Every month we publish our upgrades, new features and improvements that have been going on behind the scenes at CirclePOS.
2025 Updates, Improvements and New Features
2025 will see the continuation of updates to the next version of our software framework. Regular housekeeping and tidy-ups are concentrating on Rails 8, 7, 6 and 6.1, Vue 3 Upgrade and Cypress Integration, Vue 3 & Ruby 3.0 and 3.2
System Updates 1 – 30 April 2025
April System Updates – at a Glance
New Features
• Mobile POS: Device info screen, conditional settings, automated testing, EFTPOS skip, Stripe refund details
• Data Export: API for exporting site ISBNs and categories
• General Ledger: API to download ledger transactions as CSV
Improvements
• Website & SEO: Better sitemap structure, improved SEO, enhanced analytics tracking
• POS – Stripe: Stripe setting added, payment issues resolved
• Backoffice – PO Cart: New column shows group stock levels for smarter reordering
System Updates 1 – 31 March 2025
March System Updates – at a Glance
New Features
• Mobile POS – Added reader provider settings that persist after relaunch.
• Mobile POS – Enabled seamless cash/EFTPOS posting via Stripe readers.
• General Ledger – Improved handling of legacy database migrations.
Improvements
• Email Recovery – Failed order emails sent; orders recreated; email system improvements underway.
• Gift Cards – Stripe now available as a payment method for purchasing gift cards.
• Rails & Ruby – Upgraded to Rails 8.0.2 and Ruby 3.4 with full compatibility.
• Onboarding – Introduced password generator in Manager Setup for faster, more secure setup.
• API Security – Locked down key endpoints to Staff, Managers, and Admins only.
• Performance Monitoring – Tools added for tracking long-running DB transactions and improved logging.
• Web Order Invoices – Set up a process to generate and email customer invoices.
System Updates 1 – 28 February 2025
In February, we focused on:
New Features
• Mobile POS Enhancements: New payment interface for better checkout management.
• Faster Payments: API updates and improved Stripe reader transactions.
• Barcode Scanning: Use your mobile camera to scan products in POS.
Key Improvements
• Reports & Financials: More intuitive Profit & Loss expense entry and better tracking of returns.
• Stock & Inventory: Cleaner stock export CSV and automatic deal expiration settings.
• Portal & Website: New “Go to Store” button for a unified purchasing experience.
Upgrades & Optimizations
• System Stability: Environment upgrades for better performance and security.
• Database Performance: Faster product updates and reduced processing delays.
System Updates 1 – 31 January 2025
In January, we focused on:
New Features & Upgrades
• Introduced a new API endpoint for real-time transaction updates.
• Upgraded to Rails 8.0 and 7.2 for improved compatibility and reliable testing.
Housekeeping & Maintenance
• Stabilized flaky tests and refined the onboarding process.
• Removed the feature flag for the author filter in the Best Sellers report.
• Optimized slow database queries, product metadata, and invoice processing.
• Modernized UI elements and state management with the Vue 3 upgrade.
• Improved automated tests for more consistent outcomes.
2024 Updates, Improvements and New Features
2024 saw the continuation of updates to the next version of our software framework. Regular housekeeping and tidy-ups are concentrating on Rails 7, 6 and 6.1, Vue 3 Upgrade and Cypress Integration, Vue 3 & Ruby 3.0 and 3.2
System Updates 1 – 30 November 2024
In October, we focused on:
• New Features:
Launched a dedicated account for Vii Gift Cards in the General Ledger to improve liability tracking.
• Improvements:
Enhanced P&L for recurring expense tracking.
Added TitlePage API key storage to support integration.
• Housekeeping & Updates:
Upgraded to Vue 3.5, streamlined ISBN requests in stock management, and improved loyalty data tracking.
Upgraded Redis and Sidekiq, handled deprecations, and fixed CI pipeline timeout issues.
Enhanced security, environment support, and resolved issues in Rails 7.1 for smoother system performance.
System Updates 1 – 31 October 2024
In October, we focused on:
• New Features:
Launched a dedicated account for Vii Gift Cards in the General Ledger to improve liability tracking.
• Improvements:
Enhanced P&L for recurring expense tracking.
Added TitlePage API key storage to support integration.
• Housekeeping & Updates:
Upgraded to Vue 3.5, streamlined ISBN requests in stock management, and improved loyalty data tracking.
Upgraded Redis and Sidekiq, handled deprecations, and fixed CI pipeline timeout issues.
Enhanced security, environment support, and resolved issues in Rails 7.1 for smoother system performance.
System Updates 1 – 30 September 2024
In September we worked on:
New Features:
• Introduced a General Ledger feature for better tracking of customer transactions.
• Enhanced visual and usability aspects of the Web/Mobile POS system.
Improvements this month concentrated on:
• Enhanced visibility of item availability in Layby transactions.
• Improved matching of invoices with credit notes in the Xero webhook.
• Created a Recurrent Expense Config table for easier reporting.
• Upgraded the author filter in best seller reports for greater accuracy.
• Simplified login process for the Web/Mobile POS.
• Real-time recalculation of loyalty points during checkout.
Housekeeping & Updates included the upgrade of Sidekiq and the resolution of test failures in Rails 7.1 for improved performance, alongside the deletion of duplicated payment records during Xero migrations and enhancements to app reliability with Vue upgrades.
System Updates 1 – 31 August 2024
In August we worked on:
New Features:
• General Ledger: Added tests for sales, payments, and allocations, expanded loyalty reward tracking in the ledger, and improved loyalty management by preventing duplicates and ensuring accurate liability and store tracking.
• P&L: Created a new Profit & Loss interface with Vue 3, enhancing data display, API metrics, and adding a mobile view for easier financial data access and analysis.
• Web POS: Set up a workspace to organize apps and reuse packages, improving back-office system management.
Improvements this month concentrated on:
• Shipped Items
• Web Orders
• Quick Search
• Referral Program
• Cash Up Report
• Gift Card Payment
• Loyalty Redemption and Checkout
• P&L
• Font Awesome Icons
• Checkout Loyalty
• Returns
• Stock Take Scanner
Housekeeping & Upgrades concentrated primarily on Rails, Depreciate Feature Flags, Customer Orders and Vue 3 Upgrade
System Updates 1 – 31 July 2024
In July we worked on:
New Features:
• The General Ledger now includes services to populate and validate basic accounts, improve payment accuracy, support gift card redemptions, and refine invoice translations
• A new filter was added to Best Sellers, allowing users to sort by author
• Additionally, a search endpoint for monthly stock cache was created to enhance the accuracy of profit and loss data
Improvements this month concentrated on:
• Elastic & Elastic Search: Enhanced stock log tracking, reporting, and quantity accuracy
• Sales Report: Refactored for accurate cost-price reporting
• Inbox Category: Ongoing item mapping improvements
• Pre-orders: Improved performance and user experience
• Circle Gift Card: Added pagination for better loading times
• Customer Orders: Developed a more efficient shipping API
• BackOffice: Enhanced community comparison feature
• General Ledger: Simplified ledger process by removing “undrop” feature
• MailGun: Updated email handling for better accuracy
Housekeeping & Upgrades concentrated primarily on Rails, Elastic Search and Vue 3
System Updates 1 – 30 June 2024
In June we worked on:
New Features:
• In General Ledger we made significant progress by adding validations for ledger accuracy, implementing tax-exempt handling, and simplifying the process by removing the ability to un-drop payments and invoices.
• In Stock Valuation Cache we created a P&L cache database to track and analyse monthly stock values.
Housekeeping concentrated primarily on Rails, Vue 3 and Deadlocks
Improvements this month concentrated on:
• External Services
• Settings
• Pre orders
System Updates 1 – 31 May 2024
In May we worked on:
New Features:
• In General Ledger we progressed Layby and tax-exempt items
• The Gmail Mailer was improved and now complies with DMARC rules.
• We have enabled seamless integration and improved product visibility in the Google Merchant feature.
Housekeeping concentrated primarily on Rails and POS. We also addressed Flaky Specs, Feature Flags, Vue 3 and Ruby.
Improvements this month concentrated on:
• Stripe
• Pre Orders
• POS
• Spreadsheet Deals
• MailGun
• GiftCard Load
• SEO & Social Media
System Updates 1 – 30 April 2024
In April we worked on:
• Load Stock & Search & Update: Improved feedback during stock searches to reduce user confusion; locked the “Search & Update” button after clicking to ensure stability; automated updates to the “Reg Price” field for accurate pricing information.
• Core Code: Optimised the codebase to improve performance and maintainability.
• Association Portal: Added a flag to identify second-hand books for better categorisation.
• Deals Interface: Implemented a responsive design for better accessibility on smaller screens; added features for marking deals as done or in progress; supported timezones; improved pagination, filters, sorting, and deal product views.
• General Ledger: Implemented functionality to handle CREDIT & DEBIT special items; allowed for slight deviations in amounts when creating new transactions; developed handling for Non-Tracked Items and introduced a method to translate Shipping into the Ledger.
Housekeeping concentrated on: Flaky Tests; Deprecate Feature Flags; Switch to BETA; Rails; Ruby; Core Code; Gems & Vue 3
System Updates 1 – 31 March 2024
In March we worked on:
• Deals API and Deal Interface: – We worked a lot on improving the functionality of discounted prices
• Website – We have upgraded to ES 8.0 (Elastic Search); this app is responsible for the quick search box and reports pages. Main benefits include speed, reduced memory usage) and security
• Self Onboarding – More improvements to to improve user experience to enhance the efficiency and accuracy of the onboarding process
• Housekeeping – Bug Fixes, Github CI, Vue, Site Settings, Rails, Ruby, Codecheck, Gem Deprecation, Vue 3 Cypress Integration, Webhooks,
• Upgrades – We have now completed the R6 upgrade rollout! This has been an enormous task that delivers improved security and performance. The rollout has been gradual so we do not expect too many issue but email support if you strike any. (Now we start on R7 🙂
System Updates 1 – 29 February 2024
In February we worked on:
• General Ledger – a new general ledger feature; gift card and credit note improvements
• Webhooks – We created a CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) interface for managing webhook statuses using Vue
• Website – Pre-Order functionality added to group websites
• Self Onboarding – More improvements to to improve user experience
• Housekeeping – Rails 6 & 6.1, Vue3 Upgrade (& Ruby) – continuing upgrades, Ledger, Website SEO and Gems
System Updates 1 – 31 January 2024
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
2023 Updates, Improvements and New Features
2023 saw the continuation of updates to the next version of our software framework. Regular housekeeping and tidy-ups concentrated on APIs, speed and bug fixes. Gift Cards were a highlight of 2023.
System Updates 1 – 31 December
In December we worked on:
General Ledger – a new general ledger feature; gift card and credit note improvements
Stripe – enhanced the refund process by linking Stripe payment data with local payment records
Website – SEO enhancements
Self Onboarding – API, ABA Deals and Managing Member improvements
Housekeeping – Depreciate Feature flag, Bin Management Settings and website SEO
R6, Vue3 Upgrade (& Ruby) – continuing upgrades
System Updates 1 – 30 November 2023
In November we worked on:
• General Ledger – a new general ledger feature and credit note improvements
• Stripe – finessing the live connection, improving refund process.
• Website – improvements to the website carousel and mobile views
• R6, Vue3 Upgrade (& Ruby) – lots of upgrades this month in preparation for a smooth December
System Updates 1 – 31 October 2023
In October we worked on:
•. Self Onboarding – the process of getting started with Circle continues to improve
•. Stripe – this connection is very close to being ready
•. General Ledger – a new feature to increase reporting and tax management
•. POS – A customer payment surcharge is now available on the Tyro integration
•. Help – The new and improved help teb is worth having a look at in the back office
•. Website – Book selection now opens in a new tab
•. Performance – Continuing backend and front end upgrades to stay current and improve security and performance
System Updates 1 – 30 September 2023
In September we worked on:
• Self Onboarding – the process of getting started with Circle is coming together really well. New sites will now be populated with stock that has a price value
• Stripe – this connection is getting closer to being ready
• Stock – out of stock ordering improvements
• Credit Notes – POS issued credit notes can now use the value of the credit note first (followed by other payment types) this way change is created for the transaction
• Continuing backend and front end upgrades to stay current and improve security and performance
System Updates 1 – 31 August 2023
System Updates August 2023 Continuing backend and front end upgrades to stay current and improve security and performance. Self Onboarding process improvements to make it easier to get started on Circle Bin shipping improvements around part shipping Flagged exchange gift cards Improvements Customer Order>Bins The ability to print the Bin Slip when partially shipping an … Read More
System Updates 1 – 31 July 2023
System Updates July 2023 Continuing backend and front end upgrades to stay current and improve security and performance. Added the apply discounts to a whole category for promotions. Many improvements around bin fulfilment and bin reporting in the back office New Features Payment Kinds Users can add or delete the different payment types accepted … Read More
System Updates 1 – 30 June 2023
System Updates June 2023 Completed the integration of book2look Continued working on updating Web Order API improvements Added Data feed source tracking Gift card improvements New Features Website We’re thrilled to announce the integration of book2look service! Explore books like never before with immersive previews, interactive content, and more. Get ready to dive into … Read More
System Updates 1 – 31 May 2023
System Updates May 2023 Added an inwards goods history export Housekeeping and tidy-ups concentrated on APIs among other things. Added a central group sales report Improvement to self onboarding, Vii, store transfers, Returns search and customer orders. New Features Purchasing Added an inwards goods history export – 184086237 Improvements Reports Reports] headoffice websites show … Read More
System Updates 1 – 28 February 2023
Circle System Updates for February 2023 Improvements to Gift Cards, Speed, Self Onboarding, purchase orders, financial Settings, CSV Export – gift cards, stock and customers. Added an option for an alternative currency to display in the website cart. Test video here Added “eDahab Payment Option Group/Assn sites added A closest to me sort button R6 … Read More
System Updates 1 – 31 January 2023
Circle System Updates for January 2023 Improvements to speed, xero integration, association Category mapping, Click and Collect, Agency & Distributor, Forgotten password link and more. Added a separate “Customer Ref” field in invoices two-factor authentication; have a look at the video here. Vii gift cards; the web checkout now supports the selling of Vii digital Gift … Read More