Category: FM

This weekend we released version 2.1 of CxAlloy FM. This is a substantial update that introduces a totally new reports interface, significant improvements when using CxAlloy FM on a phone or tablet screen, and the addition of credit card billing.

A New Reports Interface

Probably the most important update for our users is the new Reports interface. We designed the new interface to make it more obvious what information you can expect to get from a report and to give you more flexibility in what the report includes and how it is grouped.

Instead of our previous fixed list of predetermined reports you can now “build your own” report. First you choose what you want to report on – work orders, labor hours, work requests, or equipment. You then can choose how to group and sort that information, what time period to report on, and any filters you want to apply.

As before, when you run the report it will be shown in the browser with the option to create a PDF. Charts will automatically be created based on the choices you made.

Small Screen Improvements

One of the reasons for the redesign of CxAlloy FM that we launched late last year was to allow the interface to work better on tablet and phone-sized screens. With version 2.1 we are making good on that plan and have updated many of the pages to adapt to small screens. For example, when viewing a list of work orders, work requests, equipment, etc. on a smaller screen the filters are called up by clicking a new “Filters” button rather than taking up limited screen space in the sidebar.

We’ve made many other changes throughout the software to better accommodate small screens. And the new reports interface is designed to work on small screens, too!

Credit Card Billing

Perhaps a less important feature for our users (but pretty important for us!) is that we have added credit card billing. This is an important milestone in our effort to grow the software and part of our larger plan to build a better CxAlloy FM.

Tweaked Access Levels

As we worked on credit card billing we saw some holes in our access levels and some potential confusion in how they are named. As a result we have renamed the “User” facility access level to “Technician”. We also added an additional access level in the account, the “Facility Manager”.

It’s been one week since we released CxAlloy FM 2.0! As exciting as it is to get this update out, I know that in the past week some of you discovered significant bugs or challenging lag with the update. We have been fixing these as quickly as we can, but I apologize for the rocky start. Although bugs are to be expected to some degree, there were more here than we anticipated. Thank you for your patience as we have worked to address them.

Here is a summary of the fixes we have made since the initial release:

• Work order and work request creation and editing now works consistently.
• For facilities that were loading slowly we have improved the performance significantly.
• Due dates on scheduled work orders are now set to the actual due date instead of the creation date.
• It is now much easier to see if a procedure line has been checked or not.
• Editing a work order will no longer remove the associated procedure.
• Filters in the sidebar will no longer overlap with each other.
• We have updated the scary “Unknown Error” message to something more descriptive and less scary.

In addition to these we are also working on implementing some other feedback we have received. These include:

• Additional performance improvements.
• Including location information for a given equipment on the list and PDF.
• Setting the initial value of labor hours to be blank instead of “1″.
• Maintaining your selected filters after editing an item.

Please continue to let us know about any issues you are encountering or improvements you would like to see.

With the launch of 2.0 we are starting work on new features built on top of this foundation. Our roadmap over the next year includes new reports, importing and exporting, photo attachments for work requests, improved document management, and more. I hope you’ll look forward to these improvements.

We will be writing about these features on this blog as we develop them, as well as posting notices directly on CxAlloy FM.

I’m happy to announce that next weekend, on September 1, we will be releasing version 2.0 of CxAlloy FM, our online facility maintenance software.

Since the initial release of CxAlloy FM in 2011 customers have come to appreciate the simplicity and ease of use of our facility maintenance solution, and version 2.0 is careful to not lose any of those key characteristics. In fact, several of the improvements double down on those aspects, working to make the software easier to understand.

The improvements in 2.0 can be grouped broadly into four major efforts:

• A visual refresh of every page
• Completely new scheduling that adds seasonality
• Improved filtering and navigation
• Upgraded file handling

Visual Refresh

Every page has been entirely rebuilt. We’ve added more color, made controls more consistent, and made many, many other small improvements throughout the application to make it nicer to look at and easier to use.

One other important aspect of this work isn’t actually visible – the interface is now built on a standard foundation that will make make it easier for us to make future additions and improvements to the interface.

New Schedules

Schedules are all new from top to bottom. New features, a new engine, and a dramatically improved interface.

Seasonality

In 2.0 we have added a long-requested feature: seasonality. You’ll now be able to make schedules that only create work orders during part of the year, or that run more frequently in one part of the year than the rest of the year.

Not only have we added seasonality, but we’ve created the best interface on the market to do so. Have a schedule that should only run in the summer? Simply drag the slider to limit it from June to August. Have a schedule that should run once a week the first half of the year and twice a week the second? Drag the slider to June, then click to add a second period for July to December with a different frequency.

Multiple work orders from a single schedule

The other significant feature we’ve added is the ability to create a single schedule that generates multiple work orders. For example, rather than create a separate schedule for each individual air handling unit, you will instead be able to create a single schedule for the “Air Handling Unit” equipment type. That one schedule will then create one work order per related air handling unit.

Easier to use

We’ve made a lot of changes intended to make it easier to understand, use, and manage schedules. That includes a new live preview of your schedule’s dates when creating or editing schedules, showing schedule assignments directly in the list, allowing batch reassignment of schedules, and more.

New Foundation

Again, part of the story here is new technology under the covers. Our new scheduler is built on an internet standard (RFC 5545) that’s been battle-tested on hundreds of different calendar programs. That means our schedule behavior is more consistent with what you’re used to from other calendar software such as Microsoft Outlook.

Improved Filtering and Navigation

We’ve made it easier to find and view the information you are looking for. Perhaps the most helpful feature is maintaining your filters. Now when you filter a list you can jump between the details and list without losing your filters. Even better, you are able to navigate to other items in your filtered list directly from the detail.

Filtering is better, too. We’ve added more filters and made longer filter lists searchable dropdowns.

We’ve also standardized every list to be a paged list with consistent controls, including “Select All” and “Deselect All” for fast batch editing, and we’ve added more batch functions.

Finally, a small but significant change is that you can now go to any page in a facility directly from the top menu. Go straight to Procedures without a layover at the Work Orders page!

Better File Handling

We’ve updated our document areas with a new easy-to-use uploader and image thumbnails.

A New Beginning

This update has been in the works for a long time. Along the way we’ve come to a new recognition of the amazing product CxAlloy FM is and the even more incredible product it can become.

We’re now moving forward with an expanded development team, a dramatically updated codebase, and at least a couple of thousand ideas for future improvements. 😃 We hope you’ll join us!