HCM v26.9.1 - Interface-to-face

HCM gets its biggest update of the year with 26.9.1, introducing changes across the board to our interface, performance and stability - making data entry and configuration clearer than ever.

What’s new?

Overhaul to old input forms and pages

Across HCM, everywhere you create or edit data has been either rebuilt or fully redesigned - with over 30 major forms being better optimised for faster data entry and clearer required properties and feedback.

These forms include Duties, Flights, Check revalidations, Users, multiple setup definitions and many more - all with a more consistent workflow and helpful labels and tooltips.

These changes include both the OPS and Personal side, so all HCM users should now be able to view, edit and add items easier than before.

A visual refresh across the system

The whole site gets a new lick of paint as we upgrade our underlying infrastructure to more modern technologies.

Doing this help us keep the platform secure, maintainable and fast - whilst making sure we address legibility and styling for each individual page in HCM.

Going forward, this will also help us make requested tweaks faster and release new features even more consistently.

This may mean you notice slightly different fonts, colours and overall layouts throughout each page, with improvements made to the adaptability for more screen sizes.

The Roster gets a facelift, including a new Duty preview

As one of the most important parts of the platform, we wanted to make sure the Roster was as easy to use as possible with this update.

Whilst adding and manipulating duties has largely stayed the same, the controls, visibility settings, filters, actions and previews have been overhauled within the tool.

This layout focuses on making sure everything you need is accessible easily, whilst keeping less critical items out of your way.

One of the biggest new features included is the new Duty preview card, which will now open on the right-hand side when you select a duty. This card can stay open and update in real-time as you keep rostering, meaning you can keep an eye on recalculating rules and other details.

This also includes a new grouping of calculated rules by status - meaning if you have many rules applied to a duty with only one or two errors, HCM will now push those to the top for easy viewing (but you can still see all the fine-grain detail you want with a click).

Creating and editing waypoints/locations is now easier

In preparation for another upcoming update focused on location storing and management in HCM, there is now a new interface for creating and editing waypoints in the HLS Directory.

This will now open a new page to make it easier to manage details, set coordinates and update status - replacing the old pop-up.

Streamlining Flights and the per-base Daily Flight Log

As part of the forms overhaul, the Flight page has been given significant attention.

We've made sure that required items are now more clear, with a more sequential workflow to allow for faster and consistent entry, as well as highlighting important properties when editing an existing flight.

As this applies to both OPS and Personal users, we've made sure that entering flights into the system is the same across the board, including altering the Daily Flight Log for individual bases to use this method - but still allowing to speed up the process by pre-selecting base-specific aircraft and crew to start with a partially complete form.

Once entered, the log will now auto-update with new records to make sure you can create multiple flights back-to-back just as easily as before.

We also tweaked & fixed (a lot):

1. Viewing the rules status of any duty in the Roster will now group into “intact”, “borderline” and “broken”, filtering the most important information first.
2. Changes to scheduled checks will now notify the trainee user, and are easier to reschedule through the Roster and “Checks Due” in Clear-to-fly.
3. Optional “Calculate” option when submitting a new Check revalidation if you have changed the “Performed on” date.
4. Nested simulator-specific options to only appear when you need them when creating or editing a Type.
5. Implemented additional prompts to prevent accidental deleting or archiving of some data objects.
6. More options when bulk selecting user groups for a user in the access list.
7. Time zone override is now defaulted to “off” when creating new users.
8. Flights can now be logged as having engine start/stops on different days than their closest takeoff/landings.
9. Ongoing upgrades to our underlying platform infrastructure, including performance and visual upgrades.
10. Tooltips and conditional warnings have been updated across the system, giving more feedback when you interact with a form or page.
11. Submitting new Check revalidations has been streamlined from the Personal view, adding details for past submissions and requirements.
12. You can now scope fetched flights in Mission Analysis, view the results and export data based on your selection in one pass.
13. Tweaks to the duty reassignment functionality in the Personal view’s logbook for clarity.
14. Ensured that content inside in-page modals is now scrollable when lots of data is shown.
15. Many other minor tweaks and amendments to existing features, forms and pages for better usability.
16. Validation for edited Check Definitions is now more robust.
17. Fixed a problem where dates would display in conflicting time zones when manually scheduling a check.
18. Fixed a problem causing special characters to be rendered incorrectly.
19. Fixed problems where manipulating the system could allow users to direct to pages that shouldn’t be accessible in rare cases.
20. Fixed various longstanding visual bugs.
21. Fixed a problem allowing Recency Items to be created/edited without required fields.
22. Fixed a problem where the login page would not authenticate after redirecting from the “Forgot password?” page.
23. Fixed some popups persisting for too long and covering other clickable items.
24. Many other various minor bugfixes.
25. Removed historic references to legacy SMS reporting functionality.
26. Removed redundant functionality from the Personal view.

If you notice any problems as a result of this update, or have anything to report or suggest in general - submit a ticket for our team here.