Are you on the current version of Jet Essentials?

Earlier this month I was working with a user who was concerned about poor report performance in NAV 2013, after upgrading to a newer version of Jet Essentials, we were able to take advantage of the Direct-to-SQL connector and we saw instantaneous performance improvement.

When I went to provide training for another customer who needed help auditing data entry errors in her Vendor Data,  I started describing the Table Builder, only to discover it wasn't on her toolbar because she was using an extremely old version of Jet.

Unfortunately these types of customer experiences are pretty common and it could be you too!  Which version of Jet are you on?

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.


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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.