Release 12.0
Introduction
We proudly present the 12th release of 4Industry! This release contains a brand new module called Centerlining. In addition, we have made improvements in the mobile UI, implemented out-of-the-box processes that can help you get up and running faster and of course a lot of small improvements. For all the new functionality and how to use these, check out the release notes below.
Table of contents
Centerlining
Centerlining is a set of visual tools in manufacturing used to ensure that machines perform at an optimal level. The objective is for machines to function at maximum efficiency while consistently producing high-quality products.
From the perspective of frontline workers, a centerline is a reference point that indicates whether a machine is running properly. If the centerline shifts, something is going wrong within the machine and adjustments need to be made to maintain efficiency.
Parameter database
The Parameter Database is used to configure the different control points or settings for each Ware (eg Product, SKU, Format) for each machine. These settings are combined in groups of Settings called 'Setting Plans'. For a detailed overview of how to configure your Wares, Setting and Setting Plan, please review the implementation documentation here.
Centerline Audit Definitions
These are audits executed by operators to align the settings of an equipment for a specific ware. They are organized into sections, which are dynamically generated based on conditions. This enables an incredibly deep amount of customization into which settings we want to centerline. For a detailed overview of how to configure Audits, please review the implementation documentation here.
To ensure a fast sync, no more than 100 centerline audits may be synced per work area.
Mobile executor
This is used by the operators to run the centerline audit. Here they can select the ware they are going to centerline the settings for, and then go through each section verifying each Setting against the defined Setting Standard for that ware and equipment. Each setting has a different input field depending on its data type, as well as multiple status options that are defined by the Audit Definition.
For a detailed overview of how to request and execute Audit Instances, please review the implementation documentation here.
Audit Reporter
Similar to the Assessment Reporter, the Audit Reporter is used to review all past Centerlining Audits executed on a specific equipment. Is accessed through the equipment page, and then on the newly added “Report” tab. It shows a matrix view where the y-axis represents the setting definitions for that equipment, and each column on the x-axis represents a Centerline Audit Instance.
Each cell is the result of a setting in a particular audit. It has a details panel that allows you to deep dive into the results, create tasks, check for existing tasks related to the result or any additional images/comments provided by the operators at the time of execution. It also has a faceted filter, enabling you to filter the audits by shift, by ware and if you want to sort them ascending or descending based on their dates.
For a detailed overview on how to use the Audit Reporter, please review the implementation documentation here.
Change Management
We’ve improved the flow for creating Change Proposal Assessment. We have an OOTB Playbook called Default MoC Process that demonstrates how the flow works. This provides an example implementation, while also using all the new flows that have been either created or updated. It covers all the stages of a Management of Change Process: Request, Asess, Prepare, Implement and Review.
Based on the type of changes done, it will retrieve different assessments for the next step. This is based on a new location property that defines what assessment definition should be used, This means a more dynamic playbook, enabling that different locations can have different change proposal assessments for example.
For a detailed changelog, check the documentation here.
Make sure to create the Local Location Property first, otherwise the Flow will fail. The value should be the sysid of the assessment definition you want to use for the flow.
Equipment / Work Area selector
It is now possible to set your own filters for the Equipment / Work Area selector. This means that you can (for example) filter the information based on installation status or process. You can configure this by going to the place where the Equipment / Work Area selector is configured (for example the Record page), and clicking on Edit work area filter or Edit equipment filter.
Open Equipment and Work Areas from the Task Form
Often, when working on tasks, you need information on the related Equipment or Work Area. To make this information easily accessible, it is now possible to configure the ‘Open Reference’ field configuration. When configured on a reference field (eg a field that references another table), it will show an icon inside the field when that field is filled. Clicking it will open the related record. For details on how it works and how to configure it, please check out our implementation documentation here.
Quick Action Sheet
The Quick Action Sheet (formerly known as the FAB action) allows the user quick access to some of the most used actions. Previously, it allowed for quickly creating new tasks such as Deviations, Feedback or Safety Issues. In this release, we are introducing a new UI and the ability to open a webpage.
New UI with more options
The new UI has several benefits:
A maximum of 12 options to configure.
Better use of the screen space to quickly open your favourite action.
Use of colours so it is easier to find the action that you are looking for.
Open Webpage action
Together with the new UI, we are also allowing the ability to open a webpage or dashboard. You might already have seen this functionality in the Form Actions, where you can open a web page or Dashboard from a Task. This is now also possible as an action through the Quick Action Sheet.
For an overview of how to configure the new actions, please take a look at the implementation documentation here.
S.H.E. Issues
We have improved the OOTB process for Safety Issues, enabling users to handle safety issues using an optional playbook.
When creating an S.H.E. issue from mobile, the risk will be automatically calculated by the combination of Effect, Probability of Recurrence and Exposure Frequency.
When opening the issue from UXF, you will now see a playbook Icon, this playbook will guide you through all the steps of safety management: Verification, Witness Interviews, Investigation and Resolution.
For a detailed changelog, check the documentation here.
Added languages
Support for the following languages has been added to 4Industry in R12:
Italian (Italiano)
Swedish (Svenska)
The following languages are supported as well:
Brazilian Portuguese (Português Brasileiro)
Czech (čeština)
French (Français)
German (Deutsch)
Japanese (日本語)
Polish (Polski)
Portuguese (Português)
Russian (Русский)
Spanish (Español)
Thai (ไทย)
Breaking changes
Mobile API v1 has been deprecated. Please make sure to migrate completely to Mobile API v2 before upgrading to R12 to make sure the mobile applications continue to work.
The old Knowledge Base (the one in the old Service Portal) is removed after being deprecated in the previous release.
Requesting tasks from the Knowledge Base on mobile is an online-only functionality. This is needed since the Task Instance is generated based on the Standard on the server.
The Quick Action Sheet will require you to select a Color and Icon for your existing configuration. The mobile applications will use a fallback by default, but to get the most out of this new feature, be sure to select fitting icons and colours.
Known issues
Please expect a lot of skipped changes when installing R12 for labels and other translated fields. This is due to the migration to Translation Management v2. This should give you more control over which fields you would want to keep customized and which you want to update with the OOTB translations.
The process of cancelling the playbook of a change request is not working, pending a bug fix from ServiceNow. The task is cancelled correctly but the playbook must be cancelled manually.
In mobile, deleting attachments requires an additional sign-off (if sign-off is enabled for that task).
When starting a job in Android, navigating back without saving will not show the “unsaved changes” popup. This means that changes will not be automatically saved when navigating back. Make sure to always press the save icon in the top right corner before navigating away.
When an installation is done without the language packs, the sys_ui_message table will flag messages in different languages as being English. We recommend installing the different language packs to resolve this issue.
When creating a new version of an Assessment, the translations of the previous version don't get copied. This is a known limitation of the NowPlatform which they have marked as a known issue as well.
Form actions can only be configured per instance, not per location. This issue will be resolved in R14.
Other notable improvements
NowPlatform
The Reference component that shows data from another table (for example for showing a dropdown with the Users in Assessment Management) is paginated. This should result in much better performance, especially with large lists.
The Suggestions tab in mobile that can be shown by checking the 'Assist' checkbox on a Table Configuration is called Assist to align with the naming in the back-end.
Mobile
The iOS app now supports iOS and iPadOS 17.
The Android app now supports Android 13 and 14.
In the Knowledge Base, we removed the Read/Request buttons and made the whole cell clickable.
We’ve updated the logo of iOS to match our current style guide.
The default pencil colour for drawing images in iOS has been set to red.
Some minor security improvements are based on the yearly vulnerability test.
On both iOS and Android, the Suggestion tab has been renamed to Assist.
It is possible to sync the State of a Job between devices. Note that syncing the content of the Job is not supported.