v8.7.0 - packs that carry their own estimating methodology, and a broad hardening pass.

8.7.0 connects two earlier pieces of work. The methodology engine gave a project a method you could build and switch; the country packs gave it local measurement, grading and procurement rules. Now a pack carries its methodology with it and applies it on install, so a United States, United Kingdom, India, German or Australian project starts on the right cascade without a manual step. Around that headline, a wide hardening pass closes cross-tenant gaps, guards monetary inputs and stops partial edits dropping fields - the unglamorous work that keeps shared data trustworthy.

What is new in version 8.7.0

• Packs carry and apply their own methodology. When you install a country or industry pack, its demo project - and any new project you create while that pack is active - starts on the pack's methodology (for example the United States, United Kingdom, India, Germany or Australia cascade) instead of the generic international method, so estimates follow local convention out of the box.
• Methodology estimates export, and the gallery opens without a project. Estimates built with the methodology engine export to PDF and Excel, and the methodologies page shows its template gallery even when no project is open, so you can browse what ships before starting one.
• Point cloud scans read directly. Scans in LAS, LAZ and COPC formats can be read directly. The reader is an installable extra and the supported formats are stated up front, so an unsupported file - such as E57, which needs the additional package - is reported clearly instead of failing silently.
• Existing capabilities, now surfaced in the interface. A dedicated viewer for 360-degree panorama photos, data-validation results that export to Excel, 4D and earned-value progress in the schedule view, a scan-versus-design overlay, an offline pending-changes indicator, and a single approvals inbox. Clash results can also be suppressed in bulk, and file-manager uploads are routed by file kind.
• A broad security, integrity and quality pass. Cross-tenant access gaps were closed across portfolio analytics, cross-project similarity, collaboration viewpoints and others; monetary inputs are validated so one bad entry cannot corrupt a total; financial roll-ups no longer blend currencies; and a deep-quality pass across the BOQ, clash, procurement, RFI and schedule modules fixed more than 150 issues.

Install a pack, get the right method with it

A country pack already brought local measurement standards, contractor grading and procurement rules. What it could not do was set the way costs are marked up, so even with the right pack installed, a new project still started on the generic international method and someone had to switch it by hand. 8.7.0 closes that gap: a pack carries its own estimating methodology and applies it automatically. Install the United States, United Kingdom, India, German or Australian pack and its demo project - plus any project you create while it is active - starts on that pack's cascade.

Estimates built with the methodology engine now export to PDF and Excel, so a methodology-based number leaves the app in the formats a client or a tender expects. And the methodologies page shows its template gallery even when no project is open, so you can see exactly what a pack will apply before you commit a project to it.

Reality capture, read where it lands

Point cloud scans in LAS, LAZ and COPC can be read directly. The reader is an installable extra, and the supported formats are stated up front, so a file the base install cannot read - E57, for instance, which needs the additional package - is reported clearly rather than failing in a way that leaves you guessing. Alongside it, several capabilities that already existed under the hood are now reachable in the interface: a viewer for 360-degree panorama photos, validation results that export to Excel, 4D and earned-value progress in the schedule, a scan-versus-design overlay, an offline pending-changes indicator, and a single approvals inbox.

The quiet work that keeps shared data honest

A platform several teams share has to be strict about who can see what and what counts as a valid number. 8.7.0 runs a broad security and data-integrity pass: cross-tenant access gaps were closed so portfolio analytics, cross-project similarity, collaboration viewpoints, accommodation and others scope strictly to the projects you may access. Monetary inputs across change orders, risk, QMS, punch lists and bids now reject invalid values - not-a-number, infinity, absurd magnitudes - so one bad entry can no longer corrupt a project-wide total or crash a report, and financial roll-ups no longer blend different currencies into a single mislabelled figure.

Partial edits no longer silently drop the fields they did not mention, a shared tenant-scope and money-handling layer was added, and a continuous-integration check keeps these from regressing. On top of the security work, a deep-quality pass across the bill-of-quantities, clash, procurement, RFI and schedule modules fixed more than 150 correctness, performance and usability issues, including locale-aware parsing of European-formatted amounts in GAEB import and faster critical-path scheduling. A BIM model with no 3D geometry now shows a clear "No 3D geometry" notice (#59), and the 3D viewer releases its graphics context when you navigate away so opening several models in one session no longer exhausts the browser.

By the numbers

Install or upgrade

pip install --upgrade openconstructionerp

The desktop installers for Windows, macOS and Linux carry the same one-installer setup, and the Linux build includes the CAD and BIM converters for AutoCAD, Revit and IFC. You can grab the latest installers from openconstructionerp.com/download. If you run an external PostgreSQL through DATABASE_URL, nothing about that connection changes. Questions or trouble upgrading, write to info@datadrivenconstruction.io.