ServiceDesk 4.5.3 Update 02/21/11

Another area we've been a little slow with ServiceDesk is in management of sales tax liabilities.  This likely stems from the fact that in SD's germinating office there was but a single tax jurisdiction (and corresponding single tax-rate scheme) to worry about.  For this, a simple SD-management structure was totally adequate.  Most other users have not had it so easy.  For the sake of our very first new users, we made an option where, in the Settings form, you can indicate that you have varying rates depending on location, but until Rel. 4.4.5 there was no provision for you to explicitly inform ServiceDesk as to what rate existed in each particular locale (instead, ServiceDesk simply relied on the amounts as filled in to any ticket by the tech at the location). 

That provision -- for jurisdiction specific rates -- was added just over two years ago.  However, we left a significant hole.  While ServiceDesk could now know the rate that should properly apply depending on job location, it did not give you any kind of compiled report informing you of what your accrued liabilities were for each jurisdiction.  Instead, the interim expectation was that you'd export the underlying and nearly raw data (via Sales Summary add-on in the F11 form), then manipulate in a spreadsheet to self-calculate your various liabilities. 

This release fills that hole. 

Specifically, if you first run a Sales Summary report in the F11 form (for any period of interest), then click on its "Export with Extended Data" button, you'll see the options as then presented have gone . . .

from this:to this:

The newly-added option will create a compiled report detailing your total tax obligations in each jurisdiction (as per specification in your TaxRatesFile, which is the provision we added a couple of years ago).  For instructions on how that file is setup, you can click on the little button as provided in your Settings form:

 or here too is a link. 

The compiled report is too big to illustrate here.  But we think you'll like it.  One thing you'll notice is that, unlike all our other compiled reports, this one is deliberately made to display within a spreadsheet program, such as Excel or similar.  If you attempt to display it otherwise, you're not likely to get good results. 

Another note: though the compiled report is designed to give you segregated liabilities among multiple jurisdictions, even a company that reports to a single jurisdiction might find it useful.  If yours is such an operation and you'd like to try the report, you'll need to create that TaxRatesFile first.  Just because you have but a single jurisdiction, doesn't mean you cannot create the file regardless.