News from the Factory Floor

Hi there, 👋

Seven weeks of updates, and a big couple of months. The Planner has been rebuilt, kiosk timesheets are live on the shop floor, and there's a stack of work on how Factory talks to your accounting package.

🚀 New features and enhancements

• A planner you can read at a glance: Colour the board by the person doing the work or by workflow status, and you can see who is carrying what and where every job sits without opening a single card. Work that cannot start can be flagged as blocked with a reason, so the whole team plans around it. Day, Week and Month views have all been reworked, there is a filter panel and search across people, orders and customers, and Saved Views let you keep a board setup and share it with the team. Colour is off until you turn it on, so the board looks the same as it always did on first load. There is also a short video walking through the changes.
• Kiosk timesheets: Set up an iPad, tablet or desktop in the workshop and your team can tap their name, enter a PIN, and clock on and off against a job or general attendance — no personal login, no paper timesheet. Labour lines carry a LABOUR badge so they are easy to pick out of a job list, and kiosk access can now be granted to Admins and Power Users as well as Standard Users from Kiosk Settings.
• Product kits inside other kits: Kits can now contain other kits on sales orders and quotes, so layered or reusable bundles can be built the way you actually sell them instead of being flattened out by hand.
• You can now see when an accounting connection needs attention: Factory shows the real state of your Xero, QuickBooks or MYOB connection rather than a stale "Connected" label, prompts you to reconnect when it has dropped, shows an in progress state while a connection is being re-established, and flags products on a sales order that have not synced. Submitting an order that will not sync warns you rather than stopping you. Connections also refresh in the background before they expire.
• Purchase orders for staff without pricing access: Standard User (No Pricing) can now open Purchasing and create or manage purchase orders, with sales order pricing still hidden. Your floor and field staff can raise a PO at the supplier counter and link it to the job, instead of sending the receipt back to the office.
• Choose how records arrive in Xero: Set whether Factory sends sales orders and invoices across as Draft or Awaiting Payment. If your shop signs off invoices before they are treated as ready to collect, or you send them from Xero rather than Factory, they can now land in Draft and wait for you. Both settings keep their current behaviour until you change them.
• Xero payroll for New Zealand and the UK: Payroll sync now covers Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, handling each country's employees, timesheets, pay rates and payroll calendars.
• Tax free accounts for the US, UK and NZ: Xero setup now surfaces the correct zero tax account options for those regions, which heads off invoice sync failures caused by a missing tax free mapping.
• Update product costs when purchase orders come in: Turn this on and receiving a purchase order writes the price you actually paid back to the product's cost in your catalogue, and recalculates marked up pricing with it. Off unless you switch it on.
• Labour from timesheets is easier to follow: Labour lines that came from a timesheet now show where they came from, link back to the time entry, and are better protected against being edited or deleted by accident.

🛠️ Fixes and refinements

• We've released a number of enhancements aimed at resolving slight rounding issues between Factory and accounting packages.
• Fixed square metre dimensions disappearing after saving an order, leaving the line showing 0 sqm and $0.00.
• Fixed square metre dimensions being lost after Update Order.
• Fixed stock counts drifting upwards, where an order pickup notification could add stock back after it had already been deducted. Counts that were already inflated may still need correcting.
• Fixed an invoice date mismatch, where the PDF showed the date you picked but the email and Xero showed the next day.
• Fixed partial invoice generation failing with a calculation error.
• Fixed external notes being treated as products, which left order level markup applying to nothing.
• Fixed a Xero connection error that stopped some accounts loading their accounts and tax codes, and blocked invoicing.
• Fixed invoice lines without a Xero item mapping syncing with the wrong tax rate.
• Fixed orders and purchase orders failing to submit to MYOB, QuickBooks Online and Xero when an item was missing a tax code — your company defaults are now used instead.
• Fixed a QuickBooks Online first import returning only recently updated records, which left large customer and supplier lists incomplete.
• Fixed the "connection was lost" warning appearing on all three accounting cards when only one had disconnected.
• Fixed the sales order banner overstating how long it had been since the last sync.
• Fixed purchase order emails failing when a company logo image type could not be read.
• Fixed purchase order PDFs showing millimetre measurements to four decimal places.
• Fixed Bill To and Deliver To sitting empty on a sales order when the customer's billing details were already filled in.
• Fixed breaks not being deducted from tracked time when the setting was switched on.
• Fixed an error that blocked manual time entry on certain user and order combinations.
• Fixed a time entry's duration collapsing to 1 minute when moved to a different labour item.
• Fixed a duplicated planner event staying in the original user's lane after being dragged to someone else.
• Fixed Auto Sign-Out After Clock On not working on the kiosk.
• Fixed manually added time entries not syncing through to kiosk time records.
• Web Timesheets can now clock off an entry that was started at the kiosk.
• Kiosk devices now return to the link screen with an explanation when kiosk mode is switched off, rather than sitting blank.
• Workflow status badges now use the colours set in Workflow settings.
• Performance improvements to the Sales Order list.

📱Mobile improvements

• Create sales orders from your phone: Win a job in the field and you can start it there and then. Pick the customer, add manual items or labour, and the order lands in Factory as a Draft for the office to finish. Catalogue products and kits stay view only on mobile for now, and submitting, invoicing and accounting sync remain on the web app, with more to come.
• PDFs opened from Collaborate now render more clearly.
• The Drawings tab is now hidden when Flashings is switched off, rather than opening onto nothing.
• Fixed a crash on the Tracking screen when a square metre value was entered with a double "m".

Hi there, 👋

Six weeks of updates, headlined by two changes to how you get paid and how your invoices read.

🚀 New features and enhancements

• Online payments via Stripe: Record a payment against an invoice however it comes in — cash, card, bank transfer, cheque, or now Stripe — and the job's status and balance update automatically. Turn on online payments and your customers get a secure Stripe checkout link right on their invoice, so the payment lands back in Factory with nothing to enter by hand. You'll need a bank account set up in your connected accounting package first, or Stripe payments won't sync across.
• Summary invoicing: Choose once, in Settings, how you want labour and materials to show up on invoices — full breakdown, grouped under your own labels, or a single summary line — and it carries across every Proforma, Tax and Partial invoice, synced the same way with MYOB, QuickBooks and Xero.
• Dollar-based markup and discounts: Apply markups and discounts in dollar amounts as well as percentages when pricing a job.

🛠️ Fixes and refinements

• Fixed large product kits timing out and saving incomplete.
• Added a warning before syncing payments without a Default Payment Account selected.
• Stripe payment notifications now show the invoice number and customer name.
• Fixed the Default Payment Account resetting after an accounting re-sync.
• Fixed being unable to delete an unpaid partial invoice when a sibling invoice on the order was already paid.
• Fixed Margin % and Margin $ showing different figures on Labour Breakdown.
• Fixed product kit costs missing from the Profitability tab.
• Fixed Xero customer sync dropping email and phone number.
• Fixed product description edits not saving.
• Fixed invoice and quote PDFs sometimes losing your logo after a long session.
• Performance improvements to the Tracking tab and Product Catalogue.
• Fixed Sales Order search missing matches in the Notes field.
• Fixed MYOB job numbers missing from parent kit items on partial invoices.

📱Mobile improvements

• The week view in the mobile planner now has forward/back navigation.
• Fixed a crash when cancelling or deleting a custom planner event.
• Fixed clock-in failing on the timesheet page.
• Fixed a permissions gap that let Time Tracking Only users into the Workflow module.

Hi there! 👋

May's release is all about helping your team move faster, cut manual work, and keep jobs on track. Here's what's new:

🚀 New features and enhancements

• US measurement units on Purchase Orders: Square Feet and Lineal Feet are now supported across POs, so US customers can configure products and transact in their native units. No more workarounds or conversion errors.
• HEIC image support in Collaborate: Attach photos straight from iPhone without converting them first. One less step between the shop floor and the team.
• Optional blank Required Date on new orders: Factory no longer auto-fills required date on new orders. This gives teams greater flexibility when creating orders that don’t yet have confirmed timelines. Enable this via Settings > Sales or Purchasing.
• Improved Timesheet Permissions: Productivity, Workflow Only, Deliveries Only, and Time Tracking Only users can no longer view other team members' submitted time entries. Cleaner permissions, better privacy.

🔧 Fixes and refinements

• Fixed an infinite loop when editing sales order line item fields (price, quantity, markup, discount).
• Fixed Product Kits saved to the Catalogue from a Sales Order not carrying through Cost and Charge for labour items.

📱 Mobile improvements

• Sales Order notes now sync to mobile: Notes added in Factory web now display on the mobile app, so the field has the full picture.
• Collapsible Product Kits: Tap to expand (-) or collapse (+) kits when reviewing orders on mobile. Less scrolling, faster reviews.

Note: Ensure the latest version of the Factory mobile app is installed on Android and iOS to access these improvements.

💬 We’d love your feedback

Jump in and explore the updates! As always, we’d love to hear your ideas, just open Messenger💬widget in Factory and hit Share it with us.

Thanks for being part of Factory. Here’s to building better tools and boosting your profitability!

Cheers,
​Team Factory ✨

Hi there! 👋

April’s release brings a range of improvements to Factory, helping your team move faster, reduce manual effort, and stay on track. Here’s what’s new:

🚀 New features and enhancements

US measurement units now supported

Products can now be configured using imperial units (sq ft and linear ft), making Factory more flexible for US-based manufacturers. To enable this, please contact support@factory.app.

Simplified quantity entry for area-based items
You can now enter quantity directly alongside SQM and SQ FT dimensions. No more duplicating rows to represent multiple identical pieces.

Improved address formatting in PDFs
Addresses across sales and purchasing documents are now easier to read, with a clearer structure:

• Address Line 1
• Address Line 2
• Suburb, State, Postcode

Additional columns with totals and averages
You can now display averages and totals for the following columns in sales orders main page:

• Invoiced to date ($)
• Labour ($) actual (cost)
• Labour ($) estimated (cost)
• To be invoiced ($)
• Total linked PO cost ($, excl. tax)

Product exports now include On Hand values
When requesting a product export via support@factory.app, you can now include On Hand quantities.

🔧 Fixes and refinements

• Resolved an error message when uploading attachments on Quotes and Purchase Orders
• Improved reliability of mobile clock-on and active tracking actions
• Workflow-only users will no longer see menu options outside their access level

Note: Ensure the latest version of the Factory mobile app is installed on Android and iOS to access these improvements.

💬 We’d love your feedback

Jump in and explore the updates! As always, we’d love to hear your ideas, just open Messenger💬widget in Factory and hit Share it with us.

Thanks for being part of Factory. Here’s to building better tools and boosting your profitability!

Cheers,
​Team Factory ✨

Hi there! 👋

March delivered a strong set of updates across Factory, focused on improving speed, reducing friction, and keeping work flowing smoothly. Here’s what’s new:

🚀 New features & enhancements

• Drag-and-Drop Kit Components and Pricing Rows: Kit items and pricing rows can now be reordered with drag-and-drop, complete with clear visual handles and persistent ordering.
• Total and Average Values on Sales Orders: Numeric columns on the Sales Orders main page now display total and average values at the bottom, providing instant insights for faster decision-making and easier reporting.
• Date Format Selection: A new Date Format field under Settings → Company allows each company to choose between MM/DD/YYYY or DD/MM/YYYY. This ensures a single source of truth for dates across all users and systems.
• Grouped Multi-Photo Upload: Multiple images uploaded in one action are now grouped into a single Collaborate message instead of multiple individual entries.

🔧 Fixes & refinements

• Invoice Rounding Accuracy: Eliminates 1-cent discrepancies, ensuring invoices align with Xero, MYOB, and QBO.
• Workflow Access for Standard Users Restored: Restores Workflow access for standard users without pricing visibility, keeping operations moving.
• Dropdown & Multiselect Design Improvements: Fixes display issues so dropdowns and multiselects work cleanly across Workflow, Planner, and Delivery.
• Reliable Kit Loading via Product Catalogue: Prevents loading failures when adding kits, reducing delays in order creation.
• Meaningful MYOB Error Messages: Replaces unclear errors with actionable messages, making issue resolution faster.
• Duplicate Workflow Status Columns Fixed: Removes duplicate status columns, ensuring consistent and accurate workflow views.

📱 Mobile improvements

• Kit Descriptions Display Properly: Ensures kit descriptions are visible on mobile, improving clarity for field teams.
• Single Vehicle View Filters Correctly: Shows only relevant jobs per vehicle, making delivery scheduling more reliable.
• Full PDF Display in Collaborate Tab: Displays full PDFs in portrait and landscape, improving readability on mobile.
• Enhanced Order Status Visibility: Improves visibility of light-coloured statuses for accurate tracking.
• Smoother Mobile Experience: Restores @mentions on Android, improves responsiveness, and fixes keyboard behaviour in Collaborate.

Note: Ensure the latest version of the Factory mobile app is installed on Android and iOS to access these improvements.

💬 We’d love your feedback

Dive in and explore the updates! As always, we’d love to hear your ideas for the product, just open Messenger in Factory and hit Share it with us.

Thanks for being part of Factory. Here’s to building better tools and boosting your profitability!

Cheers,
​Team Factory ✨

Hi there! 👋

February was a big month at Factory! We rolled out a set of improvements to help you save time, reduce friction, and keep work moving smoothly. Here’s what’s new:

🚀 New features & enhancements

• Set Default Payment Terms for New Customer - Save time and reduce manual setup by automatically applying your preferred payment terms to every new customer. How to enable: Go to Settings > Customers and toggle Enable invoice due dates.
• Automatically Store Generated PDFs in Orders’ Collaborate Tab - All PDFs, including Quotes, Invoices, Work Orders, Proforma Invoices, Delivery Dockets, and Purchase Orders, generated via Options > Print/Email are now automatically saved in the order’s Collaborate tab. This keeps your documents organized and easy to find, saving you time and reducing manual filing.
• Use Sales Order ‘PO’ as Purchase Order Reference - When creating purchases via the Purchase Products option, the Sales Order PO now automatically populates the Purchase Order Reference. This reduces double entry and keeps your purchase records consistent.
  How to enable: Go to Settings > Purchasing and toggle Use Sales Order PO value as Purchase Order Reference when creating purchases via Purchase Products.

🔧 Fixes & refinements

• Corrected product price changes after saving drafts to ensure accurate markups.
• PDFs now display the TAX INVOICE NUMBER instead of the Xero #, ensuring your invoices are accurate and compliant with accounting standards.
• Purchase Orders will no longer be sent to MYOB when the “Send newly-created Factory purchase orders to your accounting package” option is off.
• Enabled Notes field updates for Productivity & Deliveries only roles.
• Addressed sign-in requirement when viewing Quotes from emails.
• Fixed issues when adding basic products on orders with “Group product by category” toggled.
• Corrected previous week entries appearing in the next week view.
• Resolved internal server errors when searching orders in the Linked Orders tab.
• Fixed 24-hour Date/Time custom fields on Sales Order Details (export and display now match).

💬 We’d love your feedback

Dive in and explore the updates! As always, we’d love to hear your ideas for the product, just open Messenger in Factory and hit Share it with us.

Thanks for being part of Factory. Here’s to building better tools and boosting your profitability!

Cheers,
​Team Factory ✨

Hi there! 👋

January was a big one at Factory. We rolled out a stack of improvements designed to save you time, reduce friction, and keep work moving smoothly.

🚀 New features & enhancements

• Export Sales Orders your way: Export Sales Orders exactly how you see them. Custom columns and filters are now included, so reports are ready to use the moment you download them.
• Smarter attachment handling for PDFs: Word and Excel files can now be included with PDFs, keeping all your files together.
• Find linked orders faster with Labels: Labels are now searchable in the Linked Orders tab, making it easier to track related work and jump between connected jobs.
• Keep PDFs up to date: Add a Current Date to all PDFs for clearer record-keeping and easier version tracking.

🔧 Fixes & refinements

• Product Descriptions – Editing no longer jumps to the end, making updates smooth.
• Invoice emailing & printing – Internal server errors are fixed.
• Invoice dates to Xero (QBO) – Dates now sync accurately.
• Order confirmations – No more confusing login redirects for customers.
• Custom Work Orders with PDFs – Always generate successfully, no more loading issues.
• iPad Sales Orders – Filter and sort icons now display properly.
• Default pay rates – Now save correctly when set, ensuring your setup sticks.
• Actual quantity tracking – Now more accurate for Picked Up or Delivered orders.

💬 We’d love your feedback

Dive in and explore the updates! As always, we’d love to hear your ideas for the product, just open Messenger in Factory and hit Share it with us.

Thanks for being part of Factory. Here’s to building better tools and boosting your profitability!

Cheers,
​Team Factory ✨

Hi there! 👋

It’s that time again! Your weekly Factory Update has landed, packed with handy improvements to make your workflow smoother and more efficient.

🔧 Tweaks

• Creating a Purchase Order from a Sales Order via Options > Purchase Products now keeps Square Metre Products dimensions accurate without rounding
• Job cards in the Planner View now display consistently
• The “Use accounting invoice number on Invoice PDF file name” setting now disables correctly
• Double-clicking Create Customer / Create Supplier no longer triggers duplicate entries
• Timesheet entries now download correctly.

💬 We’d love your feedback

Dive in and explore the updates! As always, we’d love to hear what you think, just open Messenger in Factory and hit Share it with us.

Thanks for being part of Factory. Here’s to building better tools, together!

Cheers,
​Team Factory ✨

Hi there,

It’s that time again! Your weekly Factory Update has landed, bringing you brand-new features and improvements to boost efficiency across your workflow.

🚀 New Features

• Customisable Runsheet PDFs: Runsheet PDFs can now be fully customised. If you’re an Admin, head over to Settings > PDF Customisation and make it your own.
• Status Hover Insights: When you hover over an order’s status, you’ll now see both the Date entered in status and the Time spent in that status. Clearer insights, smarter decisions.

🔧 Tweaks

• Accurate Pasting for Purchase Order Totals: Pasting values with commas into the Purchase Order Total field now applies the correct amount every time.
• Consistent Cursor When Reordering Columns: Dragging and dropping columns in the Sales Order main page now shows a consistent cursor, making table customisation smoother.

💬 We’d love your feedback

Jump in and explore the updates! As always, we’re keen to hear your thoughts, just open Messenger in Factory and hit Share it with us.

Thanks for being part of Factory. Here’s to building better tools, together!

Cheers,
​Team Factory ✨

Hi there,

It’s that time again! Your weekly Factory Update has landed, packed with handy improvements to make your workflow smoother and more efficient.

🚀 Enhancements

• Dynamic Currency Symbol: Customise the currency symbol at the company level for accurate, consistent financials across all documents in Factory
• Email Attachments: Send attachments up to 20 MB, with individual and total sizes clearly visible for better clarity.

🔧 Tweaks

• Attribute Columns on Custom Kits can now be rearranged with ease
• Basic Products added to a Sales Order no longer reset line items arrangements
• Adding Contacts when emailing Order documents has been fixed and no longer pre-populated the last added Contacts.
• Decimal Increments on items now work correctly when creating a Purchase Order via Sales Order > Options > Purchase Products.

💬 We’d love your feedback

Dive in and explore the updates! As always, we’d love to hear what you think, just open Messenger in Factory and hit Share it with us.

Thanks for being part of Factory. Here’s to building better tools, together!

Cheers,
​Team Factory ✨