I've written at length about staying Up to Date with the current release of Jet Essentials (now called Jet Professional), but after my last blog reviewing major Jet Reports release 2015, I walked away with mixed feelings. The features and new tools, though beneficial were cumbersome to install or subject to 'gotchas' that if you weren't paying attention, you'd easily miss.  I felt myself wishing that I'd written down all the gotchas so I could just email it to all my clients.  Well this time I did it for 2017.

In a nutshell:

• The new release has new features that are good and well worth investigating (I am ecstatic about the Web Portal).
• Installation: still challenging for those of us who like to just click through the installer and riddled with opportunities to mess up (which is why you need this article--learn from my mistakes!)
• Documentation: better than previous years, but as the product becomes more robust (and therefore complex) users also need to know 'best practices' as well as 'where does this feature apply to me'.

This article will review Jet Professional 2017 (and none of the reporting tools for Jet Enterprise).  If you have Jet Enterprise, this article still applies to you, because Jet Enterprise augments Jet Professional.

If you're uncertain whether your organization has Jet Enterprise, send an email to the same team that handles activation codes and licensing:  orders@jetreports.com for non-US and orders.us@jetreports.com for US-based clients.

Most companies are not running the current version of Jet Essentials.
In fact, as I write this blog i realize, I'm not on the current version either!

To find out which version you're running, open Excel and navigate to Excel > Jet > Information > About
The current build is:  Jet Essentials 2015 Build 15.0.15063.0

While not all revisions of Jet release new functions, many builds stamp out known bugs or introduce code that optimizes report performance.  If you've got significantly older versions of Jet, it's very likely that you’re missing out on powerful tools that were introduced to make Jet Reports easier to use including the Table Builder, Type to Filter in the Function Wizard and Drag and Drop with the Jet Browser

The Annual Enhancement Program entitles Jet customers to three indispensable services:

Updates to the current release of Jet Essentials:  
http://kb.jetreports.com/article/AA-00981/0

Access to free technical support at support@jetreports.com  
See http://jetreportskb.host4kb.com/article/AA-00909/0/Jet-Essentials-Guidelines-Regarding-Support-Versus-Billable-Work.html for guidance on the difference between Billable services and Technical support.

Updates to your Jet license to change viewers and designers.
 
If a company is current in the Annual Enhancement Program, they are entitled to download and install the most recent build of Jet Essentials.  Period.  Full stop.  If you paid your annual maintenance, there is (almost) no reason to not be on the current release of Jet Essentials.  To stay informed on Jet releases, I subscribe to:  Release Notes for Jet Essentials 2015.

It’s a pretty safe assumption to say that if you’re on NAV with 4.01 executables or higher, you’re compatible with the current version of Jet Essentials.  Check the article on NAV compatibility:  http://kb.jetreports.com/article/AA-00484/0/What-versions-of-Navision-are-compatible-with-Jet-Reports-Essentials.html to be positive, but most companies are in the clear here regardless of what ERP customizations are in place.

The version of Office does not matter! (Usually)  Again, check the article on system requirements to be certain:  http://kb.jetreports.com/article/AA-00446/0/System-Requirements-for-Jet-Reports-Essentials.html but most companies have their users on Office 2007 and higher or Windows 7 and higher, so compatibility is usually not a problem.  If you’re on XP, you can use Jet Essentials 2013.  Please note that Office 365 users currently must use the Desktop version.

Your reports will work in the new version of Jet Essentials.  The Jet Reports developers aim to keep Jet functionality consistent so that reports are forward compatible as users upgrade versions.  There was a huge overhaul to the Jet code in version 7 to version 9 to improve performance, and then again in the releases between 2012 and 2013, but at the end of the day there were 3 things that changed for end users that might cause a report to stop functioning.  

 *If you can demonstrate that your reports stopped working due to a change in functionality from Jet Essentials v7 or older to the current version of Jet 2015, Onyx Reporting will help you get your reports functional for free.  

** To stay informed about Jet releases or have articles like this delivered to your email twice a month sign up for our blog updates at:  http://eepurl.com/bblABH

Before you pay for consulting services, please ask if they are using Jet 2015 Certified Specialists or Jet 2015 Certified Professionals, because it’s currently the only unbiased way to benchmark a consultant’s knowledge of Jet products.  If you’re paying for training, find out if the trainer has a current Jet Certified Trainer (JCT) endorsement from Jet Reports headquarters.  JCT’s have been vetted and sponsored by Jet Reports as having mastery of the Jet products as well as demonstrated proficiency as trainers.


***For more information on the certification process, End users, Partners and resellers should visit http://jetreports.com/customers/certifications.php.  The JCS exam tests for basic proficiency with report writing, while the JCP certification expands to include mastery of the Jet product as well as competency with issues around installation, troubleshooting and configuration.

Some last questions or thoughts to consider
If you’re using on-premise NAV 2013 or 2015 has your support technician approached you about using a Direct-To-SQL connectors or are you still reliant on slower web-services connectors?

If you have many designers, multiple datasources, or are using Jet Enterprise, have you evaluated using the Jet Administration Console to enforce uniformity in datasource settings throughout your organization to ease report distribution between users?

If you’re evaluating upgrading versions of your ERP, there’s no reason to wait to upgrade Jet Essentials.  They are totally unrelated unless the new version of Jet doesn’t support your old ERP.  



I am a former employee of Jet Reports in Portland, OR, and my consulting company, Onyx Reporting, was set up to provide report writing, consulting and training services for Jet Reports customer and partners worldwide.  I have achieved current JCS, JCP and JCT certifications and would be happy to help your team with their Jet Reports journey.  


Please reach out to me at jae@onyxreporting.com if you have any questions.


------ copied from http://kb.jetreports.com/article/AA-00981/0 -----


Jet Essentials 2015 Build 15.0.15063.0

Changes since 15.0.15019.0

Fixed issue where the Jet Service Tier may crash if an older client application connected to it.

Fixed issue where Essentials or the Jet Administration Console may only be able to connect to the Jet Service Tier using the IP Address but not the host name.

Fixed issue where SQL Server-based data sources did not correctly filter Unicode characters in a Latin collation.

Fixed issue where a report may not generate correctly when "Enable batch function execution" is enabled in the Application Settings and very large text values are retrieved.

Fixed issue with the Dynamics NAV SQL data source could return incorrect data when certain FlowFields were used in the same report across multiple companies.

Fixed issue with the Dynamics NAV SQL data source where Option field values (as opposed to captions) would be returned for link fields.

Fixed issue with the Dynamics NAV SQL data source where the tables and fields may not load correctly when using SQL Server 2012.

Fixed issue with the Dynamics NAV SQL data source where tables and fields may not load correctly if a failure is encountered when loading Advanced Dimensions.

Fixed issue with the Dynamics NAV SQL data source where a sort-by-sum would not sort correctly when returning record keys on a table with a multi-field primary key.


**** IMPORTANT NOTICE ****

If upgrading to any version 15.0.14329 or higher from a version *PRIOR TO* version 15.0.14329...

ALL previously-installed Service Tier components (Jet Administration Console, Jet Dashboard Builder, Jet Web Service, Jet Service Tier)

must be MANUALLY UNINSTALLED (using the "Jet Setup.exe" file included with that specific release) before running the new installer.

 

 

This past week I delivered my last onsite as an official employee of Jet Reports US.

This week I'll be relocating to the United Kingdom and starting up Onyx Reporting – ‘your one-stop shop for all things Jet’.

It's crazy to think that year-to-date I've traveled almost every second week delivering multi-day onsites for customers spread across the United States and Canada.  When I add it all up in 2014 alone, I've completed over one thousand hours of Jet Essentials report writing, webinar training, and Jet Enterprise BI services--and I'm still hungry for more!

With several years of experience training and learning from some of the best Jet Certified Trainers in the business, I am confident heading into the UK and European marketplace.

• Need a web-based introduction to Jet Essentials for the new analyst?
• Want some help preparing for the Jet Certification exams?
• Looking for some backup on that gnarly Jet Essentials report where completion is just beyond reach?

Onyx Reporting is here for you in any of those situations.  Whether you need Jet Enterprise customizations, report writing services, training on any of the Jet Reports products, or backup on technical support, Onyx Reporting is there for you every step of the way.