apron:pilot - Outlook to version 1.2

: 22 March 2023

Outlook to version 1.2

The next major release will be version 1.2. Due to the large number of new features, a release in 2022 was no longer possible, so we thought we would use the time and deliver it a little later. But there were still some updates in 2022.

Below you will find a first preview of the new features, further below some screenshots, of course this list is not complete & will be constantly expanded (as of March 2023):

General

Update of underlying software technologies
Renaming "Report a bug" to "Contact"
Notification popups have been optimized for smartphone & tablet resolutions (now span over full screen width)
Popup input masks have been optimized for various devices
Many, many bug corrections

Introducing PREMIUM

PREMIUM subscription introduced! The free version has now restricted functionality and restricted conditions for the usage. In order to get more out of apron:pilot the PREMIUM subscription is required. In the application PREMIUM can be subscribed via the account page. All administrators will also find a flag "GO PREMIUM" with additional information throughout the application where a PREMIUM restriction applies. Find more information on the website or HERE / LINK

Dashboard

Locked aircraft don't appear anymore in the list of aircraft and their status
When a reservation is active, a little two-dot blinking marker is shown next to the date. The marker appears 30 minutes before the planned reservation start and disappears after reservation end
ONLY PREMIUM: When an aircraft is in MAINTENANCE and a planned end date for the maintenance work is entered by the administrator, it is shown in the aircraft status table

Reservation Calendar

Locked aircraft don't appear anymore in the list for all users. No action is possible and no viewing of data is possible as long as the aircraft is in status "locked".
The rating expiration warning and booking prevention has been enhanced / fixed: The rating validity date is now considered as "until including", thus making reservations on the same day of the expiration possible. Example: A rating for an aircraft is valid until 01.10., then reservations on this day are possible until the end of the day.
ONLY PREMIUM: When an aircraft is in MAINTENANCE and a planned end date for the maintenance work is entered by the administrator, it is shown in the reservation creation and edit mask

My reservations

When a reservation is active, a little two-dot blinking marker is shown next to the date. The marker appears 30 minutes before the planned reservation start and disappears after reservation end

My Profile

Locked aircraft don't appear anymore in the list of assigned aircraft
ONLY PREMIUM: New tab "Ratings" allows users to see the ratings and
if activated by administrators
also allow users to send an update request for ratings, enter a new date and submit a verification file to administrators. After approval the new date is automatically entered. Pilots are informed via mail about the outcome of their rating renewal requests.

Digital Logbook

Information about which entries are shown, e.g. Showing 1 to 10 entries (Total: 40), was added to the logbook
Locked aircraft don't appear anymore in the list for all users. No action is possible and no viewing of data is possible as long as the aircraft is in status "locked".

Information - Aircraft

Locked aircraft don't appear anymore in the list for all users. No action is possible and no viewing of data is possible as long as the aircraft is in status "locked".
ONLY PREMIUM: If configured, corresponding additional fields with information are displayed in the respective information blocks (e.g. maintenance or fuel)
ONLY PREMIUM: The next planned maintenance is shown if the administrators entered it
ONLY PREMIUM: When an aircraft is in MAINTENANCE and a planned end date for the maintenance work is entered by the administrator, it is shown in the maintenance information table on the details page as well as in the overview page
ONLY PREMIUM: If a planned maintenance end date is entered by the administrator and the status changes to MAINTENANCE, all users having reservatins in the given timeframe (between today and planned end date) might get notified by mail about the status change to MAINTENANCE with an additional message by the administrator

Information - Members

Locked aircraft don't appear anymore in the list of assigned aircraft for the user.

Information - NOTAM

ONLY PREMIUM: Users can now receive NOTAM also as e-mails if the administrator or power user send them. The e-mail will show the text as well as the attachments (if attached to the e-mail).

Invoice Module

When entering the amount for custom invoice items, especially when copy & pasting them, the field now accepts also values with currency symbols or amount placeholders and removes them. Examples for accepted values: $ 123, 247$, 123,45 €, € 123.45, € 123,45.-
When editing an invoice a message appears on top, that the invoice has unsaved changes. If you then try to navigate to another page, click the back button, reload the page or navigate away via the browser, your browser will ask you for confirmation. Remark: This relies on the browser funtionality and might not work on all devices (especially smartphones or tablets or non-supported browsers)
ONLY BUSINESS PLAN: The consecutive number of the invoices can now be changed to [NNNN] (four digitas) or [NNN] (three digits) via the invoice number format field in the settings. With this change, invoice numbers with shorter numbers are possible. Examples: 2022_0001, 2022-07-23_044, Invoice#021
ONLY BUSINESS PLAN: Bank data fields have been introduced which allows the administrator to include them via placeholders (#BANK_NAME#, #BANK_BENEFICIARY#, #BANK_IBAN#, #BANK_BIC#) in PDF invoices (e.g. in footer columns) as well as the creation of QR code for SEPA transactions.
The QR code can either be used in invoices via the placeholders #QR# (with label, default) & #QR_WL# (without label) or the option to attach them automatically to the invoice end page can be enabled. Users can use their mobile banking apps and scan the QR code, which prefills the transaction fields (only applies to EU SEPA transactions & where the mobile banking app allows scanning of QR codes! no support is provided for banking apps & QR code scanning!)
All placeholders also come with short form syntax options: #BNAME# or #BANK_NAME#, #BANK_BENEFICIARY# or #BENEFIC#, #BANK_IBAN# or #IBAN#, #BANK_BIC# or #BIC#
In the invoices list a total row has been added, showing the total amount of all filtered invoices. For example you can now easily search for invoices from a specific year and easily get the sum of all those invoices

Settings - Ratings

ONLY PREMIUM: Administrators can activate the automatic renewal process for the internal checkflight date. If active, the admins can configure the criteria for the automatic renewal for each aircraft under aircraft details > ratings: the default behavior to manually set a date is still valid, the new option "time based" allows to configure a value for the period (days) under review (e.g. 90 days), the required flight time (hours) in that given period (e.g. 5) and the extension period (days) if the required flight time is met (e.g. 30 days). Over night a job runs automatically and calculates for each aircraft and each user if the requirements are met and updates the internal checkflight to the new date. A mail is sent to the pilot that was updated, as well as a summary (incl. PDF) to administrators or power users.
IMPORTANT: To receive these notifications the notification has to be enabled for the corresponding administrators or power users under user details > notifications! Everything is described in the online help in chapter "Rating Renewals"
ONLY PREMIUM: Administrators can activate the rating renewal request for pilots. If enabled, users can request the renewal of a rating via their profile page, specifying the new date and uploading proof (e.g. a photo or scan of an updated license). Administrators/Power Users, as well as a configurable e-mail notification list, are informed and can manage the requests via a dedicated page in the administration menu

Settings - User groups

ONLY PREMIUM: User groups can now be created that are used for various functions throughout the application. User groups can have a fix or dynamic assignment of users. Dynamic lets the administrator configure certain rules (e.g. aircraft, user role, labels etc.) which will assign users automatically based on the configured criteria. User groups can be used as NOTAM recipient groups and showing/hiding NOTAM messages to only certain user groups (e.g. NOTAM relevant for aircraft only shown to these users). It is also possible to add manual addresses, without a linked user, to a user group which allows further flexibility. This is however only relevant & used for user groups that are used for e-mail sending (e.g. NOTAM e-mail recipient groups)

Settings - Custom fields

ONLY PREMIUM: New custom field types have been introduced: DATE allows to require a date for the field. Also the settings dialogue for configuring the custom fields has been redone
ONLY PREMIUM: Custom fields can now also be set to be relevant for aircraft. They can be configured as general aircraft related information, fuel specific or maintenance specific information. Depending on this setting the fields appear in different sections in the aircraft info page

Settings - Invoicing

ONLY BUSINESS PLAN: New fields for bank information have been introduced: bank name, beneficiary name, IBAN & BIC codes. Also an option to gobally enable the QR code attachment to PDF invoices can be activated

Administration - Aircraft

ONLY PREMIUM: Custom fields can now be configured also for aircraft allowing various further information to be stored. They are configured under settings and then appear unter "Additional Data", "Maintenance" or "Logbook" in the fuel section
ONLY PREMIUM: The planned next maintenance date (start & end) can be entered in the maintenance tab. This will show a shaded area in the calendar and inform users via the information page.
ONLY PREMIUM: When switching the status to MAINTENANCE a planned end date can be entered which will be shown to the users. Also a notification to users having reservatins in the given timeframe (between today and planned end date) can be notified by mail about the status change to MAINTENANCE with an additional message
The maximum amount of characters for the status message has been increased to 200, allowing now longer status messages
Fixed the status message not being saved when entering a new aircraft

Administration - Users

ONLY PREMIUM: If automatic renewal of internal checkflights are active, the notification of this for users can be activated. If activated the user will receive a summary mail with all updates performed also as pdf.
ONLY PREMIUM: If users are allowed to submit rating update requests, the notification of new requests for users can be activated. If activated the user will receive a mail notification about the newly entered request with a link to manage all the requests.
Fixed an issue with the user importer when the internal_checkflight_date was improperly set in the import file

Administration - NOTAM

ONLY PREMIUM: New icons and colors added for NOTAM
ONLY PREMIUM: NOTAM can now also be distributes as e-mails. Therefore a new option was introduced that allows either to only show the NOTAM in the app, send it also as an e-mail or even send it as an e-mail (in this case the NOTAM is only visible for the administrators and power users). It can also be decided if the files of a NOTAM will be attached to the mail or not (limit is 5 files and a maximum of total 5 MB per e-mail with files to avoid high traffic). NOTAM marked for sending are read-only until the sending is done, however the sending process can be aborted. Sending NOTAM as e-mails occurs every 5 minutes, so a slight delay is to be expected.