V5.2 What is New?

==============================================================
V5.2 Changes (2025-04-15)
==============================================================

Major Enhancements & New Packages

- Attendance Management:
  This package allows employees to track their work start and end
  times independently of specific projects. Fully integrated with
  timesheet management, it enables seamless comparison between
  project hours and total hours spent at work.

- Budget Planning and Tracking:
  This feature enables users to define hierarchical project budgets
  using a simple drag-and-drop interface. It extends ]po[’s
  applicability to traditional construction and engineering
  projects while also catering to large enterprises that
  need to track project progress against budgets.
  A smart classification engine automatically assigns actual costs
  to budget line items based on factors such as cost type, material,
  project phase, creator, and other parameters.
  Financial staff can override these default classifications as needed.
  A tutorial is available — contact us for access.

- Single Sign-On:
  The package allows users to login using Google, Microsoft and
  potentially other OAuth2 providers.

- Automatic Release Documentation:
  This package parses and displays GIT information about the current
  ]po[ release, including changes in submodules.


Minor Improvements

- Gantt Editor:
  - The scheduling algorithm now allows for thousands of tasks thanks to
    reduced n*log(n) complexity
  - Now displays project baselines for clearer tracking.
  - Added an "initials" field for users to prevent duplicate initials in
    large organizations.

- Workflow:
  - Manually entered workflow comments are now prominently displayed.
  - Added filters to the workflow inbox: Workflow, author, and role
  - Introduced batch actions to the workflow inbox to handle multiple
    workflow cases simultaneously.
  - Admins can now manually restart workflows
  - Added vacation replacement functionality.
  - Enabled running multiple workflows per object.
  - The vacation approval workflow now shows intersecting absences for
    better scheduling.

- Profit Center Management:
  Added a chart visualizing revenue and profit per profit center.

- Reporting:
  All reports now use their report name when downloaded as CSV.

- Other:
  - Standardized the use of LibreOffice across the platform.
  - Implemented thousands of small fixes and enhancements tailored for
    large organizations.


Security

- V5.2 resolves several critical security issues
- Fixed vulnerability vl-id=2225
- Added type checking ("-limit_to $type") to all im_opt_val calls
- Removed most [ns_conn form] calls and added checking to the remaining ones
- Audit:
  - Extended audit logging to all business objects
  - Sending out warning mails in case of unaudited object changes


Platform Changes

- Updated Infrastructure:
  We upgraded the underlying tech stack to Ubuntu server 24.04,
  PostgreSQL 16, OpenACS 5.9.1, and Naviserver 4.99.8.

- Migration to GIT:
  We’ve successfully completed the long-awaited migration to GIT.
  The old CVS server now only contains code up to V5.0.


==============================================================
V5.1 Changes (2021-07-15)
==============================================================

Major Enhancements & New Packages

- Gantt Editor Improvements:
  The Gantt Editor was introduced in ]po[ V5.0.
  V5.1 brings a higher resolution in the scheduling engine
  and many small fixes and enhancements.

Security

- Fixed Security Issues:
  V5.1 fixes several important security issues that required
  important changes in system libraries to fix.

- Implemented CSP (Content Security Policy):
  The entire application now uses CSP.

Platform Changes

- We updated the underlying infrastructure to OpenACS 5.9.0,
  PostgreSQL 10.x, Naviserver 4.99.7 and CentOS 8.2

- We have finally managed to migrate to GIT. The old CVS
  server only contains code until V5.0.



==============================================================
V5.0 Changes (2020-04-27)
==============================================================

]project-open[ V5.0 include several major new packages:

- Gantt Editor:
  A HTML5 editor for Gantt charts, similar to MS-Project,
  ProjectLibre and GanttProject, but currently without
  critcial path scheduling.

- Task Management:
  A HTML5 display that shows the tasks assigned to a user
  in green, yellow or red, depending on execution status of
  the tasks.

- Charts and Diagrams:
  V5.0 includes several new HTML5 charts and diagrams for
  visualizing statistics and performance indicators.

- Portfolio Planner:
  A HTML5 editor and scenario planner for project portfolios
  similar to the Gantt Editor, allowing to simulate the
  resource load of the assigned users and their departments.

- Project Earned Value Diagram:
  Shows graphically planned work (from the Gantt diagram) vs.
  actual progress (% done) vs. logged hours. Currently only
  shows numbers based on hours.

- Project Milestone "Slip" Tracker:
  This diagram shows graphically the slip of project
  milestones.

Platform Changes

- PostgreSQL Database:
  V5.0 supports PG 9.2 or higher.

- Application Server:
  V5.0 supports NaviServer 4.99.8.

- OpenACS Community System:
  V5.0 is now based on OpenACS 5.9

- VMware Linux Version:
  V5.0 is based on CentOS 7.

- HTML5 Libraries:
  The HTML5 libraries Sencha ExtJS 4.2.1 and Sencha Touch 2.4.2
  are now part of the core architecture.

These changes are the reason for the release of a major version,
meaning that upgrades from previous versions are not automatic.
Please see the V4.0 -> V5.0 upgrade instructions for details.

Performance

- Update to PostgreSQL 9.x and NaviServer 4.99:
  The update increases performance by up to 50% in
  typcial application scenarios.

- Optimizations for 40.000 Users:
  We have optimized a number of pages in order to deal
  with large numbers of customers and customer contacts

- Filter options for large organizations:
  Most pages now contain filter options suitable for
  organizations with 5.000 active users.

Security

- Polito Inc., a Virginia based cyber security company
  has tested ]po[ V5.0 before using it internally and
  found "no significant vulnerabilities".

- OpenACS 5.9 incorporates several important security
  improvements.

- Improved the built-in IDS (Intrusion Detection System)
  of ]po[

- Fixed header injection issue in redirect code

- Fixed a security issue in the 2nd tier defense in
  util_memoize

Other

- We never officially released ]po[ V4.1 (please see below),
  so please continue to read for additional changes.