Since the introduction of the Approval system in version 9, the approval ID has been used for approval numbering. The approval ID is unique across each database, meaning if you have a project that is assigned approval id 1125, another project may well raise the next two IDs (1126 and 1127), and then your next number would be 1128. This works perfectly well, and conceptually there is no need for the approval numbers to be consecutive – just unique. This is why this design decision was made in the first place. It is easier, and technically more robust.

But human beings can be funny creatures, and several users have reported clients who take issue with their approval numbers not being consecutive. Given that this has happened more than once with some users, we have made the decision to implement project specific numbering.

The new behaviour is that each approval will get the next consecutive number in the context of the project, not the database. In the example above, after creating ID 1125, the next number for the project would be 1126, regardless of what other projects in the system were doing. This is more complicated, and more things can go wrong – e.g. what is called a race condition when more than one user on a project needs a new approval number, but this essentially works the same as numbers for NCRs and Test Requests.

How does this affect existing Approval Numbers?

Existing approvals in the system will not be renumbered. The upgrade to v 10.65.xx will copy the existing ID to the new Approval Number field. You should notice no difference.

What happens if I need to change the Number?

In the approval view form, you can invoke the “Allow Editing Protected” option that will allow you to type a new approval number. The only requirement is that the approval number is unique. Be careful though, because if you put a new approval number that is the largest number for the project, then this will be the new starting point for the automatic numbering. E.g. if your largest approval number is 25, and you change a number to be 1000, the next approval number automatically generated will be 1001.

What if I don’t get an approval number?

The system should always give you an approval number automatically. Just in case it doesn’t there is a menu option in the approval view context menu that will only be displayed where the approval number is 0 – Get Approval No.  The most likely use for this function is if you manually change the approval number, but then decide you want to revert to the auto numbering. In this case you can just make the approval number 0, then use this function to get the next approval number.

With version 51 we announce custom approval statuses for witness and hold points. This allows individual projects to replace the standard list of statuses with a custom list for either hold points, witness points or both. This is a direct substitution, with the underlying meaning of the status at each position retaining the same.

This may be used where a client is adamant (for example) that they don’t approve hold points, they release them, or that they need to be able to specify when a witness point was approved because they opted not to inspect it. While it may be semantics, now you do not even have to point this out.

As an example, you could specify a custom setting for witness points as Approved,Conditionally Approved,Not Approved,CAR Required,Requested,Manually Approved,Not Inspected (Approved). The default list is equivalent to a setting of Approved,Conditionally Approved,Not Approved,NCR Required,Requested,Manually Approved,Other Approval – so the result will be;

• the NCR Required status with CAR Required
• the Other Approval status with Not Inspected (Approved)

For more details, refer to the Project settings help topic.

Civil pro version 10.64.1.51 will be released 5/4/19 for selected users. For those on version 10, this will be an automatic update if you are using the web installer by the 12/4/19.

As any databases updated to version 10 are permanent, cannot be reverted and are not compatible with version 9, the update is on a different update path and auto updating will not occur between major versions 9 and 10. All subscribers are entitled to version 10 free of charge, just email us for the new download.

Changelog from previous version 10.64.1.47

New features

• Statistics in the dashboard now support pre-opening of lots. This is enabled as default using the project setting (under QA Control tab) – Use Date Work Started to identify prestart lots, or the option can be activated in the dashboard options panel
  • Lots without a Date Started can be separated out
  • In the lot register, a new option Activate is added to the context (right click) menu Lot Status. This allows the user to assign all selected lots a Date Work Started in bulk.
  • The lot register has a new standard view (Views => Pre opened lots). This is only visible when the Use Date Work Started to identify prestart lots option is selected
• A new tab has been added to the dashboard showing approvals statistics. This can be filtered using the options to show stats for witness points or hold points only.
• New project options have been added allowing users to override the default statuses for approvals. For example, you could replace “Approved” with “Validated” or “Not Approved” with “Rejected”. Statuses can be overridden independently for hold points and witness points.

Changes/Improvements

• Added NCR delete function to correctly set referenced documents and delete links.
• Contract Notice and Contract Notice Response now add the CN report (Elec) as an attachment.
• Quantities fields have had their scale and precision increase from 19,4 to 28,12 – i.e. decimals increased from 4 to 12. This allows the assignment of quantities to provide cents accuracy for amounts over $100M for individual items
• Variation Estimate now updates total instead of rate when qty is changed
• Clause column in ITP changed to mem instead of text – supports multiple lines
• Site Diary cost code property changed to method to increase performance.
• ITP import/export now includes ID to support exporting ITP to csv for editing and re-import to update. For use where stakeholder editing ITP does not have Civil Pro.
• Added Contract Notice date to templates
• Reorganised project settings page for improved clarity
• Approval subject filter now shows text instead of HTML tags for subject
• SiteDiaryId now shown on Instruction and Incident when used.

Bugs

• BUGFIX: When updating the approval  comments for an NCR that has an Approval Request, the comments were not updated
• BUGFIX: Last page break when printing multiple checklists reports was ignored
• BUGFIX: Titles for checklists after the first were not updated in checklist reports
• BUGFIX: Purchase order fields were not correctly updated when pre-fill link used for e.g. billing entity, contact and billing address
• BUGFIX: Null check for supplier

Civil pro version 10.64.1.47 has been released to all users. For those on version 10, this will be an automatic update if you are using the web installer.

As any databases updated to version 10 are permanent, cannot be reverted and are not compatible with version 9, the update is on a different update path and auto updating will not occur between major versions 9 and 10. All subscribers are entitled to version 10 free of charge, just email us for the new download.

Changelog from previous version 10.64.1.44

Changes/Improvements

• Support add photo to diary review
• Support add/delete from diary review
• Add approval by column to ITP grid
• Add managed by and approved by cols to lots
• Changes to winlogon – updates password on change to synch web logon

Bugs

• BUGFIX: Update on delete for forecast details estimate buildup
• BUGFIX: Fix delete in filestore
• BUGFIX: Exception on tooltip with empty column in diary review
• BUGFIX: Exception multiple dictionary keys on cost code allocation in diary review
• BUGFIX: Modify Qty Register filter to prevent omission of nulls
• BUGFIX: Lot quantity added through detail page now includes status
• BUGFIX: Fix refresh on filestore selector
• BUGFIX: Fix field for required date in Contract Notice reports
• BUGFIX: fixed claim summary reports with retentions etc.
• Fixed misallocation message incorrectly annotating schedule item as CC
• Fixed formatting of columns in daycost grid of diary review
• Fixed co-focusing between diary grid and daycost grid in diary review

We are very pleased to announce that Version 10 has been released for both desktop and mobile. This is a free upgrade for all Civil Pro subscribers. At the time of this post, the latest version is 10.64.45.

Version 10 introduces new functionality and complete rewrites for some old and recent favourites;

1. Contract Notices – Create and track standard notices like RFIs, Notices of variation and other contract correspondence. Notices are generated from Notice Templates that are completely customisable and which substitute fields from civil pro records you link to your notice. Contract Notices can be linked to most relevant documents such as lots, variations, NCRs, Controlled Documents, Approvals, Incidents and Instructions. Contract Notices can be sent directly from Civil Pro and if you use the mobile platform, receivers can respond through their web browser directly in the system.
2. Site Diaries – Record what happens on your site electronically. Supervisors or engineers can complete a diary in the desktop version (mobile support Feb 2019) including instructions, incidents, hours worked, # on site and resources (optionally cost coded). These diaries can then be reviewed and approved, with resources being committed to the daily costs for project cost control
3. Incidents – Record incidents on site either through the site diary or directly into the register
4. Instructions – Record instructions received from clients or authorities, or those given to subcontractors and suppliers. Entered either through the site diary or directly into the register
5. Approval System – The approval system has been rewritten to provide support for templates. Similar to the contract notices, you can provide a template for the approval text and the emails sent and received in the system. Support has also been added for multiple addressees for approvals, multiple approvals on a single email
6. Filestore Docs – Previously known as lotdocs, the filestore docs are a way to store any file against specific civil pro records. Previously lot docs could only be associated with lots and test requests. Now the new filestore docs can be linked to heaps of different records – NCRs, Lots, Test Requests, Approvals (as attachments), Contract Notices, Variations, Controlled Documents, Purchase Orders, Incidents and Instructions
7. Ribbon Filters – Some of the registers now have a ribbon filter ensuring only the most recent data is pulled from the database unless you change the filters. This also provides easier to find, more responsive data searching. Implemented in Quantities, Filestore, Email and Approvals. More to follow.
8. All ITPs and Checklists have now been changed from Rich Text to HTML. This is to improve consistency across platforms (the web does not like rich text format!). NOTE: When you upgrade, you will need to ensure there are no unexpected changes to your ITPs. For example, the new format no longer supports embedded images in checklists
9. Variation registers have been changed to make them easier to work with – basic functionality remains the same, however the idea of waypoints has been added to replaced the single fixed date fields for Date Notified, Date Approved etc.
10. Divisions – projects can now be allocated to divisions. The master supplier register can also be assigned across divisions to enable access for projects only to approved suppliers for their division
11. Write multiple lots to individual Lot Summary PDFs – Using the Lot Summary function you can compile all of the information for a single lot (including attached filestore docs that are Word, Excel, Text or PDF) into a single PDF. Select multiple lots to process a collection into 1 PDF per lot!
12. Windows Login has been incorporated allowing users to use their windows login to access civil pro

In the mobile interface, lots of improvements too!

1. Purchase Orders are now online
2. Contract Notices can be viewed online and responses added – just like a noticeboard
3. The Site Diary will be available Feb 2019!
4. Testing authorities can be given a mobile login whereby they can view just the test request register and upload results directly into Civil Pro
5. Filestore support for lots, test requests, purchase orders and contract notices

We are happy to announce that the latest incremental release of Civil Pro (version 83) introduces our dashboards. These dashboards provide status summaries for Lots, NCRs and Test Requests including;

• Status to date
• Status by user
• Monthly activity by status
• Status at EOM

Statuses are simply the phase of the document at a given time e.g. for lots this would be Open, Guaranteed, Conformed or Rejected. For NCRs, it is raised, requested, approved or Closed Out.

In addition Civil Pro reports on Lots / NCRs / TRs open for longer than a given time (60 days by default). All dashboard charts are reportable

Civil pro version 9.41.1.66 has been released to all users.  Please note, that any databases updated to version 9 are permanent and cannot be reverted. V66 is not currently installed as part of the auto-update, it will be added to autoupdate in about a week. If you want a copy before that, please email us directly.

For more information on global roles, the help has been updated here ;

http://blueskycont.com/wp/support-2/civil-pro-documentation/administration/user-administration-v9/#globalRoles

Changelog from previous version 9.41.1.57

New features

• Introduced global roles allowing a user to be granted a certain role across all projects in a database
• Extended the performance folio so it now exports LotDocs and TestDocs into lot summaries
• Added ability to create purchase order from part or all of the schedule

Changes/Improvements

• Added safeguards to prevent ProjectAdmins adding roles with higher permissions
• Changed labelling of reports to ensure consistency between menu options and report titles
• Dialog to provide prefab reasons for approval text when manually approving NCR
• Checklist approval editable and printed on e-checklist
• Checklist approval editing changed to project admin
• Default for lot checklist layout changed to checkboxes
• Purchase order columns now nullable
• Photos now refresh after import
• Changed CE default behaviour – removed flush interval
• Better error message when database version > datastore version
• Changed error message text in default message handler
• Base 1 numbering in tests
• Make schedule numbers visible in qty register
• Extend time bomb to 2019
• Removed requirement for cost code on copy/paste
• Ensured TestQty and TestNum dont persist (probably not necessary)
• Changed Claim report DS calcs to ID to refresh on print
• Removed tracking columns from User, Contact and Role grids
• Added lot conformance permission plumbing
• Added supplier link delete, and improved supplier delete behaviour
• Modification for setXPCollectionTypeForReload to accept null parameter
• Production now updates on daycost delete
• Removed code that resulted in duplicate creation of tracking columns in invoices and other places

Bugs

• BUGFIX: editability of Test Results
• BUGFIX: popProjects null ref on close
• BUGFIX: update of forms on data change CPBaseForm
• BUGFIX: performance on some long running methods by moving to threadsafedatalayer in XPO
• BUGFIX: logwriter
• BUGFIX: Null check when changing daycost assign
• BUGFIX: Null check on project administration data validated
• BUGFIX: Claim summary report
• BUGFIX: Checklist with no revision date cuases exception when added to lot
• BUGFIX: null reference on related items double click in lot register
• BUGFIX: Purchase orders were saved without prompt when closed if detail pane was entered
• BUGFIX: Added protection for no worktype in popITP
• BUGFIX: Fixed save of related tree state
• BUGFIX: GST Rate on PO Import
• BUGFIX: Add custom error provider
• BUGFIX: NotInList – prevent backgrounding messageboxes
• BUGFIX: email ‘sending from’ issues
• BUGFIX: ditto function on new row in ITP
• BUGFIX: not-in-list for new supplier (removed disable of non-popup forms)
• BUGFIX: production chart
• BUGFIX: recalc function