What's New in 2021 R6

What's New lists the enhancements and changes made in the 21.06 release. This release is available as of 6/16/2021. Android users can download the mobile app the same day as its release. For iOS users, apps take 24 to 48 hours following the release date to become available in the App Store.

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: Please be advised that test and live versions of portal websites must have an SSL certificate applied as of the 2021 R7 release. If you update to the R7 release without having an SSL certificate applied, you will not be able to access your portal. For help, see How to Apply an SSL Certificate to Your Portal.

General Highlights

  • Application Help now available on Viewpoint Help
    • To learn more about Viewpoint Help, including how to search, filter, and generate PDFs of Help articles, see About Viewpoint Help.

    Note: The legacy Help website is no longer being maintained and will be retired in December 2021.

  • Resource Center now available to all users
    • Select the blue question mark in the lower right corner of the web application to open the Resource Center, a single point of access to Help, Release Notes, and User Guides, with links to the Viewpoint Academy and other resources.
  • Redirect users to a specific website after they log off

    • To redirect users to a specific website after logging out of your portal, enter the URL for that website in the new advanced portal setting URL to redirect to when logging out of the portal. Setting location: Admin > Portal Settings > Show Advanced Settings > Security / Login > Advanced Configuration.

HR Management Highlights

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

  • Expenses
    • New portal setting added: Use Expense (S)ubmitted or (T)ransaction date when filtering expenses in the Posting Dashboard. This allows customers to choose which type of date they would like to use for the date range on the Expense Posting Dashboard. This setting defaults to the submitted date (S). Setting location: Admin > Portal Settings > Expense > General Configuration.

    • When entering expenses for other users, employee numbers now display after employee names and names are listed alphabetically in the Enter Expenses For dropdown.

    • A new button has been added to the Expense Approval page when viewing attachments to Approve & Go To Next Expense Item. When selected, the open attachment is approved and the next unapproved expense displays.

  • Timecards

    • The following error message now displays on the Standard Timecard when start/stop times are invalid: Your time entry overlaps with an existing entry or your time was invalid. Time worked not saved.

      Note: This only applies when StartTime and StopTime are hidden in Timecard Settings.
  • Training
    • Employees can now be added to training classes only if their HR company matches the HR company for the training class.

Field Management Highlights

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

  • Mobile Application
    • The Production Graph now scales based on units/hrs entries to ensure that these entries display properly.

    • Enhanced mobile data security is now available in Field Management mobile. A new Mobile Data Security section has been added to Field Management Mobile portal settings with the following options:

      • Jobs to Include in FM Mobile Data Security page (new): Use to limit the jobs that show on the Data Security page. You can show open jobs only; open and soft-closed jobs; or open, soft, and hard-closed jobs.

      • Mobile Data Security Mode (moved): This setting has been moved from the General Configuration section with the same options that were previously available.

  • Field Tickets

    • The JC Field Ticket field can now be added to standard or grid timecards. Time entries associated with a field ticket are shown on the Field Ticket PDF report. On grid timecards, add the Field Ticket field to the Row Group in Grid Timecard Layouts. For standard timecards, make the Field Ticket field visible in Timecard Settings.

      The Field Ticket field must be dependent on the Job field in Timecard Settings / Grid Timecard Settings. Select the Advanced button for the Job field, and add FieldTicket to the list of Dependent Fields (comma-separated).
  • Timecards

    • New portal setting: Allow Job Approvers to see the employees that have changed time to their jobs in Timecard Approval. If enabled, Job Time Approvers will see full timecard details for employees who have charged their time to a job. Setting location: Admin > Portal Settings > Timecard > Job Approval.

Vista Field Service Highlights

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

  • Offline App now available!

    • Upload Vista Field Service to an iOS or Android device to access the application in offline mode. Then use the Field Service icon that displays on your Home screen for quicker access to application tools. See Add the Field Service Offline App to a Device for details.



  • Clock In / Clock Out
    • The Clock In page now defaults to the work order or scope that the technician navigated to before clocking in.

  • Close a Trip
    • Users can now show photo attachments instead of just the file name when completing a trip by selecting the new Show Photo Attachments on Screen checkbox.

  • Work Order Dashboard / Work Orders
    • The Work Order History, Service Items, and Show All Contacts buttons now display only if there is detail for those sections.

    • Price methods now display on the Work Order Dashboard and on work orders. Depending on the price method, scopes show either a Fixed Price or Not to Exceed amount.

    • New portal setting Number of days to show completed trips on the dashboard allows users to enter work completed to a closed work order for the set number of days. If you enter a zero (0) or leave this setting blank, completed trips do not display on the dashboard. Setting location: Admin > Portal Settings > Field Service > General Configuration.