Main screen: When a shift is clicked, left panel dims employees which cannot work on
that shift
Better error message when an error occur while saving a document
Clearer messages when scheduling employees from a group
Better memory management
Bugs fixed
UI: corrected lots of display issues for other languages
UI: corrected lots of display issues for other DPI settings
Fixed crashes when document path is too long
Fixed UI not being updated after deleting a shift spanning 2 days
Breaking changes
The .Net 4.7.2 framework (or higher) is now required. Windows XP and Vista are not
supported anymore
Release 2.5.1 – October 2018
Bugs fixed
Fixed crash when trying to load a document created with v 2.5.0
Release 2.5.0 – October 2018
New Features
German translation available
New option to hide shift's end time on exported schedules
iCalendars can be attached to emails to individual emails
Main screen: new filter for locations
Main screen: shift names can be displayed vertically
Main screen: shifts can be moved from one day to another
Constraints: new constraints for minimum number of shifts per schedule
Constraints: new constraints for maximum number of shifts per schedule
Export: Users can specify a company logo and names that will appear in exported documents
Other changes
Renamed "minimum and maximum number of shift types allowed" to "quota for shift types"
Renamed "minimum and maximum number of employee positions allowed" to "quota for employee positions"
Release 2.4.1 – December 2017
Bugs fixed
Fixed crash when closing the app during processing
Release 2.4.0 – November 2017
New Features
New constraint: maximim number of days worked in a row
New constraint: minimum number of back to back shifts per day
New constraint: minimum number of shifts per day
New constraint: colleagues to work with
Employee details: new "Start Date" field
Improvements
Recovery files have to be saved to a new location before they can be used
Bugs fixed
Error message instead of crash when the path of the document is too long
Release 2.3.4 – June 2017
Improvements
Excel: can export to Macro enabled files (.xlsm)
PDF Export: added creation date in footer
Bugs fixed
Fixed crash due to the use of new icons
Proxy settings uses default credentials
Release 2.3.3 – April 2017
Improvements
Swapped constraint listbox with notes on shift details form
Added shift info on RosterTimeForm
Bugs fixed
Fixed crash when importing XML from file already opened
Proxy settings uses default credentials
Release 2.3.2 – February 2017
Bugs fixed
Fixed issues with locations not being assigned anymore after loading document from disk
Corrected cost calculation
Shift types sorted by alphabetical order when adding new shift
Excel export: Case sensitive check for existing spreadsheet name
Release 2.3.1 – January 2017
Bugs fixed
Fixed XML import crash
Fixed crash on employee leave management form
Release 2.3.0 – January 2017
New Features
XML import: document types (shift types, employee positions, …) and employee availability can be
imported via an XML file
XML export: Schedule data can be exported to XML
Times can be rounded to 5 minutes (instead of 15)
New constraint: shift type quota
New constraint : employee position quota
Shift constraints can be applied to all shifts on same date or day
Main screen: filter for displaying shifts
Main screen: filter for employees
Added notes field on shifts. Displayed on main screen
Export preview: added leave report
Bugs fixed
Fixed crash when exporting data with the schedule view export for short shifts
Fixed proxy issues
Fixed crash when announcement in Wizard mode
Fixed crash when saving a document with a path that is too long
Fixed crash when exporting employees with short names in PDF
Toolbar properly updated after wizard
Fixed data not being saved when switching tab. This was causing data to become inconsistent when
modifying shift times
Shift type display order is now saved correctly
No more crash report when failing to open exported file. A message is displayed instead
Improvements
The automated planner is slightly faster
The size for the shift properties form is remembered
The employee properties form can be resized properly
Export: new option to hide unused shift types (shift view #1 and #2)
Other UI improvements (some forms are bigger, some dropdown lists are wider …)
Release 2.2.2 – October 2016
Bugs fixed
Fixed crash due to memory issue
Fixed crash when using ABC Roster on a computer with incorrect system date
Release 2.2.1 – October 2016
Bugs fixed
Main screen: Shift's normal colour reset properly when cancelling scheduling
with popup
Employee availability tab: availability correctly represented for overnight shifts
when using the bottom buttons
Export: fixed crash in schedule view for day with no shift
Export: fixed crash when trying add new sheet to an existing Excel file that is already opened
Export: Corrected crash when no spreadsheet specified
Export form: Corrected crash when channging format and Day view was selected
Export form: cannot start export without schedule selected
Export: corrected display of partial leaves in schedule export
Corrected application of roster rules for overnight shifts when availability ends at 23h59
Options form: Corrected selection of custom provider
Fixed crash when modifying constraint defaults in a document with no schedule
Fixed crash when modifying shift type display order in a document with no schedule
Email form: cannot email schedules without schedule selected
Shift type form: Corrected bug with break time duration for overnight shifts
Release 2.2.0 – June 2016
New Features
Export: exporting to OpenOffice supported
Export: new view available
Options form: Added proxy settings
Improvements
Drag and drop: visual feedback if there are availability conflicts
Creating schedules: template repeated when cloning schedules that are longer than the template
Export: exporting to Excel format is faster
Main screen: shifts can be sorted using a new shift type's display order property
Bugs fixed
Fixed bug in autosave which was filling up disk space
Corrected crash when adding schedule
Breaking changes
Schedules exported to Excel format will require Excel 2007 or greater to be opened
Release 2.1.1 – November 2015
Improvements
Handling of Unicode characters on exported PDF/HTML documents
Bugs fixed
Changing the UI language now works correctly
Corrected crash when exporting template schedules in employee view
The correct number of pages are exported for PDF/Html schedules
Automated planner: no more crashes when running the auto planner with a schedule that already satisfies
specified constraints
Release 2.1 – November 2015
New Features
ABC Roster is now available in italian
Improvements
Automated planner: memory usage was reduced and speed improved
Shift types are sorted by alphabetical order
Modified error message when no permission to export PDF (#1880)
Users can choose not to clear locked employee's schedules when using the Clear schedule for all
employees button
On the list of employees to roster, users can now sort employees
Custom colours are remembered
Bugs fixed
Employee list: the total of hours worked is not updated correctly after modifying the schedule
Fixed crash when saving document after adding a new employee to an existing group
Export to Excel: fixed issue when exporting schedules with too many shift
Fixed crash when upgrading to a newer version of ABC Roster
Fixed refreshing of shift coverage when the selected schedule changes
Fixed crash when trying to undo a delete shift type action)
Better handling of personnal messages when starting the application
Fixed crash when clicking on header on Public holiday form when there was no data in the grid
Fixed crash when clicking the Apply button multiple times when modifying a shift or an employee, or
deleting types
Automated planner: the best schedule found so far is kept when pressing the Interrupt button
Shift properties form: no need to choose the colour twice when modifying a shift's colour
Exported schedules: corrected display of holidays
Release 2.0 – March 2015
New Features
ABC Roster is now available in French
Employee schedule tab: Users can choose to view only a specific week
Employee schedule tab: employees’ cost for the schedule is shown
Cost calculation: Users can now specify different pay rates for public holidays, night shifts, and week
ends
It is possible to create recurring events
Users can define employee groups to quickly schedule multiple employees to a shift
Excel exports: a new layout, Schedule view, is available
Exports: Shifts can be sorted by alphabetical order
Main screen: Users can see global coverage from the preview window (requires IE 9 or greater)
Main screen: users can now add shifts quicker by dragging a shift type onto a day
Main screen: users can now pin an employee to a specific shift
Main screen: the cost for each employee over the schedule is displayed
Add shift form: users can specify which days of the week shifts should be added to
When adding a schedule, it is now possible to specify the duration of the schedule as a number of
days
Improvements
The auto planner is now much faster
Employee details form: the display name is automatically set when entering the first name
Exported report: 'holiday' replaced with 'leave'
Exported scheduled: crashes can now be reported from the application
Roster form: the name of the employee being scheduled is now clearly displayed
Main screen: the export preview data can be updated without closing it
Main screen: simplified filters for events
The error reporting feature let users know whether the error was reported successfully or not
Bugs fixed
Employee leave is now saved correctly after edition
Fixed crash when Excel version could not be identified
The auto planner does not move around employees that are locked
Corrected display bug when availability started at 11.30 pm, which prevented users to change
availability
Fixed crash when saving document to a path that contains invalid characters, such as ;
Fixed crashes when using password containing invalid characters
The display of events dates is now updated after switching date format
Events are correctly sorted when adding new events
On the employee leave tab, selecting a 'From date' no longer sets the focus on the To date
automatically
Shift names are not interpreted as dates by Excel anymore on exported schedules
Excel export: no more double separator when no bookings are exported
Fixed error reports not being sent anymore
It is not possible to delete shift assignments for a locked employee
The progress of the status bar for the auto planner was fixed
Documents in Dropbox folders can now be opened
Fixed some display issues on diverse screens
Fixed data corruption that sometimes caused employees to be scheduled outside of a shift
Fixed display of leave days on exported schedules
Roster time form: Employees are now sorted alphabetically
Breaking changes
Microsoft .Net Framework v 4.0 or higher is required to run the application.
Conversion from documents created with ABC Roster v 1.8.x is not supported anymore
Release 1.9.3 – June 2014
Bugs Fixed
Fixed crashes due to employee availability not being set
Fixed crash when adding a new employee on last the day of a schedule, when that employee is not part of
the following schedule
When an employee is scheduled on an overnight shift, their availability is changed for the right day
Fixed bug that allowed users to try to copy a non existant schedule
No more missing days when copying schedules
Work hours are now correctly copied when creating a new schedule from an existing one
Check for conflicting work hours should now work correctly to prevent employees from working multiple
shifts at the same time
Employee availability is now correctly initialised when adding employee on a schedule whose first shift
started on the previous schedule
Display a proper error message if the file is in use on the export form
Check to ensure a file with the correct extension is selected when exporting data to avoid corrupted
documents
Corrected alignment of shifts on main display when there are many shifts
Fixed display of work hours on Shift properties form when the shift was too long
Improvements
Maximum width when displaying days was changed to 900 px on the main screen
More explicit error messages for when the document cannot be accessed
Release 1.9.2 – March 2014
Bugs Fixed
Corrected update of data when moving through shifts on shift property form
Corrected display of dates on some screens
The web browser does not open anymore when using export preview
Fixed crash after deleting employee positions
Corrected order of shifts in exported documents (employee view)
Fixed bug in automated planner which could schedule an employee on simultaneous shifts
Fixed other various crashes
Release 1.9.1 – December 2013
Improvements
Leave can be assigned to multiple employees in one go
Bugs Fixed
Fixed bug that prevented users from saving a document after deleting schedules or days
Release 1.9.0 – December 2013
Improvements
Main window: New button to display a quick export preview
Main window: the earliest/latest hours displayed are configurable be users
Main window: the increment in the time labels is configurable by users
Main window: clicking on a constraint in constraints list now opens the details form for the
corresponding employee or shift
Main window: display of shift coverage next to the constraints lists
Shift properties form: display of shift coverage
Three new employee constraints are available: minimum number of days off per week, colleagues to avoid,
shifts to avoid
Constraints can now be hidden
Constraints can be now assigned default values
Default employee availability is now configurable
The automated planner can now roster an employee more than once per day
The automated planner can now randomise shift assignments
It is now possible to specify which shifts can work back to back arrangements
A skill matrix can be assigned to each employee
Employees assigned to a shift can be filtered out by skills
The constraint and detail tabs display faster for shift and employees
There is no more notifications popup up next to every shift when using the ‘roster on all…’ feature
Availability is always shown on a 24h period
The page number is displayed on PDF schedules
Bugs Fixed
Fixed crashes when the document was on a network share
Fixed crashes due to memory leak for documents with many schedules and/or many shifts
Fixed crash when sending emails
Fixed crash when saving work hours from the Shift properties form
Fixed some crashes when adding a new schedule
Fixed crashes when switching tab after deleting a shift type or an employee from the document
Fixed crash when deleting a booking type
Availability is always displayed on a 24 hour period so that the start and end sliders can always be
visible
The display is correctly updated in other schedules after changing options on appearance panel and
localisation panel
Fixed double display of error messages after a crash when loading a document
Corrected update of document properties when migrating versions of ABC Roster
The sliders to select employee availability and employee work hours should now work properly (start
cannot be before finish anymore)
Description for the ‘minimum number of supervisors’ constraint was corrected
GUI correctly updated after resetting application settings to their default values
Breaking changes
Microsoft .Net Framework v3.5 SP1 or higher is now required to use ABC Roster. This will mostly affect
Windows XP users, as the framework is already installed Windows Vista, 7 and 8 by default
Conversion from documents created with ABC Roster v 1.6 and 1.7 is not supported anymore
Release 1.8.2 – July 2013
Improvements
Document settings: it is now possible to use an outlook.com email without having to specify the smtp
parameters
Main window: display of the total number of worked hours per schedule
Bugs Fixed
Main window: fixed crashes when selecting Roster on All
Main window: Errors during drag and drop are no longer ignored
Main form: fixed crashes when quickly clicking on Undo/Redo multiple times
Main window: fixed other various crashes
CSV Import: fixed crashed when file already in use
Schedule Export/preview: fixed crash when the schedule contained fewer days that the maximum limit per
page
Roster form: fixed crash when modifying the time picker values
Roster form: fixed crash when displaying information for an employee on the last day of the week
Roster form: display correctly the first available employee when the form is opened from the Shift
details window
Document types form: fixed crash when deleting a shift type in a document with no schedule, or when
closing the document right after deleting a shift type
General: crash reports can now be sent even if the crash was due to a configuration error
General: fixed crash when sending emails if the custom smtp settigns were not configured properly
Corrected association between ABC Roster and .abcr files
Breaking changes
There is some integrity checks on the data when loading a schedule. Because of this, the programme could
potentially crash while the schedule is loading (instead of crashing later while opening the roster
window). If this happens, please contact ABC Roster’s support.
Release 1.8.1 – March 2013
Bugs Fixed
Export: Corrected crash when exporting or previewing schedules
Employee properties form: fixed crash when right clicking on the grid’s header on schedule tab
Release 1.8 – March 2013
Improvements
Schedules (formerly called weeks) can now span up to 5 weeks
Bookings can be moved to another date
Leave periods can be specified on an hourly basis
Employees minimum working time on a shift changed from 30 minutes to 15 minutes
Shift minimum duration changed from 1 hour to 15 minutes
Minimum availability period changed from 1h to 30 min
Constraint values can have a decimal place for min and max worked hours per schedule
Constraints have shorter descriptions
Possibility to include a break time on shift types
Shift properties window: the details tab show the total worked hours for all employees
Employee properties form: it is possible to resize the employee list
Export: users can export leave total hours
Export: new option to choose whether to export working hours or not
Export: users can choose how many days they want to export per page
Export: new option to choose whether to display shift names instead of shift types on the employee view
layout
Improved cost estimation to take into account part timers, and holidays for employees on wage
The roster form includes the total number of worked hours for the day
Main window: smoother redraw of the UI
Main window: new buttons to expand/collapse the employee and constraints panels
Main form and employee properties form: new shortcuts to edit employee working hours
Document properties: it is now possible to choose the height for the time labels on the Shift property
form
Bugs Fixed
General: fixed display bug on the period picker
Employee leave tab: corrected display issues
Employee leave tab: correct selection of the leave record when selecting the leave from the calendar
Employee leave tab: corrected crash when double clicking on grid header
General: locked state now saved for employees
Employee schedule tab: fixed display of number of worked hours
Fixed export error when exporting combined work hours
Corrected wage/salary issue on import process
Add schedule form: corrected crash when adding a schedule with a starting date older than other weeks
Main form: it is not possible anymore to edit a shift/employee belonging to a previous week from the
toolbar
Main form: correct update of the following schedule when deleting the last day of the current schedule
Export: exporting 7 days should now fit on one page when printed from Excel
Export: corrected display of borders in Excel export
Document settings: Resetting application settings does not impact the values on the document appearance
tab anymore
On application crash, errors are correctly sent to ABC Roster’s support if the user chooses that
option
Breaking changes
Conversion from documents created with ABC Roster v 1.4 and 1.5 is not supported anymore
Export: users cannot add a title anymore to exported documents
Leave periods: it was possible before to have an employee scheduled on a shift starting on day #1 and
ending on day #2 even if the employee was on leave on day #2. This is no longer possible, and you’ll get
warning messages when editing the working hours in such scenarios.
Release 1.7.2 – June 2012
Bugs Fixed
Document Types screen: fixed crash that occurred after trying to delete an employee position.
Main screen: fixed crash that occurred after adding/modifying/deleting an employee when the employee
list was sorted.
Fixed application crash due to the Arial font not being installed on some computers
Improvements
Users can now send a crash report after the application crashes
Release 1.7.1 – May 2012
Bugs Fixed
Fixed crash that occurred after opening a document converted to v1.7. This crashed occurred only for
documents with locations.
Conversion from documents still in v 1.5 now works
Release 1.7 – May 2012
Bugs Fixed
Document Types screens: Fixed bug that lost the previous location when re-doing a ‘modify shift type’
action
Document Types screens: Fixed bug that lost the previous employee restrictions when re-doing a ‘modify
shift type’ command
Document Types screens: Fixed bug that lost the previous shift type restrictions when re-doing a ‘modify
employee position’ action
Employee details screen: Fixed bug that lost the previous employee email/phone/address/photo when
re-doing a ‘modify employee details’ action
Main screen: When scheduling an employee on a shift that goes past midnight, the availability for the
employee on the starting day is automatically changed to go until 11.59 pm.
Main screen: Fixed bug where changing a shift colour was not saved
Main screen: The notification pop up for email now closes automatically after a few seconds
Exported schedules: Before, if employee started work after midnight on the last day of the week but was
not included on the next week, they would not show in the exported schedule for the next week. This is
now fixed.
Improvements
From the Manage Employees window, you can now import a batch of Employees, using a CSV file.
It is now possible to choose the currency symbol (e.g. ‘$’, ‘€’) from the Localisation pane, in the
Options window
Added support for American format dates, from the Localisation pane, in the Options window
A free text field for notes was added to the Employee details screen
You can now assign a description to each skill level (from the Document Types screen). These
descriptions will show on the Employee details screen, and on the employee list, on the main screen.
You can now export worked hours reports.
The email address field is now 255 characters long on the Employee details screen and the Email Settings
screen
A shortcut to the export screen was added to the toolbar.
Other changes
Conversion from documents created with ABC Roster v1.3 and earlier is not supported anymore
Release 1.6 - August 2011
Bugs Fixed
Main screen: employee positions are now correctly refreshed after deleting an existing position
Main screen: fixed bug that prevented dragging an employee on a shift outside of their availability
Document Types screens: Fixed bug that prevented deleting a shift type or a position that had
restrictions associated
Document Types screens: Fixed bug that prevented deleting a position
Send email screen: Emailed schedules now use colour style and display options from exports
Main screen: fixed crash when sorting the employee list
Main screen: fixed crash when loading data
Main screen fixed bug that caused shifts starting on the previous week (and running past midnight) not
to be displayed
Fixed crash when adding new week when the first day was missing and the previous week had an overnight
shift on the last day
Conversion: Fixed crash when opening a document from the recent documents menu
Fixed crash when opening a document without any weeks
Fixed issue when trying to remove password protection when the password had not been applied
Fixed crash when creating a new employee for a week and adding it to the template
Improvements
Shifts can now have an associated location (e.g. physical address, room number).
It is now possible to export/email the schedules for multiple weeks at the same time
Users can now email individual schedules to employees via email
Shift types can now be deleted even if there are still shifts using that type. Associated shifts will be
deleted as well
All document employees can now be managed from the Options-> Manage Employee window. This window also
allows the user to completely delete an employee from the document.
Users can now choose a custom hour-minute separator (e.g. have 12:25 instead of 12h45)
Users can now associate a profile picture with each employee
When adding/modifying a shift that finishes past midnight, the next day is automatically added to the
schedule if it was not present already
The screens are easier to read and more consistent-looking
Other changes
It is no longer possible to have 2 weeks starting on the same day. If you do have this situation, during
the conversion to ABC Roster v1.6 you will be asked to delete conflicting weeks.
Conversion from documents created with ABC Roster v1.2 is not supported anymore
The 'week view' layout is not available anymore for exports
Names and abbreviations for document types, shift names, week names and event titles are now
case-sensitive
When selecting previously sent emails, attachments are not added automatically anymore to the new
email
Release 1.5 - April 2011
Bugs Fixed
Roster screen: The period picker does not disappear anymore when there is a time conflict but other
times are suitable
Roster screen: Situations where the 'No suitable time found' warning message appeared while modifying an
employee's existing work hours do not occur anymore
Main screen: an employee cannot be dragged on a shift when they are on leave on that day
Employee Property screen: the Roster employee contextual menu is now correctly enabled
Export to Excel (Week view): the bookings are now correctly displayed
Export to Excel: fixed crash when trying to export a schedule when the document only has one booking
type.
Improvements
Shifts can now end past midnight
The user can now choose between 24h and12h time format (also applicable for exported schedules)
Weeks must have at least one day and cannot overlap
Employee Property screen: the template availability tab was removed
Employee Property screen: the leave tab is now displayed for templates
Employee Property screen: the employee work hours are now displayed on a new Schedule tab (instead of
being shown on the Details tab)
Employee Property screen: the details tab now includes a phone and address fields
It is now possible to email and export templates
The back to back rules were redesigned
Main screen: new button to navigate to template
Main screen: weeks are now ordered by date (templates first)
Email employees: the most recent emails can be reused
Breaking changes
When opening a document created with an older version of ABC Roster, the user will need to go through a
conversion process.
Back to back rules were redesigned. All existing back to back rules will be deleted; the user will
need to provide a new definition for back to back shifts.
Weeks cannot overlap anymore. During the conversion process, the user needs to select which
overlapping weeks need to be deleted (if applicable)
Employees must have the same salary/wage, position, skill and status (full-time/part-time) across
the weeks in the document. During the conversion process, the user will need to specify the correct
values for these properties.
Also, it is no longer possible to generate schedules on a separate sheet when using the automated
planner
Release 1.4.2 - January 2011
Bugs Fixed
Employee Property screen: fixed crash happening when clicking on calendar while a filter was applied
Employee Property screen: employee salary/wage can now be more than $100/h
Fixed bug that allowed the creation of employees with same name as existing employees
Automated planner: the resulting schedule is now correctly saved even when the checkbox is not ticked
Employee availability correctly reset after cancelling modification to shift
Release 1.4.0 - October 2010
Bugs Fixed
Shift Property screen: fix crash when selecting different shift after changes, while not on the details
tab.
Fixed crash when trying to roster an employee on a shift starting after 7.45 p.m
Options screen: Fix crash when trying to change application colours from Appearance tab.
Options screen: Fixed crash on the back to back rules tab when there is no shift type in the document
Export to Excel (Week View): employees whose name is exactly 10 character long are now correctly
exported to the Excel document.
Options screen: clicking on cancel after changing the document's background colour now correctly reverts
the colours to their previous value
Fixed various errors that would occur while saving the document, mainly after adding/deleting shift
types and employee positions and modifying type restrictions.
Fixed bug that prevented adding leave to newly added employees
Fixed bug with "Minimum number of days off" constraint: the user must now specify the number of days off
per 7 day week.
Export to PDF: Employees names and shift names now correctly wrap
Export to Html: employee, shift and booking names are correctly encoded
Automated planner: setting the time limit to 0 is no longer allowed
Improvements
A wizard was added to assist first time users
A new export layout is available (ShiftType #2)
Exported schedules now display both starting and ending time for employees (apart from week view)
Help is available for almost all text fields and other input controls
The automated planner was improved and can now roster employees on a shift even if they are not
available for the full length of that shift
The user has now a finer control over scenarios where an employee cannot work for the full length of a
shift (via Document Options)
It is now possible to copy a previous week's data even if the new week does not start on the same day
The default value of constraints' weights were modified (will only affect new documents created)
Employee leave is now shown on exported schedules
Various minor other changes were made to the user interface
Release 1.3.0 - August 2010
Custom email providers (i.e. other that gmail, Yahoo and Hotmail/Live) can now be used
Attachments can be added to emails
Support for employee leave
Introduced employee restrictions and shift restrictions
New option for Export feature: the user can choose whether to display the employee separator or not in
the employee view export.
Minor bug fixes
Too bad...
Maybe another time
Planned/suggested improvements
Be able to manage schedules for multiple locations
Provide more reports
Provide the possibility to associate a task with each employee scheduled on a shift
Give more control to the user over what to display on exported schedules