ServiceDesk 4.7.5 Update 11/13/12

Hit Alt-F3 in ServiceDesk and it brings up what was originally called the MakeMailList form:

It was called that because, originally, its only function was to produce the output that's now but the first among nine (the other export options have gradually been added). 

Anyhow, that oldest and original function was, until just prior to this release, very creaky -- to such an extent that, for a large database, it could take many hours to do its task.  The plain fact is the underlying program code was doing the needed work in a very inefficient manner, and this is a place where efficiency counts.  Part of what's involved in constructing a Mail-List export is winnowing through the entire mass of JobRecords, to assure the output has but one line-item for each actual customer (and not repeated line-items where you've done repeated work for that customer).  We also want to assure there is no more than one line item for each physical address.  This prevents us, for example, from sending multiple mails to the same household if different persons there ordered service from us (say once by the husband, and once by the wife).  It also prevents us from sending a mail item to both a former owner/resident (who's long since moved elsewhere) and the current resident too.  The system is configured, for any given address, to export a line-item only for the name as most-recently associated with a given address. 

The old method as underlying this export engaged in a painstaking process of checking each potential addition, within the range of all prior additions, before adding it into the export.  It was logical, but with many tens of thousands of records could result in a very slow progression.  It also was limited to producing no more than 32,767 actual output items. 

Our improved method uses a more clever algorithm to achieve the same result, but in a much more efficient manner, meaning for large data sets it will run very, very much faster.  It also overcomes the 32,767 limit. 

A little more than a year ago (see notes accompanying Rel. 4.5.34) we added the Acquisitions Report  (Ctrl-F8-->Q).  It's purpose is to itemize, by vendor, the cost and quantity of items purchased within a defined period.  Recently a user requested visibility into quantity and value of items returned.  This release offers the first step. 

What we've done, substantively, is to simply add a couple of new columns to the Acquisitions Report.  One indicates (again, itemized for each vendor) the cost of items returned, and the other the quantity. 

There are some limitations in this initial offering.  So far, we're tallying special-order returns only (i.e., items managed as inventory are not included).  Also, there is a little bit of fiction in terms of applicability to the date range.  The return tallies are based on the same criteria (for the parent special-order request fitting the specified date range) as are the main entries.  This is in spite of the fact the actual return dates may (likely are) different, and dates of any credits received are likely more different still.