We're excited to share what our development team has been working on in the past month. In this new release, we're introducing, a record high, 263 enhancements and improvements!  This includes new features and updates to Centerbase to keep delivering the best possible solution. See how your team can work faster and more efficiently in Centerbase with our latest updates. 

As always, our main source for direction and enhancements comes from you, our clients and partners. Please make sure to participate in our community forum to suggest your ideas and features for our upcoming releases HERE.   

New Features and Updates

 

Find Information Faster

• Report Drill Down / Hyperlinks

Basic reports will now show a link to the main Item the report was created for. Payment Reports let you click and open the payment link right from the report, and Matter Reports allow you to drill down directly to the matter.  Simply include the Name column in your report in order to access the clickable links.

 NOTE: The first version of report hyperlinks support displaying the link for the main item of a basic report. For Example, if you have a payment report you must add the Name column for the payment record, the payment record name will then be clickable. If the item is grouped and not showing in a column, the link will not show.

Support for links to other related columns is coming soon!

• New Filters on Accounting Reports

Reports now allow specifying a date range, as well as the ability to use custom filters on your Accounting Reports. Create and save as many different report filters as you'd like.

*The ability to include accounts with more options is coming soon.

 

 

• New Search Indexing Tool.

We've added a new user interface to configure search options for the Global Search and Item Home Page search boxes. Users can now set what record types and fields are searchable in these areas.  Learn More Here

 

 

Manage and Configure your System Easier

• New Web Item Manager

The Item Manager is in the process of being moved from the Windows Administrative Tool into the web System Settings, and being expanded with exciting new features!  Read the Full Knowledge Base Article Here

Now you can manage record features such as:

• Setting auto numbering
• Configuring file system folders
• Setting required Fields
• Renaming Items and Fields
• Setting up Tagging Fields

 

 

New Activity and Task Search Options and Performance Improvements

New updates allow you to search more easily for scheduled users or other record types.  Users can now create queries that specify precise conditions for both users & groups, or 'Current User'.  Search speed for tasks and activities when specifying user conditions is now 5 to 10x faster.

 

Add Custom Fields to Users

Long requested has been the ability to add custom fields to user records.  Now, the Windows Admin Tool supports managing the User record in the Item Manager. Make sure to update your Windows Admin Tool to the latest release for this feature.  Click here for the newest version

 

Download More Reports

All existing system reports in Centerbase can now be downloaded into Excel.  Previously only basic reports could be downloaded.

 

Updated Add-ins Available

 

We are releasing new versions of all 3 Windows programs. They are now available for download, and we recommend all users update as soon as possible. 

• The Word add-in now converts Doc to Docx when saving; the performance of CB Open and CB Save has been improved.  Word Add-in clears local cache folder when saving. Resolves issues with mapped drive opening older local cached versions instead of updated server versions.
• Outlook add-in performance and stability improvements
• PC Import improvements and Item Manager updates
  • New options for link only imports
  • Ability to add custom fields to Activities and Users

Download the Updates Here.

General Performance Enhancements

We continue to listen, monitor statistics and evaluate areas to improve the user experience and make response time faster. This month we have targeted and improved the following areas:

• Search speed for activity records using 'scheduled for' as the criteria is 5 to 10x faster.
• Formula processing order of magnitude speed improvements.  The system is now able to process thousands of formulas in parallel per database versus serial calculations previously.
• Time and expense entry creation and saving optimized for speed improvements. This has resulted in 2 to 5x faster time entry saving in many client databases.
• Improved auto-naming field generation performance for all record types, resulting in faster save times for all record types.
• Reduced save time for Time and Expense entries.  Triggers and workflows will be processed separately from the save actions for improved performance rather than wait for them to complete. This has resulted in up to 10x faster time entry saving in many client databases.
• Online banking speed improvements when loading, saving or matching transactions
• Dramatic general search speed improvements from the Search Boxes using new Full-Text Indexes.  Especially large speed improvements for non-administrative users in systems with extensive security settings configured.  
• Improved loading time for the Accounting Home Page. 

 Accounting

• Added new custom filters capability to all accounting reports.  Users can create, save and set new report filtering conditions.
• Added Year-End Close functionality to automatically display closing entries in income and expense accounts. Reports that cross accounting periods will automatically show closing entries to reflect accurate current balances for income and expenses accounts. 
• Updates to account numbering to allow text characters in account numbers.
• Updates to improve the loading time of account registers.
• Drill down from accounting reports passes date range to account register.
• New protection to prevent deletion of Vendors when they have associated bills or payments.
• Ability to download and export the chart of accounts.
• Ability to delete payment reversals if desired.
• Added 'duplicate' function to journal entries, can be used when 'save and duplicate' is not allowed due to restrictions.
• New sorting options in Chart of Accounts and Reports based on account types.
• Ability to modify portions of transactions that are reconciled, deposited, transferred or were otherwise previously locked.

Reporting

• Added Excel download for all system and custom reports.
• Hyperlinks to basic report item records.

Billing

• Improved trust ledger page to not load all transactions by default resulting in much faster load time. Options to select individual clients or matters.
• Modified date control in vendor bill grid, checks, and other areas to allow manual entry of dates.
• Added ability to modify transactions that had previously been locked, such as posted or deposited payments and many more as long as they don't violate certain rules.

Document Management

• New utility to specify record types that generate file system folders.
• New utility to structure file-system hierarchy based on parent and child records using lookup fields.  Now allows dynamic restructuring of the entire file system folder structure on the fly.  For example, it is easy to now place matters under related contacts records as typically done in most firms. 

CAUTION! Modifying the file-system structure is an advanced feature, and we recommend advanced users only use this feature and thoroughly understand the implications before proceeding. Feel free to contact support before making changes to your file-system settings using this new tool.

• New settings in NetDocuments integration to allow fields other than 'Name' to be used as Workspace title. (TEASER: The next release will allow the passing of unlimited, configurable, Centerbase fields into NetDocumetns properties.)

General

• New setting to save each user's preference, for the last layout set, when creating records. This allows different users from different practice areas to set form layouts more easily for their area of practice.

 

 Issues Resolved

*SPR = Software Performance Report

• Fixed this issue where payments are not saving distributions if the total prepaid amount was 0. 
• Solved the problem where Modified Date was sometimes showing Creation Date in file system grid. 
• Prevented future collation errors when deleting journal entries.
• Fixed the problem where the default bank account would not display on new checks. 
• Fixed the filter drop-down showing the wrong option when the dialog first loads. 
• Resolved the issue with the LawPay logo not displaying correctly in the system settings.
• Fixed the problem with distributions of payment reversals not being created.  
• Resolved the issue with the originators' field where some new operators would not read from the database correctly.
• Fixed LawToolBox issue where names, descriptions, and activity classes were not being saved correctly sometimes. 
• Resolved the problem where Matter.Client numbers didn't match with Client.Client numbers.
• Fixed the problem with Online Banking where the page would freeze when receiving errors like timeouts.
• BILL PAYMENT: fixed issue where payment value would sometimes be 1 cent less than entered when paying with Stripe
• TIME ENTRIES REPORT: changed how Time Entries Report exports to Excel and CSV 
  when grouped to better match how it appears on the web view.
• CHART OF ACCOUNTS: changed so that Retained Earnings cannot be selected for new accounts. Also now deferring calculation of Retained Earnings balance to the Account Register.
• LAWTOOLBOX: fix for deadline settings not getting saved when you choose to not update existing activities.
• BASIC REPORTS: fixed issue where currencies would not export to Excel correctly.
  
• FILE SYSTEM: added handling for Windows reserved file names when creating new folders from record names.
• VENDORS: prevent deleting vendors with associated checks, payments or bills.
• ORIGINATION UTILITY: fixed issue where the utility to Set Origination From 
  Lookups would change the Production settings for existing matters as well.
• RECONCILIATION: fixed issue where negative previous Balance would sometimes show as a positive value instead of negative.
• REPORTS: Updates to print view to insert blank columns when custom report alignment is chosen in reports manager. Update to not call blank column calculations when report width is greater than or equal to 100%.
• PERFORMANCE TRUST LEDGER: Improved performance of trust account summary stored
  procedure by using the newer tables
• QUERIES: fixed error when using 'is before' and 'is after' conditions.
• FILESYSTEM: fixed issue where filesystem would not be disabled if the record
  type folder had been deleted.
• TRIAL BALANCE REPORT: updated sorting logic for Excel and CSV downloads.
• CHART OF ACCOUNTS: updated the Chart of Accounts to load ordered by category, 
  subtype, account name by default.
• ACCOUNT REGISTER: fixed issue where refreshing the account register could 
  clear the date range settings.
• CHECK PAYEE - Fixing issue where custom payees on checks would not show on
  Accounting Reports
• CLIENT BILL LINE ITEMS: fixed issue where trying to move exactly 1 line items
  would not update the grid after success.
• INACTIVE ACTIVITIES: fixed issue where setting an activity as inactive from the
  activity list would not make it inactive everywhere.
• REPORTS PRINTING: fixed issue where sometimes groups subtotal would be misaligned.
• TRUST TRANSACTIONS: added validation to protect deposited trust transactions
  from being deleted.
• RATES - Fixing problem with rate tables when you delete all but one version of
  the rate table
• LAWTOOLBOX: Sanitizing International Characters from matter names and hearing 
  descriptions.
• LAWTOOLBOX: added validation for matter names and hearing note names to avoid
  API errors.
• REPORTS MANAGER: added missing default filter dates.
• WRITE CHECKS: fixed issue where the default bank account would sometimes not show on new
  checks.
• EXPORTING REPORTS: fixed issues with exporting reports that use group footers.
• SAVING FORM LAYOUT: fixed issue where creating a new object with a specific form
  layout would always revert to the default.
• ONLINE BANKING: Fixed matched deposits not showing green lightning bolt in the account register.