Keep track of all the software updates in eTool in this post starting from May 2021.

Jump to the following sections in this post:

• V5.27.0 – 2023/11/13
• V5.26.0 – 2023/10/07
• V5.25.0 – 2023/06/01
• V5.24.0 – 2023/05/18
• V5.23.0 – 2023/03/29
• V5.22.0 – 2023/03/09
• V5.19.0 – 2023/01/20
• V5.18.0 – 2022/11/21
• V5.9.5 – 2021/05/20

 

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V5.27.0 – 2023/11/13

eTool and RapidLCA

• Material Inventory Summary Report – Allows users to present an easy to understand summary of Templates and Elements that constitute their Design, complete with Mass and Volume.

RapidLCA

• Lot Details Screen – Provides the user with an improved RapidLCA Lot interface, including a list of previously submitted designs and their impacts.
• RapidLCA 3 Level Walk-up – Introducing a new design topology for RapidLCA to allow users to quickly model multi-level (up to 3) multi-residence buildings.
• Archive Lots / Structures within RapidLCA Allows – Organisation Administrators and Project Coordinator to Archive and UnArchive Structures/Lots in RapidLCA, to clean up Projects and remove or add back Structures/Lots to views and reporting.
• Archive Projects within RapidLCA Allows – Organisation Administrators to Archive and UnArchive Projects in RapidLCA, allowing them to remove or add back Projects to views and reporting.
• Help Button in RapidLCA – Provides a fast and clear link to RapidLCA Help documentation and support.
• Organisation Credits Reports – Easily review your Organisations credit spend and download to Excel for further analysis.

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V5.26.0 – 2023/10/07

eTool

• Exclude selected Structures from Project level and Organisational Reports – Users can exclude certain structures from Organisational and Project-level reports and analysis to ensure accurate reporting without the influence of test models and projects
• Analysis Tab at the Organisation Level – Similar to the Analysis Tab available in eTool designs, Users can now run impact and emissions analysis across their entire portfolio.

RapidLCA

• Added protection for Nested Templates – Organisation Admins can restrict user access to change elements within nested templates to prevent users mistakenly removing vital materials.
• Archive Lots / Structures – Allows Organisation Administrators and Project Coordinators to Archive and Unarchive Structures/Lots to clean up Projects and reports.
• Improved Assistive Text to inform users when Design information – Users will receive clear, concise explanations when entering data into quantity fields.
• Organisations can allow prepaid credits to be draw directly from an organisation pool – Organisations Admins can now allow users access to prepaid credits, either by drawing them directly from a single organisation pool or by allocating credits to projects.
• Set Thermal Demand based on NZ HomeStar Rating – Users can set their thermal rating to fall within the range according to their Homestar Rating
• Set Reporting only Indicators – Organisation Users can now report on Environmental Indicators in RapidLCA without needing to set a target.
• Organisations can set the default Thermal units – Organisations can now set their default preferred Thermal Unit in Org Settings.
• Gross Floor Area Control
  Users now have multiple options for entering Gross Floor Area in RapidLCA:
  • GFA can be calculated via our custom algorithm
  • User can enter the GFA manually
    OR
  • User can enter the Fully Enclosed Covered Area and Unenclosed Covered Area to arrive at the GFA.
• Changes to the RapidLCA workflow – Moves the RapidLCA payment screen to the front of the design process to allow users full access to template impact calculations and optioneering functionality that is normally only available after payment.
• Delete Unwanted Templates – Users can remove delete unwanted or mistakenly added templates from their RapidLCA models.
• Customise the Name of Emissions Targets – Users can now set custom names for targets in RapidLCA, to allow their emissions targets to meet local, regional or organisation specific naming conventions.

eTool and RapidLCA

• NEW INDICATORS on Carbon Performance Reports – Biogenic, Fossil and LULUC – Our Lifecycle Module Comparison and Top / Bottom Templates and Materials tables now include Fossil and LULUC when reporting on Biogenic Carbon
• Project-Level Reporting – Allows Organisations with a valid Hotseat licence to run reports across an entire project via a clear and simple user experience.
• Organisations can integrate their Data stores and warehouses – Allows organisations to setup development projects and receive impact results directly from their data store/data warehouse via secure automatic file transfer.
• Identify Non-Active Users – Enables Organization Administrators to identify and remove non-active external users, ensuring access is only granted to those actively using the system.
• Risk Assessment Reporting – Provides Organisation Administrators, Project Coordinators and Users feedback on the risk associated with changes within a modelled within the Compliance Report
• Inventory Analysis added to LCA Reports – Inventory Analysis has been added to LCA reports, giving users a detailed breakdown of Materials and Templates used in their design.

V5.25.0 – 2023/06/01

• RapidLCA Risk Analysis
  • Org Admins can identify higher risk designs to quickly and efficiently perform project quality reviews.
• RapidLCA Credit System
  • Organisations can pre-purchase RapidLCA Reports at 1 Credit per Dwelling, making it easier for them to empower their users while managing costs.
  • Credits can be purchased in blocks with set GWP targets agreed by the Organisation at the time of purchase, to ensure we are still pricing for the planet.
• Excel Harness
  • A flexible system to create Excel-based tables and reports. Impact data can be export into a prepared Excel template allowing for system generated Pivot-tables, sheets and charts.
• eTool Onboarding
  • Removal of the Open Use Plan.
  • Adding the new User Trial plan – Better report functionality than the old Open Use plan, on a 14 day free trial.
  • Ability for Users to Cancel their plans.
    Please Note: Organisation Users – Trial Users become Organisation Users if associated to an Org as Read-Only User or if allocated a Seat.
• Removal of LCI Source Management – Paid Subscribers now have access to all LCI Sources reducing the requirement for Cerclos Support Administration.
• General Bug Fixes

V5.24.0 – 2023/05/18

We’re pleased to announce the release of V5.24.0.0. This update brings with it several noteworthy additions and enhancements to the functionality of both eTool and RapidLCA:

eTool and RapidLCA

• Audit Logging
  • Our new audit log provides Org admins a detailed record of all modifications made to baseline designs, templates, projects, and lots. This includes identification of the user responsible for the changes, along with the precise time and date of each modification, providing effective tracking and auditing.
• New Carbon Performance Report
  • Consolidates performance and compliance aspects of the existing LCA and Compliance Reports with several new reporting modules providing summarised performance and general design characteristics.
• Emissions Scope added to eTool Analysis Tab
  • Allows us to render scope 1, 2 and 3 GHG Reporting in the Analysis Tab

RapidLCA

• Project and Lot Upload
  • Org admins can now quickly setup preconfigured RapidLCA Projects via XSLX/CSV bulk upload.
• General Bug Fixes

 

V5.23.0 – 2023/03/29

Hot on the heels of our previous update, we’re pleased to announce the release of V5.23.0.0 bringing with it a number of important new features and improved functionality for eTool and RapidLCA:

eTool

• Improved Import Functionality 
  • Our optimisation of Import functionality has seen a dramatic improvement in import performance, with our larger test cases reduced from multiple hours down just over a minute
  • Set preferred matching method – Speed the import process by matching duplicate data or choose to match records individually.
• New Reports
  • Summary Infographic
  • Detail Analysis
  • Scenario Summary Tables
  • Low Impact Strategies.
• New Custom Report Modules
  • Detailed Carbon Performance – Top 5 and Bottom 5 Design Impacts for Materials and Templates (including data bars).

RapidLCA

• Templates now sorted by Impact – Templates are now sorted from Highest to Lowest Impact allowing Users to easily review the best options when creating or modifying a Design. This feature is extended by the inclusion of impact bars providing a visual cue for overall template impact in each category.
• LCI Source Automatic by Region – LCI Sources can now be set automatically by region. Enterprise Users can choose “Automatic by Region” as a default LCI Source for new Projects.
• Pre-approved Users – Enterprise Users can now invite Pre-approved Standard Users to projects, allowing tighter control over who can produce Designs within Organisation-based Projects.
• Sub-Targeting – Enterprise Users can set Impact Targets but Module Scope, Functional Unit and Time Scale eg. Global Warming Potential (GWP) can be reported as “Embodied Modules Only, excluding On-Site Renewables by Occupant Per Year”.

If you experience any issues or have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our Support Team: lcdsupport@cerclos.com 

V5.22.0 – 2023/03/09

We’re pleased to announce the release of V5.22.0.0 bringing with it a number of important new features and improved functionality for eToolLCD and RapidLCA:

General Functional Improvements

• New calculation method providing higher modelling and reporting accuracy
• Inclusions of decarbonised grid calculations for electric transport modes and electricity use in construction
• Greater flexibility when setting targets and target scopes
• Updated report suite
  • New LCA Report
  • New Life Cycle Design Feedback Report
  • Exec Summary Report.

 eTool

• Clone entire Scenario Trees.

RapidLCA

• Analysis Tab now available for submitted designs
• Users can set a Model Purpose and Design Phase to allow for design optioneering
• Users can request access to allocated lots
• Users can request a new baseline
• Users can request new templates
• New Authentication Engine
  • Improved control over project and lot access
  • New Coordinator Role allows Organisations to delegate Project Administration
• Organisations can create custom OnBoarding content for their users
• Customise Thermal Demand Intensity while remaining in target scope
• Flexible LCI Settings
  • Enterprise Users can set default LCI Group and LCI Source at Project creation
  • Project Coordinators and Admins can change LCI Source to ensure Projects are using the latest available data.

If you experience any issues or have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our Support Team: lcdsupport@cerclos.com

V5.19.0 – 2023/01/20

V5.18.0 – 2022/11/21

V5.9.5 – 2021/05/20

V5.9.5 will be released today and brings some important features to improve application functionality.  

• Design Scenarios Feature, see here for more information about this exciting new functionality.
• Improvements to the LCC Report (nearing completion with this release).
• Significant EPD Functionality Improvements including the ability import impacts from excel template and copy and paste to and from excel.  
• Improvements to the new RapdLCA app.

Our community have been very active on the Feature Requests, either submitting new feature requests or voting on new features.  This has already lead to some features being progressed to development, some of which we’re working on as we speak. Please keep the feedback coming so we know what we should be prioritising.

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