Espresso 2.6 release

Amsterdam, November 1, 2009

We are happy to announce the 2.6 version of your favorite workflow management tool. The new version introuduces a range of requested features and includes bugfixes for all reported issues.

What's new in 2.6?

1. Various interface imporovements.
2. Project transfer. Starting from version 2.6 you can transfer an existing Project to another Client. To transfer a project: 
   
   - Find a project you want to transfer and open it.
   - Select the Project tab
   - Click on the red 'Update' link next to the Client name field.
     You will be presented with an input field.
     Start typing the name of the Client to whom you want to transfer this project.
     Espresso will show you a list of matching Clients (limited to 5 records).
     Select one of the names and confirm your decision. 
     The Project will be immediately transferred to a new Client.
   
   
3. Minimum rate per Task. Starting with version 2.6 Espresso allows you to define a minimum Task rate. Effectively, it means that Espresso will warn you about the potential issue every time you try to add a new Task with a value lower than your minimum Task rate. This is a Company-wide setting. This feature is disabled per default. Ask your Espresso consultant to configure this feature for you.
4. Minimum rate per Assignment. Starting with version 2.6 Espresso allows you to define a minimum Assignment rate. Minimum Assignment rate is an existing property of a Resource record. You can find and edit minimum rate settings per language/expertise combination. Effectively, it means that Espresso will warn you about the potential issue every time you try to create a new Assignment with a value lower than a minimum Assignment rate of a Resource. 
5. Expertises in Record work profile. The standard work profile has been extended to include Expertise matching for language combinations. That allows you to maintain several rates for a language combination depending of a type of work (Marketing, Technical etc).  Espresso automatically selects correct rates matching Project expertise when creating an Assignment.
6. Espresso 2.6 adds an important business decision information to each Resource record: average % margin per Assignment. You can find this information on the History tab of the Resource profile and it is also automatically displayed in the Resource search window in Project Assignments if you let Espresso search by Task properties (without providing a Resource name). Please note that in order to calculate margins correctly Espresso ignores Tasks having more than one resource assigned.
7. Copying Quotes and Projects using CCQ and CCP functions preserves all template unit rates and allows you to register new TRADOS/SDLX logs immediately saving your time on finding applicable rates.
8. Translation tasks allow for a short description per Task. Please note that you would need to change your Quote and Invoice templates if you want to display this additional information on your documents. Please contact your Espresso consultant to assist you.
9. Client rates are extended with Expertises. That means that you can now maintain several rates for a language combination depending on a type of work (Marketing, Techncial etc). These rates will be automatically matched to the Project expertise when creating or editing a Quote or a Project.
10. Espresso 2.6 introduces a possibility to mark a Quote or a Project as a 'Quote'. That means that such a project is not a part of a regular Project workflow and requires additional sales effort. We have added this feature to create a differentiation in Reports between regular inbound projects for regular customers and projects that involve certain efforts. You will find a whole new section in the Sales YTD report that displays Quote statistics. Your Espresso 2.5 figures are still listed in the same report but are now labelled as New Projects.
    
    To mark a Project as a Quote:
    
    - Select a Project and open it
    - Open the Project tab and check the box at the right-top of the screen saying Quote. From now on
      this Project will be listed as a Quote. Checking the Quote box doesn't affect any of the reports
      on New Projects.
    
    Please note:  we are considering a change in terms renaming Quotes (as in Espresso 2.5) to Draft Projects.
11. A link between existing Resources marked as Internal resource and existing User profiles. Espresso 2.6 allows you to connect Resource and User profiles making it possible to create custom reports assessing performance of in-house staff (volumes, margins on internally managed projects etc). Please contact your Espresso consultant if you are interested in more information on this subject.
12. Client-specific pricelists can now be managed directly from the Client record allowing you better view of used rates. To manage a Client pricelist:
    
    - Find a Client record and open it.
    - Open the Prices tab. All already existing Client-specific pricelist entries
      are already listed on this Tab. You can now add, edit and delete rates from this page.