Highlights of MIDAS v4.25 include:

• User Interface Improvements
• Custom Field Improvements
• Re-Show The Quick Tour
• User Management Improvements
• Colorize Venues
• Client Notification Improvements
• Statistics & Reporting Improvements
• Invoice Tax Improvements
• Flexible Invoice Terms
• Apply Refunds To Invoices
• Raise Credit Notes
• Export Invoices to QuickBooks, Sage, Xero, and more!
• Merge Invoices
• Improvements to Cancellation Invoicing
• Security Enhancements

How To Get MIDAS v4.25…

Important Information For Existing Customers Regarding Invoicing in v4.25

We’ve made some changes to invoicing in MIDAS for v4.25, and we’d like to draw your attention to one specific change;

If you’ve previously manually created or modified invoices in your MIDAS system, and in doing so altered totals with the auto-recalculation option disabled, then your previous invoices may look slightly different after being updated to v4.25.

You may see the addition of balancing items or balancing credits listed on previous invoices. These may be added in some instances to ensure that the items appearing on each invoice match the invoice’s total.

For more information on this, please see our KB article: What are balancing items or credits on invoices?

If you have invoices where you’ve modified line totals without allowing MIDAS to correctly recalculate the grand total, and you wish to retain these invoices their current state (without balancing items/credits being applied), we suggest that you print these invoices prior to updating to v4.25.

It is important to note however that the presence of balancing items or credits on previous invoices will not affect an invoice’s total.

Should you have any questions or concerns in this regard, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us, and we’d be happy to help!

Thank you for your continued support of our software during this unprecedented period of global uncertainty. Please remember that if you’re an existing customer affected by the current situation, we’re here to support you!

The post MIDAS v4.25 Out Now! appeared first on MIDAS - Room Booking System | Blog.

We’re further enhancing security in MIDAS v4.25 and introducing a new admin setting.

New & Unfamiliar Login Notifications

A new “Alert users upon logins from unfamiliar devices” setting is located under MIDAS Admin Options → Manage MIDAS → Security.

With this setting enabled, a user account logged into from an unfamiliar browser/device, will trigger an automated email notification to the account holder.

This email notification is customizable through a template via MIDAS Admin Options → Manage MIDAS → Templates. The default notification provides details of the browser, operating system, and IP address of the new login. It advises that the notification can be safely ignored if the new login was genuine, or what to do if the user doesn’t recognize the login.

Obviously for these email notifications to be sent, your MIDAS system must be correctly configured for sending email.

Other “Under The Hood” Security Enhancements

You’ll often see “Security Enhancement” in the changelog for our MIDAS software. This is nothing to worry about, and it’s part of our pro-active approach to security.

We routinely make small changes to improve and “harden” our software against a variety of threats.

One of the security enhancements we’ve made in v4.25 is to drop usage of the “Math::Random::Secure” Perl module. Perl – the language that we develop our software in – is capable of natively generating random numbers. MIDAS uses random numbers for a variety of things, including password generation and unique session tokens. However, random numbers natively generated by Perl are not “cryptographically secure”. As such, we’ve been utilizing the “Math::Random::Secure” module to ensure that random numbers generated by MIDAS were cryptographically secure.

The developers of “Math::Random::Secure” haven’t updated it in over three years. Whilst the module still functions, it depends upon another module (Crypt::Random::Secure), which itself depends upon another module (Any::Moose) which has since been deprecated.

So for this reason, and also for performance reasons, MIDAS v4.25 now defaults to using Crypt::PRNG instead. If this Perl module isn’t available on your server, MIDAS will simply revert back to Perl’s native random number generator. However, it’s really easy to install Perl modules, and so for enhanced security we’d recommend installing Crypt::PRNG.

Dropping TLS 1.1 support for cloud-hosted customers

TLS stands for “Transport Layer Security” and is a mechanism used to facilitate secure connections and communications over the internet. To date, there have been three versions of TLS, each more secure than the last. The latest version of TLS is 1.3. The original TLS 1.0 version is considered “weak”, and no longer supported by modern browsers. We previously dropped support for TLS 1.0 on our servers back in July 2017.

To coincide with the release of MIDAS v4.25, we’ll be dropping support for TLS 1.1 connections to our client servers. Our client servers will continue to support both TLS 1.2 and TLS 1.3 secure connections.

Dropping TLS 1.1 support should have no noticeable impact for regular users of MIDAS. We’ve already dropped TLS 1.1 support on our website. If you’re reading this post, then you’ll still be able to access your hosted MIDAS system once TLS 1.1 support is dropped.

However, if you’re a cloud-hosted MIDAS customer utilizing the optional MIDAS API then you may need to take action. Please ensure that your applications and the underlying programming language you develop in can support (and are correctly configured for) TLS 1.2/1.3 connections.

If your applications/programming languages do not support at least TLS 1.2, your MIDAS API calls will begin to fail once we disable TLS 1.1 support.

Please refer to the vendor of your programming language if you’re unsure whether it supports TLS 1.2/1.3, or for assistance enabling such support in your development environment. This doesn’t affect API users interfacing with a self hosted MIDAS system.

These are just a few of the new and improved features for MIDAS v4.25. Please see this post for details of other new features you’ll find in v4.25.

You can also ask questions and discuss the new features of v4.25 over on Reddit.

The post Security Enhancements in v4.25 appeared first on MIDAS - Room Booking System | Blog.

If you’ve been following our recent posts, you’ll know that we’re introducing a whole host of new features for MIDAS v4.25. Many of the new and improved features in v4.25 relate to invoicing.

There’s a lot to take in, so we thought it would be useful to summarize the new and improved invoicing features of MIDAS, with links to posts with more information.

• New Tax Features
• Flexible Payment Terms
• Credit Notes
• Merge Invoices
• Apply Refunds To Invoices
• Export Invoices to 3rd party accounting packages, including QuickBooks, Sage, and Xero
• Increase cancellation charges for very short notice cancellations

In addition to the above, there’s a handful of smaller invoicing improvements worth noting too:

Update visible notes once an invoice has been finalized

Once an invoice is first printed, or emailed to the client, MIDAS considers the invoice “finalized”. The content of finalized invoices cannot then be changed. However, MIDAS does allow you to update the paid status of the invoice at any time. Additionally, you can also add internal notes at any time. Internal notes are not visible to clients on actual invoices.

From v4.25 we’re now also allowing you to modify the “visible” notes section on invoices – even after they’ve been finalized!

Consolidate multiple identical invoice items

MIDAS now consolidates identical items on invoices. For example, say you’re adding a booking across two venues (rooms), each of which requires a “CD Player” resource in it.

When invoicing for these bookings, MIDAS would previously list the two venues separately and the two resources separately.

Now, MIDAS will identify these instances and combine items accordingly. So now instead of having two lines on an invoice both for a “CD Player” and both with a quantity of 1, they’d be a single “CD Player” line with a quantity of 2.

Empty itemized Invoice Notes excluded

The visible “Notes” section on invoices can be configured to be automatically populated with the content of a booking field. For instance, you could set the “Booking Notes” to automatically appear in the “Notes” section of the client’s invoice.

If multiple bookings appear on the same invoice, it could get confusing as to which booking the invoice notes relate to. That’s why we’ve previously provided an “Itemize Notes” option. When enabled, each item on the client’s invoice with an associated note is indicated with a reference number. This appears on the invoice line it relates to, and then also in the Notes section below.

If an item had no notes associated with it however, it would still be given a reference number. This could be just as confusing if none of the bookings had notes. You’d end up with a string of meaningless numbers in the Notes section, like [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

We’ve sorted this out for v4.25! Now, only bookings with notes will be numerically referenced if the “Itemize Notes” option is enabled.

These are just a few of the new and improved features for MIDAS v4.25. Please see this post for details of other new features you’ll find in v4.25.

You can also ask questions and discuss the new features of v4.25 over on Reddit.

The post Invoicing Improvements in MIDAS v4.25 appeared first on MIDAS - Room Booking System | Blog.

The Cancellation Invoice features of MIDAS automatically generate a charge for clients if their bookings are canceled at short notice.

This charge may be in the form of a fixed amount, or as a percentage of the total cost of their booking.

These appear on an invoice which may be printed or emailed to the client, and which they may pay online.

As mentioned in a previous post, we’re improving Cancellation Invoices for v4.25. Now you’ll be able to set a specific tax rate for all your Cancellation Invoices.

Additionally, we’re adding a new option to automatically increase cancellation charges for bookings cancelled at even shorter notice.

For example, you could configure a 20% cancellation fee if a booking is cancelled less than two weeks before it’s due to take place, and increase this to 50% if cancelled less than one week before.

These are just a few of the new and improved features for MIDAS v4.25. Please see this post for details of other new features you’ll find in v4.25.

You can also ask questions and discuss the new features of v4.25 over on Reddit.

The post Improvements To Cancellation Invoicing appeared first on MIDAS - Room Booking System | Blog.

In this post we’ll take a look at a new tool we’ve added to MIDAS allowing you to “merge” an unsent invoice into another unsent invoice.

This will allow you to combine multiple unset invoices for the same client.

Simply view the invoice you’d like to merge into another, and click the “Merge Invoice” icon.

You’ll then be shown a list of all other unsent invoices for the same client.

Select the invoice you’d like to merge into, and click “Merge Invoice”.

Items on the original invoice will then be added to the selected invoice, and totals updated accordingly.

The original invoice will then be deleted from the system, and a corresponding audit trail added to the Recent Activity log.

These are just a few of the new and improved features for MIDAS v4.25. Please see this post for details of other new features you’ll find in v4.25.

You can also ask questions and discuss the new features of v4.25 over on Reddit.

The post Combine and Merge Unsent Invoices appeared first on MIDAS - Room Booking System | Blog.

MIDAS can export invoices to QuickBooks Online, Xero, Clear Books, and KashFlow.

In addition, you can also export Invoice Summaries to Sage Business Cloud, and QuickFile.

Exported data is tailored to each specific accounting package in CSV format, allowing for easy import.

We also provide some additional export options for applicable accounting packages. For example, to allow you to specify a ledger/account code, or to map a custom customer field in MIDAS to a customer reference field in your account package.

For more information on exporting invoices from MIDAS to 3rd party account packages, please see our KB articles:

• How to export invoices to QuickBooks
• How to export invoices to Sage
• How to export invoices to Xero
• How to export invoices to Clear Books
• How to export invoices to KashFlow
• How to export invoices to Quickfile

Plus, you can still export in previously available formats too. These include Excel, standard CSV (comma separated values), Tab-Delimited Text File, and XML formats.

We’ve improved these too, as they now also include each invoice’s Payment Terms, and therefore their Due Dates as well.

These are just a few of the new and improved features for MIDAS v4.25. Please see this post for details of other new features you’ll find in v4.25.

You can also ask questions and discuss the new features of v4.25 over on Reddit.

The post Export Invoices to QuickBooks, Sage, Xero, and more! appeared first on MIDAS - Room Booking System | Blog.

In this post we’ll take a look at a new enhancement to the invoicing capabilities of our software: Credit Notes.

MIDAS now allows the creation of Credit Notes – both manually and automatically.

You can manually create a new Credit Note at any time via Invoicing → Create.

This screen is similar to the screen when manually creating/modifying invoices, except amounts and totals are negative. Once a new Credit Note has been saved, it may then be printed or emailed to the client as you would a regular invoice.

Additionally, when saving a credit note, you have the option to “Apply credit to client’s account”. With this option enabled, the total credit on the Credit Note will be added as client credit. Any credit applied to a client account in this way will automatically be deducted from their next invoice.

Furthermore, when applying refunds to invoices – which is another new feature of v4.25 – there’s an option to automatically create a corresponding Credit Note too.

These are just a few of the new and improved features for MIDAS v4.25. Please see this post for details of other new features you’ll find in v4.25.

You can also ask questions and discuss the new features of v4.25 over on Reddit.

The post Introducing Credit Notes appeared first on MIDAS - Room Booking System | Blog.

In this post we’ll take a look at the new “Refund” enhancement to the invoicing capabilities of our software.

MIDAS now allows you to apply either a partial or full refund to an invoice. This is done by viewing an invoice which has had a payment made against it, and clicking the “Refund Invoice” icon. This in turn opens up the following dialog box:

Here, you can enter an amount of refund up to the value already paid against the invoice. Optionally you can choose to have the refund amount applied as a client credit (to be deducted from their next invoice), and also optionally raise a Credit Note.

It’s important to note that refunding an invoice either in whole or in part won’t actually refund/reverse any monetary transaction your client has already made. The ability to refund in MIDAS is purely for your record keeping. Physical refunds would still need to be manually processed where applicable.

These are just a few of the new and improved features for MIDAS v4.25. Please see this post for details of other new features you’ll find in v4.25.

You can also ask questions and discuss the new features of v4.25 over on Reddit.

The post Apply Refunds To Invoices appeared first on MIDAS - Room Booking System | Blog.

In this post we’ll look at the improvements we’re making in relation to invoicing terms.

In earlier versions of our software, you could set default Payment Terms – the number of days you allow your clients to pay their invoices before they’re deemed to be “overdue”.

We’re providing even more flexibility for v4.25 by allowing each invoice to have its own Payment Terms. By default, the global Payment Terms you’ve configured will be applied to new invoices, however, when manually creating or modifying an invoice, you may change this value specifically for that invoice:

Payment Terms are important, as they allow MIDAS to display due dates for your invoices. They also allow MIDAS to be able to send automated reminders to clients before their invoices are due to be paid, or overdue reminders for late payments.

These are just a few of the new and improved features for MIDAS v4.25. Please see this post for details of other new features you’ll find in v4.25.

You can also ask questions and discuss the new features of v4.25 over on Reddit.

The post Flexible Invoice Terms appeared first on MIDAS - Room Booking System | Blog.

In this post we’ll look at some of the improvements in relation to tax handling on invoices.

In earlier versions of our software, you could set a tax rate which would apply to invoice total amounts. At the same time, we provided options to allow you to set individual clients as tax exempt.

We’re providing even more tax flexibility for v4.25, including:

Individual Venue Tax Rates

Each venue can have its own rate of tax applied to it. This allows you to set different tax rates for different venues.

Individual Resource Tax Rates

Each resource item can also have its own rate of tax applied to it. This allows you to set different tax rates for resources.

Per-Item Tax Rates

Whereas previously a single rate of tax was applied to an entire invoice, from v4.25, each line on an invoice can have its own tax rate. Each line on an invoice contains the following elements: Item Description, Item Quantity, Item Rate, Tax Rate, and Amount. The invoice summary section will show details of the tax amounts applied to the invoice total.

Toggle Amounts Display inc/ex Tax

Calculation of the values shown in the “Amount” is automatic based on quantity, rates, and tax of the line item. When creating or modifying an invoice, clicking on the “Amount” column header will toggle the display of amounts inclusive or exclusive of tax.

We’ve also added a “Show amounts excluding Tax?” admin setting to control the default display of amounts. This setting is located under MIDAS Admin Options → Manage MIDAS → Invoicing.

Set Tax Rates for Deposit and Cancellation Invoices

We’ve also added admin settings to allow specific tax rates to be applied to Deposit and Cancellation invoices respectively. Previously, these invoice types applied tax at the global tax rate you’d defined. Now they can each have their own unique rate.

These are just a few of the new and improved features for MIDAS v4.25. Please see this post for details of other new features you’ll find in v4.25.

You can also ask questions and discuss the new features of v4.25 over on Reddit.

The post Invoice Tax Improvements appeared first on MIDAS - Room Booking System | Blog.