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Version: v260113

Release Date: 13th January, 2026

Summary

This release contains

New features requiring configuration

  • Maintenance mode

Brief Connect can now be placed into a maintenance mode to support activities like migrations and upgrades.

When enabled:

  • Normal users will see a maintenance message and be prevented from using the application
  • Super Admins can still access the application and will see a prominent maintenance banner
  • Background jobs and queue processing are paused to reduce the risk of data loss during maintenance windows

For setup and operational steps, see the Admin Guide: Maintenance mode.

Changes and improvements

  • Simplified signed document management (signed vs unsigned)

Documents now follow a simpler two-state model:

  • Uploading a signed copy replaces the displayed version while preserving the original unsigned document
  • Users can remove a signed copy to restore the original

  • Signature-enabled documents are shown as a single entry to reduce confusion

  • Improved frontend update reliability (automatic cache busting)

Client deployments now include automated cache busting and a client-side version check, reducing the likelihood that users will load stale UI bundles after an upgrade.

  • Proxy selection persists on dashboard

When switching between records on the dashboard, your selected proxy user is now preserved. Previously, navigating away would reset the proxy selection, requiring users to re-select their proxy each time.

  • PDF Pack opens in SharePoint web viewer

PDF Pack documents now open in the SharePoint web viewer instead of the browser's native PDF viewer. This provides a more consistent viewing experience and better integration with SharePoint's document features.

Bug fixes

  • Dashboard, search, and record header

  • Dashboard columns are now more reliable (pinned core fields, enforced key columns, and column reordering works as expected)

  • Fixed cases where saved search swapping could cause columns to appear blank until re-applied
  • Global search terms are now applied more reliably on the search page
  • Record header dates now display in a user-friendly, localised format
  • Fixed an issue where the Date Initiated filter on the dashboard did not work correctly when filtering by today's date
  • Fixed a blank screen issue that could occur while creating a new record

  • Fixed an issue where lengthy values in the "Action Required" field were not clearly visible on hover

  • Workflow, access, and exporting

  • The "Send" button no longer stays disabled when due date/time is prefilled from Key Dates

  • The "View access is restricted to" field now supports multiple people
  • "Export record documents" now sends the expected email with documents
  • Fixed an issue where a workflow could break when a proxy user completed a Recommend-stage task on behalf of the original user (Recommenders role)
  • Fixed an issue where restricted field values (e.g., Infosec classification) could revert to their default when navigating back
  • Fixed an issue where invalid values could be entered into combobox fields

  • Corrected the wording in the "Remove No Further Action" confirmation dialog

  • Documents and SharePoint

  • Fixed signed document classification getting stuck in a loading state

  • Improved Add/remove documents layout so action buttons no longer wrap unexpectedly
  • Fixed SharePoint file picker not loading sites due to Microsoft Graph Toolkit provider initialisation
  • Improved reliability of the "Original Correspondence" document lifecycle (upload/delete/display) and related user feedback
  • Improved SharePoint sync/upload error handling in some environments
  • Fixed an issue where non-admin users could receive a 500 error during correspondence upload/parsing
  • Fixed a crash that could occur when clicking "Manage Docs" on certain record types

  • Fixed an issue where Azure queue message size limits could be exceeded when a record has many collaborators, causing notification delivery failures

  • Plugins and security

  • Plugins are now compatible with strict Content Security Policy (CSP) configurations

  • The Admin panel now respects the Plugins feature flag

  • Platform reliability and data correctness

  • Reduced noise in the activity log (removed redundant entries and irrelevant SharePoint health alerts)

  • Improved stability of the HealthCheckAndFix function (avoids failures due to the 30-minute timeout in some environments)
  • Server-side token replacement now respects the configured server timezone (rather than always rendering AEST)
  • Supplementary Area reporting now stores "Due Date and Time" values correctly, and the people-search input is cleared after selection
  • PPQ Bulk Set Extraction / bulk update now applies changes as expected

ADD RELEASE NOTES RE 2.5 - MONGO DB, GROUP ASSIGNMENT

Detailed bug list can be found here: Bug fixes 13/01/2026

Deployment

Package version: 2.4.5

Manual pre-deployment steps

Review/update release pipeline variables

It's important to apply any changes for all environments to pipeline variables before a release created, because every release creates a snapshot of pipeline variables on the moment of creation, and the only way to re-deploy the application with updated variables - creating a new release

  1. Go to Azure DevOps, open Brief Connect project
  2. In left panel navigation go to Pipelines - Library - Variable groups
  3. Review variables for all environments and update where required (outdated values, recent environment changes, requests from business, etc).
  4. Save the changes
Create new Brief Connect Application release (click to expand) 1. Go to Azure DevOps, open Brief Connect project, go to **Pipelines - Releases** page 1. Find **Deploy Brief Connect Application** release pipeline, click on it to open 1. Click on **Create Release** button on the right 1. Specify the **Package Version** variable with value from **Package version** section above. For example `2.3.1`. 1. Add a description (it's optional). 1. Click on **Create** button 1. Release with version `v[Package Version] (0)` will be created and will be available in the list of releases, after you refresh the page. ![image.png](/.attachments/new-application-release.png)

Pipeline deployment steps (in order)

  1. Deploy release v[Package Version] (n) (where (n) is latest number available, and Package version from the section above) for Deploy Brief Connect Application release pipeline in Azure DevOps to the target environment.
  2. Deploy Release 34 for Deploy Office Resources release pipeline in Azure DevOps to the target environment.

Manual post-deployment steps

Import config

Config file to import: CONFIG MISSING

Role required: Brief Connect Administrator

If there is no configuration set, you have to set up Administrator user Id in the Environment variable AdminEntraId in the Azure Function App. The value should be the Object Id of the user in Entra ID (Azure AD).

  1. Log into the target Brief Connect environment as Brief Connect Admin user. Open the Admin Panel (https://[WEB_APP_URL]/#/adminPanel)
  2. Select "Import from Zip" and import a new config ZIP file.
  3. The system will process the ZIP file and import the configuration. The list of configurations will refresh, and the imported configuration can then be selected and loaded.
  4. After importing, select the newly imported configuration from the dropdown list.
  5. Click the "Apply" button to apply the imported configuration.
  6. Wait for the confirmation message indicating that the configuration has been successfully applied.
  7. Select Update SharePoint Content Types button from the menu bar. Ensure that active configuration is selected from dropdown first.

Clear the Server cache

Role required: Brief Connect Administrator 1. Log into the target Brief Connect environment as Brief Connect Admin user. Open the Admin Panel (https://[WEB_APP_URL]/#/adminPanel) 2. Open browsers Developer Tools, open Console tab and run the command window.clearCache() there. After successful execution, you should see Cache cleared. Server Result: true message in the console.

Reindex the SharePoint Site

Role required: Brief Connect Administrator 1. Go to Brief Connect SharePoint Site for the target environment 2. Go to Site settings 3. Go to Search and offline availability 4. Click Reindex site

Smoke Tests

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

Rollback steps to previous version

Execute all deployment steps for the target release from related Release Notes.