Intuit Partner Platform team blog

Announcing IPP v2.7

The Intuit Partner Platform (IPP) team is excited to announce that IPP v2.7 is now live and available for IPP development partners and includes the following updates:

• New Workplace App Center application toolbar
• New BETA-quality extension to Intuit Data Services
• AppCenter enhancements to improve the application shop and learn experience
• A variety of platform and IDS issues / defects

NEW INTUIT WORKPLACE APP CENTER TOOLBAR 

A new Intuit Workplace App Center toolbar will be introduced to customers in production in the 2010 Q3 timeframe.

The new toolbar allows partners greater control over the look and feel, and provides greater configurability while still providing users easy-to-use navigation between App Center apps and services.

Access to the new toolbar capabilities are being provided to IPP developers in this v2.7 release and are asked to test the new controls and configure their applications to work correctly with the new toolbar by July 31, 2010.

Benefits include:

• App Center application footer is removed 

  The new version of the toolbar will replace the function of the current standard Workplace application footer. This will reduce the real estate dedicated to Workplace navigation elements by more than 50 percent.

• Option to have toolbar scroll with the application interface 

  Developers can configure their application to allow the new toolbar to scroll with their application window contents. The default behavior is for the new toolbar to remain fixed at the top of the application window (for backwards compatibility).

• Control over application brand / name and toolbar background color 

  Developers can include a custom logo in thae toolbar, as well as control the background color of the interface.

• Greater control / configurability over stand menu options 

  Developers can include custom links to a variety of standard menu options, including options for HELP, FEEDBACK, ADD USERS, and MANAGE USERS.

• New Expiration Messaging for Applications 

  New dialog boxes have been added to each of the different plan expiration scenarios. Users are now presented with messaging that more clearly indicates which expiration scenario has been triggered:

  • Beta period expired: The application is no longer available for beta testing.
  • Trial period expired: Free trial period has ended; user is prompted to purchase a subscription.
  • Application subscription has been cancelled: Application is no longer available for use.

To access and test against the new toolbar, please submit an IPP Support Incident.

NEW BETA-QUALITY EXTENSTION TO INTUIT DATA SERVICES 

A number of new data sets, enhancements and improvements to IPP Intuit Data Services (IDS) are now available in BETA-quality.

Production-quality versions of these services—along with Flex tool updates that support these services—will be delivered in IPP v2.8, scheduled for release later in May.

Developers must use v2 of the IDS API to utilize these new services. Previous IDS versions (e.g. v1) is currently supported but will not include these new objects/behaviors; developers are strongly urged to migrate to the latest API version at their earliest convenience.

The following data elements and methods have been exposed in BETA quality. 

New IDS Objects / Methods

• LISTS
• Create Method for SalesTaxItem, Item Discount, and Item Fixed Asset
• Create and Update method for Payment Item
• ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE
• Update method for Invoice, Estimate and Sales Receipt
• ACCOUNTS PAYABLE
• Create method for Bill Payment Check, Bill Payment Credit Card, and Vendor Credit

Other IDS Enhancements available in BETA with IDS v2.7 include:

• Developer control over customer data connectivity options 

  Partners can now configure which IDS connectivity options their application subscribers can select from. Options include: Enter Data Directly, Use Sample Data, and Use My QuickBooks Desktop Data. By default, users are presented all three of these choices for any IDS-enabled application.

• Reporting data services beta 

  Developers can now access QuickBooks summary report data via IDS services for the following reports providing a summary view of data:

• Profit and Loss
• Balance Summary
• Sales Summary
• Account Balances
• Customers Who Owe Me
• Income Breakdown
• Top Customers by Sales

Methods are also available that allow developers to request reporting data for specified time periods or predefined subset (e.g. top 20).

• Enhanced query and sorting filters 

  IPP v2.7 introduces a variety of expanded sorting and filtering options. Developers can specify sort order, filter results by the synchronize flags, and get the number of objects returned by a query for all IDS objects. Name, Accountant, and Item objects can also be filtered by the active flag.

• Additional data validation rules for IDS operations 

  IPP v2.7 adds new validation rules to improve IDS data quality / consistency as well as to improve QuickBooks desktop sync reliability.

Partners should review their application to ensure their products conform to the following rules and properly handle the following error conditions when storing data to Intuit Data Services.

Examples of these new validation rules include:

• Names must be unique across names objects (Customer/Employee/Vendor/other names objects).
• Transactions (Bills, Invoices, etc.) must have at least one line.
• Email address must be in standard Internet format.
• Cannot reference both an Accounts Payable object and an Accounts Receivable object in a single General Ledger Journal Entry.
• Journal Entries must be in balance (Sum of Credits equal to Sum of Debits).
• For Accounts Payable transactions, a vendor must be referenced in the header.
• For Accounts Receivable posting and non-posting transactions, a Customer reference must be provided.

Other IDS enhancements include

• View-only User Roles 

  We’ve added new application roles that allow developers to provide read-only access to different classes of IDS objects. A new Confidential Reporting role has also been added to support the new reporting data services.

• Improved initial sync performances for customers 

  Performance of initial synchronization has been improved by 20 percent for improved customer experience.

For more details, including data validation rules and known issues please refer to the v2.7 IDS release notes and IDS Programmers Guide.

INTUIT WORKPLACE APP CENTER IMPROVEMENTS 

There are a variety of enhancements and modifications to Intuit App Center to improve the overall shopping flow and experience.

• New “All Apps” Page 

  A new “All Apps” page to the site providing an easy way for users to see a comprehensive list of all available applications. An “All Apps” link has been added to the top blue menu bar for easy access to the new page. The list of applications can be sorted by a particular column by clicking on the sorting triangles and multiple columns can be sorted by holding down the shift key while clicking a sort triangle.

• Clarifying Default Sign-Up Options for Applications 

  The Sign-Up Options for applications have been clarified through new terminology and graphics. Users are now presented with clearer messaging and graphics which indicate what evaluation option a particular application supports:

  • “Get it Free:” Application offers a free baseline subscription plan.
  • “Try it Free:” Application offers a free trial period; a purchased subscription is then required.
  • “Buy it Now:” Application does not offer any free trial or baseline plan and requires a purchase.

• Additional Help for QuickBooks Sync Manager Issues 

  Additional links have been added to the Frequently Asked Questions page in the top blue menu bar for issues with QuickBooks Data Synchronization. Users can now link directly to resources focused on QuickBooks Data Synchronization issues.

• Design improvements to Solution Category Pages 

  Design improvements to the Solution Category Pages (Run My Business, Manage My Work, Grow and Manage My Customers, Reduce My Costs) to simplify user navigation. The information presented has been streamlined and issues with lists scrolling have been addressed.

SOFTWARE UPDATES / FIXES 

For a complete list of software updates / fixes included in IPP v2.7, see the release notes.

--

The Intuit Partner Platform Team.

Are you near Boston and into Windows Azure?

Are you near Boston and into Windows Azure? Then you should know about the Boston Azure User Group - food, drink and lots of Azure provided! 

Tomorrow night (3/5) 3/25 I'll be joined by Jarred Keneally to discuss the Windows Azure SDK for IPP and how easy it is for developers to:

• federate Azure-hosted SaaS apps into IPP
• integrate those apps with QuickBooks data using IPP's Intuit Data Services API
• and sell those apps to millions of Intuit customers on Intuit Workplace App Center.

Hope to see you there!

Announcing IPP v2.6

The IPP team is excited to announce that IPP v2.6 is now live and available for IPP partners which includes:

1. INTUIT DATA SERVICES ENHANCEMENTS
We’ve made a significant number of enhancements and improvements to Intuit Data Services.

All of the new objects and behaviors listed below work with v2 of the IDS API. Developer must use v2 of the IDS API to utilize these new services.
Previous IDS versions (e.g. v1) are supported but will not include new objects/behaviors; developers are strongly urged to migrate to the latest API version at their earliest convenience.

The following data elements and methods have been exposed via REST API as well as added to the IPP Flex framework:

New IDS Objects

• ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE
  • Read access to Item Assemblies, Item Groups, and Sales Tax Groups
  • Read access to Customer Message, Customer Type, and Job Type
  • Read access to Deposit and Item Fixed Asset items
  • Read access to Credit Card Charge, Credit, and Refund transactions
  • Create methods for Sales Receipt, Terms, Payment Method, Sales Rep, and Class
• ACCOUNTS PAYABLE
  • Read access and Create methods for Item Receipt transactions
  • Read access to Bill Payment Credit Card transactions
  • Read access to Vendor Type
  • Create methods for Bills, Checks, and Class
• GENERAL LEDGER
  • Read access to Payroll item (to identify a wage item to apply to a time activity)
• LISTS
  • Read access to Other Names and Customer Message
  • Ability to reference entities by ID in addition to Names
• OTHER
  • Read, Create, and Update access to Time Tracking with Payroll Item reference

Other IDS Enhancements available with IDS v2.6:

• Custom Field Support
  Partners can define custom attributes associated with any IDS object. Partners have full Create, Read, and Update access to these attributes from within their applications.
  
• Query Optimizations
  All IDS queries have been enhanced to allow partners to specify the exact list of attributes they want returned; this enhancement improves query performance and reduces network traffic.
  
• “Draft” Flag on Updated IDS Records
  A new Draft flag has been added to IDS objects that support Update methods. Setting this attribute on a modified data element tells IDS not to sync the data to QuickBooks desktop. This attribute enables partners to allow their customers to create and revise IDS data in the cloud before committing these changes to QuickBooks desktop.
  
• Update Optimizations
  IDS now supports update methods that supply only a subset of field values. Only the supplied fields will be modified, while all other fields are untouched. This enhancement compliments the query optimizations mentioned earlier and can improve update performance.
  
• Changed Data Query
  Additional IDS capabilities have been included that allow partners to query for data changed or modified after a given timestamp. This capability can significantly improve the performance of applications that want to maintain an up-to-date list of data; allowing only new or changed data to be retrieved after the initial list is queried.
  
• Sync Error Handling
  Partners can now query for “errored” IDS objects, that is, all objects that failed during a sync with QuickBooks desktop. Objects that failed to sync can be reverted to the version last successfully synchronized with QuickBooks.
  New methods have also been added that allow developers to request that specific object instances in DRAFT state in the IDS data store be overwritten with data from QuickBooks Desktop. These methods allow partners to handle Sync failures and revisions more elegantly.
  
• Initial Sync Performance Improvements
  The performance of syncing a customer’s QuickBooks desktop company file to the IDS online data store the first time has been improved by about 50 percent.

Follow this link to more information on these and other new Intuit Data Service capabilities.

2. STREAMLINING THE APPLICATION SIGN-UP/SIGN-IN EXPERIENCE
We’ve added several minor enhancements to the IPP SUSI experience.

Note: All changes are upwardly compatible. New developer-facing enhancements are optionally configurable. The end-user changes to make the SUSI process clearer and easier will be immediately available for new users signing up for Intuit App Center applications.

Enhancements include:

• Streamlined Terms of Service Process
  When signing up for free, trial, or beta subscriptions for third party applications, customers now agree to the partner’s Terms-of-Service and Privacy Policy as an integrated part of the sign-up process; this is no longer a separate step.
  
• Preselected Business Profiles
  Users signing up for App Center applications directly from the QuickBooks Desktop browser will have the Business Profile with their QuickBooks file automatically selected.
  
• Customizable Help Links on Application Sign-In Page
  Partners who choose to customize their application login page now have the ability to customize the help links associated with that interface.
  
• Better Help for Customers Changing or Cancelling an Application Subscription
  Under certain circumstances, users may encounter problems using the App Center interface to upgrade, downgrade, or cancel their application subscriptions. Users who encounter this issue are now presented with a clear help dialog explaining the issue and directing them to call the support phone number related to the specific application team.

Get more information about these and other new IPP SUSI capabilities here.

3. INTUIT WORKPLACE APP CENTER IMPROVEMENTS
We’ve made a variety of enhancements and modifications to Intuit App Center to improve the overall shopping flow and experience.

Customer Enhancements

• Streamlined Learn More page design
  Learn More pages in Intuit App Center (aka AppCards) that describe the specific benefits, capabilities, requirements, and support policies for each IPP application have been simplified. Page elements that showed other New and Most Viewed applications have been removed. A new Support tab as been added, along with a new Requirements/Dependencies section on the Technical tab. (See below.)
  
• Enable Users to Edit Their Business Profile Names
  Application users with Admin privileges can now edit the name of their business profiles as well as update other profile attributes. This capability is included in the My Account section.
  
• Access to support for users with QuickBooks Sync issues
  The HELP option on the App Center application toolbar has been updated. For admin users accessing an application that syncs with QuickBooks desktop, a new help option has been added to submit a support incident related to QuickBooks sync.

Developer Enhancements

• New Support Tab on Learn More Pages
  A new Support tab has been added to the Learn More page (aka AppCard) for each IPP application. This tab will include the details on a particular application’s support policies as well as a link to the application’s online help services and the Support phone number for that application team.
  

• This information was previously available in App Center on the Technical tab within an application’s Learn More page. No additional work is required by partners to enable this tab.
  Note: Partners are required to provide this information before their application is published into production.

• New Technical Requirements/ Dependencies Info on Learn More Pages
  A new section has been added to the Technical Tab on the Learn More page for each IPP application. This section provides users with information regarding minimum machine requirements, supported browsers, and supported QuickBooks versions to run a particular IPP application.
  

• We urge partners whose applications have specific minimum requirements for browsers, QuickBooks connectivity, machine resources, etc. to update their AppCard data so that this info can be properly presented in App Center.Improved Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Help Instructions

• Additional help instructions have been added to IPP’s Publish Application interface that provide partners with suggestions on how to best tag their Learn More application pages so that search engines can index these pages in an optimal fashion. 

• Google Analytics Tracking Codes
  Google Analytics tracking codes for the Learn More pages will be modified as part of v2.6. Developers who have written reports to track data flow on the Learn More pages (i.e. “Funnel Tracking”) will need to modify their tracking codes. See documentation for Google Analytics for IPP / Workplace App Center

Follow this link for more information on these and other new App Center capabilities.

4. SOFTWARE UPDATES / FIXES
For a complete list of software updates / fixes included in IPP v2.6, please review the release notes here.

Thanks,
—The Intuit Partner Platform Team

Announcing IPP v2.5

The IPP team is excited to announce that IPP v2.5 is now live and available for IPP partners which includes:

1. STREAMLINING THE APPLICATION SIGN-IN/SIGN-UP (SUSI) EXPERIENCE

Several improvements and additional developer configuration options have been added to the IPP Sign-up / Sign-in (SUSI) experience.

Note: All changes are upwardly-compatible unless explicitly noted. New developer-facing enhancements are optionally configurable. End-user changes to make the SUSI process clearer and easier will be immediately available for new users signing up for App Center / Workplace applications.

Enhancements include:

• Google Analytics Tracking Modifications

  Due to the large number of SUSI improvements / optimizations added in the IPP v2.5 release for third party partners listed in more detail below, the tracking codes for Google Analytics used to analyze the Sign-up / Sign-in flow have been modified.

  
  

  Note: Third party partners using IPP’s Google Analytics reporting capabilities may need to revise their Google Analytics reports to reflect the new Page and UserAction tracking codes. Review the Google Analytics Release notes for more information.

• Fast-path sign-up for new customers (Trial/Free/Beta)

  By default in v2.5, new subscribers signing up for third party applications that offer a trial plan, a free subscription, or a beta plan are no longer prompted to select a subscription plan or enter payment info. This default reduces the number of steps a user needs to complete to evaluate the application. Third party partners have the ability to override this new default behavior when publishing their application.

• All-in-one sign-up page for third party applications

  The Intuit AppCenter SUSI experience has been redesigned for new customers signing up for paid-only applications as well as for existing customers signing up for additional application subscriptions (i.e. for multiple businesses). The four steps required to subscribe to an application have been consolidated into one page and the number of clicks significantly reduced. Prior to v2.5, this SUSI experience involved five separate pages.

• Third party SUSI customization options

  IPP v2.5 allows third party app partners to customize several aspects of the Workplace SUSI process:

  • App sign-in page customization

    Partners can add a custom image to the initial SUSI screen that prompts users to sign-in using their Intuit Account or create a new Intuit account. By default, this area includes an AppCenter / Workplace marketing image.

  • App sign-up page customization

    Partners can add custom content to the left hand margin in the all-in-one app sign-up page. By default, this area includes information pulled from the partner’s AppCard.

• Reduced number of fields required for business profiles

  In v2.5, the number of Business Profile fields a user must enter during the SUSI flow has been reduced from eight to two. Users are only prompted to enter a business name and phone number; address fields are no longer required or presented in the SUSI workflow. This change reduces the number of keystrokes / clicks end users must complete to sign up for an application.

• Improved help experience for new prospects / users

  IPP v2.5 includes a new help interface for prospects / customers who have login problems or general questions about a particular application. The AppCenter FAQ page has also been revised to include links to this help interface.

Get more information about these and other new IPP SUSI capabilities here.

2. IMPROVED CUSTOMER REPORTING

Several enhancements have been added to IPP’s customer reporting services. These include:

• The Trial/Beta Usage Report and Customer Detail Report, available to partners with published applications via their IPP Partner account, now includes phone numbers as well as email addresses for all application subscriptions.

• API calls return customer data with phone numbers and email addresses.

  The IPP QBDPDevCustomerDetail and QBDPDevFreeTrialUsage APIs have been extended to return phone number data as well as email addresses. This additional data is provided to partners so they can contact customers to resolve support and subscription issues.

Note: Partners are responsible for managing customer contact preferences within their application, as well as ensuring these preferences are honored based on the partner’s application privacy policy.

Follow this link for more information on these customer reporting improvements.

3. IMPROVEMENTS TO APPLICATION LAUNCH AND RUNTIME PERFORMANCE

With the v2.5 release, we enabled browser caching of IPP QAR file contents. IPP QAR file contents (including native IPP application SWF files, images, config files, etc.) are now stored locally in the user’s Web browser cache. Additionally, the IPP service checks to see if these assets have been updated since the last time the user logged in; if any changes have been made, the new version of the asset is downloaded and cached in the user’s browser. This enhancement eliminates the need to download this content every time a user logs in to their application, resulting in significant application start-up performance improvements.

Find more information on these IPP performance enhancements here.

4. ADDITIONAL APIS

We’ve added several new APIs to IPP v2.5, including interfaces to ensure app users have appropriate data access permissions levels.

A new API and standard IPP user-manager access point allows you to reset the base level permissions for an application to ensure all users have the appropriate data access permissions based on their role. This capability was added to address cases when (a) a customer admin inadvertently removed a permission, or (b) an app upgrade has changed role mapping or added new roles and permissions need to be refreshed.

For additional details regarding new APIs included in IPP v2.5, please review the documents located here.

5. SOFTWARE UPDATES / FIXES

For a complete list of software updates / fixes included in IPP v2.5,

please review the release notes here.

Thanks,

—The Intuit Partner Platform Team

IPP - Alterity's Story: From the Desktop to SaaS

It’s always exciting when a new app goes live on the Intuit Workplace App Center, and especially so when it is has been developed by a long-standing member of the Intuit Developer Network.

Brian Sweat of Alterity had good conversation (full recording as an mp3 here) with Redmonk’s Michael Coté to talk about the new Easy Analytics for Inventory, and why - as a 10-year-long member of IDN developing "traditional" desktop applications - Alterity is adopting IPP and the SaaS delivery model for the next generation of its products that integrate with customers' QuickBooks data.

Show Notes:

• Brian tells us about Alterity and their new offering, Easy Analytics for Inventory.
• I ask Brian to tell us how they started getting interested in using IPP and what the process was like getting up and running.
• We talk about the use of Flex and how the IPP platform integrates with the UI layer.
• Brian tells us about the ability to more closely track what users are actually using and doing (or not using) in a cloud-based application.
• While customers don’t seem to be overly concerned with cloud vs. desktop deployment – at this early point – Brain says the support and even install time on cloud seems much smaller than for traditional deployment options.
• This leads to a discussion about the other effects a PaaS, like IPP, has on a company’s structure: namely not having to worry so much about billing and other back-office concerns. And then there’s all the marketing Intuit does for them in the App Center.

The full recording as an mp3 here.

Intuit Partner Platform + Windows Azure = Win for Small Businesses

When we started the Intuit Partner Platform (IPP) last year, we envisioned a destination where Small Businesses could pick from a variety of quality applications to solve their critical business pain points – and we wanted those apps to work together!  A big ecosystem of Apps – from a variety of developers and pre-integrated – solving for the needs of Small Businesses.

Today, we’re thrilled to announce an alliance between Intuit and Microsoft, that brings IPP a giant step closer to our ecosystem vision. Starting today, SaaS developers can access the beta of the Windows Azure SDK for IPP - a set of tools, code samples, and services, designed to make it easy for developers of SaaS applications developed on Windows Azure to federate those SaaS apps on to IPP and sell them to millions of Small Businesses in the Intuit Workplace App Center.

Today’s news about Intuit and Microsoft’s relationship has two converging themes:

1) More developers + great tools = more great apps for small businesses

• The Windows Azure SDK for IPP (when fully delivered) will enable developers to build a great application on the Windows Azure platform while leveraging the go-to-market services (i.e. single sign-on, billing and data web API’s, user management, etc.) of IPP and publish their app to an existing marketplace in the Intuit App Center.
• In addition to the third-party developer apps, Microsoft will also be working closely with us to offer their Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS) via the Intuit Workplace App Center.  While it will take a little while to get the integration just right, we think the addition of BPOS, to the Intuit Apps, and third party apps, creates a strong suite of apps for Small Businesses to choose from.

2) Broader channels = more customers for developers

• By reaching out to our respective Channel partners (VAR’s, Solution Providers, etc.) and introducing them to the Intuit App Center, we further expand the ecosystem of Small Businesses that developers can target. Through our product channels (via QuickBooks) and our partner channels, we have an opportunity to build a large customer base using connected applications.

The reason we’re so excited about this alliance is very simple: More Quality Apps + More Targeted Customers = Vibrant Ecosystem (and a strong network effect)!  By joining the development and channel forces of two of the leaders in the Small Business Market, I think we have a great opportunity to delight SMB’s, Developers, and VAR’s. Win-Win-Win!

Alex Chriss
Director, Intuit Partner Platform

Announcing IPP Dev Voice - Enhancement Voting and Tracking System

I’ve been fortunate to speak with many of you over the last several months as the Intuit Partner Platform gains momentum. The progress we’ve made together in the last 90 days alone is ASTOUNDING! We released a new App Center with QuickBooks 2010 to let small business customers easily discover your great solutions; we’ve seen a dozen new apps launch, and we’re putting the finishing touches on a whole host of new platform capabilities and data services.

One thing I really appreciate is all the great ideas and thoughtful recommendations you’ve provided on how to make IPP even better. You can see many of your ideas put into action as we roll out new releases. But what about that other suggestion you asked us for? What’s coming up?

To make it easier for you to provide feedback and for us to share the status of things, we’re trying out a new service - IPP Dev Voice. This service will let you:

• Add your own suggestions
• Review the great suggestions posted by other partners (there are 8 different enhancement groups, ranging from Data Services, to Marketing and Selling, to App Management and Support)
• Vote on the enhancements you’d find most valuable (you can place up to 10 votes in each group!)
• Subscribe to RSS feeds for any of the groups to monitor new ideas and track the status of your suggestions.

IPP Product Management will review all the suggestions regularly. We’ll flag the ideas we’re actively reviewing, planning, and working on, so you’ll always know the status of your favorite enhancements stand.

IPP Dev Voice is available to all registered IPP development partners. To access it, go to http://voice.developer.intuit.com. We’ve also integrated the service into the IPP and Workplace Discussion Forum. Look for the FEEDBACK widget on any IPP forum listing pages or postings. Click on this widget to view the IPP suggestions with the highest number of votes, or go directly to IPP Dev Voice to add a suggestion and see what other developers are thinking about.

Do you have an idea? Do you recognize a good idea when you see one? We want to hear from you!

~Bill Phelan
IPP Product Management

New Promo Video - Intuit Workplace App Center

Below is the new promo video for the Intuit Workplace App Center, featuring some of the great web apps that help Small Business owners boost their bottom line and get connected to a wider array of powerful online services. We'll be updating the video with other new apps as they come online, but this is our first public version.

A quick note to developers new to the Intuit Partner Platform (IPP): the apps shown here are either fully built on IPPs platform-as-a-service (PaaS) or federated, then packaged and sold (as SaaS apps) using IPP. Either way, the App Center is where end-users find, try, but and use those applications.

You like?

 

Intuit Partner Platform v1.4 updates

IPP version 1.4 contains several significant enhancements to the application toolbars that appear at the top and bottom of every Workplace application. Additional changes have been made to address known issues.

Toolbar Enhancements

A significant number of enhancements have been made to the application toolbars that appear at the top and bottom of every Workplace application. Highlights include:

• Cross Application Navigation

Users who have access to multiple IPP applications can now easily switch between applications directly from the toolbar without having to revisit their Workplace “My Applications” page.

• Ability to Share and Administer

Toolbar options have been added which allow:

• All users to edit their Workplace profiles
• Users with admin permissions to share the application with other users, manage application users / permissions, and manage their Workplace account

• Application Ratings

Users can post reviews and rate Workplace applications on a one- to five star scale. Rating / review information is presented in the Intuit Marketplace.

• Expiration Reminders

Users evaluating applications using Beta or Trial plans are presented with a reminder that indicates how many days remain before they need to select a paid subscription plan.

For more information on these and other new Workplace toolbar capabilities, click here.

Software Updates / Fixes

For a complete list of software updates / fixes included in IPP v1.3, please review the release notes located here.

Now Available: IPP V1.2

IPP version 1.2 is now available. It contains several significant developer productivity enhancements. We’ve made additional changes to address known issues.

DEVELOPMENT PRODUCTIVITY ENHANCEMENTS

Deploy application updates that include schema changes

Developers can now publish application updates that include database schema changes, including new tables, fields, relationships, roles, etc. as long as the change preserves existing user data. The Intuit Partner Platform Flex SDK Plug-in Tools have also been updated to include enhancements that help development teams manage different database schema versions, test application upgrades that involve schema changes, and automatically publish application updates to all subscribers.

Learn more about these schema update capabilities.

Support for application-specific beta programs

Developers who want to market test their applications before commercially releasing them may now create “beta plans.” Beta plans are application entitlements that allow users to use applications for free for a fixed period of time. Beta plans allow developers to specify the number of users who can share a particular beta program subscription and a specific target date when the Beta period will end. Once the beta program ends, application subscribers are prompted to select a pricing plan so they can continue to use the application.

Follow this link for more information on defining application-specific beta programs.

Additional reports: settlement failures and beta plan tracking

The Settlement Failures Report presents a list of application subscribers (and their contact info) for whom the IPP Billing service could not collect the monthly subscription fee. This information helps developers work through collection issues with their subscribers.

The Developer Free Trial Usage report has been extended to list subscribers who have signed up for beta programs as well as free trials. The report includes user contact information along with the dates upon which each subscriber‘s beta plan or free trial will expire.

Click here for more information on these additional developer reporting capabilities.

SOFTWARE UPDATES / FIXES

For the complete list of software updates and fixes included in IPP v1.2, please review the release notes located here.

Thanks,

—The Intuit Partner Platform Team