Version 13.3 Release Notes
Contents
Important information
Important details you need to be aware of relating to this release and the associated preview.
Preview availability
Details on accessing the preview release.
Detailed explanation of major changes
A full explanation of the enhancements included in the release.
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Important Information
Release Information
Covalent Version 13.3 is scheduled to be released over the weekend of the 16th and 17th November.
Please contact the Helpdesk if you have any questions regarding the contents of this document.

helpdesk@covalentsoftware.com
 01823 350501
 https://covalentsupport.zendesk.com/
Covalent Browser Release Notes
These release notes only relate to the Classic version of Covalent. For details of the latest release of
the browser version, please see the Latest Browser Release Notes Document.
New modules and related training
If you are interested in a quote for any of the new modules or related training, please contact the
Account Management team by e-mail: am@covalentsoftware.com.
Backup Manager
All data backed up is version specific. Any backup files created in previous versions of Covalent cannot
be restored to your site once the new version is released. Therefore, it is recommended that you
replace any backup files as soon as the new version is made available.
Import spreadsheets
Import spreadsheets are kept up to date in line with the new features in each release. Any new ones
will be available on your site when the new version is released; previous versions of the spreadsheet
will not work with the current version of the software.
Documents not available for preview
Please note: In the preview version of the software, documents will not be available to download,
although they will still appear as being linked to items such as Actions, PIs, Scorecards etc.
Report Schedules deleted for preview
Please note: In the preview version of the software, all report schedules will have been deleted, this
is done to reduce load on our servers. You can recreate your schedules if you wish.
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Preview Availability
Accessing the preview version
Version 13.3 is available for preview at these locations:
For UK and Australian customers
http://covalentcpm.com/preview/[your site]
For American customers
http://covalentgov.com/preview/[your site]
Where [your site] is the text at the end of your usual website address. The preview will be available
for 2 weeks starting from Saturday 2nd November.
Accessing the new online help
During the period of the preview, the new online help will be available at the preview web help
location:
http://www.covalentcpm.com/preview_webhelp
Alternatively, you can click on the help icon in the top right-hand corner of Covalent.
Accessing the Resolved Bug List Document for 13.3
A separate document has been created showing the resolved bugs in this version; this can be
accessed here.
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Detailed explanation of Changes
PI Cross Tab reports (ERA01438)
This is a new report type which allows users to produce a data table of PI results, with PI Groups
displayed on one axis and hierarchy items on the other (defined via the Hierarchies screen).
(For full details of how to set up PI Groups and Hierarchies, please download Howdy PIH12.)
The PI Cross Tab layout type gives you a representation of how the report output will look, along with
the usual options for the page set up and the appearance of the report. The invert axis checkbox
allows users to control whether the PI Group data appears as columns or rows within the data table.
The following options are available in the PI Query tab of Report Central:
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Only these PI Groups
This filter allows users to users to specify which PI Group data the report will be displaying.
Time Period
Clicking the ‘Choose Time Period’ button will open a dialog window which allows the user to select
the PI data period to be included in the report output.
Hierarchies
This optional filter determines which elements of the Hierarchies on the site will be included in the
report results. In the example above, data will be displayed for the 3 PI groups for the hierarchy
elements of ‘Eastshire’, ‘Northshire’, ‘Southshire’ and ‘Westshire’. This will produce a data table with
3 columns and 4 rows (or 4 columns and 3 rows if the table’s axes have been inverted) containing 12
PI data values.
Value and Target
Ticking the relevant checkboxes allows the user to specify whether the PI value, target or both will be
displayed within the data table of the Cross Tab report.
Inspections
What is this?
This is a new module which enables organisations to record assets within their organisation, and
provides them with the ability to schedule and carry out inspections of different types on each of
them.
If you are interested in a trial or quote for the Inspections module, please contact the Account
Management team on am@covalentsoftware.com.
Why did we do it?
This module has been in the development schedule for about a year and has been formulated in
conjunction with a customer who has a requirement to record risk assessments, health and safety
assessments and other tasks for their organisation’s assets.
Potential impacts
None. This is an optional standalone module in Covalent Classic.
Further information
There are two main screens in the module; Inspection Templates, an admin view used to set-up the
type of inspections required, and Assets, where an organisations items can be arranged in a hierarchy
according to location, department etc.
Inspection Templates
The Inspection Templates screen is mainly of interest when the module is initially configured, and at
present data can only be modified by Covalent administrators (i.e. customers must contact the
Helpdesk in order to requests additions and changes).
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The screenshot above shows a list of the 3 different templates available on this site for inspecting
assets. The Manual Handling template has two different assessments added. Each Word document
could contain criteria or questions that will be used to inspect each individual asset.
Assets
The core of the module, an Asset could be a process, a piece of equipment or something else which
could be assessed for compliance. Assets appear in a tree (defined in the Hierarchies screen in the
software) that can be set up to reflect the physical location of the items or perhaps the department
or service in the organisation that is responsible for them.
Clicking on an asset in the tree opens the following details screen:
The first tab of the notebook allows users to record various details of the asset, including image files,
which can be used to help identify the item when an inspection is ready to be carried out.
Ownership of the asset is inherited from the defined hierarchy though additional users can also be
added or removed from the panel in this screen.
The Related Links folding panel enables users to associate relevant Risks to the Asset.
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The inspections tab allows administrators to define which of the type of inspections are required to
be carried out for this asset, based on the list of items set up in the Inspection Templates screen.
The next inspection can be set manually by choosing a particular date or can be scheduled to take
place on a scheduled basis.
Once the inspection date is reached, the administrator for the asset can press the Start Inspection
button which will then give them access to the Inspection view:
Once the inspection is complete, the assessor can upload the completed assessment form, add any
actions relating to the assessment that need to be carried out and then sign-off that this stage of the
process complete. The inspection is then passed to the user(s) assigned in the Managed by
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ownership category. This could be the Team Leader or Department head who is responsible for the
item in question.
The Managed by owner(s) can then check the findings of the inspection by reading through the
uploaded form and reviewing the related actions and, assuming that they are happy with both, can
sign off the inspection or reject if there are any problems with the inspection.
Notifications
In the initial release of Inspections, Administrators will receive e-mail notifications when a scheduled
inspection is created, so that they can assign assessors to it (assuming that the administrator didn’t
create the inspection themselves). Also, Assessors will be e-mailed when they are assigned to an
inspection.
We expect to add further notification options in later releases of the module.
Reports
Inspection Layout
This report layout allows you to configure the fields and images that are included in the header
section of the inspections forms.
Asset Report Type and Layout
This new report type enables users to produce a list of assets combined with any data relating to
them and the inspections associated to them.
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Audit module changes now recorded in the Audit Trail
Changes to Audit Files and Recommendations are now recorded in the Audit Trail. Users can also
filter Audit Trail queries by these types of items:
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