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Changelog

Electrical Bid Manager™

Changelog for Electrical Contractor Software

We continually improve Electrical Bid Manager through customer feedback and internal ideas. The Extended Service Plan (ESP) or Subscription for your Electrical Bid Manager™ (EBM) includes all upgrades we release. Learn more about ESP or Learn more about Subscription.

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Upcoming Releases

  • Improved Pricing Updates: We are researching better ways of updating EBM with EPIC Pricing.
  • New Items & Assemblies: Quarterly enhancements to item/assembly database.
  • User Interface Updates: Adding look & feel improvements
  • Speed and Stability: We continue to work on adding speed and stability enhancements to EBM.
  • Email us at support@visioninfosoft.com with any improvement suggestions. Or use our support webform here.

New Feature Highlights

  • Added: New items and assemblies add to the EBM database. (22.0 - Build 08.05.22)
  • Added: Officially Windows 11 compatible. (22.0 - Build 08.05.22)
  • Added: Report added to Motor Control Centers Takeoff
  • Added: Expanded the Price Comparison Report from 3 columns to 5 per customer request.
  • Added: The number of possible Bid Summaries increased to 100
  • Added: The "Editing item" view offers a new "Assemblies" tab. This tab displays a list of Assemblies the item is a member of.
  • Added: New Excel XLSX report export format

Version 11.9 was a massive release, and we added more to it in July 2022. Because of all the improvements, we have versioned up Electrical Bid Manager to version 22.0 and jumped into a new versioning infrastructure.

New Release Plan

  • Version 22.0 kickstarts a new versioning structure that is year-based.
  • Our release goal is one major release and multiple minor releases each year.
  • Each major release will match the calendar year.

Added Features

  • Windows 11 Compatible
    • This is our first release that is officially Windows 11 compatible.
    • We have upgraded all major backend components of Electrical Bid Manager (EBM) for Windows 11 compatibility.
    • Previous releases of version 11 (11.8 and earlier) should function on Windows 11. However, we will no longer continue to maintain Windows 11 compatibility on EBM v11.x as Microsoft serves up new major updates.
  • Updated EBM's database
    • Added items, fixed typos, and improved several assemblies.
  • Report added to Motor Control Centers Takeoff
    • A new "Report" button was added. This report provides a Motor Hookup schedule report.
  • Updated EBM's Appearance engine.
    • Appearance engine updated to latest version and added new "Blue Shadows", "Windows 11 light", and Fluent White" options.
  • Expanded the Price Comparison Report from 3 columns to 5 per customer request.
    • User can now source up to 5 pricing sources to compare to Target. Up to 5 EPIC NetPricer suppliers and manually imported Custom Price Files (CPF) can be compared.
  • The number of possible Bid Summaries increased to 100
    • EBM was limited to 39 Bid Summaries. A customer in Ohio asked to increase this and explained they were at the mercy of the construction managers and their bid forms. We increased the limit to 100.
  • Quickly identify what Assemblies an Item is a member of.
    • The "Editing item" view offers a new "Assemblies" tab. This tab displays a list of Assemblies the item is a member of.
  • New Excel XLSX report export format
    • We updated the Excel export format to include the latest features of the XLSX file format.
  • Bid Log print option now allows more column options.
    • The Bid Log print function only had a subset of columns that were printable. We added the full list of columns.
  • Item Editing window now states the Price Discount is a percentage.
    • Added "%" symbol to the "Discount" label to eliminate confusion.
  • Edit button added to Temp Misc additional items takeoff.
    • On the Temp Misc takeoff module, there is an EDIT button that allows a user to edit previously created items. However, there was not an EDIT button on other takeoff modules that access the Temp Misc item takeoff through the "Additional Items" tab. We added this EDIT button to maintain consistency and added convenience.
  • Updated EBM to work better with some Windows network policies and antivirus software.
    • Electrical Bid Manager actively creates, deletes, and edits several files located in the primary EBM3K installation folder. Some antivirus software and some Windows policies do not like this behavior. We have updated how Electrical Bid Manager manages this process to follow new Windows standards.
  • Upgraded AlphaSkins engine (appearance settings engine)
    • Upgrading AlphaSkins to version 16.19 added Windows 11 compatibilities and general speed improvements.
  • Upgraded DBISAM database system.
    • Upgrading the DBISAM database to version 4.5 provided stability and speed improvements to Electrical Bid Manager.

Fixed

  • Batch Modify function in Job Extension Report fixed.
    • EBM 11.8 introduced a bug where Batch Modify wouldn't commit updates to all selected items.
  • Fixed Audit Trail editing causing crashes
    • For some users that do a lot of editing in the Audit Trail, there was a bug that would cause EBM to stop responding.
  • Quick Branch takeoff module issue with certain Conduit/Wire.
    • If Branch Circuits default coupling is set to "Set Screw" and the user manually selects Compression Steel while doing a Quick Branch takeoff, the coupling taken off would be "Set Screw" when Compression Steel is expected.
  • Safety switches typo in descriptions
    • 2P Safety Switches had "2P-3P" in the description. We cleaned up the descriptions.
  • Open Items not presented to user under specific conditions.
    • We found that in some situations, when a user runs the Extension Report, an Open Item would not be presented to the user for input as expected.
  • Save screen capability in 'Branch Circuits' takeoff module not saving the terminations properly.
    • Save Screen now saves the user selected terminations properly.
  • Price Comparison report wasn't highlighting the correct cells in some situations.
    • The Price Comparison report allows users to compare their supplier pricing to the EPIC Target Price. The user can then select which pricing to use on the bid. The tool highlights the lowest price for each item in the bid. This highlighting now works properly.
  • "Additional Items" issue in Quick Devices takeoff
    • When you make takeoff entries from Quick Devices, include "additional items", then follow up with another entry of the same device WITHOUT the "additional items", the "additional items are still included in the new entry.
  • Deleting entries in the Audit Trail caused the "Edit to Source" function to stop responding.
    • EBM 11.8 had an issue with some types of deleted entries in the Audit Trail. It would improperly disable the "Edit to Source" function.
  • Problem restoring databases larger than 4GB
    • When restoring a large database that also requires data updates, the restore would freeze. We located the issue and fixed this in 11.9.
  • User created branch assembly has wrong connector.
    • A user created a "Steel Flex 4-12s solid" branch assembly and it had the wrong connector. The assembly was using the "default" connector. This has been fixed.
  • Custom Assemblies entered using PlanSwift misbehaved when using "Edit to Source" on the entry.
    • When Custom Assemblies quantities are entered using PS, and that assembly includes conduit/wire or cable 'saved assemblies', you cannot remove the conduit/wire using edit to source. The program acts as though you're trying to remove the customer device also. This has been fixed.
  • Power User attribute editing function restored.
    • EBM attribute editing now allows more than one checkbox to be SIMULTANEOUSLY checked and DISPLAYED in the right-most column.
  • Database upgrade process improved
    • For users running 5+ year old Electrical Bid Manager versions that upgrade to the latest, we have improved the processes that upgrade database items.
  • Fixed close button on Job Extension report file export.
    • If the user clicked the close button (X) while EBM saved out the Job Extension report, EBM would lock up. This was a very short window of time but could happen on slow networks or slow computers. This is fixed.
  • Job Extension Spreadsheet window interface updates to fix partially obscured buttons.
    • On some computers using unverified display resolutions, the Job Extension Spreadsheet window would cut off part of the buttons along the bottom. We have made changes to help prevent this from occurring.
  • Backhoe labor Unit of Measure (UoM) values inconsistent
    • Updated all UoM for Backhoe items to all be C UoM.

Update your Electrical Bid Manager™ Today!

Call us at (800) 258-7752 to update.