HomeBuilder Release Notes - 25.2.20250128.173510

HomeBuilder Release 25.2.20250128.173510

Released: January 28, 2025

Please review the "HomeBuilder Release Notes Testing Advisory" prior to installing on your system.

Release Overview

This is a regular, scheduled Dynamics Business Central SaaS release of HomeBuilder on Microsoft AppSource. It contains improvements and fixes, as reported in implementations and usage by consultants and/or customers, and is aggregated monthly. Details are below.

To report any issue or request an enhancement in HomeBuilder or Retainage please submit an email to homebuilder@suiteengine.com.

Feature Enhancements:

Trade Types

With this release, we continue to develop automations using Trade Types. The concept of a Trade Type being to define what work is to be done very early in setup and being able to assign the actual trade later in the build. These changes remove the need to explicitly assign Vendor Contracts to Phase Items.

•  Two fields have been added to Vendor Contracts: "Trade Type Code" and "Default" (checkbox). Only Vendor Contracts with certain "Trade Type Code" can be set as a default within a Phase.
• Automatic creation of Vendor Contracts using the action "Push to Models": If no Vendor Contract exists for the Trade Type on the Item that is “Pushed to Models”, the system will create a new Vendor Contract for the Trade Type, "Vendor No." will be left blank and "Contract No." is filled in with the "Trade Type Code."
• At a later date, it is expected that the actual trade, a "Vendor No." is entered into the Vendor Contract that is set as the default for a Trade Type, the system performs the following actions when this happens:
  
  • The Vendor Contract is assigned to the Phase and Model Items associated with that Trade Type.
  • The "Vendor No." is assigned to any non-released Lot Selection Choices or Lot Choice Components related to this Trade Type.
  • The Vendor Contract is assigned to the Planning Lines associated with this Trade Type, provided they are not linked to any Work Order, POE, Purchase Order, or posted purchase document.
• There can only be only default Vendor Contract for each Trade Type. When the "Vendor No." is changed on this Vendor Contract, the system performs the following actions:
  
  • The Vendor Contract is assigned to the Phase and Model Items associated with that Trade Type.
  • The "Vendor No." is assigned for any non-released Lot Selection Choices or Lot Choice Components linked to that Trade Type.
    
    • Please note that changing or clearing the "Vendor No." is not permitted if the Vendor Contract is referenced by Planning Lines, Service Issues, Job Cost Ledger Entries, Progress Bills, Purchase Orders for Extras (POEs), or any posted or non-posted purchase documents.
• When you assign a "Trade Type Code" to an Item, it is also assigned to the relevant Phase Items and Planning Lines.
• The "Populate Trade Types" action has been added to the "Vendor Contracts" page. It creates a Vendor Contract record for each missing Trade Type.

House Area Groups

• The "House Area Groups" page can be accessed via the HomeBuilder àSetup àGeneral àHouse Area Groups menu item in the Role Centers "HomeBuilder Executive" and "HomeBuilder Admin." It is also accessible from the Search.
  
  To manage the list of House Areas, first select the House Area Group and then choose the "House Areas" action from the page menu. This will open the "House Area Group Members" page. To add multiple House Areas at once, select the "Add House Areas" action.
  
  If you want to create a new group by copying an existing House Area Group, choose the "Copy to New Group" action.
   
• The "House Area Group Code" field has been added to Items. When an Item is assigned a "House Area Group Code," its House Areas will be automatically populated or replaced with the House Areas associated with that group. 
  
  Please note that you cannot add or remove House Areas for an Item that is assigned to a House Area Group. You must either create a new House Area Group and assign it to this item, or clear "House Area Group Code" in the items and just fill in the House Areas on the item individually.
• If a House Area is added to or removed from a House Area Group, it will automatically be added to or removed from the House Areas of all Items assigned the same "House Area Group Code." 
• When the "House Area Group Code" is assigned to an item, the House Areas for the Item will not be populated from the Item Category House Areas.

The House Area – Item Interactive Matrix

Tracking which House Areas are on which Items has historically been an overwhelming task. We now have an easy-to-use page that shows House Areas and House Area Groups by Item in a simple matrix which also allows updating of House Areas directly within the matrix. There is now a new page called "House Area Matrix." You can access this page by selecting HomeBuilder àCatalogues à House Area Matrix in the "HomeBuilder Executive" and "HomeBuilder Admin" Role Centers. Additionally, the page can be accessed through the Search feature.

• The page features a matrix displaying House Area Groups and Items in the rows, with House Areas listed in the columns. Each cell contains a checkbox that indicates whether a House Area is associated with a particular group or item. When the page loads, the checkboxes are automatically populated based on the House Areas linked to the selected groups or items.
• The page provides the ability to filter items, groups, and House Areas.
• To check or uncheck multiple checkboxes at once, utilize the "Check Selected" or "Uncheck Selected" actions.
• To refresh the checkboxes according to the House Areas of the groups and items, click the "Reload" action.
• After checking or unchecking the checkboxes, remember to execute the "Apply House Areas" action to update the lists of House Areas for the group and item.

Enhancements

• With this release, we have added the ability to import images for Item Variants in bulk. To do this, go to the "Inventory Setup" page and select the action "Import Item Variant Pictures" under the menu "General".
  • Next, on the "Import Item Variant Pictures" page, choose the zip-file containing the variant images and click on the "Import Pictures" action.
  • Please ensure that the file names are formatted as follows: [Item No.]_var_[Variant Code].

• • For example, if the Item No. is 'FLOOR-TILE-SP' and the Variant Code is 'PAT-LIME,' the corresponding file name should be FLOOR-TILE-SP_var_PAT-LIME.bmp.
• The action "Create Purchase Orders" has been added to the "Planning Lines" and "Lot Planning Lines" pages.
• The "Purchase Order No." field, populated by the "Create Purchase Orders" action, has been added to the following pages:
  • Planning Lines
  • Lot Planning Lines
  • Planning Line Card
  • Task Planning Lines
  • Vendor Contract Planning Lines
  Deleting a Purchase Order Line clears the "Purchase Order No." in the associated Planning Line.
• Pages "Define Choice Item Lookup" and "Define Choice Variant Lookup" used for Lot Selection Choices display the pictures of items or variants in the fact box.
• Two new reports, "Deficiencies by Lot" and "Deficiencies by Vendor," are now available. They can be found under the menu item HomeBuilder àAfter-sales Service àReports in the role centers "HomeBuilder Executive" and "HomeBuilder Admin."
• The "Trade Type Code" field has been added to the following pages:
  • Copy Items
  • Construction Item Template Card
  • Item Worksheet
  • Add Items to Worksheet
  • Add Planning Line
  • Phase Item Card
  • Add to Vendor Progress Bill

• The "House Area Group Code" field has been added to the following pages:
  • Construction Item Card
  • Construction Items
  • Copy Items
  • Construction Item Template Card
  • Item Worksheet
  • Add Items to Worksheet

• The fields "Trade Type Code" and "Trade Type Name" have been added to the Phase Items.
• A flow-field titled "Job Task Description" is now included on the "Job Cost Ledger Entries" page.
• In the "Checklist Issues" page, the action "Create Work Orders" can now be applied to multiple selected records.
• A flow-field and corresponding cue for "Time Slots" have been added to the "Service Inspectors" page.
• On the "Inspection Types" page, several flow fields and their respective cues have been added:
  • Inspections
  • Service Issues
  • Checklist Items

• In the page "Deficiency Types", the following elements have been added:
  • Flow-field "Phase Items"
  • Flow-field and cue "Service Issues"

• When a Variant is added to an Item, either directly or through the Item Worksheet Template, the "Variants Required" field is turned on.
• The layout of the "Job Cost Ledger Entries" page, including the order of columns and their default visibility, has been modified.
• Similarly, the layout of the "Planned Amount Lines" page has been updated. This page is accessed by drilling down on planned amounts in the "Lot Budget" page.
• On the "Planning Lines" and "Lot Planning Lines" pages, the fields "Vendor No." and "Vendor Contract No." are now editable, provided they are not referenced from a Work Order, Purchase Order Entry (POE), or other purchase documents.
• The "Assign Vendor Contract" action has been added to the "Lot Planning Lines" page.
• The following flow-fields have been introduced on the "Construction Items" page:
  • No. of Phase Items
  • No. of Model Items
  • No. of Planning Lines
  • No. of Vendor WO Lines
  • No. of POE Lines
  • No. of Lot Selection Choices
  • No. of Item Variants
  • No. of BOM Components
  • No. of Item House Areas
  • No. of Purchase Lines
  • No. of Vendor Contracts
  • No. of Deficiency Types
• The "Vendor Name" field has been added to the API page "Job Cost Ledger Entries".

Corrections:

• The "Push to Models" action on the "Construction Items" and "Construction Item Card" pages has been redesigned to enhance performance.
• On the "Lot Card" page, users can now clear the "Customer No." if the "Sale Status" allows for it.
• On the "Lot Selection Choices" page, if only one item or one variant is available for selection, the drill-down feature remains active. Users can still drill up to view available selections and confirm that there is only one option.
• In the "Lot Installments" and "All Lots Installments" pages, the "Mask as Posted" action has been moved under the "Actions" menu to prevent accidental clicks.
• On deletion of a Cost Group or Cost Detail, the system checks if it is referenced from an Item Worksheet.
• On deletion of House Areas, the following rules apply:
  
  • A House Area cannot be deleted if it is referenced from the following tables:
    • Model House Area
    • Lot House Area
    • Model Item
    • POE Line
    • Job Planning Line
    • Job Cost Ledger Entry
    • Contract Revision Item
    • Lot Selection Choice
    • Checklist Entry
    • Service Issue
• House Areas get deleted within cascade deletion routine from the following tables:
  • Item Category House Area
  • Item House Area
  • Color Selection
  • Color Selection Option
  • Model House Area Measurement
  • Lot House Area Measurement
• On deletion of Lot House Areas, the following rules apply:
  
  • A Lot House Area cannot be deleted if it is referenced from the following tables:
    • Job Planning Lines
    • Lot Selection Choice
    • POE Line
    • Checklist Entry
    • Service Issue
• House Areas get deleted within cascade deletion routine from the following tables:
  • Lot House Area Measurement
• A Phase Item can be deleted even if it is referenced in planning lines or selection choices.
• The following rules apply to Job Tasks:
  
  • The "Start Key Date Code" field cannot be changed if Status of the task is 'Started' or 'Completed.'
  • The "End Key Date Code" field cannot be changed if the Status of the task is 'Completed.'
• The routine of re-establishing task dependencies on deletion of task from a workflow has been corrected.
• Bug Fix: In the "Import Lots" routine, the "Offer Price" is now correctly assigned to each lot.
• The deletion of a Work Order is permitted even if its lines are referenced in Service Issues. Instead of generating an error, the deletion routine will clear the "Work Order No." field in the Service Issues.
• Bug Fix: Under certain conditions, the contacts were not displaying on the Lot Card. This issue has been resolved.
• On the "Lot Key Date" page, the "Populate" action is always enabled.
• Bug fix: A Lot's job can now be renamed even if it has Budget Lines.
• Bug fix: The "Push to Lot" action in Global Workflow Templates attaches tasks that exist under the target Lot, even if they do not belong to any Lot workflow, to the workflow being pushed.