In January we worked on:

  • General Ledger – a new general ledger feature; gift card and credit note improvements
  • Stripe – further enhancement of the refund process
  • Website – SEO, Footer, Category and Click and Collect features
  • Self Onboarding – We introduced a user-friendly dashboard on the sys-admin page to track user signups and progress, enabling sales teams to follow up on potential clients and reduce abandoned signups
  • Housekeeping – Rails 6 & 6.1, Vue3 Upgrade (& Ruby) – continuing upgrades

New Features

  • Promotions
    • Promotions
      • Loyalty Dollars
        • 1/2] We introduced a promotion-type concept for Promotions and Loyalty Dollars, allowing group owners to set a standardised 5% loyalty reward across all stores to maintain profit margins while still enabling [to be continued]
        • 2/2] [continuing] individual store owners to honour and continue offering the initially promised 10% loyalty reward to their customers, ensuring customer satisfaction and loyalty. #186803062
  • General Ledger
    • We progressed our new feature development in handling non-tracked items like donations in the General Ledger and implemented a solution for better financial tracking. #186377884
    • We progressed in our new feature development, introducing a new API endpoint to manipulate ledger_chart_categories, providing users with more control and flexibility in managing financial data. #186532908
    • We progressed in our new feature development, introducing a General Ledger functionality by updating the ledger_charts API to retrieve nested resources, enhancing the accessibility of financial data. #186591782
    • We progressed our new feature development in Ledger translation, we included the calling site information for better context and understanding. #186678211
    • Our new feature improves an API endpoint for creating and updating ledger chart rules in the general ledger, which provides users with more flexibility and control over their financial reporting processes. #18624500
    • Our new feature, executing the process for handling redemptions of gift cards in the general ledger, ensures accurate and timely financial reporting, and provides a comprehensive overview of gift card transactions. #186605922
    • Credit Note
      • We progressed our new feature development for General Ledger and Credit Note processing; we implemented a solution to handle gift cards and Vii paid-by-item exchanges for comprehensive financial tracking. #186678382
      • We progressed in our new feature development, introducing a General Ledger functionality by implementing a process to handle credit notes for items exchanged, ensuring accurate financial tracking. #186545297
    • We progressed the development of our new feature, establishing a new interface to handle the manipulation of general ledger entries through API calls. It enables more efficient and flexible financial data management. #186532898
  • Webhooks
    • We developed a user interface for creating, reading, updating, and deleting (CRUD) Webhooks in Vue.js. It allows users to manage and monitor Webhooks easily, enhancing the system’s ability to respond to external events. #185260828
  • Commands
    • We implemented a universal method to validate steps within commands for improved functionality. It streamlines and standardises step validation across various commands, reducing development time and potential errors. #186752967

Improvements

  • Gift Card Lookup
    • We improved the Gift Card Lookup feature to display missing transaction redemption lines, enhancing transparency and accuracy. #186734819
    • We added a download option for Gift Card PDFs and implemented a manager restriction for downloading, improving security and control. #186553743
  • Website
    • Click and Collect Modal For website improvement, we fixed the Click and Collect Modal issue where it would close unexpectedly, providing a smoother user interface. #186257651
    • Footer To enhance website navigation, we updated the link to the Circle system in the footer, ensuring accurate redirection using HTTPS. #186532232
    • SEO For SEO optimisation, we added a robot tag to the default HTML head, providing clear instructions to search engines for better indexing. #186513252
    • Category We fixed the width of category section elements in the catalogue to improve visual presentation, enhancing the user interface by optimising the display of product categories for better readability and aesthetics. #186713953
  • Follow-up Orders
    • Shipped and completed items are now excluded from overdue follow-up orders, enhancing accuracy and efficiency in tracking. #186678475
  • Webhooks
    • As part of Webhooks development, we created a CRUD interface for Vue, streamlining the management of Webhooks. #186739534
    • Part II] We created a CRUD interface for Webhooks – Read. This improvement allows users to easily create, read, update, and delete Webhooks, providing a more comprehensive and user-friendly interface for handling webhook configurations. #185260828
  • Stripe
    • Refund
      • We improved the process of handling refunds for Stripe payments by removing the drop button associated with refunds created for a Stripe payment. This change makes it more intuitive and reduces the chances of accidental actions. #186743830
      • We implemented a loading/alert mechanism while submitting Stripe refunds. This enhancement ensures users are informed about the progress of their refund requests, providing a more transparent and reassuring experience. #186714043
      • We added payment state validation before refunding on the Stripe platform. This improvement enhances the refund process by ensuring the payment state is valid before initiating a refund. #186713807
      • We enhanced the system by adding checks for input parameters during the Stripe refund process, ensuring more accurate and secure transactions. #186713664
      • We implemented an automatic trigger for Stripe refunds after refunding an unallocated payment, streamlining the reimbursement process. #186478775
    • We removed the drop button for Stripe payments on the financial_accounts page. This simplification prevents inadvertent actions and creates a more user-friendly environment for financial transactions. #186743823
  • Feature Flag
    • We added a site counter beside the feature flag name to quickly display how many shops use the feature. This enhancement provides users with valuable insights into the adoption of specific features. #186659787
    • Special Order Follow-Up
      • We implemented an improvement allowing users to enable a feature flag for special order follow-up, offering flexibility even though it may slightly impact the loading time of the Customer Orders page. #186679171
  • Reports
    • Daily Sales CSV export] We optimised the CSV export process by triggering the 0-Costs script before initiating the CSV export. This improvement enhances the accuracy and completeness of daily sales CSV exports. #186606060
  • CSV Export
    • We restricted CSV exports to managers and requiring 2fa for CSV exports for the Vue pages. This ensures better control over sensitive data and strengthens the overall security of CSV export functionality. #186319698
  • Self Onboarding
    • We introduced a user-friendly dashboard on the sys-admin page to track user signups and progress, enabling sales teams to follow up on potential clients and reduce abandoned signups. #180711165
      • Sessions API We created site details in the response JSON for the Sessions API in self-onboarding. This provides users a comprehensive overview of their newly created sites, enhancing the onboarding experience. #186653773
  • Onboarding
    • We enhanced the onboarding process by creating a service for maps autocomplete, allowing users to fetch location data seamlessly from the backend. #186625271
  • Site Feature Names API
    • We improved the Site Feature Names API by including site counts in the response JSON, providing a more comprehensive overview of feature usage. #186669624

Upgrades

  • Housekeeping & Tidy Up
    • Rails 6
      • To maintain compatibility with Rails 6, we fixed a breaking test in the settings home page, enhancing the overall user experience and tests covered. 186822823
      • We fixed a flaky spec related to sale orders in Rails 6, ensuring consistent and reliable testing results. #186762967
      • We upgraded the Rails framework from version 6.0.4.7 to 6.0.6.1, incorporating the latest improvements and security patches. #186618442
    • Rails 6.1
      • To address a deprecation in Rails 6.1, we fixed a query method, ensuring compatibility with the latest version. #186681256
    • Vue 3 Cypress Integration
      • We refactored card batch commands as part of the Vue 3 Cypress integration, improving the efficiency of card management. #186761101
      • We integrated Vue 3 with Cypress for Bin Management Settings to streamline the management of physical bins, making the process more user-friendly and efficient. #186571682
      • We integrated Vue 3 with Cypress for enhanced testing and reliability, enabling users to download Circle Gift Cards lookup CSV files easily. #186678405
      • Circle Gift Cards
        • Lookup Summary We implemented a lookup summary for Circle Gift Cards using Vue 3, and Cypress provides users with a quick and efficient way to access and analyse gift card information. #186448932, #18662131
    • Vue 3 Upgrade
      • We integrated zod+vee into Gift Card Settings, enhancing validation and security measures for a more robust system. #186679914, #186699483
        • Gift Card
          • We restructured the virtual data fetching process for selling gift cards during the Vue 3 upgrade, enhancing the speed and efficiency of gift card transactions and providing a better user experience. #186652110
    • Vue 3 & Ruby 3.0
      • Continuing work on updating to the next version of our software framework. #186785586, #186794043, #186799509, #186740507, #186817453
      • Continuing work on updating to the next version of our software framework. #186619808, #186323799, #186697311, #186712152, #186714560
      • Continuing work on updating to the next version of our software framework. #186435692, #186619372, #186621310, #186619467, #186628505, #186572171, #186571683, #186650439, #186650377, #186655606, #186620520, #186669636, #186516572
      • Continuing work on updating to the next version of our software framework. #186585651, #186747844, #186747247
    • Ruby 3.2
      • We updated the mentions of Fixnum to align with Ruby 3.2 standards, enhancing the codebase, ensuring compatibility with the latest Ruby version and benefiting from its improvements. #186620520
    • Settings > Financial
      • To avoid confusion, the “Approximate Overheads” section in Settings > Financial is hidden. #186625360
    • Depreciate Feature flag
      • We made an improvement to remove an outdated feature flag, optimising the process of Click-and-collect checkout for smoother customer experiences. #186663068
    • General Ledger
      • We improved the system by adding translations for errors related to ledger_chart_rule, enhancing user understanding and experience in the General Ledger module. #186679277
    • Github CI
      • We resolved a Lighthouse CI error in the GitHub CI process, ensuring code quality and adherence to best practices. #186698318
    • Logs
      • We enhanced the logging system by skipping unnecessary backtraces for page not found exceptions and streamlining log information for better readability. #186636334
      • Google Cloud logs
        • We’ve improved Point of Sale (POS) transactions related to incorrect voucher numbers in Google Cloud logs, ensuring accurate transaction tracking and a smoother customer experience. #186636366
    • Bin Actions
      • We implemented the useMessageBoxConfirm pattern to enhance BinActions in housekeeping tasks and improve user interaction by providing clear, user-friendly confirmation dialogs for critical actions. #186652077
    • Saas Agreement Editor
      • We implemented the use Message Box Confirm pattern in Saas Agreement Editor to ensure a consistent and user-friendly approach to confirming actions, improving overall user experience during agreement editing. #186652068

See www.twitter.com/circlesupport for all changes including bug fixes.

Some of the things we are currently working on:

  • Rails 6 Upgrade
  • Stripe Integration
  • General Ledger
  • Bug Fixes