For the 2020 Release Notes, please click here.

Release Date 11/12/2019

Get Christmas ready!

The festive period is now fast approaching, and it's important you put your feet up over this time! To make your lives easier, we've written a handy guide with our top tips on how you can manage your repairs over this period, and also set your tenants' expectations. Please click here to view this article.

Contractors can now mark jobs as complete once they have proposed a time and date to the occupier

We have now made things easier for contractors when they are trying to arrange a time and date with occupiers who have stated they would like to be present when the works are carried out. Beforehand, they had to wait for the occupier to log onto Fixflo to accept the time and date before they could mark the job as complete. Sometimes occupiers forgot to do this, and the job would remain in the status 'Job awarded, awaiting appointment date acceptance'.

Now contractors have the ability to progress the issue by marketing the job as complete at this stage:

Selecting a contractor to quote or instructing works

We have now made the system more user friendly when you are either instructing the works or requesting quotes from a contractor. You can now click anywhere on the contractor line item when progressing the job to them, rather than just ticking the selection box:

Build-to-Rent new feature:

Requesting landlord advice - Build to Rent

You now have the option to request landlord advice on all issues before you instruct the job or request quotes:

Release Date 27/11/2019

New comments view

Change is good, and it's important that we adapt to the moving environment around us! With that in mind, the team have built a new comments view on all systems.

It works the same but has been better designed to make communicating via Fixflo easier. You can scroll through comments (like Whatsapp or Messenger) instead of having to click through pages, and you can easily see comments sent to or from yourself:

We hope you love it!

Just to let you know, we will completely remove the old comment view by the end of January.

Additional access questions for the occupier

When an occupier is raising their maintenance issue, they are asked questions including parking, pet and alarm information. Agencies previously couldn't remove these - we've amended this so you can now withdraw these questions from the occupier side of the system.

This can be done via Setup > Settings > Issue settings > General.

Report 'Issues - raised by agent vs other'

We've tidied up this report so that you can easily view the breakdown of the user types who are raising issues on your system: 

Contractor daily summary email improvement

We've improved the contractor daily summary email to also include jobs 'Awaiting contractor information', so that contractors don't forget to upload their invoices!

Block feature:

Additional block search option

It is useful to be able to search by both property manager and issue assignment, so you know exactly what is going on in your system. This also allows you to quickly and efficiently reassign issues if required:

Release Date 14/11/2019

Branded user tenant guide

We have now created a 1 page branded guide to help you promote the system to your occupiers! This is extra material for you which can be found in the ‘Promote’ section under option 4 ‘Include a flyer for your occupiers’. Simply click on ‘Occupiers user guide’ :

Fixflo link to occupiers without losing where you are on Fixflo

Whatever page you’re on, if an occupier calls to report a maintenance issue you can simply click on the little paper airplane on the top left hand corner of the screen:

Enter their email address, send them the link and get them to report the issue online so you can carry on where you left off! This will help you to reduce inbound calls about maintenance requests!

Multiple appointments on one issue

Contractors can now book multiple appointments on an issue to help in situations where return visits are needed. On the contractor’s side, once the first appointment time and date has been set there will be a button on the ‘Next steps’ tab called ‘Manage appointment’. Please note that this has now replaced ‘Cancel appointment’ and ‘Reschedule appointment’ buttons:

Once they click on this they will be taken to an ‘Appointments’ tab, where they can cancel and add new appointments. Please note that this will not yet allow them to create an appointment to quote for a job, but please watch this space- we are working on this!

View your blocks, even if you are not assigned the issue

If you have property managers who take care of buildings but don't necessarily deal with repairs and maintenance, you can now allow them to oversee any issues at their buildings even though they are not assigned to them. Within a block you can allocate a property manager:

This will then allow them to track the issues on their buildings by filtering out the dashboard panels by selecting 'My blocks'

New dashboard filters

When you look at your dashboard you can now filter out your dashboard panels further by not only viewing either teams, ‘My (including unassigned)’ and ‘All’ but now you can also view ‘My (only)’. This does not include unassigned issues:

We have also removed unassigned issues from any team views.

Release Date 30/10/2019

Re-inviting contractors to quote when the quote period ends

Sometimes quotes aren't provided in the time-frame you have provided, so you want to extend the quotation period. Previously, this involved a few too many clicks, so we've streamlined this process for you once you click 'Extend quotation period' (click for video):

'Send issue creation link'

We know that sometimes occupiers call up to try and report issues, so we built an issue creation link you can easily send to them while you're on the phone, so they can report their problem via Fixflo. Previously, this was stored under 'Create on behalf of', but we've moved this into its own header under 'Create issue':

Block new features:

New user permission 'Can manage Leaseholder'

We've added a new user role permission which can enable or disable the ability to add and edit leaseholder profiles. This can be found via People > User roles.

Ability to search by Leaseholders

Previously, if you searched for a leaseholder profile, the system would not show the address(es) they're related to. Now, you can raise an issue on behalf of a leaseholder and specify which unit the issue is at (click for video):

Leaseholders email confirmation

If a leaseholder raises an issue then they will receive an issue confirmation email. Similarly, if an agent raises an issue on behalf of a leaseholder, then you are given the option of whether or not to send an email to the leaseholder:

Issue creation from a Leaseholder profile

If a leaseholder who has multiple units is logged into their profile, they now have the ability to select which unit they'd like to raise an issue at, preventing them from having to add the details each time:

Release Date 18/10/2019

Archiving service events

There are times when a service event series may have been created in error, and you'd like to quickly archive the series in your system. From within the works planner of the property, you can now click into the event series and use the 'Archive' button, and decide what you'd also like to do with any open issues (click for video).

Ability to send welcome emails to groups of users

Re-sending welcome emails is a great way of promoting Fixflo to your occupiers - however, you may not want to send these to every single occupier profile. Using the search parameters available (or a custom search), you can now select a group you'd like to re-send the welcome email to, and fire away using the 'Actions' button:

The same can be done for Contractors, Landlords and Agents.

Including a document on each instructed job

Some agencies want to be able to auto-attach T&Cs to all jobs they instruct through Fixflo. If you upload a document via Setup > Documents library, this is now straightforward to do once the correct setting is switched on! Click below for a short video explanation:

The contractor will then receive a link to this document within their system:

Comments view

We've removed the email address itself from the profile name within the 'Comments' tab - it now shows the profile type (e.g. Occupier) and their name:

This makes the page easier to navigate!

New report - 'Issues - by status, per contractor'

This new report provides you with a clear and concise breakdown of the volume and status of jobs each contractor profile has. 

Block and Build-to-Rent new features:

Adding a Section 20 limit per building

Block managers must consult leaseholders if works will cost over £250 per leaseholder at the building. To aid in understanding when this needs to happen, we have built the functionality to add a Section 20 limit per building profile, which can be placed on the 'Detail' tab of a building:

When instructing works at that building, the Section 20 limit will display, and will turn red if exceeded; acting as a soft warning to you! Please note, a member of the Fixflo team must turn this setting on for you - please get in touch if interested.

Create on behalf of leaseholders

When using 'Create on behalf of' for a leaseholder profile, the system will now pre-identify whether they occupy the unit or not, depending on what is on their profile. This will prevent agents from accidentally amending this data when raising an issue.

New report - 'Updated leaseholders'

A new report has been built which tracks changes to leaseholder details within your Fixflo system. If you integrate with another tool, this information will not automatically push through, so the report is useful to keep on top of up-to-date leaseholder details.

Release Date 04/10/2019

We've been busy working on improving the usability of the system behind the scenes, and developing bigger projects which will be implemented in the future. In addition, we've built the following:

Contractors who invoice outside of the system

One of the standard invoice methods within Fixflo is 'Invoice sent outside of the system'. Agencies now have the ability to suggest an email address that contractors should be sending these to; this can be found within 'Setup':

Once the contractor marks a job as complete, they are provided this email address to send the invoice to:

Ability to sort issues on the property profile

We've build a new sort tool on property profiles which allows you to sort issues by (among other things) raised date and priority:

Release Date 19/09/2019

Email notification with issue assignment

We received feedback that it would be useful if an email notification was sent when a colleague manually assigns an issue to you, so we've built this in:

You can see that this email has been sent via the audit trail, and if you don't want this setting, you can amend it for the agency as a whole or for each specific agent via their profile.

Better visibility of future service events

If using planned maintenance, some events will be due in more than 5 years' time (e.g. EPCs). Within a works planner, it was previously difficult to see these event series if they weren't due within 5 years, as you had to click on the button shown below. Now, the line item will always remain present, providing a better user experience for you:

Ability to type to find assigned agent

For larger agencies, it's long-winded to scroll through the list of agents to assign an issue - so you can now type a colleague's name instead!

Hidden fault tree icons made clearer

Agencies are able to hide fault tree icons as desired, which can be done via Setup > Fault tree edit. We've now made it clearer which icons are hidden, and which are visible for occupiers to report against:

Block and Build-to-Rent new features:

Cost codes from the pre-created menu

If you have the agency setting 'Require cost code' set to 'Yes', we previously allowed agents to enter a cost code in with free text, which was leading to errors. We've taken on board your feedback and have locked this down to only allow pre-created codes (done via Setup > Agency cost codes) to be entered, with an error message coming up if an incorrect code is used:

Building profile - assigned property manager

Some agencies decide to allocate certain buildings to specific Property Managers, and need to be able to reference this somewhere but not necessarily allocate each and every issue to that person. From within a building profile, you can now do this for your reference only:

Release Date 04/09/2019

We've been working a lot behind-the-scenes, improving the usability of Fixflo on a day-to-day basis. However, we've also released a few new features for you, namely the following:

Default invoice method: No invoice required

If you are a large agency, your contractors may be on your payroll, so invoices are not required per job. You now have the ability to amend the contractor invoice option to 'No invoice', so that they don't need to indicate this on each job!

Re-name issue priorities

We are aware that agencies have their own service levels that they aim to meet with regards to closing issues as complete. As such, we have built the ability to amend the titles of the 6 issue priorities within Fixflo to help agents work towards their goals. This must be done by a member of the Fixflo team - if you are interested, please contact [email protected].

Block and Build-to-Rent new features:

External building reference

Many agencies apply external references to their buildings, which were previously only visible via the building profile itself. However, if you hover over the icon below, the external reference will now also be visible from an issue itself:

Release Date 07/08/2019

Backdating service events as compliant

We've had feedback that agents want to be able to mark a service event as compliant when creating a new series - so we've listened! You can now add a 'last completed date', which will then show the series as currently compliant and in the green!

Contractor 'reschedule' or 'cancel' appointment

As a contractor, it is important to be able to reschedule OR cancel an appointment - previously this was all held in one button. We've now tweaked this, enabling your contractors to specifically reschedule with the occupier, or cancel as a new date isn't available yet (this will take the job to the status 'Awaiting appointment time and date'):

Contractor App improvements:

We have been working hard on our Contractor App to enhance the usability for your contractors. The following improvements have been made, and the new app release is available to download now on iOS and Android devices!

Improved push notifications

You should now be receiving improved push notifications on your mobile/tablet device, as long as you have set these in your notification permissions. 

Uploading documents - not just images or videos

On the 'Media' tab of an issue in the app, we've now added a third button called 'Attach document', which can be used to upload PDFs, Word documents etc straight to the issue.

Assigned agents shown on contractor app

When contractors are commenting on an issue to the agency, they now have the visibility of who the 'assigned agent' is, allowing them to direct the comment to the agent in question. Previously, this was only displayed as 'agent'.

Block and Build-to-Rent new features:

Editing the cost code assigned to an issue

Last month we created the ability to leave cost codes on works, which could be added when instructing a job. However, the ability to edit and amend these wasn't in place; considering we are human and all make mistakes, we have now added this ability! Happy editing!

Release Date 24/07/2019

Extending quotation periods

There are times when you may wish to extend a quotation period to either invite more contractors, or give more time to those already invited. When taking this option, you now no longer need to re-invite any contractors who have already provided a quote - this will mean a smoother process for all involved. The three options that are available are 'uninviting', 'extending' and 'leaving the original quote':

Uploading multiple media files

All user types now have the ability to upload multiple media files at the same time, speeding up the process of providing visual information. Simply hold down the 'Ctrl' button on your keyboard to select multiple files. This feature is available at all upload points in the system.

You are also able to 'drag and drop' files onto the 'click to upload' button!

Bulk reassigning property profiles

If an agent leaves the business or moves to a different department, it is now quick and easy to reassign their property profiles to another user. Simply filter via Properties and assigned agent, and use the Options button to 'Bulk reassign'.

New 'Promote' option - email footer buttons

Promoting your unique Fixflo URL is an ongoing process, and is vital in order to get the best usage out of your occupiers. A quick win is to put a button (hyperlink) in your email signature, allowing anyone to click through to your reporting page. We've got new buttons available to you via 'Promote' and 'Email footer Fixflo buttons':

These are already customised with your colour scheme! Simply save your preferred button, add it on your email signature and hyperlink it to your unique Fixflo URL! For our full guide on promotion, please click here.

Contractors to comment on planned maintenance jobs

If you have the agency setting that provides the contractor the occupier details to arrange access on planned maintenance events, then the contractor can now send comments via the system to any of the available occupiers. Click here for a video demonstration.

'Vacate occupiers' option

If you have a whole group of occupiers leaving a property at the same time (for example a student let), then we've fast-tracked the best way to archive the occupier profiles. Simply click into the Property profile and the Actions bar, and use the 'Vacate occupiers' button (click for video):

Service event series landing page

Previously, if you clicked in to a service event series, it would show you a list of completed and pending events; we feel this wasn't the desired expectation. As such, we've made a landing page (shown below), which gives an overview of the series, with the related events on the next tab:

Amending certificate templates

You can now amend both standard and custom-made contractor certification templates as desired. Simply go via People > Contractor certification and the 'Manage certifications' tab - click into the line you would like to edit, and do so as desired.

Block and Build-to-Rent new features: 

Building and Estate tags

Agents with permissions can leave 'tags' against Buildings and Estates. This is useful if you want to be able to filter by certain groups such as RMCs, buildings with concierges etc. Click below to see where to add tags:

Tags cannot include punctuation and spaces, and can be manged via 'Setup' and 'Tags'. Additionally, tags can be really useful on Co-pilot, as they will allow you to be more granular when adding filters to rules. For more information on Co-pilot, please check out our videos here.

Visual cue of contractors assigned to a building

Under each 'Building' profile, you now have a 'Contractors' tab where you can assign contractor profiles; these profiles will then appear at the top of the list of contractors when instructing works, with the below icon above their internal rating:

Other issues at this unit

On the 'Related' tab of an issue, you now have a high level overview of other issues at this property:

Reports have been amended

Previously, we have not included 'Building name' and 'External reference' (if applicable) on reports in the 'Reports' tab. We've now amended most of these to allow you to report on different items for each building.

Release Date 11/07/2019

Co-pilot new action - notify by user type

We've added a new Co-pilot action allowing an automated notification to a user type linked to the issue. For example, if one of your landlords always requests they be kept in the loop regarding any issues raised at their properties, you could set a notification Co-pilot rule to automate this process! Click below for a video:

You can then see on the Audit trail of the issue that an automation has taken place due to a Co-pilot rule; the user role will also receive this email (edited via the rule as required):

Custom notifications per user

As an agent user on the system, you can now specify which emails you do and don't want to receive from Fixflo. Simply click into your profile and the 'Notification Settings' tab and amend as desired (click below for video):

Administrator users can also amend notifications for all other agent users on the system. 

Re-titled 'Create issue' and 'Issues' tabs

Previously, the below options were titled 'Report issues' and 'Reported issues'. We understand that these weren't that easily distinguishable, so we have amended their titles for you so they are super clear!

Co-pilot rules made clearer

The user interface for Co-pilot rules was previously a little confusing and full of too much information! We've spent some time tidying this up so it is now as clear as possible - do let us know any feedback!

Filtering by compliance status

We recently built a tab giving you better visibility of contractor certifications per certificate type. We have further improved this page, allowing you now to filter these certificates per status - this makes your life easier when searching for expired documents!

This page can be found via People > Contractor certification.

Block and Build-to-Rent new features: 

'Jobs awarded - Cost Control' new report

There is a new report available for you to use which can be automated to send to your accounts payable team to warn them about upcoming potential costs. This will provide - amongst other things - details of the issue, contractor and works authorisation limit.

Release Date 26/06/2019

New search tool for Comments

It can sometimes be difficult to find a particular comment if you can't recall the issue number or property it was raised against. Under Reported issues and Comments, we now have a shiny new flexible search tool. Click the image below for a video example of how to use this feature!

You also have the ability to filter these results by various factors using the drop-down arrow on the right-hand side.

Agent recommendation to landlord

When requesting landlord advice on an issue, you have the ability to give a recommendation/piece of advice. We've now made this recommendation - as well as the landlord's response - as clear as possible throughout the further progression of the issue.
This information is also available via the Actions bar and the issue PDF.

New search filter of issue priority

Some issues are more pressing than others; emergency issues are raised with the highest issue priority (0). Simply use the drop-down search tool and amend the filter by priority type to find the issues in need of the most urgent attention!

New report - 'Issues - first time to action'

You now have a new report you can pull on the system! This will tell you the time to first action on your issues. A 'first action' is considered as either a status change on the issue, or a comment being sent from an agent. This is a great way of tracking internal service level agreements.

Block and Build-to-Rent new features: 

Contractors per building

Previously, you could only save favourite overall contractors and landlord favourite contractors. Under each 'Building' profile, you now have a 'Contractors' tab where you can assign contractor profiles; these profiles will then appear at the top of the list of contractors when instructing works.

Release Date 11/06/2019

Editing an issue

You are able to edit issues by using the 'Actions' bar, or by clicking the edit icon next to the issue title. This edit screen is now split over two tabs, allowing you to edit either the issue itself, or the occupier attached to it:

Just make sure you hit 'Save' after making any changes!

Uploading multiple images on the contractor app

We have received feedback that contractors need to be able to upload multiple images at the same time on the app; so we've allowed them to do just that!

We will soon be rolling this feature out on all file upload options - watch this space!

Simplified contractor view

We have re-worked the information provided to contractors to make it clearer and easier to digest.
Within the 'Detail' tab of an issue, we've filtered all the information to break it down in a more logical way. Click below for a video demonstration:

Bulk import property tags

In our release on 3rd June, we highlighted that you can now add tags to property profiles. If you need to 'tag' multiple properties (with multiple tags if you wish), you can now do this with the aid of a data import. 

We will be writing a guide on how to do this in the following days, which will be hosted on help.fixflo.com. Should you need further help with this in the meantime, please don't hesitate to contact us.

Release Date 03/06/2019

Email link for reporting occupier

We understand that - at times - occupiers may call up to try to report a maintenance issue. We've now made it even easier for you to quickly and efficiently send the occupier an email with the correct issue reporting link.

Simply click on 'Reported issues' and 'Create on behalf of', and search for the occupier (or property) in the system (click for video):

This will send your occupier an email with a link to your Fixflo reporting page so they can report their issue via your Fixflo site; when reporting, their personal and address details will pull through automatically. If the occupier doesn't yet exist on the system, simply enter their email, hit 'Email report link' and enter set default values if required.

Property Tags

Agents with permissions (see below) can now leave 'tags' against properties. This is useful if you want to be able to filter by certain property groups such as those covered by British Gas HomeCare for example. Please click the image below for a short video showing how to leave a tag:

Tags can also be managed via 'Setup' and 'Tags'.

Tag permissions

Automatically, 'Administrator' and 'Manager' profiles will have the ability to add property tags. If you also want other user profiles to be able to have this permission, you can enable this via 'People' and 'User roles'.

Contractors certification page

You can now quickly and easily click into a specific certificate from the 'Contractor certification' page, allowing you to manage these more efficiently (click for video):

'Care of agency' button  

When instructing works to a contractor, we've made it easier to address invoices to different parties (e.g. landlord or occupier) at the care of the agency:

This will then automatically pull through to the invoice if created within the system, or will be available to the contractor if they are creating the invoice elsewhere.

Release Date 16/05/2019

Contractors with expired certification

Just to make it extra clear to agencies, we've added a new pop-up message that will appear if you try to instruct works to a contractor who holds an expired compliance certificate (click for video):

This is a useful reminder to ensure your contractors are up to date documentations required of them. 

Contractor dashboard panel

If the reporting occupier states they want to be present when works are carried out, they must accept the appointment suggested by your contractor. We have improved the means by which contractors can track these jobs with a new dashboard panel on their system:

  Block and Build-to-Rent new features: 

Cost codes on building profiles

Agencies have requested it - we have listened! You now have the ability to use cost codes to establish a link between maintenance works for a building and its maintenance budget. Simply achieve this by adding a cost code to the building profile itself using the 'Cost codes' tab:

Add the code when instructing works to a contractor:

Once they go through and mark the job as complete, the cost code will clearly be displayed on the invoice document if they create it within the system:

Release Date 01/05/2019

Leaving private notes

We are well aware how easy it was to write a private note and accidentally send it to someone (believe us, we've done it too!). As such, we've moved 'Private note' to a separate sliding bar so that this error won't ever happen again! Click below for a video:

'New issue reported' email improvement

When an issue is reported on Fixflo, agencies receive an email to let them know this has happened. We've made it clearer to you that you can click straight through from this email and view the issue straight away if need be - this is in the shape of a 'View issue' button:

Character input within issue submission

For those agencies who are using the issue submission feature 'Uploaded properties only', we have added the ability to request a certain amount of characters before the property address will populate. This setting can be found in 'Setup' and 'Settings':

This is useful if you have multiple properties beginning with '10 Down....' for example, but do not want them all to show up until more of the address is typed in.

Contractor certification template

When creating new contractor profiles, some agencies like to set in place a mutual agreement/contract beforehand. We have taken this feedback on board, and have created the ability to upload a template certification. This can then be requested from the contractor, who will have the ability to download, sign and re-upload the certification as required. 

To do this, you will first need to upload the document template via 'Setup' and 'Document library'.

Once this is done, you can create the certification type via 'People' and 'Contractor certification' (click below for video):

Finally, you can apply the certification to a specific service type or individual contractor (click for video):

  Block and Build-to-Rent new features: 

Service events against units

Planned Maintenance is a key feature of Fixflo Plus, allowing agencies to stay on top of proactive works. On Build to Rent systems, you now have the ability to create service events against individual units as well as communal building areas.

Owner/occupier feature

We have completed some work around who the primary contact associated with an issue should be; the reporting occupier, the leaseholder or the leaseholder occupier. 

Upon reporting, the following question is asked:

This information will determine the privileges that the profile has within the system (leaseholder vs reporting occupier). It is highlighted to agents within the system, who can then indicate with a simple checkbox whether the leaseholder profile is indeed an occupying or non-resident leaseholder:

We will be adding an article - including video snippets - onto help.fixflo.comto further explain this next week. Keep an eye out!

Release Date 16/04/2019

Deleting service events

As an agent using the planned maintenance section of the system, there may be times where service events have been entered incorrectly and require deleting. The 'Delete' button within events is now always present - please be careful when using this as you may be deleting a whole series of events!

(Please click to enlarge)

Release Date 02/04/2019

New questions on issue submission

If the reporting occupier states that they're happy for the property to be accessed without them being present, we've added in a few more optional fields of information to input. This includes pet, alarm and parking information. If the occupier states they want to be present, these fields disappear.

Agent text showing on email to landlord

When requesting advice from a landlord, you have the option to add a recommendation. Previously, this was only shown to the landlord once they clicked onto the system; now this information is shown on the email to the landlord.

'Linked' issues showing on the contractor view of issue

Agents have a clear view of linked issues on the 'Next steps' tab. We've now also made visible to contractors, so they are aware of other 'linked' issues at the property that they may also be completing works on. 

We've edited the overall view of an issue! All of the key information has now been condensed, allowing you to instantly look at the status, address and assigned agent/team. You now also have the ability to scroll through issues - less clicks and a smoother process! 

Contractor calendar

It can be useful to have visibility of a contractor's calendar and how many jobs they currently have - we've made this dream a reality in Fixflo! If you click onto the contractors profile, we've now added a 'Calendar' tab giving you this information at a glance. This is especially useful if you have an internal maintenance team that you schedule jobs for!

Bulk re-assign service events

Unfortunately, sometimes agents leave. But fear not, we've now made it simple to re-assign service events from one agent to another! The same can be said for assigning a reviewing agent.

Dashboard panels made clearer

You no longer have to hover over your dashboard panels to know exactly what you're looking at! You can now see - at a glance - if the panels are showing your issues, planned or reactive, team issues etc.

Agent calendar improvements

We've tidied up the calendar so that it now provides you with a snapshot of the issue without having to click off the calendar view.

Ability to uninvite contractors to quote

As an agent, you may change your mind and wish to uninvite a contractor to quote for a job - we've now made this even easier! You can simply uninvite a calendar from quoting on a job via the 'Review quotes' button.

Planned maintenance - email to contractor

Planned maintenance jobs automatically have no associated occupier. If your agency has turned on the setting that contractors are provided with occupier details to arrange access, this has been made clearer in the 'new job awarded' email to the contractor.

AXA direct debit email to agents

We have added an extra email to go out to agents when a direct debit is being taken for a job completed by AXA. This email is super clear, and breaks down exactly what is being debited and for which job.

Filtering jobs awarded to AXA or other contractor networks

Via 'Reported issues' and 'Issue search', you now have the ability to specifically search for the issues awarded to AXA Emergency Home Services, or other contractor networks (in the pipeline!). 

Contractor bank account and sort code

Contractors can now provide their bank details (account number and sort code) to the 'Invoicing' tab on their profile. These details will then pull through on to the invoice if created within the system.

Contractors are now unable to edit 'Summary' field of a certificate

When a contractor is going to upload a certificate that has been requested from them, they previously had the ability to edit the 'Summary' field - this is now read-only.

  Block and Build-to-Rent new features: 

Raise issue against a building

On the Block and Build-to-Rent systems, issues can now be raised against buildings. This is useful for communal issues that aren't related to specific units.

More visibility on Leaseholder and Director profiles

On Block and Build-to-Rent systems, Leaseholders now have clearer visibility of their building(s). Agents can also allow Directors to view the compliance matrix for planned maintenance events. If you wish to switch this setting on, you can do so via 'Setup' and 'Settings'.

To help you become automation gurus, we have created some best practice templates in Co-Pilot! You can choose from some basic templates that allow you to set up rules to help save time by streamlining frequent repair processes.

Contractor jobs - clearer visibility of how much work they have on

When instructing works to a contractor, you now have a quick view of how many assigned jobs they have.

This will give you an indication of how quickly the new works may be completed and assist with scheduling jobs, to help prevent contractors having a high build-up of work.

Contractor certification - email to inform the agent that a document has been uploaded

When a contractor uploads a compliance certification you have requested, agents with the correct authority setting will receive an email to inform you that the document has been uploaded, and requires validation. 

When instructing works to a contractor, an hourglass icon will show if the contractor has a certification that needs validating.

Contractors - visibility of 'Key reference'

Contractors will now have the ability to see the ‘Key Reference’ field on their job issue PDF, and when logged into their Fixflo account. This is useful for them if they require a quick reference to pick up keys from the agency. Key references can be added against each property record in your Fixflo system.

Linking building to an estate

We’ve made it easier and quicker for you to link buildings to your estates on the Fixflo Block system. This can be done via the ‘Buildings’ tab via the estate.

Communal issues are now more visible

As an agent using a system that has ‘communal’ and ‘private’ issues, it is now clearer on the ‘Next steps’ tab whether the reported issue is in a communal or private location.

Notifying you when landlord advice is received

As an agent, you need to be notified when a landlord provides advice on an issue. We have changed the default setting on your system to notify you when this occurs so that you are always kept in the loop - you can change this if you wish via the Setup>Settings tab.

Release Date 23/01/2019

Block management Director profile 

For communal issues in blocks, there are various sets of people who have decision making powers. With this in mind, we have created a Director profile who can be linked to buildings within block management.

You now have the ability to send quotes for approval to the Director as per the feature below.

Requesting quote approval

You now have the ability to flick between the user type who will be reviewing the contractor quotes, making it quicker to send out for approval.

Service event completed - notifying agent

When creating a service event in planned maintenance, you now have the option to select whether you wish to receive a ‘review’ email after you close the issue related to the service event.

This will help you identify that the issue you recently closed is a planned event. If you have compliance officers that need to approve certificates, then this feature is really useful.

Contractors to raise an issue from within an existing issue

We have given contractors the ability to raise an issue within an existing issue, with a new button next to ‘Print Job Sheet’. This will be sent to you and can be processed as any other reported issue.

'My' jobs also showing unassigned issues

We have now made it clearer that when filtering a dashboard panel to show ‘my’ jobs, this will also show those that are unassigned. This will help prevent any confusion and won’t allow any jobs to slip through the cracks.

Click through pages of occupiers at a property

You can now easily scroll through pages if more than ten occupiers are associated with a property.

Bugs

The following bugs have been resolved:

• The option for contractors to add images to comments was sometimes missing. This has now been resolved.

• Occupiers briefly being able to see instruction notes.

• Occupier presence required not showing on the build to rent system.

• Units and buildings not linking on the build to rent system.

• A blank Excel sheet was exporting when exporting planned maintenance events.

• A loading screen was showing when a new image had been added to a pop up in the fault tree.

• Dashboard error message when changing to view planned maintenance events.
  
  
  

Until now in Fixflo Block Enterprise, leaseholders could only view issues raised by themselves when logged in. 

They can now view all communal issues raised for their building.

It's now easier for contractors to upload their certificates 

If you have requested that your contractors upload certification documents to the system, we have made this process clearer in order for them to understand if they are compliant. 

Previously, this compliance section had no text to let contractors know why these documents are being requested. 

As an agent, you can request further contractor compliance documents by clicking into the contractor profile and going on their ‘Certification’ tab.

Other

• The FYI PDF you can send to landlords will no longer include contractor contact details. 

Bugs

The following bugs have been resolved: 

• Certain contractors not being able to view their dashboard. 
• Dashboard panels were not always updating synchronously.
• Agents were sometimes unable to submit feedback on behalf of occupiers. 
• A link on the landlord "Issue closed" FYI was broken. It has been fixed. 
• Certain contractors could not log back into the contractor app
• You weren't able to search for properties when creating a Co-Pilot rule. 
• Certain people weren't receiving welcome emails. 

The option for contractors to provide costs previously looked like this:

Unfortunately, this meant that many contractors overlooked the option completely and progressed the issue unaware that they would be required to provide costs. 

We've now made the option a far more explicit choice:

Remember, you can always enforce a certain pattern of behaviour should you want to (e.g. I always want my contractors to provide costs) by going to 'Setup' --> 'Settings' --> 'General'

Fixflo Build-to-rent

Contractors can now message occupiers and vice-versa in Fixflo Build-to-rent.

Removing occupiers from an issue

Let me give you a scenario: Occupier X reports an issue. Occupier X moves out of the property you manage BUT the issue still needs solving. 

How do I remove occupier X from the issue without starting from scratch? 

You can "Detach the occupier":

This will remove the occupier from this issue, meaning they will have no involvement to progress or provide feedback. Other issues raised by them will be unaffected. The current occupier will become just another occupier at this property, and may still have visibility.

Merging addresses made easier

We've improved the way in which properties can be merged. This is useful in instances where you have duplicates of the same property and would like to tidy up your Fixflo data: 

• We've split out "Addresses" as a new tab on the property profile. 
• Clicking 'Merge' on a property will take any issues and profiles from that property and merge them with the property whose profile you're viewing.

Bugs

• The compliance matrix wasn't allowing you to view more than the first 16 buildings in Fixflo Block. This has been fixed. 
• The 'New issue reported' email wasn't always being sent to agents. This was investigated and should be resolved. 
• In your agency setup, you can choose to prefer the landlord over the agency by default when invoicing. This feature wasn't working when enabled, it does now. 
• Contractors are no longer shown a 'Decline to quote' button when they choose to quote. 
• The report "Issues - closed Issues, costs & invoices" wasn't displaying the link for in-system generated invoices. Fixed. 
• Some properties couldn't be merged. This should no longer be an issue. 
• Page 2 of external user profiles now works. 
• If there are two landlords associated with a property and neither of them is selected as the preferred contact, Fixflo will assign the first profile listed rather than no profile. 
• We've removed the "Decline to quote" button for contractors when they elect to quote instead of marking a job as complete. It doesn't make sense for them to "Decline to quote" if they chose to quote in the first place. 
• Preferred contractors can now be removed from a landlord's profile.

Release Date 28/11/2018

Reporting on a mobile just became even easier for occupiers

Logged in occupiers will now have a nice big fat "Raise a new issue" button. This makes reporting subsequent issues for logged in occupiers far more intuitive: 

Occupiers letting you know they no longer live at a property

It can be difficult to keep your property data up-to-date. You may accidentally message an occupier who no longer lives at the address.

We've now made it very easy for occupiers to let you know that they've moved out. 

Each email they receive will include the following link:

Clicking the link will take the occupier to their profile where they will be able to archive their profile:

Find Service Events linked to a specific address

You can now search for service events (e.g. Gas safety certificate) linked to a specific property by going to 'Planned maintenance' --> 'Service events' 

Who has reported an issue?

In Fixflo Block and Build-to-Rent, we ask occupiers raising an issue what their relationship to the property is:

However, we know that some of you don't have or don't liaise with leaseholders in your system. For that reason, these questions can be optionally removed: 

This is a simple change but hopefully, it will streamline the process of reporting issues for many users. 

Contractor quoting

Contractors will now be able to review the issue detail before submitting a quote. We used to present them directly with the screen to quote before they could review the detail. Perhaps we were a little too keen.

Other

• Contractors will now be able to set how far in advance to a certificate's expiry date they receive a reminder to update their information. 

Bugs

• Videos can once again be embedded in the guidance and advice popups. For instructions on how to do this, click here. 
• Some links on Fixflo emails weren't working, we've fixed these. 
• We've stopped this from happening (the profiles wrapping under one another): 

• Fixed a bug where certain issues couldn't be reset to 'Reported' when at the status 'Landlord instructions requested'
• Fixed a bug where dashboard panels couldn't be added and removed on Internet Explorer 11. 
• Service event templates can now be added. 

Release Date 14/11/2018

Dashing dashboard

Our design team have sprinkled some fairy dust on the dashboard and we think it looks smashing.

Let us know your thoughts!

All users can now report issues

All logged in users can now report an issue.

This is a change many of you have requested and we're happy to deliver it. 

Do you have an internal contractor, who whilst out on a maintenance visit, spots another issue at the property? They can now raise it directly through Fixflo Plus. 

Perhaps a landlord would like you to arrange some refurbishment at the property. Again, they can raise a request through Fixflo. 

Issue reminder improvements

Issue reminder dates are a useful tool that all Fixflo Plus users should make the most of. 

Reminders allow you to control when an issue falls in and out of your "Issues requiring attention", effectively making it easy for you to organise a to-do list of tasks for issues. 

We've realised that some of you were (rightly) confused by reminders and how they work so we've done some tidying up, including: 

Clearer tooltips around issue reminders:

Letting you know when landlord advice has been received

A couple of updates ago, we added the option to request landlord advice before further progressing an issue.

You'll now get an email notification to let you know when the requested landlord advice has been received.

Notify occupiers and landlords about the awesomeness of Fixflo

Fixflo is truly awesome. We know that, but do your occupiers? Help them step out of the dark and into the light!

Let's say you're using Fixflo Block enterprise and you've just uploaded a new block under management with 300 hundred occupiers. You can now send them all a welcome email at the click of a button: 

Know when issues were raised for further works

In Fixflo Plus and Enterprise systems, a contractor can choose to quote for further works when marking a job as complete. 

That creates a new issue at the status 'Request for quotes ended' for you to review.

We've made the messaging around this clearer for you:

Search for service events by property address

You have hundreds of service events, you only want to see those for a specific street or address. You can now sift through service events by address:

Clearer instructions for contractors who need to provide certificates

We've made a big push in the last few months to improve your ability the manage the certification for your contractors in Fixflo Plus.

If contractors click to provide up to date certificates, the on-screen instructions are now a lot clearer for those who have never provided updated certificates via Fixflo:

Notify contractors of expiring certifications

In the same vein as above, we've made it more explicit to contractors when a certificate is due to expire by adding a 'Blob alert' to their notifications bar for certificates expired and due to expire:

Other

• Fixflo Block Enterprise users will now be able to set the leaseholder as the invoice payee.
• Fixflo Block Enterprise users who have multiple leaseholders assigned to a unit can now set one as the "Primary" leaseholder. This means that by default, their profile will be associated with any issues raised for their unit.
• We have added a number of contractor services which you requested, including (but not limited to): Architects, Aquatics, Bathroom, Installation, Boiler Services, Council, Engineers.

Bugs

• Block Enterprise and BtR building notifications will no longer contain a needless 'View notification' button. 
• You can now access and edit all of the guidance and advice popups on your system without Fixflo displaying an error message. 
• Fixed a bug where some guidance and advice popups weren't displaying correctly when translated.
• Fixed agency phones numbers not displaying correctly across guidance and advice popups.
• Resolved a bug where the whole page would refresh when switching between multiple quotes provided by the same contractor. 
• Outstanding tasks summary emails now display correctly when viewed in Outlook. 
• Fixed a bug where a tiny portion of occupiers were not searchable. 
• Issues can now be bulk closed correctly from within the contractor profile.
• You should now be able to access these release notes from the updates notification in the left hand toolbar.

Designing your dream dashboard is becoming easier

Designing your dream dashboard is becoming easier

Designing your dream dashboard is becoming easier

Release Date 31/10/2018

Designing your dream dashboard is becoming easier

Our dashboard is heavily customisable, there was a very long list of dashboard panels to choose from. We've made things easier for you by splitting the dashboard panels into categories for you to search by. 

Other

• The 'Decline job' and 'Provide quote instead' buttons have been moved out of the 'Set appointment date' modal. This will make easier for contractors to find all of the action options they need. 
• We've removed the 'Reply' button from building notification emails sent to leaseholders in Fixflo Block. 

Bugs

• Fixflo was temporarily unavailable on Internet Explorer. That was resolved on the day. 
• The ability to rate a contractor when closing an issue had temporarily vanished. It's back. 
• Fixed a bug where certain locked out occupiers were still receiving notifications. 
• Fixed a bug on Fixflo Block Enterprise systems where the word 'Property' was being replaced with the word 'Unit' on emails. 
• Fixed a bug where the back button would occasionally vanish when paginating.  

Release Date 17/10/2018

Send comments to all of your colleagues

Fixflo Plus now supports comments between agent users. Are you off on your dream holiday and want to let your colleague know something about an issue before you jet off? Send them a quick message! Make sure not to be too smug...

Ask your landlords for advice before actioning a job

Fixflo Plus already allows you to send quotes off for review to a landlord. However, until now, there was no specific workflow for you to check whether or not the landlord even wants you to proceed with the job. 

Say hello to our brand new landlord advice workflow!

Landlords can now advise whether they would like you to: 

• Request quotes 
• Go ahead with the works 
• Do nothing 
• Do it themselves

Identify different types of users raising issues in Fixflo Plus Block

Many of you had requested the option of allowing employees and contractors raising issues to identify as such, rather than the system creating an issue with an inaccurate occupier profile. This is now done: 

The full audit PDF now includes costs  

In Fixflo Plus, you can download a full audit PDF of your issue. Handy for those who still enjoy a bit of analog data. The full audit PDF now includes a detailed breakdown of costs provided by the contractor: 

Other

• Users of Fixflo Block and Fixflo Build to Rent Plus can now send media attached to the issue directly to contractors. 
• Appointment time and date reminders are no longer sent to occupiers who raise communal issues in Fixflo Block Plus.
• You can now edit the 'Instruct Job Contractor' email. This is the email that goes out to contractors when they are instructed a job. 
• 'Interested people' profiles linked to an issue can now view the details, current status and media attachments for the issue as well as send and receive comments. 

Bugs

• Fixed an issue where contractors were asked to log in from Fixflo emails (they are normally logged straight in).
• Changes to photo orientation now save.
• We now trigger an action for contractors to provide the start date, expiry date and name of a certificate should they provide one when marking a job as complete:

• Status changes were occasionally repeating themselves in the audit trail. This has been sorted. 
• Certain service event templates could not be duplicated on the same property. You can now do this. 
• Fixed a bug where service event programmes with only one service event would show as pending despite the sole event being completed. 
• The email inviting contractors to upload up-to-date certificates has now been fixed. 
• Locked out contractors will no longer receive emails from Fixflo under any circumstances. 
• Fixed a bug where works costs in excess of 999.99 could not be inputted.

Release Date 03/10/2018

Send issue media in comments without having to re-upload it

Previously, if there was an image attached to the issue by an occupier as part of their report and you wanted to forward it in a comment, you had to download the image and re-upload it via the ‘Comments’ section. 

We hope to save you some time by allowing you to place media already in the issue directly into a comment. No upload required! 

Filter your dashboard by Reactive or Planned issues

It’s a straightforward as it sounds, you can now filter your dashboard panels to view either reactive or planned issues or both: 

It’s now easier for you to find your issues 

You can sort your list of issues in many different ways (e.g. by Contractor or by Landlord). We’ve now made your choice of filter ‘persistent’, which means Fixflo will remember your choice of filters.                                  

Contractors can review all of their invoices and their payment status

When contractors log into Fixflo, they’ll be presented with the brand new ‘Invoices’ feature. 

This allows them to review all of their invoices submitted through Fixflo. They can also mark them as unpaid/paid to keep track of any payments due. 

Leaseholders can now login 

Leaseholders can now log in to Fixflo Block and Fixflo Build to Rent. This gives them access to a host of features such as: 

• Leaseholders can be linked to issues 

• This means that they can:

  • Be sent a welcome email

  • Receive FYIs about an issue at their property 

  • Send comments to the Agent 

And much more!

Always get costs and/or invoices from contractors

Contractors can optionally provide an invoice and/or costs when marking a job as complete.

You can now make providing invoices and/or costs compulsory when a contractor completes a job.

To switch this requirement on, go to ‘Settings’ → ‘Issue settings’ → ‘General’ → ‘Contractor invoice options’.

Improved invoice/cost submission on mobile 

We’ve improved the inputs on mobile devices so that numerical fields display a number pad rather than the full keyboard: 

Improved UI for Assets 

For Fixflo Block and BtR- we’ve improved the way in which you can relate your assets to a maintenance issue. The process should now be smoother and quicker: 

Fixflo Block- Occupiers can now have visibility of communal issues raised for their building

Many of you requested this, you now have the option of allowing occupiers to view any communal issues raised for their building in Fixflo Block.

To switch this on, go to ‘Setup’ → ‘Settings’ → ‘Issue visibility’ and tick ‘Allow occupiers at the same block to see communal issues raised by someone else.’

Other

We’ve added ‘Leaseholder’ to the ‘Paying for work’ drop-down for Fixflo Block and Fixflo Build to Rent:

Bugs

• The audit trail now logs if an agent has breached their authorisation limit, regardless of whether the landlord has an authorisation limit. 

• We have fixed the reports for contractor certificates.

• We have also fixed the report emails not displaying correctly.

• Resolved an issue whereby contractors could not log in directly via Fixflo emails they received. 

• The buttons on emails now look nicer. 

• Service events no longer keep running once a property has been archived. 

Release Date 19/09/2018

Clearer, more intuitive emails 

Automated emails sent out from the system contain information which is relevant to agents, contractors, landlords etc. in order for them to understand and resolve the issue as quickly as possible. We have structured and presented information on many of the emails more clearly so that users are able to digest the information more easily.Some of the re-designs include: 

The notification email that goes out to agents when a new issue has been raised: 

The notification email to a contractor who has been instructed a job: 

We’ve made it easier for contractors to decline to quote

Previously, contractors would have to log in to their account to decline to quote. They’ll now be able to do it straight from the email invitation to quote they receive:

We’ve also make it easier for a contractor to mark a job as complete

So you’ve instructed a job to a contractor… Ideally, they’d negotiate their appointment time with the occupier within Fixflo; you get visibility and there’s an audit trail, awesome. But some people prefer the phone, and before you know it, a contractor has been and done a job that’s still marked as ‘Awaiting appointment time’.

It’s a bit late to set the time, and it might confuse the occupier (who’s boiler is already purring like a kitten again). So we’ve added a button allowing the contractor to move the job straight to completed!

We’ve made it easier for contractors to invoice

We’ve added the invoicing details to the printed job sheet contractors can access from within Fixflo: 

Sending and obtaining permits to work

We know some of you wanted contractors to be able to receive, fill out and send back completed permits to work when being instructed hazardous jobs. 

You can now do this.

To switch the feature on go to ‘Settings’ → ‘Setup’ → ‘Issue settings’ and the ‘General’ accordion: 

Once this is enabled, you will be able send off the permit when instructing a job to a contractor. They will not be able to progress the issue until they have upload a completed permit:

Filter by fault severity on Co-Pilot

Co-Pilot allows you to automate the instruction of issues to contractors in order to expedite your maintenance process. 

If you want to use Co-Pilot to deal with emergencies, we’ve now made it easier than ever for you to do so.

We’ve added a filter for fault severity to the Co-Pilot rule builder. Allowing you (for example) to only auto-instruct to contractors for faults of the highest urgency rating (which is ‘0’ in Fixflo): 

Other

• External users: they can now search for issues to which they are assigned when logged into their profile.
• For clients not using our Lettings product, we have defaulted the field entitled ‘Paying for work’ to 'Agency' rather than ‘Landlord’. This is on the screen which lets you instruct works.

Bugs

• Fixed an issue whereby the compliance for a service programme wasn’t always accurate given the number of compliant service events.

• Fixed the ‘Paying for work’ field which is used when instructing works.

• We removed the ‘Allocate to landlord’ button which was incorrectly visible on our Build to Rent and Block Fixflo offerings. 

• You can now address the invoice to the landlord regardless of whether or not they are associated with the property in Fixflo.

• We fixed a few inconsistencies with the UI in Co-Pilot. 

• External users can once again approve/reject quotes which they have been invited to review 

• Bulk closing issues now works as intended when done from within a contractor profile. 

• Certain properties could not be merged. This has been fixed. 

      

Release Date 05/09/2018        

Warning that contractor invoice exceeds authorisation limit or quote

We have improved the messaging around the two following scenarios:

• A contractor provides an invoice which exceeds their quote

• A contractor provides an invoice which exceeds the works authorisation limit set for the job.

The warning will look like this: 

Time’s up for Clockwise. Clockwise allowed you to automatically notify people when issues were raised out of hours. Don’t worry, you’ll still be able to do this (and much more) with Co-Pilot. 

If you had Clockwise setup for your agency, a rule copying those settings can be found in Co-Pilot. We’ve made sure to keep everything ticking over nicely for you.

To find out more about Co-Pilot, click here. 

We’re gradually bringing improvements to the way in which you can manage contractor certification on Fixflo.

We’ve already allowed you to specify who in your team can manage and edit contractor certifications. 

You can now automatically require contractors to provide certificates based on the services they provide. 

Go to ‘People’ → ‘Contractor certification’.

From there you can select a service type and specify which certificates should be provided for it.

 Communal and private issues: 

We’ve done some work to make it easier for users of our Block and Build to Rent systems to identify whether an issue is communal or private. This includes an icon on the issue itself: 

Certificate document tab

We’ve recently done some work to allow contractors to upload certificates along with their start and expiry dates. 

You can now view those certificates by going to the appropriate property profile and clicking on the ‘Certificates’ tab: 

Declining to quote 

Contractors can decline to quote, but how they can do this was not made obvious to them. We have remedied this by making the button more prominent in the contractor ‘Next steps’: 

Other 

• We’ve changed the default works planner view to yearly (we think it makes more sense that way.

• Contractor services: we’ve added to the list of contractor services as many of you had requested this:

Bug fixes

• Issues can now be bulk closed from within the contractor profile. 

• Landlords will only see submitted quotes when being asked to review them, some landlords were incorrectly seeing cancelled quotes. 

• Contractors can now attach PDFs when quoting for further works.

Release Date 23/08/2018

 Providing certificates upon job completion 

Some of you have requested the ability for contractors to provide certificates when marking a job or service event as complete. 

This is now possible! 

When marking a job as complete, contractors will be prompted to upload a certificate. Once that certificate is uploaded, the contractor is asked to provide a start and expiry date for the document as well as a name. 

 Work Authorisation Limits 

Fixflo allows you to set work authorisation limits for your team membersand for individual landlords. 

This release brings a series of improvements to this feature. 

Numero uno:

You can now set up automatic email notifications for your team members should a work authorisation be breached. 

To do this, go to ‘Setup’ → ‘Settings’, the ‘Notifications’ tab and find the field entitled ‘ Notify these agents when any works are instructed above the works authorisation limit of the agent or landlord’. From there, simply type in the name of the team member who should be notified (please note that they won’t receive a notification if they are the one breaching the limit). 

An example email: 

 Numero dos: 

In addition to the above email going out, the audit trail will also let you know that the auth limit has been breached and who by- handy!

 Co-Pilot in Fixflo Standard 

Fixflo Plus users already know how awesome Co-Pilot is. We’re now bringing it to Standard and will be phasing out Clockwise shortly.

Don’t worry! Your Clockwise settings will be replicated in Co-Pilot. You’ll also have great new features such as the ability to tailor which faults contractors get notified about out of hours. Your contractors don’t need to receive an email at 3:00 am about a loose doorknob!

 Property search for uploaded properties

You can choose to allow occupiers to search through properties that you have uploaded to the system. This is done for a number of reasons, including to avoid property duplication when occupiers use the postcode search or manual input to add their address to an issue report.

We’ve improved the property search for occupiers looking to raise an issue. Previously, when an occupier typed in ‘Stre’, the system would list every address that contained those four letters (including addresses with the word ‘street’). We’ve now limited returned results to the top 5 addresses and we ignore numerical characters. 

 Emails

Repairs can be a lengthy process that involves communication with many different parties. As a result, Fixflo sends out a lot of emails to various people. 

With this update, we begin our work to improve the clarity of information and instructions contained in emails. 

Hopefully, you won’t notice the difference but you’ll find the information more easily.  

Editing an issue

We’ve made it easier for you to edit an issue by adding an edit button next to issue title. From there you can perform tasks such as editing the title. 

UI improvements

For those of you who read these release notes religiously, you’ll know that we improved the look and feel of the contractor page. We’ve done the same for all other users (agents, landlords, external users and occupiers). 

We’ve done this with the aim of improving your user experience, let us know if you have any thoughts! 

Bugs

• The option to ‘Provide quotes instead’ when being invited to provide an appointment time was broken. This has been fixed.

• Fixed a bug where resetting your password on the contractor app would not send out the email allowing you to do so.

• Clicking ‘Save’ on a completed service event would reset it to ‘Awaiting review’. 

• Fixed a bug where the issue scroll button was shown in the wrong place.

• You can now save the property type on a property profile. 

• Fixed a bug where you would sometimes be taken to a blank screen when navigating through issues via a contractor profile. 

• Made the process of saving a landlord against a building more intuitive in Fixflo Block. 

• Clicking on a document in the ‘Documents’ tab of a property no longer errors. 

• Fixed a bug where certain tooltips would stop working after changing page on pages such as the issue list page. 

• Fixed a bug where certain occupiers where not given their issue reference number when raising an issue.

Release Date 08/08/2018

In order to improve the security of your Fixflo system, you can now setup an IP whitelist. This enables you to only allow devices from specific locations to connect to Fixflo.

To set this up go to ‘Setup’ → ‘Settings’ → ‘Security:

 Co-pilot 

You can now add a custom message to an action when creating a rule in Co-pilot:

 Full address in property search 

When viewing property lists in Fixflo, we only showed the first address line. This could be confusing when you ended up with addresses such as ‘Flat 1, Birmingham, B99 1AA.

We now show the full address to avoid this:

Contractor Certificates 

As part of our efforts to improve Fixflo’s ability to track the validity of contractor certification, the daily task email for contractors now includes a reminder to upload new certification if required:

We have also made permissions around who can and can’t validate contractor certification more granular. Enabling the ‘Can manage contractor compliance’ setting allows an agent to manage contractor certificates.

 Better property deduplication 

Until now, if an occupier typed ‘10 Downing Street’ and ‘10, Downing STREET’, the system would create two properties. This meant that some of you would struggle managing portfolios that contained somewhat avoidable duplication.

We have done some work to avoid this going forward. Fixflo will now ignore the following differences in the way an address is typed:

• Punctuation
• Differing use of uppercase and lowercase characters.

Build to Rent- clearer distinction between communal and private issues

We’ve already done a lot of work to help you distinguish more clearly between communal and private issues.

We now ensure that when an issue is raised, the email notifying you that it’s been reported will show the building address if the issue affects a communal area. Conversely, it will show the unit address if the issue is considered to affect the internal demise.

When searching for issues on the system, you can now easily filter between communal and non-communal issues:

Build to Rent- service events for both blocks and units 

We now allow you to create service events using templates suitable to both your buildings and the internal demised areas.

Other small tweaks:

• Added a tooltip to the ‘Issue details’ button on the search issue page.
• Raising an issue on the Fixflo website on an iPhone was acting up. As you went through the process of raising an issue, the screen gradually zoomed in. Fixed.
• We’ve improved the look and feel of the contractor profile page:

• We’ve redesigned the media upload button with the aim of making it more eye-catching and encouraging occupiers to provide photos with their issue report:

Bugs

The following fixes have been made to Fixflo:

• The contractor job sheet now prints in the correct format with the right information.
• You can now reset the issue to reported if you mistakenly instructed it to an external user.
• The link to setup an account for landlords in the ‘Welcome to Fixflo’ email has been fixed.
• Fixed a bug in our Block and BtR systems where the PDF included on the instruction email to contractor was missing a lot of crucial information (such as the instruction and fault details)
• Fixed a bug where pending quotes couldn’t be deleted.
• Tweaked the UI of the screen which contractors use to provide costs. It looked ugly as some space between fields had been lost.
• Fixed a bug where the option to show or hide a fault tree category was obscured by the icon.
• It was impossible to add the landlord as an interested person when using the Fixflo website on an iPhone.
• Fixed some UI inconsistencies when setting up service events via the Works planner on a property profile.
• Fixed a bug where the dashboard numbers weren’t scaling properly when viewed on Android devices.

Permissions: Read-only

We aim to improve the quality and functionality of our permis sions over the next few releases.

You may have members of staff who should be able to find out the current status of an issue BUT shouldn’t be allowed to edit anything on it. For that reason, we are adding read-only permissions to the system.

To find out more about how to setup these permissions, please click here.

Permissions: Contractor search 

Our existing permissions allow you to specify whether a user ‘can manage’ contractors or not. Unfortunately, removing that permission from a user not only removed their ability to edit contractor profiles but also view contractor profiles. We’ve improved this. Agents will always be able to view contractor profiles. Whether they can edit them depends on their permissions.

Emailing large PDFs 

The size of PDFs you could download from Fixflo was previously limited by how long such a file would take to generate.

This meant, for instance, that you couldn’t generate a pdf ‘Full audit’ version of an issue with more than the last 10 comments.

You can now generate a ‘Full audit’ pdf of the issue with the last 1000 comments.

To allow for this, the file is now emailed to you rather than downloaded on the spot.

Costs provided by the contractor when an issue is marked complete 

We improved the way in which contractors provide invoices and costs. An unfortunate side effect of this was that the contractor and agent lost visibility of the provided costs when marking a job as complete. This is now fixed.

Issue status - Contractor costs and invoices 

Related to the above, we wanted to make the issue status clearer when contractor stipulate that they would provide costs and/or invoices.

We have therefore introduced the new status ‘Job completed, awaiting contractor information’.

This accurately reflects that the job is done but that the contractor needs to provide additional details:

Service events- removed status ‘Unassigned’ 

We’ve improved the way service events work to make them as easy to use as normal issues.   Click here to find out more.

We have removed the status ‘Unassigned’ as knowing whether or not a contractor is assigned to a service event is no longer crucial. The service event will always create an issue. If no contractor is assigned, you can simply do so from the issue. (If a contractor is assigned to the service event, the issue will auto-instruct to them).

Audit trail- status changes 

Our audit trail lets you know when and who has taken an action against a specific audit trail. We love it but we know that it sometimes felt like you needed a PhD in Fixflo to understand all of it.

We've added status changes to the audit trail to make it easier to read.

Contractors submitting costs and invoices

Contractors choosing to provide both costs and invoices would be confused because they’re costs would not save without them clicking ‘Save costs’ before clicking ‘Upload and submit your invoice’.

The submit button now saves both the costs and the invoice to avoid confusion:

Bugs

The following bugs were fixed:

• Some service events were not successfully auto-instructing.
• Contractors assigned to a service event could not be removed.
• Service events remained ‘Instructed’ despite the associated issue(s) being marked as complete. The service event now successfully changes to the status ‘Awaiting review’.
• The contractor option to ‘Quote for further works’ was broken.
• Contractors were shown the ‘Job invoices’ button despite indicating that invoices would not be provided.
• Two-factor authentication was being shown to users other than agents.
• The request for feedback email to the occupier wasn’t being sent out.
• ‘Job reminder’ panel was not showing the jobs for today.
• Comments sent via the contractor app were not sending comment notification emails.
• Attachments to comments would not find their way into the comment notification email. Fixed.
• Adding multiple Health and Safety documents to the instruction details of a job did not work if any date fields were populated on the same modal.
• Using list pages on iPhone and iPad didn’t work. For example, tapping into on a specific issue from the ‘Issue search’ screen didn’t work.
• An agent couldn’t edit and save details on a contractor profile without first adding a phone number.
• When raising an issue on behalf of an occupier, the agent can choose whether or not to send a notification email to the occupier. This option was broken.
• Occupiers could not submit feedback.
• The assignment of an agent to a landlord or property could not be amended/deleted.
• The Fixflo issue reporting page was not working properly on Internet Explorer.

We're trying a new format, checkout our new video release notes:

UI changes 

We’ve made slight changes to the way some pages look and feel. They shouldn’t change the way you use the system.

We’ve changed the list view for agents, leaseholders and external users for a more modern and consistent look

Planned maintenance service events are displayed more intuitively

We’ve changed the view for the ‘Health and safety documents’ option

The ‘Documents’ tab on a property profile has been refreshed

The ‘Team’ page looks nifty

Contractor certification 

Many of you expressed an interest in getting the most out of our contractor certification features. You can find out more about these here.

If you use Fixflo to track that your contractors’ certificates are valid, you can now put a hard block on them being instructed any new jobs through the system. This is a role permission setting (you will need admin rights), which can be found here:

Any agents without the permission will not be able to instruct works or award a quote to contractors with expired certificates:

Agents with the permission will receive a warning but will be able to proceed with the instruction.

Compliance matrix 

The compliance matrix can now be exported as a csv

Health and safety documents 

You can now include multiple health and safety documents in your instruction to a contractor

 Bugs 

• Fixed a bug where Co-pilot wasn’t working for Fixflo Build-to-rent
• Fixed a bug where an assignee can’t be selected when adding a service event through the works planner.
• Fixed a bug where contractors couldn’t see the service events assigned to them.
• Fixed a bug where contractors weren’t receiving job instructions. This effected a small number of contractors who’s profile page settings had been amended.
• Fixed a bug which made it difficult for users with a large number of service events to export them as a CSV.

Simplified costs and invoices for contractors 

We have radically simplified the way in which a contractor provides costs and invoices when marking a job as complete. We used to give contractors too many options and this confused them.

Now, they are asked exactly what information they would like to provide:

In the above example, I have stipulated that I will not provide an invoice but will provide costs. When I mark the job as complete I will only see options to provide costs.

 Service events as issues 

Most of you are familiar with normal issues raised by occupiers. On Fixflo Plus, you can comment on them, request quotes, get approval from the landlord...etc. Now you can do all of this with service events.

Click hereto find out more.

You can also now remove the ‘Completed’ status on a service event.

 Co-Pilot 

We are continuously adding new features to our Co-Pilot tool. Save time and automate your property maintenance.

You can now set a start and end date for Co-Pilot rules. This ensures that the automation happens exactly when you want it to.

 Compliance Matrix 

We have tidied up the compliance matrix, ensuring that it only show columns with service events on them. No more blank columns!

 Batch issue creation 

Some of you found it frustrating that the ‘Batch create’ tool in the system remembers the list of properties added. You can now clear the list of previously added properties by clicking ‘Remove all’.

 Bugs 

• For the compliance matrix:
• 
  
  • We have made sure that the filters make sense and work correctly.
  • We’ve made sure the compliance percentages add up properly.
• Fixed a bug where users could not access their profile options on mobile.
• Fixed a bug where you could not download a large number of service events at once.

Service events 

• Doing a CSV export of your service events will now list the property address to which the service event is related.

• We have brand new reports for Planned Maintenance, specifically around service events. The reports are called ‘ Events being instructed’ and ‘ Events by due date’. These reports will also show which service events are assigned and unassigned. Schedule this report to be sent to you automatically weekly/monthly and never miss upcoming planned maintenance work again.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug where the contractor job sheet was not properly displaying quote cost lines.
• Fixed a bug where contractors and agents could not see the awarded quote for issues with the status ‘Awaiting job completion’.
• Fixed a bug around service agreement and service event dates clashing incorrectly.
• Fixed a bug where invoices could not be uploaded to service events.
• We have made the required actions clearer for contractors who have already submitted one quote.
• Fixed a bug where the request for feedback email was being sent to the occupier despite the number of days given to provide zero being 0.

 Co-Pilot 

We’ve continued adding features to this awesome new tool.

You can now set up automated maintenance rules for specific landlords and/or properties:

To learn more about Co-Pilot,   click here 

GDPR

• We’ve continued our hard work to ensure that our system is compliant with the changes that are coming with GDPR at the end of the month.
• Remember to review and sign our amended T&Cs.

Bug Fixes

• Agents can now close an issue at the status ‘Closed, awaiting feedback’ without first having received the feedback.
• Fixed a bug where agents couldn’t view the job completion details at the status ‘Job completed, ready for closure’
• Fixed a bug where you could create a completely blank rule in Co-Pilot

Co-Pilot

Are you ready for the future? This is a brand new feature for Fixflo Plus users which allows you to automate some of the effort out of issue management.

Co-pilot lets you set up rules which will run automatically when an issue is reported.

• Would you like a team member or contractor to be notified of any urgent issues out-of-hours? Automate with Co-Pilot!
• Would you like all lock issues to be instructed straight to your favourite locksmith? Automate with Co-Pilot!

Rules can be defined based on the type of fault, the time and date of when the issue was raised and its location.

GDPR 

As you all know GDPR is coming into force at the end of the month. To ensure that we are compliant as a data processor, we have a host of small changes to the system.

Make sure to head to Setup → Settings → T&Cs to agree to our updated T&Cs. You will also find some useful documentation on this page such as a Fixflo Data Protection Impact Assessment and a Statement of data usage.

Contractor certification 

We’ve made some changes to the layout and titling of buttons on the contractor certification view.

Those changes include:

• Certificates are now considered valid if there is at least one document that is in date AND is marked as valid by a agent.
• Uploaded certificates now have a document start date which lets you know the valid start date for certificates.

Contractors 

Contractors have been able to decline work instructions for a while now. They can now also decline to quote.

Bug fixes

• Health and safety documents are once again included in the issue instructions email sent to a contractor.
• VAT rates for South African and Irish clients have been amended to reflect the up-to-date percentages.
• The link in contractor emails to update their certificates has now been fixed.
• Fixed a bug where contractors were struggling to submit quotes and invoices on their mobiles. This has now been tidied up:

More detailed quoting and invoicing 

• We wanted to make it easier for contractors to provide more detailed quotes and invoices.
• With that in mind, contractors can now add individual line items to their invoices and quotes.
• You can tailor descriptions and VAT per line item.

 Quoting for further works 

• Once a contractor has completed a job, they can now choose to quote for further works if they feel that additional work is required. This will create a new linked issue.

Reporting an issue on behalf of an occupier 

• You now have the option of whether or not to notify an occupier when raising an issue on their behalf.

UI 

• Linked issues are now displayed more prominently on the ‘Next steps’ tab.
• We have made a clear distinction on the ‘Related tab’ between issues that you have explicitly linked and other issues at the same property.
• We have reworked the format in which feedback is requested from occupiers at the end of a job.

Bug Fixes 

• Fixed a bug where contractors and agents couldn’t see quotes submitted when an issue was at the status “Awaiting landlord review”.
• Fixed a bug on certain iPhones where an issue couldn’t be progressed beyond adding a photo.
• A host of small UI fixes were made to the ‘Next steps’ page for all users to ensure consistency and clarity across the board.

Please find below the details of our latest release.

As always feedback is always appreciated - we want to make this a product you enjoy. Be sure to send it to [email protected].

Design Changes

• We have done some extensive work re-designing and modernising the look and feel of the toolbar in Fixflo. Please find below a brief explanation of the changes we have made:
• All menu options are now on the left-sided toolbar:

The new toolbar bar can be minimised to save you space:

Bug fixes

• Contractors once again have the option to ‘Provide quote instead’ when issue is at the status ‘Awaiting Completion’
• Fixed a bug where the event type was not copying over correctly when copied from one property to another.
• We made multiple bug fixes to the contractor next steps including:
• 
  
  • Enabling contractors to reattach an invoice at the ‘Job Completed’ stage if the invoice had been previously deleted.
  • The buttons for "I agree to the terms and conditions" and "Save and submit all" disappeared when a contractor submitted more than 2 quotes. This has been fixed.
• You may have noticed that our last update contained revamped ‘Next Steps’ for contractors. We have since tweaked these to make them clearer for contractors. click hereclick here