Version: Ceres 5.x

Ceres 5 Upgrade Guide

Background and Purpose of this Upgrade

Each major release of Ceres is based on a Microsoft Dynamics NAV version. Here is a snapshot of the versions of Ceres:

Ceres Version	Microsoft Dynamics NAV or 365 Version
Ceres 1.0 – 1.4	Built on NAV 2.5
Ceres 2.0 – 2.5	Built on NAV 3.70
Ceres 2009 (aka Ceres 3)	Built on NAV 2009
Ceres 4.00 – 4.20	Built on NAV 2013
Ceres 4.5	Built on NAV 2016
Ceres 5	Built on NAV 2018
Ceres 5.1	Built on Dynamics 365 Business Central executables

Food Banks running Ceres 2009 or Ceres 4.x can upgrade to Ceres 5, but food banks using Ceres releases prior to 2009 must re-implement to reach Ceres 5. This guide is designed to educate Ceres 2009 or Ceres 4.x sites on the scope that Ceres 5 includes that they may not have currently. Depending on the food bank’s Ceres object level – some of the functionality outlined here may already be in production, since this guide is designed to be a reasonably complete list of capabilities and patches.

The Ceres 5 upgrade is for Feeding America members to bring Ceres up to date to the newest release that incorporates:

New Microsoft Dynamics NAV functionality (NAV2018)
Food Bank specific enhancements
Many break fixes (corrections)

The Ceres solution was jointly built by Feeding America and eSoftware Professionals and funded by Feeding America, multiple food bank contributors and eSoftware Professionals. The enhancements reflected in this document evolves the Ceres solution to meet the needs of the food banks and to reflect industry recommendations.

How to Manage your Upgrade

This section includes the outline for how to manage your upgrade. Each Ceres 5 participant is expected to budget, plan and implement this upgrade as soon as their resourcing allows. The benefits of participation in the program are only realized when we leverage the investments and advancements to the software and turn those into real benefits at the food bank level!

Feeding America has created a detailed work plan for the Ceres 5 upgrade. The description below is meant to serve as a guideline for what to expect and who needs to be involved. For a food bank with low to moderate customizations, 4 months is a good expectation for elapsed time.

Here are the recommended steps for Upgrading to Ceres 5. An upgrade path is only available from Ceres 2009/4; all other Ceres 5 projects from older versions of Ceres would be full implementations. Note that this plan indicates branches for self hosted or Feeding America hosted. Further information on those options is below the Upgrade management table.

Phase	Roles Needed	Duration
Engagement	Local PM/Leader

Contact Connie Ahalt to be included in the upgrade schedule.
Obtain quotes from your Ceres VAR and Feeding America
Sign and return contracts

Phase	Roles Needed	Duration
Assemble Local Team	Local PM; SMEs

Name a local project manager
Assemble team of Ceres SME’s (usually department heads; “go-to” people for Ceres questions)

Phase	Roles Needed	Duration
Project Kickoff	Local PM; FA PM; Local Project Team	1 week

Feeding America PM will coordinate a kick-off meeting to explain the project, roles, timeline, etc.

Phase	Roles Needed	Duration
Analysis, review, questions, funding	Local PM; SME team; FA PM or NSC contact	7 weeks

Coordinator places a copy of the Ceres 5 Upgrade Guide on a local server
Local team meets several times to review available functionality and complete the document “Analysis Template” provided.
Meet with Feeding America coordinator or NSC to review results
Secure funding as needed to support the scope of the implementation
Review SOPs and identify where changes need to be made based on Ceres 5
Identify all current customizations and determine which ones can be deleted based on new functionality available (very important to reducing upgrade costs!)

Phase	Roles Needed	Duration
Request test database	Local PM; Feeding America Ceres support or Local IT support	2-3 weeks

If hosted by Feeding America, submit Service Desk ticket to obtain a test database for Ceres 5
If locally hosted, coordinate with local IT to obtain the code base and establish a test database
SMEs do basic testing to ensure code and data are intact

Phase	Roles Needed	Duration
Add-on Systems Test set up	Local PM; Local IT; IT Providers and vendors	2-3 weeks

For all add-on systems, such as Agency Express, Roadnet Anywhere, TMW/ Appian Final Mile, Voxware, ADCS Handhelds, etc., you will need a test environment for those systems available. This may require working with your vendors.

Phase	Roles Needed	Duration
Training and Practice (all users)	Local PM; NSC Implementer	2 weeks

Per the scope of your project, ensure personnel are trained
- The Upgrade Guide indicates if “implementation support” is required. If so, training is usually necessary
- All documentation provided should be read and understood for new functionality.
Finalize SOP updates for inclusion in training/test process

Phase	Roles Needed	Duration
Refine test plan for local use	Local PM; Local SME team; May need additional IT support	1-2 weeks

Local PM obtains copy of Test Workbook from the Resource Center
Based on scope for the project, test workbook is tailored to local scope and resources assigned
Add-on systems coordinated for testing
Plan testing phase. Obtain space. Plan for group testing and end-to-end testing events, coordinate defect tracking.
Communicate project to all users

Phase	Roles Needed	Duration
Conduct testing	Local PM; Local SME team	2 weeks

Begin testing effort. Local PM tracks
Submit questions and defects as directed
Retest
Update SOP documentation based on new processes
Ensure all users are trained

Phase	Roles Needed	Duration
Request Production Cutover	Local PM; Local SME team; All Ceres Users; IT Support	2 weeks

If you are hosted by Feeding America, a date will have been assigned for your cutover. Confirm that date at least 14 days in advance (Go/No Go). Requires Steering Committee meeting that includes the Executive Director.
If you are locally hosted and being supported by your NSC, confirm your agreed cutover date
Review detailed cutover plan with team
Make assignments for weekend testing as needed
Clear/minimize schedules for 1 week post go-live

Phase	Roles Needed	Duration
Cutover Support	Local PM; IT Support	1 week

Local PM closely monitors support queue for 1 - 2 weeks
Coordinate issues with IT provider as needed

Phase	Roles Needed	Duration
Plan for additional implementations of features and functions	Local PM; Local SME team; FA Coordinator	3 weeks

Conduct post upgrade review of the project; lessons learned
Communicate lessons learned to FA PM
Review Ceres4 Upgrade Guide to additional functionality not included in go live. Plan for upcoming phases.
Obtain SR(s) as needed from Ceres Implementation provider for next phase(s)

For Assistance and Support

This Upgrade Guide is provided to give interested members substantive information and links to information regarding Ceres version 5. How you proceed is based on:

If you are on Ceres 2009 or Ceres 4, how your existing Ceres database is hosted
If you are on an older version of Ceres than 2009 or not on Ceres at all

In any case, the Member Business Solutions team is always available to assist you in crafting donor materials to fundraise for your project.

If your Ceres 2009 or Ceres 4 database is hosted by Feeding America

A Master Schedule will be maintained at Feeding America.
You will be assigned a project manager by Feeding America who will work with you to help guide your project, answer questions, share templates, and troubleshoot issues.
Remember to plan for this upgrade in your budgeting and fundraising efforts.
Consider putting a “freeze” on any new customization requests to avoid wasted time and money for a feature that could be in Ceres 5.

If your Ceres 2009 or Ceres 4 database is not hosted by Feeding America

All self-hosted members are encouraged to have a plan for moving to Ceres 5.
You are encouraged to use the template plan and re-usable documents drafted by Feeding America for this program.
A Feeding America Project Manager is available to manage your project at a very reasonable cost. Using FA Project Managers encourages the sharing of best practices and adds to the overall success rate of all members. Please contact Connie Ahalt for a quote.
Please use caution attempting to implement complex functionality without the assistance of partner implementers as recommended in this guide.

If you are on an older Ceres release, prior to 2009, and wish to implement Ceres 5

For food banks using Ceres 1.x or 2.x, moving to Ceres 5 is a re-implementation project, not an upgrade. Therefore, the project is approached differently. Below are the recommended steps to get started.

Contact the Feeding America Member Business Solutions Director to begin your process. Templates and estimating tools are available to begin budgeting and fundraising activities locally.
Work with the Feeding America Member Business Solutions Director to be assigned a slot on the project schedule. Your scheduling process will include a date to start your project and an estimated completion date for what you define as Phase 1. (Ceres 5 has a great deal of features and functions and it is unlikely that you can utilize the functionality with your initial project.)
Decide who your implementation partner will be for your project. We recommend talking to other members as reference points.
What you can do now to prepare for your project:
- Begin working on your Standard Operating Procedures.
- Begin cleaning up your master data files in whatever system you are on now

Some General Comments

There are a few general concepts about Ceres 5 that are helpful to bear in mind as you are starting to plan or execute your upgrade.

In NAV 2013 and later, all functions and transactions occur within the Role Tailored Client (RTC). The “Classic Client” has been removed. Reports that “would not run” in RTC in Ceres 2009 due to flaws in the RTC are expected to run to completion in Ceres 5. If you have reports that only work as Classic Client reports, you will need to have them migrated to RTC to work with Ceres 5 or migrate them to Jet Reports.
There is significant movement toward less base reporting in Ceres (especially customized reports) and more use of reporting tools such as Jet Reports. Please see the Jet Report page on the Member Business Solutions Resource Center on Hungernet for a repository of Jet Professional Reports shared by the membership or to learn more about the tool. Additional assistance and helpful recorded webinars can be found in the Jet Designer User Group.
As with Ceres 2009 and 4 there are procedures, webinars, user groups and other useful information on the Ceres page on Hungernet. As of February 2019, the Ceres 5 procedures are still in process, but the capabilities have a substantive overlap with Ceres 4.5, so those documents would be a good starting place.

Detailed List of New Capabilities

The purpose of this Upgrade Guide is to provide users with a catalogue of the release and information about how to implement and utilize the enhancements. The release is a big collection of enhancements – some are simple and straightforward, and some are quite complex and involved – and everything in between.

The functions are organized by general use area. Then each enhancement is listed, along with a short note that explains what it does and how it can be implemented or utilized. Each member should perform an analysis step to carefully review each item and decide how this feature or function can be incorporated into your processes and procedures. Do not assume that these enhancements are intuitive. Each was designed with a purpose in mind; reading and understanding each new possibility is the best way to create value from this upgrade. This is the hierarchy of how the release contents are listed:

Functional Area
- Enhancements

The full list of objects, including Break/fix changes for each Functional Area are listed in Appendix 1. These align with the Read Me files that are posted on Hungernet at the link here.

This document is intended to be used on-line where hyperlinks can take you to more detailed documentation which will be available about many of the enhancements. In the case of simpler, less complex enhancements, an information paragraph or explanation will be captured here. In those cases, simply copying that page would be encouraged. Hungernet was recently migrated to a new Sharepoint architecture. If any of the links here do not work, you can navigate to the source documents on the Ceres page here. They are also grouped by functional area.

Upgrade Instruction Legend

Each of the new capabilities is listed alongside an "Upgrade Instruction" that corresponds to the level of effort and the resources required to implement an upgrade. Detailed explanations of the different upgrade instructions are below:

Self-Implemented I

These capablities are easiest to implement
All of the instructions you need are written in this guide
They are self-evident when you are using the application
They may be as simple as viewing new data on a report or seeing a new field on a page.

To implement these capabilities, you will need only this document as a guide.

Self-Implemented II

Experienced users should be able to understand and utilize this functionality
A supplemental document (or documents) is provided and the links are included in the guide
This class of functionality is more complex and probably involves updating food bank processes and procedures

To implement these capabilities, you will need:

this document to access the document links
a valid Hungernet login and password.

Assisted Implementation I

This group of customizations require the services of a partner implementer.
When you are ready to use this functionality, work with your Feeding America or your Ceres partner to get a quote and schedule the work.
This class of Assisted Implementation requires mostly analysis and training.

To implement these capabilities, you will need to:

get a quote(s) and schedule your plans
make sure local resources are available to maximize your outcomes

Assisted Implementation II

This is the most complex group of new functionality offered
When you are ready to use this functionality, work with Feeding America and/or your Ceres partner to get a quote and schedule the work.
This class of features requires data set-up, training, testing and implementation support.
These features all impact more than one local process and will require a team and local project manager.

To implement these capabilities, you will need to:

get a quote(s) and schedule your plans with your partner or Feeding America
make sure local resources are available to maximize your outcomes
update your local SOPs to include these changes

Catalogue of this Release (by Function)

Dynamics NAV Productivity Improvements & User Experience Changes

The upgrade includes enhancements created by Microsoft in the Dynamics NAV platform, and many food bank specific enhancements. The Microsoft enhancements are additive and listed here in reverse chronological order.

New NAV 2018 Features:

Expanded Office 365 support, allowing you to navigate easily between Ceres and Microsoft Outlook, Word, and Excel, and integration with Microsoft Flow.
You can create workflows that connect business-process tasks performed by different users. System tasks, such as automatic posting, can be included as steps in workflows, preceded or followed by user tasks.
Ceres now provides summary statistics below the lines section of Donation Orders, Purchase Orders, and Agency Orders.
The Role Center has been enhanced to more accurately reflect the work of specific groups of users.

Prior Version Features:

[2016] The User Interface continues to evolve to be more and more Microsoft centric. The role center and ribbons are designed to provide the user a familiar Windows type interface.
[2016] Web/ Tablet Client capability – no local software installation needed. Though it is not as flexible as the Windows client, it allows you to use Ceres on a tablet or similar for remote access. Please note that you will need assistance from your Ceres VAR or the Service Desk to use this client option.
[2016] Simplified Payment Reconciliation using a new Payment Reconciliation Journal
[2016] Report Scheduler – set up Ceres reports to run overnight on a designated Schedule, aligns with the Job Scheduler/ Job Queue
[2016] Improved Record Links capabilities – though support for the Matriks Doc add on has been phased out. If you currently use Matriks Doc, work with your Ceres VAR so that all the document links are migrated as part of the upgrade. You will no longer need the Matriks Doc add on to support record linking.
[2016] Posting Preview – see where components will post in advance of posting the transaction.
[2016] The FIND in list function is back!
[2016] Select All & Copy/Paste Rows functions are back
[2016] Use Formulas for filtering Dates and other fields
[2016] New Statistics Pane in certain transaction pages, like Agency Orders.
[2016] Deferral Accounting
[2016] Office 365 support, including One Note. In order to access this capability, you will need assistance from your Ceres VAR or the Service Desk.
[2016] Use filters on the lines of any page for quick views
[2016] Quick Entry-it’s easy to personalize screens to skip over unnecessary fields to speed up data entry
[2016] Keyboard shortcuts emulate the Office Suite-new shortcuts include toggling between collapsing and expanding the ribbon & jumping to the Role Center
[2013] Sorting enhancements let you sort any column header in a list & sorted lists can be saved for later use
[2013] New FactBoxes give a quick view of important information. For example: lot numbers per bin, Agency information, outstanding AP amounts
[2013] Elimination of the Classic client – only need to install/maintain one type of client
[2013] Dimension data restructuring. Seamless to the end user, may impact Jet Reports using multiple dimensions

The major Ceres specific enhancements:

Agency Express Sync Monitoring - For several years, food banks that use Agency Express have requested a more automated manner in determining that Ceres and Agency Express are no longer communicating. The Sync Heartbeat initiative identified and provided notification solutions for the most common reasons that the Sync may be stopped. Multiple Food Bank contacts can be notified via email that there is an issue, and the source of the issue. These enhancements were funded by Feeding America.
Agency Express Survey - Set up Surveys in Ceres to be sent to Agency Express. Then Agencies can complete the Survey on Agency Express, and the response is imported back into Ceres. Business rules can be established to prevent Agencies from ordering if a Survey response is past due. These enhancements were funded by Feeding America.
Meal Connect Support - Integration support for the Feeding America Meal Connect site is now part of base Ceres 4.5. The Meal Connect Data Import can now be scheduled to run on a schedule, overnight. These enhancements were funded by Feeding America.
Financial Enhancements - The Feeding America CFO group was the genesis for this collection of enhancements to Ceres. These requests are centered on changes to the Financial Management functions within Ceres and some finance focused linked systems, such as bank portals and budgeting tools. These enhancements were jointly funded by participating members and Feeding America.
Jupiter Base Enhancements - In the fall of 2011, several large food banks agreed to work together to implement Ceres 2009 and several common linked systems. This shared project was given the name “Project Jupiter.” The enhancements created for the Jupiter team are included in this release of Ceres software. They focus on external system integrations and high volume use efficiency. Funding for these enhancements was supplied by the Jupiter participants.
cMobile Truck 2.0 - cMobile is the branding associated with mobility systems that were created to work seamlessly with Ceres. The first release was for Food Rescue only and was limited in its release. cMobile 2.0 is the second generation and is designed to meet the needs of general delivery functions performed at food banks. This functionality was funded by Feeding America with a substantial in-kind donation of development and licenses by SAP Americas.
Picking via Handhelds – This capability has existed in Ceres for several years, but it has been improved noticeably with Ceres 5.
Agency Order Handbuilds – This capability allows the warehouse team to build Agency Order lines via the scanners for mobile pantries and other push order.
Agency Pallet Tracking – This is new capability that allows the food bank to scan and locate pallets created for Agency pick pallets. The inventory will show as depleted from the original pallet, and the mixed pallet created by the selectors is able to be located in Bins in preparation for load out or pick up.

Agencies and Receivables

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Allocation Journal Enhancements		Self-Implemented II
4.00.00	Allocation Journal Import and Enhancements		Self-Implemented II

Update the Allocation Journal process in Ceres so that the food bank may choose to allocate less than the full Available Quantity of a specified Item. If the Agency edits the Allocated Order to select less than the fully allocated quantity, select whether you want the system to flush to Available Quantity, another Order for the Agency or an Allocation Journal.

Create a base allocation journal import process, to populate the allocation journal directly from the “Allocation Spreadsheet Template” Excel document. Allow the Import to be defined by Order Handling Group or Order Routing Group, as well as the subsequent batch routine to create Agency Orders and send the Allocated Agency Orders to Agency Express 3.

Procedure Documents: Allocated Agency Orders Allocation Journal Import Template
Allocated Orders – Update Web Allocation Status

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	UNC Activity Status by Group		Self-Implemented II

This is a new utility, based on the Agency Compliance setup, which will allow the food bank to change the UNC Activity Status for a group of agencies on demand. This routine allows the user to see recommended UNC Activity Status changes, filter on various key values such as FBC Program Category and change the Agencies’ Activity Status and therefore their ability to Order from the food bank.

Procedure Documents: Agency Compliance

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Agency & Donor Document Email Functionality		Assisted Implementation I or Self-Implemented II

This enhancement allows the food bank to set up Ceres to email selected Agency and/ or Donor Documents automatically when the order is processed, and CC internal staff. In addition, Agency Statements can also be generated to PDF and emailed to Agencies/ Parent Agencies as a group.

Procedure Documents: Agency and Donor Document Email Functionality

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Agency Profile Enhancements		Self-Implemented II

The Agency Profile changes are designed to keep track of information about Agencies that is not directly related to Ordering. The profile enhancements include the ability to define and populate some food bank defined fields for categorizing Agencies. These new fields are not auto populated from the Agency Survey functionality. The general components in Agency Profiles:

501c3 application and compliance information
Training and Certification dates
Geographic grouping information such as Senate district
Food bank defined attribute fields to support Agency Grouping/Tiering Agency Profiles

Procedure Documents: Agency Profiles

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Shipment Method Code		Self-Implemented II

The Shipment Method Code functionality update is designed to reduce errors related to handling Agency Orders. Specifically, the Shipment Method Code can be made a required field when setting up an Agency and subsequently creating Agency Order Headers and Lines. The Shipment Method is available as a visible/ filterable field on both Header and Lines of the Order.

Additionally, this update provides the ability to specify via setup how differences in Shipment Methods should be handled for Web orders received from Agency Express as compared to the Shipping Method specified for the related Agency.

Procedure Documents: Agency Shipment Method Code

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Agency/Items Statistics Report		Self-Implemented I

This update to the Agency/Item Statistics Report was created to show the Unit Fees per pound.

Procedure Documents: Agency Item Statistics Report

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Agency Order and Invoice with Grant Detail		Self-Implemented II

This enhancement allows you to see the Grant Amount per line on an Agency Order and Invoice. Two new reports have been created, based on reports 14012524 (Agency Invoice) & 14012525 (Ceres Agency Order) adding a Grant Amount column.

Procedure Documents: Agency Orders with Grants

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Contact Number		Self-Implemented I

Enhance Ceres to provide an option to have the Company Contact number that is assigned be based on the record that it is being created from. For example, if a Company Contact is being created from Agency A0442, then the Contact Number that is assigned would also be A0442. Person Contacts will continue to be assigned manually, such as A0442-1 to designate that this is the first Person Contact that has been setup for Company Contact A0442.

Procedure Documents: Agency Overview

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.01	Limit Delivery Charges Min Max		Self-Implemented II
4.01.41	Automate Delivery Charge Calculation	Object Releases	Self-Implemented II

The delivery charge can now apply a minimum and maximum delivery charge if specified by Delivery Zone. The delivery charge can automatically be calculated. This functionality was funded by East Texas Food Bank.

Procedure Documents: Agency Delivery Zones and Delivery Fees Agency Order Overview

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.02.19	Agency Report with VAP Detail	Object Releases	Self-Implemented I

The VAP fees charged on an Agency Order/Agency Invoice are now reported separately from the Unit Fees. This functionality was funded by Feeding America.

Procedure Documents: Agency Delivery Zones and Delivery Fees

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
5.00.00	Agency Compliance Automation		Assisted Implementation I

Agency Compliance has been automated to enable automatic Agency Holds based upon Agency Survey compliance and/or Agency Certification expiration. This functionality was funded by Greater Chicago Food Depository and Feeding America.

Procedure Documents: Agency Overview Agency Compliance

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
5.00.00	Parent Agency Entries		Self-Implemented I

Currently when using the drill down on the Parent Agency Balance, the detail ledger entries are displayed. This drill down has been updated to display the non-detail ledger entries, which makes determining the status of each entry easier.

Procedure Documents: Parent Agency Overview

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
5.00.00	Top Agencies by Pounds Report		Self-Implemented I

The Top Agencies report has been enhanced to enable ranking Agencies by pounds distributed.

Procedure Documents: Pending

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
5.00.00	Web Order Validation Failure		Self-implemented II

The reason for the validation failure on a Web Order is now tracked in the comments, found in the Related Information section of the Lines menu, on Agency Order lines.

Procedure Documents: Pending

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
5.00.00	Parent Agency Contacts		Self-implemented I

Contact functionality has been added to the Parent Agency

Procedure Document: Parent Agency Overview

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
5.00.00	Standing Appointment Setup		Self-implemented II

The ability to establish “every X weeks” Standing Appointment Setup has been added to Agency Scheduling.

Procedure Documents: Agency Appointments

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
5.00.00	Overscheduled Warning		Self-implemented II

When assigning an Agency Order to an appointment, Ceres will warn the user if the appointment assignment will result in a scheduling conflict.

Procedure Documents: Agency Appointments

Agency Express

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.01.55	Agency Express Process Failure Notification		Assisted Implementation II

If Agency Express and Ceres are failing to communicate for more than the designated period of time, a Ceres Job can be established to email a key group of users to go troubleshoot and correct the stoppage.

Procedure Document: Agency Express Process Failure Notification

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Agency Express Nightly Synchronization Process		Assisted Implementation I

To mitigate the potential of a missed update during the day that could impact Item availability, a nightly synchronization of the Agencies, Shoppers, and Items & Qualifiers is desired. A periodic process was created to synchronize Agency, Shopper, Item, and Qualifier records on a set schedule. Typically, this is run overnight.

Procedure Document: None

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.01.55	Agency Express Surveys		Assisted Implementation II
4.50.69

This functionality was created to allow food banks to define Agency Surveys in Ceres, then to push the survey questions to Agency Express for the shopper to complete and submit. Ordering controls can be defined based on survey completions. A detailed procedure document is available for this functionality. Some highlights include:

Define the Surveys in Ceres 4 and send selected Surveys to Agency Express
Alternately, define Surveys with the Agency Express Survey Builder. These may are may not be able to be imported into Ceres 4.
Assign one or more Surveys to a designated Agency Group (also used for Qualifier Grouping).
Control whether a Survey response is required, and the answers reviewed by the food bank, prior to allowing Ordering of product. The functionality includes a defined Grace period past the due date.
Export/ Import completed Survey responses from Agency Express and into Ceres 4 for triggering status updates for Ordering and tracking historical responses. Imports into an enhanced version of the Agency Activity Review/ Agency Questionnaires functionality built for Ceres 4.
As of Ceres 4.02.04, you can also use Agency Surveys without the integration with Agency Express.

**Procedure Documents: Agency Questionnaires

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.38	AE-Exclude Quantity from AE by Zone & Location		Assisted Implementation I

A quantity of items can be prevented from being available on Agency Express by zone and location. This functionality was funded by Feeding America

Procedure Documents: Agency Express Managing Web Orders ZoneOverview

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.40	AE-Additional Shopper Edits and Special Character remove		Assisted Implementation I
4.00.48 & 63

Prevents the user from editing the Shopper records in such a manner to prevent AE Synchronization. In addition, these patches allow Ceres to be set up to remove special characters from fields like Item Description which will stop the Agency Express data imports.

Procedure Documents: AE Agencies Shopper Items

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	AE Eliminate ITQ Bottleneck		Assisted Implementation I

Gives the food bank the option to split the Agency Express Web Queue sync processing into two parallel processes to reduce traffic bottlenecks.

Procedure Documents: Agency Express Job Queue Setup

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.50.56	Delete Single Standing Appointment and Old Appointments		Self-Imnplemented II

Allows deleting of single standing appointments and old appointments without deleting and recreating the entire schedule.

Procedure Documents: Agency Scheduling

Vendors, Purchasing and Payables

See Donors and Donation Section for additional enhancements such as Meal Connect Integration and Grocery Rescue Import.

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Default Donor/Vendor Location on Purchase Docs.		Self-Imnplemented I

If a default Location code is entered on a Vendor Card or Donor Card, flow that Location code to any Purchase document headers or Donation document headers created for that entity.

Procedure Documents: Donor Overview, Vendor Overview

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Post PO-PI in Detail		Self-Imnplemented II

Base Ceres currently posts Purchase Order/Purchase Invoice lines in summary to the Vendor Ledger and General Ledger when the G/L Account and Dimensions are the same on each line. This enhancement modifies the A/P posting routine to not summarize A/P posting and post each line independently. Additionally, the posting description from the Purchase Order/Purchase Invoice line should flow to the Vendor Ledger and General Ledger.

Procedure Documents: None, however this functionality was reviewed in the Finance User Group meeting.

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Improve Vendor Payments made via Credit Cards		Assisted Implementation I

Currently, to record vendor purchases made via credit card, the only option Base Ceres provides is to utilize the “Pay-to Vendor” functionality. This enhancement changes this process to meet the food bank’s needs.

Records the purchase under the vendor the goods or services were procured from.
Liquidates the payable under the vendor the goods or services were procured from (including the 1099 amounts if applicable).
Records the liability to the credit card vendor which can be paid in the normal check cycle.
- If the “Summarize per Vendor” option is utilized in the Suggest Vendor Payments process, the credit card vendor will receive a single invoice line for the payment.
- If a miscellaneous or one-time vendor purchase is made with a credit card, a Purchase Order or Purchase Invoice can always be made directly to the credit card vendor.
Creates a Credit Card Transaction Import - An import process will be created to import an Excel file containing credit card transactions (provided by the credit card processor).

Procedure Documents: Vendor Purchases via Credit Card

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Positive Pay File		Assisted Implementation II

Base Ceres currently does not provide any form of positive pay file. Since Positive Pay file formats vary by Financial Institution, this enhancement contains a configurable template to produce the positive pay file. Additional development may be needed to supplement this base code, depending on the requirements of the financial institution.

Procedure Documents: AP Positive Pay

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Cost Allocation		Self-Implemented II

Starting with Ceres 4.5, you can see the posting split in the GL Prior to posting the Cost(s) with the allocation model applied. This code adds a pre-posting percentage cost allocation functionality added to purchase transactions, general journal entries, and fixed asset transactions. In addition, you can apply a Cost Allocation in a General Journal to re-allocate costs at the end of a period.

Procedure Documents: Cost Allocations

Donors and Donations

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.44	Donation Order to Purchase Invoice Link		Self-Implemented II

With this capability, tracking Donated Produce where Freight and/or VAP is due becomes much easier. The pending Vendor payments can be included on the unposted Donation Order, and when the Donation is posted, one or more draft Purchase Invoices are created for Accounting. If you pair with record links, the backup documentation will flow to both the posted Donation and the draft Purchase Invoices. The DO number will be available on the PI’s and vice versa to allow for cross referencing prior to payment. This functionality was funded as part of the Finance Enhancements.

Procedure Documents: Donation Order Overview

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Change Donor on Posted Donation Order		Self-Implemented II

After posting a donation order it may be necessary to update the Donor to whom the donation order is related. This need is based on human error e.g. the wrong Donor was specified for the donation order. The Update Donor Number functionality can be used to correct this issue, with some limitations on its’ use.

note

No changes can or will be made via this batch update to Items, Item Quantities, or any details of the transaction other than changing the donor information on the record. The Parent Donor must be the same for the original and the new Donor. Security is in place to prevent unauthorized users from running this process.

*Procedure Documents: Donor Change on Posted Donation

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Food and Fund Drives Enhancements		Assisted Implementation I

The base Ceres food & fund drive functionality (as described in the Food & Fund Drive Overview procedure) was enhanced in spring 2013 to better meet the evolving needs of the food banks related to data entry, reporting, and routing capabilities . The enhancements include:

Data Capture
- Separation of food drive donors from regular donors
- Separation of food drive donation orders from regular donation orders
- Additional fields on the donor cards and donation orders for tracking and reporting purposes
Routing support for pickups (see Appian documentation for more details). Roadnet routing support is not specifically included for Food Drive Donation pickups at this time.
New Reports
- Food Drive Materials Summary
- Food Drive Scheduling
- Food Drive Stops Report

Procedure Document: Food Drive Enhancements

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Agency and Donor Document Email Functionality		Assisted Implementation I

Procedure Documents: Agency and Donor Document Email Functionality

Code	Short Description	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Grocery Rescue Import	Self-Implemented II or Assisted Implementation I
4.00.85	Automate the Excel Import via Job Scheduler	Assisted Implementation I
5.00.00	Enhanced Grocery Rescue Order Management	Assisted Implementation I

Many food banks work to collect food from grocery stores in their communities. This collection process takes three primary forms:

The food bank sends a truck out to collect a grocery donation route, and the food is brought back to the food bank. The driver then provides information about the product and donor to receiving and multiple similar donation orders are needed.
The food bank collects the food from grocery donors and drops it off at Agency site (s) before returning to the food bank. The food bank then needs to create multiple donation and agency orders in Ceres to track this work.
The food bank connects one or more Agencies with the grocery donors, and the agency picks up the food directly from the donor, and reports the transactions to the food bank in a designated time interval. This requires the creation of both donation orders and agency orders to record the transactions in Ceres after the fact.

These processes have been automated in Ceres, allowing the food bank to collect data and enter it into a designated Excel workbook template for import. The work book can be modeled to collect Donation data, or Agency Order data or both. Ceres can import the workbook lines and create Donation Orders and/or Agency Orders from the designated Excel spreadsheet template. The donation orders can be automatically posted to provide available quantity in Ceres immediately for the imported Agency Orders. This functionality was funded by Feeding America.

In Ceres 5, the Grocery Rescue process has been updated to provide additional fault tolerance by using a staging table to separate the importing of records from the processing of records. This enhancement set was funded by eSoftware Professionals.

Procedure Documents: Grocery Rescue Excel Import; Grocery Rescue Excel Import Template Grocery Rescue CSV Import; Grocery Rescue CSV Import Template

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Toggle Blue Receipt Flag for Posted Donation Receipts		Self-Implemented II

Allows the user to update the Blue Receipt field on the Posted donation to correct some Blue Receipting errors.

Procedure Documents: None, however a Feeding America Compliance Webinar covers this functionality

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Sum Ext. Gross Weight on Report 14012269		Self-Implemented I

Updated the base Posted Donor Invoice report and added the Ext. Gross Weight field. This report would need to be chosen in Report selections for this to be visible.

Procedure Documents: N/A

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.10.00	Meal Connect (formerly Online Market Place)		Assisted Implementation II

The Meal Connect tool allows Agencies to enter donations they picked up from a Donor. The Ceres 4 integration will allow a Food Bank user to download relevant data in an XML Document format via a Web Service. To complete this data transport to Ceres, an enhancement is needed to import the Marketplace download. The import should create Agency Orders and Donation Orders to record the occurrence of the transaction from the inventory and financial perspectives.

Procedure Documents: See Meal Connect Page and Ceres 4 Procedure repository as a PDF

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
5.00.00	Your Reference		Self-implemented I

The “Your Reference” field has been added to the Posted Donation documents to facilitate locating MealConnect transactions.

Procedure Documents: Meal Connect Setup Guide

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
5.00.00	Suppress Donation Receipt		Self-implemented II

An option has been added to enable the suppression of the Donation Receipt when “Post & Send” is used on the Donation Order.

Procedure Documents: Donation Order Overview

Inventory

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Cube Density		Self-implemented I

Add a new field to the Item to represent the relative density of the Item from the weight of the case and dimensions of the case. It is calculated by dividing the weight by the cubic feet of the item. Higher values represent denser items. Possible uses of the cube density field include:

Assist in determining optimum picking bins for products.
Assist in arranging warehouse pick lines to keep like density items together.
Assist in building of pallets to ensure that dense items are placed on pallets first.

Procedure Documents: Item Overview

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Advanced Kitting		Assisted Implementation II

The Advance Kitting process provides the user with the tools necessary to setup, manage and build kits. Kitting allows the grouping and packaging of items together to properly track inventory and costs associated with the components of the kit. Building kit items also facilitates the ability to expedite agency orders by distributing the pre-assembled kits. When creating the kit bill of materials, Ceres allows for the inclusion of substitute items which can be used if sufficient quantities of a primary item are not found. Common uses for kits within the food bank include USDA boxes and some child nutrition programs such as a “Backpack” program.

One major component of Advanced Kitting is the ability to track costs associated with the resulting finished goods Kit more specifically. Instead of a blended cost or assigned cost, Advanced Kitting allows you to maintain the cost changes associated with various types of substitutions. This is useful if you have kit substitutes that consist of Donated product, government commodities and purchased items that may be used in the same finished good. Advanced Kitting also allows the food bank to reverse a Kit process, if the finished good was dis-assembled after Kitting.

Procedure Documents: Advanced Kitting Overview

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Ship by Date		Self-Implemented II

Ceres 4 allows the food bank to track three different aging management values for an Item/ Lot combination. They are, in reverse order:

Consume by Date: The date after which consuming the product is no longer safe. This is typically after the Lot Expiration date. Once this date is reached, the Inventory is no longer Available Inventory in Ceres. Ship by Date: The date by which the food bank must distribute the inventory, so the end consumer has time to obtain and use the food prior to the Consume by date. Lot Expiration Date: The manufacturers/ distributers/ growers published Lot Expiration date.

Consume by Date and Lot Expiration date have been available in Ceres 2009 since its’ initial release. The Ship by Date tracking is a new option for 2013. The Ship by Date is setup and calculates in the same manner as the lot expiration date and lot consume by date, it is informational only and does not factor into any other processes or calculations within Ceres.

Procedure Documents: Lot Expiration, Ship By and Consume By Dates

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Items on Hand by Date Report		Self-Implemented I

A new inventory report called “Items on Hand by Date” was created that displays the quantity and total weight on hand as of the date specified. This allows the user to print “on hand as of” inventory reports for past periods. This is very useful for audits and for month end/ year end reconciliation.

Procedure Documents: Items on Hand by Date Report

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.50.00	Lot Costing and Pricing		Assisted Implementation II

In Ceres 4.5, Inventory Valuation (Costing) for purchased product changes from FIFO Costing to Specific Identification at the Lot Level. The food bank can choose whether the Agency Fees are based on the weighted average unit cost for the Items on Hand, or based on the specific cost of the Lot(s) distributed to the Agency on the Order. This is an important aspect to discuss with your implementer as part of the upgrade.

Procedure Document: Inventory Lot Costing and Pricing

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Transfer Order Process Flow Changes for Shipment Option 2 and Require Lot/Pallet		Self-Implemented II

Transfer Orders are utilized to facilitate transfers between Locations (warehouses). The Transfer Order contains information about the transfer-from and transfer-to Locations and the dates connected to the shipping and receiving of the transfer order. A transfer order is similar to an Agency Order and Donation Order, except that it records a shipment and receipt between two warehouse locations of the food bank operation, instead of between external entities and the food bank. Your selected Ship Option and Receiving Option will control the Transfer Order process, just like it does for the other Order types. The Inventory Workflow Procedure outlines these options and their related processes.

Procedure Document: Transfer Order Overview

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Inventory Put Away Default Posting Option		Assisted Implementation I

The Inventory Put Away Default Posting Option is available on the Posting FastTab of Inventory Setup. This setting which provides the Receive or Receive & Invoice option is used to control the default posting option for Put Away document.

Procedure Document: None

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Ceres Calculate Inventory Function		Self-Implement I

This object updates the Inventory Physical Inventory Journal “Calculate Inventory” function to speed up the journal line calculation. With Ceres 4.10 and higher, it is also possible to generate a journal when Picks are open, as long as they do not overlap.

Procedure Documents: Physical Inventory Counts with Physical Inventory Journal

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Inventory Pick and Agency Order Wave Pick Reports		Assisted Implementation I

Several new Inventory/ Operations reports were added to Ceres 4 based on feedback from implementing sites. The Inventory Pick would need to be established via Report selections by your Ceres VAR.

Procedure Documents: Inventory Picks

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Quantity Available Calculation Method		Self-Implementation I

This is a “behind the scenes” update to speed up available quantity calculations in a few key areas: Agency Order Lines, Item Journal Negative Adjustments, Transfer Orders. The most noticeable change is in Items with many small Lots.

Procedure Documents: Pending

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Extend Inventory Shorts/Cuts to all Ship Options		Assisted Implementation I

This new functionality allows the site to flow Inventory Picking Shorts to an Item Journal to create a recommended Cycle count each day. It also prevents the shorted quantity from re-appearing on Agency Express so the Agencies can’t order it all over again. This functionality was funded by Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma and Feeding America.

Procedure Documents: Agency Clear Back Orders Inventory Short Handling Location Overview

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.51.49	Bulk Edit Items		Self-Implemented II

A new batch routine allows the user to select any field(s) on the item card that can be changed manually and change those fields for multiple Items at one time. The Item Batch Update report link can be found under: Departments/Warehouse/Inventory/Reports ▸ Item Batch Update. This functionality was funded by Feeding America.

Procedure Documents: Item Data Management

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
5.00.00	Non-Lot Tracked Items		Self-Implemented II

It is now possible to specify an Item as non-lot tracked.

Procedure Document: Pending

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
5.00.00	Consume by Date		Self-Implemented I

The Consume by Date calculation functionality has been extended to the Item Journal and the BOM Journal

Procedure Documents: Item and Lot Ship By Date Consume By Date Expiration Date

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
5.00.00	Item Attributes		Self-Implemented II

All Items include Item Attributes (additional item details) which enable tracking, filtering, and selection by Item Attribute.

Procedure Documents: Item Overview

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
5.00.00	Quantity on Item Journal		Self-Implemented I

A Quantity on Item Journal flow field has been added to the Item page, enabling better visibility as to where item quantities are.

Procedure Documents: Item Overview

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
5.00.00	Item Fixed Cost		Self-Implemented II

A new Cost Adjustment Type = Fixed has been added to the Item. This enables a Fixed Unit Fee to be assigned to an Item regardless of the Item’s cost.

Procedure Documents: Item Overview

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
5.00.00	Cycle Count		Self-Implemented II

Cycle counts are now allowed with open Inventory Put-Away transactions. Previously only open Inventory Picks were allowed during a cycle count. This functionality was funded by Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo.

Procedure Documents: Physical Inventory Counts and Physical Inventory Journal

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
5.00.00	Exempt Item from Delivery Charges		Self-implemented II

The ability to exempt an item from pound-based delivery charges has been added. This allows an Item’s poundage on an Agency Order to be excluded from the total order poundage when calculating the delivery charge.

Procedure Documents: Item Overview

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
5.00.0x	Truck Based Handheld Integration		Assisted Implementation II

Still under development

Procedure Documents: Pending

Warehouse

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
3.01.38	Full Pallet OrderHandling in Ceres		Assisted Implementation I

Many food banks encourage large agencies, PDO’s/RDO’s etc. to order from the food bank in full pallet quantities. These full pallet quantities can be picked with a forklift directly from a Put away (Storage) Bin, and need not be dropped to a Pick Bin prior to selecting for an Agency Order.

There are two manners in which a full pallet order may be generated:

A food bank user adds a designed pallet to an Agency Order line manually, indicating that a full pallet is desired and that the food bank has designated a specific pallet to be shipped to the receiving Agency. This is common in disaster relief and some commodities distribution.
When the Agency order demand is large enough to be fulfilled using full pallets of an Item for that one order.

Procedure Documents: Full Pallet Order Handling

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Cycle Count Enhancements		Self-Implemented II or Assisted Implement II if tied to ADCS

This enhancement gives you the ability to run certain Inventory Cycle Counts while there are open Inventory Picks in the system.

Procedure Documents: Inventory Picks

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	ADCS Enhancements		Assisted Implementation II

This represents major enhancements to the base Ceres ADCS (Scanner handheld) functionality. These new updates allow the users to expand the usage of handhelds in the warehouse. This includes enhancements for Inventory Picking, initiating and receiving Transfer Orders, Donation Order receiving, Pallet Consolidation, Agency Order Hand Builds, and Cycle Counts. These enhancements were funded by Food Bank for New York City, Harvesters Community Food Bank, Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara & San Mateo, and Feeding America.

Procedure Documents: Warehouse ADCS Barcode Processing

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Option to Display Pallet Report Request Page		Self-Implemented I

The ability to configure Ceres to display the Request page for a report defined for ADCS Pallet in Report Selection – Inventory

Procedure Documents: Pending

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Receiving Enhancements		Self-Implemented II

Update Donation and Purchase Orders to capture logistics planning information for Receiving such as: Carrier information, expected receive date, backhaul information etc.

Procedure Documents: Pending

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Pick Generation Enhancements		Assisted Implementation I

This change allows the food bank to create separate picks by Zone and/or FBC Storage Requirements with the added capability to manage the way picks are calculated and assigned pallets/ lots. It also facilitates the ability to create wave picks.

Procedure Documents: Inventory Picks

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	WAP/Replenishment Enhancements	Jupiter	Assisted Implementation II

The Warehouse Activity Plan (WAP) serves as a tool for pick bin replenishment, prior to starting the Pick process, so there is enough inventory in the Pick bins to fulfill the orders for that day. For some food banks, there is not enough pick bin space to move all product down at once, so these changes to the Warehouse Activity Plan and the supporting replenishment processes were created. Only Ship Option 2 is tied in with this workflow.

The following components were adapted to address Pick Bin space constraint with a new Ceres workflow:

Warehouse Activity Plan (WAP)
Picking Sequences defined for Bins
ADCS hand-held pick functionality
Item Setup options

Procedure Documents: Warehouse Activity Plan - WAP Warehouse ADCS Barcode Processing

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	WAP Bin Content Records	Object Releases	Self-Implemented I

Since omitting the use of the WAP Template is not possible in Ceres 4 (unless Default Bin Picking is being used), it is suggested that not maintaining the existence of zero quantity Bin Content records for the purpose of empty bin placement is the best workable variable in the overall WAP processing time requirement.

Procedure Documents: N/A

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	WAP Allow Mixed Items on WAP Suggestion	Object Releases	Self-Implemented I

Enhance Ceres to provide a flexible means of suggesting To-Bin’s on the WAP with respect the mixing of items within the Bin. Enhance Ceres to abide by the WAP’s Same Zone and Same Bin Class options regardless of whether the To-Bin suggestion is a result of an empty or not-full Bin. Bin Content records are created in Ceres as items are moved in and out of Bins. In newly implemented systems it is likely that not all Bins will have a representative Bin Content record. As the WAP’s To-Bin suggestions are determined via Bin Content records, it is likely that the WAP will not suggest a To-Bin even when there are available empty Bins (those that have not yet been used according to Ceres).

Procedure Documents: Warehouse Activity Plan -WAP

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Voxware Integration		Assisted Implementation II

Voxware is a WMS supplement to Ceres 4 to provide Voice device support for common warehouse tasks. Currently Voxware integrates with Ceres 4 to support Agency Order Picking – hence a common reference to Voxware is “Voice Pick.”

Ceres is designed currently to link with Voxware release 5. Note that in 2017, Voxware moved to a Software as a Service Model, and the cost for food banks has changed. Voxware is a separate purchase.

Procedure Documents: Voxware Overview and Integration

note

As of February 2019, most food banks are slowly transitioning away from Voxware due to a licensing model change.

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Order Grouping and Staging		Assisted Implementation I

Food banks often need to group Agency Orders together for fulfillment, to make day to day processing easier. Common groupings include by Program (Kid’s Café Orders for example) or by delivery area (Rural drop site etc.). To meet these needs in a flexible manner, order handling group and order routing group functionality was added to Ceres. The enhancements include:

Order Handling Groups – Applies to Agencies, Donors, and Vendors and related documents, as well as some warehouse processes.
Order Routing Groups – Applies to Agencies, Donors, and Vendors and related documents, as well as some warehouse processes.

Procedure Documents: Order Handling Groups Order Routing Groups

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	TMW/Appian Integration		Assisted Implementation II

Currently there are two primary truck/ delivery routing solutions used in the Feeding America network, Roadnet Anywhere and TMW Appian. Both integrate with Ceres 4, and have procedure documents related to that use.

This functionality allows the food bank to use Ceres with Appian to facilitate routing related to Agency deliveries and Donation pickups.

Ceres 4 is designed to work with Appian/Direct Route version 10.

Procedure Documents: Appian Overview and Integration

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Leased Storage		Assisted Implementation II

Leased Warehouse storage functionality was added to Ceres to support those food banks that have excess warehouse capacity and lease this excess warehouse space to third party entities for a fee. This document outlines the setup and processing related to the leasing process and invoicing. Often times this leasing is for freezer or cooler space, so the examples may call it “Cold Storage Leasing.” Funded by East Texas Food Bank.

Procedure Documents: Leased Storage Overview

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Default Pick Bin Enforcement		Self-Implemented II

Provides for a Default Pick Bin Exception handling method of: Use WAP Suggestion, Use WAP Suggestion with Confirmation, Make no Suggestion, Make no Suggestion with Confirmation, Halt with Error, and Prompt for Suggestion Handling.

Procedure Documents: Inventory Picks Location Overview

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.01.56	Appian Export for Transfer Orders		Assisted Implementation I

Adds the ability to export Transfer Order information to Appian for routing. Funded by Food bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo.

Procedure Documents: Appian Overview and Integration

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.50.18	No Bin Suggestion on WAP		Assisted Implementation I

When the “No Bin Suggestion on WAP” is specified as Yes for a Location and the Create WAP process is run for that same Location, the “To Bin Code” is not suggested on the Movement Worksheet (WAP). Funded by Harvesters Community Food Bank.

Procedure Documents: Warehouse Activity Plan -WAP

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.51.53	Agency Pallet Tracking		Self-Implemented II

Pallets built as agency orders can now be tracked from after the order has been “shipped” through to the receipt of the order by an agency. This allows food banks to keep track of where “shipped” agency order pallets have been staged, and to print Agency Pallet tags. This functionality was funded by the Jupiter Consortium of Food Banks.

Procedure Documents: Agency Pallet Tracking (pending)

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
5.00.00	Undo Shipment		Self-Implemented II

The ability to undo a Shipment currently exists for Shipment Option 1. This ability has been extended to Shipment Option 2 (Undo Pick) & Shipment Option 3 (Undo Warehouse Shipment). This functionality was financed by eSoftware Professionals.

Procedure Documents: Pending

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
5.00.00	Allow Pallet Movements		Self-Implemented II

The ability has been added to allow a Pallet that is referenced on a shipped, but un-invoiced Agency Order to be moved, transferred, or adjusted. This functionality was financed by Houston Food Bank

Procedure Documents: Agency Pallet Tracking (pending)

Financial Management

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Record Links		Assisted Implementation II
4.51.12	Record Links Shared Location		Self-Implemented I

Record Links is a Microsoft Dynamics NAV tool giving users the ability to create and save documents intuitively, categorizing and organizing information in the contexts where they make most sense. All documents are stored externally, making it easy to keep the documents themselves in Microsoft SharePoint or on a protected shared network drive. With 4.51.12, the Record Links process was enhanced to automatically copy and store the linked files on a user defined common file server/drive (normally a UNC directory path accessible by all users.)

Record Links allows the food bank to link documents to Agencies, Donors, and Vendors as well as to the transactions generated for each type of entity. One of the benefits of this tool is that the linked backup document follows the transaction from creation to history (PO to posted PO for example) and is always available for reference. With Ceres 4.5, record linking capability has been extended to Journals as well, such as the General Journal, to link components like audit adjustment validation.

Procedure Documents: Record Links

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Budget Management		Assisted Implementation I
4.00.00	Budget Import		Self-Implemented II

Food Banks create their budgets in various manners, some food banks utilize a separate budget software package, others utilize Excel, and some utilize Ceres. Being able to import and export budget information from/to Ceres will allow the Food Banks to effectively manage their budget regardless of the development method the Food Bank utilizes. Once the Budget is developed, the Finance Team would like to be able to enforce the available budget on transactions in various ways.

Procedure Documents: Budget Overview Budget Import

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Update Budget Import	Jupiter	Self-Implemented II
4.00.00	Export/ Import – tied to Budget Management	Finance	Self-Implemented II

Some foods banks use external budget tools, such as Power Plan or Planning Maestro, to create and maintain their budget and want to export Chart data to the tool, as well as importing the approved budget data into Ceres for budget to actual tracking and reporting purposes.

The Chart export can be addressed with no changes to Ceres, but the import required new capabilities. To meet this need, a generic Budget Journal Import was created in Ceres that can be used to import budget entries based on a standard file format. The Budget Journal file layout is flexible to allow food banks to use the import, without further modification, regardless of how their Chart of Accounts, Branches, Funds, and Dimensions are defined.

Procedure Documents: Budget Import Budget Import Template

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Grant Management		Assisted Implementation I or II if combined with Fund Management

The Finance Team would like the ability to track more information about applied for and awarded Grants from within Ceres. Information that needs to be tracked includes: Manager, Dates, Purpose, Amounts Authorized, Amounts Spent, Grant Fiscal Years, etc. Once a Grant has been awarded the Finance Team would like the ability to split the awarded grant into budget categories.

Procedure Documents: Grants Overview Two Finance User Group calls were also recorded for basic and intermediate Grant Usage.

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Fund Management/ GL Self Balancing		Assisted Implementation II

The Finance Team would like to enhance the Ceres accounting functionality to better facilitate financial tracking and reporting on a fund accounting basis. This large enhancement adds the ability to maintain data and produce self-balancing financial reports by funds and/or dimensions such as departments, programs, etc.

Procedure Documents: Fund Overview

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Allow Zero Dollar Posting in Recurring Journals		Self-Implemented II

Base Ceres currently provides recurring journal functionality. Currently, the zero-dollar lines post to the General Ledger and all lines recur. This function adds the ability to leave zero-dollar lines in a recurring journal and have the journal post only those lines with a non-zero amount.

Procedure Documents: General Journal Overview

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Additional Fields on G/L Entry		Self-Implemented I

Base Ceres currently provides the source type (Agency, Vendor, etc.) and the source number (i.e. Agency ID or Vendor ID) but not the name of Agency or Vendor on the General Ledger Entry table. This change adds the Agency or Vendor name to the General Ledger Entry table and provides the necessary fields on the General Ledger Entries form/page. Additionally, this enhancement adds the External Document No. field accessible on the General Ledger Entries form/page.

Procedure Documents: Pending

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Message on new G/L Account		Self-Implemented I

Currently when a new G/L Account is added, there is no indication provided to remind the user to add the new G/L Account to the appropriate Account Schedules. This causes new account to not be reflected on the Account Schedule. With this change, a warning message is generated when a new account is added. This was funded by the Finance Enhancements project.

Procedure Documents: N/A

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Standard Grant Journal		Self-Implemented II

Base Ceres currently provides a Grant Journal but there is no provision to speed the data entry of recurring type transactions. The existing Ceres Standard Journal Functionality was enhanced to accommodate the Grant specific fields in the Grant Journal.

Details:

Add “Grant” as an Account Type option
Add “Grant” as a Balance Account Type option
Add the Grant No. field
Add the Grant Agency No. field.
The Grant Journal form/page will need the “Save as Standard Journal” and “Get Standard Journal” functions added.

All of this is integrated with the Grant Management changes described above.

Procedure Documents: Grants Overview

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Account Name in Gen Journal		Self-Implemented I

In a General Journal, base Ceres populates the description field with the name of the General Ledger Account that is specified on the line. Usually this description (i.e. the name of the G/.L Account) is overwritten when the user enters the description for the journal. Due to this it can be difficult to ensure data accuracy. A non-editable Account Name field will be added to the General Journal form/page and populated with the name of Account entered on the General Journal Line. The user needs to show the column for Account Name in the General Journal to use this feature.

Procedure Documents: Pending

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Credit Memo/Return Order Process		Self-Implemented II

Base Ceres currently provides two methods to handle Agency returns: Agency Credit Memos and Agency Return Orders. Currently there is confusion when to use which process for Agency Returns. Additionally, in order for a return to be processed correctly, the user must manually apply each line of the return to an appropriate Item Ledger Entry. There are also issues with how to process the return when the original pallet and bin are “gone”. This update includes:

The option to exclude line Type = Item from Agency Credit Memos was added to Agencies & Receivables setup.
The Copy Document process was modified to populate the “Appl. –from Item Entry” field with the entry number of the Item Ledger Entry associated with the lines being reversed.
The “Get Posted Document Lines to Reverse” process was modified to populate the “Appl. –from Item Entry” field with the entry number of the Item Ledger Entry associated with the lines being reversed.
An option was added the Agencies & Receivables setup to control the change of the Pallet No. on a Credit Memo or Agency Return Order created via the Copy Document or the “Get Posted Document Lines to Reverse” processes.
Subsequent to copying the lines, the Pallet No., Bin No., and/or Lot No. can be changed
- The new Lot No. associated with a change in Pallet No, will need to have the same UNC/FBC Coding as the existing Lot No.
- A new Pallet No. can also be created via the “Create Pallets” function.
  - If a new Pallet No. is created, the existing Lot No. will be retained.
If return lines are manually created, an existing Pallet No., Bin No. and/or Lot No. can be assigned to the line, or a new Pallet No. can be created and assigned to a new Bin No.
- If a new Pallet No. is created, the existing Lot No. will be retained.
A Document No. filter and a Posting Date filter will be added to the “Get Posted Document Lines to Reverse” process.

Procedure Documents: Pending

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Financially Reverse Agency Order		Self-Implemented II

Base Ceres currently does not provide an easy method to reverse a Posted Agency Invoice and replace it with an open Agency Order. This process is normally needed to reverse an order that was posted incorrectly. In Ceres 2.5 and prior, the Posted Agency Invoice contained a “Reopen Invoice” function. This function created and posted an Agency Credit Memo (which was applied to the Posted Invoice) and then created a replacement Agency Order. This enhancement moves this legacy option to Ceres 4.

Procedure Documents: Agency Invoice Credit and Recreate

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	General Journal Import		Self-Implemented II

A generic General Journal Import in Ceres 4 that can be used to import payroll entries and other journal entries based on a standard file format. The import needs to be flexible to allow Food Banks to use the import, without further modification, regardless of how their Chart of Accounts, Branches, Funds, and Dimensions are defined.

Procedure Documents: General Journal Import

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Cash Flow		Assisted Implementation I

This is base NAV functionality to support cash flow management. The documentation is provided by Microsoft for base NAV.

Dynamics NAV Documents: Cash Flow How to Set-up Cash Flow Forecast

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Cost Accounting		Assisted Implementation I

This is base NAV functionality to support cost accounting. Cost accounting can help you understand the costs of running a business. Cost accounting information is designed to analyze: What types of costs that you incur when you run a business? Where do the costs occur? Who bears the costs?

Dynamics NAV Documents: About Cost Accounting

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
5.00.00	G/L Account Categories		Self-Implemented II

Account Categories and Sub Categories have been added to the G/L Account to facilitate reporting and provide a uniform structure to the chart of accounts.

Procedure Documents: Chart of Accounts Overview

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
5.00.00	Fund Value Posting		TBD

The Fund Value Posting setting on the G/L Account is now considered for transactions with Account Types other than G/L Accounts.

Procedure Documents: Pending

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
5.00.00	Allocations and Deferrals		TBD

Deferrals, which allow you to distribute revenue over multiple accounting periods, have been enhanced to include Ceres Allocations. This update allows a Food Bank to distribute and allocate revenue over multiple accounting periods.

Procedure Documents: Pending

Other

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Hide Dormant Records		Self-Implemented II

Hide Dormant Records is an enhancement in Ceres 2009 that allows users to exclude blocked or dormant master records for Agency, Donors, Vendors, or Items from Lists. Any record marked as dormant will be filtered and that record will not appear on the List. This way the user only sees records that are active. Filters can be removed so the user can see dormant records as needed.

Procedure Documents: Hide Dormant Records

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Reason Codes Mandatory		Assisted Implementation I

Reason Codes become a mandatory field on Item Journals and Return Orders/Credit Memos. Allowing the food bank to track the "why" of adjustments - and prevent users from skipping this task.

Procedure Documents: Reason Code Mandatory Overview

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Report Selection Table		Self-Implemented II

This modification allows for the configuration of a default number of copies to print for specific reports when processing transactions, including:

Agency Order, Agency Invoice, Agency Credit Memo, Agency Shipment, Agency Return Receipt, Purchase Order, Purchase Invoice, Purchase Credit Memo, Purchase Receipt, Donation Order, Posted Donation Order, Posted Donation Receipt

Procedure Documents: Pending

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Supplemental Addresses		Assisted Implementation I

Supplemental Addresses can be used to document additional addresses for various entities. They are in addition to the base site address and shipping addresses that exist currently. Supplemental Addresses are available for Parent Agencies, Agencies, Parent Vendors, Vendors, Parent Donors, Donors, and Food Drive Donors. There is a specific Procedure document on the setup and use of this new option. Procedure Documents: Supplemental Addresses

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Enhanced Comments		Self-Implemented II

The original Comment functionality in Ceres 2009 has been enhanced to include:

Standard Comment Categories – to standardize record keeping for reporting/ searching
Comment Codes – A user defined field that can be used to define, track, and group like Comments.
Comment Length – The length of the Comment field was expanded from 80 characters to 250 characters.
User Id and Date – Two new fields were added to Comments to track the user who created the comment and the date the comment was created. Both of these fields are automatically updated when a user creates a comment.

The enhanced comment functionality applies to Agencies, Donors, Vendors, Contacts, and Items. Procedure Documents: Comments

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Option for Logos on Stakeholder Facing Docs		Assisted Implementation I

Create a user definable logo that can be stored in Ceres and displayed on certain document reports, such as agency invoice and donor receipts. Procedure Documents: N/A

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	Default Report No. of Copies		Self-Implemented I

Food banks have requested the ability to define a default number of copies to print for specific commonly printed reports. To meet this request, a No of Copies field was added to the Report Selection Table.

Procedure Documents: Default Report Copies

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.00.00	QPR Validation Tools; Item Ledger Report View List Page		Self-Implemented I

A new report was created in Ceres (QPR Check Report) that isolates differences between the Receipts & Distribution report and Distribution Pounds by County report. The QPR Check Report is accessible at Departments ▸ Financial Management ▸ Receivables ▸ Reports. Departments ▸ Agencies & Receivables ▸ Inventory & Fees ▸ Lists. A new Page (Item Ledger Report View List was created to allow the User to view most of the data used in the Receipts & Distribution report and Distribution Pounds by County report. The Item Ledger Report View List page can be filtered and/or sorted. The Item Ledger Report View List page can be exported to Excel using base Ceres functionality. The Item Ledger Report View List page is accessible at Departments ▸ Agencies & Receivables ▸ Inventory & Fees ▸ Lists.

Procedure Documents: Pending

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.50.32	My Jet Reports		Self-Implemented II

Available Jet Reports can now be opened from within Ceres, funded by Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara & San Mateo.

Procedure Documents: My Jet Reports

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.51.31	Copy Agency Order/Donation Order Lines		Self-Implemented I

Ceres will now allow you to copy the lines from an Agency Order or Donation Order and paste them into an order for a different Agency or Donor. When copying line items from an existing agency order to a new order, the Item’s Quantity is validated which decrements the Available Quantity on the new order. Item lines can now also be copied from a posted donation receipt or posted donation invoice to a new donation order. Pallets must be selected or created on the new donation order.

Procedure Documents: Pending

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
5.00.00	Document Sending Profiles		Self-Implemented II

Provides the ability to setup a preferred method of sending documents (email, printer, e-document,) so you do not have to select an option every time you choose “Post and Send.”

Procedure Documents: Pending

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
4.50.00	Send Mass Email		Self-Implemented II
5.00.00	Expand Mass Email		Self-Implemented II

Provides the ability to send out mass emails to either all or filtered groups of Parent Agency Contacts, Agency Contacts, or Shopper email addresses. Update in 5.0 allows you to also send to Donors or Vendors.

Procedure Documents: Send Mass Email

Code	Short Description	Source	Upgrade Instruction
5.00.00	Last Invoice Date		Self-Implemented I

The date of the last invoice has been added to the Agency and Vendor cards so it can be easily determined when the last transaction occurred for the Agency or Vendor.

Procedure Documents: Agency Overview, Vendor Overview

Background and Purpose of this Upgrade​

How to Manage your Upgrade​

For Assistance and Support​

If your Ceres 2009 or Ceres 4 database is hosted by Feeding America​

If your Ceres 2009 or Ceres 4 database is not hosted by Feeding America​

If you are on an older Ceres release, prior to 2009, and wish to implement Ceres 5​

Some General Comments​

Detailed List of New Capabilities​

Upgrade Instruction Legend​

Self-Implemented I​

Self-Implemented II​

Assisted Implementation I​

Assisted Implementation II​

Catalogue of this Release (by Function)​

Dynamics NAV Productivity Improvements & User Experience Changes​

Agencies and Receivables​

Agency Express​

Vendors, Purchasing and Payables​

Donors and Donations​

Inventory​

Warehouse​

Financial Management​

Other​

Background and Purpose of this Upgrade

How to Manage your Upgrade

For Assistance and Support

If your Ceres 2009 or Ceres 4 database is hosted by Feeding America

If your Ceres 2009 or Ceres 4 database is not hosted by Feeding America

If you are on an older Ceres release, prior to 2009, and wish to implement Ceres 5

Some General Comments

Detailed List of New Capabilities

Upgrade Instruction Legend

Self-Implemented I

Self-Implemented II

Assisted Implementation I

Assisted Implementation II

Catalogue of this Release (by Function)

Dynamics NAV Productivity Improvements & User Experience Changes

Agencies and Receivables

Agency Express

Vendors, Purchasing and Payables

Donors and Donations

Inventory

Warehouse

Financial Management

Other