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Recent Updates and the Second Annual Customer Summer

Hello! It’s been a while and we have a lot to share. First there are some recent updates to tell you about and then I want to give you a preview of our plans for our 2nd annual customer summer!

Recent Updates

Multiple Report Generator Configurations

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You can now create multiple report generator configurations in your projects. This one is pretty self-explanatory. 😀 You no longer need to mess up an existing configuration in order to run some other report! Just click “Add New” at the top right of the page to get started creating a new report configuration.

Account Overview

Our new Account Overview, which has been in beta with our user conference attendees since late last year, is now available in all accounts.

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Like the project list, the account overview shows you a list of all projects in the account. It then improves on the project list by showing each project’s dashboard directly in the list and adding filters, sorting, exporting, and PDF reporting.

For those in the beta it’s worth noting that this release included improvements, such as a nicer-looking PDF and group headers when sorting.

In the future we will replace the project list with the account overview.

Test Template Folders in Upgraded Projects

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In accounts and projects that have Upgraded Checklists tests and test templates now work like checklists. This means that many of the checklist benefits you get from upgrading your project are also in tests, like organizing your test templates into folders and the improved batch creation and template copying functions.

If you haven’t upgraded your account or project yet we encourage you to do so. Read our Upgrade Guide to get started.

Integration with CxAlloy FM for Seamless Maintenance

We have also made available our integration with CxAlloy FM (Facility Maintenance), our preventative maintenance software.

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With this integration you can move a project’s asset data – equipment, equipment types, systems, and locations – to CxAlloy FM with a click. Beyond just copying asset data, CxAlloy FM will look for common equipment (such as air handling units, chillers, boilers, etc.) and automatically create maintenance procedures and schedules for them.

To learn more about the integration and CxAlloy FM, please read our support article or watch our integration webinar.

The Second Annual Customer Appreciation Summer

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The feedback we got on last year’s Customer Appreciation Summer was so positive we decided to do it again! Like last year we’ll be releasing a series of new features all summer long, with a particular focus on features that are highly requested by our customers.

Here are just some of the features we’ll be releasing:

  • Attach multiple photos to a field observation comment
  • Manage a user’s projects at the account level
  • Import asset and assignment fields with issues

Our 2nd Customer Appreciation Summer will start the weekend of June 22-23. We hope you enjoy it!

CxAlloy FM 2.1 – Overhauled Reports, Improved Small Screen Experience, and New Billing Options

This weekend we released version 2.1 of CxAlloy FM. This is a substantial update that introduces a totally new reports interface, significant improvements when using CxAlloy FM on a phone or tablet screen, and the addition of credit card billing.

A New Reports Interface

Probably the most important update for our users is the new Reports interface. We designed the new interface to make it more obvious what information you can expect to get from a report and to give you more flexibility in what the report includes and how it is grouped.

Instead of our previous fixed list of predetermined reports you can now “build your own” report. First you choose what you want to report on – work orders, labor hours, work requests, or equipment. You then can choose how to group and sort that information, what time period to report on, and any filters you want to apply.

As before, when you run the report it will be shown in the browser with the option to create a PDF. Charts will automatically be created based on the choices you made.

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Small Screen Improvements

One of the reasons for the redesign of CxAlloy FM that we launched late last year was to allow the interface to work better on tablet and phone-sized screens. With version 2.1 we are making good on that plan and have updated many of the pages to adapt to small screens. For example, when viewing a list of work orders, work requests, equipment, etc. on a smaller screen the filters are called up by clicking a new “Filters” button rather than taking up limited screen space in the sidebar.

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We’ve made many other changes throughout the software to better accommodate small screens. And the new reports interface is designed to work on small screens, too!

Credit Card Billing

Perhaps a less important feature for our users (but pretty important for us!) is that we have added credit card billing. This is an important milestone in our effort to grow the software and part of our larger plan to build a better CxAlloy FM.

Tweaked Access Levels

As we worked on credit card billing we saw some holes in our access levels and some potential confusion in how they are named. As a result we have renamed the “User” facility access level to “Technician”. We also added an additional access level in the account, the “Facility Manager”.

Big Little Changes – CxAlloy TQ App Update

We’ve released version 3.10 of the iOS app which includes features suggested by attendees of our CxAlloy User Conference in November plus a couple of things that we’ve been working on for a while.

Customer requested features

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Tappable URLs in checklist and test lines – When you add a URL to a checklist or test line, the app will convert the URL to a link. Tapping the link will open the URL in Safari. The same functionality is coming to the web version as well.

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Quick user logout – The bottom of the project list displays the currently logged in user. You can tap on this label to quickly log out without having to go to the app’s Settings.

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Sync just one project – If you want to sync just one project instead of all of them at once, you can do so by swiping left on a downloaded project and tapping the sync button.

Faster line details

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We’ve tweaked how we show line options. Previously when you tapped a line the options would open up below the line. Now we show them in a “popover” above the line. We made this change because it makes scrolling long tests and checklists much smoother (due to complicated technical reasons). Happily the feedback from early users was that they also liked the “popover” better than the old way.

Stepping into the background

In addition to these features suggested by our users (thanks, y’all!), we’ve included a new feature of our own. Now, after you tap on a project to download it, you no longer need to keep the app open in order for the download to complete. Background project downloading required us to make some significant changes to our server’s sync architecture and we’ll be announcing some exciting new features built on this new download framework in the coming months. Keep an eye on this space!

Big little changes

Some small changes can have big impacts. Being able to click a link in a checklist or test line is a small feature on paper, but opens up new possibilities for your checklists and tests. Likewise, showing some buttons above a line in a “popover” instead of below the line is barely noticeable, but dramatically improves scrolling performance. And background project downloading is a small improvement day-to-day, but represents a new frontier we can explore to ensure your data in the app and on the server is always available and up-to-date.

User Conference Recap

Earlier this month we held our first ever User Conference! It was amazing to get to meet and talk shop with so many of our customers. Great speakers, delicious food, and good conversations (and a very exciting 3 minutes in a Porsche) made for a wonderful time.

We also announced several new features during the conference, headlined by the release of our API. You can get the full rundown on our updated conference page.

The conference went so well that we are already making plans for next year. If you weren’t able to join us this time we hope you’ll consider coming next year, and if you attended this year we hope you’ll want to come again!

Field Observation Comments and Updated Exports – Customer Appreciation Fall Update

When you’re walking into work against a cold wind with your jacket drawn tightly around you, your hands in your pockets to stay warm, it may seem like summer is in the distant past, so I understand if you’ve forgotten about our Customer Appreciation Summer. If you haven’t, though, you may have noticed that a couple of planned updates didn’t get announced.

Well, our final features proved a bit more challenging so they had to get moved to “Customer Appreciation Fall” 🍁 We snuck two updates out over the past month that I’m sure you’ll be interested in. Luckily our customer appreciation doesn’t change with the seasons!

Field Observation Comment Photos

The first feature addresses what may be one of our oldest outstanding feature requests – the ability to update photos on field observation comments. You can now add a photo to an existing field observation comment, change the photo on an existing comment, or remove the photo from a comment. Thank goodness!

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We also have made it possible to reorder your field observation comments simply by dragging and dropping them.

The same comment photo features are already in the iOS app and comment reordering will be in the next update.

Export Updates

We’ve also gone through and updated all of our exports. Many exports now include more information than they did previously, and they all now have the following improvements:

  • Header rows have a background color
  • When it makes sense, multiple worksheets are used. For example, exporting a test will put each attempt into its own worksheet.
  • Columns will be auto-sized to match the maximum width of the column’s content
  • Clickable links to the original item are provided when possible
  • Dates will be formatted as dates (and values that are not dates but look like dates won’t be incorrectly formatted as dates)

We’ve learned from your feedback that exporting and then importing checklists, tests, and templates is a common task and we wanted to improve that experience. Now when importing you can select the specific worksheet that contains just the lines, which in turn provides an improved flow with how our import operates.

Area Served Filtering and Sorting

Finally, just today we added filtering and sorting by Area Served for checklists, tests, and issues. Area Served has proven to be pretty important for some customers’ workflows and we anticipate this will make it even more useful for those folks.

We hope you enjoy these updates. Summer may be over but we’re still working to make CxAlloy TQ the best it can be. Until next time, stay warm out there!

iOS App Version 3.8: Customer Appreciation Edition

Hi everyone! I’m Clint and I’m the lead mobile developer here at CxAlloy. While the majority of our developers work in our office in Atlanta, the mobile team is based here in Salt Lake City, UT. (We’re trying to get the other developers to call us “CxAlloy West”, with varying degrees of success.)

Earlier this year, the mobile team met with a group of our users and asked them what they wanted to see most in the app. Some answers we expected; some surprised us.

We updated our development schedule to incorporate what we learned and the initial fruits of those conversations are now becoming available. One of them was the Multiple Line Answering feature that we released a few weeks ago, which has been very popular.

But, we’re not done yet. Version 3.8 of the app has two features that we know many of our users will be very excited about.

Adding Document Files

A few weeks ago, we added the ability to view many document file types (such as PDF, Word, Excel, etc.) without needing to export them first to another app. Now we’re taking the next step and, starting in version 3.8, users will be able to add those files directly to items in the app.

Next to the camera button in the file lists there is now a plus button which will bring up iOS’ file picker. From there, you can select files stored in Dropbox, Box, iCloud, or any other service that works with iOS’ Files app. Any file type that can be uploaded to CxAlloy TQ’s website can be added to the app.

Not only that, but users with iOS 11+ will also be able to drag documents and images out of other apps and drop them directly into CxAlloy.

Try it. It’s fun.

Distraction-Free Mode

I’m an avid iPad user. One of the biggest annoyances I have is when an app has a list of items on the left hand side that you can’t hide. This list can be really distracting when you’re trying to work on something more involved like, say, a checklist or test.

In version 3.8, we’re introducing a “Distraction-Free Mode” for the app that allows you to tap on the new “expand” button to hide the left-hand list allowing you to focus on the work at hand.

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More to Come

As you might expect, these are not the only features customers are asking for. When I look at our roadmap, I see several oft-requested features that we’re excited to finally bring to our users. Keep those apps updated and hopefully your most-wished-for feature will be landing on your iOS device in the near future.

Multiple Line Answering in the iOS App

There are times when you are filling out a checklist or test and it would be a lot easier if you could answer multiple lines at once. Well, in version 3.7 of the iOS app, we are introducing multiple line answering!

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In order to answer multiple lines at once, swipe right on a header line in a checklist or test. The line will slide over to reveal the same answer buttons used by the regular line. The difference with these buttons is that tapping on them will apply the selected answer to all of the lines until the next header.

If there are attributes in the line, answering yes will prompt you to add values for each attribute.

We’re hoping multiple line answering speeds up your work in the field. Let us know what you think by emailing support@cxalloy.com.

In addition to multiple line answering in version 3.7, we also made a small addition to the checklist, test, equipment, and field observation lists. Now, these lists will include the count of any issues for each item to help you quickly find the information you’re looking for.

CxAlloy FM 2.0 Update

It’s been one week since we released CxAlloy FM 2.0! As exciting as it is to get this update out, I know that in the past week some of you discovered significant bugs or challenging lag with the update. We have been fixing these as quickly as we can, but I apologize for the rocky start. Although bugs are to be expected to some degree, there were more here than we anticipated. Thank you for your patience as we have worked to address them.

Here is a summary of the fixes we have made since the initial release:

  • Work order and work request creation and editing now works consistently.
  • For facilities that were loading slowly we have improved the performance significantly.
  • Due dates on scheduled work orders are now set to the actual due date instead of the creation date.
  • It is now much easier to see if a procedure line has been checked or not.
  • Editing a work order will no longer remove the associated procedure.
  • Filters in the sidebar will no longer overlap with each other.
  • We have updated the scary “Unknown Error” message to something more descriptive and less scary.

In addition to these we are also working on implementing some other feedback we have received. These include:

  • Additional performance improvements.
  • Including location information for a given equipment on the list and PDF.
  • Setting the initial value of labor hours to be blank instead of “1″.
  • Maintaining your selected filters after editing an item.

Please continue to let us know about any issues you are encountering or improvements you would like to see.

With the launch of 2.0 we are starting work on new features built on top of this foundation. Our roadmap over the next year includes new reports, importing and exporting, photo attachments for work requests, improved document management, and more. I hope you’ll look forward to these improvements.

We will be writing about these features on this blog as we develop them, as well as posting notices directly on CxAlloy FM.

CxAlloy FM 2.0

I’m happy to announce that next weekend, on September 1, we will be releasing version 2.0 of CxAlloy FM, our online facility maintenance software.

Since the initial release of CxAlloy FM in 2011 customers have come to appreciate the simplicity and ease of use of our facility maintenance solution, and version 2.0 is careful to not lose any of those key characteristics. In fact, several of the improvements double down on those aspects, working to make the software easier to understand.

The improvements in 2.0 can be grouped broadly into four major efforts:

  • A visual refresh of every page
  • Completely new scheduling that adds seasonality
  • Improved filtering and navigation
  • Upgraded file handling

Visual Refresh

Every page has been entirely rebuilt. We’ve added more color, made controls more consistent, and made many, many other small improvements throughout the application to make it nicer to look at and easier to use.

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One other important aspect of this work isn’t actually visible – the interface is now built on a standard foundation that will make make it easier for us to make future additions and improvements to the interface.

New Schedules

Schedules are all new from top to bottom. New features, a new engine, and a dramatically improved interface.

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Seasonality

In 2.0 we have added a long-requested feature: seasonality. You’ll now be able to make schedules that only create work orders during part of the year, or that run more frequently in one part of the year than the rest of the year.

Not only have we added seasonality, but we’ve created the best interface on the market to do so. Have a schedule that should only run in the summer? Simply drag the slider to limit it from June to August. Have a schedule that should run once a week the first half of the year and twice a week the second? Drag the slider to June, then click to add a second period for July to December with a different frequency.

Multiple work orders from a single schedule

The other significant feature we’ve added is the ability to create a single schedule that generates multiple work orders. For example, rather than create a separate schedule for each individual air handling unit, you will instead be able to create a single schedule for the “Air Handling Unit” equipment type. That one schedule will then create one work order per related air handling unit.

Easier to use

We’ve made a lot of changes intended to make it easier to understand, use, and manage schedules. That includes a new live preview of your schedule’s dates when creating or editing schedules, showing schedule assignments directly in the list, allowing batch reassignment of schedules, and more.

New Foundation

Again, part of the story here is new technology under the covers. Our new scheduler is built on an internet standard (RFC 5545) that’s been battle-tested on hundreds of different calendar programs. That means our schedule behavior is more consistent with what you’re used to from other calendar software such as Microsoft Outlook.

Improved Filtering and Navigation

We’ve made it easier to find and view the information you are looking for. Perhaps the most helpful feature is maintaining your filters. Now when you filter a list you can jump between the details and list without losing your filters. Even better, you are able to navigate to other items in your filtered list directly from the detail.

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Filtering is better, too. We’ve added more filters and made longer filter lists searchable dropdowns.

We’ve also standardized every list to be a paged list with consistent controls, including “Select All” and “Deselect All” for fast batch editing, and we’ve added more batch functions.

Finally, a small but significant change is that you can now go to any page in a facility directly from the top menu. Go straight to Procedures without a layover at the Work Orders page!

Better File Handling

We’ve updated our document areas with a new easy-to-use uploader and image thumbnails.

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A New Beginning

This update has been in the works for a long time. Along the way we’ve come to a new recognition of the amazing product CxAlloy FM is and the even more incredible product it can become.

We’re now moving forward with an expanded development team, a dramatically updated codebase, and at least a couple of thousand ideas for future improvements. 😃 We hope you’ll join us!

Sort by Date Updated – Customer Appreciation Summer Week 10

This week in our Customer Appreciation Summer we are adding the ability to sort issues, equipment, field observations, and reviews by when they were last updated. This new sort is called “Date Updated”.

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An item will be considered “updated” not only when it is edited, but also when files, issues, or comments are added to it. The exact rules controlling the updated date for an item can be found in a new help article.

A forthcoming update to the iOS app will also include this new sorting option.

We know you want to see this same sort for checklists and tests and we are working on it. To get that one right – which we believe means accounting for answers to individual lines – we need a little more time.

See you next week!

Status Locking – Customer Appreciation Summer Week 9

This week’s feature in our Customer Appreciation Summer is another top request. You can now apply status restrictions to not only the setting of a status, but also to the un-setting of that status. In other words, once you set an issue to “Closed” (for example), the only people that can change it away from “Closed” are the people that are allowed to set “Closed” in the first place.

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This feature is opt-in. If you’d like to turn it on, navigate to your status configuration in project settings and click “Permissions” next to the status you want to restrict. Then check the new “Also restrict unsetting this status” checkbox.

This new option is available as part of your account-level project defaults as well.

This additional restriction will be enforced in the iOS app starting with version 3.4, which we just made available.

While we were making changes to the status permission dialog we also added tooltips that better explain what each option does.

See you next week!

Account Export – Customer Appreciation Summer Week 8

This week’s feature in our Customer Appreciation Summer is for data geeks. You can now export key data – issues, checklists, and tests – from across all projects.

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Unlike our project-based exports, which present the exported data similarly to how you see it in the software, these account exports are tailored more towards those looking for “raw data”.

For example, these exports include the numerical IDs that the software uses to uniquely identify each record. You’ll also notice that we split up the exports into their underlying pieces. Rather than a single test export, for example, there are instead three exports: Tests, Test Attempts, and Test Attempt Lines.

In keeping with the “raw data” approach of these exports, you can choose between CSV and SQLite formats. CSV (Comma Separated Values) is a simple spreadsheet format that will open in Excel and other spreadsheet programs, while SQLite is a common database format. You may need to download additional software to open the SQLite file.

When exporting to a SQLite file you will always receive a single file. When exporting to CSV you may receive multiple files if the export is large, as we have limited a single CSV file to 50,000 rows.

The exports are only available to account administrators and can be accessed under the new “Export” tab within your accounts.

See you next week!

Custom Permission Presets – Customer Appreciation Summer Week 7

This week’s feature in our Customer Appreciation Summer is one that we’re really happy to make available – custom permission presets.

Since we first introduced our more granular permission model in 2012 and its somewhat intimidating array of checkboxes, we’ve also provided some presets to save you the hassle of clicking all those little checkboxes. Presets are intended to save you time; they check the boxes for you.

Previously the available presets included some basic setups, such as “View Only”, as well as some recommended configurations, such as “Recommended for Subcontractor”. These were helpful, but they couldn’t be renamed or changed, and you couldn’t create your own. That changes with this week’s release!

You’ll now find a new “Permissions” section in your Account Settings. As a part of this release, every account starts with the default presets we’ve used for years (”Recommended for Subcontractor”, etc.). The difference is that you can now create new presets and edit or delete existing presets.

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Presets are configured exclusively at the account level; you can’t have project-specific presets.

The presets appear in the same place they always have when adding a person to a project, except that now you’ll be choosing from your list of custom account presets.

Of course, you can always tailor the permissions to each individual user and nothing about that changes with this release.

See you next week!

Directory Export – Customer Appreciation Summer Week 6

This week in our Customer Appreciation Summer we are adding the ability to export the list of people on the project. The export will include three worksheets: People, Companies, and Roles.

With this release, we are at the halfway point in our customer appreciation summer. To recap, in the last five weeks we have added these features:

For the second half of the summer, we are aiming to finish strong with more highly requested features, including:

  • Custom permission presets
  • Field observation comment improvements
  • Account overview
  • Template folders

We hope you are enjoying your summer. See you next week!

Copy Meeting Minutes Between Projects – Customer Appreciation Summer Week 5

In week 5 of our Customer Appreciation Summer, we are adding the ability to copy meeting minutes and agendas between projects.

To copy from a meeting in another project, use the new project dropdown in the Copy dialog, then select a meeting and the agenda or minutes as usual.

When copying between projects, any embedded references to issues, tasks, files, or comments will automatically be removed.

We hope you like it. See you next week!

Dashboard Overview PDF – Customer Appreciation Summer Week 4

If you’ve ever taken a screenshot of the project dashboard, this week’s feature is for you. For the fourth week of our Customer Appreciation Summer, we are adding PDF and export options to the project dashboard overview.

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It’s pretty simple – just click one of the new “Export” or “PDF” buttons at the top right of the dashboard overview. We’ve also added “Dashboard” as a section you can include in the report generator.

We’d like to have exports and PDFs for more of the dashboard in the future, so let us know what other dashboard information you’d like to see included.

Batch Change Test Status – Customer Appreciation Week 3

A small but useful feature for the third week of our Customer Appreciation Summer: batch changing test statuses.

To use the feature, simply select one or more tests in the list, then click “Set Status of Most Recent Attempt” in the action bar that appears above the list.

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As you may have noticed, technically you’ll be setting the status of each test’s most recent attempt. A test can have many attempts and this feature will only change the status of the latest attempt. Because the overall status of the test is pulled from the latest attempt, changing the status of the most recent attempt will also change the status of the test overall.

It’s a small feature but one that can save you a lot of time when you need it. We hope you enjoy it. See you next week!

PDF Table of Contents – Customer Appreciation Summer Week 2

It’s week two of our Customer Appreciation Summer, and we’ve got a great one – you can now include a Table of Contents when generating reports!

Our report generator has always included automatic bookmarks so that you can easily navigate around the document. These bookmarks are only available when viewing the PDF digitally, though. With the new Table of Contents section, you can now include a table of contents in the report itself. This can be really handy with printed copies, and it’s also useful for PDF users that are less experienced and may not know how to use PDF bookmarks.

To add a Table of Contents simply select it from the available sections in the report generator. You can give the Table of Contents a custom title, choose how many columns to use, and what level of detail to provide. This allows you to go from a simple chapter-style listing to an almost index-like approach. It’s probably easiest just to see what these different options look like:

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On the left, a table of contents with one column and only showing top-level sections. On the right, that same table of contents showing three levels of organization using four columns.

As our customer appreciation summer rolls on we’ll keep bringing you great new features you’ve been asking for. We hope you like it!