and could lead to potential errors (e.g., if the customer is not the tenant themselves), the payment assignment routine has been expanded accordingly.
Bug Fix: Change to the payment due date for recurring outgoing invoices
For recurring outgoing invoices (recurring payment invoices), payment dates are no longer automatically set to the 1st of the invoice month. The payment date is taken from the initial invoice and can be edited for each individual subsequent invoice.
Bug fix: Payment allocation for paid/cancelled incoming invoices
Payment assignment is now also possible for incoming invoices that have already been paid or canceled. This allows refund transfers to be assigned to an incoming invoice retroactively.
Bug fix: Customer information in the "Journal" view
In the "Journal" view (in the menu under "Property Management - Property Accounting/Cost Entry - Posting Journal"), the name and number of the customer are now also displayed for bank entries related to outgoing invoices as well as for customer and vendor entries.
Bug fix: Corrections for recurring outgoing invoices
For periodically recurring outgoing invoices, the follow-up invoices no longer display the invoice number of the first initial outgoing invoice, but rather a copy of the document number. Additionally, the processor is now also displayed on the follow-up invoices.
Bug fix: Empty row in financial accounting export when assigning a payment to a vendor without an invoice
When assigning a payment to a vendor, the "Comment" field is now required. If the payment is posted to the vendor without an invoice, the comment replaces the missing posting text, which is required for export to Financial Accounting.
Improvement: Check for duplicate invoices in the inbox
When a new invoice arrives in the portal’s inbox, the system now automatically checks whether this invoice has already been entered. If so, the invoice is not created again.
Improvement: Display of "Payment Stop" in the Incoming Invoices Overview
The overview of incoming invoices (in the menu under: Property Management / Property Accounting - Cost Entry / Incoming Invoices) has been expanded to include a "Payment Stop" column, which indicates whether the payment stop has been activated for the invoice or not. This allows, for example, only invoices with an active payment stop to be displayed in the overview.
Improvement: Assigned User for New Outgoing Invoices
The processor for an outgoing invoice is now automatically set to the logged-in user when the invoice is created. This information has also been added to the overview.
Improvement: Transferring reductions and other shortfalls in invoices
This feature provides a simple way to reduce incoming and outgoing invoices via reclassification or to post other shortfalls to the appropriate general ledger accounts, thereby closing the corresponding invoices for accounting purposes.
Improvement: Preselection of expense account or revenue account for invoices
For a general ledger account, you can now specify whether this account should be displayed as an expense account for incoming invoices or as a revenue account for outgoing invoices (or both, if applicable). This simplifies the selection of the correct general ledger account during invoice entry or creation.
Improvement: Display of "Payment Stop" in the overview of outgoing invoices (credit notes)
Similar to incoming invoices, outgoing invoices have also been expanded to include the "Payment Stop" column.
Improvement: Easier handling of digital outgoing invoices
Outgoing invoices can only be moved to the "Invoice Dispatch via Email" step in the workflow if the customer is also set up for this. For example, an address must be available for the customer, and email dispatch must be enabled. "Invoice Dispatch via Mail" is then no longer possible for this customer, and the invoice processor no longer has to select which method the invoice should use.
Improvement: Payment due date no longer displayed on cancellation invoices
When printing cancellation invoices, the payment due date is now hidden.
eTASK.Rental
Bug fix: Recalculation of rental contract period when VAT settings are changed
After changing VAT settings under "Calculation Settings" within a rental agreement's term, the term is now recalculated after saving.
Bug fix: "Bank Statements per Tenant" report now only includes deposits posted to the debit side
The "Bank Statements per Tenant" report (in the menu under "Property Management - Rental - Evaluations - Reports") now lists security deposits only if they have been posted to the debit side. Other types of security deposits, such as cash deposits or bank guarantees, are no longer listed.
Bug fix: Inclusion of all relevant payments in the "Bank Statements per Tenant" report
The "Bank Statements per Tenant" report (in the menu under "Property Management - Leasing - Reports") now includes not only debits and payments but also outgoing invoices (and thus also credit memos) to the tenant.
Bug fix: Flat-rate increase in graduated rent contracts
For graduated rent contracts, flat-rate increases can now also be entered for the change period. For this purpose, the graduated rent schedules include the field "or by ... € flat rate," and the calculation of the graduated rent schedules (in the rental agreement form under "Extras") has been expanded.
Bug fix: Calculation of scales for graduated rent agreements
For graduated rent agreements, the portal now also offers the option to calculate the graduated rent amounts with the click of a button. The button for the calculation as well as the calculation system itself have been added.
Bug fix: Adjusting lease agreements to the index
Index-linked rental agreements can now also be adjusted to the index in the portal via Extras > "Adjust index to the next base year." The button becomes active when the adjustment is possible or due.
Bug fix: Renewal options in the lease agreement master sheet
The "Lease Agreement Master Sheet" (accessible in the Lease Agreement form via the "Reports" button) now also lists the lease agreement's renewal options.
Improvement: Dynamically create Word lease agreements
The portal now offers you the ability to dynamically and automatically create lease agreements in Microsoft Word format. You can create as many custom templates as you like for commercial, residential, and parking space agreements or corresponding addenda. This feature was already available in the FM Client but has been further expanded in the portal, allowing you to independently configure the templates and the variables used within them (e.g., for printing tenant data and time periods). You can generate your Word rental agreements directly within the rental agreement period by selecting the desired template. Another advantage is that users do not need to have Microsoft Word installed on their computers to generate the Word lease agreement.
eTASK.Room Booking Calendar
Improvement: Column filters for room selection in the room booking calendar
The room selection in the room booking calendar (the "Select Rooms" button) has been enhanced with column filters that allow you to filter the rooms to be displayed before selecting them for the calendar view.
eTASK.Media Supply / Energy
Bug fix: Correct data in the operating cost statement upon recalculation or correction
The base fees for a meter as well as credits for self-consumption are now also included in the operating cost statement during recalculation or correction.
eTASK.Training Management
Improvement: Expansion of the "Training Status of Employees with HSE Function" report to include "Deregistered on"
The "Training Status of Employees with HSE Function" report has been expanded to include the display of when representatives have been deregistered. When calling up the report, a new filter also allows you to enter the date up to which representatives who have already been deregistered should be displayed in the report.
eTASK.Room Reservation
New Feature: Booking Directly On-Site via a Meeting Room’s Touchscreen
Displays with touch functionality and a direct connection to Microsoft Exchange can be integrated into eTASK not only to display bookings but also to actively facilitate the booking process. This allows a booking to be extended on-site at the display if the room is still available and needed for longer, or shortened if the meeting ended early. Spontaneous room reservations directly on-site are also possible.
Bug Fix: "Room Bookings per Room and Month" Report Revised
The report now only displays bookings that have neither been canceled nor rejected during the approval process.
eTASK.FM Portal
New Feature: New Options for Intelligent Bulk Printing of Door Signs
The portal offers a new core feature for the automated generation of door signs. This feature consolidates all information relevant for display on door signs—including details about the room and employees. The core feature monitors all changes to this information and collects them for the bulk printing of new door signs. A sample report is available for bulk printing, which can be customized to match your company’s branding.When printing door signs, you can specify the time period for which all changes to the relevant information should be taken into account (e.g., 2 weeks in the past and 4 days in the future). Door signs are then automatically generated for every door in a room where changes occurred during this period. Contact your eTASK Consultant if you would like to use this feature for printing door signs in your company as well.
New Feature: Parallel Approval Steps Now Possible in Workflows
Starting immediately, parallel approval steps can be added to any workflow at any point. In this process, one or more individuals (or a group) outside the main workflow are notified via a separate, subordinate ticket and can approve or reject it. The main workflow is placed in a queue for the duration of the processing of the subordinate tickets and exits the queue once the tickets have been completed.
New Feature: New Emergency List: Direct Access to Your Contacts (Companies) in Emergencies
Companies can be activated for the emergency list and associated with a search term. The emergency list is a filtered view of the complete company list, allowing you to quickly and easily find your emergency contacts.
New feature: Changes/extensions for monitoring and analyzing rooms/workstations
Various new views are available in the menu under "Basic Data - Employee Management - Workstations - Controlling" for evaluating the availability and usage of workstations. These views allow you to evaluate...... workstations occupied by multiple users... employees in rooms without a workstation... rooms without a workstation, specifying the room usage type... of available rooms with the number of workstations and the room usage type... of available rooms with the number of workstations and employees as well as the room usage type... of employee types per building with the number of employees... of all workstations with their occupancy (employee / department) and the room, including the room usage type
Bug fix: Search for decimal values now enabled
In the data lists, you can now also search for comma-separated values as free text, e.g., all entries with the value "1.5".
Bug fix: Complete hiding of unauthorized sections in forms
For areas in "Linkconnect" type forms, the area header (heading without content) was still displayed in the form even if the user did not have menu rights to the source of the Linkconnect. The bug has been fixed, significantly improving clarity, especially in large forms (e.g., for rooms).
Bug fix: Deleting debit entries with assigned payments
It is now possible to delete corrections or debit entries even if payments have already been assigned to them.
Bug fix: Invoice reduction and payment stop in the payment run
For a short time, it was possible for invoices that had been reduced to be transferred to the payment run with the full amount. Additionally, under certain conditions, the payment stop could be ignored.
Bug fix: DATEV exports within a month
If multiple DATEV exports were performed for the same company within a single month, incoming invoices could be transferred to DATEV multiple times. This has been fixed.
Improvement: Check when deactivating workstations
Workstations can now only be deactivated if the workstation is not in use and no move to that workstation is planned.
Improvement: Ensuring synchronization through version check upon app launch
In the latest version released on the Microsoft Store, the eTASK app now checks at every startup whether the app version matches the version of the connected portal. If this is not the case, the user receives a notification indicating whether they need to update the installed app or the connected portal. This prevents synchronization issues between the app and the portal that could occur in the past due to incompatible versions. ATTENTION: Please note that, due to Microsoft Store guidelines, the app must be uninstalled from your device once and then reinstalled from the Store.
Improvement: Centralized list for searching for contacts at partner companies
With the "Address/Phone Book," the portal now offers a central and clear list of all contacts from the company directory under "Basic Data," along with the ability to search for contacts.
Improvement: New view report "Room occupancy by department and cost center"
The new view expands the existing "Room Occupancy by Department" view to include the employee’s cost center information. This allows the view to now determine, for example, total floor space by cost center or the room occupancy of all employees within a cost center.
Improvement: Better overview and controlling options in the DIN 277 reports
The reports and views for analyzing floor areas according to DIN 277 (found in the menu under: Properties/CAD/BIM - Property Cadastre - Reports - DIN 277-206) have been extensively expanded. In addition to displaying the building name, gross floor area (GFA), and net floor area (NFA), the views now also feature traffic light indicators that allow you to quickly determine whether the data underlying the analysis is valid or, if applicable, incomplete or inconsistent.
Improvement: Meet individual reporting requirements for area- and person-related data with the new "Master List of People and Rooms"
With the new "Master List of People and Rooms," you can now meet a wide range of individual reporting requirements for area- and person-related data. In the master list, which you can find in the menu under "Properties/CAD/BIM - Property Cadastre - Reports," you can determine the required data using freely combinable filters and then export it for further processing, e.g., in the form of pivot tables as an Excel file.
Improvement: Stay logged in to the portal for longer than 60 minutes
For technical reasons, the maximum session length is limited to 60 minutes. If you remain inactive on the portal, you will therefore be automatically logged out after 60 minutes. In the portal’s user profile, you now have the option to set the session length individually and thus bypass the technical restrictions. To do this, enter a value such as "240" under "Session timeout in minutes:" to remain logged in for 4 hours.
Improvement: Export your own service list as an Excel file
The service list can now be exported directly as an Excel file using a new export button.
Improvement: Longer top-level domains now supported for emails
The field formatting for emails has been expanded so that the portal now also accepts longer top-level domains, such as max.mustermann@etask.software. The restriction to a maximum of 4 characters for top-level domains has thus been lifted.
Improvement: Central "File Export" can now also export documents
Did you know that in eTASK, you can use the central "File Export" to generate automated, scheduled data exports? This provides a simple way to supply data from eTASK to, for example, import interfaces of third-party systems. The file export has now been expanded to include the export of documents uploaded to eTASK (e.g., PDF files). This allows, for example, invoices—including the corresponding original PDF invoice—or maintenance orders—including signed PDF maintenance reports—to be automatically exported from eTASK. The original PDF documents are stored in a directory during export. The reference to the corresponding eTASK data record remains intact. Do you need an export in this format? Contact your eTASK Consultant for personalized advice.
Highlight: Better performance thanks to 64-bit support
Starting with this release, the eTASK Portal supports 64-bit server operating systems. The key advantage of 64-bit support is that eTASK can access more of the server’s RAM, thereby providing greater computing power. While the maximum usable memory on 32-bit systems is typically limited to 2GB, the portal can now utilize, for example, 64GB of memory or even more. This ensures stable performance for users, especially when the portal is accessed by many users simultaneously. Please note that this is, of course, only the case if your portal is also running on a server with the appropriate hardware. eTASK Cloud customers will automatically benefit from higher server performance after installing this release.
eTASK Key Management
Improvement: New, improved key list with "access information" at the door
The "access information" in the "Door" form has been replaced by a new "Access Overview" view. This new view now offers you all the capabilities of a "standard" eTASK view for combined filtering and direct Excel export, as well as immediate access for each listed key to the door, the owner (employee, company, lease agreement), the person responsible for return, and, of course, the key itself.