For several years now I’ve been making use of Manager, but do not visit the forums much, as it just does exactly what I want it to do - this program is so customisable that I have not encountered a business that I could not setup.
In all the years I have always just had this one thing on my wishlist and was wondering how far we are from getting this functionality - I want to be able to add a new record from within a record. Simple example - I want to be able to create a new inventory item, while I’m busy with an invoice.
With all the new features that were added lately, I was hoping that this would have been one of those features that just “appeared” one day.
If added, it should be able to work from all records, i.e. you should be able to add a customer from a quotation for example. When you select the customer name, there should be an option to “add new customer” and when clicked you should have a popup screen to add the new record details and when done, it should be added to the record that you were working on.
Yes, i know that the current workaround to this is to have a seperate window/tab open on browser and define the record as you need them, but it will just be a matter of convenience if this were possible. I also have clients using manager, who do not find that process easy to understand and do, and they also struggle to find those records once created.
I’m sure that this has been addressed in the past, and it would be awesome if this was a function in Manager soon.
This functionality already exists a long time but not in the usual way where you can add inventory item or new contact straight from the window you work in. Right click on a business and open in new window / tab. You will then use the browser with multiple instances of Manager simultaneously. So one window will deal with invoices and the other with inventory. You just switch between the tabs.
I did note that option on the topic also. This is the traditional / current way of adding records while you’re busy within a record.
My suggestion is that the dev make a new button to all options giving you the functionality of adding & defining new records while inside an active record.
The function will just simplify the process a bit for less experienced users.
How often do you need to add a new inventory item when processing customer quotes, etc - if you have a proper workflow, you would setup your items before quoting for business otherwise you are not planning properly
Pretty often, when customers call for an order, which is the common mode here. However, I keep more tabs open and add them before completing the order.
It would depend on the industry. If stock based then you’d have the stock booked in prior to invoice, and even then you might have an item that you encounter while entering products on a quote or invoice that you do not have in stock at that moment but want to add it in the moment.
That said, gou’re right. A new customer might be a better example. That is also more common. Especially if you made a quote using a “CASH” client and then want to amend the quote. You’d have to open another window, make the customer record, refresh the invoice window and then add the newly created customer record.
Another example where some of my customers have raised this is when receiving new stock. When they make the purchase invoice. There will be a mix of exisitng and new items. Consider being in a parts business, you’d have to verify 1000’s of potential items against your inventory before starting with the supplier invoice or GRV. Then there is still a few that were not defined. You’ll have to follow the previous process all over again.
Yes. There is a work around for it, but it will be much simpler to be able to add the inventory item directly from the purchase invoice screen without having to switch windows.
Again, do not envision this process only in your specific industry, but rather for others that might be more complex. There is, in my opinion, a case for this functionality.
I agree this is a much requested feature, there is a solution but requires thought clicks and time.
What would be really great is if you typed in the item number and if no matches were found, a button appeared, ‘Create new item’ (or customer or supplier etc) click that button and it opened up a half window for creating an inventory item and it kept that original number you had previously entered, you carry on and enter the cost/sale price and the description and click create, it would then show you the view screen of the new item with an ok button and when clicked it would close the half window, fill the line/field with the newly created information and let you add another line and repeat.
Extra user friendly, barely any thought needed and a timesaver!
@Tut@lubos - Just checking in to see if you’ve had a moment to review this suggestion yet, and whether or not it will be possible to include in a future release? Can it be added to the ideas section for more input perhaps?
@Piet_Steenkamp, the problem with your suggestion is that Manager functions as a browser. The only way to create a new record in some other tab is to leave the page you are on and go to a new page. Now, I suppose you could have a button to open a new page, leaving the original one open. But that is exactly what you can already do, as you acknowledged in your own initial post. So why bother?
Oh yes please! This will be a great add on to Manager’s functionality and would save a lot of my clients a lot of time. @Tut : I don’t understand what “Manager being a webpage” have to do with it as there are many other online accounting programs that do have this option and it is awesome! Maybe try to put yourself in other ppls shoes and realize that prt of what makes Manager so great is the fact that is extremely versatile and can be used for almost any type of business, rather than to just give answers like “why bother”! That is just rude!
I am sorry, @Frankie, but what I wrote is most definitely correct. As an example, a sales invoice is created on a form named sales-invoice-form, which displays as a browser page. A new customer is defined on a form named customer-form, which displays as a different browser page. If you are creating a sales invoice and want to add a new customer, your only choice is leave sales-invoice-form and go to customer-form.
That does not mean you have to close sales-invoice-form, but you absolutely cannot remain on that page and define a new customer. You must go to the customer-form page.
It probably isn’t possible, but what about an option in the customer drop down list to create a new customer that actually opened a new browser window, or perhaps even a separate button to create new that opened a new window?
No, you are mistaken. For example, since Manager is based on Bootstrap, you can create a Modal (containing a form) and add it to the database without a page refresh via an AJAX call and add it to the DOM. But that said, this discussion is pointless because @lubos is the one who determines how the program works.
I am not against this idea and the suggestions too are good. But how often are the users going to utilize such a feature during a business day for the developer to spend his productive time which could be otherwise used to improve core features of the program.
Moreover, there is already a workaround method which can be used in these rare situations.