We’re pleased to announce the release of the next beta version: Beta 2. We’ve added some new features that we were already planning to do. We’ve also made changes based on the feedback that we’ve had from you - our users - in the last three weeks or so. The main features of this release are:
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Adding new intelligence that covers even more of BS7671.
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Adding company, engineer and test instrument information.
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Printing company and association logos on the reports.
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Printing engineer signatures on the reports.
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Making it easy to set the test engineer against each board in the inspection.
We’ve already written about some of the new features and the new BS7671 regulations that we’ve built in (see here and here for details), but it’s worth putting all the new changes down in one place for reference, so, here they are. We hope you like it!
New Features
New Rules from BS7671
PIRform has the regulations built into it and we’ve now added some new ones too. There are more details here, so check that out if you want to know more. They’re pretty exciting to say the least.
Company Information Now Added
You can now add company, engineer and test instrument information, including company and association logos. This was by far the most requested feature from everyone who came to see us at the ELEX show at Sandown.
The logos automatically carry through onto the printed reports (association logos not shown here!).
As an extra bit of polish, when you install the new version you should see any engineers or companies brought through from the reports that you have already done. We hope this makes it easier!
Engineers Have Default Test Instruments
You can set the default test instruments for each engineer.
These will appear against each board that the engineer tests.
As you’d expect, the engineer's signatures also carry through to the printed reports.
Of course, the engineer’s signature also appears one page 1 too!
Easier Working With Multiple Engineers on the Same Report
You are building a report from data supplied by more than one engineer. You could have two or you could have ten engineers on that job – or even more! PIRform now makes it easier to be accurate. First, you have seen that each engineer has their default instruments, so each board that you create will have those instruments. Next, if you want to change the default engineer half way through then you can. Just go into Certificate Options:
From there you can the report details. If you change the default engineer then all new boards will have that engineer as the inspection engineer, along with the instruments that you selected (which default to those that you set as the engineer’s defaults!).
Last, but far from least, we’ve added a feature that’s going to be most useful for those of you that work with complex reports – those with either many boards or may engineers, or both! The Board Manager let’s you work with the boards in the report in one place. Not only can you change the engineer or the instruments that they used, but you can also set the board designation and location from here. We’ve even let you change the board supply using the same tool you use to select the board supply on page 5. The only difference with the Board Manager is that you can now deal with it all in one place.
Unset Values Now Clear on Printed Reports
The report should be clear and unambiguous in all ways possible. PIRform now shows makes it clear that a value has not been set in the printed report by showing "-" where nothing has been set. This simple measure helps to prevent any misunderstanding.
Page 4 Controls Now Easier for Keyboard Users
Some people prefer to use a mouse, some people prefer to use a keyboard. Another excellent suggestion that we got from ELEX at Sandown was to allow page 4 values to be set using the keyboard. The first beta version only let you use the mouse, but now you can use the keyboard too. (This part will only make sense if you are mainly a keyboard user…) If you are on page 4, press Tab to move to the next control, then just press the first letter of the value that you want to enter to set the value (P for pass, F for fail, etc.):
Alternatively, hit the space bar to set to blank:
If you can’t remember the options, then hit the Enter or Return keys to see the menu that appears when you click it:
Changes to Existing Features
Updated Printed Report Format
We have updated the printed reports to fix a number of issues with them and to make them more clear.
Updated Max Zs Rules
The max Zs rules have been updated.
Observation Text Fixed
The text of observations is now fixed by the application.
This is how it should have been before, but you can still either enter your own observations if PIRform does not enter them for you from the regulations. It’s just the ones that PIRform enters that are fixed.
Date Values in Reports
Date values now appear correctly in the printed reports.
