What's New in 2023 R2

What's New lists the enhancements and changes made in the 23.2 release of the web portal. This release is available as of 2/9/2023. The next release of Field Management Mobile is planned for March 2023.

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

Compatibility With Vista

The 23.2 version of the web portal is compatible with the following versions of Vista:
  • Vista 2022 R2
  • Vista 2022 R1
Important: Installation to be restricted to supported versions: Beginning with the 2023 R8 release in August, the installer for the web portal will run only if you are on a supported Vista version. Viewpoint standard support is available for the two most recent Vista versions and the two most recent versions of the web portal. It is important to keep your ERP and your web portal up to date to prevent compatibility issues. Information about compatible Vista versions is now provided on the What's New page for web portal releases.

Issues Fixed Now Tracked in a Single Location

Information about issues fixed is now delivered through a single resource, the Viewpoint Customer Portal. What's New information will continue to focus on the many enhancements and customer suggestions included in a release.

To see the issues fixed in this release, go to the Track Cases/Issues page on the Viewpoint Customer Portal (support.viewpoint.com). Apply filters to narrow your search, or enter a unique issue number.

Release Highlights

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

  • New! Manage recurring Scheduled Jobs directly from the Portal Settings page: Go to Admin > Portal Settings, and in the Administrative Actions section, select Scheduled Jobs. From this page, you can view the list of scheduled jobs (previously SQL jobs) and select Edit to update the schedule or enable / disable each job.

    Before updating to the 23.2 version, review your custom SQL jobs, as these will be deleted. If you modified any of the default SQL jobs, you will need to update the schedule for these customized jobs on the Scheduled Jobs page. You will not need to update portal settings associated with these jobs—they will carry over and remain in effect.

    For more information, see Manage Scheduled Jobs.

  • New! Embed fillable PDF forms in a document: Embed PDF attachments with fillable fields in a document for signature or acknowledgement. When users complete a fillable PDF form, the information they enter is saved directly to Vista. See the HR Management Highlights - Document Dashboard section for details.

  • New! Select a rejection reason for bills in Job Billing: When rejecting a bill from the Job Billing Dashboard, you can now select a reason for rejection from the options in the drop-down list. You can also enter notes with an unlimited character count to explain the rejection.

    System Admins can customize this list with the new portal setting Reason Codes to include in Job Billing Rejection (leave blank for all or comma separated). See the Financial Controls Highlights - Job Billing section for more details.

  • Voluntary Self-Identification form updates: New sections were added to the Voluntary Self-Identification form to comply with EEOC requirements for reporting gender and to include non-binary gender and veteran designations. Gender reporting, gender identity, and veteran designations flow to the corresponding fields in Vista. See the HR Management Highlights - Onboarding / Applicant Tracking section for details.

General Changes

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

  • New! Expanded Portal Setting Audit Log: In the 22.12 release, an Audit Log button was added to the Portal Settings page to allow you to review portal setting changes by employee. This feature has been expanded as follows:

    • The Audit Log button available from Admin > Portal Settings has been renamed Export Audit Log. Select this button to export a spreadsheet (.xlsx) that lists all portal setting changes made in version 22.12 and later. Changes include the setting name, the date of the change, the name of user who made the change, and the previous and new (current) value for a setting.

    • Each portal setting now shows its own audit history. When you select a setting, a Setting History displays at the bottom of the setting's pop-up window to show the history of changes made to the setting in version 22.12 and later.

  • General improvements were made to the installer. In addition, the following new message now displays for users if they attempt to access the web portal during an update: The Vista Web Portal is currently offline for maintenance. Please check back again soon!

  • The portal setting Vista Database name (default: Vista) has been renamed Vista Database name (default: Viewpoint).

  • Enhanced styling for Web: Styling updates to the Checklist Templates and Performance pages enhance the look and feel of the web portal.

HR Management Highlights

The following enhancements and customer suggestions were added in this release.

Note: In January, a red banner regarding a Syncfusion license may have displayed on the Onboarding Dashboard and Performance Review Dashboard for some customers. We have updated the Syncfusion license. No action is required on your part.

  • Document Dashboard

    • New! Embed fillable PDF forms in a document: Embed PDF attachments with fillable fields in a document. Users can complete fillable PDF forms by selecting them from their Library Docs. The information they enter is saved directly to Vista.

      Note: A user's progress is not saved on fillable PDF forms. Users must complete the form and submit it in a single session in order for their information to be saved.

      To embed a fillable PDF form, on the Edit Bulletin page for your document, select Embed Attachment In Page and then select the new Is Fillable PDF check box (displays only after you select Embed Attachment In Page). Note that if you select Is Fillable PDF, you cannot add any other attachments to the current document. See Create and Modify a Document for Signature or Acknowledgement for details.

      Note: Currently, the portal does not support signature fields on fillable PDF forms. To capture signatures, you can embed a fillable PDF in a document for signature (Mode: Document (Signature Required) on the Document Dashboard), which includes a built-in signature box.

  • Earnings

    • The W-2 Employee Instructions button now links to the instructions for 2022.

  • Expenses

    • For customers who process expenses through AP (Expense Posting Mode is set to A), the AP Reference number for an expense item now persists on the Expense Posting Dashboard after the AP batch is processed in Vista.

    • The portal setting Disable required fields for expense type coding fields has been moved from the General Configuration section to the Advanced Configuration section under Admin > Portal Settings > Expense.

  • Onboarding / Applicant Tracking

    • Voluntary Self-Identification form updates: New sections were added to the Voluntary Self-Identification form to comply with EEOC requirements for reporting gender and to include non-binary gender and veteran designations. Gender reporting, gender identity, and veteran designations flow to the corresponding fields in Vista.

      Gender reporting and gender identity information flows to the PR Employees > Info tab (shown in sample below) and the HR Resources form > Info tab in Vista.

      When you initialize the new hire to Vista in Onboarding, the Initialize to Vista window will reflect EEOC gender reporting.

      Veteran information flows to the HR Resources form > Other Info tab in Vista.

  • Timecards

    • New Timecard Safety Net data sort: Data in the Batch From drop-down field is now sorted by PR End Date, PR Group, then Batch ID number.

      For more information, see the Timecard Safety Net User Guide.

    • Access to Shared Templates: Shared grid templates are available to licensed Field Management users only. In order to access shared grid templates, users must be assigned the FM Grid Time permission on the User Access page (Module Bundle > Crew Timecard > FM Grid Time check box). See the Field Management Modules section of the About Module Bundles and Licensing Help page for details.

Field Management Highlights

The following enhancements and customer suggestions were added in this release.

  • Job Approval

    • Performance improvements increased the loading speed of the Job Time Approval page.

  • Timecards

    • New Timecard Safety Net data sort: Data in the Batch From drop-down field is now sorted by PR End Date, PR Group, then Batch ID number.

      For more information, see the Timecard Safety Net User Guide.

    • Access to Shared Templates: Shared grid templates are available to licensed Field Management users only. In order to access shared grid templates, users must be assigned the FM Grid Time permission on the User Access page (Module Bundle > Crew Timecard > FM Grid Time check box). See the Field Management Modules section of the About Module Bundles and Licensing Help page for details.

Financial Controls Highlights

The following enhancements and customer suggestions were added in this release.

  • Job Billing

    • New! Select a rejection reason for bills: When rejecting a bill from the Job Billing Dashboard, you can now select a reason for rejection from the options in the drop-down list. You can also enter notes with an unlimited character count to explain the rejection.

      System Admins can customize the list of rejection reasons using the new portal setting Reason Codes to include in Job Billing Rejection (leave blank for all or comma separated). Use this setting to limit the reason options in the list. Enter the specific HQ Reason Codes for reasons you want to include, separating entries by commas. To include all reasons, leave this setting blank. (This setting is blank by default.)

      HQ Reason Codes are configured in Vista Headquarters > Programs > HQ Reason Codes.

      For more information, see Enter Job Billing.

Vista Field Service Highlights

The following enhancements and customer suggestions were added in this release.

  • Work Order Dashboard

    • New! Show open trips on the Work Order Dashboard by company. The portal setting Include Open Trips in Work Order dashboard has been modified. Instead of a global setting, this setting now allows you to specify whether to show open trips for each of the SM companies that you have enabled in Field Service.

      Note: If you had enabled Include Open Trips in Work Order Dashboard in a previous portal version, the modified setting defaults to enabled for all SM companies currently available in Field Service.

    • Cell phone numbers now display for contacts associated with an SM site when a user selects to Show All Contacts in Work Order Details.

  • Usability Improvements

    • Users that are not set up as SM Technicians in Vista will now see the following error message after logging in to Field Service: The logged in user is not set up as a technician. Please set up the user as a technician in SM Technicians.

    • A spinner now displays when a user selects Home from the Field Service main menu , making it clearer that a menu item has been selected.

    • When users log in to the progressive web application on an iOS device, the Field Service logo now displays instead of a blank white page.