v7.0.0 made every module open the same way. v7.1.0 connects them. The work was the same on both counts: take a hundred-plus modules that grew up apart and make them behave like one product. Last time that meant one identity and one orientation card per page. This time it means that when you are reading one record and the next step lives in another module, the link is right there, pointing the right way, and it lands you on the exact row. Alongside that, the AI Estimate Builder grew up from a wizard into a guided conversation that shows its reasoning, and about seventeen hundred strings per language were rewritten into proper native copy. Everything here was verified against the live backend, the Alembic head is a single revision, the frontend type-checks clean and the backend is ruff clean.
What landed
80+ links, both directions
More than 80 places where related records sat side by side with no link are now wired both ways. Variations, change orders and contracts cross-reference each other, clashes jump to coordination tasks, NCRs open their inspection, diary entries link field reports, and BI tiles drill into the records behind the number.
The estimator opens with a conversation
The AI Estimate Builder no longer starts at a bare form. You describe the job in your own words and the intake asks up to three short rounds of clarifying questions as chips, toggles and numeric inputs. Without an AI key the same flow degrades to a curated form, and you can switch to the form at any time.
Two checkpoints before any price
The estimator stops at two explicit confirmation points: a parameter sheet you review, then a work-package board organised by foreman stage, from demolition to commissioning, where each package shows its real catalogue coverage. Nothing gets priced until you sign off on the plan.
Every rate shows why it was chosen
Rate mapping runs in passes: a semantic match, a unit-scale check and a rate sanity pass. Every matched rate carries a visible "why this rate" trace, so you can see what it matched on, and an outlier badge flags any figure that sits outside the expected range for the item.
A 26-language translation sweep
About seventeen hundred interface strings per language were brought to native copy across all 26 app languages, so the interface reads naturally instead of half-translated. The website's download and partners pages were translated into 19 site languages alongside.
A real desktop first launch
A fresh desktop install no longer opens on a login form. The app provisions a local workspace owner, signs it in and lands straight in the setup wizard, language first. A "Skip setup - open in English" button sits on every step, and returning launches go straight to the dashboard.
Cost positions carry everything
Adding a position from the cost database into an estimate now brings every resource it owns, not a coarse three-line split. Resources with variants default to the mean rate and keep the full variant catalogue, so a specific variant can be picked later. A usage badge on each row shows where the position is used.
Clash clusters become one work item
Clash detection can turn a whole spatial cluster of clashes into one tracked work item, a punch-list item or a task, instead of chasing dozens individually. The draft title, priority and assignee come with a confidence score, and every member clash records the link both ways.
The next record is one click away
The change that defines this release is small on any single screen and large across the whole app. For a long time, two records that clearly belong together would sit on the page next to each other with no way to move between them. A variation referenced a change order in prose but did not link to it. A clash named a coordination task you then had to go and find by hand. A number on a BI tile gave you no way to reach the rows that produced it. v7.1.0 wires more than 80 of these gaps, in both directions, so the relationship reads the same from either side. Variations, change orders and contracts cross-reference each other. Clashes jump to coordination tasks. NCRs open their inspection. Daily diary entries link field reports. Procurement lines link supplier catalog items. BI tiles drill into the records behind the number. Quantity takeoff ties into the 5D cost model, capacity planning, procurement and carbon pages, and into the CAD-BIM matching flow, where an estimator actually needs them. Dozens of pages now accept deep links that scroll to and highlight the exact row they point at, so the click does not just open a module, it lands you on the record.
An estimator that explains itself
The AI Estimate Builder shipped in v7.0.0 as a four-stage wizard. v7.1.0 turns its front end into a conversation and its rate matching into something you can audit. Instead of filling in a form, you describe the job in plain words, and the intake asks up to three short rounds of clarifying questions, presented as chips, toggles and numeric inputs rather than open text. From there the flow walks through two explicit confirmation checkpoints. First a parameter sheet that captures everything the run will assume. Then a work-package board organised by foreman stage, from demolition through to commissioning, where each package shows its real catalogue coverage, so you can see before any pricing where the cost database is thin.
Once you confirm the plan, rate mapping runs in passes: a semantic match against the cost catalogue, a unit-scale check that catches an area rate sitting under a volume quantity, and a rate sanity pass that compares each figure against the expected range for the item. Every matched rate carries a visible "why this rate" trace, so you can read what it matched on rather than trust a number that appeared, and any figure that falls outside the expected range gets an outlier badge. Unit rates still only ever come from the cost catalogue, the model is never allowed to invent a price, and without an AI key the whole flow degrades to a curated form. It is the same human-confirmed pattern the platform has held to from the start, with the reasoning now on the surface.
The interface reads in your language
A translation sweep went through the app a language at a time and brought about seventeen hundred interface strings per language to proper native copy, across all 26 app languages. The aim was to fix the half-translated feel where a screen mixes a regional language with stray English, especially in newer modules and on the strings that shipped with the v7.0.0 orientation cards. The website got the same treatment where it mattered most for reach: the download and partners pages are now translated into 19 site languages. Construction terminology is regional, so the work was done with the right local terms in mind rather than run through a blind machine pass.
Coordination, federations and BIM rules
Several BIM and coordination surfaces got real depth. Beyond turning a cluster of clashes into one tracked item, BIM federations gained a health report that classifies every member model, ready, processing, failed, stale or empty, into a readiness score with a worst-state headline, plus a portable snapshot you can download and later diff against the live federation to see exactly which models were added, removed or changed between coordination meetings. BIM quantity rules gained a testing sandbox that runs a draft rule against the live model before saving, a unit-dimension guard that warns when an area rule declares a volume unit, a coverage report listing element categories no active rule selects, and a formula version history with one-click restore. BOQ positions generated by rules now carry an honest confidence stamp instead of none. An asset operations module joins the sidebar, and six more modules, QMS, advanced HSE, management of change, NCR, punch list and inspections, got long-form "Show more" walkthroughs.
Polish and honest fixes
Navigation now answers every click immediately: moving to a module whose code is still loading shows a progress bar, a spinner on the clicked sidebar row and a busy cursor, so a slow transition reads as loading rather than broken. KPI cards across the platform share one modern style, a slightly translucent surface that lets the page texture show through, with consistent radii, spacing and a soft hover, and info blocks got the same treatment that fixes the washed-out look they had on dashboards. Element matching is now called CAD-BIM Match to Cost and sits with the other estimating tools, and the external portal is called Client & Partner Portal everywhere. On the fixes side, the usage indicator on the cost database changes color now because usage is actually recorded on add, registration metadata captured at sign-up is stored rather than silently dropped, and the in-app changelog was rewritten so each release reads in seconds.
Upgrade
pip install --upgrade openconstructionerp
The Alembic head is a single revision and the normal install path
creates the schema from the models and stamps it at the latest
version. The desktop installers for Windows, macOS and Linux carry the
new first-launch flow, so a fresh install provisions a local workspace
and lands in the setup wizard rather than a login form. If you run an
external PostgreSQL through DATABASE_URL, nothing about
that connection changes. Questions or trouble upgrading, write to
info@datadrivenconstruction.io.
Try v7.1.0 today.
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