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Release Notes - 2017-09-23

What's New

Customizable Status Colors for Work Orders

You've always been able to customize the status values for work orders. And previously, all "open" statuses were green, while the "Closed" status was a dark gray. This update adds the ability to customize the colors associated with status values. In addition, we've also updated the calendar to display status colors for scheduled work order assignments. 

Screen_Shot_2017-09-19_at_2.53.03_PM.png

 

Linked Work Orders

Now you can link work orders. Let's say you sent a tech to repair a broken piece of equipment yesterday and the work order has already been closed. But today, the customer calls back to say that the equipment still isn't working properly. You could re-open the previous work order, re-assign it, etc. Or, with the new linking feature, you could simply clone the first work order and link the new work order to the original work order. This allows for a cleaner separation of site visits, assignments, etc, while still allowing your team to know what's happening. You could also use this feature for project tracking - create a "main" work order for the overall project, then create multiple "sub" work orders that are linked back to the main work order for each phase of the project. 

Example: Work Order #3233 is Closed. You can see in the sidebar that work order #3234 is linked to this work order.

Screen_Shot_2017-09-19_at_3.04.38_PM.png

Example continued: Work Order #3234 was created in order to follow-up work order #3233 and is linked to it for easy reference.

Screen_Shot_2017-09-19_at_3.04.53_PM.png

 

View-Mode for Work Order List

Over the years, BlueFolder's "Work Order List" has been expanded to include more and more information. While helpful for some users, it can be a little "noisy" for others. This update introduces a new "view mode" setting for the work order list. This setting can be set to "Standard", which is the new view that omits extra details, or "Detailed", which is the view you have been used to seeing as the default view. This is a per-user setting that only affects your login, and the setting you choose will be remembered as your default setting the next time you view the list.

The work order list in "Detailed" view-mode.

Screen_Shot_2017-09-19_at_3.18.31_PM.png

The work order list in "Standard" view-mode - omits details in certain columns like "Service Location", "Assigned To", etc.

Screen_Shot_2017-09-19_at_3.17.31_PM.png

 

Filtering Enhancements for Work Order List

We've also improved the filters for the main work order list. The new status filter allows for single-click selection of "Closed" and "All" status views, while still allowing you to filter the list to a specific "open" status or all open statuses. The other filter pickers have also been slightly updated to be a little larger so that they are easier to use on mobile devices.

Screen_Shot_2017-09-19_at_3.24.43_PM.png

 

Simplified Work Order Log

When viewing a work order, the "Log" has been simplified and "flattened" to remove the hierarchical structure that we were using. The hierarchical display was overly-complicated with lots of "Add Comment" buttons and just wasn't optimal for being able to quickly see the latest comments on a work order. The new view is simple, easy to understand, and the newest updates & comments are right at the top of the log. We've also tweaked the colors for comments that are displayed in the log. Public comments are now displayed with a green label (previously they were black), while private comments are displayed with an orange label (previously they were red).

Screen_Shot_2017-09-19_at_3.26.33_PM.png

 

Assignment Completion Now Optional

BlueFolder has long been unique in the way we track assignments for work orders. Multiple assignments can be used, and each assignment can have a completion status that is separate from the work order itself. This is a powerful feature that many people like and it allows you to know when a tech has completed their assignment without having to change the status of the work order. Despite the benefits to this approach, it can be more functionality than many customers need. This week's update introduces the ability to disable assignment completion entirely. With assignment completion turned off, your work order flow becomes simpler and allows your team to focus on "status" as the sole indicator of the current state of a work order.

 

Multiple Assignments Can Now Be Disabled

In addition to being able to disable assignment completion, we're also introducing the ability to disable the ability to create multiple assignments for a work order. If you're trying to enforce a simpler workflow for your team, you might find this useful. Our new work order linking feature is also useful in this regard. Instead of a second or third assignment on a work order, you could create additional linked work orders, thus keeping assignments, status, billing, etc all separate. In can be quite useful and a much cleaner approach for some of our customers. 

 

Redesigned "Assigned To" Column in Work Order List

Screen_Shot_2017-09-19_at_3.28.41_PM.pngNow that assignment completion is optional, we had to rework the UI for the "Assigned To" column. The good news is that we think it's easier for everyone. Rather than displaying an assignment's completion status underneath the assignment, we're now displaying it to the right of the assignment. This makes it easier to scan a list since the location is consistent and not buried in-line with the text.

 

Source Info Moved to Sidebar

Screen_Shot_2017-09-19_at_3.32.16_PM.pngWe've moved a work order's "source" information into the sidebar, just under status when viewing a work order.

 

Recurring Jobs

We've renamed our "Recurring Work Orders" feature to "Recurring Jobs". The previous name was a little confusing and made it harder for customers to understand that a recurring job was something that auto-created work orders on a specified schedule. We've also made some other improvements in this area, shown below.

  • Show Scheduled Assignments from Recurring Jobs on Calendar - A recurring job auto-creates work orders on a specified schedule. When a recurring job "executes", it creates a work order that may have a scheduled assignment (depending on how you setup the recurring job). That scheduled assignment will appear on the calendar once it's been created, but if the recurring job hasn't been executed yet, the scheduled assignment doesn't yet exist and therefore won't appear on the calendar. This has been a real problem for customers that do a lot of recurring jobs. They need to be able to see what their team calendar will look like next week, for example, even if their recurring jobs won't run until the weekend.  Starting with this update, the calendar views will now include scheduled assignments from recurring jobs, even before the job executes. These scheduled assignments don't really exist yet, so they are displayed on the calendar with a lighter color and a dashed-line border around them. Any changes made to a recurring job will automatically recalculate future scheduled assignments accordingly. Also, note that future scheduled assignments from recurring jobs are only visible up to 2 years into the future.

    This screenshot shows the weekly schedule for Ted Technician. As you can see, there are 2 assignments from a recurring job that will be created on Thursday and Friday.
    Screen_Shot_2017-09-19_at_3.41.58_PM.png

  • Recurring Job List Improvements - the recurring job list has a new "Date Created" column. Also, the "Last Run" and "Next Run" information that was previously part of the "Status" column have been moved into their own columns. Additionally, the list can also now be sorted by some columns that were not previously enabled for sorting.
  • Recurring Job Cloning - It is now possible to clone a recurring job. Just select the "Clone" option in the action menu for a recurring job. You will be given the opportunity to name the new recurring job and choose it's starting status of either "Active" or "Paused".
  • Resume Recurring Job During Edit - When editing a "paused" recurring job, it is now possible to specify that the job should be resumed upon save.

Reporting Changes

  • New Reports for Recurring Jobs - 2 new built-in reports have been added for viewing recurring job data.
    • The "Recurring Job Run Dates" report shows all the recurring jobs that will execute during a specific date range, along with exact dates and times the job will be executed.
    • The "Recurring Job Run Dates by Customer" report is the same as the previous report but is grouped by customer. 
  • New Custom Report Dataset for Assignments - A new custom report dataset has been added that contains work order assignment data. This dataset includes both scheduled and unscheduled assignments. Please note that if an assignment has multiple assignees, the assignment will appear as multiple rows in the report, once for each assignee. 
  • New Columns for Existing Custom Report Datasets - New columns "Billable" and "Billing Status" have been added to the custom report dataset "Work Order Items".

Other Changes

  • Recent Customer Activity on Service Dashboard - The "Recent Activity" section on the "Service Dashboard" has been updated to include a new "All Customer Activity" filter selection. When selected, this filter will show only activities performed by customers, making it much easier to quickly see what interactions your customers are having with your team.
    Screen_Shot_2017-09-19_at_3.48.32_PM.png

  • Improvements to Calendar Integration - Our calendar integrations have been updated so that a work order's customer name and service location are now properly displayed in the "Location" field for appointments added via iCal invitations and iCal subscriptions. The address is formatted such that your calendar's built-in mapping capabilities should now work better with BlueFolder appointments. We're also including "assignment notes" at the top of notes section for each calendar appointment.

 

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed: When creating a new work order from an equipment item, if the item has no "next service date", the default value on the new work order form for the "next service date" should be none.
  • Fixed: Recurring appointment on Xrd Weekday of Month starts one occurrence too late.
  • Fixed: Error when trying to delete an assignment from the mobile web app.
  • Fixed: Error adding equipment item from the mobile web app. Requires dates that shouldn't be required.
  • Fixed: The work order log in the customer portal includes private "comment added" log entries. The private comment isn't actually shown to the customer (it's a blank log entry), but the log entry shouldn't be shown at all.
  • Fixed: Assignments created automatically after a work order is created via the portal should be identified as being "auto-created by 'system'" rather than by the portal user.
  • Fixed: Customer equipment export fails when the account contains custom fields on equipment.
  • Fixed: Error occurs when editing a recurring job and removing its assignment.
  • Fixed: UI issue with an even number of custom fields - too many fields in the first column when there is an even number of fields.
  • Fixed: UI issues in mobile app. Namely, button styles and header titles.
  • Fixed: Poorly worded and misleading description for "Show Reports Tab" permission.
  • Fixed: When displaying the email customer dialog, we should honor the customer notification pref that controls whether to include a link to the work order in the email. We should also set a default subject for the email.
  • Fixed: Links to certain reports were being displayed for techs who didn't have permissions to view those reports. The links were locked but displaying them could cause confusion for the user.
  • Fixed: Replace any sorting text like "Sorted asc" in header cells of an exported report.
  • Fixed: Recent change to the loading of assignees for an assignment didn't work if the assignment was new and hadn't been saved yet, causing log entries and notifications to report the assignment as being assigned to "Nobody" even though there were assignees.
  • Fixed: UI for "flat rate" item was being displayed for expense and materials items but it shouldn't have.
  • Fixed: Error when adding a new item to a recurring job after first editing existing item and then canceling out of dialog box.
  • Fixed: Error processing incoming email where the email was not matched if the user was using a comma-separated email address and there was a space after the comma.
  • Fixed: Date parsing bugs in the calendar.
  • Fixed: Added a fix to select the proper assigned user in custom reports when a user is selected in standard filters.
  • Fixed: Properly format assignment completion comments as private or public.
  • Fixed: Duplicate Recurring Jobs when exporting.
  • Fixed: Embed the company logo in print-outs rather than linking to the logo.
  • Fixed: Updated API code to parse the notifyCustomer parameter consistently. Also updated documentation.
  • Fixed: Inconsistent terminology for "recurring appointments".
  • Fixed: Team Calendar Week view loses user profile picture when a row is reloaded due to a reschedule of an assignment.
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