January 2025 Release Notes

Take a look at this month's new features, enhancements, and resolutions.

30.01.25

Enhancements

• For practices integrated with Xero Practice Manager, the Client - Summary fields for Mobile and Salutation will now default to the Primary Contact details, and display an icon to indicate the source of the data. Users can click on the icon to be redirected to the Contacts tab to display the Primary Contact details. If a Primary Contact is not selected, the Mobile and Salutation fields will be blank, and the icon will not be displayed. Refer to Client Summary.
  
  For practices where FYI as Primary for Client Maintenance is enabled, users with permission to edit clients can set a Mobile and Salutation at the client level, overriding the Primary Contact details. As XPM does not maintain Mobile or Salutation at a client level, this data will not be synchronised from FYI.
  
  For practices where FYI as Primary for Client Maintenance is not enabled and a Primary Contact has not been selected, the Mobile and Salutation fields will retain the current values. Another improvement will be released next week to allow the Mobile and Salutation fields to update automatically once a new Primary Contact is selected in Xero Practice Manager.
  
  
• When creating an email in FYI,  Client Custom Fields with Type 'Email' can now be selected as a recipient. These will be displayed in the Select Client Email Custom Field section of the recipient dropdown. Refer to Adding and Changing Recipients when Creating an Email.
  
  
• When selecting Custom Fields across the platform, for example when configuring steps in an Automation process, we have renamed the field from Set Custom Field to Custom Field for better clarity. For an example, refer to Process Step Details - Creating and Updating Jobs.
  
  
• For practices where FYI as Primary for Client Maintenance is enabled, additional Client fields can now be edited using Clients Bulk Update and the Update Client Automation Step. These include the Phone and Mobile Number, Salutation, Address details, and Tax & Company fields. Refer to Clients Bulk Update and Process Step Details - Creating and Updating Clients.
  
  
• For practices integrated via Practice Sync, new Job States or Milestones synchronised to FYI will have the Hide from Board setting enabled by default. This will allow FYI Admins to ensure the Job Board only displays the required Job States, especially for practices synchronising large numbers of Job States. Refer to Managing Job States.
  
  
• We've enhanced New Collaborate settings for better usability and to reflect the purpose of this feature. The Collaborate app is now called Collaborate - Client, and the Retain Client Uploads in Collaborate site app setting has been renamed to Retain Uploads to better describe its function. Refer to Set up and Create a New Collaborate Site.
  
  
• We've updated the highlight colour when selecting Documents and Tasks in the Client - Summary and Job - Summary tabs, to improve readability and ensure consistency across the platform. Refer to Client Summary and Job Summary.

For practices on the Elite plan:

• Practices migrating to the Elite plan can now create draft Job Templates for Workflow Jobs prior to selecting FYI as the Practice Management source. Refer to Managing Job Templates.
  
  
• When updating Job Templates, an error message will be displayed if the connection to Xero Ledger fails, to indicate the Chart of Accounts or Invoice Themes cannot be retrieved. Refer to Error FYI-2179: Unable to retrieve Chart of Accounts or Invoice Themes from Xero Ledger.
  
  
• We've introduced an Unlock feature to invoices created in FYI with a status of "Draft in Xero", "Submitted", or "Awaiting Payment" status. This feature is limited to Admin users or users with Approve Invoices permissions. Once unlocked, the invoice WIP details can be updated, with changes synchronised back to Xero. Refer to Opening and Editing Invoices.
  
  
• When changing the Job Type from Standard to Workflow, either individually or using Job Bulk Update, the Billing Job drop-down now displays the Client name below each Job name for easier identification when selecting the relevant job. Refer to Converting Standard Jobs to Workflow Jobs.
  
  
• When a WIP CSV Import fails, the downloadable WIP CSV Import report from Practice Activity now includes an "Import Issue" column, providing more details on the specific errors. Users with access to Practice Activity can click the "Read More" link to view additional information to assist with troubleshooting the errors. Refer to Error FYI-2252: Issues encountered during the WIP import.
  
  
• We've added a new Source column to Time Lists, allowing users to Filter and Group entries by their original source, including "WIP Import", "FYI", "XPM" or "Zapier". The Source will only be displayed for time entries added from the evening of the 30th of January 2025 onwards. Refer to Time Overview.
  
  
• Users can now create Interim Time Entries for invoices where the original interim time entries were deleted. This is not available if an existing interim time entry has been moved to another job, or if the Interim Invoice value is 0. Refer to Creating Interim Time Entries.

For practices on the Elite plan or the FYI as Primary for Client Maintenance Beta:

• We have removed the FYI as Primary - FYI Client Mobile & Salutation option from the General Practice Settings, as users can now maintain these fields directly from the Client - Summary tab. Refer to Managing Practice Settings.

For practices using the My Time - Calendar (Beta), we have made several enhancements to the Time Card features. Refer to Using My Time - Calendar (Beta).

• When creating time using a Timer, the Time Card on the calendar will be displayed with diagonal lines to indicate an active timer is running. In addition, the Time Card will automatically expand in length every 15 minutes, until the Timer is stopped and the diagonal lines are removed. For timers that run overnight, when the Timer is stopped, the Finish Time will be updated to 23:59 on the same day as the Start Time.
  
  
• We have improved the visual display of Time Cards to provide more information at a glance. In addition to the diagonal lines for active timers, Time Cards will be displayed with a dashed border where there is not a Start Time set. This can occur for times created by an automation, or time entries dated prior to the calendar feature becoming available. When a Start Time is set, or the Time Card is moved to a new time on the calendar, the border will change to a solid line.
  
  
• When a time entry is created without a Start or Finish time, the Time Card will be displayed from 8.30am onwards. Before editing the time entry, the Start and Finish Time will need to be set by either clicking on the Time Card to display the Update Time drawer (for users with Start/Finish Time selected in their User Settings) or by clicking and dragging the Time Card to the appropriate time on the calendar.

Resolutions

• The Client - Corporate Affairs tab for both Clients and Client Group now correctly displays the Client Name instead of a hyphen (-).
• For practices integrated via Practice Sync, if the Client sync encounters a network error, the sync will be retried 5 times. If the sync is still unable to be completed, an error will be displayed in Practice Activity.
• When exporting a Clients list, all clients in the list are now exported regardless of whether the view has been changed before exporting.

For practices on the Elite plan:

• The User Profile - Activity section now correctly displays when updates are made to the user's Timesheet Default Status from "Draft" to "Submitted", instead of "Approved".
• When a WIP Import fails, clicking "View issue report CSV" in Practice Activity now opens the CSV successfully. If the original CSV was filed against a client, it will open in the Client - Documents tab. If not, the CSV will appear in the Documents List.
• We’ve resolved an issue where moving an Interim Time Entry between jobs caused the Source, Name, Quantity, and Billable Amount to be cleared. These details will be retained, ensuring job recalculations remain accurate and unaffected.
• When creating an Invoice with a Detailed layout, to avoid confusion the Invoice Description will now be displayed when clicking the Show Invoice Description icon next to each job, and not in the Details section of the invoice drawer.

16.01.25

Enhancements

• For practices integrated with NowInfinity, we have improved the document import functionality when a client match is not found in FYI. When the new integration option Import unmatched document to the In Tray is enabled, unmatched documents will be filed to the In Tray of the automation process owner, allowing the user to manually file documents as required. Refer to Import from NowInfinity.
  
  
• When displaying the Job Type column in Jobs Lists, we have added a new tooltip to the icon to allow users to easily identify if the job is a Billing, Workflow, or Standard job. Refer to Job Type Overview.
  
  
• When creating a Cabinet and enabling the Jobs, Keywords, or Tags settings, the Cabinet Activity log will display the user's name and date these settings were enabled. Refer to Managing Cabinets.
  
  
• For practices where FYI as Primary Client Maintenance is enabled, when a new client is created in XPM the Client Custom Field Values will now automatically sync to FYI. This one-time sync will occur during the next 15-minute synchronisation or when a manual sync is run. Once the new client has synchronised to FYI, custom fields must be maintained exclusively within FYI. Refer to Synchronising with Xero Practice Manager where FYI is enabled for Primary Source of Client Data.
  
  
• For practices on the CSV Import Beta, when creating a Job using the Create Job automation step, Merge Fields can now be used to insert imported data into the job's Category, Job State, or Template ID fields. Refer to Importing and Updating Data using the Automation Process CSV Import Filter (Beta).

For practices on the Elite plan:

• We have released new versions of the below reports. Refer to Managing FYI Excel Master Report Templates for instructions on uploading the new versions to your practice.
  
  
  • WIP Control - two new columns have been added: Closing Balance, and Out of Period Variation. The Closing Balance calculates the closing WIP from the Data - Time tab, while the Out of Period Variation column displays when there is a variance between the calculated closing balance and the WIP formula closing balance. For example, this can occur when Time and Disbursements have been raised in the current period but invoiced outside the period selected in the report.
    
    
  • Staff Productivity - the "Today()" formula was added to the Data - Time tab.
    
    
• We have updated the colours on the My Time - Productivity Dashboard, with Non Productive time now reflected in blue. Refer to Using My Time - Productivity Dashboard.

Resolutions

• The Document Source field will not be changed when a document has been sent to an external app via API, for example, when sending a document for signing. The source will be updated for any documents added to the thread from the external app, for example when a document is signed.
• When filtering by Job State in Job Lists, the filter options display based on the order in Practice Settings.
• For practices integrated with IRIS via Practice Sync, an error will be displayed in Practice Activity when attempting to sync clients deleted in IRIS but previously created in FYI.
• For practices integrated with BGL, we have resolved an issue to ensure documents are imported overnight successfully.
• For practices integrated with NowInfinity, we have resolved an issue where a console error occurs when editing the Corporate Documents - Import & Autofile process.
• The FYI Practice Sync Desktop app will now delete log files after 30 days to conserve disk space.
• We have resolved an issue when connecting a new Xero Ledger to ensure that users no longer receive an error message when running the Client Ledger Reports AutoFile automation for the first time.
• In Collaborate Sharing Settings for a client, when you expand the Give User Access dropdown, email addresses will only be displayed once where the client and contact both use the same email address, regardless of whether capitals or lowercase is used.
• When sharing documents using New Collaborate Share No Email and Collaborate is selected as the Default attachment setting, the progress bar will display the correct number of documents selected.
• The Folder Name field displayed in Collaborate Sharing Settings, relevant to New Collaborate only, has now been hidden for practices yet to migrate from Legacy Collaborate.
• When using the FYI Desktop App and opening properties for the FYI Desktop.exe or Update.exe, the Digital Signatures tab now displays successfully. For users where the antivirus reports the app as unsigned, please uninstall the FYI Desktop App and reinstall the latest version.
• We have resolved an issue when an Update Job step is added to a process with a Document View filter, to ensure that users no longer receive an error indicating a Job is required. Users will now be able to save the automation step and test and run the process.
• When editing a Custom Field with a decimal value, users can now successfully delete the value.
• For practices integrated with Xero Practice Manager with FYI as Primary for Client Maintenance enabled, we have resolved an issue where the Client Group was removed from the client upon synchronisation. If a group has not yet synced with Xero Practice Manager, an error message will be displayed, requesting the user wait for the 15-minute sync before trying to add the Group to another client.
• For practices on the Elite plan, when opening a report in Excel with a large number of links, for example, Job Links, only 65,530 links will be generated to ensure the Microsoft Excel maximum limit is not exceeded. All remaining links will be converted to text only.