September 2024 Release Notes

The Kahua 2024.4 release will be deployed to our Production environments on September 14, 2024. A preview of this functionality can be accessed at https://earlyaccesslaunch.kahua.com beginning on August 31, 2024. Please click here for more information on the Early Access program.

The release notes below are subject to change. For any changes to these notes, please see the change log at the bottom of the article.

In addition to various bug fixes, performance improvements, and minor UI updates, this release includes the updates described below in the following functional areas:

• General
• Administration
• Reporting
• File Manager
• Design Review
• Document Management
• Cost Management
• Integrations
• Kahua Analytics
• Scheduling/rSchedule (Runding)

General

Introducing Discussions

In this release Kahua is introducing Discussions - a new way for users to interact with their records and each other. Discussions are a way to quickly communicate about a record in any state and capture those side conversations in Kahua.

Users can click the new discussion icon  at the top of each hub app record to open the discussions panel. From here, users can create public or private discussions. Public discussions are visible to all users who have access to the source record - while private discussions are only visible to users that have access to the source record and have been explicitly invited to the private discussion. Private discussions can be disabled for your domain by having an administrator enable the Public Discussions Only setting in discussions configuration on the root partition of their domain.

Users can mention other users with the @mention functionality or reply directly to a users' post with the reply functionality. A new tab has been added to the My Settings page that will allow each user to manage their own discussion notification settings. Users can be notified for all new posts in discussions they are participating in, or only posts where they are named in an @mention or receive a direct reply or both. Users can choose to receive notifications by a Kahua message, a desktop notification, or both.

Users can upload files to discussions that can be viewed and downloaded by all other users in the discussion. All users can edit or delete their discussion posts, however a permanent record is kept for all discussion participants to see. This can be accessed in the overflow menu using the View Edited Posts action.

A column has been added to all hub app default log views that will display an icon  if a discussion is present on a record. If there are unread posts in a discussion, the number of discussions with unread posts will appear on the icon . A quickfilter has been added to allow you to easily select records with discussions.

If your organization does not want to use the Discussions feature, it can be disabled by your domain administrator in the discussions configuration at the root partition of your domain.

For more information on the Discussions feature, refer to Discussions.

Maximum File Size Increased for Uploads

The maximum file size for uploads to Kahua has been increased to 10GB from the previous maximum of 2GB. This change affects all areas in Kahua where files can be uploaded. 

Video files that are larger than 2GB must be downloaded in order to view. If a user attempts to view a file that is larger than 2GB, they will receive the following message: "Video is too large to stream. Download to play." with the option to download the file.

Composite Document Enhancements

Several enhancements have been developed for the composite document creation process to improve usability and efficiency. These enhancements include:

• Relocated Upload and Add Kahua Document buttons for easy access.

  

• Added Select All feature to column header.

  

• Added search capabilities to locate specific reference files to include in composite.

  

• Once the references have been selected, you can now click Next to review the selected items and re-order them. Click Previous to return to the reference selection screen or Complete to create the Composite. 

  

Administration

Added ability to customize Approval Completion Messages and Recipient list

The body of the Kahua message that gets sent to the initiator of an approval/review sequence at the completion of an approval sequence can now be customized to overwrite the standard Kahua message. Additional recipients can also be added to receive the completion message. This only applies to the various Kahua approval and review approval types and does not apply to the DocuSign approval type.

These customizations are made on the approval configuration page. 

Uniclass Codes - Added Multi Edit and Multi Delete

For customers who utilize Uniclass coding structure, we have added the ability to multi-edit and multi-delete the codes in the Uniclass Codes application.

Reporting

Scheduled Reports - Added Download Data Option for Ad Hoc Wizard Reports

When an ad hoc wizard report is manually run in Kahua, users can choose to download the data in a raw CSV format. This option is now also available when scheduling an ad hoc wizard report.

Data Store - Text Data Store Parameters Now Supported

When creating parameters for a DevExpress data store report, a new Text Data Store Parameter option is available which allows the end user to manually key in a text value to be used as a parameter value when running the report.

Data Store - DomainPartitionId Parameter for Data Store Reports Now Supported

A built-in datastore parameter DomainPartitionId has been added which allows for differentiation between using the PartitionId parameter and DomainPartitionId. The DomainPartitionId parameter is effectively the Project ID, and while the PartitionId parameter is often also the Project ID, it differs from DomainPartitionId when an application has App Lists defined. Using DomainPartitionId in a data store query which has App Lists allows the report to pull data from all the App Lists.

File Manager

Added the ability to restrict File Manager folder access by company or contact

We have added the ability to limit access to a File Manager folder by company or contact. Two new sections have been added to Folder Properties > Permissions, allowing the restriction of access to that folder to selected companies or contacts. 

If utilized, only selected users or users associated with selected companies can access that folder, along with domain administrators. Domain Administrators are able to access all folders, regardless of these settings. Users still need to be assigned the appropriate permissions to the project and the File Manager app in the Groups app to access the folder.

Create New Record by Dropping Pin on a Drawing

When selecting the pin option in the Kahua markup tool, users can now choose to Create a New Document in addition to the current option of Selecting an Existing Document.

When the pin markup tool is invoked, an option to Create a New Document or Select an Existing Document will be presented.

If the Create a New Document is selected, the user will be presented a list of apps to choose from (Field Observations, Issues, and RFIs).

When an app is selected, a new Edit view of the record becomes available with required fields identified. Once the document is saved, a new document is created for the selected application. Click Save Markups to save the pin.

Controlled Folders - Comments and Markups are now copied to new revisions when releasing directly from the Draft Status

When the Copy Markups/Comments from Current Set to New Revisions setting is set in configuration to "Copy all Markups and Comments" or "Copy Markups and Comments not Closed", markups will now be copied to the new drawing revision when Status field is changed directly from "Draft" to "Released", rather than only being copied when submitted for QA review.

Configuration Setting:

Design Review

Added ability to configure values in the Review Status and Recommended Review Status fields

Administrators can now configure the Recommended Review / Review Status fields for the Design Review application so that the values reflect the needs of a project or the organization.

In Configuration > Design Review Sets, a new tab Review Statuses (for Files) has been added. This tab is where an admin can add or modify the Review Status details.

Review Statuses can be enabled or disabled. Note that once a Review Status is created, it cannot be deleted but it can be disabled or modified. 

The Review Status Label can be defined to reflect specific business needs (e.g., some organizations use "Approved", but many other organizations must use "Reviewed" instead, because of the legal liability associated with saying that a design is "Approved"). 

For each Review Status, you can define the business logic around what happens to the Files for Review Revision upon completion of the design review by selecting one of the following options in the Review Status Rule for Revisions/Versions field: 

1. Release and make Current – New Revision Permitted
2. Release and make Current – New Revision Expected
3. Rejected – Do not make Current – New Version Expected
4. Rejected – Do not make Current – New Revision Expected

For each Review Status, you can determine what statuses are included and what label is used for those statuses in Release Messages. Release Messages are sent to all reviewers, the identified information manager, and contributing contact in the identified work package on your files for review. This message is sent out at the completion of the review. Typically, Release Messages include all Review Statuses. 

For each Review Status, you can determine what statuses are included and what label is used for those statuses in Distribution Messages. Distribution Messages are sent to contacts identified for Distribution and Client notifications. This message is sent out at the completion of the review. Typically, Distribution Messages include Review Statuses where the file for review is marked as the Current Revision. 

Additionally, as part of this change, we have added a new column to the File Manager log views. Previously, the Design Review Status column reflected either the Review Status or the Set Status, depending on where the file was in the review process. Now there are two columns to reflect this information:

• Design Review File Status – This column reflects the file’s Review Status. 
• Design Review Set Status – This column reflects the workflow status of the Design Review Set. 

Note that this change will not affect the current configuration and data for existing status values and business logic with existing projects for clients.

Design Review tasks now open in Edit mode instead of Preview mode

When Primary/Lead, Interim, or Final Reviewers receive Design Review Tasks, the tasks are only pseudo-tasks, meaning that the Reviewer takes action by clicking View Source Record from the task application.

Previously, this opened the source record in Preview mode, requiring the reviewer to manually select Edit. Now, selecting View Source Record will open the source record in Edit mode. 

Document Management

Daily Reports - Added option to control how Total Workers are calculated

The Daily Reports application has two fields available for tracking the number of workers onsite, Reported Workers and Counted Workers. We have added a setting in the app configuration to control which field is used to in the calculation for Total Workers. The setting will use Reported Workers by default.

Cost Management

Purchase Orders - Expanded shipping address options

This functionality applies to the Kahua for Owner, Kahua for K-12 (Education), Kahua for GC, Kahua for Subcontractors packages.

Purchase Orders currently use one of the offices of the Ship To Company for the shipping address. With the 2024.4 release, Purchase Orders can now optionally have the Ship To Address set to one of the following:

• Continue to use Ship To Company office address (default)
• The Project Address on the project document
• A new Shipping Address added to the project document 
• An address manually entered directly on the Purchase Order

The new logic is to always populate the PO Shipping Address regardless of the Shipping Address source. This means that a mix of old way (company shipping address) and new way (PO Shipping Address from different sources) is supported.

Important: To leverage the new functionality on non-standard Portable Views (PDF) and reports, these will have to be updated to use the Purchase Order Shipping address.

To enable this new business logic:

• Ensure Portable Views and reports map to the new Purchase Order Shipping address attributes
• In configuration, enable the new Shipping Address Source attribute on the Purchase Order app.
• NOTE: if desired, this can be given a default value for new Purchase Orders.
• In configuration, optionally enable the new Project Shipping Address section in the Project app or Portfolio Manager app.

Project Shipping Address section:

If the Shipping Address Source is made visible, the user can choose the address source. If it remains hidden, whatever the default value is will be used on all new Purchase Orders. 

Using Project Shipping Address on Purchase Order- Shipping Address Source enabled

Integrations

Gmail Plugin - Preserve Email Body Formatting in Kahua

When users employ the Gmail Plugin to add emails to Kahua and use the Copy to Message or Copy to Communications feature, the body of an email message is now preserved to match the original formatting of the email.

Additionally, if the email is added as a reference to a record in a supported Kahua app, the resulting PDF of the email also retains the original formatting of the email message.

Kahua Analytics

Configuration Updates

The Analytics tab in the Configuration application has been updated to allow the editing of attributes for existing Kahua Analytics dashboards. With our new Edit button inside of Configuration, Analytics administrators are now able to change the label of their dashboards, set their own individual dashboard group restrictions, change the behavior of the Analytics dashboard through the data scope, and set hard-coded filters to their reports using the URL query string parameter.

Data Scope

Analytics administrators can now select the data scope for each dashboard. The data scope can be set to domain level or project level. This means that each Analytics dashboards' behavior can be made to match that of a domain-wide application or that of a partition-specific application. Domain-scoped dashboards stay open when a user navigates between the partitions that they have access to. This means that a domain-scoped dashboard will remain open, unless the user navigates to partitions and sub-partitions where they don't have access to the Analytics application. Project-scoped dashboards will close and re-open with every partition navigation. 

If you are a Kahua Analytics builder or are in the process of certification, please reference the Kahua Wiki to learn more about scoping your dashboards.

Group Restrictions

The new Kahua Analytics dashboard restriction self-service capabilities complement our existing application-level group restrictions. Analytics administrators can now specify which groups are able to see the Analytics application as a whole, and also manage which dashboards those groups are able to consume.

If you are a Kahua Analytics builder or are in the process of certification, please reference the Kahua Wiki to learn more about use cases for setting complex group restrictions.

TapID – Partition Hierarchy Filtering

Kahua Analytics has rolled out partition hierarchy filtering capabilities across the board. Analytics administrators are now able to append complex and dynamic URL query strings to their dashboards to filter the information displayed by the dashboard to be partition-hierarchy specific. This works in tandem with our data scope attribute and our individual dashboard group restrictions, so that Analytics administrators are now able to control exactly what each user sees inside of Analytics throughout their entire organization’s Kahua project directory and partition hierarchy tree.

If you are a Kahua Analytics builder or are in the process of certification, please reference the Kahua Wiki to learn more about use-cases for enforcing partition hierarchy filtering.

Commercial Refresh Standards

All of our commercial customers now benefit from an increase in report refresh rates. We have upgraded our standard production data refresh rate across our Kahua Analytics dashboards to hourly instead of the previous bi-hourly schedule. Please reference your existing Data Last Refreshed tile (available in K4X and out-of-the-box offerings) inside of your Analytics dashboards to identify the exact refresh timestamp.

New Kahua Analytics Theme

Kahua Analytics has a new theme, following more modern Kahua design standards. The new theme incorporates Kahua branding colors, backgrounds, logos and visual layouts.

New Kahua Analytics customers automatically receive the new theme and design elements. Existing customers with out-of-the-box offerings can request to be upgraded to the latest theme and design standards, without any downtimes or functionality impacts. Existing customers with customized offerings and reports can request a theme and design upgrade, but it will require development effort and a scoping discussion to align designs to the customized offerings.

Kahua Analytics for Owner Updates

The out-of-the-box Kahua Analytics for Owner offering now includes standard dashboards on bid management and cashflow forecasting alongside the existing portfolio, milestone, cost, funding, workflow and documentation management suite of dashboards.

For existing customers who would like to add these dashboards to their offering, please review your scoping documentation and reach out to your Kahua representative to learn whether your offering has a dashboard allowance or customization hours available to include the new dashboards.

Bid Management – Solicitations and Proposals View

Cashflow Forecasting – Merged and Monthly Views

Kahua Analytics for Education Updates

Through our work with industry experts and partners, we have added two new dashboards to the standard out-of-the-box Kahua Analytics for K-12 offering: PO Closeout and DLOPE (Detailed Listing of Project Expenditures).

For existing K-12 Kahua Analytics customers that would like to add these dashboards to their offering, please review your scoping documentation and reach out to your Kahua representative to request the upgrade.

PO Closeout

DLOPE – Detailed Listing of Project Expenditures

Scheduling/rSchedule (Runding)

Note: These features are available for customers in Commercial environments. They are not yet available for customers using the Kahua Government Network.

Schedule import enhancement

The import of schedules from Primavera P6 files and Microsoft Project MPP files has been updated to use a natural key to link the data. This addresses a specific scenario where the task lookup logic was deleting schedule tasks instead of updating them.

• Primavera P6 records now link on the Activity ID field. When importing a schedule from P6, each task must include a unique Activity ID.
• Microsoft Project records now link on the WBS field. When importing a schedule from MPP, each task must include a unique WBS value.

 For further information, please refer to the Appendix section of the Schedules Guidebook.

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:

• Kahua Mobile for iOS on iTunes
• Kahua Mobile for Android on Google Play

Release Note Changes