This was one of the biggest weeks HiveSuite has had. Two new launches, a rebuilt HiveCrew, certificates and RAMS you can design yourself, and a long list of changes for anyone who works on rented or managed properties. Here's everything in one place, with links to the full write-ups.
Nothing changes until you choose to. Your templates, jobs, quotes and invoices stay as they were. New screens like the new HiveCrew and the new mobile home are opt-in for everyone already using HiveSuite. Everything here is included on every plan.
HiveFleet and HiveIntel 2.0.
Two launches this week have their own posts, so here is the short version.
HiveFleet
New moduleYour vans, cars, trucks, trailers and plant in one place: MOT, tax, insurance and service reminders, daily vehicle checks and problems from HiveCrew, vehicles booked onto jobs without double bookings, mileage, fines and stock on vehicles. Read the HiveFleet launch post or see HiveFleet.
HiveIntel 2.0
RebuiltReports and the Report Builder are now one place with Ask, Reports and Dashboards. Ask a question in your own words, highlight what matters, report on your own custom fields and pin it all to a dashboard. Read the HiveIntel post or see HiveIntel.
Eight new colour themes
Copper & Slate, Hi-Vis, Verdigris, Sage & Timber, Brick & Mortar, Traffic Cone, Sandstone & Sea and Canvas & Olive, under Start from a template in your colour settings. HiveSuite Default now uses a brighter yellow, and text on buttons switches between light and dark so it's always readable. Buttons, badges and status colours that used to be a fixed blue or purple now follow your theme everywhere, including HiveCrew, HivePlanner, forms and the dashboards.
Royal Purple and Dark are no longer offered. If you already use one, nothing changes until you pick another theme.
A HiveCrew built around the next job.
HiveCrew, the team member view of HiveSuite, has been rebuilt with bigger buttons and three tabs: Today, Jobs and Me. Today puts your next job first, with the rest of your day below it.
- On my way
- Each job is on one page, with a button at the bottom for the next step. Tap On my way and the customer can be told, depending on your message settings.
- Arrived
- Notes, photos, job lines, materials, documents and certificates are all on the same page, as before.
- Complete
- A list shows anything still needed to finish the job, so nothing gets missed before you sign off.
When a phone shares where it is, notes, photos and completed jobs record where they were added. In HivePlanner they show a View on map link, and the job's activity shows who completed it and where. On a tablet or computer the new HiveCrew uses the extra space, with your list on the left and the job beside it.
See what's left in stock
Materials > Take from stock lists your stock as soon as you tap the search box, with how many of each are left. If crew record more than the stock list says you have, they're asked first and can still record what they really used, so the office can put the stock list right.
New users start on the new HiveCrew. If you already use HiveCrew, tap "Switch to the new HiveCrew" to try it and switch back any time from Me.
Design your own certificates, RAMS and checklists.
The Documents page is now Document templates, with a new visual builder called Certificate Studio and a library for the documents you send again and again.
Certificate Studio lets you build certificate, RAMS, method statement and checklist templates on a page laid out like the finished PDF. Add fields and sections, drag them into order, preview the real PDF, undo and redo, and ask HiveAssist to refine it as you go. It works on phones too. You can also describe a template to HiveAssist, draft one from a job, or copy one of the standard templates.
- Checklists. A template can include a checklist. Crew mark each item Done or N/A with notes and photos, and see what's still outstanding before they can issue it. The PDF shows the checklist as a table with the photos. Checklists also work offline in the Android app.
- Fields that show when needed. For example, the customer's signature only when the customer is present. Hidden fields aren't checked or printed.
- Job completion certificate. A new standard template for signing off finished work. You can ask crew to fill it in when they mark a job complete. It's off until you turn it on, and never stops a job being completed.
- Certificate emails now go to everyone who gets the job's completion emails, each with their own copy.
A document library
Upload your RAMS, warranties, method statements and standard certificates once, then attach them to any job from the job panel in HivePlanner. Crew see a job's library documents in HiveCrew, and you can share them to the customer portal. Find it under Document templates, HivePlanner Settings or the Customisation Hub.
Certificate templates are designed around the forms trades use day to day. You stay responsible for the content of the certificates you issue. See certificates and compliance documents.
Every job says what it needs before it's done.
In HivePlanner Settings, choose and name the job types offered when booking or logging a job, add your own, and switch off ones you don't use. Jobs, lists and HiveCrew show the names you give them.
Each job type can now need certificates issued and library documents attached before the job can be completed, and you can add extras to a single job. A boiler service can need its gas safety record, for example, and a commercial job its RAMS.
Block or warn, your choice
Choose whether each type blocks completion or just warns. HivePlanner, HiveCrew and auto-close all check it. Crew get a "Before you complete" list with buttons to fill in what's missing, and administrators can override with a reason, which is noted on the job.
Call the tenant, copy the property manager.
If you work for landlords, letting agents or facilities managers, the person you bill is rarely the person who opens the door. This week's changes make HiveSuite work that way too.
- Location contact first. For a job at a location, HivePlanner and HiveCrew show the location's contact, such as the tenant, first, with the customer filling in anything they don't have. HiveCrew's call and email buttons go to that person.
- Case handlers. Add the person responsible for a customer's jobs, such as a property manager, to the customer or to a single location. They're shown on the job, the customer and the location, and are included in customer imports and exports.
- Choose who gets job messages. In HivePlanner Settings, tick whether the customer contact, the location contact and the case handler get the completion email and SMS, and separately who gets every other job message. Each customer can choose differently, and the Complete job box tells you exactly who will receive them.
- One email each. Job update and "on my way" emails go to each person separately, so nobody sees anyone else's email address.
- Texts linked to jobs and locations. Texts sent from a job are linked to that job and its location. See a location's texts on its page and a job's texts in the job panel, and filter the SMS inbox by location. A first text from a saved tenant or case handler is filed under the right customer.
Put the work on the job, invoice it once.
Jobs can now carry their own job lines: the services and products for the job, with a quantity and price. Add them in HivePlanner, when booking, or in HiveCrew. A job booked from a quote starts with the quote's lines, and when the job is completed or you raise an invoice from it, the invoice is made from these lines, so nothing is charged twice.
- Services in Stock Items. Tick "Service (no stock)" for work you charge for but don't keep in stock, such as mowing or an hourly rate, with a unit like "hour" or "visit".
- Job lines for crew. In HiveCrew Permissions, choose whether crew can't see job lines, can see them, can change quantities, or can add and edit them, and whether they see prices.
- Materials from stock. Crew can record the stock they take for a job and put back what they didn't use. What's on the quote is never taken out of stock or charged twice.
- Extra materials. Choose what happens to materials crew take beyond the quote: add them to the invoice, keep them as a cost only, or wait for review (the default). Quoted prices are never lowered by putting stock back.
- Work order PDF. Work orders now carry your business details, logo and document colour, and include the job's services and products, with prices only if you turn them on.
See stock and inventory and invoicing.
The screens you use in the van, rebuilt for the van.
A new mobile home
Today's jobs and anything that needs your attention come first, with your money figures further down. Crew see their next job with a one-tap next step. The menu is grouped into sections, can be searched, and lets you pin favourite pages, and you can reorder or hide cards with Customise. New users start on it; everyone else can try it from the invite on their home screen or under Mobile Home Screen in settings.
Quotes and invoices
All Quotes and All Invoices open as cards grouped by month, with tiles for what's awaiting a reply, accepted, unpaid or overdue, a search box and quick filters. Each card's menu lets you change its status, send it again, mark an invoice paid, share its pay link, call the customer or raise a credit note.
All Jobs
Upcoming jobs come first under Today, Tomorrow and each day, then unscheduled jobs, then earlier ones. Each job's menu gives you directions, calls the contact, changes its status, opens the job sheet or raises an invoice.
You can also press and hold the round menu button and drag it to any edge of the screen, so it stops covering what you're reading. Tablets and computers keep the full layouts. The HiveSuite app on Android works offline; on iPhone, HiveSuite runs in the browser as a web app. See HiveSuite on your phone.
Show the job, not just describe it.
Photos and videos from your phone can now be added to job updates in HivePlanner, notes in HiveCrew and the Site Log, with progress shown while they upload. Videos can be up to 100 MB each and 200 MB per update, and you're told about any file that couldn't be added.
Videos play, and can be skipped through, on iPhones, iPads and in the HiveSuite app, in HivePlanner, HiveCrew, the Site Log and the customer portal. The Site Log PDF lists videos by name, and customer emails show photos only.
Also this week.
- Credit notes on part-paid invoices, up to the full total, with the rest refunded or held as credit. Fully credited invoices now show as credited and get no reminders.
- Pay online asks for what's still owed, the total less any deposit paid and credit notes, on the pay link, the customer portal and payment reminders.
- Card payments record the day they were paid, so they count in "paid this month".
- Custom job fields show on the HivePlanner job form, and custom fields and surcharges carry over when you raise an invoice from a quote.
- Dashboards follow staff permissions, so staff only see the sales, quote and customer figures for areas they've been given.
- Tighter crew access. Crew can no longer open jobs they aren't on unless they're allowed to see all jobs, and can't see or act on customers' job requests. "Mark all read" now only marks your own notifications.
- Website bookings turned into jobs send a proper booking confirmation with the actual date and time, and moving a booking offers that day's free times.
- Waze directions now search the postcode, so Waze no longer picks a street with the same name in another town. Map links in the HiveSuite app open your maps app.
- Day-before reminders no longer go out for jobs already complete, and numbers written as +44 (0)7... now receive texts.
Common questions about this week.
Is everything this week included in my plan?
Yes. Everything here is included on every HiveSuite plan, from Solo at £34.99/month inc. VAT. HiveFleet, HiveHire and Time Off are optional modules that an Administrator switches on from the Modules page. Texts use SMS credits as usual.
Do I have to move to the new HiveCrew straight away?
No. If you already use HiveCrew, nothing changes until you tap "Switch to the new HiveCrew" at the top of HiveCrew, and you can switch back any time from the Me tab. People who join from now on start on the new HiveCrew.
Will my existing certificate templates change?
No. Your templates and certificates look as they did. Certificate Studio is a new way to build and change them, and the HiveAssist chat builder is still there.
Will job types stop my crew completing jobs?
Only if you set them to. Each job type can need certificates or library documents before completion, and you choose whether that blocks completion or just warns. Administrators can override with a reason, which is noted on the job.
What is a case handler?
The person responsible for a customer's jobs, such as a property manager or a facilities contact. Add one to a customer or to a single location, and choose whether they get job emails and texts.
Does the new mobile home replace mine?
Only for people who join from now on. If you already use HiveSuite, you keep your current home and can try the new one from the invite on your home screen or under Mobile Home Screen in your settings. You can switch between them at any time.
How big can videos be?
Up to 100 MB each and 200 MB per job update. Photos in the Site Log can be up to 20 MB each.
Explore what's new in HiveSuite.
There's a lot here, so pick whatever fits your week:
- Switch on HiveFleet. An Administrator turns it on from the Modules page. Type in a registration and your first vehicle is added in seconds.
- Try the new HiveCrew. Open HiveCrew on your phone and tap "Switch to the new HiveCrew". You can switch back any time from Me.
- Build a report in HiveIntel. Ask a question in your own words, such as "jobs completed last month by crew member", and pin the answer to a dashboard.
- Create a checklist in Certificate Studio. Open Document templates, start a checklist and add it to a job type in HivePlanner Settings so every job says what it needs.
Job types and who gets job messages are in HivePlanner Settings. HiveCrew Permissions decide what each crew member can see and change.