Boarding INN Release 5i.2 Now Available for Windows Vista & XP

The New Boarding INN Windows 5i was made available in the fall of 2008. If you are presently a Boarding INN Customer using an earlier release of Boarding INN, we urge you to Order the Boarding INN Upgrade via the Order Products button on the Initial Screen.  Our plans are to provide One Major Update to BIW in the Winter First Quarter slow period before winter holidays annually.

New 5i Features and Functions

I.  Vista Ready 5i: Our staff got involved with early release training given early in 2007 by  Microsoft as well as extensive testing at our offices on a new Dell Windows Vista computer.  We are happy to state that all our products work well with Windows Vista.  When Vista is commonly used by our customer base, we will update the Vista System DLL’s that are included in our installation.

II.  Ease of Use and Consistency:  Major enhancements has been achieved via thorough review by an Independent Software Tester.  These enhancements include the following:

    a.       From and To Dates Format: All From and To Dates are consistent in Format and Field Viewing Size.

    b.      All Names Format: All Names are presented consistently in Last Name, First Name and Middle Initial.

    c.       Address Label Button Added on Browse for Address Book.

    d.      Expanded Search Field allows for viewing of all data in Searches for Pet Name in Search by Pet,  Owner Name,  Groomer Name, and  Vet Name.

    e.    Expanded Field View for Key Table Definitions in the  Boarding Fee, Capacity, Company Name, Kennel Service Description, Contract Conditions / Browse, and Kennel Letters.

    f.    Key Table Text Field Limitation Notification for Frequency (30 positions) and Greetings (60 positions).   A Strong Recommendation is that Copy and Paste from a Word or Word Pad document NOT BE USED since the Font translation can cause over-runs.  BIW will not allow for text to be entered larger that field maximum.

    g.  Consistent Print Dialogue Options:  Now all print functions will allow you to select which printer and / or create a pdf image of your reports.  **See Tools under the Boarding INN section to install the pdfManager.

          Screen Image of Print Dialogue (click image for larger view)

     h.  Create pdf Report Images of Any BIW Report that can be emailed to clients

                          Past Reservations Report in pdf Format

III.   New Excel Data Export from Address Book, Owner IDB and Kennel Revenue Combined.  

    a.  Screen Image of New Address Book (click image for larger view)

     b.  Screen Image of Owner IDB with Export (click image for larger view)

c.  Combined Kennel Revenue Export (click image for larger view)

II.                   System Administrator Functions and Subsystems

A.            The New Data Removal Subsystem is accessed from Admin, Supervisor, Password Protected menu.  Once the Data Removal menu item is selected, you will see SIX Data Removal Buttons: Boarding Past Reservations, Boarding No Show Reservations, Grooming Past Reservations, Grooming No Show, Pet, and Owner.  From the list, you can provide Date Range for Retrieval. Once retrieved, you can view all Reservations in the date range. You have the option of deleting All the Reservations in the range or a Specific Reservation.

To Delete a Pet, you need to First Remove the Past Boarding and Grooming Reservations and then click the Delete Pet Button on the Past Reservations Sub Screen once you have selected a Pet. If any Grooming or Boarding Past Reservations or Current Reservations exists, the system will inform you.  You can now delete an Existing Boarding or Grooming Reservation that has been made but not Checked In via going to the Check In Control Panel and double clicking the reservation to access the Reservation Detail Screen.  A Delete Command Button allows the Deletion of the Current Reservation.

To Delete an Owner, all Pets associated must be previously deleted.  Once all Associated Pets are deleted, the system provides for the Removal of the Owner detail.  Warning messages are provided to prevent “accidental” clicks of the Delete Command Button.

B.       The New Review Invoice feature is accessed via Admin, Supervisor with Supervisor Protection.  This subsystem allows a Systems Administrator to Review and Modify an existing Invoice.  Once accessed, the subsystem allows for a Date Range to be given and a Reservation Selected. The Reservation in question can be selected and the Check Out process can be reapplied with a review, change, and print of the Invoice.  Please note that this feature as well as the above subsystem provides great functionality allowing key data records to be updated or removed.  It is the user’s responsibility to provide sufficient backups to ensure access to previous database images before system administrator functions were performed.

C.      The Greatly Enhanced Kennel Definition subsystem is accessed via the Admin, Capacity menu items.  Our staff has provided two new screens to (1) Define the Kennel Type or Category and (2) the Runs or Kennels of that type.  Once you have defined that Kennel Type/Category, you have an Add Run command button that takes you to a Detail Run Screen to define the Runs of that Type/Category.  Since the sum of al the Detail Runs should equal the Total Number of Runs in the Type Definition, the Total Defined as well as a “Running Total” of the Detail Runs defined.  **We urge all customers to access this subsystem and verify that your Total Number of Runs defined equals the Total Number defined in the Kennel Definition.

D.       You now can define a new Pet Type to identify the Pet as INACTIVE. The Indicator is displayed in the Owner Control Panel and the Pet Will Not appear on the Pet Reservation Selection list. To enable go to Supervisor, Pet Type and Add an ID Number 3 with a description of Inactive