What's New in 2023 R4

What's New lists the enhancements and changes made in the 23.4 release. This release is available as of 4/5/2023. 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.

Compatibility with Vista

The 23.4 version of the web portal is compatible with the following versions of Vista:
  • Vista 2023 R1
  • 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.

Security Improvements and Impact on Portal Login

Users whose accounts are linked to Viewpoint ID (VPID) are no longer allowed to log in to the portal via their employee number. To unlink your portal login from your Viewpoint ID (which is your Trimble Construction One account), log in to the portal with your Viewpoint ID. Select your name in the upper right, and then select Unlink, which is near the top of the drop-down menu. See Configure Viewpoint ID Login for more information.

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! Separate layouts for Field Tickets and Field Management Mobile now supported. This release offers the ability to create separate layouts for the Payroll section of Field Tickets and Field Management Mobile timecards. Your existing layouts are still available, and if you want to continue to use those layouts, you do not need to make any changes. See the Field Management section below for details.

  • New! No Bill option for compiling attachments. In the Next Gen Billing Compiler, you can now select the No Bill option, which allows you to compile and download attachments based on date ranges and filters without having to specify a particular bill.

    For more information, see How to Use the Next Gen Billing Compiler.

  • New! Add fillable PDF forms to onboarding profiles and job categories. Embed fillable PDF forms in document templates. Then add the applicable template to a hiring profile or job category. New hires or job applicants complete fillable PDF forms as part of the onboarding or job application process. When a new hire's record is initialized to Vista, the completed forms are attached to the employee's HR Resource record. See the Onboarding / Applicant Tracking section below for details.

  • New! Subcontract review and approval in the portal. Reviewers can now approve or reject subcontracts by going to Approval > Pending PO / SL Review (formerly Purchase Order Review).

    See the Field Management - Purchase Orders section below for details.

    Note: The new subcontract review and approval process is only available in Vista version 2023 R1 and forward. For more information about reviewing subcontracts, see Pending PO / Subcontract Review.

  • Expanded functionality for managing Scheduled Jobs in the portal. In the 23.2 release, the Scheduled Jobs button was added to the Portal Settings page to allow you to view and edit the recurring jobs that the portal runs. (For an overview, see Scheduled Jobs.) This feature has been expanded in this release:

    • View more details about each Scheduled Job. Details include the job name, schedule in standard time, upcoming and past execution dates, state of the job after it was last run, if the job is user defined, and if the job is currently enabled.
    • Add new Scheduled Jobs. Add jobs directly from the Manage Scheduled Jobs page. For more information, see Create a New Scheduled Job.
    • Edit and run jobs, view job history, and delete user-defined jobs. You can now edit schedules and executables, enable / disable jobs, manually run jobs, check job statuses, view job history, and more from the Manage Scheduled Jobs page. For more information, see Manage Scheduled Jobs.
      Note: Scheduled Job history is logged from version 23.4 and forward. History prior to this version will not be included.

General Changes

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

  • Portal Setting Enhancements

    • New! Drop-down fields with user-friendly options. Drop-down lists are now available for many portal settings that offer a predefined list of choices. Instead of having to make a manual entry in these settings, you can select an option from a predefined list, streamlining your Vista Web portal setup. If you had configured any of these settings in a prior version, your previous entry has been updated to the corresponding drop-down list option.

      For a list of the settings that now include drop-down lists, see New Portal Setting Dropdown Fields in 2023 R4.

    • Other portal setting changes include a general cleanup of portal setting Helper text. In addition, the portal setting Vista Database Server Name has been deprecated.

  • Security Improvements

    • Users whose accounts are linked to Viewpoint ID (VPID) are no longer allowed to log in to the portal via their employee number. To unlink your portal login from your Viewpoint ID (which is your Trimble Construction One account), log in to the portal with your Viewpoint ID. Select your name in the upper right, and then select Unlink, which is near the top of the drop-down menu. See Configure Viewpoint ID Login for more information.

  • Improved performance and speed of Refresh Synonyms.

  • Enhanced styling for the Vista Web portal: Styling updates to the Billing Compiler - Next Gen, Career Path, Checklists, Emergency Contacts, Huddle Dashboard, Huddle Talking Points, Manage Performance Reviews, Manage Performance Review Templates, and various Onboarding pages enhance the look and feel of the web portal.

HR Management Highlights

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

  • General Enhancements

    • Improved handling when loading a large number of employee records on the following pages: Performance Reviews, Onboarding Dashboard, Benefits Dashboard, Expense Posting Dashboard, and Time Off Dashboard.

  • Onboarding / Applicant Tracking

    • New! Add fillable PDF forms to onboarding profiles and job categories. Embed fillable PDF forms in document templates. Then add the applicable template to a hiring profile or job category. New hires or job applicants complete fillable PDF forms as part of the onboarding or job application process.

      Completed forms are saved to your portal and may be downloaded from either the Onboarding Employee Details page or the Applicant Details page. When a new hire's record is initialized to Vista, the completed forms are attached to the employee's HR Resource record.

      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 Document Template page, select Embed Attachment In Page and then select the 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 Document Templates for details.

      Note: Currently, the portal does not support signature fields on fillable PDF forms. However, you can capture signatures using the built-in signature box on document templates by selecting Onboarding (Signature Required) as the Mode for your template. New hires and job applicants are then required to sign the document before submitting it.

    • New! Show pay ranges in job requisitions. A new Pay Range field is now available when creating or editing job requisitions. Pay ranges display on posted job requisitions, making them visible to job applicants. In addition, you can add Pay Range columns (Pay Range - Low and Pay Range - High) to the Job Requisitions grid, allowing you to sort and filter jobs by pay range.

    • In Onboarding, if a custom task includes multiple attachments, those attachments display in a drop-down list instead of as embedded links when viewing that specific task.

    • In the Initialize to Vista pop-up window in Onboarding, the ability to use type to search for drop-down fields has been restored. This change affects the following fields: PRCo, PR Group, Insurance Code, Craft, Class, PR Department, Default Earn Code, Code Series 1, Code Series 2, Employment Status, Local Code, and Overtime Schedule.

    • In Onboarding and Personal Info, the direct deposit setup page now restricts attachment uploads to the following supported file types: .pdf, .jpg, .gif, .tif, .tiff, .png, .bmp, .doc(x), .xls(x), .ppt(x), .pps(x), .sldx.

  • Benefits

    • During Benefit Requests Approval, if a benefit code has an eligibility period, and the employee's date of hire plus the eligibility period falls after the selected Effective Date, the effective date for that benefit code will be changed to the date that the employee becomes eligible.

  • Earnings

    • The Earnings module will now pull in multiple T4s for employees who have more than one T4 in a single reporting year. Previously, Earnings was limited to one T4 per employee per tax year.

  • Expenses

    • New! View assigned reviewers and approval workflow for submitted credit card expenses. On the Credit Card Import Dashboard, you can now select Actions > Reviewers to view the list of assigned reviewers and the approval workflow for credit card expenses that have been submitted for approval.

      If multiple expenses are linked to a single credit card item, those expenses will be broken out based on the expense type coding and amount.

    • New! Reimburse SM Work Order expenses via Payroll. You can now enable SM Work Order expense line types with Expense Posting Mode set to Payroll.

      • Configure SM Work Order line types in the portal setting Expense Line Types to enable.

      • Use the new portal setting SM Pay Type for SM Expenses Processed Through Payroll to specify the SM Pay Type that you would like to enable for each SM company.

      For details, see Configure Expenses.

    • Expense attachments are now deleted automatically when the expense is deleted.
    • Expanded the displayed width of the Phase field in the New / Edit Expense Item window to prevent job phase descriptions from being truncated.

  • Paystub Tools

    • New! Automatic paystub notifications are now sent to employees in two separate SMS messages instead of a single message. One SMS message notifies employees that a new pay stub is available for the pay period, and the other message includes the link to their pay stub in your portal. This change helps prevent issues with longer URL addresses being truncated in SMS messages.

  • Personal Information

    • In Personal Info and Onboarding, the direct deposit setup page now restricts attachment uploads to the following supported file types: .pdf, .jpg, .gif, .tif, .tiff, .png, .bmp, .doc(x), .xls(x), .ppt(x), .pps(x), .sldx.

    • The default value for the portal setting Employee Photo custom obtain consent, disclose purpose, and privacy policy text has been removed.

    • Corrected the tax percentages showing for Arizona state withholding.

  • Timecards

    • New! Additional filter options enable filtering for locked and unlocked timecards. In the Timecard Dashboard Quick Filter field, choose Unlocked Time Only to see all unlocked timecards or Locked Time Only to see all locked timecards.

      For more information, see the Quick Filter section of the Timecard Dashboard article.

    • Improved usability of Standard Timecards page on mobile devices. On the Standard Timecard page, padding added between the Add Timecard Line and Delete buttons makes them easier to select, especially when viewing on a mobile device.

  • Time Clock Dashboard

    • The new portal setting User groups to allow access to the Time Clock Dashboard enables non-Timecard Admin users to access the Time Clock Dashboard. Enter a PRCo and User Group (and optionally a PR Group) in this setting. Users added in this setting will gain access to the Time Clock Dashboard page for the PRCo and PR Groups specified.

      For more details, see Time Clock Dashboard.

Field Management Highlights

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

  • New! Separate layouts for Field Tickets and Field Management Mobile now supported! This release offers the ability to create separate layouts for the Payroll section of Field Tickets and Field Management Mobile timecards.

    Important: Your existing layouts are still available. If you want to continue to use those layouts, you do not need to make any changes.
    Following the update to the version 23.4, you can choose whether to create separate grid layouts and how to assign them as follows:

    • Use Grid Timecard Layouts to add new layouts. You can create different layouts for field tickets and mobile in the same PR company and PR group combination. Note that your existing layouts are available from the Layout Name drop-down field, and you can modify or delete layouts as needed. For details, see Grid Timecard Layouts.

    • On the Grid Timecard Templates page, you can customize templates per layout. For details, see Grid Timecard Templates.

    • In Grid Timecard Settings, assign layouts by PR company and PR group using the following new fields:

      • Web layout: Select the layout to assign to grid timecards in the web portal. For details, see Grid Timecard Settings.
      • Field Ticket Layout: Select the layout to assign to the Payroll section of field tickets. If you assign a Field Ticket Layout, also select a Field Ticket Template. For details, see Configure Field Tickets and Related Grid Timecard Settings.
      • In Grid Timecard Settings > FM Mobile Options, Field Management Mobile users can assign a mobile layout using the new Layout for Mobile Timecard Lines field. For details, see Configure Field Management Mobile in the portal.

  • Daily Huddles

    • New! Add entire crews to a huddle. When creating or editing huddle details from the Huddle Dashboard, users now have the option to add an entire crew of attendees at one time.

      In the Crew field, search for and select a crew, then choose Add Crew.
      Note: This is only an option if crews have already been created in Field Tools > Manage Crews.

      For more information, see Create and Run a Daily Huddle.

  • Field Management Mobile

    • New! Production notes added in the mobile application now flow to Production Approval in the web portal. Production notes saved in the mobile app are sent to the web portal after the associated time entries are submitted. To view notes in Production Approval, select the Notes icon for the applicable job, phase, and date.

      Note: To view the Notes column in Production Approval, you must add a user-defined notes field (udNotes) to the JC Progress Entry form in Vista. For help with user-defined fields, see About Creating Custom Fields in Vista Help.
    • Users no longer have the option to edit line details for submitted time entries. They can, however, view line details, notes, or clock entries for submitted time.

  • Field Tickets

    • New! Filter Field Tickets by Status. On the Field Ticket Dashboard, you can now filter field tickets by Status. Choose which field tickets you see in the grid by selecting a status of All Field Tickets, Approved, Unsubmitted & Unapproved, or Unapproved Only.

  • Progress Entry

    • Enable the Job Cost Companies that you want to make available for Progress Entry. In the portal setting JC Companies to include for Progress Entry, enter the Job Cost Companies you want to include in the Progress Entry Select a Job drop-down field. Multiple entries must be separated with commas.

  • Purchase Orders

    • New! Subcontract review and approval in the portal. Reviewers can now approve or reject subcontracts by going to Approval > Pending PO / SL Review (formerly Purchase Order Review).

      Subcontract review in the web portal requires configuration of the new Vista Workflow Process for subcontracts. After creating a subcontract in Vista and submitting it for approval, it will display on the Pending PO / SL Review page in the portal. This subcontract review and approval process is only available in Vista version 2023 R1 and forward.

      For more information about configuring Vista, see Review/Approval Process Workflow in the Vista Help.

      Note: The pending PO review process in the web portal is unchanged. The only difference between pending PO and subcontract review is that subcontracts cannot be edited in the web portal. Make all modifications to subcontracts in Vista.

      For more information about reviewing pending POs and subcontracts, see Pending PO / Subcontract Review.

    • PO Quick Create max dollar amounts are now based on PO Company. The portal setting Quick Create - Max dollar amount allowed when creating now requires entering a maximum dollar amount by PO Company.

      You can also now enter multiple rows in this setting to define a different amount per company. Each row requires a unique PO Co number and Max Dollar Amount.

      Note: The functionality of this setting is still the same—allowing users to create POs through Quick Create that are less than the max dollar amount defined in the setting. If you used this setting in previous versions, when you update to 23.4, the setting will pull in your currently enabled PO Companies.

    • To improve the readability of notes entered when creating or editing a Purchase Order, the Notes field has been expanded and moved to its own line in the header.

  • Timecards

    • New! Additional filter options enable filtering for locked and unlocked timecards. In the Timecard Dashboard Quick Filter field, choose Unlocked Time Only to see all unlocked timecards or Locked Time Only to see all locked timecards.

      For more information, see the Quick Filter section of the Timecard Dashboard article.

  • Time Clock Dashboard

    • The new portal setting User groups to allow access to the Time Clock Dashboard enables non-Timecard Admin users to access the Time Clock Dashboard. Enter a PRCo and User Group (and optionally a PR Group) in this setting. Users added in this setting will gain access to the Time Clock Dashboard page for the PRCo and PR Groups specified.

      For more details, see Time Clock Dashboard.

Financial Controls Highlights

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

  • AP Invoice Review

    • Retainage code removed from AP Invoice header Hold Codes field. For reviewers editing an invoice header, the retainage hold code is no longer an option in the drop-down.

      Previously, with the portal setting Enable Hold Code to be edited in AP Invoice Header turned on, reviewers could select a retainage code (that was set up in Vista) when editing hold codes in an invoice header.

  • Billing Compiler - Next Gen

    • New! No Bill option for compiling attachments. In the Next Gen Billing Compiler, you can now select the No Bill option, which allows you to compile and download attachments based on date ranges and filters without having to specify a particular bill.

      For more information, see How to Use the Next Gen Billing Compiler.

    • Improved performance of the Billing Compiler - Next Gen. When selecting options for your project's billings, choose a Company, then Contract, then (optionally) Bill. Each field populates based on the selection made in the previous field.
    Purchase Orders

    • New! Subcontract review and approval in the portal. Reviewers can now approve or reject subcontracts by going to Approval > Pending PO / SL Review (formerly Purchase Order Review).

      Subcontract review in the web portal requires configuration of the new Vista Workflow Process for subcontracts. After creating a subcontract in Vista and submitting it for approval, it will display in the Pending PO / SL Review page in the portal. This subcontract review and approval process is only available in Vista version 2023 R1 and forward.

      For more information about configuring Vista, see Review/Approval Process Workflow in the Vista Help.

      Note: The pending PO review process in the web portal is unchanged. The only difference between pending PO and subcontract review is that subcontracts cannot be edited in the web portal. Make all modifications to subcontracts in Vista.

      For more information about reviewing pending POs and subcontracts, see Pending PO / Subcontract Review.

    • PO Quick Create max dollar amounts are now based on PO Company. The portal setting Quick Create - Max dollar amount allowed when creating now requires entering a maximum dollar amount by PO Company.

      You can also now enter multiple rows in this setting to define a different amount per company. Each row requires a unique PO Co number and Max Dollar Amount.

      Note: The functionality of this setting is still the same—allowing users to create POs through Quick Create that are less than the max dollar amount defined in the setting. If you used this setting in previous versions, when you update to 23.4, the setting will pull in your currently enabled PO Companies.

    • To improve the readability of notes entered when creating or editing a Purchase Order, the Notes field has been expanded and moved to its own line in the header.

Vista Field Service Highlights

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

  • Work Order Dashboard / Work Orders

    • New! Link service items to QR codes. For customers who create QR codes for service items, you can use the new QR Code ID field in Service Item Details to link a QR code URL to a service item in the system. Scanning a QR code on a service item opens the service item page on the work order, allowing technicians to quickly identify or add items to a work order and view equipment maintenance history.

    • New! File types .doc and .docx are converted into PDF attachment upon trip completion. When closing out a trip for a work order, .doc and .docx files uploaded as attachments are now automatically converted into PDFs and compiled in the email attachment.

    • New! Enter Service Sites faster with improved search functionality. When creating a new Work Order, technicians can now type any part of a site name in any order to generate relevant search results in the Service Site drop-down field.

    • Users excluded from the portal setting User Group to allow adding and editing of service items on a service site can no longer add service items to a site or add attachments to service items.

  • Service Manager Dashboard

    • New! Filter by Service Sites without first selecting a customer. Users can now filter work orders by Service Site without having to first select a customer. When the user selects a Service Site, the associated customer is added as a dashboard filter automatically.