Printer's Plan version 2023 Release Notes Follow

 

New Features in the 2023 Update of Printer's Plan

1. Job Link Intro
2. Custom Job Statuses
3. Pre-Authorize Payment Methods
4. Product Type Default Unit Price
5. Custom Vendor Types
6. Last Job Created
7. Job Approver
8. Employee Email Address Fields
9. Email Open Invoices
10. Print an Invoice from the A/R Payment Window
11. Job Documents Improvements
12. Set Default Payer from A/R
13. New Data Columns (Job and Customer Lists)
14. Separate Credit Card and ACH Surcharge Rates
15. Duplicate Payment Protection
16. Payment Receipt Email - HTML Format
17. LoyaltyLoop Integration 
18. Email Template Merge Fields
19. Show All Payment Methods
20. Other Improvements and Fixes

Please note, some of the features outlined in this document were previously released to customers running the Cloud Hosted version of Printer's Plan.

1. Job Link Intro

As part of the 2023 update, Print Reach is introducing a new feature called Job Link. Job Link allows consumers and merchants to interact with an online version of a Printer's Plan Quote, Order, or Unpaid Invoice.

Additional information about this feature will be coming soon.

2. Custom Job Statuses

As part of the 2023 update, you can now create custom job statuses. To create/edit a job status navigate to the Settings tab, open the Jobs folder, and select Job Statuses. This will open the Job Statuses table:

From this window, you can Add new job statuses, edit/delete existing statuses, and change the sort order of how the statuses will be listed in the Jobs section of the program.

Adding a New Status:

For each job type, you can create up to ten status options. To add a new status, select a job type and click the + Add Status button.

This will open the Add/Edit Job Status window:

This window contains the following fields and options:

Job Status ID: Internal ID of the Job Status. The data in this field cannot be changed.

Status Type: A status type is either Built-in (previously created by Printer's Plan) or Custom. The data in this field cannot be changed.

Status Name: The name of the status that will be displayed in Printer's Plan.

Color/Icon: Pull-down menu to select the color of the status.

Edit an Existing Job Status:

To edit a job status, select the existing status and click the Edit Status button.

This will open the Add/Edit Job Status window allowing edits to the Status Name and Color/Icon. Built-in job status selections cannot be renamed.

Delete a Job Status:

To delete a job status, select the existing status and click the Delete button.

Please note, you cannot delete a Status if a job is currently assigned to this status. Additionally, Built-In job status selections cannot be deleted. 

Change Status Sort Order:

To change the sort order of a job status selection, highlight the status option and click the Up or Down button. 

The sort order will be reflected in the Jobs section of the program.

Updating the Status of a Job:

New and existing jobs can be assigned to a custom job status. To do this, right-click on a job, and in the window that appears select Change Status. This opens a window allowing you to set the status of the job:

 

Similarly, the status can be changed in the job window. To do this click on the Status button at the top of the job, this opens a window allowing you to change the status of the job. 

 

 

3. Pre-Authorize Payment Methods

As part of the Printer's Plan - Print Reach Pay integration there is now an option to pre-authorize a credit card for a job. Pre-authorizing a credit card will validate the payment method and reserve funds on the account. This process will not charge the card, however, a pre-authorized card can be charged at a later date.   

Authorizing a Credit Card:

To authorize a credit card, open an active order and click on the Balance Due button at the lower right corner.

This will open the Deposit Window.

In the Deposit window, there is a new Payment Processing section. This section has the following options:

Process Credit Card: Selecting this button will allow you to process a credit card payment and capture the funds. This option existed in previous versions of Printer's Plan and allows you to process a payment for the job. When processing a payment this way, you now have the option to save the card with the job.

Charge Authorized Card: This button is enabled when there is an authorized card for the job. Clicking this button will allow you to charge the authorized card. This functionality is outlined later in this document.

Authorize Card for Job: Selecting this button allows you to pre-authorize a credit card for the job. Authorizing a card validates the payment method and reserves funds on the account. This process will not charge the credit card. When you click this button the following Authorize Card window will appear:

This window has the following fields and options:

• Invoice Number: This field is read-only and displays the job number.
• Authorize Amount: In this field, enter an amount to be authorized. This amount has to be greater than zero and it is important to note that this amount is not charged, but is instead reserved against the credit card's available funds.
• Authorize Method: There are two options for authorizing a card:
  • Payment Method On File: Select this option if the customer has a card on file that they wish to later use for payment against the current job.
  • Manual Card Entry: Select this option if the customer has a new card that they wish to use for payment against the current job.
• Options - Save Payment Method: When authorizing a card for the job, the payment method can be stored with the current job only, or the payment method can be saved with the job and stored with the contact for use on future jobs.
• Cancel: Clicking this button closes the window without authorizing a payment method for the job.
• Authorize: Clicking this button will pre-authorize the payment method for the job. On a successful authorization, the following alert will appear:

 

Additionally, the Deposit window will reflect that there is an authorized card available for this job:

After closing the Deposit window, the text of the Balance Due field of the job is updated to reflect that there is a pre-authorized card available for the job:

 

Removing an Authorized Credit Card:

To remove an authorized credit card, open the Job and click the Balance Due button to open the Deposit window. In the Deposit window, under the Payment Processing section, click the Remove Authorize Card button.  

This process will remove the credit card linked to the job and clear any reserved funds.

Charge an Authorized Credit Card:

To charge an authorized card, open the Job and click the Balance Due button to open the Deposit window. In the Deposit window, under the Payment Processing section, click the Charge Authorize Card button. This will open the Payment window:

 

The payment window has the following fields and options:

Processing Method: This field displays information about the authorized card.

Invoice Number: This field displays the job number.

Job Balance: This field displays the current balance of the job.

Payment Amount: In this field enter the payment amount to apply against the job. This amount has to be greater than zero and less than or equal to the job's balance. This amount does not have to be equal to the amount that was previously reserved.

Surcharge (Optional): This field allows you to optionally include a surcharge payment amount.

Processing Total: This is the amount that will be charged against the card and is the sum of the Payment Amount and Surcharge Amount fields.

Email Receipt: Yes/No. When set to Yes, after a successful transaction there will be an option to email a receipt of the payment.

Cancel: Closes the Payment window without processing a payment.

Process Payment: Clicking this button processes the payment using the authorized credit card.

Jobs and Accounts Receivable:

In the Jobs section, under the Orders folder, there is a new list option labeled With Payment Authorization. Selecting this option will display all the Orders that have a pre-authorized payment method.

In the Accounts Receivable Payment window, there is a new column labeled Auth, this column indicates if the unpaid invoice has a pre-authorized payment method.

When entering a payment in this window, Printer's Plan will alert you if a selected invoice has an authorized payment method.

Please note, the authorized payment method can only be used to pay for the job that is linked to the authorized card.

4. Product Type Default Unit Price

In the Settings /Jobs / Product Types table, there is a new Unit Price column. The selection in this field determines the default unit for the specified product type. 

When creating a new item, the Unit Price field will be set to this default value.

This change will impact newly created items; items that are copied from a prior job will maintain their existing unit price selection. 

5. Custom Vendor Types

In the previous version of Printer's Plan, Vendors could only be classified as one of two types - Paper and Other. As part of the 2023 update, you can now create up to 14 Vendor Types. To create/edit the Vendor Types, navigate to the Settings/Vendors/Vendor Types table:

In this table, in the first available slot, enter a new vendor type and click OK. Please note, the Paper, Other, and None vendor types cannot be changed as these are Built-in vendor types that have special functionality.

Assigning a Vendor to type to a Vendor

When creating a new vendor, or editing an existing vendor, at the bottom of the Vendor Properties window you can assign the vendor type:

Setting a Default Vendor for a Service

In the More Service Properties window of a service, clicking the Default Vendor button opens the Vendor List window:

In this window, you can select the default vendor for the service. Additionally, at the top of the window, there is a Filter button that will allow you to filter the results of the vendor list.

Assigning a Vendor to a Service on a Job

When editing an item on a job, in the Service Specs window of a service, clicking the Vendor button will open the Vendor List:

From this list, you can filter by vendor type and assign a vendor to the service on the item. 

Viewing Vendors by Vendor Types

In the Customers section, there is a Vendors folder. Expanding this folder will now list all the Vendor Types:

Selecting a Vendor Type from this list will display all the vendors assigned to that vendor type.

 

6. Last Job Created (Job Conversion Source Data)

When copying a job to another job type, for instance, converting a quote to a new order, the source job now captures the job number of the newly created job. For example, when a quote is converted to an order, the quote now stores the job number of the new order:

 

If the source job is copied again to another new job, the source job will only store the most recent job number that was created.

7. Job Approver

In the When window of a job there is a new field labeled Approver:

This field is designed to capture the name of the person that approved the job. When a job is approved via Job Link the name of the approver is automatically added to this field. The text in this field is limited to 50 characters.

8. Employee Email Address Fields

In the Settings/Employees folder, for each employee type (Operators, Service Reps, and Sales Reps), the employee record now has a field to store the employee's email address:

The Sales Rep and CSR email addresses can be included as a merge field on job-related email templates. To include these fields on an email template use the following format:

CSR: <CSREmail>

Sales Rep: <SRepEmail> 

9. Email Open Invoices

In the AR Payment window for a customer account there is a new Email Open Invoices button:

Clicking this button will generate an email message with a PDF copy of each of the unpaid invoices for the customer account:

The body of the email message can be customized using the AROpenInvoices.html (or AROpenInvoices.TXT) email template. This template file is located in the Email folder in the directory where the Printer's Plan database is stored.

The attention address of the email will be to the customer’s default payer.

This feature requires the Printer's Plan SMTP client, and the pdf copy of the invoice will use the print options that were selected when the invoice was originally printed. If there are no saved print options on the job, the program will use the default invoice print options.

10. Print an Invoice from the A/R Payment Window

In the A/R Payment window, there is now an option to Print an Invoice for the selected job. 

You can only print one invoice at a time using this feature. Previously you could only print a copy of the invoice from the Jobs section of the program.

 

11. Job Documents Improvement

When attaching files to a job using the Job Documents feature, you can now attach multiple files at one time:

 

12. Set Default Payer from A/R

From the Accounts Receivable payment window, you can now click on the Payer button to select a new default payer for the customer account:

13. New Data Columns (Jobs and Customer Lists)

Payment Terms now show up as a column on the Job lists:

The lists in the Customers section will now include the name of the customer's default CSR and Sales Rep: 

 

14. Separate Credit Card and ACH Surcharge Rates

When implementing a payment processing surcharge, you can now have a separate surcharge rate for Credit Card payments and ACH payments.  These rates are established in the Settings/Print Reach Pay/Payment Processing window:

15. Duplicate Payment Protection

In the Settings/Print Reach Pay/Payment Processing window there is a new option, Enable Duplicate Protection:

When this option is enabled, duplicate payment transactions will not be processed. A duplicate transaction is defined as a transaction that is the same amount, using the same payment method and is within 25 transactions of the matching transaction.

16. Payment Receipt Email - HTML Format

After successfully processing a payment you can optionally email a payment receipt. Previously, the template used for the payment receipt could only be in a text-based format. In the 2023 update, you can now use an HTML version of this template.

For deposit payments, Printer’s Plan automatically uses the file PrintReachPayJobReceipt. As part of the update, Printer's Plan will first check for an HTML version of this file (PrintReachPayJobReceipt.html), and if that is not found, the program will check for the text-based version (PrintReachPayJobReceipt.txt).

Similarly, if the payment was entered in the Accounts Receivable section, the program will first check for the HTML version of the template (ARPrintReachPayReceipt.html) followed by the text-based version (ARPrintReachPayReceipt.html).

17. LoyaltyLoop Integration

The Printer's Plan - LoyaltyLoop integration allows order data generated from Printer's Plan to automatically flow into LoyaltyLoop. This feature requires the latest installation of the Printer's Plan API (version 12/8/2022 or later) and a valid LoyaltyLoop account. For information about this integration please see the following article: LoyaltyLoop Integration Guide

18. Email Template Merge Fields

Company Name and Address Fields:

You can now include your company information as merge fields for the email templates. These merge fields use data from Customer #1 -- this is a special account designed to store your company address information.

The following merge fields are now available for email templates:

Company Name	<MerchantName>
Company Address	<MerchantAddress>
Company Address2	<MerchantAddress2>
Company City	<MerchantCity>
Company State	<MerchantState>
Company Zip	<MerchantZip>
Company Phone	<MerchantPhone>
Company Email	<MerchantEmail>

The Company Phone and Company Email fields use the data from the default buyer for customer #1.

 

Company Logo and Domain Name:

You can now automatically embed your company logo on HTML email templates. Additionally, all email templates can include your Print Reach Central Domain Name:

Company Logo	<PRCLogo>
Domain Name	<DomainName>

 

Embedding a company logo has the following requirements:

• Print Reach Central Merchant site with a valid logo file.
• The email template is in the HTML format.
• Valid Domain Name in the Printer's Plan Settings/Payment Processing Settings window.

When these conditions are true, inserting text similar to the following code snippet on your email template will embed your company logo on the HTML email message:

<img id="prclogo" title="logo" src="&lt;PRCLogo&gt;" alt="&lt;MerchantName&gt;" style="max-width:150px;max-height:150px">

 

19. Show All Payment Methods

In the Payment Methods window for a contact, there is a new option to show all stored payment methods linked to the customer:

 

When this option is selected, all stored payment methods linked to the customer account will be listed:

20. Improvements and Fixes

• Improvement: On a History Job, in the Job Totals window the Last Paid field is now editable:

• Improvement: When updating the cost of a service from the Inventory window, the Modified Date field of the service will also be updated: 

• Improvement:  Previously, the integration between Print Reach Central and Printer's Plan relied on the secret key established in the Settings/Third Party Integrations/ Web2Print window. This has been changed, and now the integration will use the secret key that is set in the Settings/Print Reach Pay/Payment Processing window.
• Improvement:  When surcharge rates are enabled, the Printer's Plan API will now return the Printer's Plan surcharge rates to Print Reach Central (Hosted Payment Page and Consumer Payment window).
• Improvement: In the Settings/Printer Reach Pay/Merchant Track User window, when creating a new Merchant Track user the account will default to enabled, previously a new account defaulted to disabled.
• Improvement: For API events, Printer's Plan will now keep a log of 30 days of transactions.
• Improvement: In Printer's Plan, when reversing a Print Reach Pay payment, the program now captures the transaction id for the refund transaction. Previously only the original payment transaction id was captured and stored in the Printer's Plan Payments table.
• Improvement: The Printer's Plan API has been optimized to better handle concurrent transactions. 
• Improvement: The text in the SAGE Supplier Memo is now mapped to the Printer's Plan Job Note Field.
• Improvement: Each job now has a GUID (Globally Unique Identifier), this field is used as part of the Job Link feature set.
• Improvement: When a credit is created via a payment from the Accounts Receivable Payment window, the payment id that created this credit is now saved to the Credits table.
• Improvement: When copying a job from one job type to another (for example, History job to Quote), the note lines in the Customer Memo field of the source job that begins with the ~ character, followed by a space character will not be copied to the new job.
• Fix: In the Settings/Jobs/Shipping Services window the shipping service Name field was limited to 20 characters, this field has been increased to accept up to 200 characters.
• Fix: In the properties window of a contact record, the Contact Note window did not open when clicking the Note icon/button, this is now fixed.
• Fix: From the My Plan section, after selecting My Contacts/All if you were to right-click on the list of customers and select Add Address Fields, Printer's Plan returned an error message. This is now fixed. 
• Fix: In the Shipments and Labels window, when creating a new shipment, the Ship By (Carrier) did not sort the shipping methods as established in the Settings/Jobs/Shipping Methods table, this is now fixed.
• Fix: When converting a quote to a new order, if an item on the quote included multiple quantity pricing then optionally a window would appear asking the end user to select/enter the desired quantity. If a new quantity was entered, then, on the new order that was created some of the buttons did not operate correctly until you closed and reopened the job. This is now fixed and the buttons will work as soon as the new job is created.
• Fix: After emailing a job-related document the notification was not properly logged in the Job Note field, this is now fixed.
• Fix: As part of the Shipstation/ShipLeap integration, when a Printer's Plan shipment record was updated with a new shipping cost the program correctly updated the Shipping and Tax amount fields of the job. However, the Taxable field was not updated to include the new shipping cost. While this field does not impact the tax amount on the job, it is used on some of the tax reports. So while the Tax amount on these reports is correct, the Net Sales Taxable amount may contain a discrepancy. This is now fixed and the taxable amount is correctly updated.
• Fix: When integrating with ShipStation, if the Country field of the shipping address is set to "United States of America" this value is now truncated to US, previously this value was truncated to use the first two characters of the text (UN).
• Fix: Promotional Product jobs added via the SAGE/ASI integration will use the same Job Number sequencing as the jobs added via Web Orders.
• Fix: For the ASI integration, in some cases, the service note was added twice, this is now fixed.
• Fix: When printing the Amount Due at the top of the invoice, on amounts greater than $1,000 the amount was not formatted as currency. This is now fixed.
• Fix: When attaching a job document, if the document file name contained a ‘ character generating an email message for this document produced a query error, this is now fixed.
• Fix: When Printing an invoice from the AR Payment window the program always printed the invoice for the first job listed. This is now fixed and the program will print an invoice for the selected job.