September 2025 Release Notes

The Kahua 2025.4 release will be deployed to our Production environments on Friday, September 5, 2025*. A preview of this functionality can be accessed at https://earlyaccesslaunch.kahua.com beginning on August 23, 2025. Please click here for more information on the Early Access program.

* Please note that major releases are now performed on the Friday of a release weekend instead of Saturday.

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
• Document Management
• Cost Management
• Assets
• Mobile Host

General

Added "Trust This Device" option for domains using MFA

This update applies only to users in the Kahua Commercial Network (KCN).  It is not available for users in the Kahua Government Network (KGN). 

For domains in the Kahua Commercial Network (KCN) that use Multifactor Authentication (MFA), we have added the ability for domain administrators to allow users to select a "Trust this device" option during the login process.

When the user selects this option, they will not be required to use MFA for subsequent logins during that time period. The trusted time period is set by the domain administrator, up to a maximum of 14 days. Note that users will still be required to enter their passwords when logging in during this time.

Domain administrators can enable this feature in Domain Settings > Authentication by selecting Trust user device for # days and entering a number of days, to a maximum of 14.

Added Passkeys as a Default MFA Option

For domains that have not customized their Multifactor Authentication (MFA) configuration, passkeys are now available as an option to all users upon login, in addition to the Email and Authenticator app code options.

For more information on passkeys, refer to FAQ - Addition of Passkeys as an MFA option.

Updated User Interface for Sign-On Pages

We made visual enhancements to the Multifactor Authentication (MFA) sign-on pages to better align the user interface with Kahua’s standard look and feel.

As part of these updates, we also added restrictions to the email “Resend Code” button on the MFA screens. After a code is sent, users must now wait 30 seconds before the button will become active again to send another code.

Added support for Offline Markups

We have added general support for creating and editing markups while working in offline mode. Users will be able to edit and reconcile markups when working offline on both the mobile and desktop hosts.

To use markups offline, simply enable offline for the application that you wish to do markups in while connected to the internet and wait for the sync to process. Once synced, you can create, edit, and delete markups offline. The changes will sync to Kahua when connection is reestablished.

Note that if there is a conflict on the same specific markup entity, the last-in change will win when the changeset is reconciled. This will not affect any changes made to other markups on the same record. Different markups can be created, deleted, and edited by both online and offline users on the same file without any changes being overwritten when the offline users come back online.

For example, if an offline user goes offline at 9am and edits a circle markup on a file, while another user who is online edits that same circle at 10 am, when the offline user comes back online at 3pm, the changes made to that specific circle markup by the online user will be overwritten by the offline user's change when they come back online. No other changes will be impacted.

Added multi-window mode for web and desktop hosts

We have added a way for users to compare documents by allowing you to view two different records and interact with both simultaneously. The records can be from different applications or even different projects.

To use this feature, select the multi-window icon  in the first record.

• In the desktop host, this opens the record as read-only in a new window. 
• In the web host, this opens the record as read-only in a new tab. 

With the first record open in a new window or tab for reference, you can navigate to other projects and applications in your primary window or tab while keeping the read-only secondary window or tab open for reference. You can easily navigate back to the record shown in the secondary window by selecting the Open button. This will return you to that record in the primary window.

Global Search - Added Advanced Filters

Two new filters have been added to the Search app to provide users with additional tools for finding records in Kahua.

In the Search App, a new section has been added at the bottom of the parameters section called Advanced Filters. From the dropdown, you may select one of the following fields to use in your search query:

• Created By
• Created On

The advanced filters tool provides the ability to define multiple advanced filters using the and/or operator. You can remove a filter by clicking the X button on the right-hand side of the filter row.

Note that after adding one or more filters, a keyword value must still be entered to run the search.

Add "Created On" Filter

You can use the Created On filter to find records based on the date they were created in Kahua. To create this filter, complete the following steps:

1. After selecting "Created On", a new dropdown menu appears that allows you to select a condition to apply. The most common conditions for this field include "After", "Before", and "Equals".
2. Once the condition has been selected, you can choose to specify a date or use the current date (with offset).
   • Specific Date- enter a date manually or using the date picker.

     

   • Current Date / Offset - choose Day, Week, Month, or Year and the offset value. In the example below, the filter would look for any records created after Today's Date minus three Days.

     

Add "Created By" Filter

You can use the Created By filter to find records created by a specific user.

After selecting "Created By" from the dropdown, a new dropdown appears that allows you to select a condition to apply to the filter. The most common conditions for this filter include "Contains" and "Equals".

NOTE: if using Equals, the value entered must match the first and last name of the user exactly.

Project Finder - Updated icons

We have updated several of the icons in the Project Finder application.

• A globe icon  is now used to represent the root navigation level, replacing the previously used home icon. This is intended to avoid confusion with the home icon in the Kahua header which opens the home page.
• The folder icon  indicating that a project has sub-projects has been updated to match the styling of the rest of our UI.
• An "Open" button  has been added to the project finder breadcrumb bar, replacing the "Select" button. This button opens the project currently listed in the breadcrumb bar.

Added bookmarks in rendered composite PDFs

When multiple files are grouped together to create a composite PDF, the rendered PDF file will include a bookmark for each individual file in the resulting composite document. The name of the file will be used as the bookmark name.

Additionally, if the composite document includes a PDF file that has existing bookmarks, those bookmarks will be preserved and nested in the list of bookmarks in the rendered document.

Composite files are created from the following actions:

• Select Add Composite in the References section of a document.
• Select Add Approval Doc in the References section of a document in apps with a configured approval workflow.
• Select View w/References in a document.

The bookmarks will appear when the PDF file is opened in an application that supports PDF bookmarks, such as Adobe Acrobat Reader and other programs. In some applications, inconsistent sizing of the original documents may require adjustment of the viewing area when a bookmark is selected.

CUI Support Added to Additional Apps

The acronym CUI refers to Controlled Unclassified Information. Kahua offers CUI support in many apps that can be used to identify records that will require sensitive handling by users in your domain and records that will be redacted for users who have not been granted permission to view the data. We have added CUI support to the following apps:

• Action Items

• Expenses

  • Contracts

  • Change Requests

  • Change Orders

  • SOV Breakdown

  • Pay Requests

  • Purchase Orders

  • Purchase Order Change Orders

  • Quote Requests

  • Invoices

  • Compliance Tracking

• Funding apps

  • Budget

  • Budget Adjustments

  • Budget Changes

  • Contracts

  • Change Requests

  • Change Orders

  • SOV Breakdown

  • Pay Applications

  • Planning Budget

  • Planning Adjustment

• Issues

• OmniClass Codes

• Properties

• Punch List Libraries

• QR Codes

• Scenario Planning

• Sources of Funds

  • Sources of Funds

  • Fund Sources

  • Fund Rules

  • Fund Transfers

  • Fund Grouping

• Work Orders

Administration

Added the ability to configure message recipients for approval workflow steps

We have added the ability to manage notification recipients when an approval workflow process is initiated and when the intermediate approval steps occur.

On approval configurations, managed on the Configuration app > Approvals > Approvals tab, we have added a Step Notification Recipients section. In this section you can select the groups, roles, and actors that you want to receive a notification when an approval workflow process is initiated and for the subsequent intermediate steps.

The initial message will list all the approvers in the process. The subsequent notifications will include the name of the current approver and the name of the next approver in the approval workflow. You can select Include All Step Recipients to send the step notifications to all the step recipients in the approval workflow.

Note that this new section only controls notifications for the initial and intermediate steps of the approval process. Completion message recipients are still managed in the Completion Message Recipients section.

Added TOTP/Passkey as an External Authentication Method

We have added the ability for external users to authenticate with Time-Based One-Time Passwords (TOTP) and Passkeys, in addition to the previously available Email option.

Domain administrators can determine which authentication methods they want to enable for external domain users. They can select any combination of Email, TOTP, and Passkeys as multifactor authentication methods for external domain users. This selection is now managed in Authentication Groups.

Migrated External User Authentication Settings to Authentication Groups

External User Authentication configuration has been moved into the Authentication Groups settings to be more consistent with the rest of the sign in settings. External User Authentication is now located in Domain Settings > Authentication > Manage Authentication Groups.

To enable external user authentication, domain administrators first create an authentication group, then establish the authentication group criteria for that group and select the External Users toggle.

Authentication Groups - Added Description field for Authentication Groups

We have added a Description field to Authentication Groups.

Domain Administrators can add a description to each authentication group. The description also appears on the Domain Settings > Authentication > Authentication Groups settings page, improving visibility into the purpose and use of each group.

Improved visibility of Permission Filters in the Groups app

Configured permission filters now appear on the preview form of the Permissions tab in Groups app.

Allow Notification emails when outbound email is disabled

When the existing Disable Outbound Emails setting is selected for a partition or project or a user, external email communication is restricted. For these sensitive or confidential projects, outbound emails are not sent for tasks, notifications, or messages manually sent using the Send action, etc. Notifications are limited to the Kahua Messages app only.

To allow users in these projects to receive email notifications when their attention is needed but to also keep important project information within Kahua, a new Allow Outbound Notifications setting has been added. When this setting is selected, users will receive a generic email to their provider mailbox, while the message with the full content is delivered to the Messages app within Kahua.

This new setting is available at the partition and project level in Configuration > Settings, and at the user level in the Users application. It can only be enabled when the Disable Outbound Emails setting is selected.

Snapshot API v2

We have created several new endpoints to establish Kahua Snapshot API v2.  This new version is a more scalable solution with improved performance for those utilizing Snapshot via the API. Customers and partners can leverage this new API when building automated archiving processes.

The API allows consumers to download a snapshot package from Kahua servers. It provides an endpoint to get the descriptor of the package and additional endpoints to retrieve individual entities, files, and portable views. Creation of the package is entirely managed by the consumer. Kahua provides recommended file names and locations, which can be fully customized according to the consumer's needs.

If you have completed Kahua's Builder Foundations course and have access to the Kahua Wiki, please reference this page in the Kahua Wiki for detailed information regarding utilizing the new API.

Moving Rules of Behavior Signature into Kahua

This update applies to Domain Administrators on the Kahua Government Network (KGN).

We’ve streamlined the Rules of Behavior (RoB) signature process for domain administrators on the Kahua Government Network. The signature process has now been moved into Kahua. Domain administrators will be prompted to complete the signature process in the following scenarios:

• During onboarding, if the user is initially added to the Domain Administrator group.
• Upon their next login, if the user is granted Domain Administrator rights in a previous session.

Note that for the initial launch, all domain administrators will be re-prompted for approval to establish an internal record of the agreement date. This date will appear at the bottom of the user profile in the Users App.

Document Management

Punch Lists Enhancements

We have made several enhancements to our Punch Lists application.

• Drawing Mode / Log View Switcher Update

  Our drawing mode and log view switcher have been updated to new icons.

  

• Pin Icon in Log View

  In the log view, pinned records now display a pin icon. Clicking on this icon will navigate the user to the pin on its drawing in drawing mode and open the record in the panel.

  

• Drawing Mode Thumbnails Organized by Folder and Searchable

  If there are multiple pinnable folders in file manager on a project, the thumbnail selection menu in drawing mode now displays grouped by folder. Users can also now search for thumbnails by folder or file name.

  

• Pin/Unpin Flow Update

  We have improved the process for pinning and unpinning punch list items to drawings. When a user is looking at a drawing and does not have a punch list item selected in the panel, they can create a new pin for a new punch list item by selecting the floating blue pin icon on the drawing.

  

  After selecting this button, users are instructed to drop a pin on the drawing.

  

  Once the pin is dropped on the drawing, a new view opens in the panel to add the punch list item information. Users must save this record in the panel to complete creation of their punch list item and pin.

  

  While the record is in edit mode in the panel, users can unpin and re-pin the record by using a new unpin/pin button found in the header of the panel. This allows users to edit a pinned record in the panel, unpin it, and re-pin it elsewhere. Users must save the record in order to save changes to their pin location.

  

• Drawing Mode Pinning on mobile devices

  For tablet users, the experience for punch list drawing mode will match that of desktop users. For users accessing Kahua on phones, the drawing mode panel can now be opened and closed via a new panel button in the header of the mobile application.

  

  This grants phone users access to all the punch list pinning and unpinning features highlighted above. Note that due to screen space limitations, the panel opens full screen on phones, overlapping the drawing.

  

Punch List Workflow Enhancement - Introducing the Coordinator Role

Kahua’s Punch List workflow has been enhanced with a new Coordinator role and routing option, offering greater flexibility for teams engaged in a collaborative process of collecting, preparing, and assigning punch list items.

By default, the new Assign to Coordinator action is hidden to preserve current behavior. It can be enabled by clearing the “Hide Assign to Coordinator” setting in Configuration.

Once enabled, this workflow is ideal for scenarios where, for example, the design team identifies and records punch list items, then forwards them to the contractor, who assigns responsibility before initiating resolution.

Subcontractor Daily Work Reports - Enhanced Control Over Markups and Tax

The Subcontractor’s Daily Work Reports app allows users with Moderator permissions to apply markups and tax to Labor, Materials, and Equipment entries. Previously, markup and tax rates were applied uniformly across all items within each category.

With this release, we’re introducing line-item level control for Markups and Tax. Users can now:

• Choose which individual Labor, Material, or Equipment items are taxed or marked up.
• Apply different rates to each line item as needed.

This enhancement provides greater flexibility and precision when managing project costs within daily work reports.

Milestones - Added Calculated Start and End date for Milestones

This update applies to Kahua for Owner, Education, General Contractor and Subcontractors using the Kahua supplied Milestone app.

A new date pair, Calculated Start and Calculated Completion have been added to the Milestones app. Calculated dates are intended to show the most relevant date for the milestone and can be used in the Cashflow app to automatically keep the cashflow up to date.

The calculated dates will automatically update as other dates are entered such as estimated start, revised start, or actual start. The calculated date is based on logic defined in Configuration > Milestones > Settings.

By default, the calculated dates will be updated to show dates in the following order:

Estimated > Revised > Actual

Design Review - Added time selection setting for Auto-Advance end of day

Previously, when a Design Review set was submitted for review and Auto-Advance was selected for the Preliminary, Primary, or Interim review step, the due date and time for completion of the review step was based on the number of days selected for the review duration and the time that the set was submitted for review.

With the introduction of this new setting, the due date and time for a review step to automatically advance will be the end of the day of the due date, at the time selected in the Auto-Advance End of Day setting.

The setting is found on the Configuration app > Applications > Design Review Sets > Settings tab. By default, this value is set to "5pm". This value can be modified.

The due time is based on the time zone set for the domain in Domain Settings > Domain Defaults > Defaults. When viewed by a user in the Design Review app, the due time is converted to the user's time zone, as selected by the user in My Settings > General tab > Timezone.

Note that this change will be applied to design review sets created after the 2025.4 release is deployed. Existing design review sets will not use the new Auto-Advance End of Day setting.

Cost Management

Item Views in Cost application logs

This update applies to Kahua for Owner, Education, General Contractor and Subcontractors using the Kahua supplied cost management applications, excluding domains with CUI (Controlled Unclassified Information) restrictions enabled.

Instead of viewing documents like contracts or change orders in the log, you can now switch to an item-level view which shows all items from all documents. These item views can also be printed or exported to CSV using the buttons at the top right of the screen.

The item views can be searched, sorted, grouped, and filtered in the same way as the document views.

To try out the new view, open a log, click the view selector and activate the "All Items" view.

The item log functionality is available on the following Kahua supplied cost applications:

• Expense and Funding Contract
• Expense and Funding Change Order
• Expense Change Request
• Purchase Order
• Purchase Order Change Order
• Budget
• Budget Adjustment
• Budget Change
• Issue App for Owner
• Issue App for General Contractor (GC)
• Issue App for Education (K12)

Item level logs will be added at a later date for the following Kahua supplied cost applications:

• Expense Pay Requests/ Funding Pay Apps
• Expense and Funding SOV Breakdown
• PO Invoices

Note that item logs can be implemented on custom extensions and other apps. If you have completed Kahua's Builder Foundations course and have access to the Kahua Wiki, please reference this page in the Kahua Wiki for information on implementing item logs.

Additional fields available in the Contract Summary section

This update applies to Kahua for Owner, Education, General Contractor and Subcontractors using the Kahua supplied Expense and Funding Contracts apps.

We've made additional fields available to the top of the contract detail panel and log that show pertinent information about a contract. These fields can be enabled on the Configuration app > Applications tab > Expense Contracts or Funding Contracts > Fields tab.

The available fields are:

• Item Total (currently called Total)
• Original Contract Amount
• Approved Changes
• Current Contract Amount
• Contract Gross Total
• Total Completed
• Balance to Finish

In configuration, the new fields are prefixed with "Field" for the log columns and "Header" for the detail panel header.

Update to the Change Request Signed step to allow processing after signature

This update applies to Kahua for Owner, Education, General Contractor and Subcontractors using the Kahua supplied Change Request app.

Previously, when using change requests they could not be processed if they were sent for signature and approved. This update adds a new workflow status, "Signed" that change requests will enter after being approved. Change requests that are signed have an approved cost status but are not locked.

In this state, the Process action is available on the action bar.

Cashflow Forecasting - Updated to include First Period in Cashflow Distribution

This update applies to Kahua for Owner, Education, General Contractor and Subcontractors using the Kahua supplied Cashflow application.

In the Cashflow Forecasting app, the first period is now included in the distribution even if the item start date is not the period start date. For example, an item starting on 15 January will be included in the January financial period as if it were a full month.

Prior to this update, the first partial period would not be included and show $0.

Cashflow Forecasting - Updated to Import Latest Dates from Milestones to Cashflow

This update applies to Kahua for Owner, Education, General Contractor and Subcontractors using the Kahua supplied Cashflow app.

This update expands the current Get Current utility on the Manage Cashflow Forecast page in the Cashflow Forecasting app to bring in dates from linked milestones in addition to the current functionality that updates budget and other values.

The updated dates will appear in the cashflow and automatically recalculate the distributed cashflow values.

Cost applications - Rename the Import/Export menu item

This update applies to Kahua for Owner, Education, General Contractor and Subcontractors using the Kahua supplied cost management applications.

Several cost management applications support both importing and exporting data, but the Export option was hidden behind a button labelled Import.

As part of this update, we have renamed the button to Import/Export when both options are available.

Compliance Tracking - Added "User's Company is Named on Record" Filter for Compliance Tracking Records

You now have even more capabilities to filter Compliance Tracking records to those that are most applicable to your team. We have added support for filtering Compliance Tracking records by "User's Company is Named on Record". This filter allows your team to focus only on records where your company is named, whether you created and submitted the records, or your company is listed within.

To apply the filter, take the following steps:

1. Ensure that you are in the correct project or partition and navigate to the Groups application (Apps > Administration > Groups).
2. Select the group you would like to apply the filter to.
3. Click the Permissions tab and select Edit. 
4. Click on Compliance Tracking and select Override.
5. From the Filter dropdown, select "User's Company is Named on Record".

   Note that Permission Filtering must be enabled on the Domain Settings app > Domain Defaults tab for filter options to appear.

6.  Click Save when you are done.

   

Assets

Added the ability to generate Asset QR Codes in bulk

You can now generate QR codes for multiple Assets from Asset Manager.

Select one or more assets, then click Generate QR Codes. QR codes for the selected assets will be created and become available in the QR Codes app. The new action still performs a duplicate validation and will not allow users to create multiple QR Codes for the same Asset.

Active Flag on Asset Class Enhancements

In the previous release, a new Active flag was added to the Asset Definition > Classes - Master application to allow you to manage the retirement of asset classes.

When exporting records from the Classes - Project application, users will no longer see deactivated classes in the Classes - Master tab. This enhancement ensures that deactivated classes are no longer selectable when adding assets to a project.

Users can no longer add assets from deactivated classes to systems at the domain level, ensuring consistency and preventing configuration errors.

Data Store - Added additional tables for Asset attribute values

We have added four new Data Store tables to allow for better reporting and analytics on the Asset/Type attribute data.  These tables centralize attribute values for Assets and Types. These enhancements will streamline data access, improve query performance, and support more robust reporting capabilities. The new tables are as follows:

• kahua_AssetManager_Types_Type_Attributes
• kahua_AssetManager_Assets_Asset_Attributes
• AttributeDataType
• AttributeValueType

To have the new tables appear in the Data Store, you must rebuild the kahua_AssetManager_Types_Type and kahua_AssetManager_Assets_Asset tables in Domain Settings > Data Store.

Mobile Host

Mobile - UX Redesign

We have redesigned our mobile UX. This update was released to production in a previous maintenance release and is currently available.

When you first log in to the mobile app, you are greeted by a new mobile homepage displaying some information about your current project. To switch projects, select Browse Projects. This opens the project finder.

We have also added a new navigation footer which includes access to three tabs:

• The Kahua tab- This tab indicates where the user currently is in Kahua. You can use this tab to get back to your current place after navigating to the other tabs. This tab will update to show the name of your currently open application.

  

• The Documents tab- This tab is where you can easily tap to view and navigate to your recent documents on your current project and recent documents on all projects.

  

• The Apps tab- This tab is where you can search through and open the different Kahua applications available on your projects. You can see your recent applications, scroll or search through all applications, and pin or unpin applications at the top of the menu.

  

Mobile - Added a Mobile View editor for Log Views

Administrators can now create custom mobile log views for their users. The mobile log view controls which fields appear for each record when that log view is selected on the mobile app. 

To create a mobile view for a log view, select Manage Views to open the log view editor. A new Mobile View tab appears. On this tab, administrators can specify which fields will appear on the cards and in what order in that log view for that app on mobile.

Note that a preview appears at the bottom of the tab, showing you how the card will appear in the mobile app.

Mobile users who select a log view that has a mobile view set up will see the customized cards.

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