Frontline Education is happy to announce the release of Asset Management version 13.1.

Release Overview

Highlights include:

• Parts Management: Parts Catalog, Site Inventory, Product Assignment, Inventory History, Minimum Stock
• District Settings: Access API and SSO documentation
• Reconcile Tags on Transfers: Notes & Print Transfer Ticket

Parts Management: Parts Catalog, Site Inventory, Product Assignment, Inventory History, Minimum Stock

Asset Management users can now add and track untagged consumable parts at each site. "Parts Management" will help inventory the untagged parts needed for repairs across your district. Whether that is for technology, maintenance, or operations, your teams will have the perfect spot to track your consumables.

Catalog: Product Catalog Menu

• Upon logging in, "Admin" and "Site" users can now click Catalog from the top navigation and see a new drop-down menu displaying “Parts” and “Products.”
• All user types will view the "Parts Catalog" by default. Steps to modify permissions are described further in this document.

• Clicking Products from the "Catalog" menu will take you to the traditional "Product Catalog."

• Clicking Parts from the "Catalog" menu will take you to the new "Parts Catalog."

User Permissions to Restrict Site View Users

As an admin, there are permissions that can be turned on and off for non-admin users.

New Options for Permissions

• View Parts - Access and view the "Parts" grid
  • If the "View Parts" catalog is disabled, other capabilities for "Parts" will be disabled automatically.
• Add/Edit Parts Catalog Items – Add new "Parts" catalog items/edit existing "Parts" catalog items
• Remove/Add Parts Inventory (qty) - Update inventory quantity for parts at the site or district level
• Associate Products - Associate a "Product" in the "Product Catalog" to a "Part"
  • If "View Product" catalog is disabled, "Associate Products to Parts" is not possible
• Add Part from Catalog to Site - Ability to see full catalog and add parts from full catalog to that site

The chart below shows the default permissions and which ones can be edited.

Steps to Edit Permissions

• Log in as an "Admin" to the "Admin View."
• On the left navigation under "Management," select Users.
• To change user permissions, you can click for the use. The "Modify Permissions" window will appear.

Steps to Create/Edit Permission Templates

• To edit "Permission Templates" to easily apply user permissions on a broader scale, you can click Permission Templates under "Management" while on the "User" screen. 
• Three different "User Permission Template" types are available: "Admin User," "Site Admin," and "Site User."
• If creating a new template, after saving, navigate to your user and Modify Permissions, choosing the appropriate "Permission Template" from the drop-down menu.

Parts Management Catalog

The "Parts Catalog" grid includes in-line edit capabilities and functions differently from your "Product Catalog" grid.

• To add a new record, click Add Record at the top of the "Parts Catalog" grid. A new blank line will open up as the first row in the grid.
• You will be able to add new records without navigating away from the grid.
• Click Save Changes at the top of the "Parts Catalog" to add the new part to your catalog.
• Click Cancel Changes to close and discard any modifications to your catalog.

Part Number

• "Part Number" must be a unique identifier.
• "Part Number" can be a duplicate of a "Product Number," as "Parts" is its own catalog.  
• Max character limit is 30 alphanumeric characters

Part Name

• "Part Name" must be a unique name.
• "Part Name" can be a duplicate of a "Product Name," as "Parts" is its own catalog
• Max characters limit of 30 alphanumeric characters

Part Type and Part Area

• "Part Type" and "Part Area" are drop-down menus created by users who have access to add and edit parts.
• To add a new "Part Type" or "Part Area" to the drop-down list, type the new entry and select the green plus sign.
• "Part Type" and "Part Area" fields are searchable and once the field is highlighted, click the name or press Enter on your keyboard to save the selection.
• To navigate to the next field from the two drop-down fields, you must click on the field. Tabbing to move between drop-down fields is not enabled.
• The character limit in these fields is 100 characters.

Quantity

• The "Quantity" field in the grid is not editable from the "Part Catalog" grid.
• The "Quantity" field automatically aggregates all site inventory for that part. Steps to add inventory to sites are described further in this document.
• Field type is integer, and the character limit is 5,000,000.

Cost

• The "Cost" field is not a required field.
• The field type is decimal with no $ present.
• The field can accept up $100,000 in cost per item.
• The "Cost" field is per item, not an aggregate of all the parts in inventory

Minimum Stock

• When the "Quantity" number appears in red, this is an indicator the "Part" quantity has fallen below the minimum stock required by the district.
• The field can accept up to 500,000 in minimum stock.
• The field type is integer.
• The field is not required.

Inventory Tab

• Click on the caret > next to the "Part."
• On the "Inventory" tab, you have the capability to add or remove inventory quantity to sites through in-line editing.

Add Inventory to Sites

• Click Add Inventory to view a list of sites to which to add parts inventory.
  • Once a site has been added to the inventory, it is removed from the modal. If all sites are added to the modal, a pop-up appears that reads: “No records to display.”
• Make sure to check the box so the new site inventory quantity is added for the part.  
  • If do not check the box, your entry will not be saved. No error will display.
• Tab or use your mouse to click into the next site quantity box.
• Click Save to associate the part to selected sites.
• Click the checkbox at the top left of the grid to select all sites in the system.
  • All sites, including warehouse display

When performing a "Site Name" search, clicking the Select All checkbox at the top-left of the modal will only select the sites returned in the search results, allowing you to add site inventory in bulk.

As an "Admin" in the "Admin View," users can add sites without a parts inventory quantity, allowing for site users to add their quantity later.

Products Tab

As an admin, you can assign products to parts. This assignment will allow users to see which products use certain parts.

• After clicking Assign Products, a modal will open allowing you to search the whole product catalog.
• Search by product number, product name, manufacturer, and product type.

• To assign products to a part, check the boxes next to the product.
• Once a blue check is visible, you can click Save to keep your changes or Cancel to reject selections and close the modal.

When performing a search for product number, product name, manufacturer, or product type, clicking the Select All checkbox at the top-left of the modal will only select the sites returned in the search results, allowing you to add site inventory in bulk.

Inventory History Tab

The "Inventory History" tab shows all adjustments made to the "Parts Inventory Quantity," who made the adjustments, when they were made, and quantity count changes.

The "Inventory History" tab will track the "Date," "User (First and Last Name)," "Site Name," "Quantity Adjustment," and "Final Quantity" of the "Part."

• Negative adjustments are indicated in red and with a negative (-) sign.
• Positive adjustments are indicated in green.

Site View

• At the site-level view, like the "Product Catalog," site users will only be able to view parts allocated to their site by default but not what other sites have in inventory.
• The "Catalog" menu will now show two options, "Parts" and "Products."
• The "Product Catalog" grid will function without new changes.
• The "Parts Catalog" grid will be viewable if user permissions permit.

• If the site user has access to add a new "Part," Add Record will open the in-line edit function to allow the user to add "Part Number," "Part Name," "Part Type," "Part Area," "Quantity," "Cost," and "Minimum Stock" for the site.
• Site-created parts will roll up to the district "Parts Catalog."
• An "Admin Admin" or "District Admin" can make edits to the part created by a site at the "District View."
• Click on the Show Full Parts Catalog button if the part the site user is looking for does not have inventory or has not been associated to that site.
• The part quantities can be updated if the user has the permission to “Add Part from Catalog to Site.” To add a part to your site, you can update the quantity and/or the minimum stock for that site. 

On the site-level grid, when the caret on the lefthand side is clicked and the row is expanded, only two tabs are shown, unlike the "Admin View." The two tabs shown are “Products,” to show product associations, and “Inventory History,” to show all inventory changes.

Products Tab

• If the site user has permission to Assign Products, the button will be enabled and the modal will pop up when clicked.
• If the user does not have permission to assign products, they will be able to view the product associations but not assign products.
• Site users can only see the products from their own site, not all products.

Inventory History Tab

• The "Inventory History" tab will show all adjustments made to the "Parts" inventory quantity: who made the adjustments, when they were made, and quantity count changes.
• The "Inventory History" tab will track the "Date," "User (First and Last Name)," "Site Name," "Quantity Adjustment," and "Final Quantity" of the "Part."
• Negative adjustments are indicated in red and with a negative (-) sign
• Positive adjustments are indicated in green.

Other Considerations

• All parts will be added manually. Untagged items at a "Warehouse" site or "Tagged" items in inventory cannot be automatically converted to parts. There is no current process to upload Excel spreadsheets to create parts.
• "Minimum Stock," "Cost," and "Quantity" searches are dependent on the user clicking away from the box after pressing Enter on their keyboard. The user can click anywhere outside of the search box.
• Special characters are not searchable.
• Upcoming features of "Parts Management" we plan to tackle in 2023:
  • Email notifications for "Minimum Stock Alerts"
  • Importing "Parts" in bulk
  • Editing "Parts" in bulk
  • Reporting

District Settings: Access API and SSO Documentation

The "Admin Admin" role has access the API secret key and can create SSO documentation to help with the setup of your purchased SSO solution. Support will still help with setup questions, but you now have quick access to technical documentation for your district IDP administrator to begin the process. 

• Log in as an "Admin Admin" on the "Admin View" to navigate to “District Settings” on your left navigation panel.
• When “Manage District Settings” opens, navigate to “API and SSO Information.”

API

• By clicking Show next to the “Secret Key” and “Passphrase,” the information needed to authenticate to the Frontline Asset Management REST API will display.
• After the information has been shown, it can be hidden again.

REST API provides you with programmatic access to your data in Frontline Asset Management (formerly TIPWeb-IT). The flexibility and scalability of REST API make it an excellent choice for integrating with your other applications and for performing complex operations on a large scale. However, understanding and using REST API requires basic familiarity with software development, web services, and the Frontline Asset Management user interface.

You can use any tool or development environment that can make REST requests. If you have many records to process, consider using this API, which is based on REST principles and optimized for large sets of data.

Access API documentation here, and learn more about how to integrate REST API and Asset Management here.

Read, write, update. or delete operations performed using the API on the customer's instance are executed on the live production database and in real time. Any changes made to the instance and its database will take effect immediately and are irreversible.   

Please contact Frontline Customer Support for guidance on the API. 

SSO Documentation

• You can generate SSO documentation to walk you through how to configure SSO for your system. based on the IDP and protocol your district uses.
• Once your domain, IDP, and protocol have been entered, clicking Generate Documentation will navigate you to a webpage with setup instructions specifically for your selections.

To generate your appropriate documentation, you will first need to understand your IDP and what protocol you have. Below is a table of the supported IDPs and protocols.

Changing Existing SSO Setup

If you already have SSO configured for your Asset Management "Site" and you want to change your SSO provider, please make sure to know your IDP and protocol. Please be sure to follow the steps on the generated document to ensure your IDP configurations are accurate to eliminate troubleshooting time. After you generate your documentation, you should reach out to Frontline Customer Support for guidance on next steps and timing of the transition.   

New SSO Setup

If you are a new customer wanting to configure your purchased SSO, speak with your implementation manager after you generate your documentation. Please be sure to follow the steps on the generated document to ensure your IDP configurations are accurate to eliminate troubleshooting time.

We will help you switch over or configure your SSO. The SSO configuration can take one full day for Frontline to configure.

Reconciled Tags on Transfers: Notes & Print Transfer Ticket

In our 12.4 release, we introduced reconciling tags on transfers. When an audit is created and a tag is on the audit and a transfer, reconciliation will remove or complete tags on transfers when tags on the transfer site no longer match the origin site of the transfer. 

1. On the audit, during reconciliation, if a tag is on a transfer, the transfer will be completed if the destination site matches the audit site and the transfer is in “In Transit” or “Receiving.”  
2. On the audit, during reconciliation, if a tag is on a transfer, the transfer will be removed if the destination site does not match the audit site and the transfer is in “In Transit” or “Receiving.”  
3. On the audit, during reconciliation, if a tag is on a transfer, the transfer will be removed from the transfer when the transfer is in the status of "New," “Submitted,” or "Pending Approval."

• To enhance this feature, we have added the ability to track what was removed from a transfer in two spots.
• The first report you can access to view tags that have been removed from a transfer due to an audit reconciliation is under "Transfer History," on the left side navigation.
• Once you have navigated to "Transfer History," click on the scroll.

• The scroll will open the transfer ticket with a "Note" added of "Tags" that have been removed from the transfer due to an audit reconciliation.

• There are two other places on the actual transfer that will alert the user that tags have been removed during reconciliation: at the top of the transfer and in transfer notes, as highlighted below.
• Viewing the transfer will display a "Note" added of "Tags" that have been removed from the transfer due to an audit reconciliation.

Previous Releases

The following are release notes for prior releases.