Index

Release date - 12th January, 2026

Package version: `2.5.0`

This release introduces Group Assignment, allowing teams to collaborate on roles and workflow tasks, and a new MongoDB-powered Dashboard (Beta) for near-instant record visibility. This is a feature-rich release that includes infrastructure changes and requires a three-phase upgrade process.

New features

Group Assignment - Assign Roles and Tasks to Groups

Brief Connect now supports assigning roles and workflow tasks to User Groups, enabling teams to collaborate on assignments without individual task management overhead.

Key capabilities:

Team-based assignment: Assign a User Group to any single-select Role field configured with "Groups Enabled"
Flexible task completion: Any member or owner of a group can complete tasks assigned to the group
Clear accountability: Activity logs show which group member completed each task on behalf of the group
Proxy support: Proxies to group members can also complete group-assigned tasks
Business-level control: User Groups are managed within Brief Connect (not Entra ID), giving business administrators control over team membership

Please note:

Group assignment is opt-in and not enabled by default
It works with single-select Role fields only — not all roles and tasks are compatible
If you're interested in enabling group assignment for specific roles or workflows, contact the Brief Connect team and we can help with the configuration

Limitations:

Groups are limited to 15 users (owners + members combined)
Only single-select Role fields support group assignment (not Role Multi Select)
Nested groups are not supported

For setup and usage instructions, see:

Dashboard powered by MongoDB (Beta)

A new MongoDB-powered backend is available for the Dashboard and Search pages, providing near-instant visibility of record changes.

Key benefits:

Near-instant updates: Changes to records appear typically within seconds, instead of waiting for SharePoint Search to recrawl
Improved performance: Dedicated database infrastructure for search and filtering operations

Beta status:

This feature is currently in beta. While it is stable enough for daily use:

Some features (particularly filtering and sorting) may not work exactly as they previously did
We will be shipping improvements over the coming weeks
We welcome all feedback from customers on their experiences

To enable this feature, see Phase 3 of the upgrade instructions below.

Changes and improvements

Proxy selection persists on dashboard

Your selected proxy now persists across page navigations on the dashboard, so you don't need to re-select your proxy when moving between tabs.

Simplified signed document management

Documents now follow a simpler two-state model (signed vs unsigned). Uploading a signed copy replaces the displayed version while preserving the original unsigned document. Users can remove a signed copy to restore the original.

File size limit for uploads

A 150MB limit has been applied to file uploads to prevent failures caused by excessively large payloads.

Bug fixes

Fixed invalid values being accepted in combobox fields — Combobox fields on the UI now properly validate input and reject invalid values
Fixed dashboard date filter not working with today's date — The "Date Initiated" filter on the dashboard now correctly filters records when selecting today's date
Fixed lengthy values not visible in combobox hover — When lengthy values are selected for fields like "Action Required", the full value is now clearly visible on mouse hover
Fixed blank screen when creating records — Resolved an issue where the screen could go blank while creating a record
Fixed restricted values reverting in combobox — Resolved an issue where restricting a classification value and navigating away would cause it to reset
Fixed PDF Pack generating blank pages — Resolved an issue where PDF Packs could generate blank pages for certain uploaded documents
Fixed "No further action" dialog wording — Corrected the wording in the "Remove No Further Action" dialog box
Fixed activity log display issue — Resolved an issue with activity log entries not displaying correctly
Fixed incorrect emails for role assignment notifications — Resolved an issue where "You've been assigned a role" emails could be sent to incorrect recipients

Upgrade instructions (from v2.4.x)

Three-Phase Upgrade Required

This release requires a three-phase upgrade process due to infrastructure changes. Please read all instructions carefully and plan your upgrade window accordingly.

We ask all customers to work with Brief Connect support to plan and arrange deployments. Our team are here to assist.

The following instructions apply to environments already running Brief Connect v2.4.x.

Note

If you are upgrading from a version earlier than v2.4.0, please contact the Brief Connect team for specific guidance.

Phase 1: Code Deployment

1.1 Review release pipeline variables

It's important to apply any changes to pipeline variables before a release is created, because every release creates a snapshot of pipeline variables at the moment of creation.

Go to Azure DevOps, open your Brief Connect project
In the left panel navigation, go to Pipelines → Library → Variable groups
Review variables for all environments included in this release and update values where required
Save any changes

1.2 Create a new release

Go to Azure DevOps, open your Brief Connect project, go to Pipelines → Releases
Find the Deploy Brief Connect Application release pipeline and click on it to open
If there is no release with version 2.5.0, click Create Release
Set the Package Version variable to 2.5.0
Add a description (optional)
Click Create
The release v2.5.0 (n) will be created and available in the list of releases after you refresh the page

1.3 Deploy the release

Deploy release v2.5.0 (n) (where (n) is the latest number available) from the Deploy Brief Connect Application release pipeline to the target environment

1.4 Clear the server cache

Role required: Brief Connect Administrator

Log into the target Brief Connect environment as the Brief Connect Admin user
Open the Admin Panel (https://[WEB_APP_URL]/#/adminPanel)
Open the browser's Developer Tools, go to the Console tab, and run the command:
```
window.clearCache()
```
After successful execution, you should see the message: Cache cleared. Server Result: true

Phase 2: Infrastructure Upgrade and Data Migration

Change Window Required

Phase 2 requires a change window of several hours. The change window begins when you swap to MongoDB as the database and ends when data migration is successfully complete. Plan to perform this upgrade outside of core usage hours.

Maintenance mode must be enabled before swapping to MongoDB and remain active until data migration is complete.

For detailed instructions on the infrastructure upgrade and data migration process, see:

MongoDB Infrastructure Upgrade and Data Migration Guide

Phase 3: Enable MongoDB Dashboard (Beta)

After the MongoDB infrastructure is stable and you have verified normal operation, you can enable the MongoDB-powered Dashboard.

3.1 Enable the feature flag

The MongoDB Dashboard is controlled via an environment variable in the Function App.

Open the Function App for the environment
Go to Configuration → Application settings
Add or update the setting:
Name: [PLACEHOLDER: Feature flag name, e.g. FeatureFlags__UseMongoDbSearch]
Value: true
Save changes and allow the app to restart

3.2 Verify functionality

After enabling the feature flag:

Navigate to the Dashboard and perform searches
Create or modify a record and verify changes appear quickly (within seconds, not minutes)
Test filtering and sorting functionality
Note any differences from previous behaviour

3.3 Provide feedback

As this feature is in beta, we welcome all feedback on your experience:

Report any issues with filtering, sorting, or search results to Brief Connect support
Note any performance improvements or concerns
Share observations about how the new behaviour compares to the previous SharePoint Search-based approach

Smoke tests

We recommend following our basic testing guide after this release: Basic testing of Brief Connect

Release-specific tests for v2.5.0

Group Assignment:

Create a User Group with at least one owner and one member
On a role field configured with "Groups Enabled", search for and assign the group — confirm the group appears in search results and can be selected
As a group member, verify the record appears in "My Records"
Assign a workflow task to a group — confirm all group members see the task in "Active Tasks"
Complete a group-assigned task as a group member — confirm the activity log shows the task was completed on behalf of the group
Verify proxy users to group members can also complete group-assigned tasks

MongoDB Dashboard (if enabled):

Create or modify a record — confirm changes appear on the Dashboard within seconds (not minutes)
Test dashboard filtering by various fields — confirm expected results
Test dashboard sorting — confirm expected ordering
Perform a search — confirm results are accurate and appear quickly