December 2020 Release Notes

Note A continuing education webinar including functionality from this release will be held at Noon ET on December 17. You must register at this link to attend.

In addition to various performance improvements, user interface updates and error corrections, this release will also include:

Log Refresh

The log refresh icon is now set to always display per the screenshot below.  

To help improve performance, a slight behavior change was made to the way the log auto refreshes.  The log will continue to refresh when the current user makes any change.  When other users make changes, including adding new records, only records that are currently loaded will be auto-refreshed for the current user.  Kahua currently loads roughly 100 records at a time.  Manually refreshing the log by using the icon, re-sorting the columns or scrolling to retrieve new records will update any record that is currently loaded. 

Note Deleting a record will automatically refresh the log, regardless of who deleted the record.  Also, when using imports, it is a best practice to manually refresh the log after the import has completed.  

Dashboards

Kahua is pleased to announce our newest platform application, Dashboards. Dashboards gives users and organizations the power to surface key data in a variety of formats to improve decision-making and reporting. 

Features in our first dashboard release include:

  • Predefined widgets and user-defined widgets for most Kahua applications
  • Create one or many dashboards that will automatically update using data based on project selected
  • Click-through functionality to view the corresponding record(s) in the application
  • Advanced filtering capabilities to refresh dashboards to display data based on status, a specific company etc.
  • Sharing dashboards using Kahua’s groups functionality
  • Quickly print dashboard pages to PDF

Dashboard pages consist of multiple dashboard widgets. Dashboard creators can choose from:

  • A variety of charts, including bar, pie, doughnut, and line

  • Number widgets that include counts and calculations

  •  Surfaced list widgets that display a subset of data from an application (e.g., overdue Issues)

Because Dashboards is an application, administrators can grant access and privileges like other applications. Additionally, if a user has access to Dashboards, but not specific applications, dashboard widgets will block access to the data and display a message.

Companies: Certifications

A new section in the Companies app has been added to document a company’s certifications.  This is expected to be used primarily for storing contractor license information and special certifications for things like handling radioactive materials, asbestos, etc.  Each certification can be assigned to all offices or a specific office if desired.

Document Pinning — Early Release Preview — BETA

An early release preview of our new Pinning capability has been introduced which enables Kahua documents to be visually represented on Drawings with Pins.  Pinning can also be used beyond Drawings, such that a Pin can be placed on any Kahua supported file type (e.g., Photos, PDFs, MS Office documents, etc.).  

Each Pin is identified with a numeric identifier and the type of document that is being pinned (e.g. RFI, Issue, Punch List Item, Drawing, Photo, etc.).  The Pin can also display additional information, such as Subject, Status, Category, and Responsible Person/Company.

Some examples of how pinning can be used:

  • a floor plan to serve as a visual map of all Punchlist Items (Open, Closed, Overdue)
  • an RFI to be initiated from a Drawing as a discrepancy or other issue is identified
  • an Issue to be Pinned to a plan to indicate a potential cost or schedule impact
  • a photo, or any other file type, to be attached to an elevation to provide more context

The Pin can be used to jump right to the Kahua document that it represents.  Any updates made to the pinned Kahua document will subsequently flow back to the Pin.   When new versions/revisions of the pinned files are uploaded, Kahua provides an option to carry forward all Pins, or only those Pins that are not yet Closed.

For any Kahua document that has been pinned, there will be a new Pin section in the Preview and Edit views.  This new Pin section will display a Pin Component that indicate whether the document has been pinned, with a visual indication of those Pins:

Pinning is being initially introduced as a BETA feature.  Organizations who wish to explore this new feature and provide feedback to our product team can opt in within Domain Settings.  This preview release of Pinning allows RFIs, Issues, Punch List Items and any File Manager file to be represented as a Pin.  In upcoming releases, additional functionality will be added and more apps will be pin-enabled.  If you have a custom extension or a custom app and would like to have it Pin enabled, please contact your Kahua Account Manager or a Partner developer.

Bid Room

The Domain User group will have permissions updated from Observer to Contributor for the Bid Room application to make it easier for end users to respond to Bid Solicitations. This update will impact existing customers with the Bid Room application installed and new customers accepting an invitation to bid. Please note, this permission update will not impact instances where the Domain User group permissions have been overridden at the domain root.

Dynamic Templates

Dynamic template functionality has been added to several applications.  Dynamic Templates allow a user to change the output of a specific record, provided a MS Word template is being used to generate the Portable View PDF.  It is intended to be used for formatting or updating any hard coded content within a template.  It should not be used to modify any data points of the record; instead, the data should be updated via editing the record. A separate permission role has been added to each app to allow specific control over a user's ability to change the template.  

The edit and previews of apps that support  template changes have also been updated.  They now include a template selector to allow a user to manually select the template to use on that record. In the event your organization has custom extensions, please contact your Account Manager or a partner developer.

For more information on Dynamic Templates, please visit our knowledge base article.

Approval Reminders

Reminders are now available in Approvals for all Task type approvals except for DocuSign.  Within Configuration>Approvals, you set the reminder time, how many days after the initial task was received before the first reminder is sent, and then how often to send follow up reminders after the first one.  This applies by default to all participants.

You can override this default per participant if you wish specific people to get notified at different intervals.  For each participant, simply uncheck “Use Reminder Defaults” and you can adjust independently per participant.

Updates to View Definition Selector and Modal

Access to the View Definition modal has been moved into the View Selector menu. 

The modal has been restyled to match the new Kahua user interface. Additionally, users can now drag and drop column headers to reorder. A new section, Indicators, is available (described separately in the notes). Other functionality remains the same.

Project Delete Confirmation

To ensure projects are not inadvertently deleted and its data lost, Kahua on Mac now requires the user to confirm by typing the first 5 characters of the project name before allowing delete.

Other Enhancements

Users can drag and drop files from their computer to the following locations (folders not supported at this time):

  • Updated the Items Grid sections within apps to match current styling
  • Added Add Person functionality to Contact Select fields to match Windows host 
  • Updated formatting on modals, prompts, and hub forms
  • Mixed Units for Weather in Daily Reports for locations that use a combination of imperial and metric units

Mobile Sign-In Updates

The mobile sign-in flow has been updated to support greater security while maintaining ease-of-use for biometric authentication. Remember Me has been updated to only remember the user’s sign-in ID. Face ID authentication is now activated on the Password screen and, on verification, signs in the user.

Mobile Markups (View Only)

Files that have been marked up in Kahua can now be viewed with markups on mobile devices. When a file contains markups, a flattened version of the marked-up file is loaded by default. The user can toggle between the marked-up file and the source version.

Mobile Record Flagging Indicators

Indicator flags that have been established in view definitions on the desktop now show on mobile devices

Mobile Document Signature

Users can now capture the signature of another person using their mobile device as a signature pad. A signature can be applied to any portable view. When a portable view is signed, the system generates a signature stamp that includes the signee’s signature, name, and date/time signed. The signed document is saved to the References section of the record and a copy sent to the signee’s email address.

Other Mobile Enhancements

  • Users can add people to the Project Directory from groups using Add from Group action.
  • Updated look and feel of Required Field presentation
  • Added Folder Rename to File Manager actions

Kahua Host Updates

All Kahua hosts have been updated with various enhancements and bug fixes.  The Windows host will automatically update upon first launch after the release.

Download the appropriate app for your device: