FORMULATOR Improvements V5.x

This list reports bug fixes and enhancements to the FORMULATOR suite added over the last 6 months in addition to the improvements listed in V 4.3.94 to 4.8.  All functions have been tested both by our staff and by field live installations.

GENERAL

Version 5.0 is a fundamental rework of the Formulation Maintenance user interface functions.  The objective was to provide our Users with greater flexibility, ease of use, navigation aids; yet provide better tools for each Formulation Chemist and Food Technologist and Regulatory Agent in the basic creation and modification of their formulas.
 
Database Upgrade:

When upgrading to Version 5 older databases will be automatically converted to the new database structure when first running Version 5.  The database conversion adds the new and extended fields that are a part of the new features and functions of Version 5.  When doing the data conversion FORMULATOR must be closed at all connecting network client computers. Users with large databases should expect the data conversion to take less than a half hour. Most will take less than 15 minutes.
 
A review of the functions and enhancements in the release of Version 5.0 follow; by module organized by menu calls:
 

Lab-Book
Most screens now allow the user to set up the functions of the information to be viewed to meet their own requirements.  Each User can set up the data on their screens the way they like them without changing the set-up of other Users on the same network utilizing the same database.
 

10. Raw Material Maintenance
The icons now follow the new general format.  We have changed the refresh icon to a green circle arrow to better identify the function.  This same icon will be used in all new screens where appropriate.

Descriptions can now be up to 255 A/N characters.

General Tab – Added Where Used function, identifies all top level formulas that a selected raw material exists. User can open any formula by clicking on high-lighted formula code. 
Added link to new Vendor Records. 
Added new “Label As” function field.  Expanded field length to 255 A/N characters.

Trade Name (Chemical Name) expanded to 255 A/N characters,
Limited unit of measure default over-ride to one choice plus display system default as a reference.
Changed the refresh icon to a green circle arrow to better identify the function.  This same icon will be used in all new screens where appropriate.
Can copy raw material find grid to clip board then using standard Windows functions paste into standard Microsoft supported forms and documents.  Allows user to filter by any data function then capture the data or print as filtered.

Physical Properties Tab – Change listing to new format.
Added Wrench set-up function.

QC Stds Tab – Updated Icons.
Added new grid format.
Added new standardized find, new line, insert line, delete line functions.
Added QC Series call function
Added QC Incoming QC link, allows user to call tests, enter incoming raw material QC data by lot.
User can now enter standards and acceptable range plus warning range data directly into each field.

Regulatory Tab – Added new grid structure to CAS data entry.
Added INCI data storage to Cosmetics version
Now support EU Risk and Safety phrases.
Now saves log of raw material changes by raw material.  User can call old records from the log.

Nutritional Tab – Nutritional version only.
Link to new Nutrient Label Designer.
Link to new Nutrient Maintenance functions.

Allergens Tab – Nutrient version only.
Created new grid version of Allergens data entry and link to the maintenance function.

20. FORMULATION Maintenance – Version 5 makes the most noticeable changes in this section.

Icon set is completely changed to meet the new icon format used in all new screens. 
Description is now 255 A/N characters
Print command in the Formulation section will quick print whatever is in this screen.  A formula print set-up, preview and print are available in the File/Print option.
Export in File now provides the user the option of exporting to the FORMULATOR exchange format or to EXCEL.
Calc allows the user to open what if.  This new feature allows the user to enter data changes, property changes, and calculation changes to see their effect on the formulation results.  Unless saved in the new format the formula changes are temporary.
View allows user to open Results (output of Equations created for this database), Raw Summary (a summary of all raw materials used in the formula),  Full Instruction List (allows user to output on the screen just a limited instruction or the full text of an instruction – the full instruction will be printed on the batch test ticket or production ticket in either case), Nutrient Label (in the Nutrient Version only – can open nutrient label Designer and output), Formula SKUs (opens all existing SKU records for this formula).

General Tab - Trade Name expanded to 255 A/N characters.

Formulation Tab – Now allows the user to open multiple screens, select function to view, set-up fields to review.

Formulation Section can add and remove columns, arrange columns to work with key materials data, link and call up raw materials in the formula.
Text can now be entered and edited directly in the formula screen field.
Blank lines will be ignored when saving a formula.
Raw Material records in Formulation screen can be opened using the pencil edit icon.  Once in the given raw material the user can edit the raw material, save the edited record, refresh the formula and see the effect of the raw material edit on the formula.

A new Compare function has been added to the Formulator screen. Compare allows the user to see the saved formula in % weight or % volume, call other formulas and see them relative to the formula in % each raw material on the same line.  Formulas can be opened from the Compare screen, edited and saved.

Specific Gravity Over Ride can be entered in SG or weight per volume (often Lbs/Gal in US). This is useful for users that ship or sell in volume but fill in weight.  Also provides the correct SG for the formula when used as an intermediate (as a raw material in another formula).  For reactive chemistry this is a critical function.

Drop & Drag - This new function allows the user to open a second empty formulation maintenance screen and by clicking on boxes of raw materials, instructions and text, then right clicking on the set they can be dragged and dropped (copied) into the new formula maintenance screen with all of the information on each line carried from the original formula screen.

Raw Material Summary allows the user to see the summary of all raw materials in the formula, intermediates can be exploded and summarized.  Raw materials can be opened and edited by double clicking on the Item Code underlined in blue.

Calculation Results - equations now can be edited and created directly from the Calculation Results screen.

Reformulation by Equation results – the user can re-formulate based on a selected single equation. This process can be created by identifying the materials in the formulation screen to be changed by clicking on the appropriate box by each material then entering the desired new result in the gross Calculation Results field.  When hitting enter or tab the calculation screen will go light yellow while the back calculation modifies the formula. If you also have the “Before” field displayed the original quantity of each material changed will be displayed in the Before field.

QC Standards Tab – Adds new Icon logic.
Added new grid format which allows the user to enter data directly into each of the fields on screen.  Added Upper and Lower Warning options to QC test results standards.
Added new standardized find, new line, insert line, delete line functions.
Allows User to Insert one or more QC Test Series into a formula.
Adds QC Results call function. This calls the results of all QC tests for all Batches of this formula from the QC Manager section.  Only available to Users who have purchased the QC Manager module.
Make a Batch links the User to the Lab Test Ticket option in Lab-Book.

Regulatory – Added links to MSDS and Label Templates for named formula.
Added EU Risk and Safety Code support.  More to come.
Shipping classification data can now be entered directly on screen.  Also can call Shipping information from another formula record.

Nutritional Tab – Nutritional Version Only.
Screen changed to display calories and allergens with the nutritional data on same screen.
Hot link to new Nutrient Label Designer and output of Nutrient Labels and Supplement Labels.

Inventory Tab – With Inventory Manager Only.

 

25. CAS Maintenance – Description is now 255 A/N Characters.


Lab-Book Plus

49. Package Materials Maintenance – Added ability to purchase in any multiplier quantity and convert to each.
50. Cost Analysis – Notes now print on fill tickets in Production Manager.  Useful to provide packaging instructions.

53. Nutrient Labels – only in Nutrient Module.  Sizing tools added to label preview. 
Mix options added to nutrient calculations.
64. Vendor Maintenance – New record similar to Customer record.  Can be linked to raw materials record.

 

PROJECT Manager 

Added hours to data collection.  More time functions to come.

Production Manager

130. Cut Production Tickets
Added Label Print command for clients who purchased Label output.  File/Label…..
131. Batch Edit – added grid controls and new icon logic.
Added ability to resize batch amount based on one material availability.
Added ability to call batch raw materials and amounts based on a previous batch record.
141. Close Batch Tickets –Added new icons and grid controls.  Data entry is now done in grid forms
Added Specific Gravity over-ride to batch close.  This assures the correct weight to volume relationship by batch when filling by weight to achieve the correct volume fill amount.
150. Close Fill Tickets - Added new icons and grid controls.  Data entry is now done in grid forms.

 

Quality Manager  - Reorganized menu to more logically present the options based on frequency of usage.

Production QC

181. Manage QC Results - Added new icons and grid controls.  Data entry is done in grid forms.

182. Batch QC Results – Allows user to review the QC top level test results of all batches of a selected formula.

For further analysis, can copy results to clipboard and paste to EXCEL or WORD or other user selectable docs.

Incoming Material Testing
200. Incoming Material Standards - Added new icons and grid controls.  Data entry is done in grid forms.
201. Material Sampling and Results - allows user to call tests, enter incoming raw material QC data by lot.

Inventory Manager

 232. Receiving Packaging Inventory – now handles purchases by multiple units.

INTEGRATOR – 2008 versions of Peachtree, QuickBooks, Business Works integration fully tested and supported.

ERP integrations with Sage PFW, Horizons (Dynamics GP), Oracle, and several MSSQL applications upgraded and supported.

Maintenance

825 Packaging Maintenance - now handles purchases by multiple units.

835 Status Maintenance – now totally User Settable, no limit on number or type of Status.  Custom logic can be set to trigger based on status.

840 Equation Maintenance – This whole section has been restructured to allow the user to more logically create and adjust equations.

 

SETUP

920. Physical Property Set-up – Utilizes Grid “Find” design structure and tools.

950. Food Label Set-up – Nutritional Version only, supports Label Designer.

 
FORMULATOR Improvements V 4.6.02 to V 4.8
GENERAL
Version 4.8 provides a complete revision of most of the Nutritional module functions.  This includes development of Nutritional ANALYZER for multi-variable reformulation to meet multiple nutritional objectives for Nutrient Supplements, Food & Beverage Products.  It includes the development of a custom Nutritional Facts & Supplement Label Designer and updates the USDA nutritional database to version 18.  

HELP Files were limited in older versions of FORMULATOR to the use of Active X functions to be used on multi-user network installations.  Microsoft security updates to Windows Network Server operating software interfered with the use of Active X functions in many network installations.  New functions have been added to the FORMULATOR HELP files to allow client computers to call context HELP support locally in multi-user network installations.  

HELP file copy at start-up – invalid directory error – now bypasses failed HELP file copy.
New HELP file location – now set to “.\Common Files\FORMULATOR” folder under the “PROGRAMFILES” environment variable (typically C:\Program Files\Common Files\FORMULATOR).  

HELP file location is now set to C:\Program Files\Common Files\FORMULATOR\FormReg.chm to work around Microsoft IE7 restrictions.  If the help file does not exist there, an attempt will l be made to copy it from the FORMULATOR installation folder.  If that fails, help will revert back to the FORMULATOR installation folder.  


Additional enhancements and bug fixes in the release of Version 4.8 follow; by module organized by menu calls:  

Lab-Book  

Raw Material Maintenance
10. Raw Material Maintenance – tab 3 - Cosmetic option – CAS list / compound INCI – “description” now 
      changes to “INCI Name”.
10. Raw Material Maintenance – nutritional grid – changes did not flag the record as dirty.
10. Raw Material Maintenance – nutritional grid – save routine now flushes extraneous commas (numeric separators).
10. Raw Material Maintenance – conflict with formulation maintenance caused raw material properties to “disappear”
       in mid-edit if formula was loaded.
10. Raw Material Maintenance – delete – now prevents deletion if inventory is on hand.
10. Raw Material Maintenance – deleting raw material – now clears window when complete.
FIND windows – non-decimal number types no longer display a decimal portion.
Raw item class – collections were assigned wrong type, caused error 13.
Raw Material FIND window – did not block access to costs when user was denied permission.
New FIND windows – allowed edit of main grid.  New behavior: all cells set to static text
New FIND windows – cursor was not explicitly assigned to the client.  New behavior: use client side cursors.
New FIND windows – MySQL – required LIMIT command instead of TOP for record limits
FORMULATION Maintenance
20. Formulation Maintenance – Regulatory tab – DOT data section now has toolbar with edit and copy buttons.
      The copy button will copy an existing transport regulation into the shipping regulations edit grid. 
20. Formulation Maintenance – now provides an SG or Lb/Gal override for the formula when batched or used as
      an intermediate.
20. Formula Maintenance – delete – now prevents deletion if inventory is on hand.
20. Formula Maintenance – formula tab – unit column width – increased on start-up.
20. Formula Maintenance – deleting formula – now clears window when complete.
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SG Override: Grams per cc value to use for intermediate or batching use.  If blank, no override will occur, and the
       theoretical value will be used.
Lb/Gal override: If your company is configured for pounds/gallons the pounds/gallon SG over-ride will appear
20. Formulation Maintenance – General tab – now includes SG and Lb/Gal override.  If filled in, these values 
      will be used for the formula’s SG when used as an intermediate.  Theoretical SG (or mass/volume) is also displayed.
20. Formulation Maintenance – project FIND – uses new find window.
FIND windows – non-decimal number types no longer display a decimal portion.
20. Formulation Maintenance – print to Crystal – formula detail – did not populate the line number field.
20. Formulation Maintenance – Print to Crystal – now provides class and sub-class descriptions for the master
      formula record (these were already available for the ingredients).
20. Formulation Maintenance – print to Crystal – if no costs allowed for user – still showed equation cost results,
      both on-screen and printed out.
20. Formulation Maintenance – if no costs allowed for user – total cost still displayed in column footing.
20. Formulation Maintenance – Print – switching to non-nutritional from a nutritional installation– nutritional
      print option went away, but previous “check” value remained, causing spurious nutritional output in non-nutritional
      content.
Equation results – were not saved for equations where an error occurred, which in turn prevented the formula from
     appearing in the new formula FIND window if that equation was displayed.  New behavior: writes NULL value for
     errors.  This change also affects data update.
Formula Material FIND window – did not block access to costs when user was denied permission.
New FIND windows – allowed edit of main grid.  New behavior: all cells set to static text
New FIND windows – cursor was not explicitly assigned to the client.  New behavior: use client side cursors.
New FIND windows – MySQL – required LIMIT command instead of TOP for record limits.

Lab-Book Plus
25. CAS Maintenance – did not save null values for vapor pressure when updating the CAS record.
49. Packaging Maintenance – Now includes a purchasing multiple for accounting integration and clarity of manual data entry.
49. Packaging Materials Maintenance – ERP cost – is now enterable.
49. Packaging Materials Maintenance – now displays ERP cost each if purchasing factor is specified.
49. Packaging Material Maintenance – cost each – now supports costs to 9 decimal places.
49. Packaging Material Maintenance – added new field, “Purchasing Factor”.  Used with interface to Accounting to factor purchased units into FORMULATOR eaches.  ERP items purchased as “1 M” will have a factor of 1000.  ERP items purchased as “1 dozen” will have a factor of 12.
49. Packaging Maintenance – main toolbar – had customer tool tip text on the controls.
49. Packaging Maintenance – NEW – did not clear inventory tab.
Cost Analysis/Bill of Materials
75./130. Cut Test / Batch / QC tickets – report selection pull-down – now includes “Custom” folder and removes
       any duplicate entries.

ANALYZER – New Module added for Nutritional Automated Calculations  
52. Analyzer – Formulation grid data – Set-up (wrench) - Now includes raw material record fields (i.e. HMIS, NFPA,
       flash points, etc.).
52. Analyzer – spanned columns – did not always recognize span for column move.
52. Analyzer – panel re-sizing – event did not fire within the toolbars or command buttons.
52. Analyzer – Browsing formulations – going from percent mode to natural mode – did not re-set pull-downs for item
       unit column.
52. Analyzer – Changing unit of ingredient – now converts quantity.
52. Analyzer – Objectives – now also saves actual value to database as part of objective.
52. Analyzer – Formulation – raw and instruction descriptions – when typed in by hand – now displays a selection list
       below the description.
52. Analyzer – Formulation – Instructions – Now span multiple columns when possible.
52. Analyzer – Formulation – Text – Now spans multiple columns when possible.
52. Analyzer – Formulation Analysis – now “knows” when it’s “finished”.
52. Analyzer – added column for property’s contribution in addition to the raw material’s value.
52. Analyzer – New allergen calculations – did not initialize values properly.
52. Analyzer – percent mode – new ingredients – now assigned percent units.
52. Analyzer – new formula – now sets yield to 100 and serving size to 100 grams.
52. Analyzer – objective analysis – now identifies objectives that are in conflict with one another and disables one of
      them. Typically the lower priority objective is the one disabled, where possible.
52. Analyzer – corrected problems with quantity sufficient and percent mode.
52. Analyzer – loading first formula – in percent mode – did not set toolbar buttons correctly.
52. Analyzer – Raw material with bad nutrient unit of measure – now reports the unit and the raw material code.
      Raw material will be OK after a re-save using the raw material maintenance module.
52. Analyzer – Nutrient label designer – available in sales demo mode.
52. Analyzer – Column 1 – now not locked.
52. Analyzer – Objective FIND – if no row selected – crashed.  New behavior: checks active row first, then sets row
      before call is made.
52. Analyzer – Objective with target and upper limit – did not color actual value in red when actual was out of range.
52. Analyzer – Now includes a column in formula maintenance named “before”.  This column lists the amount of the
       ingredient prior to analysis.
52. Analyzer – Undo – moved to objectives pane.
52. Analyzer – saving formula nutrient values – now also saves process loss percent in final formula nutrient table.
52. Analyzer – percent mode – did not re-normalize to 100%.
52. Analyzer – Objective column re-ordering – is now saved when user exits module.
52. Analyzer – Objective tool tips – attached to column 1 instead of objective column.
52. Analyzer – Objective tool tips – did not clear when data changed.
52. Analyzer – Objective toolbar FIND – if clicked from inert item code column – raw material FIND window loads.
52. Analyzer – Nutrient analysis – system increased nutrient levels too high for ingredients less than 100% active.
52. Analyzer - Nutrient analysis – active ingredients – if preserve ratio is NOT checked – will now use only the most
      active ingredient(s) to adjust the formula’s activity level.
52. Analyzer – Formula toolbar – tool tip text was incorrect.
52. Analyzer – Now includes calculation results.
52. Analyzer – Nutrient analysis – now calculates I.U.s properly.
52. Analyzer – Nutrient analysis – now identifies only active ingredients capable of meeting objective.
52. Analyzer – Nutrient analysis – now lists any errors or exceptions encountered during analysis.
52. Analyzer – Ingredients grid – editing bugs found and corrected for line type, units, and re-display.
52. Analyzer – Ingredients grid – now supports both natural and percentage formulation modes.
52. Analyzer – formula totals were run twice, doubling the quantity within the calculations.
52. Analyzer - delete – prevents deletion if inventory is on hand.
53. Nutrient Labels – new instance – serving size grid had zero rows in some cases.  New behavior: always have at
      least one serving size row.
New calculation engine – did not normalize net costs to unit basis.
New calculation engine – failed to parse nutrient codes in some configurations.
Calculation engine – if FORMULATOR was started in non-nutritional mode with a nutritional database, then switched to
      nutritional mode, the nutrients were not loaded properly, causing an error 5 when calculating the formula’s nutrient
       totals.  This would only occur once, at most, for any given installation configuration.
Nutrient Label Designer – NEW button – did not clear label design content.
Nutrient Label Designer – NEW button – did not offer to save changes.
Nutritional labeling – updates older label formats to new designer version.
Tree View Editor
55. Tree View Editor – now creates formula results for new formulas, to allow viewing in the FIND window if results are
      selected.
55. Tree View Editor - delete – prevents deletion if inventory is on hand.
Customer Maintenance
62. Customer Maintenance  - “country code” change to “language code”.   List is now populated.
62. Customer Maintenance  - save – now disallows language codes longer than 5 characters.
75. Test Tickets – without Quality Manager – notes control was not sized properly.
75. Test Tickets – Lab Book – did not format window properly.
PROJECT Manager
ePad signatures – form was not displayed “modally” in Quality Manager and Project Manager. 
90. Project Manager – FIND window has been converted to the new filtering version.
90. Project Manager – deleting – caused auto-number to issue new project number.  New behavior: does not issue a
       new number.
110. Test Results Management - project FIND – uses new find window.
110. Test Results Management - formula FIND – uses new find window.
120. Create Test Schedule Report – now links to long term testing module.
Production Manager
75./130. Cut Batch Tickets – Did not properly display yield when loading existing tickets.
130. Cut Batch Tickets – new tickets – SG override is now available at batch level.  SG override value is taken from
         the formula (if applicable).
130. Batch Print – project FIND – uses new find window.
130. Cut Batch Tickets (and also in text tickets) – no longer allows deletion or re-cutting of batches posted to inventory.
131. Batch Edit – ingredients – selecting lot numbers – if lot is expired – now notifies user that lot is expired.
131. Batch Edit – No longer allows changes to posted batches.
145. Batch Ticket Completion – lot adjustments – did not save alignment of adjustments properly.  Re-loading most
        batches required re-edit of ingredients.
145. Batch Ticket Completion – SG and lb/gal override – is now available in batch completion in the output tab. 

145. Close Batch – input tab – now includes quick print routine and copy to clipboard.

SG Override: Grams per cc value to use for intermediate or batching use.  If blank, no override will occur, and the
       theoretical value will be used.

Lb/Gal override: If your company is configured for pounds/gallons the pounds/gallon SG over-ride will appear. 

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150. Fill Ticket Completion – placed completed quantity into wrong row when grid clicked after entry.

150. Fill Ticket Completion – bulk/batch grid – did not save looked-up batch codes.
155. Post Batch Tickets – now uses batch SG override for mass/volume conversions.
160. Post Fill Tickets – errors during posting were not being displayed on the posting report, leading to the belief that
        certain fill tickets were posted when in fact they were not.
160. Post Fill Tickets - now uses batch SG override for mass/volume conversions.
Production Manager – without Inventory Manager installed – now does not include ticket completion or posting.
Quality Manager
180. Cut QC Test Tickets – If no production manager – now disallows edit.
ePad signatures – form was not displayed “modally” in Quality Manager and Project Manager. 
181. Manage QC Results – Status tab, tab 1 – now includes SG override.
181. Manage QC Results – now flags dirty records, prompts user for save on close.
213. – Changed to menu item 214.
213. New Module – QC results review, on-screen.
Inventory Manager
232./242.. Packaging Inventory Adjustments – Now includes purchasing multiple for accounting integration and clarity
        of data entry.
242. Packaging material usage / reduction – did not pre-set entry to subtract inventory.
260. Physical Inventory – Deleting last record caused error 30015 in find window.
261. Packaged Physical Inventory – Deleting last record caused error 30015 in find window.
261. Packaged Physical Inventory – did not save detail data properly.
261. Packaged Physical Inventory – tag number was assigned count quantity.

INTEGRATOR
Main Menu - Accounting Integration – Now detects QuickBooks installation.  Integration completed, delivered and installed.
Data conversions from EXCEL to FORMULATOR, SNAP to FORMULATOR, BatchMaster (the Indian Version) to FORMULATOR, Mysis data conversion & ERP integration (ACCPAC), Horizons ERP integration (Microsoft Dynamics), Movex ERP integration (DBII), Ross ERP integration. 
Updates to Peachtree and Business Works Accounting integrations.  Data conversion from Peachtree Assemblies to FORMUALTOR formulas.
REGULATOR
410. REGULATOR Phrase Library Maintenance – now limits Excel export to 8000 rows.
415. List of Regulations Maintenance – New CAS – did not clear description override.
415. List of Regulations Maintenance – New CAS – did not set CAS description in list of chemicals.
430. MSDS Output – TSCA and SARA reports in section 15 did not display percent sign.
430. MSDS Output – Formula within it’s own formula – went “bottomless” and caused a stack overflow. 
        New behavior: Limits explosion to 30 levels within MSDS output.
430. MSDS Output – state regulations – CAS list threshold set to 0 – will now report parts per million for these items. 
        If a range is specified for the CAS, the ranges will report as 1-10, 10-20, ... 100-200, ...900-1000.
431. Compliance label print – boxes did not align / register properly on some printers.
431. Compliance label print – landscape mode was not set properly.
431. Hazard / Compliance Label – did not follow rules for CAS number / percent suppression or “report as”
        for description.
431. Compliance label – changed parameter entry window to new style.
SETUP
910. Company Set-Up – now includes tab for Nutraceutical .vs. Food service configuration
Allergens – now follow legend set-up in 910. (see below).

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ePad signatures – now detects lack of installed drivers and notifies user of inoperable functions.

User login – failed login – now sets focus onto the password field.
910. Company Set-Up – now requires company name in the form (error 9 – zero-length string).
910. User Set-Up – can now double-click a user ID to launch the permissions detail editor.
910. Company Set-Up – Setting density of water – crashed with error 9 if no mass or volume was set.
915. User Maintenance – User grid – selected user is now highlighted.
915. User Maintenance – If user had no access to Raw Material Maintenance – editor crashed reading permissions for
        costs.  New behavior: trap error.
915. User Set-Up – Double-clicking on user assigned to a group launched edit of user.  New behavior: notify user to
        use group editor.
915. User Maintenance – fine adjustment to module level permissions were not re-displayed properly after being saved.
940. Nutrient Definition Set-Up – “Rounding rule” change to “USDA Rounding”.
940. Nutrient set-up – Improved tool tip text and layout.
940. Nutrient set-up – did not populate units pull-down.
940. Nutrient set-up – decimals were not displayed.
940. Nutritional Definition Set-Up  - has new editor and FIND window.
Menu upgrade to 4.6 – did not carry ADMIN user’s cost permissions settings forward.
All toolbars – no longer allow user customization.
User INI file – with permanent license in place – incorrectly disabled licensed options.

FORMULATOR Improvements V 4.6.02 to V 4.7.8

GENERAL

Calculation engine – if FORMULATOR was started in non-nutritional mode with a nutritional database, then switched to nutritional mode, the nutrients were not loaded properly, causing an error 5 when calculating the formula’s nutrient totals.  This would only occur once, at most, for any given installation configuration.
New FIND windows for raws, formulas and CAS items installed within all main modules with the exception of incoming QC and customer samples.  This does not include separately compiled modules as yet.
New FIND windows – now provides one-click editing in the filter row.
New FIND windows – consistently dropped the first two rows of all returned data sets.
CAS FIND window – on start-up on “virgin” machine – crashed with invalid index error.
New FIND Window – now includes CAS find.
New FIND windows – had empty rows when less than 3 rows returned.  New behavior: display data rows only.
Main Menu – No longer collapses completely down to company level.
Licensing – outside demo mode – if INI file entry set and not in demo mode – did not allow access to the modules for Production Manager or Project Manager.  New behavior: allows access..
Menu update to 4.6 – now applies all users’ old permissions to new menu structure.
Installation options window – un-checked QC if inventory was checked.  New behavior: uncheck production if inventory is checked.
Raw Material Maintenance
10. Raw Material Maintenance – New FIND window now includes flexible column set-up, column filtering, and a record limiter (aka “Top”).  These features will allow increased performance with larger databases or on servers with heavy I/O loads and/or limited bandwidth.  Physical properties may also be placed on the FIND window.
FORMULATION Maintenance
20. Formulation Maintenance – New FIND window now includes flexible column set-up, column filtering, and a record limiter (aka “Top”).  These features will allow increased performance with larger databases or on servers with heavy I/O loads and/or limited bandwidth.  Equation results may also be placed on the FIND window, but performance will depend on the database engine, and in some cases will be prohibitive.
20. Formulation Maintenance – Ingredients editor – Raw material FIND – has been replaced with the new raw material FIND window.
20. Formulation Maintenance – print to Crystal – if no costs allowed for user – still showed equation cost results, both on-screen and printed out.
20. Formulation Maintenance – if no costs allowed for user – total cost still displayed in column footing
20. Formulation Maintenance – Print – switching to non-nutritional from a nutritional installation– nutritional print option went away, but previous “check” value remained, causing spurious nutritional output in non-nutritional content.
20. Formulation Maintenance – Print – “Include Costs” unchecked: did not stop cost equations from printing.
Formula totals engine – if ingredient was saved with some items checked and then re-loaded – further totaling or quantity adjustments in the batch ingredients editor caused a run-time error 438.
20. Formulation Maintenance – Results window – double-clicking on a quantity result – now allows adjust to total amount of formula, either in total or by adjusting checked ingredients (if ingredients are checked).
20. Formulation Maintenance – for any raw materials missing a cost unit index – map the text unit back to the index using CostUOMDescr.
20. Formulation Maintenance – Import formulas – did not work if only William Andrew Paint and Ink installed.
Cost Analysis/Bill of Materials

50. Cost Analysis – tab 2 –customer find – now uses customer list.

Find Bill of Materials – columns in FIND window did not always sort ascending when switched back to ascending sort order.
Test Batch Ticketing
Batch ticketing – customer look-up – is now available with Lab Book PLUS.
ANALYZER – New Module added for Nutritional Automated Calculations
52. Analyzer – Ingredients grid toolbar – was “confused” after user changed decimals, net, gross, yield %, or dosage.
52. Analyzer – Did not disappear from the main menu on “sales demo” licensed machines when nutritional was turned off.
52. Analyzer – did not initialize new window properly.
52. Analyzer – now excludes ingredients that are less active than the target value from the adjustment calculations.
52. Analyzer – did not save dosage with the formula (aka serving size).

52. Analyzer – new calculation routines crashed with an index error when nutrients or allergens were deleted from the system.

52. Analyzer – active ingredients analysis now ignores low concentration raw materials
Ingredient Search and Replace
60. Ingredient Search and Replace – now includes a new “Quick Search” feature.  This search will find each item (raw material, instruction, or text) found in each formulation, and list it in a tabbed results grid, with one grid for each item searched.  No percentages are considered, which avoids reading the formulation altogether and simply yanks matching data from the database.
60. Ingredient Search and Replace –Search – Results were not displayed if the ending formula code was specified and was not on file.
Customer Maintenance
62. Customer Maintenance – Has moved from Project Manager into Lab Book PLUS (menu number 62).
QC Series Maintenance

Created QC Series Functions

65. QC Series Maintenance – FIND QC Test – did not load QC unit of measure into grid.
PROJECT Manager 
90. Project Maintenance – Sample notes – would clear when entering notes control after changing rows on the sample grid.  New behavior: do not clear notes.
90. Project Manager – Samples – Sample Notes – could cause RTF corruption with lengthy notes.  Now limits samples notes to 25,000 characters (~2,500 words).
90. Project Maintenance – Sample Tests grid – added SORT capability to column headings.  Column headings will sort up or down when clicked.
90. Project Manager – Samples tab – notes – caption now includes the sample code.
90. Project Manager – Samples tab – samples – current sample code now highlighted in yellow.
90. Project Manager – Samples tab – samples – first column (sample code) is now frozen, i.e. it does not scroll.
90. Project Manager – Samples tab – changes to sample code – now offers to change any associated sample tests to the new code, if any exist.
Project report – samples – did not place text result with test.  Only last result was shown (in group footer).  New behavior: detail section created for result.  Group footer suppressed.
Production Manager
Batch Print routines – changes in 4.6.0 caused errors in the Batch Ingredients Editor print preview window, when “Preview”, print, or export were clicked.
Batch Ticket Print – new routines did not include selecting custom batch ticket.
Batch Ticket Creation – during print – system lost track of the report control window, preventing the correct report selection.  Error was introduced in FORMULATOR 4.6.0.  NEW BEHAVIOR: Use the report specification that is saved as part of the batch ticket to determine which report to use to print the batch.
Lab Book – Now allows Production Manager and Inventory Manager under Lab Book operation.
Quality Manager

120. Create Test Schedule Report – now links to long term testing module.

185. Batch Stability – calendar control – was too far to the right.
Inventory Manager
261. Packaged Physical Inventory – did not save detail data properly.
261. Packaged Physical Inventory – tag number was assigned count quantity.
Lab Book – Now allows Production Manager and Inventory Manager under Lab Book operation.
REGULATOR
400. CAS Maintenance – removed CAS reporting ranges.  Ranges are now pre-set using fixed percentage ranges: 0-1, 1-5, 5-10, 10-20, 20-30, ... 90-100.
430. MSDS Generation – CAS reporting ranges – are now set to the ranges 0-1, 1-5, 5-10, 10-20, 20-30, ... 90-100.
430. MSDS Generation – calculated HMIS ratings – Physical hazard overwrote flammability.
430. MSDS Generation – Flash points at raw material were not calculating properly.
430. MSDS Output – TSCA / SARA output via the MSDS template – now follows CAS reporting rules for CAS number, percentages, “report as”, and simple trade secret.
430. MSDS Output – Section 15 – was not sorted properly in all cases.  New behavior: list from highest to lowest percent weight.
430. MSDS Output – Section 15 – “Top N” listings – were sorted and filtered in the wrong direction.
Regulator – New menu icons under 4.6 were incorrect.

 

SETUP
910. Company Set-Up – Setting density of water – crashed with error 9 if no mass or volume was set.
AUTO-NUMBERING ROUTINES – were matching literal text to a wildcard, possibly resulting in numbers being claimed unnecessarily.  New behavior: match literal text exactly within the auto-number search string.
915. User Set-Up – group user count did not change immediately when user assigned to the group.

915. User Set-Up – Window load – HELP context ID not set.

915. User Set-Up – Detailed Permissions window – “Allow Costs” checkbox – set user’s access to read-only (in raw materials maintenance, general tab).  New behavior: set cost access to read-write.

FORMULATOR Improvements V 4.5.26 to V 4.6.02

GENERAL
Improve Ease of Use with a complete revision of the menu selection system.
Improve Product Set-up with User Groups, User assignment and custom User controls.
Improved Navigation between functions.
Allow users to create multiple series of related QC Tests and call them by series into FORMULA QC Maintenance or sample testing.
Expand functions to provide better Project Management, Sample testing tools for Tech Service.
Provide Support of Windows Vista in addition to Windows 2000 Pro and XP Pro.
Provide Support for data output via clipboard to further analysis in EXCEL.
Expand HELP to new functions and features.  Update HELP to new capabilities.
Accounting INTEGRATIONS to Peachtree and Business Works are solid and functioning at client sites on a daily basis.
ERP INTEGRATIONS to Sage PFW, SQL applications, Oracle applications, DBII, have been functioning for 3 years now and have gone through several levels of upgrades.
Database INTEGRATIONS to Sittig’s Hazardous Materials, Paint & Ink, Cosmetics & Toiletries, Cleaning Materials are installed and functioning well at multiple sites.
Specific bug fixes and functional improvements follow:
Lab-Book
FORMULATOR Lab-Book Core now encompasses Lab Book, Lab Book PLUS, and core reporting functions.
Package Material Maintenance
Packaging maintenance – now summarizes packaging transactions on the inventory tab.
FORMULATION Maintenance
820. Formula Instruction Maintenance – loading batch ticket text into editor–cut off rich text after 1024 characters.
20. Formulation Maintenance – General tab – Import formulas button (William Andrew data) – did not activate when only Paint and Ink database was installed.
20. Formulation Maintenance – Print – regulatory information overwrote the last address line of company when 4 address lines were used.
Cost Analysis/Bill of Materials
50. BOM Maintenance – Inventory tab – inventory transactions – double-clicking grid now allows cost changes to detail transactions.  All cost changes are logged.
QC Series Maintenance
New Function – allows user to associate multiple QC tests into a series.  Multiple series can be used in most applications where QC tests are selected.
65. QC Series Maintenance – adding series after adding new test without specifying a sample caused the first line of tests to be deleted during load of series.  New behavior: do not delete line if it contains any information.
PROJECT Manager
New option - Samples functions added including identifying samples to be tested, selecting tests to be run, capturing test results and output a report similar to a Certificate of Analysis report.  Samples can be a project of their own or tested as part of a formulation development project.
90. Project Manager – Samples tab – samples toolbar – item lookup – did not display modally.
90. Project Manager – Samples tab – samples toolbar – item lookup – tool tip text was incorrect.
90. Project Manager – Samples tab – samples toolbar – added PRINT button.
90. Project Manager – Related data tab – batches – new batch – now launches TEST batch, not production batch.
Production Manager
NEW MODULE – Production Manager.  Encompasses functions previously divided between Quality and Inventory Manager that directly affect material production.
Batch Tickets – now consist of three possible configurations.  The production and QC ticket(s) integrate fill ticket activity at the time the batch is created, IF inventory is installed.  The test ticket does not provide fill ticket functions and allows a separate auto-numbering system from production batches.  Finally, if Quality Manager is not installed, custom standards are not possible by customer, and batch ticket options are limited to two choices.
NEW Combined Batch and Fill Ticket Print routine – now available from batch creation module.
Combined Batch and Fill Ticket Print routine –Export to disk not allowed unless permission is supervisor or higher.
171. Cut Batch Tickets – after loading a batch  with completed QC information – did not re-enable the formula FIND button when creating a new ticket.
Quality Manager- Reorganized
Reorganized to only include Quality Control functions relating to QC of raw materials and formulation batches in FORMULATOR or related to ERP Manufacturing Software integrations.
Quality Manager now has the most-used functions listed first, with reporting at the end.