Highlights

Vision 5.7.1 brings the portier Vision Companion into Vision: automatic personnel sync from Microsoft Entra ID, a reworked data import, and scheduled background jobs, alongside fully translated reports, sorting across all pages, and stronger security.

New features

• Personnel sync from Microsoft Entra ID: Through the companion, Vision keeps your personnel list in step with your Entra ID (Azure AD) directory. A guided wizard handles setup, you map the fields yourself, and the first run previews matches and reuses existing people instead of creating duplicates.

• Reworked personnel import: The import now detects column headers, date format and file encoding on its own, shows a preview before writing, saves reusable presets, and reports any row it cannot import with the reason.

• Scheduled jobs in the companion: The companion can run data exports, e-mail reminders and retention rules on a schedule, each with a dry run first and a record of every run.

• The companion ships with Vision: It is installed together with Vision and opens from the Vision menu using your existing login, with no second sign-on.

• Reports and printouts in your language: Printouts in English, Spanish, French and Dutch no longer carry German remnants. Vision now also translates its own status values such as key status, closure type and item status, along with report titles and headings, while leaving your own lookup values untouched.

• Translated startup dialogs: Seven startup and activation dialogs that used to appear only in English now follow the user's language.

• Sorting across all pages: A column-header click in the key, cylinder or bundle list sorts the whole list, not just the rows on screen, with natural number order, and letter-prefixed keys kept together.

Improvements

• Faster with cloud databases: Common operations such as reminders, search and handover printing now reach the database less often, which is most noticeable on cloud-hosted Azure databases.

• Interrupt-safe database upgrades: Each completed step is recorded, a failed step stops cleanly with a plain message, and after every upgrade Vision checks that all expected tables, columns, triggers and indexes are present on Firebird and MSSQL.

• Safer move from Vision 4 to Vision 5: A health check runs before the upgrade and flags problems early, and known duplicate-key and cylinder issues are repaired during the move.

• Responsive when the licence service is slow: The online plan check runs in the background with a 15-second limit and falls back to the last known licence state, so an unreachable service no longer blocks the screen.

• Steady memory over a long day: Searches, user switches and reconnecting after an idle pause release their memory straight away, and the e-mail one-time-code dialog and the ENiQ mapping tool no longer freeze the application while they work.

• Safer key issue and return: Issuing and returning keys is written in a single transaction, so a failure cannot leave a half-written record, and problems during a save are now reported.

• Lighter bulk imports: Bulk imports do less work per row, online help opens correctly wherever Vision is installed, and there are several smaller display and translation fixes.

• Clearer activation: If a plan cannot be matched to a licence code, activation stops and says so instead of saving an empty or wrong code, leaving the existing code untouched.

Security updates

• Stronger credential encryption: Stored licence and connection settings now use authenticated AES-256-GCM. Existing values convert automatically on first start, and a tampered value is rejected rather than accepted.

• Tighter support and diagnostic access: Internal diagnostic views are off by default and enabled only by a short code issued during a support call, and legacy built-in development logins are switched off during the upgrade.

Upgrade instructions

Vision 5.7.1 extends the database schema. The update runs automatically on first start, for Firebird and MSSQL alike, and converts the older encrypted settings in the process. As always, take a backup first.

Highlights

Vision 5.6 brings a repeatable personnel CSV import, a cleaned-up portier Vision Companion interface, and fixes on top of 5.5.0. The release includes schema extensions; the update runs automatically on first start.

New features

• Personnel data import from CSV: A new Personnel data import menu item in Vision, visible to users with the Personnel / Import permission, opens the portier Vision Companion. Set up a template per data source once (column order, delimiter, header row, encoding, default values), then import repeatedly. For existing customers with grown import formats, position-based standard templates are available.

• Supervisor field on the personnel record: A personnel record can reference another personnel record as its supervisor. The field is carried during import and in the personnel form.

• Colour highlighting of departed employees: In the personnel list, the key reminder grid, and the main personnel overview, departed employees can be set apart by colour. Switchable under the Super Admin settings; colour and cut-off logic (with or without a grace period) configurable per installation.

• Edit the return date directly in the list: On the personnel, key, and cylinder forms, the return date of issued keys can now be edited directly in the list. Input is validated (return not before issue), editing is tied to the modify permission, and without admin rights only your own rows are editable.

• portier Vision Companion, new interface: The Companion gains three tabs: Import, Export, DB configuration. Under Import, three sources sit side by side: portier XML, Dormakaba KWD, and the new personnel CSV import. Multilingual: German, English, French.

Improvements

• portier Vision Companion starts faster: The database connection is no longer opened at program start, but on first actual need.

• Building and system selection: Consistent column layout.

• Label overlaps: Fixed in the password dialog, the search form, and the system/building info panels.

• Installer: Updating via the installer leaves portiervision.ini unchanged. MSI source files are sourced consistently from the CommonData directory.

Bug fixes

• French translations: Distributeur replaced with Revendeur (dealer), Jeux with Trousseaux (key bundle). Missing translations in context menus and sort dialogs added. Permission types and roles are delivered translated in the DORA export.

• Spanish translations: Gaps on dashboard tiles and in the DORA labels closed.

• English translations: Login screen corrected (Country instead of COUNTRY, Gate instead of Gap). Labels such as Customer ID cleanly localized.

• Data source in the personnel list: The Source column is now shown in the application language.

• Umlauts: Character-set fixes in labels with ä/ö/ü/ß completed.

• Key list: Sorting regression from 5.5 reverted.

• Deleted imported cylinders: A cylinder imported from manufacturer data came back as stock on the next import. Vision now offers to mark it as destroyed or lost instead, so it stays out on re-import. Manually created cylinders are still deleted normally.

• Duplicate cylinders on PortierXML import: When the existing locking system could not be resolved, cylinders were silently created twice. A unique index on the manufacturer ID now prevents this, and existing IDs are skipped on import instead of aborting the run.

• Rights assignment in user administration: Several faults in role assignment fixed: assigning rights could raise an error message, removed rights were not saved (the role reappeared after a refresh), and the user could not be deleted afterwards. Assigning and removing now run in a transaction and report errors properly.

• DOM ENiQ synchronization: Primary key violation in RE_PERSONAL_EGK fixed.

• Web update: The preflight request failed with HTTP 400 under certain WinHTTP configurations. Fixed (follow-up to the 5.5.0 self-update).

• Personnel save: Correction to the supervisor field and a clean default value for the source on manually created records.

• First start with a Companion-configured database: When the database connection was set up through the portier Vision Companion, Vision could overwrite the stored credentials on first start or fall back to Windows authentication, resulting in a failed login (Login failed for user), sometimes with Azure SQL login errors. The Companion credentials are now preserved, the DBLOGIN key is read case-insensitively, and the migration is fault-tolerant.

• portier Vision Companion, connection strings: Credentials with special characters in MSSQL and Firebird are escaped correctly.

• portier Vision Companion, PERSONALNUMMER conflict: A conflict when re-importing manually maintained personnel records is resolved cleanly instead of aborting with an error.

• portier Vision Companion, import results: Progress and detail messages of the PortierXML import are now fully translated (German, English, French). Cylinders that already exist are listed separately, so cylinder and key counts no longer contradict each other.

• portier Vision Companion, local MSSQL instance: Connected via shared memory (LPC) by default, reducing configuration effort.

Upgrade instructions

5.6 includes database schema extensions. The update runs automatically on first start, identical for Firebird and MSSQL installations. If the update still finds duplicate cylinders from earlier imports, it completes anyway and points them out with a clear notice; the cleanup can be sorted out with support. As always, create a backup before updating.

Highlights

Vision 5.5.0 brings a self-installing update flow, a complete pass through every supported language, faster login on cloud-hosted databases, and stronger support for enterprise deployments.

New features

• Self-update: Vision now offers new versions on launch and installs them itself. The running version closes, the new version starts automatically.

• Manual update check: The Help menu has a "Check for updates" item that shows the available version, toggles auto-check, and reports connection problems precisely (proxy authentication, DNS, host, TLS).

• IT-managed installations: Managed mode, notify mode, and remote sessions (RDP, Citrix XenApp, Azure Virtual Desktop) are detected. Where IT manages updates centrally, the update menu is hidden.

• Minimum version at database level: Administrators can require clients to meet a minimum version. Anyone opening an older client sees a dedicated dialog with the required version and can update inline.

• 19 languages fully translated: German, English, French, Polish, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish, Hungarian, Czech, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Turkish, Russian. Earlier gaps across fifteen languages are now closed; the build pipeline blocks any new translatable string missing one of the 19.

• New language picker: Each language now appears under its native name, sorted alphabetically. Cyrillic renders correctly.

• Live language switching: When you switch languages, the entire screen retranslates on the spot. Cylinder and key statuses, status bars, dropdowns, copy buttons, order labels, and report headers all update without restart.

• DORA-ready user and permissions export: A new export under user administration produces a complete record formatted for compliance reporting, including DORA. Runs on large datasets with progress shown; the form cannot be closed during the export.

Improvements

• Faster login on cloud-hosted databases: Roughly half the time it was in 5.4.4. Three repeated reads against the settings table were collapsed into one; two startup operations were deferred until first use.

• Faster reports with key copies: Reports that include key copy counts now bulk-load the counts in a single query instead of one row at a time. Noticeable on systems with thousands of cylinders.

• Startup diagnostics: Vision records timing information for every startup phase to a small file in your AppData folder. The file holds the last 30 launches. From the Help menu, choose "Open diagnostic folder" to find the file if support asks for it.

Bug fixes

• Order header form: Labels no longer overlap.

Bug fixes and improvements

• New KWD File Import: KWD files can now be imported directly. Files from KWD version 8 and newer are supported.
  

• Approval Process Shortcut: A shortcut for the approval process has been added to the Daily Task menu, allowing it to be started directly from there.
  

• Password Management for Administrators: Administrators can now force a password reset for individual users. Additionally, the password expiry can now be set in days.
  

• Reminder List Print Bug Fixed: A bug has been fixed that occurred when trying to print the reminder list.

Performance improvements

• General performance optimisations for system startup, switching between systems, and loading settings.

• A splash screen is now displayed after startup, giving users better feedback on the loading progress.
  

• Introduced Active Directory (AD) login validation during application startup

Bug fixes and improvements

• Fixed password save error when saving user data

• Corrected password reset logic after 90 days

• Updated and improved Companion

Improvements and optimizations

• Fixed reminder list print reports

• Optimized application performance (load time and saving settings)

• Added configurable pagination offset values in Settings

• Added batch update of exemplar status in the Search and Replace function

• Added filter keys for unassigned depot in Search Query

• Cylinder update via re-import of XML files

• Companion enhanced: attempts database connection via TCP/IP, Named Pipes, or local connection

• General improvements to portier Companion

• ODBC driver is no longer required

• ID cards can now be printed

• General improvements and optimizations

1. Permission issue with reorders

• Fixed: Users without the correct permissions were able to trigger reorders.

• The permission check has been corrected and now works as intended.

2. Service URL reset issue

• Fixed: The Vision application automatically reset the service URL to portier-service.de on startup.

• The configured URL now remains persistent and is no longer overwritten.

3. Additional improvements and fixes

• Various minor issues have been resolved to improve stability and performance.

1. Null Column Values Causing Hidden Records in the UI

Description
A database issue was identified where null values in critical columns caused related records to disappear from the user interface. The following elements were affected:

• Keys

• Cylinders

• Locking Systems

Although the data existed in the database, it did not appear in the UI, resulting in inconsistent system behavior.

Impact

• Users could not view or manage affected entries.

• Locking systems appeared incomplete or missing.

• Data exports and overviews did not match the actual database contents.

Resolution

• Implemented improved validation to ensure UI visibility no longer depends on null-sensitive fields.

• Added safeguards to prevent incomplete records from causing display failures.

• Updated internal logic to handle missing values more reliably.

2. Empty Tile Structures Inserted During User Role Assignment

Description
During role assignment, the system occasionally inserted empty tile structure values into the database.

Root Cause
A misconstructed LIKE operator in the query prevented the correct tile structure from being retrieved. This resulted in incomplete permission data being written.

Impact

• Incorrect or missing UI tiles for affected users.

• Permissions did not reflect the assigned roles.

• Administrators needed to manually correct user configurations.

Resolution

• Corrected the query logic responsible for retrieving tile structure information.

• Fixed and validated the LIKE operator to ensure proper pattern matching.

• Added protective checks to prevent saving empty tile structure entries.

3. Unauthorized (401) Error During License Registration

Description
When attempting to activate a license online, the system displayed an Unauthorized (401) error.

Root Cause

• The issue was not caused by Chargebee authentication.

• The application failed to correctly load its configuration settings, causing it to miss the Chargebee API key during activation.

Impact

• Online license activation failed.

• Users were required to retry or switch to manual activation.

Resolution

• Corrected the settings-loading process to ensure the Chargebee API key is consistently available.

• Added validation logic to confirm that required configuration values are present before starting the activation process.

• Improved error handling to prevent false 401 errors when configuration data is incomplete.