These release notes provide information on the new features, enhancements, resolved escalations, and bug fixes completed in each release for Appspace Cloud and On-Prem.

Appspace 8.0 is a major release that is built on a new microservices architecture and includes various new features and enhancements, an improved user interface, platform optimizations, and bug fixes.

8.0-ac.30

Release Date: 9 Apr 2021

This build is focused on improvements, bugs, and escalation fixes.

Reservations Update

The following updates have been included in Reservations:

• When updating or making reservations via Reservations on the Appspace console, the start and end time options in the drop-down menus will be greyed out (disabled) for unavailable time slots, to prevent administrators from double-booking the resource.
• The Show Colleagues feature, allows users to easily and quickly identify reservations that were made by their colleagues or other users, in both map (floorplan) or list views. This feature is enabled by sliding the Show Colleagues slider to ON. Once this is done, the reserved workspaces will display the user icons of the respective users that had reserved the workspace. However, if the user had made the reservation private, then the user icon would not be displayed.

  

Content Conversion (Transcode) Update

The following updates have been made to the Content Conversion (Transcode) service:

• Users can now convert up to 30 pages of each of the following supported content type:
  • .ppt
  • .pptx
  • .doc
  • .docx
  • .xls
  • .xlsx
  • .pdf
  • .dwg (only via API)
• When uploading content for conversion, the uploading window UI has been updated with a message that informs users that they may navigate or perform other tasks while the content is being uploaded and processed. This allows the user to work on other tasks instead of wasting time waiting for the upload to be complete.

Resolved Escalations

• AE-6685 – Improved Device Task module performance.

8.0-ac.29

Release Date: 2 Apr 2021

This build is focused on user improvements.

Channel Permissions Update

To improve user role permissions and security, the behavior of channel permissions has been revised and updated to ensure:

• only users with Account Owner, Publisher, or Author roles have access to the Channels module in the Appspace console.
• the Author role now becomes a prerequisite for users that are assigned with the Publisher or Editor permissions at the channel level.

This change however impacts current users who have been assigned with only the Publisher or Editor permissions to specific channels (channel level); they will no longer be able to access the Channels module. This can be easily rectified by assigning the Author role to these users.

This also applies to the “Everyone can manage” permissions in an advanced channel; the Author role is now a prerequisite. For example, a Location Admin that does not also have an Author role assigned, will not be able to view the channel or other channels in Channels.

8.0-ac.28

Release Date: 27 Mar 2021

This build is focused on user improvements.

Users Update

The following updates have been included in the Users module in the Appspace console:

• The batch user invitation workflow has been updated to include a phone number as an optional field.
• The batch user invitation import progress is now displayed as a pop-up window on the bottom right corner. Users may click and view the import status, such as the number of invites that are still in progress, successful, or failed.

Employee View UI Updates

The Switch to Employee View button in the Appspace console, which was previously in the Appspace sidebar menu, has been relocated to the User Profile window for a better user experience.

8.0-ac.27

Release Date: 20 Mar 2021

This build is focused on improvements, bugs, and escalation fixes.

Employee View Update

Introducing a new channel playback option, allowing channels to be viewed in a carousel mode on the Employee View, in which all content within the channel will be displayed similar to how it will be viewed in device playback, or when published to web.

Locations Update

Support for additional fields for Workspace, Points of Interest, and Zones in Maps. With the introduction of these new fields, a Description and Design section has been added to better categorize the configuration settings. Below is a list of fields added:

Workspace and Points of Interest

• Description
  • Notes
• Display
  • Show Label
  • Marker Size
  • Fill Color

Zones

• Description
  • Notes
• Display
  • Fill Color
  • Label Color

Reservations Update

The following updates have been included in Reservations:

• Support for the Enable QR code as a property that can be inherited and applied to Buildings, Floors, and Resources.

  

• Support for Zones in Resources and, allowing resources and points of interest in maps to be automatically tagged to a zone.
• A search function has been added when configuring locations, allowing users to search and add buildings from an external provider, such as Office 365 or G Suite, if they have a lot of buildings configured on the provider.Additionally, buildings will be displayed alphabetically, with unassigned buildings displayed at the end of the list.

Resolved Bugs

• AP-23353 – Unable to make changes to the playlist channel that is pending approval.
• AP-23974 – Unable to reorder layout scheduling in Advance Channel and Reports.

Resolved Escalations

• AE-6582 – Administrator is listed as channel creator instead of the correct user when generating the User Activities report.
• AE-6593 – Account Owner is listed for all actions instead of the correct users when generating the User Activities report.

8.0-ac.26

Release Date: 12 Mar 2021

This build is focused on improvements, bugs, and escalation fixes.

Products Dashboard Update

The Learn More button links on the Products dashboard in the console have been updated to now direct users to a product catalog page to provide in-depth introductions to each feature.

Reservations Update

The following features have been included, when creating or editing a Resource:

• The following batch operations introduced for managing multiple resources:
  • manage Permissions on resources.
  • edit Resources, such as Capacity, Location, Reservable, Type & Sub Type, Status, and Facilities.
• When making edits on Resource tabs, clicking the Save button will save all edits that were made in all tabs.

Reservations Analytics Tab

The Reservations module introduces a new Analytics tab, which will gather console-based statistics for buildings, floors, and resources. Widgets from the Analytics tab will display the following trends and information, and can be filtered by location for a more targetted result:

• Total Building Reservations (Trend)
• Total Workspace Reservations (Trend)
• Total Users
• Total Workspaces Created
• Reservations by Resource Type (Pie Chart)
• Workspace Reservations (Line Graph)
• Building Pass Reservations (Line Graph)
• Most Reserved Workspaces (Top 5 – Bar Chart)
• Most Reserved Floors (Top 5 – Bar Chart)
• Most Reserved Buildings (Top 5 – Bar Chart)
• Most Active Users (Top 5 – Bar Chart)

Resolved Bugs

• AP-23937 – Unable to login with Appspace credentials, forcing users to login via SSO only on a private cloud.

Resolved Escalations

• AE-5278 – Constant server restarts experienced due to memory leaks from various microservices.
• AE-6548 – Library takes up to 20 seconds when loading content items.
• AE-6590 – Locked card theme is unlocked and loses permissions after cloud update.
• AE-6624 – Unable to reorder widgets in the advanced channel’s content editor.

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8.0-ac.25

Release Date: 5 Mar 2021

This build is focused on improvements, bugs, and escalation fixes.

Improvements for Publishing to Slack

Users publishing content to Slack, now have the option to customize and apply their own branding to the Appspace publishing bot.

• The bot’s name and logo can be customized.
• The recommended logo image should be in the square aspect ratio (width = height).
• .ICO and .SVG files are not supported.

Reservations Update

The following features have been included, when creating or editing a Resource:

• Ability to change the floor number.
• Ability to upload a floor plan.
• Ability to change or upload an image for use as the building graphic.
• Ability to set the resource location.
• Ability to change or upload an image for use as the resource graphic.
• Ability to manually enter Facilities for the resource.

The Resource Rules (Constraints or Checkpoints) have been updated to allow rules to be applied to specific users or user groups. Multiple constraints of the same type may also be applied to a resource, either due to inheritance or direct assignment (previously, only one constraint type may be applied).

Below is a list of the changes:

• Allow a rule to target specific users or user groups.
  • If no target selected, the rule applies to all.
• Allow a rule to be applied more than once (e.g. the “Restricted Days/Times” constraint applied twice but with different targets).
  • If same targets, existing rule is overwritten.
• If a user is targeted by multiple rules of the same type, the following logic is applied.
  • Priority
    • The inherited rule is lower in priority than the direct rule.
    • The target user is higher than the target user group that the user belongs to.
    • If priority is the same, then the last rule created (sort based on date) is used.
  • These rule types are replaced based on priority:
    • Min duration, max duration, min book time, max advance book time, capacity.
  • These rule types are replaced based on the OR rule:
    • Restricted Days/Times.

Resolved Bugs

• AP-23499 – Appspace private cloud login website does not display correctly on mobile devices.
• AP-23908 – Unable to import Advanced Channel containing the Content Conversion card.

Resolved Escalations

• AE-6548 – Library takes up to 20 seconds when loading content items.
• AE-6565 – Unable to generate Proof of Play Metrics report.
• AE-6606 – Content converted to the Content Convertsion card does not display correctly.
• AE-6612 – Channel that is published to web does not load.
• AE-6620 – Scheduled content is not applied to channel.

8.0-ac.24

Release Date: 26 Feb 2021

This build is focused on improvements, bugs, and escalation fixes.

Introducing the Products Dashboard

Improving the First Time User (FTU) experience, Appspace introduces the Products tab on the console dashboard for Account Owners or Location Admins that are logging in for the first time. Apart from the FTU checklist, the Products tab provides access to Appspace’s latest product offerings and includes links to workflows within the console or to product marketing pages for an introduction.

Within the Products tab, products are listed with a description, a Get Started button that initiates the product workflow, and the Learn More button that launches an external page providing more information on the product. The Products tab also allows existing users to be aware of new products that are available on the Appspace platform.

The following is a list of products that are currently available, with more being added as new products become available:

• Digital Signage
• Content & Feeds
• Room & Desk Reservations
  • Employee Reservations
  • Meeting Room
  • Schedule Board
• Employee View
• Kiosks
• Visitor Management

For more information, please visit the Browse and Navigate the Appspace Console article.

Reservations UI update

Important

Please note that the Reservations module is currently in Limited Release phase.

The following are UI updates and functions on the Reservations (LR) page:

• Added a Create Reservations button allowing users to directly create reservations from the Reservations page.
• Added the following filters allowing users to display specific reservations:
  • All Reservations
  • Active
  • Pending
  • History
• Added a Location filter.
• Added a Date filter.
• Users can now switch between reservation tabs without saving when editing a reservation, as opposed to being prompted to save changes before switching tabs before.

For more information, please visit the Configure and Manage Visitor, Space, & Desk Reservations article.

Content Portal Rebranded as the Employee View

The Content Portal has been rebranded as the Employee View, streamlining Appspace’s user-centric products. The Switch to Content Portal button in the Appspace sidebar menu has been renamed to Switch to Employee View.

Resolved Escalations

• AE-6335 – Cloud login outages caused by channel playlist background, session, and platform service processes that were shut down due to being out of memory.
• AE-6532 – Unable to load Device Properties page.
• AE-6552 – Schedule Board card stops working after an hour when published to web.
• AE-6572 – Unable to add content to channel playlist.

8.0-ac.23

Release Date: 5 Feb 2021

This build is focused on improvements, bugs, and escalation fixes.

Introducing Tag Rules

The Tag Rules feature in a playlist channel, allows users to add rules to manage and display content with tags. This will allow administrators to manage a playlist that is capable of playing across all devices in a variety of locations, yet having the ability to control or localize the content displayed on each device.

The Tag Rules can be configured from the following locations:

• The Configure Folder Settings section in a playlist channel.
• The Playout Properties section in a playlist channel.
• The Scheduling section of the content.

Content Portal UI Updates

The user interface for the Content Portal has been updated for a better user experience.

• Accessing and switching between the Content Portal and Admin Portal is now done via the User icon.
• The Content Portal menu is now displayed in a horizontal bar at the top of the page.
• On mobile devices, the Content Portal navigation bar is displayed in a horizontal bar at the bottom of the screen.
• The Channels tab displays the Channel Groups and Channels that are available to the user.

Resolved Bugs

• AP-23453 – The Add Location button displays an incorrect tooltip message when hovered over.
• AP-23500 – Unable to add rules to default, geo, or campus locations in Reservation.

Resolved Escalations

• AE-6468 – User that inherits user group permissions is not limited to the user’s location, but all locations within the instance.
• AE-6497 – Content Analytics displays data for Most Active Authors incorrectly.
• AE-6535 – Browser does not display channel or takes up to 24 hours to sync when publishing to web.

10 Feb 2021 Hotfix

Resolved Bugs

• AP-22765 – Some content tags are not displayed in the auto-complete search drop-down menu.
• AP-23442 – Navigation bar update on Appspace app on mobile devices.
• AP-23479 – User icon update on Appspace app on mobile devices.
• AP-23520 – Navigation bar update on Appspace Content Portal
• AP-23521 – Channels have been updated to include Channel Groups.
• AP-23581 – Reservations updated for better user experience.

18 Feb 2021 Hotfix

Resolved Bugs

• AP-23535 – Support for floor plan view when making reservations on the Appspace app on mobile devices.
• AP-23616 – Reservation checkpoint screen does not fill completely when displayed vertically.
• AP-23618 – Horizontal scroll bar displayed when viewing Appspace console on a browser.
• AP-23619 – Reservation constraints display duplicates when local constraint overwrites the inherited constraint.

19 Feb 2021 Hotfix

Resolved Bugs

• AP-23631 – Content does not list more than 10 channels that have been added, in the content’s Channels tab.
• AP-23676 – Error 400 triggered when editing an existing content schedule.
• Ap-23684 – The Auto Delete Content from Library date in the content Settings tab resets to default when saved after editing content tags.

23 Feb 2021 Hotfix

Resolved Bugs

• AP-23703 – Calendar provider does not sync correctly with the calendar service in Reservations.

8.0-ac.22

Release Date: 29 Jan 2021

This build is focused on improvements, and escalation fixes.

Introducing Content Categories

Appspace introduces Content Categories that are assigned to every card template in the Library by default. Content Categories are a measure for organizations to create content, build channels, and target messaging according to workplace communications best practices and internal communication goals.

Appspace has defined the following four major content categories based on the focus of the content:

• Culture and Values – Content that promotes company values and affects the employee experience, to help customers drive company values throughout their organization.
• Goals and Performance – Content that showcases both long- and short-term goals and measurements of performance, to create shared ownership of company goals and drive employee performance.
• Productivity and Engagement – Content with information that keeps the company running, day-to-day, facilitating organizational productivity.
• Safety and Compliance – Content with information that supports employee safety and ensures company compliance with regulatory requirements, to help create a safe environment and promote safe behavior amongst employees.

With the Content Categories feature in place, users will be able to perform the following functions in the console:

• Filter card templates based on content categories via the All Templates drop-down menu when creating content in the Library.
• Change the default content category for a card in the Settings tab during card creation, if they have Publisher or Author user permissions.
• Assign a content category when uploading content to the Library.
• View the Content Category for every piece of content added to a channel playlist.

Cards created prior to this release will not contain a Content Category, and will be considered as “Unassigned”. However, you may assign a category when editing/updating the card.

8.0-ac.21

Release Date: 25 Jan 2021

This build is focused on improvements, and escalation fixes.

Support for Device Registration with Serial Number/MAC Address/Vendor IDs

The advanced device registration with device serial numbers method has been updated to include device fingerprints, MAC addresses (media access control address), and reference device IDs. Below is a list of supported devices:

• BrightSign – Serial Number and MAC address
• Tizen – Serial Number
• LG webOS – Serial Number
• Crestron TSS – Serial Number & MAC address
• Cisco Webex Board – Reference Device ID
• Chrome OS (with CDM) – Serial Number
• Windows – MAC address
• Mac OS – MAC address
• Linux Ubuntu – MAC address

Resolved Bugs

• AP-23150 – Appspace DirectX player fails with the new compression method.

Resolved Escalations

• AE-6471 – Unable to invite user to an Appspace cloud instance.
• AE-6475 – Incorrect login entry in User report exported from a user that has never logged in.