What's new in version 9?

^{Release Date: 2 July 2021}

Summary

v.9.0.0 is a release that brings more ping pong functionality; new generic Editor features which have the added benefit of improving the management and drafting of big bills; changes to amendments based on early Amendment feedback; and other miscellaneous updates including new SP bill types, API updates and new Lawmaker branding.   We have also included some work-in-progress features (Document Compare and Inline Amending) which are stable enough to play with but shouldn't be used for critical business processes.

For more information on the key changes, see the following sections.

Ping pong functionality

We have now delivered all the core amendment lists produced by the Commons and Lords during Ping Pong (Commons Marshalled Lists, Commons Proceedings, Lords Daily Sheets and Marshalled Lists).  It is possible to record outcomes against all ping pong motions are their amendments and generate PDFs for all lists.  There are still some refinements required which we will address in the next release alongside any prioritised feedback coming from testing what has been delivered so far (mainly through the Fantasy Parliament exercise).

New Editor features

1. The "Copy Provisions to another document" function has been deployed and this will allow SI or bill drafters to push/pull provisions into/from other documents in the same project, replacing any duplicate provisions.

2. Progress bars now appear whenever users perform the following actions, which should help provide users with confidence if an action takes a particularly long time to complete:

   1. Opening a document in the Editor

   2. Inserting table of contents

   3. Paste (which includes drag & drop)

   4. Renumber

   5. Tag x-refs

   6. Update x-refs

   7. Delete all j-refs

3. The "Converting to/from schedule" function will allow SI and bill drafters to select one or more sections and convert them into a schedule; and vice versa, schedules can be converted into main provisions (sections or e.g. regulations) in the other direction.

4. Merge elements now allows SI or bill drafters to merge one or more sibling provisions into a single element which complements 'split' that was introduced a few releases ago.

5. List elements can now be inserted into SI and Bills.  They default to a bullet list, but the bullet style can be changed to an em-dash list or no bullet style (essentially an unnumbered list)

Changes to amendments

Based on feedback from users we have implemented the following changes:

1. We have renamed the amendment tabs in a project to make them more intuitive

2. The Commons now have a new status, "Ready for Publishing" to support the separation of roles between PBO and PPU

3. The Commons now have the ability to show/hide supporters in amendments as their supporter lists can get quite unwieldy at times

4. The 'Location' column on the 'Amendment Manager' tab now contains page and line information (where appropriate) to provide more context on an amendment in the list

5. The 'Amendment Manager' tab now has a 'quick filter' option to filter by submitted, tabled, ready for publishing and draft amendments

6. The buttons on the 'Amendment Manager' have now been moved to an 'Amendment Actions' drop-down list in the same place

7. You can you set amendments to 'on hold' and use the filters to 'hide' them from lists when drafting

8. UK amendments now have inline placeholders in their pre-populated amendments and ping pong motions which should hopefully make it quicker and easier to update instruction information

Miscellaneous updates

1. Scottish users can now create SP private, hybrid, committee and budget bills which will now load the correct templates with the appropriate pre-populated rubrics. 

2. Some API enhancements for UK Parliament.

3. A warning message will appear when pasting duplicate provisions or amendments in documents so that it is clear to the user what is happening.

Work-in-progress features

1. Compare documents will allow users to compare two different document versions from the same project in order to see (via tracked changes) how the document has changed.  It's mostly delivered now, however we have identified some areas for refinement.

2. Inline amendments: we have started with 'leave out' amendments for Commons, Lords  and Scottish Parliament.  The functionality built so far will allow you to create an inline documents; highlight text and structures that are to be left out; and save these changes to generate traditionally formatted amendments visible on the 'Amendment Manager' tab.  Not all 'leave out' scenarios have been catered for but there is enough there to have a play with.

See Work in progress features for more information on known issues and limitations on these new features.

Support fixes

1. pasting over provisions - the paste warning message will no longer appear in this scenario and the provision will replace the existing provision rather than being inserted at a random place;

2. the space-bar issue has been resolved.  When typing into input fields in various dialogue boxes, users found the space bar would only work with every other key press;

3. the handling of j-refs when displayed in cross references; 

4. ability to cut/copy & paste elements within amendments (making it easier to copy supporter blocks from one amendment to another);  

5. use of ampersands in bill & SI titles; 

6. a fix for the snapshot issue which was preventing generation of pdfs & duplicating document versions amongst other actions; 

7. line numbering issue in PDFs affecting tables (first identified in Scottish Budget Bill);

8. running header of enacted primary legislation incorrectly display the ASP/Chapter number on the wrong line;

9. section content wasn't being formatted as 'justified' in the PDF for UK bills; and

10. line numbering starting in the wrong place for Commons amendments.