News and Announcements

Oriador Staff Rota Version 1.5 Released

2008-02-08T10:55:00.000Z

A new version of Oriador Staff Rota was released.

New sort options: Start Time: Earliest (earliest start in visible period), and Start Time: Initial. These sort the rota view by the staff start time, these are very useful when looking at the single day view.
New Calendar Month view option, shows an entire month at a time.
Attendance information now has visible impact on the Rota view and the Roles view, there is a view option to disable this new feature.
All Day statuses are now represented in the Status View. The "Not Working"/"Day Off" status is not shown.
9 New reports split by Employee Type.
5 New Timesheet reports split by Staff.
New staff pay reports split by month.
New Refresh Read Only Files option. When a file is opened in read only mode, the system will monitor the file for changes by another user and reload when necessary.
New Auto Backup option for .rota files and the Oriador.dat data file. When saving, the previous copy of each file will be retained with the extention ".backup". This is activated by default.
New redundant copy option for .rota files and the Oriador.dat data file. When saving, you can request that the software save a second copy in a backup directory somewhere. You have to activate this setting in the preferences if you want to use it.
A new "Show Role Color" view menu option, this will show the Role color where appropriate, but revert to the Status color in all other cases. The previous option has been renamed "Show Role Color Only".
You can now have the web export option without the colors.
Fix: When right clicking the name of a member of staff in the rota view, sometimes the menu to change their shifts would show, instead of the reset and sorting options.
Fix: The first column on the diary screen didn't work.
New customization option: remove non-working statuses from the "By Role" reports. This allows you to print the Rota By Role reports without showing staff on annual leave or training.
New customization option: hide all day statuses in Status View.
New customization option: show all day "not working" in the status view.

Web Helper Browser v2.0 Released

2007-11-16T14:34:00.000Z

A new version of Web Helper Browser has been released.

Web Helper Browser

Oriador Staff Rota Version 1.4.5 Released

2007-11-12T21:15:00.000Z

We've just uploaded a new version of Oriador Staff Rota.

Added new Maximum Hours basis options to the Auto Schedule. Instead of just specifying maximum weekly hours, you can now specify maximum average weekly hours, maximum hours per calendar month, maximum hours in the current schedule file, or maximum hours in the selected time period.
You can also access the Auto Schedule wizard from the Analysis Reports menu, under Rule & Requirement Reporting.
Fixed sort order on Rota By Role Web Page Export.

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Oriador Staff Rota Version 1.4.4 Released

2007-08-02T10:43:00.000+01:00

We've just uploaded a new version of the software with the following fixes/changes:-

Added "Rota With Roles (Role Color only)" report.
Changed the way the Roles view's "Bring in" options work when not using fixed shift patterns.
Fixed some left over captions to say "Employee Type", instead of the former "Employment Category".
Fixed a problem with the "Find Suitable Staff" option after the active rota file was changed.

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Oriador Staff Rota Version 1.4.3 Released

2007-06-23T22:51:00.000+01:00

A new version of Oriador Rota was released.

New Timesheet reports, showing breakdowns of Role and/or Status information. This can also be exported to Excel.
New Rota with Shift Names report.
New options to show status captions on the timeline.
Option to show short descriptions on reports.
Expanded ruler now shows more markers as the available space increases.
There was a problem with the the Rota (Split by Role/Status) reports, this has been fixed.
New default: Rota By Role report is sorted by time. The former behaviour (by name only) can be restored via a preferences option.
The Reset options now show a popup window offering further options, such as date selection and the ability to ignore days that have been edited.
There is now an option in the Set Shift menu to "Restore Shift Pattern Day". This is like Reset, but can be used more quickly and on a more flexible selection of days, and it doesn't restore diary entries.
The Restore Diary Day option will recover a diary entry that has been changed in the rota.
There is now an option in the Employment Category to change how Paid hours are calculated in the event of all day statuses (Holiday, Vacation, Training etc.).

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Oriador Staff Rota Version 1.4.2 Released

2007-04-17T16:07:00.000+01:00

This update fixes one minor issue: in certain configurations, one of the totals was missing from the printed version of the new Detailed/Custom Analysis report.

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Oriador Staff Rota Version 1.4.1 Released

2007-03-28T19:19:00.000+01:00

A new version of Oriador Rota was released.

Fixed a problem when extending rota files that have had their first day of week changed.
Added date selectors to the "Save Rota to Staff Patterns" window. This allows a staff shift pattern to be created from a selected section of a rota file, rather than just the entire file as before.
Added a customisation option to make the Shifts Toolbar "Add" shifts to a day, rather than "Set" the shift. "Set" clears any existing shift for the day, whereas "Add" allows multiple shifts to be added to the same day.
A few recently added reports weren't hidden/disabled when they should have been.

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Oriador Staff Rota Version 1.4 Released

2007-03-23T15:42:00.000Z

A new version is now available to download.

Added Split by Group versions of the main Timesheet, Rota, and Rota By Role reports.
Added Split By Status and Split By Role Rota reports, plus a color version of each.
New Itemized Analysis Report, to report instances of Role allocation, Status, Absence. Can be split by Group or Staff, and can include Staff Pay details. Can also be exported to Excel.The Timesheet Excel Exporter can now export the Staff Pay report information.
Absence Reasons can now be flagged as unpaid, in which case the hours for the day will be set to zero when the reason is applied. Also, each Absence Reason can have it's own pay multiplier, which will override value in the Staff Pay Scale.
Added a version of the Staff Calendar report which includes total hours worked.
Added a version of the Rota By Staff report which includes total hours worked.
Added easy access to the Sort and Split options in the Rota, Roles and Status views. Can now be changed via the right mouse button menu in the staff/role/status name areas.
Added a staff address mail merge export option.
New option: the Add Shift Menu.
New option: Show "Week Ending" instead of "Week Commencing" in the weekly reports.
Added a Role Color version of the color rota report.
Fixed a problem with the status view when the Allowed Roles option was selected.
Fixed a problem with the Save Rota to Staff Patterns option.
Fixed a problem with the Rota By Staff Report when the report comments option was selected.

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Oriador Staff Rota Version 1.3.1 Released

2007-02-21T11:24:00.000Z

A new version of Oriador Staff Rota has been released.

Added a continuous version of the Rota By Staff report.
Added a Public Holiday column to the Timesheets exports.
Changed Bank Holiday to Public Holiday.
Added Split By Role/Status to the default View Options in the Preferences.
Fixed a problem with locked rota files and multiple saves (if you are using the rota file locking option, this is an important update).

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Oriador Staff Rota Version 1.3 Released

2007-02-04T18:03:00.000Z

A new version of Oriador Rota has been released:-

New: Status View. This is like the Roles view, but split by Status. There are also new Split By options.
New Report: Rota By Status.
Statuses can now be manually sorted.
The default data directory was changed (first time users only, existing users will still use all of their existing files).

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Oriador Staff Rota Version 1.2.8 Released

2006-12-29T12:03:00.000Z

A new version of Oriador Staff Rota has been uploaded. The major changes are as follows:-

The improved Auto Scheduler now takes account of the new Role Priorities feature.
New Auto Scheduler option to use staff shift patterns to force a day off. This allows the auto scheduler to do 4 days on, 4 days off (for example), or to enforce an alternate weekends off system.
New Auto Scheduler option to make sure staff work the same shift all week, no switching between shifts from day to day.
NOTE: Changes to the defaults for the recently added pay reports, and three new options to re-activate the previous method: the Overtime multiplier is now only used for working time (other hours, such as holidays, will always be listed at their stated rate). The Bank Holiday multiplier will also only apply to working time. Finally, the Bank Holiday multiplier will not be applied in cases of absence. Options to re-activate each of the former methods can be found on the Customisations page of the Preferences. If you have any questions or comments about any of these changes, or have further suggestions, please get in touch.

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Oriador Staff Rota Version 1.2 Released

2006-12-12T09:00:00.000Z

Version 1.2 of Oriador Staff Rota has just been released. The major changes are as follows:-

Now supports all possible First Day of Week options.
Roles list can now be sorted by seniority.
Added Sort By Default Role Seniority option.
Added Sort By PayrollID option.
New View Option: highlight changed shifts.
New View Option: hide unused roles.
New View Option: show role level graphs.
New report: Pay reports split by day.
New report: Pay reports using one rate for weekdays and the second rate for weekends.
New report: Compacted version of the staff calendar.
New report: Sign in/Sign out sheet.
New export option: 15 minute staff levels export.
Auto Schedule(beta) is more respectful of diary settings.
New Rota file locking option for multiple users.
Payroll ID is now displayed in some Staff listings.
New default options for Print Preview and Select Date Range.
It is now possible to exclude certain days of the week from rota reports.
It is now possible to choose to reset only unchanged days during the reset (preferences option must be selected).
The staff level graphs can now show an average staff level for the day.
Other Misc. tweaks and fixes.

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Oriador Staff Rota Version 1.1 Released

2006-09-16T19:28:00.000+01:00

Version 1.1 has been released. There are quite a lot of changes, but the major ones are:-

New Auto Schedule feature, accessed via the Data menu.
Added some sample data, accessed via the Help->Sample Data menu, to help new users play with something right away.
Added web export version of the Staff Calendar report.
Added simple financial values to payscales, and staff pay reports.
Added new caption options.
Added Role Short Description field.
Added Role caption display in time items.
Added Shortcut keys for common menu items.
Comments now show in cell tooltips, day comments now show as column header tooltips.
Added sort by length of service.
Added Complete rota breakdown export option, great for adding value via external data systems.
Added new view default options to the preferences.
Added printer margins options.
Added simple scaling support to stop certain reports running too wide for the page.

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Web Helper Browser v1.1 Released

2006-08-28T11:48:00.000+01:00

A new version of Web Helper Browser has been uploaded.

The major change in this version is the .NET Framework requirement. Version 1.1 of the framework is now required to run the software. This has improved performance, reduced the download size, and eliminated a number of issues.

Also, the image saving options have been improved, and are now activated by default. I've also switched to a simpler version numbering scheme.

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Oriador Staff Rota Version 1.0.7.2 Released

2006-07-06T10:03:00.000+01:00

I've just uploaded a new version of Oriador Rota, the changes are as follows:-

Fixed a minor problem with the Staff Summary report.
Extended the maximum comment length from 50 to 255 characters.
Added startup code to handle invalid or corrupted settings files.
Fixed a problem with some printer drivers.
Updated various code to improve support for the working directory startup file added in 1.0.7.

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Oriador Rota v1.0.7 Released

2006-06-02T13:55:00.000+01:00

I've just uploaded a new version of Oriador Rota, the changes are as follows:-

Added Import Staff menu option. Text, Excel and Access files can be used to import staff.
Added Bulk Staff Update. Allows multiple delete/update of staff properties.
Added Staff Summary Report
Added Staff Calendar Report
Added Half Hourly version of Hourly Rota and Staff Levels Reports
Added a new preferences option in the customisations tab: Set hours to zero when setting to absent.
Added a new config file option, which allows the working directory to be changed. May be needed for terminal services when users don't have write access to the programs main folder.
New preferences & defaults. When opening rota, the new default is to prompt before synchronising an old rota file, this can be disabled in the Preferences. You can also tell the software to never synchronise old rota files, via the preferences. Also, rather than opening as read only, rota files that aren't synchronised now open as if they are from a different copy, but have all the available permissions granted. It's a cut down editing mode.
Delete Staff button now asks if you're sure, suggesting you change the end date if you want to preserve old records.
Added Duplicate Staff context menu option creates a duplicate copy of the selected staff. Useful for templating etc.
Added new tooltip to staff skill search window.
Fixed a problem with rota reports and closed days in the rota.

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Oriador Rota V1.0.6.2 Released

2006-03-18T17:09:00.000Z

A minor update today, a couple of little issues were found in the staff skill search form. I've also added a new export option (Start and end times to excel) and fixed a problem with the Insert Timeline Item option in the staff details.

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Oriador Rota v1.0.6 Released

2006-02-02T10:58:00.000Z

I've just uploaded the latest version of Oriador Rota. Aside from the usual tweaks and fixes, the following new features have been added:-

The new rota options now has an Include All Staff option. Unchecking this option allows you to create a rota without any staff, then add them from a popup list of available staff and groups. When you add staff, you can choose whether or not you want to use their fixed patterns. This is useful if you have a very large staff list, or if you want to do what-if experiments.
You can now change the length of rotas via the Rota Properties.
You can now create rotas without using the staff shift patterns. This is useful when you're just getting started, as you can use the completely blank rota to build up your shift patterns together, then use the Data->Create Shift Patterns from Rota option to save the contents of the rota to your staff shift patterns. This should be easier than setting up patterns individually via the staff details.
The web export can now be split by staff group.
Comments you add to the rota can now be printed on the rota reports (activate via preferences).
Staff Availability report can be used to search for suitable staff, by date and by role.
The Staff Availability Search window is similar to the report, but it can also be used to quickly allocate the staff to the role.
A date formatting option was added.
12 hour clock time formatting is now supported.
Report font size options were added.
New menu options were added to the Print Preview form to give more control over printing.
A new progress bar was added during some time consuming actions.
Added an Hourly Rota by Role report.
When the Active Timeline option is active, you can now click and drag to create new time periods in all rota cells, even "not working" ones.
Added a shortcut key ("c") to open the comments window for the selected cell.

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Oriador Rota v1.0.5.1 Released

2005-12-02T15:44:00.000Z

A new version of Oriador Rota is available.

Minor fixes, most notably that some dialog windows did not respond to the Escape key.
Also fixed some minor issues with deletion in the Diary section.

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Web Helper Browser v1.0.3.2 Released

2005-12-01T15:47:00.000Z

A new version of Web Helper Browser is available.

Even after the last update, there were still some issues with closing down browser windows which had flash background music playing. The music could continue until you exited Web Helper Browser completely. This seems to be fixed in the latest version.
A lot of extra beta functionality has been enabled, it's all geared towards saving local copies of images when saving fragments or pages. You have to activate the new features by going to Tools -> Browser Options -> Enabled Recommended Beta Options (You can also select the desired options individually from the same menu). Hopefully in future versions these will be promoted to defaults.
Image Saving support was also added to the Save to files options on the Browser Automation form.

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Web Helper Browser v1.0.3.1 Released

2005-11-25T10:05:00.000Z

A new version of Web Helper Browser is available. The changes in this version include:-

New Help menu options, including links to our forums, download pages, and a new help file. Help buttons were also added to appropriate forms.
Added Ctrl+L shortcut to activate address bar.
Notes would warn that you hadn't entered any text if you tried to close the window, this was fixed.
The Export Project as web page option was tweaked slightly.
Background music from a flash game or movie could keep playing in the background even after the browser was closed, this was also fixed.

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Web Helper Browser v1.0.3 Released

2005-11-23T10:59:00.000Z

A new version of Web Helper Browser is available.

The major changes in this version are:-

Updated formatting when looking at saved items.
New Context menu options on capture window. You can now access search options, recent history, and open from clipboard using the right mouse button menu on the capture window.
Updated Notes system. You can now have multiple notes open, edit notes, and drag and drop text to notes.
Follow Links menu options added: If you select a group of links in a web page, select follow links to use the automation feature to automatically open and save each destination page.
Added some sorting options and a new Mixed View for the Web Helper tree.
Added the Organize Project option, which allows you to bulk delete saved items, or move them to another project (archiving etc).
Some internal changes to saving and html processing to improve accuracy and reliability.

If you want to give it a try, follow the link below, it comes with a free 90 day trial, you can get a free copy just by sending us an email, and you don't have to replace your existing browser.

Download Web Helper Browser

If you want to use Web Helper Browser just to save and view web fragments, but want to keep using your existing browser, you just need to go to the Tools menu -> Start Up Options, and uncheck the Open a Browser Window option. The next time you start the program, only the capture window will be shown, you can drag interesting snippets or fragments to that from your regular browser. When you want to look at what you've saved, double clicking the capture window will open a Web Helper Browser window, where you can look at everything you've saved.

Oriador Rota v1.0.5 Released

2005-11-11T13:41:00.000Z

We've released yet another update to Oriador Rota. This time the key feature is Staff Roles. You can now indicate which roles staff can be allocated to and the system will highlight any invalid assignments... it lets the roles feature function as a kind of skills system.

I'm looking at 1.0.5 as a roundup of all the features we've added in the last few weeks. If you've downloaded each version, I apologise for the inconvenience. In almost every case there was someone desperate to try one of the new features, so they've trickled out rather than arrived with a bang in this release. You can expect the release schedule to settle down to a more reasonable rate now.

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Oriador Rota v1.0.4.5 Released

2005-11-07T12:06:00.000Z

A new version of Oriador Rota is available.

The main new feature in this release is the improved support for multiple staff lists via the Staff Groups options. You can how maintain multiple lists of staff without switching your data file. Also, the Roles View now features a Split By option in the View menu.

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Oriador Viewer Announced

2005-10-28T18:46:00.000+01:00

The Oriador range is growing: Today I've posted up a site for our proposed Oriador Viewer product.

The goal with the viewer is to present other types of data in the Oriador interface. I've posted some samples to the web site, and I'll be talking about it a lot more on my blog over the coming weeks. Another benefit of the Viewer, which existing Oriador Rota users will no doubt welcome, is that it will be able to read rota files. That means you won't have to buy a full copy of Oriador Rota for users who only need to view the rotas.

If you want more information, the viewer site is online now:-

Oriador Viewer