The 2022.6 Release of Kahua will be deployed to our Production environments on September 10, 2022. A preview of this functionality can be accessed at https://earlyaccesslaunch.kahua.com/ beginning on August 28, 2022. Please click here for more information on the Early Access program. The release notes below are subject to change. For any changes to these notes, please see the change log at the bottom of the article.
In addition to various performance improvements, user interface updates and error corrections, this release will also include:
All Hosts
UPDATED APPLICATION ICONS
Kahua continues to update our application icon set to be consistent in format across all applications.
KAHUA DOCUSIGN INTEGRATION – OAuth 2.0 Support
As part of DocuSign’s continued commitment to security and reliability, DocuSign requires all 3rd party integrations to be upgraded to support OAuth 2.0 authorization by October 4, 2022. In support of this requirement and to Kahua’s own commitment to security, Kahua has updated its DocuSign integration to support OAuth 2.0.
While this change provides a much stronger level of security for our users, most of what has been implemented will be transparent. The change requires only that each user grant consent for Kahua to send DocuSign signature requests on their behalf. This is only a one-time consent process for each user. Once consent has been granted, Kahua’s DocuSign integration will continue to work as it always has.
When you attempt to send documents for eSignature the first time after OAuth 2.0 Support is enabled, a new ‘consent’ process will be initiated that requires you to grant consent for Kahua to send DocuSign signature requests on your behalf.
NOTE:
(1) Once you complete the consent process (by granting consent), you will never see the above message again. This is a one-time process per User.
(2) If you’ve yet to create a DocuSign account for your Kahua login, you will still be required to create one the first time you attempt to send a document for eSignature. The process for creating a DocuSign account remains unchanged; it is a separate process from (and is unrelated to) granting consent.
After receiving the “DocuSign Consent Required” message, you should receive both an email and a Kahua message with a “Login to DocuSign and grant consent” link.
Clicking the link in either the email or the Kahua message will direct you to the DocuSign login page, where you will be required to enter your DocuSign credentials. Upon entering the email address associated with your Kahua User account and the associated DocuSign password (typically a different password than what’s used for logging into Kahua), you may also be required to enter a code that DocuSign sends to your email (which is part of DocuSign’s multi-factor authentication).
The final step is for you to click “ALLOW ACCESS”, which grants consent for allowing Kahua to send DocuSign signature requests on your behalf.
After clicking “ALLOW ACCESS”, you’ll see this confirmation of your action:
You’ll now be able to complete the ‘SEND FOR eSIGNATURE’ action that triggered this consent process.
More information regarding DocuSign’s OAuth 2.0 requirements can be found here: https://www.docusign.com/blog/developers/october-2022-oauth2-required
Desktop
APPLICATION LAUNCHER – New Interface
Available on Windows and Web hosts, the new interface makes it easier to quickly access applications in app groups and addresses common feedback on issues finding applications quickly. The new layout separates categories from the list, making it easier to scan alphabetically. Also, Search now supports finding applications that are contained within app groups. Mousing over an app group will also display the applications it contains and launch directly to the selected application.
REPORTING APP – New Application
The new Reporting app is now the central location for rendering all reports and “printing” of application list views. The app features a tabbed interface such that multiple reports can be opened at once and kept open while navigating among other apps. The Reporting app will open in the left navigation toolbar under Dashboard once triggered from a report or list view. Closing the last open tab in the Reporting app will effectively close the app as well.
Reports: When the View button is clicked in order to run a report from any app, the Reporting app will open in the left navigation toolbar and render the report in a print-friendly format while also allowing downloading, saving to Kahua, and sending the report.
List Views: The print icon at the top right of the list view for any app has been replaced by a new icon which will open the list via the Reporting app. The Reporting app will open in the left navigation toolbar and render the list in a print-friendly format while also allowing downloading, saving to Kahua, and sending the list.
The Reporting app will continue to be enhanced to become the central hub for creating, editing, and running Kahua reports.
New “Open in Reporting” icon renders the list in the Reporting app: 
New Reporting app displaying messages. Includes functionality to print, download, send, and save to Kahua.
FILE MANAGER ACCESS
A new explicit permission role, "None" has been added to File Manager to assist with managing permission to files and folders.
The "None" role explicitly restricts access to a folder and hides it and all subfolders within the user interface. This role will take precedence over other assigned roles, meaning if a group has multiple roles assigned including "None" or the user is a member of multiple groups with at least one having the "None" role, the explicitly assigned None role will govern access to the folder. Therefore, the folder is not displayed via the user interface, regardless of other roles assigned. However, if the user is provided a direct link to the file, the user will be permitted access based on the other roles assigned, the user just won't be able to navigate to the file via the folder structure.
NOTE: Any existing folder permissions that have been established prior to the release will continue to behave as before. This includes the implicit none permission, where no roles have been assigned, which permits the user to navigate the folder in the interface but they will not be able to access any files or take any actions.
VIEWER/MARKUP TOOL – Stamps
Kahua’s built-in Viewer/Markup Tool now adds the ability to apply Stamps. To enable your organization to upload/create your own stamps (e.g., Draft, Approved, Rejected, etc.), there is also a new Stamp Manager.
The Stamp Manager is accessed from Kahua’s Configuration app via the Stamps tab. It’s here that you’ll upload new stamps or modify existing stamps. Any jpg or png image may be uploaded as a stamp.
Taking advantage of Kahua’s inheritance model, Stamps may be defined for your entire organization (at the root organization and/or program level) and will automatically be available to all associated projects (which helps to promote consistency across your organization). For any project you’ll also be able to create project-specific stamps and suppress certain inherited stamps if necessary.
To control who’s permitted to apply specific stamps, the Stamp Manager enables you to specify ‘Authorized Users’ (e.g., to restrict the ‘Approved’ stamp to just users in the ‘Project Manager’ group). You may set ‘Authorized Users’ to any combination of Groups and/or specific Users. If you leave ‘Authorized Users’ blank, it implies that any user will be able to use that stamp.
There is also a ‘Lock Modifications’ (set to “Locked” by default) attribute for each stamp that controls whether a stamp is locked or not after being saved onto a document. Up until it’s saved, it can still be moved, resized, removed, etc. A ‘locked’ stamp can only be modified/removed by a Domain Administrator regardless of who placed the stamp.
NOTE: Since Stamps will not auto-copy to subsequent document versions or revisions (like other Markups do), Stamps can also be effectively ‘removed’ by uploading a new version of that document. The new version won’t have any stamps even if stamps were present on the previous version.
Your Kahua Admin can easily restrict access to who can create and manage stamps for your organization, or even for specific projects (partition inheritance is fully supported). The ability to manage stamps will only be available to those users who have been granted permission to do so.
Once your stamps have been set up, anyone who’s viewing a document in markup mode will be able to apply any of the stamps that they’ve been granted permission to (either because they’ve been explicitly granted permission in ‘Authorized Users’ or it’s an implied permission because ‘Authorized Users’ is blank).
Applying a stamp involves:
- While in Markup Mode within the Viewer, select the stamp tool on the Markup Toolbar
- You’ll be presented with an alphabetical list of stamps that you have permission to use
- Click on one of the Stamps to select it
- Click on the point in the document where you want the Stamp to be applied
- Adjust the Stamp size, location, and opacity as necessary (the Stamp’s aspect ratio will always be maintained)
- Save the Markup Session (thus saving the Stamp)
If the stamp has been configured with ‘Lock Modifications’ set to “Locked” (the default), the stamp will now be locked in place on the document and cannot be removed except by the Domain Administrator.
NOTE: If you don’t see the Stamp tool on the Markup Toolbar, it could be for one of 3 reasons:
- No stamps have been defined for your project (either directly or via inheritance)
- Stamps have been defined for your project, but none are enabled (while all new stamps are ‘Enabled’ by default, the Stamp Manager allows you to ‘Disable’ any stamp)
- Stamps have been defined and are enabled, but the user doesn’t have permission to apply any of the stamps.
HORIZONTAL SCROLL COLUMN LOCKING ON WINDOWS HOST
For most tables in Kahua, locking one or more table columns to the left for horizontal scroll is now available on the Windows desktop host. To activate, click the lock on the right side of the desired lock column. The column will lock to the left side. Multiple columns can be locked. The order of columns from left to right is currently the order in which they are locked. To change order of locked columns, unlock the columns and then lock again in the desired order.
Mobile
FILE MANAGER OFFLINE – New!
Now available on mobile, File Manager offline functionality allows the user to sync specific folders to their device for access without needing a connection. Upon enabling offline for File Manager, the interface supports selecting folders to sync directly within the File Manager application. Managing synced folders is also available in My Settings by tapping the Account icon and selecting Offline.
SAVING DOCUMENTS – Updates
Saving records in Kahua mobile has been simplified based on user feedback! Saving no longer requires a separate Close action to be taken by the user. Now, selecting Done saves and closes the edit form. For tables within an edit form, the primary form will still need to be saved for changes to take effect. If you prefer to Save your data but not close the edit form, Save is now available in the More Actions menu.
UPLOADING FILES – Updates
The full size file upload screen has been replaced with a light-weight dialog that displays over the form when uploading files. Upon completion, the dialog now closes automatically.
Kahua Provided Extensions
To continuously improve our best-in-class Kahua provided extensions, we will be updating offerings to include the following features:
Kahua for General Contractors, Kahua for Owners, and Kahua for Program Managers
PACKAGED SUBMITTALS
The following updates are being added to Kahua’s Packaged Submittals extension:
- Default Workflow, Import and Export Removed from Items Grid, User Can Now Copy and Paste Columns from Excel– In the Kahua Submittal Package Workflow, import and export functionality has been removed from the items grid for submittal items.
- Instead of exporting, updating the spreadsheet, and reimporting back into the items grid, users can now copy and paste entire columns / multiple cells from excel spreadsheets by highlighting the desired column/cells, copying, clicking into the top field in the desired items grid column, and pasting.
- Default Workflow, Work Package now Editable in Coordinator Triage Task– In the Kahua Submittal Package Workflow, submittal coordinators can now edit the Work Package field in their coordinator triage task. Previously, this field was only editable on the workflow record, and not in the task.
*Note: Editing Work Package from within the coordinator task will not switch a package consultant review type from non-sequential to sequential or vice versa, even if the work package contains a different selection than the submittal package currently displays. The review type is only editable from the workflow record. This may change in a later release.
- Default Workflow, New Setting, Submittal Coordinator Must be Domain User– In the Kahua Submittal Package Workflow, a new setting labeled “Submittal Coordinator Must be Domain User” has been added to both submittal packages and submittal items configuration. When this setting is enabled, the lookup list for the submittal coordinator field will only display contacts who are users of the domain that own the submittal item/package. This setting is disabled by default.
- Default Workflow, New Setting, Require Consultant Item Response Notes– In the Kahua Submittal Package Workflow, a new setting labeled “Require Consultant Item Response Notes” has been added to submittal packages configuration. When this setting is disabled, consultant reviewers may respond to their review tasks for a submittal package without adding input to the consultant response notes on each submittal item within the package. This setting is enabled by default, meaning that the default behavior will still be to require consultant response notes on every item within a package before consultant reviewers may submit their task.
- Default Workflow, New Field, Consultant Package Response Notes– A new field labeled “Consultant Package Response Notes” is being added to consultant reviewers for submittal packages. Much like item response notes, this field will be a text field where consultant reviewers may input a brief response, except this field will be for the entire package. This field will be available in both sequential and non-sequential review in the default submittal package workflow (not available in the with owner workflow).
This field will surface directly on the consultant reviewers’ review task(s), and consultant reviewers will be able to edit this field without opening an items panel. Consultant Reviewers will also be able to see the consultant package response notes of other consultants who have already responded.
Parallel Review:
Sequential Review:
- A consultant's package response notes will be appended to each of their submittal item response notes upon submission to the official reviewer as shown below.
*Note: if a submittal package is returned to a consultant who had added package notes in their first submission, the package notes will append to the end of the reviewer notes on the item a 2nd time. If this is not desired, the consultant can go into their submittal items’ reviewer notes and remove the first appending of the packaged notes. - Once a consultant reviewer has submitted their task, the official will be able to see their package notes in the official review task without each submittal item.
- Whether consultant package notes are required for consultant response to their task can be configured on the Settings tab of submittal packages configuration. This setting, along with the new consultant item response setting, will allow admins to configure whether consultant responses are required on the items, the package, or both when work flowing a submittal package.
- This field will be visible by default but may be hidden on the Fields tab of Submittal Packages configuration. This field cannot be marked as a required field on this tab (can be made required for consultant response on the settings tab but cannot be made required for submittal package record to be saved).
Kahua Host Updates
All Kahua hosts have been updated with various enhancements and bug fixes. The Windows host will automatically update upon first launch after the release.
Download the appropriate app for your device:
Release Notes Changes
| Date | Revision | Section | Change Description |
| August 15, 2022 | 1 | All sections | Initial publish |
| September 2, 2022 | 2 | Kahua Provided Extensions | Removed Quantity-Centric Enhancements and Kahua For K-12 Expense Change Order App |
| September 6, 2022 | 3 | All Hosts | Removed File Manager Access Section |
| September 9, 2022 | 4 | Desktop | Removed GROUPS APP - Exclude Certain Groups from being Message Recipients |
| September 10, 2022 | 5 | Desktop | Restored File Manager Access Section |