U.S. General Services Administration

The GSA Kahua Version 2024.1 goes into Production on March 9, 2024. Below you will find

summaries of the enhancements that go into effect with this release.

Enhancements:

User Interface (Web version only)

● Project edit icon changed to an information icon

● Added empty log view landing page

File Manager Application

● File Manager, Controlled Folders - Ability to move a file to a different folder

● Title Block Template improvements

● New File Manager permissions for QA Accept/Reject and Release/Supersede

Design Review Application

● Design Review: Additional options for File Review Status, and ability to set default value

● Design Review: Configuration options to hide References section

● Design Review: Track Recommended Review Status for all reviewers in the design

review workflow

Automated Account Removal

Onboarding Registration Changes

● Updated user invitation and registration process

● Updated email invitation

● Added email verification

● Improved the registration page

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User Interface

Project edit icon changed to an information icon

The pencil icon in the Header and in Project Finder has been changed to an information icon

to better symbolize the function of viewing project information. This allows the user to view

and select Edit as an action more accurately.

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Added empty log view landing page

Throughout Kahua, we have added a new landing page when users open a default log view

and there are no records present. From this landing page, users with the appropriate

permissions will be able to create new records.

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File Manager Application

File Manager, Controlled Folders - Ability to move a file to a different folder

Prior to this release, when an attempt was made to move one or more files from one

controlled folder to another, the system would present a message that said: "The destination

folder is not compatible".

Now when you attempt to move one or more documents to a different Controlled folder, the

system will present the following prompt:

After clicking Ok, the selected files and their associated revisions will be moved to the

destination folder.

Not all users will have the ability to move files. Only those with the appropriate permissions

to the File Manager application and folders will have this ability.

Title Block Template improvements

When uploading files into Controlled folders, users no longer have to select a Title Block

Template or batch information. If a user wants to use a Title Block Template to auto-populate

metadata for their drawing files in Controlled folders, they no longer have to set up their Title

Block Template in the Configuration application. Now, users can create and apply Title

Block Templates in the File Manager app itself. The steps to do this are below.

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After uploading a drawing into a Controlled folder, upon selecting that file, there will be a

new action to “Create Template”.

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Clicking “Create Template” will bring up the Title Block Template creation interface. Here, a

user can 1) Name their template, and 2) Notate on the drawing where to pull metadata

information from on said drawing(s).

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After Saving the Title Block Template, users can then use the Title Block Template to pull in

metadata for their drawing files when adding new documents.

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When using a Title Block Template, and after uploading the file(s), the files are staged in a

‘Working Folder’ where the metadata extraction process is done. Here you can confirm that

the extraction worked as expected.

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If it’s determined the Title Block extraction was successful, the user should then select the

file and click “Publish” which will move the file from the “Working Folder” to the folder they

originally uploaded the file to.

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After Publishing the file, it is moved back into the folder where the end user originally

uploaded the file to.

This functionality is extremely helpful in populating metadata on files when uploading

multiple drawings that have a similar Title Block layout.

New File Manager permissions for QA Accept/Reject and Release/Supersede

Three new roles for File Manager have been added to the Groups app. The three new roles

are:

● Controlled - QA Manager (QA Accept / Reject)

● Controlled - Release

● Controlled - Supersede

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To match existing behavior, groups that currently include either the Administrator, Moderator,

or Contributor roles for File Manager will have the Controlled - QA Manager (QA

Accept/Reject) role selected by default as well.

Groups that currently include the Administrator or Moderator roles for File Manager will have

both the Controlled - Release and the Controlled - Supersede roles selected by default.

The intent of this change is to provide greater control and granularity around who can do

what. Some organizations want only certain individuals to be able to be in the QA Role and

Accept/Reject documents, and only other individuals to Release or Supersede documents.

NOTE: The Release and Supersede roles do not come into play when documents are

processed into a Design Review and then released by virtue of completing that Design

Review.

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Design Review Application

Design Review: Additional options for File Review Status, and ability to set default value

Previous to this change, as files in a Design Review Set were given a Review Status, the

only available options were:

● A - Approved

● B - Approved as Noted

● C - Revise and Resubmit

With this release, there are two new values available for Review Status:

● No Comment

● Not Applicable

Additionally, it's now possible to set a default value, such that it's no longer necessary to

manually enter a status for every-single-file in the Design Review Set (which in some cases

involves hundreds of documents).

These changes improve the usability for reviewers who only need to review a subset of the

design package that pertains to their area of expertise; no longer requiring them to ‘touch’

every file unnecessarily.

NOTE: By default, the Recommended Review Status will remain ‘blank', which mimics

current behavior.

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Design Review: Configuration options to hide References section

Three new configuration settings have been added to control the display of the various

Reference Sections associated with the Design Review Set:

1. Configuration | Applications | Design Review Sets | Fields | References (Design Review

Set)

2. Configuration | Applications | Design Review Sets | Fields | References (Files for

Review)

3. Configuration | Applications | Design Review Comments | Fields | References

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Though all three References sections will be visible by default, any combination of them can

be configured to not appear. Also, any or all can be relabeled as desired.

Design Review Comments - Added ability to view comments and plans together

In the Design Review Comments app, we added the ability to view the plans and comments

together on the same screen to facilitate logging and reviewing comments. Support for this

existed for viewing an extracted markup alongside the drawing/plan, but not ad hoc File

comments, which has been added. This feature also has had it’s performance greatly

improved. Lastly there is now a toggle button to flip between the drawing and the detail view

of the record.

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Viewer Toggled On - Comment and Drawing are visible

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Viewer Toggled Off - Comment and Drawing metadata detail are visible

Design Review: Track Recommended Review Status for all reviewers in the design review

workflow

Previously, when Primary/Lead Reviewers or Interim Reviewers would enter their value in

the Review Status field, it would be overwritten by the subsequent Primary/Lead Reviewer,

Interim Reviewer or Final Reviewer. We have added a new field called Recommended

Review Status that will record the review status assigned by each reviewer in the design

review workflow. These values will appear in a table and can be reported on. Once the

design review moves on to the next review step in the workflow, the reviewer will no longer

be able to modify the field. Only the Final Reviewer will be able to update the Review

Status field.

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Automated Account Removal

Summary

Automated Account Removal functionality programmatically removes inactive Kahua users

from the domain(s) the user has been inactive on. Automated Account Removal

functionality is disabled by default and needs to be enabled in Kahua Backend and in

Domain Settings app. Inactive users are sent warning email notifications for multiple days

before their account is removed. An email notification is also sent to the user once their

account has been removed.

A user is deemed inactive if they have not opened a Kahua domain app (e.g., RFIs,

Submittal Items, Design Review, Cost apps) for the configured inactivity threshold days.

Please note only logging in to Kahua without accessing a Kahua domain app is not deemed

as activity by a user in a Domain. Also, Tasks and Messages apps are not domain apps.

If a removed user account is reinstated, the user will have access to their pre-account

removal data and projects.

Onboarding Registration Changes

Updated user invitation and registration process

We’ve updated the email used to invite new users to your Kahua domain, added an email

verification process for those users, and improved the registration page for both internal

contacts (users in your own company) and external contacts (users in a different company).

Note: Any existing invitations that have not yet been accepted are not impacted by this

change and do not have to be re-sent.

Updated email invitation

The email invitation that is sent to the internal and external contacts you invite to join your

Kahua network has been updated. Any pre-existing custom text or links will continue to be

included in the email invitation.

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Added email verification

When a new user opens Kahua for the first time from the invitation email, a login code will

be sent to their email account to verify their email address. The user will be required to enter

that code into the login screen. The code will expire after 15 minutes. The user can then

request that a new code be sent.

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Improved the registration page

New users are required to complete the registration page to create their account. These new

users are either internal contacts, which are employees of your own company, or external

contacts, which are employees of a different company. The registration pages for both types

of users have been updated.

New internal contacts are added in the Users app and will be required to select their

password and accept the agreement terms in the updated registration page.

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