What's New in 2022 R12

What's New lists the enhancements and changes made in the 22.12 release. This release is available as of 12/19/2022. The Field Management mobile app is available to download 24 to 48 hours following the release date.

Customers hosted in a Viewpoint cloud solution receive the latest update automatically. For customers who update modules manually, see Update the Portal for help.

Important: .NET Framework 4.8 required to update
  • Before updating to the current release, make sure you have .NET Framework 4.8 installed. This is a required prerequisite, as the updater will not run without this framework installed on your web host.
  • If needed, download the .NET Framework 4.8 from Microsoft at https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/download/dotnet-framework/net48.

Release Cadence Reminder for Web and Mobile

As a reminder, the web portal applications HR Management for Vista, Field Management, Financial Controls, and Vista Field Service are now released every other month instead of on a monthly basis. This extends the supported version time frame and allows customers more time to gain knowledge and experience with newly released content.

The Field Management Mobile application continues to be released on a monthly basis.

Release Highlights

This release includes the following new enhancements. For more details, see the individual release highlights sections that follow.

  • New! Field Management Mobile: Configure clock entries and signature settings per PR Group: Changes were made to allow you to configure clock entries and signatures by PR group instead of having to configure these settings globally. See the Field Management Highlights section below for details.
  • New! Timecard Safety Net: All customers now have the ability to recover deleted timecard lines through the web portal. Access the Timecard Safety Net page from Employee Tools > Safety Net. For more information, see the Timecard Safety Net User Guide.

    Note: The Timecard Safety Net data is no longer stored within the KDS-HRIM database in the TimecardSafetyNet table. It is now stored in the in the vPRTimecardSafetyNet table in Vista. Data will carry over from the old table to the new.

    The Timecard Safety Net is now enabled by default. The portal setting that was previously needed to enable the safety net, Portal Safety Net enabled (additional setup required), has been removed.

  • New! Portal Setting Audit Log: Select the new Audit Log button on the Portal Settings page to review portal setting changes by employee, including the date of the change, the new value for a setting, and the previous value for a setting.

  • New! Job Billing table headers affix to the top of the page: When opening a bill on the Job Billing Dashboard, the table headers now affix to the top of the page while scrolling.

General Changes

General changes affect portal administration or multiple modules in the web portal.

  • New! Portal Setting Audit Log: Select the new Audit Log button on the Portal Settings page to review portal setting changes by employee, including the date of the change, the new value for a setting, and the previous value for a setting.

  • Enhanced styling for Web: Styling updates to the Benefits, Onboarding, Portal Settings, Register for Training, and Training History pages enhance the look and feel of the web portal.

  • Improved loading speed of the Portal Settings page.

  • For portal settings that require a company number, the Company field is now restricted to numerical entries only.

HR Management Highlights

The following customer suggestions were added in this release. For a list of defect corrections, see the Issues Fixed page.

  • Benefits
    • Rejected enrollment windows no longer display in the Benefit Window History for admins (Benefits Dashboard) or employees (Employee Tools > Benefits > My Qualifying Event History). Previously, rejected enrollment windows were listed as pending approval for admins and as completed for employees.

  • Expenses

    • On mobile devices, the last four digits of an employee's credit card number now display in Expense Approval.
  • Onboarding
    • Version 22.12 of the web portal supports the new Federal Tax Exempt flag added to the PR Employees and HR Resources forms in Vista 2022 R2. When you initialize new hires to Vista 2022 R2 using portal version 22.12, the Federal Tax Exempt check box in Vista is updated based on the exempt status that the employee selected on Form W-4 during onboarding.

  • Timecards

    • New! Expense amounts listed separately on timecard reports: For timecard lines with amount-based entries, the processed timecard report now includes an Exp Amt (Expense Amount) column, which separates amounts (from amount-based earn codes) from hours.

      The Exp Amt column will show up on processed timecard reports for all earn codes but will remain blank for non-expense entries. For more information, see Configure Expenses on Timecards.

    • New! Timecard Safety Net: All customers now have the ability to recover deleted timecard lines through the web portal. Access the Timecard Safety Net page from Employee Tools > Safety Net. For more information, see the Timecard Safety Net User Guide.

      Note: The Timecard Safety Net data is no longer stored within the KDS-HRIM database in the TimecardSafetyNet table. It is now stored in the in the vPRTimecardSafetyNet table in Vista. Data will carry over from the old table to the new.

      The Timecard Safety Net is now enabled by default. The portal setting that was previously needed to enable the safety net, Portal Safety Net enabled (additional setup required), has been removed.

Field Management Highlights

The following customer suggestions were added in this release. For a list of defect corrections, see the Issues Fixed page.

  • Field Management Mobile
    • New! Configure clock entries and signature settings per PR Group: The following changes were made to allow you to configure clock entries and signatures by PR group instead of having to configure these settings globally. For help configuring the settings mentioned below, see Additional Field Management Mobile Settings.

      • The ability for employees to submit clock entries that do not balance with timecard hours is now determined by the following: 1) the portal setting Prevent submission if time clock does not balance with timecard lines, and 2) if the portal setting is not enabled, the Time Worked configuration per PR Group as enabled in Grid Timecard Settings.

        Note: Previously, the ability to submit clock entries that did not balance with timecard hours was based only on the portal setting Prevent submission if time clock does not balance with timecard lines.
      • The ability for employees to submit time without having to sign their timecard or answer submission questions is now determined by the following: 1) the portal setting Disable Submission Signatures / Questions, and 2) if the portal setting is not enabled, the Require Signature on Submitted configuration per PR Group as enabled in Grid Timecard Settings.

        Note: Previously, the ability to submit time without having to sign a timecard or answer submission questions was based only on the portal setting Disable Submission Signatures / Questions.
    • New! Skip line coding in the Offline Kiosk: For customers using a default job and phase in the Offline Kiosk, a new option to Skip Line Coding has been added to the Admin Menu. Enable this option to have employees go directly to the Time Clock page after logging in to the Offline Kiosk. See Configure Admin Settings in the Offline Time Clock Kiosk for details.

      • The Skip Line Coding option displays only after you set a default job and phase on the Admin Settings page in the Offline Kiosk.

      • When Skip Line Coding is enabled, employees are not given the option to select a job and phase before clocking in and are not able to change the job and phase from the Time Clock page (the Change Task button does not display).

  • Job Approval

    • When lines are deleted or moved from a timecard after it has been approved, the Job Approval column on the Timecard Dashboard will no longer indicate that there are still items requiring approval.
  • Timecards

    • New! Expense amounts listed separately on timecard reports: For timecard lines with amount-based entries, the processed timecard report now includes an Exp Amt (Expense Amount) column, which separates amounts (from amount-based earn codes) from hours.

      The Exp Amt column will show up on processed timecard reports for all earn codes but will remain blank for non-expense entries. For more information, see Configure Expenses on Timecards.

    • New! Timecard Safety Net: All customers now have the ability to recover deleted timecard lines through the web portal. Access the Timecard Safety Net page from Employee Tools > Safety Net. For more information, see the Timecard Safety Net User Guide.

      Note: The Timecard Safety Net data is no longer stored within the KDS-HRIM database in the TimecardSafetyNet table. It is now stored in the in the vPRTimecardSafetyNet table in Vista. Data will carry over from the old table to the new.

      The Timecard Safety Net is now enabled by default. The portal setting that was previously needed to enable the safety net, Portal Safety Net enabled (additional setup required), has been removed.

Financial Controls Highlights

The following customer suggestions were added in this release. For a list of defect corrections, see the Issues Fixed page.

  • Billing Compiler

    • For lines with multiple bill attachments in the Billing Compiler - Next Gen, attachments will now also sort by attachment ID within the selected sort method.

  • Job Billing

    • New! Job Billing table headers affix to the top of the page: When opening a bill on the Job Billing Dashboard, the table headers now affix to the top of the page while scrolling.

Vista Field Service Highlights

The following customer suggestions were added in this release. For a list of defect corrections, see the Issues Fixed page.

  • Work Order Dashboard / Work Orders

    • New! Locate materials faster with improved search functionality: Type to search for materials by number, category number, or description when adding inventory to a work order. Technicians can type a portion of a number or description, and they can also type words in any order and still see relevant results in the Material drop-down. Materials information is pulled from Vista HQ Materials.

    • New! Default SM equipment cost type for labor lines: For employees who have equipment assigned to them in Vista PR Employees, the default SM equipment cost type configured in the portal is now pushed to Vista for labor charged to a service work order.
      • To configure a default SM equipment cost type in the portal, navigate to the SM Default Cost Types portal setting (Admin > Portal Settings > Field Service > Work Complete), and enter a valid equipment cost type code in the Equipment CT field.

      • Labor lines can be entered in Vista Field Service, Grid Timecards, or Standard Timecards.

      • In Vista PR Timecard Entry, separate lines will show for labor and equipment. The equipment line will include the default SM equipment cost type.

    • New portal setting: Notes to show in work order history: Use this setting to specify which notes to display in Work Order History by SMCo: Work Order Notes, Trip Notes, Scope Notes, and/or Work Completed Notes. You can select multiple note types. Trip Notes display by default.