4.7.10 - 17 Mar 2025
Workbench Release Notes
Upcoming Functionality & News
Jobs List redesign with clear job level hierarchy
The Jobs list has been redesigned and it now reflects the Job level hierarchy with an indentation (the further to the right, the lower the Job level).
Custom Views have also been added to the Jobs List.
Upvise Purchase Orders - Mandatory PO lines v4.7.12
In v4.7.12, we are introducing an update to improve how Purchase Orders are managed in Upvise.
What’s Changing?
To enhance accuracy and consistency, all Purchase Orders submitted in Upvise will now require at least one PO line. Users will no longer be able to submit a PO without manually adding at least one line before submission.
Why Is This Beneficial?
This update ensures that POs are able to be matched in Workbench invoicing processes, reducing errors and improving efficiency. By requiring PO lines upfront, we eliminate the need to:
Re-open a PO to add missing lines.
Re-approve a PO after adding the required details.
This streamlined process will save time and prevent unnecessary workflow disruptions in Workbench.
New Webinar
Tips & Tricks - 25 March 2025
Register here
Become a Workbench power user by learning all the tips & tricks shared by our experienced team members!
Join Justin Gardner and some of our team members for our first webinar of the year, where we’ll dive deep into a range of powerful Tips, Tricks, and Techniques to help you unlock the full potential of your Workbench system.
Tuesday 25th March 2025
Time:
3.00 pm - 4.00 pm (NZDT)
1.00 pm – 2.00 pm (AEDT)
10.00 am - 11.00 am (AWST)
Introducing % Complete in Contract Forecasting
We will soon be introducing a % Complete measure and the ability to review and update project progress directly from the main forecast screen, which:
greatly reduces the clicks required to review progress,
and simplifies the adjustment calculation.
Seeing where you are at on each area of the job at a glance (% of how much you have completed) makes the exercise of Forecasting much easier.
The method we have chosen to measure the suggested % completed is based on Actual Cost vs Budget, as we consider this applies across the majority of use cases.
Stay tuned.
Upvise Integration- DLL upgrade to v3.3
The new version adds major performance and security enhancements to the integration.
On-premise sites are required to upgrade to v3.3 by 1st April 2025. Read more
Upvise Button - Form Quick Links in v4.7.12
In v4.7.12, we are updating Button-Quick Links to make the button code dynamic. To ensure Buttons Work After the Change, each button’s label matches the exact name of the intended form template. Read more
New Features
Plant
The Plant’s Meters tab has been reviewed to enhance and improve usability while retaining the underlying mechanics for backward compatibility with existing data.
The redesign targeted:
Enhanced usability, especially editing
Support for multiple readings per day
Introduction of history logs
Meters
The Meters section is only visible with the ‘Plant Meter Admin’ permission to simplify usability. The user would typically add or replace a meter, or edit the existing meter attributes.
Add a Meter
A. Click [New Meter] to insert a new meter line.
B. If the first meter then the Meter type is derived from the Default Meter of the respective Plant Group, and the ‘Default’ flag ticked.
C. Populate the meter attributes:
Reference: default with ‘Meter’ and the next number, this can be amended.
Start Reading: the current reading, in the example the plant has been run for 20 hours.
Clock Value: the maximum value the meter can indicate, typical for analogue meters.
Start Date: the date we begin using this meter.
End Date: the last date the meter was used, in the example blank for this new meter.
Default: the default meter we record readings for
Cumulative: our plant Life-To-Date for this meter, in the example 0 for a new plant
D. On [Save] a new baseline reading is added to set the start point for future readings.
E. An entry is made into the History Log for the new meter.
Replace a Meter
A. Click [Replace] to insert a replacement meter line.
B. The replacement meter derives key attributes:
Meter: the meter type is inherited.
Reference: default with ‘Meter’ and the next number, this can be amended.
Start Reading: the current reading, default as zero.
Clock Value: the maximum value is inherited.
Start Date: defaults as today and can be changed.
End Date: defaults blank for this replacement meter.
Default: the flag is inherited.
Cumulative: the value is inherited.
C. On [Save] a new baseline reading is added to set the start point for future readings.
D. An entry is made into the History Log for the replacement meter.
Extra Meter Notes
The meter attributes may be edited, except Start Reading, and will have a History Log.
The cumulative value can be edited should it need correction, and this will also update to the latest reading's Cumulative.
Specifying an End Date will deactivate the meter.
Readings
For users without the ‘Plant Meter Admin’ permission only the Readings section is visible. User would typically add readings and occasionally need to edit or tag specific readings. Reading have been enhanced to support multiple readings per day, and to retain their link to the respective Meter.
Add Readings
A. If necessary, select the required Meter Type from the dropdown and the grid will refresh.
B. Click [New Line] to insert a new Reading line in the grid.
C. Capture the relevant reading attributes, with the option of multiple lines before saving:
Date: reading date, defaults to today
Time: reading time, defaults to now, in 24h format
Reading: meter reading, defaults to 0
Type: any reading tag, defaults to {blank} which is a normal reading.
Notes: any notes if required, defaults as empty.
D. On [Save] the cumulative on the lines and the meter will update.
E. Edits and delete to a reading are logged in the History.
Extra Reading Notes
Edits by a standard user are enhanced to allow updates any of their own readings made today, while ‘Plant Meter Admin’ users are permitted to edit any readings.
The existing functionality for the ClockMaxReading, ExcludeReading, and Service tags apply.
Administration
Setup Wizard - improved visibility of GST rates on new implementations:
We have made improvements to the Setup wizard so there is visibility and clarity of what GST rate existing Sales Codes, GST Types, and Activities have when setting up the new database. This is intended to help Consultants in charge of the implementation to make it faster and avoid any incorrect GST rates lingering on the database.
With the new design under the GST section, Consultants can:easily update the GST Rate for the database (which is used as default GST rate to fall back if there is no specific GST rate defined in some specific contexts)
update GST rates to GST types, Activities, and Sales Codes when necessary, after updating a rate on an existing and already assigned GST Type.
Note that this is not designed for changing the GST Types on the existing records, it is designed to fix rates after a rate has been changed on the GST Types
Also, it is designed to be used in the initial implementation, and the data on the new empty database only has a handful of records.
Feature Revisions
Jobs
Job Contracts - further enhancements to the new certification process:
For those clients that are already taking advantage of the new contract claim process which supports clear distinction of the claim and certification stages (see all details here) we have made further tweaks to make the process easier especially when it comes to clients not certifying the full claimed amounts.Visibility of knocked-back values when preparing a new claim:
Preparing Claim - previous claim’s original claimed values now available
Contract managers and QSs want to have all the information handy when they create a new claim. Particularly, on Get Sales while they prepare the claim, have visibility of the previous claim’s knocked back values, so they know to claim that difference again.PMs/QSs have had to resort to an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of the difference between Claimed and Certified or had to open the Previous Claim in Workbench on another tab to get that information, to be then able to prepare the current claim. In Schedules with multiple lines (up to hundreds of lines), this becomes too complicated to keep track of.
You can now see the Claimed To Date values from the previous Claim at line level under the new section Previous Claim To Date:
The new % Done column under Previous Claim To Date will be bold to highlight when there is a difference between %Done under Claim To Date* section and the % Done Prev Claim To Date, indicating this line was certified for less and should be claimed again.*Claim To Date = All certified values + any waiting on certification
Visibility of the certifying habits on each Project:
The list of Claims in a Contract now displays the Certified values, including Retention, This Certified Incl Ret, and the original Claimed value, This Claim, to help PMs/QSs understand certification patterns from a client on each project.New field available for Claims Custom View in Job Sales Invoices:
A new field is available on the Claims custom view on Job Sales Invoices: This Claim.
It displays the original claimed value. This can be exported to excel to do further analysis on a Certified values vs Claimed values trends.Get Sales - Hide Previous Claims:
We have hidden existing Previous Claims section by default, as we believe it does not add value to the new process.
These values are essentially the previous certified values (which include All certified values + any waiting on certification) and may change once a claim waiting on certification has been certified and certified for less. The fact that the value changes is confusing for users.
Lists
File Attachments:
New document types have been added to the File Attachments list so you can now search for attachments on Vouchers, Contracts, Cost Sheets, Document Register, Bond, and Plant Items
Note that only a handful of users will have access to this centralised list: users with permission Attachments Admin in their Roles.
The permission is included in the Finance and Administrator roles by default.
Management Reports
Plant Transactions by Activity report:
The Plant Transactions by Activity report can now be filtered by activities. It comes in handy for analysing for example if you have an activity for Repairs and Maintenance, across all plant items.
Purchasing
Procurement List Enhancement:
The procurement list now supports the same item code for different subjobs. For example, you can now enter a line for 20mm Rock Aggregate (code AGG001) across two sub-jobs, 000.01 and 000.02, and the validation will not consider these as duplicates.
Plant
Renamed the Job Groups tab in the Plant details screen to “Attributes“
Timesheets
Job Manager approval enhancement:
Now, a person with the existing permission Job Manager Approval Edit and Delete can modify the Time Code directly on the Job Manager Approval screen.
Expense Claims
Expense Claims:
Improved the error message 'Nullable object must have a value' when creating a new expense claim, triggered when the user lacks an associated Timesheet Group.
Administration
Users logging in to Workbench using Office365:
Changes were made so that when a user clicks on a link to Workbench on an email notification, after logging in using O365, Workbench opens in the correct page.
Fixes & Technical changes
Job Forecast: Fixed the issue where Work Orders were incorrectly displayed as Purchase Orders in the popup from the Job Forecast screen.
Job Budget:
Job Budget tweaks for revenue cost line precision, apply correct values when making revenue line qty negative, and implementing quantity pro-rata on cost lines when subgrid not enabled. Fixed in 4.7.9.4Job Group: Fixed a bug where saved Group data in the Job Attributes tab was either not displayed or displayed incorrectly
Job Importing:
Resolved the issue where the contract code was missing when importing subjobs using the wbImportJobs template.
Resolve the issue of incorrect format of JobCode when importing via wbImportJobsWithTemplate.
Job Transactions transfer: Fixed the issue where the link PO Recd did not display the correct Purchase Order.
Credit Note: Fixed the issue of the "Apply" button. Now, when creating the credit note, the Apply filter button returns invoices applicable to the selected supplier only.
Contract Claims List: Fixed an access issue. Now, only users with the Contracts Management license can access the Contract Claim List.
Expense Claims: Fixed a bug where the total amount on the screen bottom did not appear when creating a new expense claim.
Plant:
Fixed the issue where Job Groups were incorrectly displayed instead of Plant (Job) Groups in the Plant/Attributes tab.
Fixed the issue where the meter readings are reset when reopening a plant maintenance log.
Licence: Fixed bug in Licence matrix when un-allocating user licence and update licence sync.
Extension columns: Removed the File option in the Data Type. Applied for all extension types.
User creation: Fixed an issue where the EBA details were not copied over when creating a new user from an existing user.
All fields are copied across now:Default EBA Profile
Additional EBA Profile
EBA Tags
User Specified Timesheet EBA Profiles
Upvise
Daily Diary
Projects will now be displayed in the subform even if a project has not been selected in the diary header. This ensures that forms linked to a project can still correctly display project-related data.
The Admin Hours field will now remain blank by default, instead of automatically linking to the associated project. This allows the default project to be set via the Upvise integration screen, ensuring consistency and simplifying data entry by keeping the field hidden when necessary.
Optimisations have been applied to the “Daily Diary Detail” button
Equipment Photos
A change has been applied to resolve a data issue where contact photos were visible on equipment items in Upvise.
Plant Maintenance Settings- Manual data sync
If the Plant Group Settings are blank in Workbench, they will now be ignored during the sync process to upvise.
If a Plant Group has been configured—even partially—the category will be updated in upvise based on the Workbench Plant Group setting.
Plant Person
The "Plant Person" setting has been deprecated in both Settings and the Upvise Integration Control.
To streamline the import process, the system will now automatically use the employee name (Upvise user) who created the Plant Issue Form in Upvise as the assigned person in the data table upon import.
SWMS
Submission Error Fix: An issue causing errors upon submission for SWMS users has been resolved.
Activity List Visibility: The SWMS activity list is now correctly displayed upon form creation.
PDF Download: error when downloading the SWMS PDF has been resolved.
Forewarning: Update to Button-Quick Links in Upvise (v4.7.12)
What’s Changing?
In v4.7.12, we are updating Button-Quick Links to make the button code dynamic. Instead of being hardcoded to specific form templates, buttons will now use the button label as the identifier for form templates. This means button labels must exactly match the form template name for the button to function correctly. The following improvements will be applied:
Cater for the “disabled” form template status
Pop-up message: An active Forms template 'template name' does not exist.
Cater for the “lock completed jobs” setting when job status is complete
Pop-up message: This job has been completed - please reopen the job to add a new form.
Rework button code to use the button label to specify the form template
Pop-up message: An active Forms template 'template name' does not exist.
Ensure button code works across Jobs, Projects, Equipment, and Contacts
Consider user roles
Pop-up message: You do not have permission to access the '" template name"' form.
Consider button roles
Pop-up message: You do not have permission to access the '" template name "' form.
Prevent form creation via the button if the template is not linked to the master file
Pop-up message: "template name" should be linked to "linked record- e.g. contact"
Why This is Beneficial?
Currently (before v4.7.12), buttons are hard-coded and limited to the following form templates only:
Job Purchase Order (linked to a job)
Daily Diary (linked to a project)
Mechanic Diary (linked to a job)
Training Record (linked to contacts)
Leave Application (linked to contacts)
Equipment Record (linked to equipment)
After v4.7.12:
Buttons will work across Jobs, Projects, Equipment, and Contacts, increasing flexibility.
Reduces the need for custom code changes.
Reduces errors and simplifies maintenance by removing hardcoded template links.
To Ensure Buttons Work After the Change:
Verify Button Labels – Ensure that each button’s label matches the exact name of the intended form template.
Button Label | Form Template Name |
 |  |
Integration
SAP Business1
The integration has been updated with new column widths for some fields to avoid them from being truncated in the import.
Update column lengths on the SAP agent imports:
Field | New Length |
|---|---|
CompanyName | 100 |
AlphaCode | 40 |
Contact_EmailAddress | 250 |
MYOB Acumatica
The integration has been updated to ensure that an FC rate is being used for AR Invoices when using Foreign Currency.
For now, those clients requiring this will need to enable the new control parameter 'Acumatica - send Job Invoice FC Rate' so that the export of AR Invoices send the Job Invoice FC Rate.
Workbench API
Ability to submit Purchase Orders & Expense Claims into a Workflow
The Workbench API has been enhanced so Purchase Orders and Expense Claims created via the API, can now be submitted into a Workflow for Review & approval.
Things we are busy working on...
Custom Views on List screens, and exploring the ability to add extension columns to these views. This will expand your reporting ability on the List screens.
Month End Process: controlled and easy to follow.
New status to track whether POs and WOs have been sent to Suppliers/Subcontractors.