Biweekly Platform Digest

Period: April 13, 2026 – April 27, 2026

Highlights

• Subcontractor invoices and pay applications have been redesigned into a comprehensive workflow, with a structured status progression from billing through payment, dedicated document upload fields for notarized pay applications and lien waivers, a shared comment thread between GCs and subcontractors, GC-only internal notes, and email and in-app notifications for key milestones — all applying to retainage invoices as well.
• The Owner Invoice view has been rebuilt as a full-screen modal that consolidates all invoice details, a GC-to-Owner comment thread, document attachments, a clear status workflow from draft through payment, and the ability to link or create action items directly from the invoice.
• Teams can now connect a Microsoft Outlook account to Ernest, allowing users to send emails and reply to messages directly from the platform — mirroring the existing Gmail integration and configurable through standard email settings.
• A new Observations section is now live in both the Office App and the Subcontractor Portal, enabling teams to create and track field observations directly within the platform.

Ernest API (4 releases)

Areas Affected: Activity Feed, Proposals, Subcontracts, Finance, Change Orders, Task Management, Finance & Contracts, Billing & Invoices, AI Plan Extraction, Organization Settings, Finance & Billing, Files & Documents, Project Schedule, Observations, Integrations, Billing, Projects, Field Orders

Release on April 16, 2026

• The Activity Feed now displays the correct titles for RFIs, Action Items, and Submittals. Comment fields that did not belong on certain activity items have also been removed, resulting in a cleaner and more accurate feed. (Ticket)
• Internal platform health monitoring has been improved. The system now tracks service versions and dependency status automatically, enabling the team to catch and address potential issues before they affect users. (Ticket)
• Fixed an error that occurred when loading specialty material request quotes. Users will no longer encounter a failure when viewing quote details for these items. (Ticket)
• The Trade dropdown is now correctly shown inside the RFI create and view modal on the pipeline. Previously, the trade was visible in the list but missing from the modal, preventing users from assigning or reviewing it. (Ticket)
• Subcontractor invoices and pay applications have been redesigned into a comprehensive modal experience. The new layout includes a structured status workflow (Not Billed → Billed → Approved/Rejected → Paid), dedicated upload fields for notarized pay applications and lien waivers, a shared GC–subcontractor comment thread with file attachments, GC-only internal notes (not visible to subs), document approval tracking, and email and in-app notifications for key status changes such as billing and payment. All of these features also apply to retainage invoices. (Ticket)
• Change orders have been updated to use a more robust identifier format, improving reliability for users working on the mobile app in offline mode and ensuring smoother data sync when reconnecting. (Ticket)

Release on April 17, 2026

• Resolved an intermittent error that caused Ernest's AI to fail when extracting project information from uploaded plans. The feature now processes documents more reliably. (Ticket)
• Improved the platform's internal notification system to support more consistent creation and delivery of in-app notifications. (Ticket)
• Fixed a display issue in Task Management where Change Order statuses appeared as raw numbers instead of their correct labels (e.g., "Approved" or "Pending") in the Linked Items section. (Ticket)
• Signed contracts and Change Orders that have been converted to contracts are now locked for editing. Once a prime contract is marked as Signed — or a Change Order is converted — users can no longer modify the description or dollar value fields, preventing accidental changes to finalized agreements. (Ticket)
• Fixed the sort order in the Billing & Invoices tab so that phases sort correctly by their numerical value when the Phase column is selected, making it easier to review billing data in the expected order. (Ticket)

Release on April 23, 2026

• Admins can now configure and manage billing windows within Organization settings, allowing teams to define billing periods that align with their project workflows. Note: This section is temporarily hidden in the UI while the full feature is being finalized. (Ticket)
• Fixed an issue in the Billing and Invoices tab where sorting by phase was not ordering rows by their numerical phase number, causing phases to appear out of sequence. (Ticket)
• The Move To dialog now includes an 'All Folders' breadcrumb at the top of the navigation path, giving users a clearer view of their location within the folder structure when moving files. (Ticket)
• Change Orders on iOS have been updated to match the latest product design and behavior, ensuring a consistent experience between the mobile app and the web. (Ticket)
• The Timeline tab has been removed from the Project Schedule view. This view has been retired to streamline the scheduling experience. All remaining schedule views are unaffected. (Ticket)
• Backend support has been added for field observations, laying the groundwork for upcoming field-related features. (Ticket)

Release on April 27, 2026

• A new Observations section is now available in both the Office App and the Subcontractor Portal. Users can create and view observations directly within the platform. (Ticket)
• Teams can now connect a Microsoft Outlook account to Ernest, enabling users to send emails and reply to messages directly from the platform — mirroring the existing Gmail integration. Admins can configure the Outlook connection through the standard email settings. (Ticket)
• An internal platform infrastructure update has been applied to improve reliability and long-term support. There is no change to the user experience. (Ticket)
• The Owner Invoice view has been redesigned as a full-screen modal, consolidating all invoice details in one place. The updated interface includes a comment thread for GC-to-Owner communication, document attachments, a clear status workflow (Draft → Submitted → Approved → Paid), and the ability to link or create action items directly from the invoice. Payments can be added even when an invoice is locked. (Ticket)
• A search bar has been added to the Task Management section, making it faster and easier to locate specific tasks. (Ticket)
• Projects and Field Orders now support a Locations field, allowing teams to associate specific locations with these records. (Ticket)

Ernest iOS App (1 release)

Areas Affected: iOS App, Activity Center, Submittals & RFIs

Release on April 20, 2026

• Internal reliability improvement for the iOS app: the app now automatically verifies that all required backend capabilities are available before a release, helping catch compatibility issues early and reduce the risk of disruptions reaching customers. (Ticket)
• The Activity Center is now available on iOS. Users can view their activity feed and filter by activity type, keeping field and office teams informed of updates relevant to them. Note: search and advanced filters are not yet included in this release. (Ticket)
• Fixed a bug on iOS where not all options were visible to superintendents when tapping '+ Add' in the Submittals & RFIs section. All expected options now appear correctly across all supported devices. (Ticket)

Ernest MCP Server (1 release)

Areas Affected: AI Assistant, Budget, Email Notifications, Support

Release on April 22, 2026

• Fixed an issue where email subject lines sent through the AI assistant displayed random emoji characters. The AI assistant also now correctly accepts and renders rich text formatting from connected integrations, improving the quality and readability of AI-generated content. (Ticket)
• The AI assistant can now look up budget line items directly. When a user is already working within a specific project, the assistant will automatically search that project first — making responses faster and more contextually relevant without requiring extra prompting. (Ticket)
• Internal configuration update for the AI assistant setup.
• Internal update to repository titles for consistency.
• Internal code quality improvements based on review feedback.
• Streamlined internal configuration for simpler maintenance.
• Further simplification of internal configuration.
• Internal file organization update.
• Internal code quality improvements based on review feedback.
• Internal terminology update to align naming conventions across the codebase.
• Internal code cleanup with no user-facing changes.
• Internal code quality improvements based on review feedback.
• Corrected a fallback display name shown in certain edge cases.
• Internal code quality improvements based on review feedback.
• Internal merge of development updates with no direct user-facing changes.
• Infrastructure fix for a backend configuration setting with no user-facing impact.
• Infrastructure pipeline fix to ensure reliable deployments.
• Added the ability for users to submit support tickets directly through the AI assistant.
• Internal update to the support ticket submission tool.
• Additional refinements to the support ticket submission feature.
• Further updates to the support ticket submission feature.
• Internal merge of the support ticket submission feature into the main codebase.